Ray Cook - As I See It

Israel, Zionism and the Media

Tag: Gaza (Page 8 of 13)

Col. Kemp, Israel and double standards

03/06/2010 / / 0 Comments
Col Richard Kemp

The Jerusalem Post reports that Col. (ret) Richard Kemp, who is a former head of UK forces in Afghanistan (and who first came to the notice of the Israeli public when he stood up for Operation Cast Lead at the UN in the wake of the Goldstone enquiry),  is in Israel.

Kemp has this to say about the world’s reaction to the interception of the terrorist sponsored ‘Freedom Flotilla’:

“I believe Israel should do it rapidly and comprehensively and should be completely up front if it has made mistakes – mistakes should be admitted by Israel, but I don’t think it should be subjected to an independent inquiry any more than other Western countries are.

Look at what appears to have been a very serious military error made by the German army in Northern Afghanistan last year when something like 50-150 civilians were killed in an air strike..”

Quite right, and that is just one of many, many incidents in Afghanistan and around the world, far more serious than the flotilla incident, which are completely ignored by the UN.

While Kemp was critical of Israel’s handling of the flotilla raid, in particular its intelligence-gathering prior to the operation, he said the blame for the death toll lay with the “activists” who attacked the soldiers.

This is clear for any reasonable person to see from the evidence of the videos. All that the supporters of the flotilla can say is that they had a right to defend themselves. Do you remember the last time anyone was killed in a paintball contest? The paintball gun was the Israeli’s primary ‘weapon’ . When the world is bleating about disproportionality of Israel’s  activities at every possible occasion, is it not disproportionate to prepare a lethal attack with knives and metal clubs and then take pistols and shoot at someone with a paintball gun? That is bloody murder in my book.

Kemp rightly points out that this raid was bungled. We still do not know why nine people died or whether there deaths were caused by their zealotry to become shahids (martyrs) as is witnessed in this video:

It could be bravado, of course but other pronouncements and the weapons found on board point to a Gaza or die attitude. When someone is prepared to die in order to kill you what would you do with a pistol in your hand. With hundreds of people on board against a handful of commandos, whatever you think of the legality of their actions, they did not come with deadly intent, unlike their assailants.
Here’s some of what was found on the ‘peace convoy’:

As Kemp says, there must be an investigation, but no-one will accept the conclusions if they absolve the Israeli Navy, of course, only kangaroo-court UN enquiries whose members have decided guilt in advance (Goldstone) are allowed.

Flotilla farce: Hamas refuses to allow in ‘humanitarian aid’

02/06/2010 / / 0 Comments

The ‘Freedom Flotilla’ organised by the Free Gaza Movement was bringing vital aid, right?

Nine people were tragically killed trying to deliver it, right?

Israel has been embroiled in an international incident.  Angry mobs have attacked Israeli targets all over the world and demonstrated in Turkey.

But when the aid does finally arrive in 20 trucks (Israel delivered over 30,000 truckloads in 2009, that’s about 100 a day by the way) they have been stopped at the Rafah checkpoint by Hamas as the IDF blog reports:

As of right now, the State of Israel has loaded 20 trucks with various types of aid found onboard the flotilla. Expired medication, clothing, blankets, some medical equipment and toys were among the aid found on the ships.

Unfortunately, the Hamas terror organization is unwilling to accept the cargo and the trucks filled with humanitarian aid have not been allowed to enter the Gaza Strip. It appears that Hamas is in fact stopping the transfer of the humanitarian aid.

CNN has a little more on this:

Palestinian sources confirmed that trucks that arrived from Israel at the Rafah terminal at the Israel-Gaza border were barred from delivering the aid.

Ra’ed Fatooh, in charge of the crossings, and Jamal Khudari, head of a committee against the Gaza blockade, said Israel must release all flotilla detainees and that it will be accepted in the territory only by the Free Gaza Movement people who organized the flotilla.

So first of all the sum total of aid (I believe 8 trucks had already been delivered yesterday) was about one quarter of what is delivered daily through Israel and the organisers bleat:

Those held illegally by the Israeli government have committed no crime, they have simply attempted to avert a humanitarian disaster by bringing much-needed medical supplies into Gaza. (Betty Hunter, general secretary of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign)

Much-needed out of date medication which could do more harm than good. But the way the ships were carelessly and chaotically laden bears witness that the aid was just a front; a front for confrontation. As the Jerusalem Post reported yesterday:

In a statement to reporters at the port on Tuesday, Colonel Moshe Levi, commander of the IDF’s Gaza Strip Coordination and Liaison Administration (CLA), said that none of the equipment found on board the three cargo ships was in shortage in Gaza.

“We have been working non-stop for the last twenty-four hours examining the cargo holds of the three large cargo ships and I can say with great assurance, that none of the equipment on board is needed in Gaza. The equipment that we found is all equipment that we have regularly allowed into the strip over the past year,” said Levi. “This proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that the whole premise of the voyage was for propaganda and provocation and not for humanitarian purposes.”…..

Gidi Gofer, head of the Defense Ministry’s international transport division, said that the equipment that arrived in the cargo ships did not have proper transport manifests or any of the paperwork required to legally ship cargo by sea. “The cargo did not meet international safety or operational standards,” said Gofer.

Many in the flotilla who thought that they were on a genuine humanitarian mission were duped by the IHH who were behind the attempted lynching of the Israeli commandos; the real purpose of the flotilla for them was to cause an incident, kill some Israelis or become martyrs (see my post here).

So Hamas think so little of these 20 trucks that they are holding their own people to ransom in order to win some pathetic battle to release people they know will be released anyway. These are the people the poor misguided humanitarian organisations are really supporting. Their people are so deprived of medicine and a bit of food that they can afford to use them as bargaining chips in some obscene political game.

If this doesn’t tell us the true nature of Hamas or the the true intent of the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ then what will.

Channel 4 and some truth about Israel’s flotilla interception

02/06/2010 / / 2 Comments

I am grateful to a friend who alerted me to this Channel 4 news item where Jon Snow interviews a British Naval analyst, Peter Cook, whose dispassionate description of the Israeli video material shows that, despite what the liars on board are now saying, the Israelis went in armed with paintball guns and holstered pistols and were met with murderous assault.

BBC reverts to type as predicted: flotilla headline a disgrace

02/06/2010 / / 1 Comment

As predicted the BBC couldn’t keep up the good work for long in their little run of fair play.

Yesterday they ran a headline on the ‘eye-witness’ accounts aboard the flotilla: Witnesses cast doubt on Israel’s convoy raid account”, which was emblazoned across their home page.

Robin Shepherd had it absolutely spot on:

So, members of a virulently anti-Israeli convoy whose friends, colleagues and soul mates launched a violent attack on Israeli soldiers which ended in bloodshed have a different version of events from the Israelis, their sworn enemies? That’s a quotable lesson in BBC propaganda: people whom the average 11 year old could see have a conflict of interest are passed off as objective “eyewitnesses”.

But this is par for the course. And why not when the UN itself treats actors in the conflict who are terrorist organisations (Hamas)  as if they were UN members, giving them credence, legitimacy and succour whilst they actively seek to destroy an actual UN member (Israel).

Please read Robin Shepherd’s article, he is at his brilliant best.

Flotilla: what are the Con-Dems thinking?

01/06/2010 / / 3 Comments

Downing Street reports on Prime Minister Cameron’s cosy chat with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu:

“The PM also stressed the importance of urgently lifting the blockade of Gaza, and allowing full access for humanitarian aid.”

William Hague:

“I call on the Government of Israel to open the crossings to allow unfettered access for aid to Gaza, and address the serious concerns about the deterioration in the humanitarian and economic situation and about the effect on a generation of young Palestinians.”

Nick Clegg (Deputy Prime Minister)

“… unjustified and untenable blockade of Gaza… what is going on in Gaza is a humanitarian catastrophe”

Yet all three also say Israel has a right to defend itself against attack. They do not see the contradiction.

Clearly none of them is prepared to even mention Hamas and its genocidal intent. None of them is prepared to do the slightest research into the organisers or con-dem the Turkish government for allowing the provocation. In other words, Israel must allow ‘unfettered access’ so that its enemies can supply its other enemies with rockets and weaponry to further persecute their war of terror against Israel.

So you now know what you voted for, guys, more craven surrender-monkeys who are quite happy to see NATO or the US flatten a few villages in Afghanistan or for the Sri Lankan government to cover up massacres or the North Koreans to sink ships or for the Turks to bomb Kurds or the Americans to detain people illegally and torture them, to target Al Qaeida leaders… you get the idea. But Israel must surrender to Hamas.

If Nick Clegg (Deputy Prime Minister – why does that sound so strange still) actually believes there is a humanitarian disaster in Gaza then why does he not attack the prime cause of that disaster, namely Hamas. No-one is starving in Gaza (see my post here)

And why do none of them ask Egypt to open ITS borders? Are they so new in office that they are not aware that Egypt lets in absolutely ZIP!

Update: The Egyptians have decided to open the Rafah crossing.  But what exactly is coming through?

Update: David Miliband is no better just to be politically balanced on this. Politicians say what they think they should say, that’s why they are politicians.

BBC reports flotilla incident fairly (well more or less)

01/06/2010 / / 0 Comments

Have you noticed the BBC News website’s reporting of the flotilla incident? It’s so good (relatively speaking) that Israel’s enemies have noticed (see my previous post). They are actually reporting the Israeli side with impartiality – for an example see this from Paul Reynolds

OK, there have been the occasional lapses but overall this is much better – keep it up Auntie.  Somehow I don’t think they will.

Israel finds perfect response to ‘Freedom Flotilla’

28/05/2010 / / 0 Comments

Yesterday I wondered how Israel would react to the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ which purports to be bring ‘vital’ aid to Gaza.

This was a clear attempt at provocation and a wonderful publicity stunt: bring some aid, break the ‘blockade’ and hopefully prompt Israel to take some precipitous action that could be used to beat Israel with.

But according to Ha’aretz Israel has found a response which diffuses the situation and draws the teeth from any attempt to get Israel to respond inappropriately:

Israel will attempt to block the ‘Freedom Flotilla’ of pro-Palestinian demonstrators heading toward Gaza with humanitarian supplies, the forum of seven senior ministers decided on Wednesday. Humanitarian cargo, however, would be unloaded and inspected at Ashdod and sent to Gaza via the United Nations.

So the aid goes through but the propagandists don’t Ha!

The activists would be arrested and expelled from the country.

And:

The ministers decided that foreign journalists would be allowed to be present on Israel Navy ships during the operation in a bid to produce more favorable coverage abroad.

I’d take a hefty bet that coverage will NOT be favourable.

Problem will be that the ships will not turn back voluntarily, so how Israel handles towing or forcing 9 boats to Ashdod with 800 people aboard, including nationals of friendly countries and its own nationals, will be an interesting spectacle.

Postscript: I couldn’t have been more wrong

A tale of two flotillas: Dunkirk and Gaza

27/05/2010 / / 3 Comments

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the retreat of British forces from the beaches of Dunkirk. A heroic flotilla of small ships left English ports to rescue as many troops as they could whilst under fire and bombardment by Nazi forces.

On this day 70 years later a smaller flotilla of just eight or is it nine boats is heading for Gaza with the expressed aim of breaking the blockade and bringing much needed relief to one and a half million starving Gazans. Unlike the bravehearts of Dunkirk, this flotilla will succeed whatever the outcome.

But it’s a big lie, a huge con trick whose underlying intent is not to help Gaza but to demonise Israel and provoke it to take action which will will further damage its reputation. To that extent, it’s little different than a missile fired at Sderot.

Yesterday IDF Colonel Moshe Levi declared “No Humanitarian Crisis in the Gaza Strip”

We do not know of a shortage in any field, and we enable the entrance of various different goods, and also the export of agricultural products from the Gaza Strip. Anything that would help Hamas to increase its military power is obviously not permitted to enter,” said Col. Levi. In addition to that he demonstrated the data collected by the Gaza DCO that shows that 6,000 Palestinians exited the Gaza Strip to receive medical treatment in Israel and Jordan..

Some blockade but it gets better: take a look at the IDF blog for 25th May 2010. I’m sorry, but it’s worth quoting in almost its entirety, it’s just too good to miss:

Food Products and Clothing:

  1. Most types of food are allowed into the Strip, and are transferred by the private sector or by international organizations.
  2. During 2009, 30,920 trucks containing 800,000 tons of supplies were transferred into Gaza. This included fruits and vegetables, meat products, poultry and fish, dairy products, sugar, rice and legumes, flour and yeast, oil, and more. Furthermore, 10,871 heads of cattle were transferred for the Muslim holidays of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha.
  3. In the first quarter of 2010 (January-March), 94,500 tons of supplies were transferred in 3,676 trucks to the Strip: 48,000 tons of food products; 40,000 tons of wheat; 2,760 tons of rice; 1,987 tons of clothes and footwear; 553 tons of milk powder and baby food.
  4. In 2009, 572 trucks containing approximately 5,000 tons of medical supplies entered the Strip.
  5. In the first quarter of 2010 (January-March) 1,068 tons of medicine and medical equipment were transferred in 152 trucks.
  6. In 2009 two elevators were transferred to hospitals in Gaza, as was a CT imaging system (to the Red Cross hospital), and equipment for a mammography machine (which checks for breast cancer).
  7. During the first quarter of 2010 four trucks with special supplies for a project of the “Al Quds” hospital were transferred to the Gaza Strip, and an additional 13 trucks are scheduled to cross.
  8. Due to fears of a swine flu outbreak, three Israeli hospitals were assigned to treat cases in the Gaza Strip and 44,500 immunizations were transferred to the Strip.

Equipment for Essential Civilian Infrastructure:

  1. In 2009 Israel transferred 41 trucks of equipment for the maintenance of the electricity grid, and the state continues to provide approximately 60% of Gaza’s electricity.
  2. In 2009 over 105 million liters of fuel were transferred to Gaza’s power plant and over 3.2 million liters of gas were transferred for UNWRA operations.
  3. In 2009 127 trucks containing more than 3,000 tons of hypochlorite entered the Gaza Strip for water purification purposes. Moreover, 48 trucks of equipment for improving the sanitation infrastructure led to a substantial reduction in the Beit Lahya facility’s waste levels.
  4. As part of the preparations made for winter, 3,607 tons of glass was transferred to the Gaza Strip. According to UN reports, windows in all education and health institutions were repaired.
  5. In the first quarter of 2010 Israel transferred:
    • 250 trucks with equipment for the UNWRA summer camp, including: arts and crafts equipment, swimming pools, inflatable toys, ice cream machines, musical instruments, clothing, sports equipment, etc.
    • Seven trucks with equipment for upgrading the sewage pumping station, which was carried out by UNWRA.
    • 74 empty containers for UNWRA for use in classrooms and bathrooms
  6. Certain types of materials, such as cement and iron, are more restricted. These products are openly used by Hamas for developing its arsenal, building bunkers and launching sites, and making rockets and mortars.
  7. Despite the risk, the transfer of these items is also permitted under supervision, once it has been cleared that these materials are for civilian purposes only. Already in the first quarter of 2010, 23 tons of iron and 25 tons of cement were transferred to the Gaza Strip.

Movement of Residents in and out of the Gaza Strip

  1. Despite the inherent dangers involved, Israel permits Gazans and visitors to travel between Gaza and Israel, from Gaza to Judea and Samaria, and abroad for medical treatment, religious pilgrimages, and business trips. Whenever possible Israel allows for diplomatic activities as well as trade and commerce with the Gaza Strip.
  2. Here are a number of examples from 2009:
  • Delegations from abroad: 21,200 activists from international organizations from over 400 diplomatic delegations were permitted entry into Gaza, and 2,200 Palestinians employed by international organizations were given exit permits from the Gaza Strip.
  • Education, Vacations and Pilgrimages to Holy sites: 147 permits were given to Palestinian students for academic studies around the world. During the Christmas holiday approximately 400 permits were given to visit Bethlehem from Gaza as well 100 permits to travel abroad.
  • Business: 257 permits were given to businessmen from Gaza to facilitate business operations.
  • Sports: Special permission was given to Gazan footballers to train in Judea and Samaria and compete in international matches abroad.

Trade and Commerce

Israel has taken measures to support  trade and commerce, the banking system, and the existing financial market in the Gaza Strip:

  • In 2009 1.1 billion NIS was transferred to the Gaza Strip for the ongoing activity of international organizations and to pay the salaries of Palestinian Authority workers.
  • 40 million damaged bank notes were traded for new bills, and at the request of the Palestinian Monetary Fund, 282.5 million shekels were transferred from Gazan to Israeli Banks.
  • In February 2010 an agreement was reached with the Palestinian Authority’s National Insurance Department to ensure that pensions reached those formerly employed in Israel. The funds were deposited in banks in Judea and Samaria, while the Palestinian Authority was given the responsibility of distributing the funds to the pensioners in Gaza.

    • So, you see, there is no blockade of real essentials. And add to this little lot the stuff still coming through the Rafah tunnels. If you want to see real poverty and starvation take a look at Sudan or Zimbabwe.

    And if you want more proof then take a look at the Roots club website and the video therein.  Someone is doing well in Gaza.

    As I’ve said before, there is still hardship and suffering, I do not deny or belittle it, but it’s no worse than many other countries in the Middle East and elsewhere, and it would be a whole lot better if Hamas were not in charge. But they were democratically elected, of course, just like a certain Austrian who was responsible for Dunkirk.

    But according to the Viva Palestina website:

    [Israel] has turned Gaza into a prisoner [sic] camp and has been carrying out a genocide. This camp and genocidal acts very much resemble Hitler’s actions in history.

    So there you go. You can have a slap up meal in a top-class restaurant in Gaza City just like the Jews of the Warsaw Ghetto.

    Surely they can hardly believe their own blatantly anti-Semitic rhetoric.  Israel is committing genocide just like the genocide the Palestinians deny ever happened. Sure takes some warped thinking and an egregious view of history to come to that conclusion. More like quadruple-think than double-think.

    Hamas have killed more Gazans than Israel ever did and the only genocide in the region under contemplation is the one that Hamas and Hizbollah want to commit against the Jews of Israel and beyond, and the first step in this plan is to destroy Israel by all and any means military, propaganda and legal.

    The flotilla knows it is in a win-win situation: if Israel blocks it they have their propaganda coup and if they get through they have a victory against Israel.  No doubt this flotilla will be followed by several more. It’s lucky for the Palestinians that Israel isn’t North Korea or they might have their boats torpedoed; all Israel will do is impound them or let them through.

    Irony lost on Kaufman

    26/05/2010 / / 0 Comments

    No one should doubt the towering intellectual and oratorial skills and abilities of Sir Gerald Kaufman.

    He has been both shadow Foreign and shadow Home Secretary.

    But that was all some time ago.

    At some point, Sir Gerald, never shy to proclaim he is a Jew, fell out of love with Israel and Zionism and espoused the Palestinian cause.

    Well, nothing wrong there. He is quite entitled to believe that Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians is flawed, oppressive or however he preceives it.

    As an MP and a prominent British Jew, and also as person of considerable intellectual talent (Queen’s Oxford), he also has a duty to be fair, reasonable and see the conflict in its proper historical context.

    What he fails to grasp, it seems, (and he is by no means the only British public figure or even Jew to do so) is that he is fatally compromised by not condemning or declaring that Hamas is the root cause of the Gaza situation. By meeting prominent Hamas leaders in Gaza in 2009 he sanctions their actions against Israel and their own people in Gaza. He also ignores an essential point and it is this: Hamas want to destroy not just Israel, but all Jews; they are virulently anti-Semitic and Jews who support them are probably a source of great amusement and ridicule.

    Yesterday, during the debate in Parliament on the Queen’s Speech he took advantage of parliamentary privilege to make a long (over long) speech in which he accused the (Muslim) Liberal Democratic candidate for Gorton of running an anti-Semitic campaign against him during the run-up to the General Election.

    Sir Gerald accused his opponent of targetting Muslim voters and directing them not to vote for Kaufman simply because ‘he is a Jew’. He also accused his opponent of telling Muslim Labour supporters to remove posters from their windows because they should not vote for a Jew.

    I have no idea if these accusations are true; only a full investigation by the Lib Dems (I nominate Baroness Tonge for the task) could find the truth.

    Sir Gerald praised the vast majority of his Muslim constituents for not bowing to the bigotry of the Lib Dem candidate and on that point I can wholeheartedly agree – good on them.

    However, the irony is lost on Sir Gerald. Here was, allegedly, a Muslim telling other Muslims not to vote for a Jew regardless of his track record on Gaza, Palestine and Israel. And this is exactly what all Islamists or fundamentalists or whatever you want to call them, believe: namely, all Jews must die. It’s quite simple; they want to eradicate Jews because that is what they believe their religion teaches them, because that is what radical Imams preach, because they have drunk from the same poisoned well as the Nazis. Israel must perish not just because Jews have ‘stolen’ Muslim land but quite simply because they are Jews.

    I am content for Sir Gerald to fight for Palestinian rights, but I a not content for him to ignore the true intention of Hamas and support a regime who wish him dead as much as they wish to see any Jew dead, except in his case he is still useful to them.

    Palestinian homes demolished – by Palestinians

    18/05/2010 / / 1 Comment

    Well, as they say, you couldn’t make it up. The BBC reports that Hamas have demolished at least seven, and maybe as many as forty, homes near Rafah in the Gaza strip.

    So where are the demonstrators? Where the UN? Where Goldstone? Where the outrage in the blogosphere? Where the BBC news headlines? Where the anger of the Arab street or even the Palestinians on the West Bank? Where, indeed, Barack Obama and George Mitchell? Where Human Rights Watch who condemned house demolitions as ‘collective punishment’?

    Hamas says the homes were built on ‘government land’ and without permits. Sound familiar? When Israel demolishes homes in Jerusalem because they are built illegally and without permits the entire world condemns Israel.

    But it gets even more ironic:

    Club-wielding Hamas policemen – and some female police officers wearing face-covering veils – forced people from their homes and then brought in bulldozers.

    Bulldozers. That icon of Israel ‘brutality’ used against their own people by Palestinian Hamas.

    It seems that Palestinians can do what they like to each other, it’s only when Israel exercises its legal rights that the Muslim world and the world at large is bothered.

    Tells you something, doesn’t it?

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