In Europe’s Estrangement from Israel, the British sociologist Frank Furedi reports what he has heard from Britain’s educated classes since the Gaza crisis began: I am standing in a queue waiting to buy a train ticket from London to Canterbury. A well-dressed lady standing behind me informs her friend that she ‘can’t wait till Israel disappears off the face of the earth.’ What struck me was not her intense hostility to Israel but the mild-mannered, matter-of-fact tone with which she announced her wish for the annihilation of a nation. It seems that it is okay to condemn and demonize Israel. All of a sudden Israel has become an all-purpose target for a variety of disparate and confused causes. When I ask a group of Pakistani waiters sitting around a table in their restaurant why they ‘hate’ Israel, they casually tell me that it is because Jews are their ‘religion’s enemy.’ Those who are highly educated have their own pet prejudice. One of my young colleagues who teaches media studies in a London-based university was taken aback during a seminar discussion when some of her students insisted that since all the banks are owned by Jews, Israel was responsible for the current global financial crisis.This shocking anti-Jewish bigotry and violence – according to the Community Security Trust, Anglo-Jewry is in the middle of the worst outbreak of Jew-hatred since records began a quarter of a century ago, with more than 150 incidents across the country recorded since the beginning of the Gaza war -- has erupted in Britain as a direct result of the British media and political class giving the impression that the Israelis are deliberate child-killers. Both politicians and journalists have accepted at face value the Hamas claim that the dead in Gaza were mainly civilians, whereas the Israelis maintain that the vast majority were terrorist operatives. The British elites have accepted all claims of Israeli atrocities as well-founded, even though as far as I can see there is not a shred of evidence for any of them. They have also treated the word of the UN as objective holy writ, even though there are serious grounds for suspecting that the UN are the patsies of Hamas. For example, the UN has been screaming that Israel committed a ‘war crime’ when it shelled its Gaza HQ last Thursday; few in Britain know that Israel’s Prime Minister Olmert, no less, told UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon that the IDF returned fire after terrorists inside the compound fired anti-tank weapons and machine guns during the humanitarian daily pause:
‘We don't want this event to happen again,’ he told Ban, ‘and I don't know if you know, but Hamas attacked from within the UNRWA compound during the humanitarian cease-fire.’
What is so terribly shocking is that in the face of this unprecedented wave of hatred and bigotry, Britain’s senior politicians have been all but silent. They have a duty not merely to condemn the anti-Jewish violence but also to condemn the blood libels about Israel that have been inciting it. Instead, ministers such as International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander have breathed upon the flames by condemning Israel’s behaviour as ‘disproportionate’ and regurgitating as fact the distorted propaganda of Hamas and its patsy, the UN, about the number of civilian casualties.
Repeatedly, Gordon Brown has said, as here, that ‘too many innocent people’ have died in Gaza without acknowledging these crucial points: that while all deaths of innocents in war are to be much regretted, the vast majority of those killed have been Hamas operatives; that Hamas deliberately falsify these figures by classifying terrorists as civilians; and most crucial of all, that Israel has gone to extreme lengths to avoid killing innocent civilians – lengths to which the British and Americans most certainly are not going in Afghanistan. For Brown to avoid stating any of this, and instead to lend credence to the libellous claims about Israel’s behaviour which have incited this wave of anti-Jewish bigotry and violence makes the British Prime Minister effectively an accessory to that bigotry and violence.
Repeatedly, Gordon Brown has said, as here, that ‘too many innocent people’ have died in Gaza without acknowledging these crucial points: that while all deaths of innocents in war are to be much regretted, the vast majority of those killed have been Hamas operatives; that Hamas deliberately falsify these figures by classifying terrorists as civilians; and most crucial of all, that Israel has gone to extreme lengths to avoid killing innocent civilians – lengths to which the British and Americans most certainly are not going in Afghanistan. For Brown to avoid stating any of this, and instead to lend credence to the libellous claims about Israel’s behaviour which have incited this wave of anti-Jewish bigotry and violence makes the British Prime Minister effectively an accessory to that bigotry and violence.
Let us not hear any more pieties from PM Gordon Brown about his great love of Israel and the Jewish people. The hypocrisy is simply nauseating.
It is difficult to comment on a piece of writing that so distorts the documented facts. And omits relevant evidence. Where is Melanie Philips explanation of the banned use by the IDF of white phosphorus as a chemical weapon against unarmed civilians? Where is her explanation for the total desecration of Gaza and the killing of dozens of defenceless women and hundreds of children? There is no hypocrisy in the condemnation of thinking people of the state of Israel for its arrogant dismissal of human rights agreements and its contempt for the United Nations. Israel has become a rogue state that courtesy of America is now the fifth most powerful nuclear state in the world. One that refuses to be a signatory to the Non Proliferation Treaty or be subject to inspection, like the rest of the world, to the IAEA. This is no ordinary country, this is a country that frightens me to death.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous,
ReplyDeleteIf you wish to avoid seeing things which are truly frightening - best if you keep well-clear of mirrors.
(Sorry- that's already part of your M.O.). Now, open-minded leftist person...
You are sociopathically projecting the real threats characteristic of the Islamist/anti-Democracy axis onto (the victim) Israel.
It's obvious that you are clinging to the Hamas-propaganda (that Frank Furedi discredits) to justify your own personal, anti-Israel bias.
It is the Muslim threat to conquer Israel (including this refuted volley in your mis-information war) which is the cause of all hostility affecting Gaza & West Bank Arabs.
The International Red Cross affirms that Israel only used white phosphorus as an illuminant. The Palestinians, however, actually did rocket weaponized white-phosphorus against Israeli civilians this weekend.
Blood-thirsty Hamas generates Palestinian civilian casualties (shahids) to evoke false sympathy for its cause (& public pressure against Israel); Israel goes out of its way to avoid them.
Today Hamas is torturing and chopping limbs off of Palestinian civilians (who support Fatah, the "moderate" Palestinian party(members of which boasted about secretly joining Hamas in fighting Israel)). Hamas shot scores of innocent Palestinian political rejecters' - blowing their kneecaps to smithereens in the past few days.
Which site did you write to denounce that so far? Which party?
If you care about the welfare of the Palestinians more than your irrational fear of Israel, you'd work to free Palestinians of Islamic-extremist, totalitarianist, guerilla rule - and build a peaceful society there - instead of corruptly absconding with the complicit U.N. humanitarian aid - stimulated by those independently-unconfirmably inflated, "casualty" numbers.
Sorry, you won't win any converts here. But if you're open to learning a new point of view, please avail yourself of the rest of the site.
There really is good information out there that you can educate yourself with. (Try some of the many good links on the right-hand column). But don't waste your time posting any more reality-inversions here, please. They're wrong, wrong-minded, and unhealthy.
From the BBC 20 Jan 2008
ReplyDeleteNew Israel phosphorus accusation
The UN said white phosphorus was used against its Gaza compound
Amnesty International has accused Israel of using white phosphorus in civilian areas of the Gaza Strip.
The substance can kill or cause serious injuries by burning through skin, and it is banned near civilians. Armies may use it to create smoke screens.
The UN and Human Rights Watch have already accused the Israeli army of firing white phosphorus shells in Gaza.
Israel has said all the weapons it used in its three-week offensive in Gaza were permitted by international law.
Amnesty said a fact-finding team found "indisputable evidence of the widespread use of white phosphorus" in crowded residential areas of Gaza City and elsewhere in the territory.
"Yesterday, we saw streets and alleyways littered with evidence of the use of white phosphorus, including still-burning wedges and the remnants of the shells and canisters fired by the Israeli army," said Christopher Cobb-Smitt, a weapons expert with the Amnesty team in Gaza.
'Unusual burns'
The Amnesty group said one of the places worst-affected by white phosphorus was the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa) compound in Gaza City.
WHITE PHOSPHORUS CLAIMS
UN accuses Israel over phosphorus
Israel denies banned weapons use
Israeli shell fire set the compound on fire on 15 January, burning stocks of food and other humanitarian supplies in a warehouse and coming close to stocks of fuel.
The head of Unrwa in Gaza, John Ging, said at the time that "three rounds that emitted phosphorus" hit the compound.
The Israeli military said it had come under fire from Palestinian fighters inside the compound and had fired back.
Human Rights Watch also said it observed "dozens and dozens" of white phosphorus shells being fired by Israel at the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian medical officials have also said that large numbers of casualties with unusual burns, possibly consistent with exposure to white phosphorus, had been treated at Gaza Strip hospitals.
White phosphorus sticks to human skin and will burn right through to the bone, causing death or leaving survivors with painful wounds which are slow to heal. Its ingestion or inhalation can also be fatal.
The war Israel if fighting is far from over. The real battle, for Israel's right to exist and prosper and for a safer Middle East for our children to grow up in, is yet to be fought. This battle will not be fought in the streets of Gaza but in the halls of the UN and the White House. To win this battle we need a strong government, resolved to do the best for Israel and its citizens.
ReplyDeleteThis is a crucial election where in the fate of the country will be decided. If you want a strong, national government determined to defend Israel's NATIONAL interests, we invite you to participate in a unique, unprecedented event Yisrael Beytenu will be holding this Thursday, January 22nd at the Shalom Hotel in Bayit Vegan, for the English speaking community. Key figures such as Dr. Uzi Landau, Ambassador Danny Ayalon and Adv. David Rotem will speak about the policies and platform of Yisrael Beytenu.
As a party with a history of attracting new immigrants, Yisrael Beytenu has identified the English-speaking community as one of its key constituencies. As proof of this, former Ambassador to the U.S. Ayalon, until recently co-Chair of Nefesh B'Nefesh, was asked to head the Anglo division at Yisrael Beytenu. This stands in stark contradiction to most other political parties which do not assign such a high-profile figure or any significant resources for the Anglo community campaign.
If you wish to hear more about the party that's set to become, according to recent polls, the third largest party in the Knesset, about the party with the highest percentage of women likely to becomes MK's, which also has the highest Anglo on any of the major lists in Danny Hershtal, formerly of Toronto
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[Comments without an email address (register via Open ID) will no longer be accepted. ]
ReplyDeleteIn response to the final "Anonymous'" posting we permitted (until s/he registers):
The International Red Cross acknowledged on Tuesday (13 Jan 09) that Israel has fired white phosphorus shells in its offensive in the Gaza Strip, but has no evidence to suggest the incendiary agent is being used improperly or illegally.
The bright-smoke creating agent is used to illuminate targets at night or create a smoke screen for day attacks, said Peter Herby, the head of the organization's mines-arms unit.
"In some of the strikes in Gaza it's pretty clear that phosphorus was used," Herby told The Associated Press. "But it's not very unusual to use phosphorus to create smoke or illuminate a target. We have no evidence to suggest it's being used in any other way."
Herby said that using phosphorus to illuminate a target or create smoke is legitimate under international law, and that there was no evidence the Jewish state was intentionally using phosphorus in a questionable way, such as burning down buildings or consciously putting civilians at risk.
Dr. Peter Grossman, president of the Grossman Burn Center in Sherman Oaks, California, who stated that "it is not possible to tell, based on pictures of burns, whether white phosphorus was responsible."
You see, "Anonymous" Commenter, reports emanating from Gaza are subject to Hamas state-propagandists. These propgandists have been exposed as unreliable sources and gatekeepers (read the Second Draft and The Augean Stables.com) to control the Journalists and determine what they disseminate. Hamas press-managers not only lie (and intmidate Journalists from respectable agencies into lying) but even to fabricate false casualty damage situations for photography & videography. This is augmented by a cadre of western accomplices, such as Palestinian-biased Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's), like Human Rights Watch, and individuals, like Norwegian ER propaganda Dr. Mads Gilbert.
Though it may be difficult to accept, experience has proven that information coming through Palestinian-influenced gateways cannot be relied upon for truthfulness. And the biased NGO's are complicit in fabricating "news."
NGO-Monitor.org exposes the agenda bias of several sources reporting condemnation of Israel in Gaza. Condemning HRW's PR campaign alleging Israel's unlawful use of white phosphorus weaponry:
"HRW's large budget, and its media access via the "halo effect" results in the amplification of these reports in the press and through other NGOs, without independent investigation or verification. HRW's disproportionate focus on this issue diverts attention from the far more significant aspects of the conflict such as Hamas' systematic and illegal use of human shields, indiscriminate rocket attacks targeting Israeli civilians, and Iran's role in fomenting the crisis."
1) The number of HRW statements, their focus, and type of language used is far more intense than the organization's calls on Hamas to stop its use of human shields and of indiscriminate rocket attacks aimed at Israeli civilians (including white phosphorus weapons) -- both war crimes under international humanitarian law.
[In "Human Rights Watch: White (phosphorous) lies," 17 Jan 09, Bar Ilan Univ's Poli Sci Dept Chairman Gerald M. Steinberg writes writes:
... the important point was that the HRW images fit the dominant narrative of Israel as always guilty of war crimes, and of the Palestinians (or, in the 2006 Second Lebanon War, Hizbullah) as innocent victims. In this campaign, HRW was joined by Amnesty International, B'Tselem and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights. The latter two are funded by the European Union, ostensibly to promote democracy and human rights. When Hamas launched a phosphorus shell into Israel, these organizations, including HRW, were silent, as has been the case regarding the use of human shields in Gaza and other real war crimes." "In this way, HRW and other self-proclaimed human rights organizations have contributed a great deal to undermining the moral basis of morality and international law. Instead of repeatedly calling for 'independent investigations' of Israel, the donors to HRW need to undertake an investigation of how this once-serious organization has been destroyed from within."
2) HRW's claims, as examined below, are inconsistent and not subject to verification, following a pattern of political and ideological attacks in the 2006 Lebanon war (including false claims disseminated by HRW in the Qana incident), and in other examples, as documented by NGO Monitor (see examples at the end of this report).
3) HRW's "evidence" is based upon innuendo and "eyewitness" reports. One report states that "[o]n January 9, Human Rights Watch researchers on a ridge overlooking Gaza from the northwest observed multiple air-bursts of artillery-fired WP that appeared to be over the Gaza City/Jabaliya area. In addition, Human Rights Watch has analyzed photographs taken by the media on the Israel-Gaza border." HRW does not name its researchers; it does not provide the exact location of its observation; nor does it identify the photos it "analyzed" making independent verification of this "evidence" impossible.
4) The use of flares to assist search and rescue forces and for similar purposes saves lives of injured soldiers and prevents Hamas from kidnapping the bodies of dead soldiers, as has happened in the past, and are legal under all international weapons conventions. If indeed such use occurred, to claim that such operations are somehow illegal or immoral is, in itself, immoral."
there is no use in using facts and logic when dealing with an anti jewish/anti israeli bigot. their thinking organ is the largest portion of their maximus gluteus.
ReplyDeletethey probably would have thought that Lord Haw-Haw was a music hall comedian and applauded his broadcasts wholeheartedly.
they will die ignorant and screaming when the musalims in the uk take over and take them..