Are We Witnessing A Sea Change...

....in the Arab world?

Witness: Here, here, and here.

Hamas And Its Pals

Egyptian Court: We Can't Designate Israel a 'Terrorist State'

Hamas Tortured Rival Palestinians, Blamed Israel

Hamas executed Palestinians during summer war

Amnesty accuses Hamas of war crimes in Gaza

When two Gazans fight, Israel suffers

About Damned Time

Amnesty International says Hamas tortured, killed Palestinians

The militant group Hamas tortured and killed Palestinians during the war against Israel in the Gaza Strip last year, Amnesty International said in a report released Wednesday.

"Hamas, which controls Gaza, arrested and tortured dozens of Palestinians and executed at least 23, the human rights group reported."

 I may have  to change my mind about Amnesty International.

 

Media Bias, Anyone?

Post by The Israel Project.

Debunking The...

...."occupation":

Watch Dershowitz Dispel Myth that Settlements Are Main Barrier to Peace

Where Are Those Nukes?

Canada's embassy belongs in Jerusalem

"This is what some $650 million in aid to the Palestinians over two decades has bought the people of Canada.

The ostensible reason for the violent demonstration is the Canadian administration’s support for Israel. Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s government has unquestionably become the Jewish state’s most steadfast and outspoken ally, having most recently forcefully denounced both the Palestinians’ statehood initiative at the UN Security Council and any subsequent accession to the International Criminal Court. In 2012, Canada was among the few countries that voted against the Palestinian bid to become a non-member state at the United Nations General Assembly."

Score One For The Good Guys

Two dead in anti-terrorism raid in Belgium

Three dead in Belgium anti-terror raid: report

2 terror suspects dead, 1 in custody after Belgium raid

Putting aside that the media can't decide whether there were two or three killed, I would like to say "Well done!" and "About time!"

More counterterrorism raids reportedly underway in Belgium after police thwart 'Belgian Charlie Hebdo' attack

Related: Fanaticism hurts Muslims: Hollande Ya' think!!!

France sees 19,000 cyberattacks since terror rampage

Palestine plans to present new draft resolution to UN: Abbas

"Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas proposed on Thursday formation of a Kuwait-led Arab committee to study going back to the UN Security Council (UNSC) with a new draft resolution to end Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.

Addressing an extraordinary meeting of Arab foreign ministers at the Arab League headquarters here in Cairo, Abbas voiced willingness to resume peace talks with Israel provided that they have a clear content and a specific strategy "so as not to be a waste of time.""

I figured something like this would happen. We'll see whether it will end any differently than so many, many attempts in the past.

Today In Israel

Don't tell the Pals

Ancient Golden Treasure Discovered by Jerusalem's Temple Mount

"The gold rush has begun at the foot of Jerusalem's Temple Mount. During summer excavations conducted by Hebrew University of Jerusalem archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazar, two bundles of treasures were found. The treasure trove contained 36 gold coins, gold and silver jewelry, and a gold medallion with the menorah (Temple candelabrum) symbol etched into it. Also etched into the 10-cm medallion are a shofar (ram's horn) and a Torah scroll. The extraordinary find is known as the "Ophel Treasure."

The ancient menorah medallion, shown below, is most likely an ornament for a Torah scroll making it the earliest Torah scroll ornament found to date in archaeological excavations. Several other Torah scroll ornaments, including a smaller gold medallion, two pendants, a gold coil and a silver clasp, were found buried with the medallion."

The Lamestream Media And The Arab-Israeli Conflict

"The volume of press coverage that results, even when little is going on, gives this conflict a prominence compared to which its actual human toll is absurdly small. In all of 2013, for example, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict claimed 42 lives—that is, roughly the monthly homicide rate in the city of Chicago. Jerusalem, internationally renowned as a city of conflict, had slightly fewer violent deaths per capita last year than Portland, Ore., one of America’s safer cities. In contrast, in three years the Syrian conflict has claimed an estimated 190,000 lives, or about 70,000 more than the number of people who have ever died in the Arab-Israeli conflict since it began a century ago.

News organizations have nonetheless decided that this conflict is more important than, for example, the more than 1,600 women murdered in Pakistan last year (271 after being raped and 193 of them burned alive), the ongoing erasure of Tibet by the Chinese Communist Party, the carnage in Congo (more than 5 million dead as of 2012) or the Central African Republic, and the drug wars in Mexico (death toll between 2006 and 2012: 60,000), let alone conflicts no one has ever heard of in obscure corners of India or Thailand. They believe Israel to be the most important story on earth, or very close.

A reporter working in the international press corps here understands quickly that what is important in the Israel-Palestinian story is Israel. If you follow mainstream coverage, you will find nearly no real analysis of Palestinian society or ideologies, profiles of armed Palestinian groups, or investigation of Palestinian government. Palestinians are not taken seriously as agents of their own fate. The West has decided that Palestinians should want a state alongside Israel, so that opinion is attributed to them as fact, though anyone who has spent time with actual Palestinians understands that things are (understandably, in my opinion) more complicated. Who they are and what they want is not important: The story mandates that they exist as passive victims of the party that matters.

Corruption, for example, is a pressing concern for many Palestinians under the rule of the Palestinian Authority, but when I and another reporter once suggested an article on the subject, we were informed by the bureau chief that Palestinian corruption was “not the story.” (Israeli corruption was, and we covered it at length.)"

Bingo!! RTWT

Yup

In New York, Yet

What's Going On?

Palestinian UN rep: “Each and every missile launched against Israel constitutes a crime against humanity”

"In an astonishing moment of candor, the Palestinian representative to the UN Human Rights Council — in explaining the high risk of Palestinians being indicted if the International Criminal Court acquires jurisdiction – has admitted that “each and every” Palestinian missile now being launched against Israeli civilian centers constitutes “a crime against humanity”; that, by contrast, Israel’s own response actions in Gaza “followed the legal procedures” because, as Hamas spokespersons admitted on TV, “the Israelis warned them to evacuate their homes before the bombardment; but, however, “as for the missiles launched from our side, we never warn anyone about where these missiles are about to fall or about the operations we carry out.”"

Are they tired of being the world's pariah?

Yeah Baby...

...get er done.

IDF starts Gaza ground offensive

"Netanyahu's office says purpose of mission is to destroy terror tunnels and seriously harm the infrastructure of Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza."

[---]

"Signaling that the initial phase of the ground attack would be limited, a statement put out by the Prime Minister’s Office said Netanyahu and Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon directed the IDF to prepare to expand the ground operation.

The statement said the security cabinet approved the operation after Israel agreed to the Egyptian cease-fire proposal on Tuesday, which Hamas rejected. In addition, the statement said, Hamas even fired rockets during Thursday’s five-hour humanitarian cease-fire.

The dramatic decision followed, by less than 24-hours, an attempted massive attack by 13 terrorists who burrowed into Israel through a tunnel near Kibbutz Sufa, but were discovered and repelled. “In light of Hamas’s continuous criminal aggression, and the dangerous infiltration into Israeli territory, Israel is obligated to act in defense of its citizens,” the statement said.

The statement said Operation Protective Edge, now in its 11th day, will continue until its goals are reached: restoring quiet for an extended period of time, and delivering a significant blow to Hamas and the other terrorist organizations in Gaza."

[---]

"Hamas bombarded Israel with rockets after the humanitarian truce ended, firing more than 100 projectiles after 3 p.m. Eighty-one rockets hit open areas, two struck built-up areas, damaging two homes, and 20 were intercepted by the Iron Dome air-defense system."

[---]

The IDF warned civilians in Gaza to leave their homes and make their way from less populated areas to the Strip’s major cities.

Close to 100,000 leaflets containing the message were dropped over the territory and hundreds of thousands of people received recorded phone messages warning them to vacate villages."

India Enters The Fray

Indian government rejects anti-Israel resolution, hinting wider policy shift

India has 17+% of the world's population, and growing or 1.2 billion and Gaza has 1.4 million, and shrinking.

Seems the Pals have really stepped in it, this time. The only "friend" they have left is Iran.

Wow!

Stunning admission from the Palestinian UN representative!! This is stunning both because it comes from a Palestinian and from the UN:

Palestinian UN rep: “Each and every missile launched against Israel constitutes a crime against humanity”

"In an astonishing moment of candor, the Palestinian representative to the UN Human Rights Council — in explaining the high risk of Palestinians being indicted if the International Criminal Court acquires jurisdiction – has admitted that “each and every” Palestinian missile now being launched against Israeli civilian centers constitutes “a crime against humanity”; that, by contrast, Israel’s own response actions in Gaza “followed the legal procedures” because, as Hamas spokespersons admitted on TV, “the Israelis warned them to evacuate their homes before the bombardment; but, however, “as for the missiles launched from our side, we never warn anyone about where these missiles are about to fall or about the operations we carry out.”"

Is a sea change just around the corner?

The Oft Forgotten Minority In Israel

The Most Controversial Priest in Israel

"Christian priest in Israel is at the center of an escalating Facebook battle—complete with death threats—after calling on Christian-Arab teens to start volunteering for the Israeli army.

Father Gabriel Nadaf, a Greek-Orthodox priest from the town of Nazareth, is openly calling on Christians to start doing something they have almost never done: join the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). Most Arab-Christians, a minority within the Arab minority in Israel, consider themselves Palestinians, and joining the Israeli military is seen as taboo.

Which is why Nadaf and the small group of ex-army Christians around him have been the target of a Facebook campaign by Arab Christians in recent months. Last week, someone posted a wanted sign with Nadaf’s picture on it, offering a reward on his head. It also offers a sum of money for his deputy, who served as an Israeli paratrooper."

This is, after all, the birthplace of Christianity.

Save Your Breath, Mr. Ambassador

I Told Ya So!

TOLD YA SO! Egypt is publicly supporting Israel and hoping they will “destroy Hamas once and for all”



There's just one thing, though. After years and years and years of Arab Nationalism and its concomitant hatred and hostility to Israel, it's gonna take me a few years to really believe a corner has been turned. I know there's signs, but I remember the Prague Spring. The Slovaks had to wait nearly a quarter of a century before democracy emerged and communism fell. Mind you, there's no one around to invade and put down the movement, except maybe Iran, and their people would likely overthrow the regime should that happen.

Oooookay

Why I'm on the brink of burning my Israeli passport

"I can no longer stand by while Israeli politicians like Ayelet Shaked condone the deaths of innocent Palestinian women and children"

[---]

"I know what it is to have been helpless victims, living and dying under racist oppressors’ boots, and I know that today’s Israelis are no longer the victims but the perpetrators of the current crisis. Yes, Hamas are dreadful hate-filled killers and woe betide Israel had they had the wherewithal to carry out their intentions. But the fact remains that it is Israel which has the tanks, bombers, artillery, nuclear warheads and missile defences of Goliath, while ordinary Gazans had nothing a week ago and even less today, as even hospitals and schools were bombed.

Shaked got what she wanted: the death toll in Gaza is nearing 100, one in four being children. Hundreds more have serious injuries in a place where hospitals have also been bombed and medical essentials are running out."

Hospitals and schools, huh.

And just why is it that the Pals have nothing? Do you think it may be because the expend so many of their resources on rocket launchers and stuff? Could it be this? This? This? Or this?

And perhaps, just perhaps, hospitals and schools are targeted because that's where Hamas chooses to launch their rockets from. Dingbat.