But according to Ha’aretz, PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad has reached a secret understanding with the Obama administration over US recognition of a unilateral palestinian declaration of independence within the 1967 borders, which would render any Israeli presence across the Green Line (including in Jerusalem), an illegal incursion to which the palestinians would be entitled to engage in measures of self-defense.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

9:45PM: Quote of the day:

“I wouldn’t be able to speak with Netanyahu so comfortably but I would speak comfortably with Bashir. I say comfortably “What you’ve done is wrong”. And I would say it to his face. Why? Because a Muslim couldn’t do such things. A Muslim could not commit genocide.”

- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan

6:25PM: Here’s Hamas’ response to Mofaz’s peace plan:

The Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip said Sunday that they would never negotiate with the “Zionist enemy”, hours after Kadima MK Shaul Mofaz presented a plan to hold talks with the group and establish a Palestinian state in 60 percent of the West Bank within one year.

In its official response, Hamas called Mofaz’s offer “Zionist vulgarity” and said it would never recognize Israel or give legitimacy to the occupation.

“Any negotiation with the Zionist enemy regarding rights and legitimate recognition would only give it further excuse to commit crimes,” said Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.

My spidey senses detect some Hamas opposition to his plan.

3:50PM: Today’s prize for Most Likely to Fail Math goes to..

A woman holds placard reading ‘US plus Israel equals a monkey’ as she joins hundreds of Islamist Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia movement members in an anti-US and anti-Israel rally in front of the US embassy in Jakarta on November 8, 2009.

2:56PM: Someone’s been drinking the foolade.

Knesset Member Shaul Mofaz (Kadima) on Sunday presented his plan for the establishment of a Palestinian state in temporary borders, saying such a plan is needed “because the relative calm is dangerous, and at its end hides a violent and bloody conflict.”

Speaking to reporters in Tel Aviv, Mofaz said, “If (Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu won’t implement this plan, I will do so when I become prime minister.”

The MK, a former IDF chief of staff, also said Israel should consider negotiating with Hamas.

“How can it be that six months have passed since Netanyahu’s Bar-Ilan address and there is still no plan in place?” Mofaz told the press conference. “If Hamas is elected and chooses to negotiate – Israel must conduct dialogue with any group that changes its behavior.

“Meanwhile, Hamas continues to prepare for the next round (of fighting). They must realize that if they plan to continue firing on communities, their fate will be sealed,” he said.

The main point of Mofaz’s plan is the establishment of a Palestinian state in temporary borders on 50% – 60% of the Palestinian territory in the West Bank, mainly in Area A and Area B, which are under Palestinian control. The next stage, according to the plan, will be negotiations on the core issues, including the future of Jerusalem, the Palestinian refugees and the permanent borders. Mofaz is opposed to dividing the capital.

Mofaz is willing to commit to the world, and even give guarantees, that the final Palestinian state will not be formed on less than 92% of the territory.

Brilliant! Negotiate with terrorists who are openly attacking us (and are known to negotiate short-term “ceasefires” to regroup before attacking us again), reward them for their terror and then warn them not to continue along this path. (Come to think of it, this is not much different than the Oslo process. We would just be negotiating with the terrorists who don’t wear the Armani suits).

Thankfully, Mofaz is not the Prime Minister and hopefully has little chance of being so after revealing his plan.

8:20AM: US President Barack Obama’s videotaped message for last night’s Yitzhak Rabin commemoration.

Many people – including yours truly – have noticed Obama’s statement “Israelis will not find true security while the Palestinians are gripped by hopelessness and despair.”  While I don’t agree that it justifies terror, it certainly does seem to attribute blame to Israel. It is also patently wrong – Israelis will not find true security while her neighbors hold on to dreams of removing her from the world map.

6:05AM: Hamas has commended the current Israeli government for its efforts in trying to reach a swap deal for Gilad Shalit.

But al-Zahar said Abbas’s resignation had nothing to do with talks on Shalit. “The current Israeli government is continuously occupying itself with a swap deal, in contrast with the previous government, which would send an envoy and then disappear for months,” he said.

Osama al-Muzaini, who is in charge of the talks for Hamas, was quoted as telling a newspaper run by the group that negotiators were currently studying the remaining issues.

He was further quoted as saying that the German mediator in the negotiations is both objective and serious.

Of course he’s serious. He’s German.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:58AM: A team of Israeli breast cancer researchers were denied entry into Egypt earlier this week, for a major conference sponsored by a leading breast cancer awareness group based in the US, despite having previously received the necessary clearances to attend the conference in Alexandria.

“It is absolutely intolerable for Israeli scientists and advocates to be excluded from a conference like this, apparently on the basis of their nationality,” said AJC Executive Director David Harris. “We urge the Egyptian government, and in particular the First Lady of Egypt, Suzanne Mubarak, who is the patron of this conference, to ensure that the Israeli delegates are permitted to enter the country. We urge the Susan G. Komen organization to make clear to the Egyptian authorities that such bigotry has no place in the global fight against a terrible disease which afflicts millions of women of all nationalities and groups.”

The conference, which takes place over the coming week, is also being supported by the Egyptian Ministry of Health and the United States Agency for International Development in Egypt. Israeli researchers, working at major centers like the Weizmann Institute of Science and the Hadassah Medical Center, have been at the forefront of attempts to fight breast cancer.

Peace!

9:35AM: Candid words from a Sudanese refugee in Israel.

In other news, there are Sudanese refugees in Israel.

9:28AM: Tough crowd:

Interior Minister Eli Yishai referred Thursday evening blamed Reform Judaism for the assimilation among Jews.

“Look what is happening with the Reform Jews because of the assimilation. They are disappearing,” Yishai told the Israeli Presidential Conference. He was booed by the audience, which was mostly comprised of American Jews.

9:22AM: Anti-Israel Protester of the Day: Woody Allen and Steve Urkel all rolled into one.

Security guards forcibly remove a protestor after he interrupted Ehud Olmert’s, former Prime Minister of Israel, lecture about the challenges of the Middle East and Israel-Palestinian peace process during a World Affairs Council event at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, Thursday Oct. 22, 2009. Over 20 protestors were removed from the lecture. (AP Photo/Russel A. Daniels)

Israeli Nobel Prize for chemistry laureate Professor Ada Yonath on Saturday said all Hamas prisoners held in Israel should be released in order to bring Gilad Shalit home.

“I don’t understand why we incarcerate them in Israel in the first place,” the professor told Army Radio Saturday.

She added that “all prisoners should be returned to Palestine regardless of a deal for Gilad Shalit’s release.”

Yonath was interviewed on the weekly Saturday radio show about her thoughts in general regarding the Middle East conflict and called for a “change in the status quo.” She said that holding Palestinians captive encourages and perpetuates their motivation to harm Israel and its citizens.

“If we hold Palestinian prisoners captive for years on end, their familys’ resentment for Israel will grow and we are actively creating terrorists,” the Nobel Laureate suggested.

She also said that if we cease from incarcerating Palestinians it will end soldier abductions. “Once we don’t have any prisoners to release they will have no reason to kidnap soldiers.”

Yonath described many Palestinian lives as having “no hope for the future,” and said that “in a state of such despair they have every reason to jump at the opportunity to better their prospects for a better afterlife.”

Either this woman has spent way too much in the laboratory, isolated from real life, or she is gunning for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:42PM: PA President Mahmoud Abbas has said he instructed the palestinian envoy at the United Nations’ Human Rights Council to request an urgent meeting to discuss the Goldstone report “in order to prosecute those who perpetrated crimes against our children and our women.”

He has also tried to explain why he agreed to have the Goldstone Report passed on to the next UN Security Council session in six months.

The president, who has been under serious scrutiny from Hamas and many other bodies in the Arab world, tried to explain Palestinian “folding” that some called a “betrayal of martyrs’ blood”.

According to Abbas, the Palestinians originally agreed to have the Goldstone Report passed on to the next UN Security Council session in six months, “following attempts by various bodies to change the original version of the resolution. These changes would have emptied the report of its content and would have harmed efforts to condemn and accuse those responsible of war crimes.”

He said, “Following estimates that the report would not be passed in the current session, we decided to agree to have it deferred to the next session, and this cannot be turned into part of the political provacations.”

I call BS on Abbas since:

• It is not hard to call BS on someone who constantly lies
• If this was the real reason, he would have immediately justified his decision on these grounds. It is therefore likely his decision was in fact based on grounds he could not disclose to his people, and this justification has been invented to placate his people in the wake of their harsh reaction

I’m guessing that he agreed to have the Goldstone Report passed on to the next UN Security Council session in six months since he and his Fatah party pushed for Israel to go ahead with Operation Cast Lead and deal a huge blow to Hamas, which is something Israel had threatened to expose unless he withdraw his support for an adoption of the report.

If I’m right, the PA may just have bitten of its nose to spite its face. Unless the US has asked Israel to refrain from weakening the PA by revealing the facts.

8:28PM: This next story is likely to put you off bananas for good.

7:52PM: This next bit of Israeli ingenuity may not win a Nobel Prize, but I’m lovin’ it.

British film director Ken Loach may oppose promoting Israeli movies at international festivals, but his films are actually going to do just that: Nurit Shani, CEO of Lev Cinemas and Films, announced on Wednesday that the profits from the local distribution of Loach’s new film “Looking for Eric” will be dedicated to the  distribution of Israeli films both in Israel  and abroad.

“In recent years, Ken Loach has voiced a number of criticisms against Israel and its policies,” Shani said before the premiere screening of the film at the Haifa International Film Festival.

“I believe it is any artist’s right to express his opinion, and I have therefore always given his films a screen. Unfortunately, in the past year I discovered that Ken Loach himself does not share my views. The original artist, who I considered a great humanist, has turned out to be a man who does not believe in freedom of expression for people whose opinions oppose his own.

“An artist that that has not read or did not understand Voltaire. An artist that does everything in his power to silence his colleagues, Israeli directors, from speaking their mind and from having Israeli films screened around the world.”

In the past year, Loach led that protest against the Edinburgh International Film Festival, whose organizers chose to screen the Israeli film “Surrogate” with financial support from the Israeli embassy.

Loach later took part in a protest against the “City to City” program at the Toronto International Film Festival focusing on films about Tel Aviv.

Shani said she has been bringing Loach’s films to Israel for almost 20 years, but could not hide her disgust with his latest actions. “I view his deeds as an act of hypocrisy, a burning slap in the face of democracy and the humanistic spirit of his films. His movies are of a great director, but his actions are of a small person,” she said.

As a result, Shani decided to donate the profit from “Looking for Eric”, and from his next film, to the distribution of Israeli films abroad. “I believe the way to fight the silencing – and there is no other way to define Loach’s actions other then attempts to silence – is to ensure that the Israeli voice, the Israeli creativity that is so diverse and fascinating, be heard load and clear, in Israel and in the world,” she said.

I think this calls for unleashing the Nelson.

4:24PM: Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon’s briefing to the Foreign Press on the Goldstone Report.

3:42PM: Quote of the day:

“What is the difference between blowing up a bus in Tel Aviv and taking over Palestinian land?”

- Mohammed Dahlan of our “peace partners” Fatah

Leaving aside the issue of whether or not we actually took over land belonging to palestinians, how can anyone with an ounce of morality ask that question?

3:38PM: Turkey has announced the cancellation of an international air force drill, which was to include Israeli, as well as US, Italian and NATO forces, because the planes that Israel was going to send likely bombed Hamas targets during Operation Cast Lead.

But not to worry! Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan thinks we are great at making money.

And some of his best friends are Jewish..

9:55AM: Interesting video on the plight of Muslim Sudanese refugees who have fled to Israel from the genocide of Darfur.

6:22AM: Holy technical error, Batman!

The Guardian was forced to amend an article on past Nobel Peace Prize winners on its Web site on Friday after it omitted the names of Israel’s prize winners.

Following the announcement of US President Barack Obama’s winning the 2009 prize, an article written by the newspaper’s news editor Simon Rogers listed the names of all Nobel Peace prize winners since the awards inception in 1909. However, all of Israel’s prize winners – Menachem Begin, Yizhak Rabin and Shimon Peres – were omitted.

In the 1978 entry, Menachem Begin’s name was missing, with only Egyptian president Anwar Sadat listed. The same error occurred in the 1994 entry with Yasser Arafat the only entry and Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres missing.

The omission led to a number of frenzied entries in the article’s comment section.

In a statement on Friday, the newspaper blamed the mistake on a “technical issue,” saying the names was accidentally omitted.

“For the Nobel Peace Prize winners list, we used data from nobelprize.org. However, there was a technical issue during the data transfer from the site, which meant that many of the names of the joint winners of the Nobel Peace Prize were accidentally omitted, although the country of origin of the winners was not. This has now been corrected,” a Guardian spokesperson said.

The article’s author, Simon Rogers, also posted an entry online: “It’s my fault, I’m afraid. I decided where there was more than one winner to put the joint one in the second column. Unfortunately, this caused a few problems, which we’ve now rectified. Please let me know if you spot any other missing names.”

Although the Israeli winners are never mentioned first on the Nobel Peace Prize list, I find it hard to believe that this is a mere technical error, especially given the Guardian’s reputation for being anti-Israel. Besides, these “technical errors” always seem to be to the detriment of Israel.

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According to the British Times, when Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu recently did his best David Copperfield impersonation and briefly “disappeared” – in what turned out to be a (not so) secret trip to Russia – he gave the Kremlin a list of Russian scientists that Israel believes are helping Iran develop nuclear warheads, and factual evidence.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:18PM: She certainly didn’t waste any time.

Israel has released a 20th Palestinian woman prisoner as promised in exchange for a short videotape proving that captured soldier Gilad Shalit is alive.

On arriving home in the Gaza Strip, former prisoner Rawda Habib urged Palestinian factions to capture more soldiers in order to exert more pressure on Israel to release Palestinians from its prisons.

Then again, it’s what you would come to expect from a prospective suicide bomber.

8:24PM: Virginia Native American leader Chief Annie Richardson has told Israeli National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau that American Indians support the State of Israel and its G-d-given right to the Land of Israel.

“We believe that G-d has given you this land and we want you to fight for it,” Richardson told Landau. She presented him with a traditional Native American headdress and a bow and arrow, as “a token of the affection of the Native American nations for Israel.”

Richardson asserted that her organization, which represents dozens of Native American nations in North America, is fully behind Israel. The minister thanked the Native American chief and presented her with a collection of ancient Judean coins.

3:18PM: Israeli police have closed the Temple Mount for fear of Arab riots.

In response, the Arabs have rioted.  Who saw that coming?

The Jerusalem Police on Sunday morning closed the Temple Mount to visitors and Muslim worshippers for fear of riots. According to the police, the holy site was shut down following calls in east Jerusalem to “come protect the Mount.” Senior Fatah member Hatem Abdel Kader (appropriate name – ed) was detained for questioning.

Shortly after the Mount was closed, some 150 Arabs began hurling empty bottles at police forces in the Old City. The rioters were dispersed to the Wadi Joz neighborhood, where they continued to hurl stones. Two police officers were lightly injured by stones, and three rioters were arrested.

Meanwhile, how is this for respecting the religion of others?

Dozens of worshippers arrived at the al-Aqsa Mosque. The mosque’s manager, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, called on the Arab and Muslim nations and on international organizations on Sunday morning to “curb the extreme right-wing government which has failed to restrain the radical groups dreaming of placing an imaginary cornerstone for their imaginary temple.

That is coming from the mosque’s manager (as an aside, do you think he wears one of those these?) Imagine if the Muslims were still in control of the Old City as they were pre-1967.

Meanwhile, the palestinian Ma’an News agency is treating the riots like acne – they are just clashes that “erupted.”

12:00PM: Israel reportedly knows exactly where Gilad Shalit is being held, but is not willing to storm the place for fear of risking Gilad’s life.

In a separate story, Asharq al-Awsat quoted a senior Israeli defense official as saying that Israel knows exactly where Shalit is being held captive, and that the location is under constant Israeli surveillance.

According to the report, the official said that if Israel so desired it could take the risk and storm the place, but the fear that Shalit might get hurt is preventing Israel from launching such an operation.

Hamas is aware of the fact that Israel knows where Shalit is held, the paper reported, and has consequently surrounded the location with explosives. Hamas has also issued a directive to kill Shalit if an Israeli attack is sensed, the paper said.

The paper said these remarks were made during an informal discussion surrounding the prisoner exchange talks.

Asharq al-Awsat further reported that one of the individuals present in the discussion said “Since we knew exactly where the secret Iranian nuclear reactor was before any Western intelligence body, and we knew about the Syrian reactor, is it logical that we wouldn’t know where Shalit is?”

7:24AM: On Friday, I posted the recently released video of Gilad Shalit. Unfortunately, it was apparently taken down.

Here’s Take Two, this time with English captions.

The source added that the decision appears to be based on pressure from the Obama administration, exerted by way of U.S. representatives in Geneva, as well as through contacts between Washington and Ramallah.

The Obama administration has told the Palestinians that a renewal of the peace process must come before any diplomatic initiatives based on the Goldstone report, or any other initiatives that could stifle efforts to renew Israel-PA negotiations.

If this is true, it would seem to indicate that the Obama administration agrees with Bibi that adoption of the Goldstone report would be a blow for the so-called peace process.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

4:46PM: The family of abducted IDFsoldier Gilad Shalit has approved the broadcast of video footage of their son. So I am posting it here now.

With the Sabbath/Sukkot soon approaching, I do not have time to post a full translation. But here is what Ynet reported.

In the tape, Shalit says: “Hello, this is Gilad, son of Noam and Aviva Shalit, brother of Hadas and Yoel who live in Mitzpe Hila. My ID number is 97027.

As you can see I am holding today’s Falasteen newspaper published in Gaza

I read the newspaper in order to find information about myself, and in hopes of reading about information of my return home and my imminent release.”

Gilad then continues: “I hope the current government headed by Benjamin Netanyahu doesn’t waste this opportunity to reach an agreement and as a result, allow me to fulfill my dream and be released.”

The Israeli media report he sounds lucid and looks healthy. I am not so sure about the healthy part (he looks really pale and thin to me), but at least he is alive.

May he be released speedily. Preferably without Israel having to give up even one more terrorist, and with heavy terrorist casualties.

1:42PM: PM Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and senior IDF officers have viewed the videotape of Gilad Shalit received in exchange for releasing female palestinian terrorists. According to reports, the videotape is over two minutes long, and shows Shalit to be lucid and in good health.

11:42AM: Israeli scientists have developed a more lethal version of our Zionist Death Pigs ^TM, which in addition to being able to distinguish between palestinians and Israelis, release deadly Swine Flu and break into houses, can now stuff their victims in to their own body parts.

Medical sources at the Jenin governmental Hospital reported that 75 year-old Khaled Mustapha Al-Kilany from Nazlah Zeid village near Ya’bod village southwest Jenin was taken to Hospital after being attacked by a wild pig Thursday.

Zeid’s relatives said he sustained bruises all over his body and may also suffer from internal bleeding after the pig attacked him in front of his home. The farmer in all his body parts after being attacked by the wild pig where he was standing in front of his house.

Meanwhile, palestinians have changed their “the pigs are deliberately released to attack us” narrative to a “it’s because of the separation fence” narrative. Which means you have to be Goldstone-gullible to believe them.

10:05AM: Today’s must-read: Retired major general Jim Molan, chief of operations of the Iraq multinational force in 2004-05, on the Goldstone Report (hat tip: Barry Rubin).

Richard Goldstone, a prominent South African jurist, claims in The New York Times that he hesitatingly accepted his UN mandate to investigate the three-week December-January war between Hamas and Israel because he was taking on something “deeply charged and politically loaded”. Many states considered this mandate one-sided. Prominent individuals offered the view that it was more about politics than human rights. Goldstone was wise to hesitate, but he took the mission that will forever bear his name.

The Goldstone report was the product of the Gaza fact-finding mission, which could never have been a judicial mission, given the inclusion of publicly biased members. Still, despite a lack of co-operation from key parties, notably Israel, Goldstone’s mission reached the conclusion that Israel was guilty of directing its military operations, at least in part, “at the people of Gaza as a whole”. The reaction has been to drive all parties even further into their corners and has contributed very little clarity to the big issues.

Goldstone claims he has a deep belief in the law of war and that civilians “should to the greatest extent possible be protected from harm”. He states that Israel “could have done more to spare civilians” who died from “disproportionate attacks”. The Israeli military, he claimed, repeatedly “failed to adequately distinguish between combatants and civilians, as the law strictly requires”. And he concludes that Israel should have refrained from attacking “clearly civilian buildings and from actions that might have resulted in a military advantage but at the cost of too many civilian lives”.

The way that Goldstone frames these statements in his article should lead us to question how he confidently reached a guilty verdict. The law of war is rightly full of the kind of restricting concepts mentioned above. A formal example is Article 51(5)(b) of Protocol I, which prohibits “an attack which may be expected to cause incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians, damage to civilian objects, or a combination thereof, which would be excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated”.

Is this modified and reasonable statement the discrimination that the judge says “the law strictly requires”?

The just war principles emerged as society moved towards a less dark age, and include conflict that is morally justified. We can all have an opinion on how just the Israeli attack on Hamas was, but it remains an opinion shaped by our prejudices. Jurists of the just war era even differentiated between the commentator and the statesman, acknowledging that the statesman has an obligation to deal with threats to their citizens, not just talk about them. Goldstone is no statesman in this sense, he is the commentator.

The law of war is a body of rules regulating the conduct of states and combatants engaged in armed hostilities, drawing heavily from the Hague and Geneva conventions, as well as numerous agreements that limit the means and conduct of hostilities. This body of law often speaks in terms of attacker and defender.

When I was involved in military operations in the second year of the Iraq war, working with the US military, I found it useful to reduce the legal regime to several key concepts. Every offensive action I took had to be necessary for military reasons, not result in unnecessary suffering, was amenable to distinction between military and civil people and property, and did not cause destruction or suffering disproportionate to the expected military gain, even against legitimate military targets. I satisfied myself that I achieved these and I satisfied the system that scrutinised every action I took. I probably never will convince those who have on occasions publicly, ignorantly and incorrectly associated me with war crimes.

Our adversary in Iraq consistently ignored all humanitarian law as well as the laws of war, particularly the blatant abuse of medical facilities and places of worship. Our adversary’s major strategy was to blow the arms and legs off innocent women and children at times calculated to fit the need of the world’s media networks. This was an immorality of strategy that was breathtaking, exercised not just once or twice, but over years. Despite the nature of our enemy, we realised that our right to injure even our enemy was limited.

But the defender also has obligations. He cannot exploit these laws by deliberately commingling his fighters with civilians, as Hamas admits it did. This violates the most basic principle of the law of war. However, should our opponents do this, the attacker is not relieved of all legal obligations: we still had to comply with proportionality principles and refrain from attacks likely to result in civilian damage excessive in relation to military gain.

Let us not forget that it is very common for our adversaries, be they al-Qa’ida or Hamas, to exploit legal constraints for their strategic or tactical gain. Proportionality is always an issue, but to see Hamas as David to the Israeli Goliath, and to then feel undue empathy for David while blaming everything on Goliath, is to distort the complexity of each position. For example, I would argue that to comply with the law of war it is essential that if a combatant possesses the precision-guided munitions that the report seemed to see as unfair, he is obligated to use those because they discriminate.

Inherent in the principle of protecting the civilian population is a requirement that civilians not be used to render areas immune from military operations. A party to a conflict that chooses to use its civilian population for military purposes violates its obligation to protect its own civilians. It should not complain (but of course it will) when inevitably, although regrettable, civilian casualties result.

With experience of having to tread through this legal and moral minefield while acting as an agent of the statesman who has an obligation to act, I was looking forward to how Goldstone was going to react to questions such as: How much discrimination is enough? How much of the inevitable killing of innocents is too much? How do we equate our complex war aims with the use of military force against a terrorist organisation that flouts the rule of law? How do you assess in legal terms the proportionality of a war between a terrorist force and one of the world’s most advanced militaries? If one side uses backyard rockets is the other side not allowed to use precision-guided missiles? Do three Israelis killed and hundreds wounded by backyard rockets equal 1000 Gazans killed by Israeli actions? Given the legal regime recognises the difficulty of military decision-making amid the fog of war, and thus obligates planners and commanders to base decisions on information reasonably available at the time, how did the report handle this issue?

On these and many other questions, the Goldstone report is strangely silent, a luxury that I did not have in Iraq, and a luxury that the Israeli commanders probably did not have in Gaza.

The Goldstone report is an opinion by one group of people putting forward their judgments, with limited access to the facts, and reflecting their own prejudices. The difference in tone and attitude in the report when discussing Israeli and Hamas actions is surprising.

I probably do not need to state for most readers that as a soldier who has run a war against an opponent not dissimilar to Hamas, facing problems perhaps similar to those faced by Israeli commanders, my sympathies tend to lie with the Israelis. I can hold and openly declare those prejudices even while I acknowledge that within institutions that may be overall just and moral, there can be individuals or small groups who act outside the law. They must be dealt with, and in my war, they were.

But having stated my prejudice, I think I may be more honest than Goldstone, who seems to pass off his prejudices in a report that cannot be based on fact, and uses judicial language and credibility to do so. It comes down to equality of scepticism: if you refuse to believe anything the Israelis say, then you have no right to unquestioningly accept what Hamas says.

Goldstone is a former chief prosecutor for war-crime tribunals on Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. Perhaps it is easier to come to a judicial decision with some integrity in such circumstances, than it is to examine the Israeli and Hamas roles in the last Gaza war. This kind of report, with all its biases, is one of the reasons why the US did not subject its military to the International Criminal Court. But Australia did.

As George Walden recently wrote in Britain’s The Times, “Morality minus practicality is pious grandstanding, something best left to pop stars and theatre folk.” And perhaps to the UN.

9:05AM: PA negotiator Saeb “Massacre” Erekat has denied reports the PA decided to withdraw its bid to adopt the Goldstone report on alleged war crimes in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead.

Given Erekat’s love-hate relationship with the truth (he loves to hate it), I take this as confirmation the PA has withdrawn its bid.

7:15AM: Today’s news of a possible Gilad Shalit release comes to us courtesy of the Jerusalem Post, in the wake of the 20-terrorists-for-Shalit-videotape exchange.

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Hamasholes have promised Egyptian negotiators they will deliver a Book of Psalms sent to Gilad Shalit from Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

Assuming they live up to their promise (itself a big assumption), this will be another benefit of yesterday’s announced (lopsided) terrorist-for-videotape exchange deal, which put the going rate for a palestinian at around one shekel.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

8:25PM: Bibi’s a Zayde!

7:57PM: Chutzpah, Hamas style.

The mother of Fatima al-Zag, a Palestinian female imprisoned in a Zionist jail, burst with joyful ululation as soon as she heard Hamas movement’s announcement that her daughter will be one of 20 females prisoners that will be released soon.

—-

Fatima al-Zag, better known as Om Mahmoud, 40 years old, mother of four children, was kidnapped by Zionist security forces at Erez crossing between Gaza Strip and the occupied in May 2007. She had been pregnant at that time and she gave birth to her fourth baby boy Youssef in a Zionist hospital in January, this year.

Youssef stayed with her custody as she was in prison, where he became the youngest prisoner in the world. Mohamed al-Zag said his wife Fatima was kidnapped as she was coming back with her nephew who had a surgery at a Zionist hospital in 2007.

Ahh yes. At the time she was “kidnapped,” she just happened to be on her way to perpetrating a suicide bombing, something that would have also ensured young Youssef would never make it to “youngest prisoner in the world.”

6:55PM: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu stating the consequences of the international community endorsing the Goldstone Report:

1:12PM: Shame on the Red Cross, for seeming to care way more about the soon-to-be-released palestinian terrorists (most of whom don’t have blood on their hands for the sole reason they were caught in time) than kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Two Red Cross representatives arrived at the Hasharon Prison Thursday, to interview the 19 female Palestinian prisoners scheduled to be released in exchange for a proof of life video of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit.

Marc Linning, who oversees the Red Cross division charged with the welfare of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, told Ynet that the visit is expected to last about two hours and is meant to ensure that none of the women fear persecution upon returning to their homes.

The Red Cross, he added, must ensure that they do not fear for their safety and that they return to their townships of their own accord. Released prisoners, he said, “Sometimes experience harsher things outside of prison.”

Lining further said that the Red Cross will monitor the women’s reintegration in society, and if need be, provide them with the necessary documentation proving they were in an Israeli prison.

When asked why no Red Cross delegate has been to see Gilad Shalit, Lining said that the situation of the Hamas-held solider was “entirely different.

8:38AM: The palestinians expect the United Nations Human Rights Council to agree to pass the Goldstone Report on to the UN General Assembly in New York, and possibly on to the Security Council.

8:10AM: Here’s the latest interview with Richard Goldstone. Pay special attention to the following:

• Goldstone insisting that the report has opened up a huge debate within Israel (which is not at all my impression; if anything, there is a consensus that the report is one-sided, with even the likes of B’tselem and David Landau, former editor-in-chief of Ha’aretz, criticizing it)
• Goldstone claiming the IDF intentionally targeted civilian sites!
• Goldstone speaking about the Hamas courts system, all the time with a straight face

6:30AM: From the palestinian Ma’an News agency:

Judging by the picture, I’d speculate he was also impersonating a middle aged man.

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How bad is the Goldstone Report? Israeli human rights group B’tselem – no strangers to criticizing Israel – has attacked some of the report’s key findings.

The UN Human Rights Council and the Goldstone Report are either biased or mistaken in some of their fundamental accusations against Israel, according to B’tselem human rights group director Jessica Montell.

She said the council was wrong in its gravest accusations against Israel. These include the claim that Israel intentionally targeted the civilian population rather than Hamas, and the “weak, hesitant way that the report mentions Hamas’s strategy of using civilians [in combat].”

But, she added, Israel could have avoided such a report had it conducted “a thorough investigation” of Cast Lead itself, something which B’tselem continues to urge on Israel’s leaders.

“Israel has only itself to blame” for its failure to investigate the accusations of abuses during January’s Operation Cast Lead that led to the report, according to Montell.

“There’s no question that the HRC, which mandated the Goldstone [fact-finding mission into the Gaza fighting], has an inappropriate, disproportionate fixation with Israel,” she said.

She added that the council was “a political body made up of diplomats, not human rights experts, which means that the powerful states are never going to come under scrutiny the way the powerless will. So China, Russia and the US will never have commissions of inquiry, regardless of how their crimes rank relative to Israeli crimes.”

As has the frequently critical of Israel The Economist.

Even the international magazine The Economist, which has stridently criticized Israeli actions in the West Bank and Gaza in the past, said the report’s conclusions were unfairly critical of Israel.

“The report takes the very thing it is investigating as its central organizing premise,” the magazine opined just days after the mid-September publication of the report.

“Israeli policy in Gaza, it argues, was deliberately and systematically to inflict suffering on civilians, rather than Hamas fighters. Israel’s assertions that, in the difficult circumstances of densely populated Gaza, it planned its military operations carefully and with constant legal advice are taken by the report as evidence not of a concern to uphold international law but of a culpable determination to flout it,” the magazine said.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

10:58PM: Here is the statement by human rights scholar Anne Bayefsky on the Goldstone Report at the Human Rights Council yesterday (posted earlier, but removed after the video was made private).

8:34PM: The New York Knicks will be hosting Maccabi Tel Aviv in an exhibition game for the second time in three years. Proceeds from the game will benefit Migdal Ohr, the world’s largest orphanage.

Last time the two teams played almost two years ago, the result was so one-sided (112-85), Richard Goldstone was asked to investigate.

8:08PM: Oh Jerusalem Post, get your freakin’ picture-caption thing-a-me-bob fixed already!

7:44PM: Yesterday, I posted about Dr. Mirella Sidrer, the Israeli woman severely injured by a Grad rocket who ripped Richard Goldstone for excluding her testimony from his final report .

You can view the aforementioned ripping here, and Goldstone’s response here.

5:16PM: Here’s a list of the 20 soon-to-be-released palestinian women prisoners.

Ayat Qaisi – attempted murder

Rujina Riyad Muhammad Jenajra – conspiracy to commit a crime and attempted murder

Rima abu-Ayesha – affiliation with an illegal organization

Heba Asaad Khaleel al-Natsha – attempted murder

Abdullah Khalil –assault on a military official and carrying a knife with intent to harm

Maymona Jabbarin – indicted for attempted murder and carrying a knife with intent to harm. Remanded for duration of proceedings

Jihad abu-Turki – attempted murder and carrying a knife with intent to harm

Bara’ah Malki – attempted murder and carrying a knife with intent to harm

Bukhari Muhammad Saleh Layla – attempted murder

Fatema Yunis Azzeq – indicted for illegal military training, carrying a firearm, attempted murder. Remanded for duration of proceedings.

Neveen Khalil Abdallah Daka – attempted murder

Kifah Bahash – assault on a military official

Linan Yussef Mussa Hanani Abu Gholma – carrying a firearm and attempted murder

Shereen Muhammad Khalil Hassan – attempted murder

Sana Hajajre Salah – attempted murder and carrying a knife with intent to harm

Manal Ziad Muhammad Raja Saba’nah – attempted murder and carrying a knife with intent to harm

Hamdan Abd Jiyad Zuhur – attempted murder

Baid Ahmed Yusuf Hiyam – affiliation with an illegal organization

Nahada Farhat da’areh, indicted for assault on a military official, carrying a knife with intent to harm. Remanded for duration of proceedings.

Nagua Abdelgani – indicted for affiliation with an illegal organization, public disorder. Remanded for duration of proceedings.

Seems like a lovely bunch.

5:12PM: The Jerusalem Post report to which I linked above has been inexplicably toned down.

At the time of my post, it was titled” B’Tselem: Goldstone report is wrong.”

Now, it is titled “Israel at fault for not probing self”

The emphasis of the article has also shifted away from B’Tselem’s problems with the Goldstone Report to their problems with Israel’s conduct.

What’s the bet B’Tselem contacted the Jerusalem Post and demanded the changes?

3:30PM:

Relatives of Fatima Younis Zaq, a Palestinian prisoner held in an Israeli jail, celebrate at her home in Gaza City, September 30, 2009, after receiving news of her upcoming release. Israel will free 20 Palestinian women, one of them Younis Zaq, from jail as early as Friday in exchange for a videotape from Hamas proving an Israeli soldier held in the Gaza Strip since 2006 is alive, officials on both sides said on Wednesday.

The average person seeing this photo and caption may feel happy for the released prisoner and her relieved family, and may be wondering why on earth Israel would imprison this woman.

That’s why I’m here.

In the wake of precise intelligence information, the Israel Security Agency (ISA), on 20 May 2007, at the Erez crossing, arrested two Palestinian women, who admitted to planning to perpetrate a double suicide bombing in crowded places (restaurants, events halls or any locality with a large concentration of soldiers) in Tel Aviv and Netanya. They further admitted that they were guided by Islamic Jihad, which exploited Israel’s humanitarian policy – the two had received medical entry permits into Israel under false pretenses.

Fatima Younes Hassan Zaq, 39, a resident of Gaza, mother of eight children and pregnant with her ninth, had been responsible for an Islamic Jihad Gaza women’s labor office for four years. She had been in contact with Islamic Jihad terrorists and coordinated contacts on their behalf with women who had volunteered to be suicide bombers.

Approximately three months ago, her niece, Rawda Ibrahim Younes Habib, 30, a resident of Gaza and mother of four children, sought her assistance in perpetrating a suicide attack. Zaq, who decided to participate in the attack as well, contacted her Islamic Jihad liaison, who aided the two women in putting their plan into operation.

The two women attended several of their meetings with Islamic Jihad terrorists accompanied by several of their children. Zaq’s 19-year-old son, also an Islamic Jihad terrorist, was present as the two women were photographed – holding copies of the Quran and weapons – before setting out.

In order for Zaq and Habib to enter Israel, an Islamic Jihad terrorist obtained an authentic entry permit which indicated that Habib was due to undergo medical tests at a Ramallah hospital, with Zaq as her attending relative. The terrorist also instructed the two to go to the hospital and actually undergo the test in order to cover their story.

The two women were then instructed to inform Islamic Jihad in Gaza. They were told that an operative would meet them in Ramallah, provide them with explosive belts, and accompany them into Israel. Before leaving Gaza, Zaq and Habib trained in operating explosive belts and in firing an AK-47. They were also instructed on what clothing to wear in order to allay suspicions.

A mother of eight children and pregnant with her ninth, willing to kill innocent people (including her unborn child) and ruin the lives of her living children. They don’t get much more depraved than that.

1:15PM: From the Department of Lopsided Deals:

Israel’s Security Cabinet has approved the release of 20 female Palestinian prisoners and detainees in exchange for proof that captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit held in the Gaza Strip is alive.

If I was a palestinian, I’d be offended that my leaders place such a small value on our lives (proof of 1 Israeli life = 20 palestinian lives)

1:12PM: Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu is set to present a proposal to his cabinet tomorrow for the establishment of an investigative committee to probe the findings of the Goldstone report.

No, not to investigate IDF conduct during Operation Cast Lead, but to examine how Goldstone arrived at his erroneous conclusions.

Top officials in Jerusalem have stated that the report is full of lies and distortions, which demand an examination of how Goldstone arrived at his conclusions.

Sources in Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s bureau denied Wednesday reports that Barak had called for the establishment of an investigative committee into the Goldstone report, but confirmed that Barak asked former Israel Chief Justice Aharon Barak to support efforts to challenge the UN report’s findings.

12:30PM: Joke of the day: Although, I’m not laughing.

Libya, Iran Accuse Israel of ‘Genocide’ at U.N. Human Rights Council

Israel was in the dock at the U.N. Human Rights Council Tuesday, as nation after nation praised as “balanced” and “objective” a report accusing the Jewish state of war crimes during its offensive against Hamas in Gaza last winter.

Envoys for Iran and Libya added “genocide” to the charge sheet, although the head of a fact finding mission that compiled the document, South African Judge Richard Goldstone, said later that doing so was “misuse of our report.”

The delegations taking part in an “interactive dialogue” following Goldstone’s presentation of the report in Geneva fell into two broad categories, reflecting the divisions that have long characterized the world body’s top human rights organ.

Countries representing the Arab, Islamic, African and “non-aligned” blocs pressed for support for a resolution at the Human Rights Council (HRC) this week endorsing the recommendations of the Goldstone report “in full.

Notice how the nations endorsing the report’s recommendations are those with the worst human rights records in the world.

9:25AM: Yesterday, I posted this claim by the JIDF blog that my Facebook account, amongst others, was marked for deactivation. Given that I had not heard anything from Facebook, I treated this claim with skepticism, as I do all unsubstantiated claims.

Well today, lo and behold, my account has been deactivated, despite my not having received any warning about it from Facebook.

I’m currently considering my options.

6:15AM: Here is the US’ troubling reaction to the Report at the same UNHRC session.

Notice how they are asking Israel to probe possible war crimes, just like Hamas.

5:55AM: Yesterday, a British court rejected a petition urging an arrest warrant for Defense Minister Ehud Barak since he committed “war crimes” during Operation Cast Lead, on the grounds he enjoys diplomatic immunity and therefore cannot be prosecuted. But the lawyer who orchestrated the petition has vowed to continue pursuing legal action against any Israeli official who arrives in the UK.

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The media reported that a letter written by IDF soldier Gilad Shalit just months after being taken captive by palestinian terrorists was released to them.

To my mother and father, brothers and friends, I send you Shalom.

My health is deteriorating daily, I am especially struggling emotionally and this is causing me much depression. I am waiting for this intolerable human nightmare to end and to be released from the closed and isolated prison, especially since my 20th birthday has gone by, which I had hoped we would celebrate together.

I appeal to my government, and especially Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and defense Minister Amir Peretz, to do everything in their power to release me as soon as possible because every day that goes by hurts me more, and to consent to the requests of mujahideen that detained me from within a tank near Kerem Abu Salem. I hope you will do everything so that I can celebrate Rosh Hashana and Sukkot at home.

The prisoner in the hands of the Palestinian mujahideen,

Gilad Shalit

Captured on 06.25.06

The contents of the letter looks very similar to that of the recorded message posted on the Hamas website a year after his abduction.

Meanwhile, the geniuses at Ynet posit that “in light of the many Arab phrases used [the letter] was probably dictated to the soldier by his captors.”

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

11:54PM: Wow.

A local district court in the West German city of Bochum fined a student 300 Euros on Wednesday for displaying an Israel flag at a demonstration organized by Muslim organizations against the IDF Operation Cast Lead in January. According to Der Westen, a regional paper in Bochum, the public prosecutor termed the Israeli flag as “provoking” within a special situation.

What are you willing to bet that if a Muslim displayed a palestinian flag at a pro-Israel protest, there would be no fine?

11:20PM: Yesterday, I (and a number of other bloggers) posted about anti-Israel HRW investigator Marc Garlasco, who has a thing for Nazi memorabilia.

HRW has left the following response in the comments sections of a number of blogs (not including Israellycool):

Several blogs and others critical of Human Rights Watch have suggested that Marc Garlasco, Human Rights Watch’s longtime senior military advisor, is a Nazi sympathizer because he collects German (as well as American) military memorabilia. This accusation is demonstrably false and fits into a campaign to deflect attention from Human Rights Watch’s rigorous and detailed reporting on violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by the Israeli government. Garlasco has co-authored several of our reports on violations of the laws of war, including in Afghanistan, Georgia, and Iraq, as well as by Israel, Hamas, and Hezbollah.

Garlasco has never held or expressed Nazi or anti-Semitic views.

Garlasco’s grandfather was conscripted into the German armed forces during the Second World War, like virtually all young German men at the time, and served as a radar operator on an anti-aircraft battery. He never joined the Nazi Party, and later became a dedicated pacifist. Meanwhile, Garlasco’s great-uncle was an American B-17 crewman, who survived many attacks by German anti-aircraft gunners.

Garlasco own family’s experience on both sides of the Second World War has led him to collect military items related to both sides, including American 8th Air Force memorabilia and German Air Force medals and other objects (not from the Nazi Party or the SS, as falsely alleged). Many military historians, and others with an academic interest in the Second World War, including former and active-duty US service members, collect memorabilia from that era.

Garlasco is the author of a monograph on the history of German Air Force and Army anti-aircraft medals and a contributor to websites that promote serious historical research into the Second World War (and which forbid hate speech). In the foreword he writes of telling his daughters that “the war was horrible and cruel, that Germany lost and for that we should be thankful.”

To imply that Garlasco’s collection is evidence of Nazi sympathies is not only absurd but an attempt to deflect attention from his deeply felt efforts to uphold the laws of war and minimize civilian suffering in wartime. These falsehoods are an affront to Garlasco and thousands of other serious military historians.

HRW are (deliberately?) missing the point. The question raised by his Nazi obsession is valid: is there a connection between his Israel bashing and his obsession with memorabilia  associated with Jew-hating mass-murderers?

Imagine for a second if someone claiming to be objective had a penchant for collecting IDF memorabilia. If this person came out repeatedly with reports favorable to Israel, wouldn’t people have reason to question their objectivity?

You also have to question how someone working for a human rights organization – and claiming to really care about people – can look at Nazi memorabilia and not feel repulsed.

These are valid questions, and HRW’s informal response is nowhere near adequate.

Meanwhile, here is a photo of Garlasco wearing an Iron Cross sweatshirt, which he posted on a forum.

The photo triggers the following comments:

Skip: Love the sweatshirt Mark. Not one I could wear here in germany though (well I could but it would be a lot of hassle)

Garlasco: Everyone thinks it is a biker shirt!

Skip: Yeh, were you come from but imagine walking around in Berlin with “das Eisene Kreuz” written across your cheat. Either you get beaten to pulp by a group of rampaging Turks or the police arrest you on suspicion of being a Nazi

8:30PM: Speaking about anti-Judaism reports, Ynet does the BBC proud with this one.

Twenty-four-year-old David Mansharov was stabbed to death overnight Wednesday during a brawl between yeshiva students in Netanya.

Two suspects, Avi Ben-Naim (22) and Yitzhak Hanuka (25), have been arrested in connection with the stabbing. The court extended their remand by eight days.

The victim and the suspects all studied and lived at Rabbi Amos Gueta’s yeshiva, located near the scene of the crime.

Officers who arrived at the scene at around 4:30 am found the victim laying in critical condition in an open area near residential buildings on Professor Shor Street in Netanya’s Neve Herzl neighborhood. He was evacuated to Laniado Hospital, where he was declared dead shortly after arrival.

A black kippah and a blunt object, which was apparently used to kill Mansharov, were found at the scene. Police apprehended the two suspects during a search of the area.

Investigators said the three yeshiva students are known to police, and estimated that the fight erupted following an ongoing argument over a halachic ruling.

Neighbors who witnessed the incident said they heard the suspected assailants yell, “What you did was not Jewish” in Mansharov’s direction.

The two suspects, police said, are exercising their right to remain silent.

Reading this report, one could be led to conclude that religious Jews are indeed violent and hypocritical.

Now for some context, courtesy of the Jerusalem Post.

A 23-year-old yeshiva student was stabbed to death in Netanya in the early hours of Wednesday morning by two other students, in what police say was a dispute over living quarters.

David Mensharov was assaulted by two men and stabbed repeatedly. He was seen by neighbors staggering in the street, and was rushed by paramedics to Netanya’s Laniado Hospital, where doctors pronounced his death.

Police have arrested two suspects, aged 22 and 35, in connection with the slaying.

The murder victim and the two suspects all attended the Kolel Yeshiva in the city, which takes in newly religious young people with a history of crime, as part of an effort to rehabilitate violent offenders.

The Prison Rehabilitation Authority helped pioneer a program under which well behaved offenders are released two-thirds into their prison sentences to centers around the country, such as religious learning centers.

“The background is a dispute over living space in their dorms,” a police source told The Jerusalem Post. “This dispute has been going on for two days. It turns out a previous fight broke out two days ago, but that was not reported to police,” the source added.

The source dismissed a Ynet report which claimed the fight was linked to a “Halachic disagreement.”

One suspect is known to police due to previous violent offences, the source said. “The murder victim was accused of behaving badly towards his attackers,” he added.

8:20PM: This BBC story on The rise of Israel’s military rabbis is one of the most nefarious attacks on Judaism I have seen from the BBC, even by their “lofty” standards (hat tip: Pisa).

Katya Adler’s (I am guessing she is Jewish, both from her name, and the fact a non-Jew would be less likely to get away with such a hatchet job on Judaism) effort to paint army Rabbis and religious soldiers as the Jewish equivalent of Islamic jihadis – is deeply troubling.

I think Melanie Phillips explains it well when she says:

But the really disgraceful element was Adler’s suggestion that that these rabbis were somehow the equivalent of Islamic jihadi fanatics who were transforming the mission of the IDF into ‘holy war’. Jewish religious belief, she implied, was the equivalent of the jihad. This appalling equation of course ignored the crucial difference between the jihad and the wars waged by the Israel Defence Force: that the jihad is aggressive and seeks to conquer, colonise, murder and enslave while the sole rationale for the IDF is to defend Israel against precisely such aggression.

Adler made this leap because to her, all orthodox Jewish religious observance is extreme, right-wing and aggressive; all settlers are orthodox and therefore extreme, right-wing and aggressive; thus all orthodox Jewish soldiers are settlers and therefore they are all extreme, right-wing and aggressive. Every aspect of that is tendentious, distorted, ignorant and bigoted.

The settlers believe the land was given to them by God, she charged. Well, they may well do so; but as Israel’s soldiers they are fighting to defend not the settlements but the State of Israel of which they are citizens and to which land they are fully and indisputably entitled under international law. Indeed, contrary to what she stated they are also entitled under international law to settle the disputed territories which are still the site of aggressive war waged against them; but that’s not in fact what they are in the IDF or were in Gaza during Operation Cast Lead to do.

You would never have known it from her report, but these religious soldiers were in Gaza not to conquer the Palestinians in accordance with their belief that Gaza was divinely given to them but to defend the State of Israel against rocket attack from Gaza – from where religious soldiers had actually been involved in the operation to remove the settlers in 2005.  Maybe some of these rabbis had issued leaflets which really were politically extreme. So what? To suggest that this represents all of orthodox Judaism is like suggesting that preachers handing out leaflets proclaiming the end of days is nigh are representative of mainstream Christianity. Far worse, Adler made the doubly appalling suggestion that the IDF had singled out Gazan infants and other civilians for ill-treatment – and that they had been encouraged to do so by the tenets of Jewish religious belief. Neither element, of course, was true.

Her report thus went much further than the usual BBC boilerplate bigotry against Israel. This was open bigotry against Judaism itself.

This bothers me, both as a religious Jew, and as someone who happens to know so many Orthodox soldiers doing their best to defend the country against the real Islamic jihadis. Fine young soldiers like Roi Klein (may his memory be blessed).

Major Roi Klein was a Golani brigade deputy commander. He was killed last Wednesday, in an ambush among the houses of Bint Jbail, a large village in southern Lebanon. Hezbullah terrorists killed eight soldiers, including Roi, and injured nearly two dozen.

There were two other soldiers next to Roi. A hand grenade was thrown at them and Roi shouted, “Grenade!” He then threw his body over it, sacrificing his life for the sake of his soldiers, who later attributed being alive to his act of selflessness.

In his last seconds of life, Roi mustered the strength to shout “Shema Yisroel” the prayer that Jews have prayed for centuries, declaring our belief in G-d and in a better world;

5:55PM: Welcome to Gaza, “the world’s largest concentration camp” in which people…own their own horses?

Palestinians walk out of the water after washing their horses in the Mediterranean Sea off the beach in Gaza City Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

I can’t help but being reminded of this classic Seinfeld moment.

5:40PM: Israeli Human Rights Group B’Tselem today released a new report finding  that during Operation Cast Lead, the IDF killed 1,387 Palestinians, the majority of whom (773) were non-combatants.

Today (Wed. Sept 9th) Israeli human rights group B’Tselem published its findings on the number of Palestinians and Israelis killed in Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. According to B’Tselem’s research, Israeli security forces killed 1,387 Palestinians during the course of the three-week operation. Of these, 773 did not take part in the hostilities, including 320 minors and 109 women over the age of 18. Of those killed, 330 took part in the hostilities, and 248 were Palestinian police officers, most of whom were killed in aerial bombings of police stations on the first day of the operation. For 36 people, B’Tselem could not determine whether they participated in the hostilities or not.

You can find the full report here.

This contradicts the results of an IDF investigation which found that there were 1,166 Palestinian casualties in the Gaza offensive, of which 709 were terror operatives affiliated with Hamas and other terror groups, and 295 were civilians.

The IDF has responded as follows:

“The B’Tselem report is not based on facts or on accurate statistics.  Furthermore, among its sources, B’Tselem officially states that it based its findings, on cross referencing statistics from investigations of Palestinian human rights groups and various Web sites and blogs, including those of the militant wings of terror organizations and that of the Palestinian Police,” the IDF spokesman’s office said.

“The discrepancy in the numbers is based on the fact that B’Tselem’s sources are organizations with a vested interest, and it does not have the tools, nor the intelligence capabilities with which it can within a necessary degree of confidence know the causes of death or the affiliations of these casualties.”

I have not had time to delve deeply into this, so I will point you to this response from NGO monitor.

NGO Monitor today noted the contradictory publications by B’tselem and Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), both claiming to provide accurate Palestinian casualty counts during the Gaza War earlier this year.  Although publicized as “comprehensive” and “complete” statistics, neither report is credible, and both reflect the underlying political motivations and bias of the organizations, as documented by NGO Monitor.  (B’tselem’s funders include the governments of UK, Norway, Switzerland and Ireland and the New Israel Fund; PCHR’s funders include EU and the governments of Norway, Ireland and Denmark)

NGO Monitor highlighted the following:

• Although both organizations claim to use meticulous research methods, their conclusions differ enormously.  PCHR claims 1,167 non-combatants were killed, B’tselem puts the figure at 773.
• The timing of these publications indicates an attempt to impact the findings of Judge Richard Goldstone’s UN investigation prior to the report’s imminent release.
• B’tselem adopted controversial International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) guidelines which use a highly disputed and unworkable definition of the standard for those “taking a direct part in hostilities”.  This means that people who are closely involved in Hamas’ offensive infrastructure are exempted. Many ICRC legal consultants withdrew support for these guidelines on this basis.
• Although B’tselem has improved its credibility compared to previous reports, by listing casualties’ affiliations to terrorist factions, these same individuals such as Hamas senior military leader Saeed Sayam are still not classified as combatants.
• PCHR’s definition of a “non-combatant” is even more problematic, and only includes those holding a weapon at the precise moment of death.  Consequently, PCHR classifies known terrorists as civilians, such as Hamas activist Nizar Rayan.
• PCHR’s consistently hostile agenda towards Israel, including promotion of anti-Israel boycotts, places its’ research in clear contravention of the International Bar Association’s London-Lund Guidelines on fact finding which demand unbiased investigators.

NGO Monitor’s President Prof Gerald Steinberg said, “These two conflicting reports again demonstrate that neither NGO produces accurate information regarding Palestinian casualties.  Instead, their publications are the continuation of ideologically motivated campaigns that use human rights as a weapon against Israel. The artificially narrow definition of combatants simply furthers this political agenda.

These publications are further examples of the central role played by political NGOs in the Goldstone “fact finding” inquiry.  PCHR and B’tselem have been involved at every step of the process, and if the Goldstone report simply repeats their claims, it will further demonstrate the counterproductive impact of biased NGO in the UN human rights framework.”

2:08PM: Anti-Israel academic Norman “Rat Fink” Finkelstein has quit the Gaza Freedom March coalition, endorsed by the likes of the ISM and CODEPINK. He explains his decision on his website.

Why I resigned from the Gaza Freedom March coalition:

The original consensus of the International Coalition to End the Illegal Siege of Gaza was that we would limit our statement to a pair of uncontroversial, basic and complementary principles that would have the broadest possible appeal: the march to break the siege would be nonviolent and anchored in international law.  I agreed with this approach and consequent statement and decided to remove myself from the steering committee in order to invest my full energies in mobilizing for the march.  During the week beginning August 30, 2009 and in a matter of days an entirely new sectarian agenda dubbed “the political context” was foisted on those who originally signed on and worked tirelessly for three months.  Because it drags in contentious issues that–however precious to different constituencies–are wholly extraneous to the narrow but critical goal of breaking the siege this new agenda is gratuitously divisive and it is almost certain that it will drastically reduce the potential reach of our original appeal. It should perhaps be stressed that the point of dispute was not whether one personally supported a particular Palestinian right or strategy to end the occupation.   It was whether inclusion in the coalition’s statement of a particular right or strategy was necessary if it was both unrelated to the immediate objective of breaking the siege and dimmed the prospect of a truly mass demonstration.  In addition the tactics by which this new agenda was imposed do not bode well for the future of the coalition’s work and will likely move the coalition in an increasingly sectarian direction.  I joined the coalition because I believed that an unprecedented opportunity now exists to mobilize a broad public whereby we could make a substantive and not just symbolic contribution towards breaking the illegal and immoral siege of Gaza and, accordingly, realize a genuine and not just token gesture of solidarity with the people of Gaza.  In its present political configuration I no longer believe the coalition can achieve such a goal.   Because I would loathe getting bogged down in a petty and squalid public brawl I will not comment further on this matter unless the sequence of events climaxing in my decision to resign are misrepresented by interested parties.  However I would be remiss in my moral obligations were I not humbly to apologize to those who, either coaxed by me or encouraged by my participation, gave selflessly of themselves to make the march a historic event and now feel aggrieved at the abrupt turn of events.  It can only be said in extenuation that I along with many others desperately fought to preserve the ecumenical vision that originally inspired the march but the obstacles thrown in our path ultimately proved insurmountable.

While this statement is rather obtuse, others perhaps provide more clarity regarding the Fink’s motivations.

(Finklestein said) we should not get into “ideological conversations about who is a Zionist.” What mattered was focusing on stances on torture and house demolitions. He also advised that Palestinians be “reasonable” and consider compensation instead of their full rights.

I challenged him on this point during Q&A in that opposing occupation without condemning Zionism is like opposing slavery without condemning white supremacy, and that we American taxpayers and participants in the genocide of Palestinians (whether intentionally or not) should have more humility than tell Arabs whether or not to discuss the ideology behind their dispossession. Otherwise, we would look like gatekeepers on the discourse.

And..

Finkelstein wanted to keep the message focused in terms of this specific campaign, not to ban people from opposing Zionism at all ever. And he wanted to adopt that focus so as to maximise the positive impact the campaign could make for the Palestinians in Gaza.

Is the Fink softening his stance? Or are his actions here motivated purely by pragmatism?

Either way, it speaks volumes for the Gaza Freedom March coalition that they are too radical for The Fink.

(hat tip: Old World New Ideas)

6:15AM: Another moment in self-defeating palestinian protest:

Local refugee camp committees in Nablus in the northern West Bank said on Tuesday they are planning more protests against the UN relief agency UNRWA for allegedly reducing services to West Bank refugees.

According to Ibrahim Saqr, coordinator of the Nablus committees, the protests will proceed as follows:

1- Closing UNRWA’s Nablus directorate office.
2- Closing the UNRWA warehouses.
3- Closing the welfare offices both the central and local branches.
4- Preventing movement of UNRWA vehicles into refugee camps.

Yeah, that’ll teach UNRWA.

Israel responded to yesterday’s Qassam rocket attack by striking a smuggling tunnel. Yes, I’m sure you’re shocked.

And in more shocking news, the palestinians are lying.

Hamas described the target of the Israeli air strike as “open ground” but witnesses said it was a building with two rooms and a courtyard, which were ravaged by the attack.

Updates (Israel time; most recent at top)

7:55PM: Former NBA player Allan Houston is here in Israel. And unlike the Elders of Moron, he’s actually doing some good and learning in the process.

Chen Kabasa has a pair of New York Knicks shorts. He even went to a Knicks game last Passover.

But for some reason, unclear even to him, when the 17-year-old Sderot resident left his house Thursday to meet former Knicks star Allan Houston, he put on his LA Lakers shorts instead.

Houston, who held a basketball clinic in Sderot on Thursday with about 20 kids from southern Israel, didn’t seem to care about the disloyalty.

He was all business, determined in his task of teaching the young Israelis the fundamentals of shooting a basketball and to encourage them to follow their dreams to play in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem – or maybe even in the NBA like new Sacramento Kings recruit Omri Casspi.

“Hopefully something like this inspires them and creates some joy for the moment,” he told The Jerusalem Post while taking a break from the training session.

A three-time NBA all-star and Olympic gold medal winner, Houston played for three years with the Detroit Pistons before moving to the Knicks as a free agent in 1996. In his nine seasons with the team, he helped take it to the playoffs six times.

His career is best remembered, perhaps, for a game winning shot in the last seconds of Game 5 of the 1999 Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Miami Heat, eventually leading the team to advance to that year’s Finals.

Houston, 38, who now works as an assistant to the Knicks’ President of Basketball Operations, is in Israel for a week with his wife Tamara on a mission of civic leaders sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York.

In addition to meeting with politicians, journalists, and community leaders, Houston had two basketball clinics on his schedule – one in Sderot and another on Sunday in the Arab town of Iksal in the north.

A devout Christian, Houston said he feels this trip has given him a greater understanding of the Bible, which he said has “leaped off the pages for him,” and a better grasp of the significance of Israel for Jews.

In 2001, Houston was criticized by the Anti-Defamation League for comments he made during a team prayer meeting about Jews persecuting Jesus, which were quoted in a New York Times magazine article, and which he said were taken out of context.

” The thing that really sticks out to me most on this trip is the Jewish identity and how the Jewish people have held on throughout the years to their faith, their hope, and their identity,” Houston told the Post.

While he said it will take him time to fully appreciate everything he has experienced in Israel, he has made an effort to capture the people and sights around him through recordings on his video camera and posts to Twitter from his iPhone.

“Man this Israel trip is serious. Now leaving Ashkelon where we visited Barzilai Hospital where patients are treated from rocket attacks,” he tweeted on Thursday morning, before heading to Sderot.

Houston was visibly impacted by the words of Shalom HaLevy, a representative of the Sderot municipality who spoke to the group over lunch about life in the shadow of rockets from Gaza.

“It’s hard for me to picture having the experience of waking up and not even knowing when I’m gonna have 15 seconds to run for my life,” Houston said.

He said he hoped the basketball clinic would help the kids, who came not only from Sderot but also Beersheba, Kiryat Gat, Gadera, Ofakim, and some of the kibbutzim in the area, to forget about the political situation for a while and to focus on basketball.

“I would imagine that if this were somebody’s reality every day, that this [clinic] would be something that would take them away from it for a moment,” he said.

“Just to see them laugh, to me, to see their minds off of that for an hour, gives me hope that maybe they will remember it.”

Both Houston and the kids spent a lot of time laughing. At one point, after finishing a drill on shooting, Houston stepped to the three-point line and asked the kids how many baskets they thought he could make in a row.

“Three!” “Four!” “Ten!” the audience shouted. He made sixteen, and the group erupted in applause and smiles after he missed the seventeenth.

“I won’t even tell you what my record is,” Houston said to them.

Before leaving, Houston and the JCRC presented coach Yisrael Baruch with two new NBA regulation basketballs.

In return, Houston received a red and white Maccabi Sderot jersey, which he said he plans to hang up when he gets home.

But in the end, the kids may have gotten the most out of the afternoon.

“I’m leaving here with a big smile and a lot of good basketball tips,” Kabesa said.

“And an autograph and a picture,” he added.

For the record, here’s Houston’s famous series winning shot of Game 5 of the 1999 Eastern Conference quarterfinals against the Miami Heat.

7:35PM: Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has been indicted on multiple corruption charges including fraud, breach of trust, falsifying corporate records, receiving illicit benefits and tax evasion.

The former prime minister has now been charged with accepting cash envelopes from American businessman Morris Talansky.

He is also suspected of illegally double-billing charities and a government ministry for the same flights he booked through Rishon Tours, sending them falsified receipts for travel expenses and using the surplus to finance personal and family trips abroad.

The Investments Center affair, which was first reported in Haaretz, concerned allegations that Olmert granted personal favors to his old law partner, Uri Messer, who was acting on behalf of a company, an act which would constitute a conflict of interest, breach of trust, and fraud.

The charges against Olmert include fraud, breach of trust and failure to report income, the Justice Ministry said in a statement.

I was thinking about doing a limerick, but I already met my daily quota of 1. Plus the old “bending over for the soap” joke only works well in moderation.

5:22PM: Palestinian terrorists have fired shots at IDF soldiers who were fixing the Gaza border fence.

4:50PM: A limerick.

Fuad Shubaki was that real dope

Who organized a weapon-laden boat

He was caught and convicted

For those he afflicted

Now he better not bend for the soap

1:56PM: This next story illustrates just how deluded the Left really are.

The Israeli Left reacted with dismay over the weekend to the results of a Jerusalem Post-sponsored Smith Research poll published on Friday that found only 4 percent of Jewish Israelis believe that US President Barack Obama’s policies are more pro-Israel than pro-Palestinian.

—-

Meretz and Peace Now said the survey indicated that Israelis did not yet realize the potential benefits of the regional peace initiative that Obama was advocating, but they expressed confidence that they eventually would.

Right. That’s what it indicates. It must be a problem with Israelis not realizing what’s good for them, as opposed to the Left not realizing they are completely out of touch with reality.

11:05AM: Like the rest of the world, the Elders of Moron have a blog.

While I find it generally irritating (like the Elders themselves), there is also some unintentional humor.

(hat tip: Soccer Dad)

6:15AM: Israel has slammed an ambiguously worded IAEA report on Iran’s nuclear program released Friday, accusing the IAEA of “hiding critical information on Iran’s nuclear progress.”

A Foreign Ministry spokesman said:

“This is a harsh report, but it does not reflect all the information possessed by the IAEA on Iranian efforts to advance its military program, on its continuing efforts to hide and deceive, and on [Iran's] noncooperation with the IAEA and the demands of the international community.”

“…we’re talking about information that would be far more incriminating for Iran.”

“The 35 member states of the IAEA can’t let [the organization] get away with hiding critical information on the dangers of the Iranian program.”

6:02AM: What is going on with kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit?

a) The German mediator in the talks for his release has presented Hamas with a new, comprehensive proposal to which Hamas would have three days to respond.

b) Chief Hamashole Khaled Meshal is due to arrive in Cairo to approve a deal for his release.

c) There has been limited progress in finalizing a deal for his release.

And the answer is d) All of the above if you are to take notice of all the media reports.

5:54AM: Forget the Elders of Moron. We need more people like these for there to be hope of peace.

The Hamas Al Qassam website is using this letter as supposed proof of its humanity, although Shalit does say that he is suffering both physically and psychologically. He also calls for negotiations for his release.

(Dave, if you want to translate it here, feel free.)