Death in the Middle East

Interesting that 'Zionism' now seems to involve waving your backside and t*ts around on FB as some kind of comfort girl for troops too scared to fight armed men, LL......

The allegations have been prompted by a series of initiatives to pressure Christian school-leavers into the army, breaking the community’s blanket rejection of the Israel army draft for the past 65 years.

I reckon Israel is in trouble, militarily, it doesn't seem to be awfully good at actual fighting any more. Indiscriminate shelling and bombing civilians is not 'fighting', it's murder, and I hope to live to see Netanyahu and co on trial in the Hague.

Im Tirtzu has been behind various McCarthyite campaigns, including pressuring Israeli universities to dismiss staff seen as left-wing; lobbying to strengthen “Zionist values” in the school curriculum; and seeking penalties for Israeli nongovernmental organizations supporting the rights of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Exactly what are 'Zionist values'? Females acting like camp followers, and the slaughter of civilians, are nothing to be proud of.

Israel is in trouble, militarily, it doesn't seem to be awfully good at actual fighting any more.

Recently Israel put in place a law that made it compulsory for those ultra Orthodox Jews who have been exempt from the draft since late 1940s to be forcibly made to serve in the Armed Forces. They were considered to be contributing by their studies, prayers etc. And the only reason they did so well in those earlier wars with the Arab countries was that those countries had never fought together against a common enemy, only against each other. And that a small new country would dare to attack them, which Israel did, really caused complete confusion. LL

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/mar/12/israel-passes-law-conscript-ultra-orthodox-jews

There's another factor, LL, men fighting for their families, homes and homeland as well as their lives, are always going to give spoiled brats a spanking, even if said brats are superficially better armed.

That the Israeli brats are conscripts just makes it worse, though they've probably great at operating drones. The Ukrainian conscripts are coming off badly as well, which may be why they have used - and I kid you not - ballistic missiles against civilians.

Motivation counts for an awful lot.

From:

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/08/02/israel-gaza-conflict-_n_5643655.html

Lord Ashdown said there was "no question" that Israel's military action was disproportionate, telling Today: "You have to call a spade a spade. Is it disproportionate? Yes it is, there's no question about it.

"Israel makes the excuse that because weapons are being fired from civilian areas, it's entitled to use indiscriminate total force against civilian areas. No you're not. Our troops in Afghanistan and Northern Ireland had this constantly going on - if they'd used total force against a whole civilian area because somebody had fired from it, they would have been guilty of a crime. That's not an excuse.

"To have accidentally, in the course of trying to be careful, hit a single UN school and haven, you could put down to an error in the process of trying to be careful. But to hit six, you have to conclude that's either criminally careless or carelessly indiscriminate."

Lord Ashdown described Israel's military action as "really foolish", adding: "They have had in total from thousands of Hamas rockets just two civilians killed. They've multiplied that to 60 by this operation - they've lost 60 of their own and killed thousands of Palestinians, thousands of people in Gaza, created hundreds if not thousands of terrorists, created the enmity of the entire Middle East and lost the support and sympathy of world opinion. That doesn't seem to me to be a very good dividend from military action."

It's madness - and I suspect that, in the long term, it's going to lead to the end of Israel.

Gaza after Israeli bombing, 2014.

Sickening scenes from Gaza as doctors are forced to use vegetable fridges to store bodies as Hamas denies 'killing' kidnapped soldier
WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Fresh wave of air strikes this morning levelled mosques in Gaza on 26th day
Hamas admitted armed wing may have seized 23-year-old Israeli Lieutenant Hadar Goldin during clash yesterday
But spokesman said the group had lost contact with their own fighters meaning all were 'probably' killed by Israel
Death toll stands at more than 1,650 Palestinians and 66 Israelis as U.S. pledges $225m to Israel's rocket defences




Looking out of the front door: A man and a boy inspect the damage after overnight air strikes in Gaza City. The conflict has claimed more than 1,650 Palestinian lives

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2713964/Israel-pounds-Gaza-leaving-mosques-ruins-Hamas-admits-kidnapped-soldier-insists-fighters-did-not-kill-him.html#ixzz39EW5Urc3
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Remember back 20 years and the treatment meted out to the Ethiopian Jews by Israel?    It hasn't improved much, going by this article.    LL
 
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/commentary-and-analysis/3917-israel-promised-land-for-jews-as-long-as-theyre-not-black

I remember this:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_Heights_riot

Some members of the community were outraged because Lifsh was taken from the scene by a private ambulance service while city emergency workers were still trying to free the children who were pinned under the car. Some believed that Gavin Cato died because the Hatzolah ambulance crew was unwilling to help non-Jews.

Thanks, LL, I remember the airlifts at the time, but was unaware of what came after.

Many Ethiopian Jews consider themselves to be direct descendants of King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba and, as such, believe that they practise the purest form of Judaism. Ethiopian Jews have lived in Africa for millennia and have practised Judaism in their own language and according to their own customs for generations.

I would tend to agree with that; if lineage is what is most important to Israelis, then the Ethiopians have far more right to be in Israel than the 'white' Jews. Something's gone very wrong in Israel.

Israel is now using bombs which explode above the ground, scattering shrapnel in every direction. Against civilians.

.... if lineage is what is most important to Israelis, then the Ethiopians have far more right to be in Israel than the 'white' Jews.

The majority of Jews nowadays are Ashkenazi who are descended from peoples in the North Caucasian area of Europe who converted to Judaism.   And Jews would not have been white, they would have been swarthy, like Arabs.   Jesus would not have been white skinned with blue eyes, for a start.   People choose to forget he was a Jew, he was never a Christian.

This is an interesting read on the British Jews.   LL
http://www.sephardicstudies.org/uk.html
And this on the split between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-shasha/understanding-the-sephard_b_541033.html

That's very interesting, LL. Though I do wonder why the three Abrahamic religions are not content with fighting each other, they have to fight within themselves as well. They manage to cause more death and destruction than an army of Aztecs.

http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/americas/13172-unicef-israel-deliberately-killed-264-palestinian-children-in-gaza

UNICEF: Israel deliberately killed 264 Palestinian children in Gaza
Friday, 01 August 2014 14:04

Monica Awad, the spokeswoman of the UNICEF, condemned Israel's targeting of women and children in its ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera yesterday, Awad said Israeli forces had deliberately killed 264 children in Gaza, which is equal to 11 children per day, and injured more than 2,000.
"Where's the international community's reactions to the slaughtering of children in Gaza? Where are the international human rights covenants?" she asked.

- See more at: http://www.middleeastmonitor.com/news/americas/13172-unicef-israel-deliberately-killed-264-palestinian-children-in-gaza#sthash.IQR1c9Uc.dpuf

I hope to see the day Netanyahu and his cronies are in the dock at the Hague for war crimes.

I hope to see the day Netanyahu and his cronies are in the dock at the Hague for war crimes.

I am afraid the old saying 'If wishes were horses, beggars would ride' applies here - it will never happen, unless the US detaches itself from the Israeli cause and lets justice take its course. And as long as people feel 'guilty' about what was done to the Jews of Europe and the Holocaust is used as a wild card every time the Israelis want to make countries toe the line, it is a pipe dream. LL

Some Israelis don't seem to feel guilty about anything, LL.....



The holocaust card is never going to work again on anyone who has read that.

HAARETZ: LIVE UPDATES:
IDF withdraws some troops to Gaza border
Demolition of tunnels to be completed in 24 hours ● North Gaza refugees allowed to return to homes ● Senior Israeli officer: Gaza tunnel network nearly destroyed ● Israeli soldier moderately wounded by sniper fire ● Netanyahu tells U.S.: Don't second-guess me ● U.S. Congress approves $225 million in emergency funding for Israel's Iron Dome ● IDF strikes Gaza targets.

More here - http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/1.608426

Hmmm, what fresh Hell are they planning for Gaza? Because I doubt very much if Tel Aviv is ashamed of what it has done.

Did you notice this in the updates?

8:40 P.M. Police disperse several hundred demonstrators in central Tel Aviv, who stage a protest against the Gaza operation. (Zafrir Rinat)

Netanyahu won't like dissent on his own doorstep.

I see protests have been going on all over the world today.

AJ:

BREAKING NEWS


Netanyahu vows to continue Gaza campaign as long as necessary. More soon...

Child-murdering ba'stard.        

http://news.sky.com/story/1312081/netanyahu-campaign-in-gaza-not-over-yet

Netanyahu: Campaign In Gaza Not Over Yet
8:02pm UK, Saturday 02 August 2014

Israel's Prime Minister says he is prepared to continue the operation in Gaza even after all Hamas tunnels are destroyed.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would keep up its military offensive for as long as it takes to return safety to Israel's citizens.

His comments follow local reports that Israel was winding down its ground operation in Gaza and had begun pulling back tanks from some areas.

Israel launched its aerial offensive on July 8 with the declared aim of ending "persistent" Hamas rocket attacks.

It subsequently sent in ground troops, shifting the focus of the operation to the destruction of a complex system of cross-border tunnels, which Israel claims were used by Hamas to infiltrate the country.

Israeli military officials have reported that 31 tunnels have since been destroyed, fuelling speculation that the offensive could soon wind down.

More than 1,600 Palestinians have died since fighting began, Gaza health officials say.

Another 440,000 people, a quarter of Gaza's population, have been displaced by the fighting.

On the Israeli side, 63 soldiers and three civilians have lost their lives.

The latest Israeli casualties include two soldiers who were killed by Hamas militants during an attack which also saw the alleged abduction of Second Lieutenant Hadar Goldin.

More follows...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would keep up its military offensive for as long as it takes to return safety to Israel's citizens.

It's going to go on forever, then, as he's gained Israel a whole new load of people disgusted by the state he has created. That's without mentioning all the enemies it had already.

Another call for the people of Gaza to be ethnically cleansed so Israel can take even more of their land:

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Into-the-fray-Why-Gaza-must-go-368862

After much self-justification, it ends:

The only durable solution requires dismantling Gaza, humanitarian relocation of the non-belligerent Arab population, and extension of Israeli sovereignty over the region.

That is the only approach that can solve the problem of Gaza.

That is the only approach that will eliminate the threat to Israel continually issuing from Gaza.

That is the only approach that will extricate the non-belligerent Palestinians from the clutches of the cruel, corrupt cliques who led them astray for decades.

That is the only approach that will preclude a need for Israel to “rule over another people.

Yes, just ship them off....somewhere, shoot anyone who objects to their homes and lands being stolen....Israel needs more 'living room'.      

Yes, just ship them off....somewhere, shoot anyone who objects to their homes and lands being stolen....Israel needs more 'living room'.

The Nazis wanted the Jews shipped off to Madagascar - where will the Israelis ship the Palestinians off to, not many islands left nowadays that aren't already full to the gunnels with refugees. And after that Final Solution, who is next, the West Bank? And I see the 'captured' soldier has been announced as being dead - I wonder as to where that story came from. Good excuse to ratchet up the attacks, isn't it, and also break any truce. LL

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/08/01/world/meast/mideast-crisis/index.html

The official version seems to be that they killed their own soldier when they bombed the area, LL. They've marked the occasion by bombing another UN school:

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/middleeast/2014/08/israeli-bombardment-claims-lives-gaza-20148372122193560.html

Deaths as another UN school in Gaza bombarded
At least 10 deaths reported in attack on UNRWA shelter in Rafah among other places amid redeployment of Israeli forces.

Israel's military has launched air strikes on Gaza even as it begins redeploying ground troops along its border with the Gaza Strip.

Sunday's attacks came despite signals from the Israeli government that it would reassess its operations amid reports of tanks and other vehicles leaving the war-scarred Palestinian territory.

Gaza's Health Ministry officials said nine Palestinians were killed in one of the air raids while another 10 died, witnesses said, in an attack on a UNRWA school in Rafah. It was the second strike on a UN shelter in less than a week.

Israeli military officials said they were aware of the reports of the attack on the school and were looking into them.



Chris Gunness, a UNRWA spokesman, confirmed that there was a shelling incident in the vicinity of the UNRWA school around 10.50am local time.

"We can confirm, tragically again, multiple deaths, multiple injuries," Gunness said.

"It's an appallingly unacceptable situation. We are an unarmed organisation."

Gunness said he would not speculate on whether the shelling was from Israel until an investigation was held but Israeli authorities had been supplied with the precise coordinates of the school's location and was aware that it was being used as a shelter.

More at link.

I saw Netanyahu ranting on about Qatar earlier. Again, it's not exactly my favourite state, but it's utter hypocrisy to screech allegations about Qatar helping Hamas when Israel couldn't survive a week if the US cut off the money and weapons supply.

Here's a novel idea - if anyone has to move out of the area, why shouldn't it be the Israeli interlopers? They've only been there for 70 years and have stolen land from the start. And let us not forget, Israel was founded by terrorists; a good few old soldiers in the UK have never forgiven the Stern gang, Irgun, etc for what they did.

Events as they happen here:

https://twitter.com/hashtag/gazaunderattack?f=realtime

But be warned, the photos of the victims of Israel aren't blurred.

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/did-israeli-army-deliberately-kill-its-own-captured-soldier-and-destroy-gaza

Did Israeli army deliberately kill its own captured soldier and destroy Gaza ceasefire?
Submitted by Ali Abunimah on Sat, 08/02/2014 - 02:01

Update, 2 August: Israel acknowledges soldier is dead

On Saturday evening, the Israeli army stated that Hadar Goldin, the soldier it claimed Hamas had captured on Friday morning, is dead:

IDF ✔ @IDFSpokesperson
Follow
A special IDF committee has concluded that Lt. Hadar Goldin was killed in combat in Gaza on Friday. May his memory be a blessing.
12:10 AM - 3 Aug 2014

t was on the pretext of searching for the missing soldier that Israel slaughtered at least 110 of people in the southern Gaza town of Rafah since Friday morning, destroying what was supposed to be a 72-hour humanitarian ceasefire. But the toll is rising as more bodies are found.

“Such was the savagery of Israel’s bombardment in Rafah, such was the quantity of dead bodies, that there was simply no other option but to use vegetable refrigerators as makeshift morgues,” journalist Mohammed Omer, who hails from Rafah, reports.

In one such freezer, Omer saw “the corpses of children, young men and women lying on top of one another, soaked in blood. Many were impossible to identify and only a few have been placed in white burial shrouds.”

One wonders whether US President Barack Obama will now retract his hasty statement – no doubt based on misinformation from Israel – blaming Hamas for capturing the soldier and demanding that he be “unconditionally” released.

Now that Israel has, like Hamas, concluded that Goldin is dead, the question remains whether someone in the Israeli army gave the order to shell Rafah to kill him and prevent Hamas taking a live prisoner. Read on…

Sounds more than possible, given the suspicions that the three boys that were 'kidnapped' were killed by Israel as an excuse to start this bloodshed.

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/08/inhuman-protects-reality.html

Inhuman shield: How ‘The New York Times’ protects US elites from Gaza’s brutal reality
Patrick Connors on August 2, 2014

Well worth reading.