Carter: Israel has "had an entire year without terrorism"

In a typically one sided opinion piece in the Guardian, Jimmy Carter writes: 

"Israel has long argued that it cannot negotiate with terrorists, yet has had an entire year without terrorism and still could not negotiate."

You could say, well the media never reports on the acts of terrorism that have occured over the past year in Israel, so Carter must be right, but then, I read the news and I am aware of the terrorism.    For example, there was a would-be suicide bomber who was stopped and disarmed at one of those darned checkpoints.    Just a few days after Carter's piece an Israeli was shot and murdered by a Palestinian terrorist , ironically, but perhaps inevitably, as a resident said, in an area where a security checkpoint had recently been removed.                    Meanwhile another Palestinian was caught at a checkpoint in Hebron in possession of two knives. An Israeli boy was injured by a Molotov cocktail and an Israeli girl was injured by a firebomb, both in the West Bank. Not to mention the continuous rocket attacks on Southern Israel from Gaza. And the Israeli settlers' persecution of the Palestinians continues. Oh, wait a minute. I got that the wrong way round.    What were you saying, Mr. Carter?

The Guardian, Tunnels and Swine Flu

The Guardian today published a full-page report on the tunnels linking Egypt to Gaza. The tunnels are several times referred to as a "lifeline" for the Palestinians, but there are two facts that the article gets wrong.

If you were to guess that the article makes no mention of weapons being smuggled through the tunnels... well, you'd be wrong! Here's what it has to say about that:

Hamas "monitors movements to ensure that drugs, alcohol and weapons are not imported."

In fact, Hamas smuggle weapons through the tunnels themselves.

The article also mentions that one product that is smuggled through, aniseed, is "suddenly hugely in demand as a remedy for swine flu", which is followed by a tunnel owner stating, "We have no alternative".

Really? What about the 10,000 doses of the swine flu vaccine Israel has provided to Gaza? And the 40,000 more on the way. And Israel treating Gaza swine flu suspects to try and prevent it spreading.

So whilst Israel is loosening the blockade to save the Gazans, what is Hamas' role in all this?

"Last week, Hamas police detained a swine flu patient in critical condition on his way to Israel for treatment, and he died shortly thereafter in a local hospital."

Open Letter To Self-Hating Lefty "Jewish" Organisations

In Tuesday's Times there was a full page letter/advert written by a number of Jewish organisations: Independent Jewish Voices, Jews for Justice for Palestinians, Jewish Forum for Justice and Human Rights, Jewish Socialists' Group, Jewish Writers Against the Occupation, and Scottish Jews for a Just Peace.

What do all these groups have in common? Well, I have a hunch that they don't care about justice and human rights for Israel. They also represent a very small minority of Jews. People who only call themselves Jewish when it's Israel-bashing time. I don't know why they do it, but anyway.

Here's the letter, with my thoughts:

OPEN LETTER TO GORDON BROWN ON THE GOLDSTONE REPORT:
BRITISH JEWS DO NOT SPEAK WITH ONE VOICE

Dear Prime Minister,

We appreciate your Government's stated intention to build bridges with the Jewish community in the light of responses to the Goldstone report. To achieve this, it is vital for you to recognise that British Jews do not speak with one voice on this matter.

Of course British Jews don’t speak with one voice, but if you are going to try to “buildbridges” with the Jewish community, wouldn’t it makes sense to try to do it with the MAJORITY of British Jews. i.e. the ones who actually identify with their Jewish status, and Israel’s role in that; not the ones who only call themselves Jews when they want to criticize Israel.

What are they even saying in this paragraph? That Brown can't "build bridges" with the Zionist British Jews? That the self-hating Jews are the more important and they're the ones that Brown should please?

We welcome the Goldstone Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza conflict as a key document in the upholding of international law in situations of violent conflict, and regret your Government's failure to endorse the Report and its recommendations at the United Nations General Assembly.

The Goldstone report was less about fact finding and more about vilifying Israel and excusing Hamas terrorism.

We condemn the vilification of Richard Goldstone, an internationally acclaimed jurist who has made a substantial contribution worldwide to the development and maintenance of international humanitarian law, and his distinguished co-authors.

Did they even watch this video, where an Israeli terrorism victim asks Goldstone why he left her story out of the report?

Did they know he sent a 13 year old boy to prison for protesting apartheid in South Africa? Do they still condemn the "vilification" of Goldstone after this?

We note that the preparation of the Report was severely hampered by the refusal of the Israeli authorities to respond to reasonable enquiries or to facilitate access by the mission to Gaza or the West Bank and that it was only Egypt's assistance which eventually allowed the Mission to gain access to Gaza.

Why should Israel respond to the enquiries when they’ve already presented the evidence? Is it their fault that Goldstone and his team completely ignored the evidence that was there for everyone to see?

We further note that the Report unequivocally condemns not just Israel's devastation of Gaza but also Hamas's indiscriminate rocket attacks against Israeli neighbourhoods and does not in any way deny Israel its right to legitimate self-defence.

Well, they noted wrong. The Goldstone report did not condemn Hamas even once. And by not condemning Hamas and only singling out Israel for condemnation, the implication is that terrorism is acceptable and therefore Israel cannot defend itself against it.

We fully support its recommendation that both parties conduct full investigations into the allegations of war crimes in the Report.

We believe Israel cannot afford, nor should it wish, to exempt itself from the scrutiny of the international community on these matters. We consider that it is the attempt to do so, rather than the Goldstone Report, that is damaging Israel. We therefore urge you to endorse the Report at the next available opportunity.

Wrong again. Israel rejects the report because it’s a load of lies. It is the lies that damage Israel, not Israel’s attempt to prevent the spreading of those lies. And it doesn't help when a bunch of self-hating Jews stick their noses in.