Terror Attack In Jerusalem (Not "Terror Attack")

One woman has been killed and 40 injured in a bombing in central Jerusalem today. The bomb was reportedly left in a bag on the street just outside the bus station.

When the shock began to wear off, I wondered how the media would try and twist this to belittle and justify Palestinian attacks on Israelis. After all, if "illegal settlers" aren't the victims, you'd have to be very creative to find another way to blame Israel for this.

Two patterns have emerged in the coverage. The first, predictably, is to avoid the word "terror" and even "attack". Most likely as well as other media outlets, The Independent, Reuters, and CNN all had this to say: "Police described the explosion as a 'terrorist attack' - Israel's term for a Palestinian strike", as though it was a military exercise.

Which is a funny thing to say considering that Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's statement on the bombing was "I harshly condemn this act of terror".

The second pattern is to portray the bombing as part of a "cycle of violence", and I'm pretty sure most of the media have done this. For example the Guardian completely twisted the events of the last few days, not explaining that the reason civilians died in Israel's strikes on Gaza was because they were used as human shields by terrorists; and calling Hamas' firing of 50 rockets into Israel in the space of a couple of hours "sporadic".

A BBC interviewer asked Jerusalem Post Editor-in-Chief David Horowitz if the bombing would have been a response to the strikes on Gaza. Horowitz had to explain that the murder of the Fogels was followed by rocket attacks on Israel which was followed by Israel striking legitimate terror targets, unintentionally killing some civilians who were on the site where rockets had been fired from.

Melanie Phillips points out that with this huge upsurge in violence from the Palestinians,

"It therefore takes a particular degree of bone-headed malevolence to view this latest attack instead as a ‘tit-for-tat' response to Israeli violence. But then, the BBC and other British and western media have all but ignored the rocket attacks, and minimised the Fogel massacre. As usual, Israeli victimisation is thus denied in an obscene moral equivalence – which invariably turns Israel from a victim attempting to defend itself into the aggressor."

Incidentally, only two weeks ago there was another explosion in Jerusalem in which one Israeli was wounded.

Shortly after today's bomb, terrorists in Gaza fired another barrage of rockets into Israel.

Meanwhile, Israel sent into Gaza over 200 trucks of aid.

I pray for the speedy recovery of all the victims.

The Trouble Started When Israel...

Early this morning an Israeli security guard was driving through East Jerusalem when a mob of Palestinians surrounded his car, blocked the road, and started hurling rocks at the car.

And then the trouble started, according to the BBC. The above has absolutely no relation to what happened next...

Fearing that he would be killed or abducted, the guard opened fire, killing one Palestinian - who had a criminal record and was armed with a knife.

This led to the Palestinians rioting in East Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, with several Israeli bystanders injured, one stabbed, and three more injured when Palestinians overturned their car.

And it all started when an Israeli once again dared to defend himself when being attacked by Palestinians. Why do we keep provoking the Palestinians by living?!

More from Just Journalism on the BBC's inaccurate reporting of this story. Maybe they did it to try and appease the people who were upset by their balanced documentary on the flotilla incident.

Selichot At The Kotel

This wonderful video of selichot was taken at the Kotel on Erev Yom Kippur, of the Sephardi (and my favourite) tune Adon HaSelichot. It is hard to describe the atmosphere and emotions of Yom Kippur in words, but this clip just about sums it up. Even the most secular Jews observe Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is an inspiring day anywhere in the world (as I can attest from London), but the Kotel is the holiest place on earth, and I pray that soon we will return to the Jewish homeland. It is the most beautiful day, when millions of Jews all over the world come together, showing our dedication to Judaism and G-d, praying for forgiveness for our sins, for a year of blessing, self-improvement and for our faith to be strengthened.
This upbeat tune for Adon HaSelichot is seen by some as against the serious tone of the day - especially when accompanied by enthusiastic Sephardis clapping and drumming along! - but the song is amazing in its ability to uplift and make you shiver at the same time, which is why it's my favourite.

Fatah And Violence

An interesting comment piece on the Guardian site. Yes! Interesting! About Palestinians and NOT anti-Israel! It’s about Palestinians and womens’ rights. Unfortunately, just before I found the piece, which says things might be better if Palestinian women were allowed on the Fatah committee, I came across this article, about women in Gaza getting military training to “resist the occupiers”. Somehow, I doubt that the endorsement of women in the Palestinian governments will bring much more of a diplomatic attitude to things. As it is, Fatah say they “maintain the right of resistance… by all means possible”, and “the call to ‘liquidate the Zionist entity’” remains. Also, they say they “will continue to sacrifice victims [themselves] until Jerusalem will be returned to the Palestinians” – the whole of Jerusalem. Which just reconfirms my doubts of there ever being peace with the Palestinians, because we will never give up Jerusalem. And the peacefulness continues on the side of the Palestinians as two Israeli civilians were shot at in the West Bank yesterday, both only injured lightly.