Opuscula Media giants invited To assign reporters To Hamas target areas

THIS IS A SPECIAL INVITATION to reporters and photographers employed by The Major Media Outlets, e.g.,

ABC

BBC

CBS

CNN

LA Times

MSNBC

NY Times

The Guardian

Washington Post

to name but a few of the purveyors of half truths and outright lies to come to Israel and set up shop close to the Gaza border.

 

If that is too close for comfort, let them rent quarters in Ashkelon, Ashdod, Holon, even Tel Aviv.

I might even be willing to let a reporter stay in our guest room in Yavne, but he — or she — will not have safe room privileges.

The reporter then can get a feel for what Israelis already know.

The sirens.

The booms.

The falling debris if the Iron Dome takes out a missile, or the explosion as a missile hits if the Iron Dome somehow misses its target.

The terrified children and pets.

The traumatized adults.

The reporter can sit on the balcony and watch for unguided missiles from Gaza.

Perhaps the reporter’s credentials and PRESS vest will offer all needed protection.

An aside.

When I was in elementary school, we had bomb drills because “The Russians are coming” with atomic weapons.

In Indiana, we raced — I tumbled — down flights of stairs to the basement.

In Florida, we hid under our desks, as if THAT would do any good.

We built and stocked bomb shelters where we could.

Later, in Israel I learned that my new pals from the Ukraine were doing basically the same thing because “The Americans are coming.”

In America I was a reporter and editor. When something happened, good or bad, I had to be in the thick of things. Foolish? Perhaps.

But I reported from “Ground Zero.”

That’s all I am asking of the reporters and photographers covering Gaza’s terror attacks.

Censorship

It is my understanding that reporters and photographers in Gaza have their work heavily censored. If they displease the powers that be, they will be prevented from transmitting their copy to “the world.”

I have no doubt that Israeli censors can be as severe, but Israel is not known for abusing media people, even those biased against Israel.

Moreover, a reporter or photographer can trot his or her stuff to an embassy or consulate representing the employer’s country and file from there.

Few countries have a diplomatic presence in Gaza.

Hamas and “friends” have reporters who see Hamas (and Islamic Jihad and …) in action.

They might even see missiles being removed from UN schools and hospitals and fired from heavily populated civilian areas.

They might even report on these things assuming they get out of Gaza with their stories and photos and assuming they won’t have to go back into Gaza.

It is bad enough when people who never have BEEN to Israel repeat lies about the country, but when reporters and photographers fail to report accurately what is transpiring — they may as well be on Hamas’ payroll.

Some reporters and photographers try to be fair, but editorial boards often demand that material be slanted to suit management’s political point of view.

Hitler (left) and Goebbels (right): infamous liars

 

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

 

 

 

Comment on Media invitation

Opuscula Iron Dome fails To protect From shrapnel

ISRAEL’S “IRON DOME” anti-missile system is good.

So good, in fact, that even the U.S. is putting it into place.

“Iron Dome” is probably 98% effective — expensive, but effective — in knocking out the missiles fired at Israeli civilians from Gaza and Syria/Lebanon.

But . . .

 

EVEN WHEN “IRON DOME” destroys an incoming missile, civilians — sometimes Muslim civilians — are injured or killed BY FALLING DEBRIS.

Indeed, more injuries and property damage are caused by fragments of incoming missiles that “Iron Dome” destroys than by the few missiles that get past “Iron Dome.”

Always on the defensive

Since its founding, Israel always has been on defense.

In the 50’s and 60’s, Israeli towns were dotted with entrances to underground shelters. (Americans and Russians will remember the bomb shelters of the same period.)

 

Israeli civilians running to shelter to avoid enemy mortars

 

Today, all new apartments include a shelter room to protect from both flying debris and poison gas. (One Israeli child murdered by Hamas died when shrapnel entered the safe room via a window that should have been shuttered.) Older apartments have common shelters.

In the south, where many homes are single-family, the landscape still is dotted with shelters.

60 seconds

By the time an incoming mortar is detected, Israelis have one minute — 60 seconds — to get into a shelter.

They are supposed to stay in the shelter for at least 10 minutes hoping the mortars have creased.

Problem is, Hamas and Hezbollah like to fire mortars, wait a bit, and fire more mortars.

Rushing into a shelter several times over a few hours is demoralizing, even if the shelter is in an apartment.

It also takes a toll on children, pets, and even newcomers to Israel.¹

Fortunately the warning siren’s sound is distinct from that of emergency vehicles.

Mortars, not guided missiles

Despite funding from Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah so far have produced only mortars.

These mortars lack guidance systems.

Why spend money on guidance systems when the intent is to murder indiscriminately.

Unlike Israel Defense Forces (IDF) precision guided missiles that have pin-point accuracy and spare, whenever possible, non military objectives. Hamas and Hezbollah commit war crimes by targeting civilian populations. (The media seem to ignore this not so subtle point of law.)

Never mind that some of the mortars kill fellow Muslims in Israel.

Never mind that a few mortars land inside Gaza and Lebanon, killing their own people.

Mortars are cheap; precision missiles are expensive. Iron Dome anti-missile missiles also are expensive.

The canard is that the U.S. gives Israel dollars for its self defense.

What the U.S. really is doing is funding U.S. arms manufacturers since the “donated” dollars only can be spent to buy American weaponry. Unfortunately, at the same time, Israel is a proving ground for U.S. arms manufacturers.

One day, either Hamas or Hezbollah will fire mortars at Jerusalem and destroy the mosque down to the Temple’s foundation. Will Jordan, that allegedly controls the mosque, try to rebuild? Will Israel allow Jordan to rebuild.

While there IS a “peace” pact between Israel and Jordan, the Jordanians by and large still hate Israel. Most of Jordan’s current population are “Palestinians,” descendants of the same people who tried to overthrow the Jordanian government in what is known as “Black September.” (see https://tinyurl.com/59sjh5es and https://tinyurl.com/5yjw93mr)

Damned if they do, damned if they don’t

It is interesting that despite precision missiles, Israel is accused by the media of disproportionate response. After all, the media notes, Israel has the Iron Dome and Hamas and Hezbollah don’t. (Hamas and Hezbollah could stop firing missiles at Israeli civilians and they would not NEED an Iron Dome.) The “ disproportionate” claim also applies to causalities. Israel protects its citizens; Hamas and Hezbollah hide behind their civilians.

As an aside, if Israel DID flatten Gaza, how would that be different than what England and the U.S. did to Dresden Germany (https://tinyurl.com/w7kxfyww) or the nazis did to London (https://tinyurl.com/evmv7bk), or what the U.S. was forced to do twice: in Nagasaki and in Hiroshima, Japan? (https://tinyurl.com/t2j7f4xz)

Caveat

In case the reader is not aware, this is keyed in Yavne, Israel (see map at https://tinyurl.com/8fb9aprx). This scrivener is on the ground, unlike some of the reporters who get ”news”feeds from those who hate Israel and want to destroy it and the media that disseminates these total or partial untruths.

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Sources

1. This scrivener is not a newcomer to Israel and well remembers mortars being fired at Zefat when he lived in northern Israel c 1977.

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Iron Dome failure

Opuscula Random thoughts As missiles fall On Israeli civilians

Honesty in blogging. I am keying this in Yavne Israel. Yavne sits between Gaza City and Tel Aviv (see map, below). Gaza’s rulers — Hamas and their fellows — send unguided missiles into Israel literally day and night. As the missiles lack a guidance system — they basically are long-range mortars and a few drones, compliments of Iran — those that make it past Israel’s Iron Dome anti-missile system often fall on civilian targets.

In most places this is considered a “war crime,” but not when Israelis — Christians, Druze, Jews, Muslims, others — are the victims.

 

Check points

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A US/CANADA OR US/MEXICO BORDER CHECK POINT AND AN ISRAEL/PLO BORDER CHECK POINT?

• Both stop people planning to cross.

• Both demand residency documentation.

• Both want to know WHY a person wants to enter.

• Both check for contraband and weapons.

• Both usually allow the person to enter for a specific time.

SO TELL ME, WHY IS THE ISRAELI/PLO CHECK POINT MORE ONEROUS THAN CANADA/U.S. OR MEXICO/U.S. CHECK POINTS?

You’ll never know reading the NY Times

Obama CIA director and New York Times opinion writer John Brennan singled out Israel for not living up to his moral standards. (https://tinyurl.com/264543xk)

Brennan begins his article by personalizing the “humiliation” of a Palestinian child and her father at an Israeli checkpoint, described in a documentary that he recommended to President Joe Biden.

The NYT writer chooses not to add any personal anecdotes to tug at your heartstrings of equally compelling stories of Israelis murdered by Palestinians who crossed into Israel. There was the incident of two men hiding rifles within prayer rugs and killing Jewish soldiers at point-blank range at a checkpoint near Bethlehem. (ibid.)

A few words about Brennan from Wikipedia (https://tinyurl.com/6e2d68f7):

Brennan began his CIA career as an analyst and spent 25 years with the agency. He was a daily intelligence briefer for President Bill Clinton. In 1996, he was CIA station chief in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, when the Khobar Towers bombing killed 19 U.S. servicemen. (So much for Brennan's "intelligence.")

You won’t find it on Google

At least six Israelis — including a Muslim father and his child — have been killed by Hamas’ missiles fired indiscriminately into Israel.

Do a “Google search” for Israelis killed by Hamas rockets in 2021” (I narrowed the field a bit) and what “hits” do I get? See the image below. The query was keyed at 11 a.m. Israel time (3:32 a.m. NYT time).

Screen capture of https://tinyurl.com/fn964afk

Even the Mafia knew better

Back in the day (c 1970) when I was a reporter in Trenton NJ I worked with an old timer named Harry Blaise. Harry covered the state courthouse and one of the cases was of a Mafia boss. Harry and The Boss had a relationship — not exactly adversarial but less than strictly professional. The Boss, Harry told me, often would see Harry in the hall and give him a pistol finger. (☛)

Harry was not concerned for, as he said, the Mafia never attacked reporters knowing that it it did, the media would hound the cops until and arrest was made, then hound the courts until there was a conviction.

Time have changed.

Some Israeli Muslims attacked a beat a tv news reporter.

The incident made the news on the reporter’s channel, but then the issue “disappeared.”

Much of the media in Israel leans (or falls over) to the left, unlike the U.S. in the 70s.

I once stood in the center of a group of black protesters — they had a legitimate complaint — and although not winning a popularity contest, I never was threatened or felt threatened.

Times change.

Cutting off nose to spite the face

Muslims in Israel may feel like “second class” citizens — despite sitting in parliament (Knesset), as city mayors, on courts low and high, being commanders in the national police, and in as few cases, IDF officers and soldiers. (Muslims are not, unlike Jewish citizens, obligated to serve in the army, albeit they are encouraged to perform national service in their own communities.)

Muslims and Jews work together in hospitals, in rescue groups (e.g., Mogan David Adom), in private and public service. Muslims have the vote, they can live anyplace they can afford (some have beautiful homes that most Israeli Jews — this scrivener included — cannot HOPE to afford), own businesses of all types and sell to all customers, yet some, mostly the 18 to 30 set, egged on by politicians and preachers insist on taking to the streets, with the end result being that they are generating a huge prejudice against ALL Muslims.

One man who lives in a “mixed” building now is afraid to go into the building’s shelter for fear this neighbors will attack him. Right or wrong, the fear is there.In the end it will cost the Muslims far more than their non-Muslim neighbors, not only in good will but on the “bottom line.”  

Shomo Cohen cartoon, Israel Hayom, 6 May 2021 (https://tinyurl.com/3annkkww)

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Random thoughts

Opuscula Return to Sender: How to stop missiles Fired from Gaza

ISRAEL IS — NOT “AGAIN,” BUT “STILL” — BEING ATTACKED BY MISSILES FROM GAZA.

The U.S. and leftists around the world blame Israel for the attacks.

The first shots were fired from Gaza. Missiles fall indiscriminately on children, old people, and people in their homes.

Israel retaliates by leveling Hamas sites; Hamas just changes venues and continues the attack.

Israel could, and in my opinion should, end the attacks by giving back to Gaza what Gaza sends to Israel.

 

Hamas rocket strikes Israel (MAHMUD HAMS | Credit: AFP )

 

TIT FOR TAT

I believe the only way to stop the indiscriminate attacks on Israel is for Israel to fire rockets indiscriminately back into Gaza.

During World War 2, all the warring parties bombed civilian targets. Dresden, London, and Nagasaki quickly come to mind. (The Japanese sent fire balloons over the U.S. west coast causing minor physical damage; psychological damage was something else.)

While there are those who live well in Gaza, shopping in super-malls for ISRAELI-MADE goods (!), most Gazans are reportedly poor and lack what most Americans and Europeans consider “basic necessities.”

I have not been to Gaza and rely only on reports — some pro, some con.

Hamas allegedly rules Gaza with an iron hand and is pressured by other anti-Israel Islamic groups, e.g., Islamic Jihad and Islamic Brotherhood, to maintain control over the strip.

For all the claimed oppression of the people, they have not been pushed far enough to revolt.

So far, all Israeli attacks on Gaza have been precisely targeted and limited to Hamas sites and leaders.

Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland

After WW2, Russia, then the now former USSR, took control of many Eastern European countries, including Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland. The Russians installed Communist dictators to rule the countries.

The USSR ruled with a heavy hand, much as Hamas etc. does today in Gaza.

Eventually, these and other Warsaw Pact countries forced the Russians out, often by successful partisan attacks. (The Russians would call these people “terrorists.” Perspective.)

Russia’s presence was almost over whelming, but the people prevailed.

Granted, there was a cost. Some partisans were injured; some died.

But the Russians were sent packing and the people had control of their countries.

The “bottom line” for the Czechs, the Hungarians, and the Poles was that they had to get rid of the Russians no matter what the cost.

They did.

It can be done. It was done.

Gazans can do the same.

Currently Gazans apparently are willing to put up with Hamas et al’s heavy-handedness, lack of electricity, lack of potable water, lack of employment.

If Israel were to do as Hamas does, and indiscriminately fire missiles into Gaza, one missile into Gaza for every missile fired from Gaza, the Gaza “man in the street” might decide it was time to rid the strip of the despots.

When the children, the seniors, and the average Gazan find themselves under attack by Israeli missiles in retaliation for missiles fired from Gaza, perhaps the people will cast out Hamas et al.

Only Gazans can end Hamas terror

The “bottom line” is that the Gazans must want peace with Israel, a permanent cease fire at a minimum.

The only way this can be accomplished is if the Gazan “man in the street” casts off Hamas’ yoke and forms a government that cares about ALL the people of Gaza, not just Islamic leadership.

It is unfortunate, but the impetus may have to come from Israeli missiles falling indiscriminately on all Gazans.

Israelis and Gazans deserve to live in peace, without fear of missiles falling on them.

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PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Return to Sender

Opuscula PLO/PFLP blocks Sick “Palestinians” From Israeli medics

BEFORE ANYONE (FALSELY) CLAIMS THAT ISRAEL prevents sick residents of the PLO/PFLP and Hamas controlled areas from accessing medical care in Israel, LEARN THE FACTS.

It is NOT Israel that prevents “Palestinian” access to Israeli medical care. The PLO/PFLP closed the border (to everyone except politicians and their near kin).

 

 

GRANTED, even before the PLO/PFLP and Hamas closed the border, getting medical care in Israel oft times was difficult.

That might be because too many “Palestinians” brought bombs and other weapons with them into Israel to slaughter any Israeli they could attack.

But “Palestinians” have been coming to Israeli public and private hospitals from the beginning; even before there was a call for another “Palestinian” state. Jordan is the original Palestinian state and it controlled the area where Egyptian Yassar Arafat wanted to create a new state. Egypt controlled Gaza and most Gazans have an “Egyptian connection.”

According to a headline in the English on-line version of Israel HaYom, PA's bid to halt application of sovereignty leaves Gaza patients in limbo¹ “The refusal to process requests for medical permits, aimed at protesting Israel's plan to begin applying sovereignty to parts of Judea and Samaria, has instead hurt many sick Palestinians.”

Jomaa al-Najjar was desperate to send his 2-month-old daughter Joud out of the Gaza Strip to Israel for urgent medical treatment for epilepsy. But with the Palestinian Authority refusing to relay his request, there was no way to coordinate her transfer.

This week, she died in a Gaza hospital.

Who killed the child?

Mahmoud Abbas.

Last month, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the authority was no longer bound by previous agreements with Israel going back to the 1990s, which created the PA. He suspended all ties with Israel, even security coordination.

The Palestinians view Israel's proposed sovereignty initiative in the Jordan Valley and some settlements as an existential threat because it would make it virtually impossible to create a viable Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria, Gaza, and east Jerusalem.

Never mind that the so-called Trump Plan — a plan that Abbas refused to even review — did create a “Palestinian” state in Israel that included the PLO/PFLP and Hamas-controlled Gaza.

"We are on the brink of medical chaos," said a spokesperson for Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, a humanitarian group. It said the PA Health Ministry has also stopped covering the cost of treatment in Israeli hospitals, meaning that organ transplant patients are unable to return for post-surgery rehabilitation. The group has appealed to Israeli authorities to ensure the continued movement of Palestinian patients to Israel for treatment.

It is the PLO/PFLP and Hamas that are preventing their citizens from treatment in Israel. Given that Israel is treating patients from area countries, sometimes via an intermediate country such as Cyprus, it is highly unlikely that Israel would refuse to treat any legitimate patient from anywhere. Worst case, Israel could bill the patient’s government, even realizing there is little chance of collecting.

Patients requiring advanced treatment usually travel to east Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria, or even in Israel proper. They need Israeli permission for all three. Egypt has sealed its border with Gaza since March due to the coronavirus.

Hamas has no direct contact with Israel but allows a PA-run liaison office in Gaza to coordinate the entry and exit of medical patients, even during the wars.

According to the Israel HaYom posting, “The Palestinian Center for Human Rights, a Gaza nonprofit, briefly stepped in to help coordinate the permits but stopped after Israeli media reported the arrangement.”

Ibrahim Melhem, a Palestinian Authority spokesman in Judea and Samaria, defended the decision to cut ties.

"Israel is the occupying power on the borders of Gaza and it bears responsibility for the results of delaying or preventing patients from crossing to hospitals in Jerusalem and [Judea and Samaria]," he said.

Gisha, an Israeli nongovernmental organization that advocates for Palestinian freedom of movement, said Israel, the PA, and Hamas must protect that right. It called on Israel to "identify an immediate solution to meet the urgent needs of Gaza's residents for movement, especially patients in need of life-saving treatment."

But if the PLO/PFLP and Hamas refuse to even talk to Israel HOW can Melhem honestly claim that Israel “bears responsibility for the results of delaying or preventing patients from crossing to hospitals”​ As for Gisha, this apparently left-wing NGO also refuses to lay the blame where it belongs: squarely at the feet of the PLO/PFLP and Hamas “leadership.” Rather than demanding that Israel "identify an immediate solution to meet the urgent needs of Gaza's residents for movement, especially patients in need of life-saving treatment" it should be pressing the PLO/PFLP and Hamas to do exactly what it demands of Israel.

The world undoubtedly will hear only the cries of Ibrahim Melhem and Gisha, blaming the lack of access to health care in Israel on Israel.

True, it often is difficult and time consuming to get permission to cross into Israel for medical care. But it was being done.

In January, close to 3,000 Gazans left for treatment via the Erez crossing with Israel, according to UN figures. That number plunged in the following months as authorities heavily restricted travel to prevent the spread of coronavirus, but 188 crossed in April.

It is not Israel that is preventing the residents of the PLO/PFLP and Hamas areas from accessing medical care in Israel. It is the pride of Mahmoud Abbas that has closed the borders.

For want of a nail²

Had Israels neighbors accepted the new state in 1948, Israel would be tiny and Jordan/Palestine would be huge.

Had Israel’s neighbors not continued to attack the small country,

*  Syria still would be in control of the Golan Heights

*  Jordan still wold be in control of Jerusalem (and restricting access to Jewish sites)

*  The PLO/PFLP and Hamas probably would not exist as Jordan and Egypt would put them down early on.

 

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Sources

1. Israel HaYom: https://tinyurl.com/yaxmh834

2. For want of a nail: https://tinyurl.com/n7sb629

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.

 

Comment on Blame PLO/PFLP

Opuscula Coin has two sides, Major media gives One & ignores other

THE OTHER DAY I READ that Hamas, the despotic rulers in Gaza, want to take Israel to the International Criminal Court (ICC)¹ because Israeli forces used live ammunition against Gazans attempting to infiltrate Israel to kill Israelis (Jews, Christians, Muslims, sans discrimination).

Hamas wants the ICC to believe that it is harmless and helpless against the Israeli army.

Yet

• It digs tunnels into Israel to murder Israelis² (it also build tunnels into Egypt³)
• It sends explosive-laden drones over Israel⁴
• It uses kites (shades of the WW 2 Japanese balloon attacks on the U.S. west coast⁵) with incendiary devices attached to destroy Israeli farmers’ fields and, where possible, the farmers’ homes.⁶

In the later case, Israel is seeking relief from the ICC.

Although Gandhi would surely disagree⁷ ("The Jews should have offered themselves to the butcher's knife. They should have thrown themselves into the sea from cliffs, the Babylonian Talmud states: If a man comes to kill you, rise early and kill him first ⁸, with attention to footnote 18

The leftists and media, in Israel and elsewhere, generally align with Gandhi, even his quote, addressing the English, to give up the fight against Hitler and Mussolini: 'Let them take possession of your beautiful island ... allow yourself, man, woman and child, to be slaughtered. He also did not believe that women should resist rape, but preferred that they should 'defeat' their assailants by remaining passive and silent(ibid.) That last comment probably would not sit well with the ladies of any political point of view.

It is well to remember that, with military aid from the U.S., England kept its island; meanwhile, in Gandhi’s India, abuse of women is the biggest human rights violation on Earth.⁹

Israelis, save for the leftists, and the Muslims in the nation’s Knesset (congress), refuse to follow Gandhi’s admonishments to offer themselves to the (“Palestinian”/Hamas) butcher’s knife, even as much of the world condemns the nation for defending itself.

The media will provide half the story, but don’t depend on it to tell the whole story.

A fellow reporter, “back in the day.” reported almost daily on the city’s street lighting project. He was a good reporter, but the editor had to often remind him that he had to provide the background for the day’s update; tell the readers the whole story (albeit in encapsulated form).

Today’s media only goes as deep as a headline; the “news” is a photo caption under an image that may, or may not, be faked.¹⁰

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Sources

1. http://tinyurl.com/yceun7vq

2. http://tinyurl.com/yb58fyk7

3. http://tinyurl.com/yd25omt4

4. http://tinyurl.com/y8csclzw

5. http://tinyurl.com/yc7tw8du

6. http://tinyurl.com/yaq6mh3f

7. http://tinyurl.com/yc2bb2r2 , http://tinyurl.com/y7yr8uec

8. http://tinyurl.com/y7zx9s6v

9. http://tinyurl.com/yccjhvrd

10. http://tinyurl.com/y8smbj29 , http://tinyurl.com/y784h9mw

PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.

Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.

Comments on Coin

Opuscula TREASON ?

 

Treason: The betrayal of one's own country by waging war against it or by consciously or purposely acting to aid its enemies. Legal Dictionary

 

If U.S. representatives to Congress had joyfully endorsed the Islamists attacks on 9-11 (2001), would that be treason?

If U.S. representatives to Congress had joyfully endorsed Japan's attack on Hawaii on December 7, 1941, would that have been treason?

U.S. representatives to Congress had joyfully endorsed the Communists' victories in Vietnam, would that have been treason?

According to the Legal Dictionary (ibid.),

Under Article III, Section 3, of the Constitution, any person who levies war against the United States or adheres to its enemies by giving them Aid and Comfort has committed treason within the meaning of the Constitution. The term aid and comfort refers to any act that manifests a betrayal of allegiance to the United States, such as furnishing enemies with arms, troops, transportation, shelter, or classified information. If a subversive act has any tendency to weaken the power of the United States to attack or resist its enemies, aid and comfort has been given. (Emphasis mine.)

The three examples above would clearly fall under the definition of "treason" and Americans would demand that those convicted of treason be severely punished.

Now, look at Israel.

Arutz Sheva reports that Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman is calling for the incarceration of several members of the Israeli knesset (MKs) who took part in a "victory rally" for the terrorist group Hamas last Friday in northern Israel to be jailed as traitors .

The Arutz Sheva article went continued

"Those who took part last Friday^NB...need to 'celebrate' an extended period behind lock and key on charges of treachery and support of terror," wrote Liberman on his Facebook page.

The foreign minister noted that those joining the rally "didn't protest out of a humanitarian identification with the residents of Gaza; instead they expressed open support for an enemy that fought for two months against the state of Israel."

"Therefore they should be treated as traitors and supporters of a terrorist organization; stand them on trial and give them the 'right' to stand for a moment of silence - as they did at the rally - in jail cells," added Liberman.

It's hard to understand how such people who hate Israel so much can be elected by people who claim, if not to "love" Israel, at least to prefer it to any Moslem government. Does anyone see a mass, or even mini exodus of Muslims from Israel to ANY Muslim-controlled area? The PA, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, or Egypt? Perhaps the ballot boxes are being "stuffed" to elect these treasonous people, stuffed by voters who are paid or coerced to vote for a one of several "Arab" (read "Muslim") political parties.

The fact that there ARE Muslim parties - and Muslim MKs - belies the suggestion that Israel is an "apartheid" country, a "Jews-only" country where non-Jews are, at best, only tolerated. (Tell that to the Druze colonel who commands one of Israel's most decorated military units or to the other Druze and Arab Christians serving in the Israel Defense Forces [IDF]. Jews are drafted; Druze and Arabs are exempt from the draft; they volunteer.)

Unfortunately, Israel does NOT have "representative government" as in the U.S. where an elected official must live in the area he/she is supposed to represent. In Israel, voters vote party, not person (one reason I returned to the U.S.).

Would the U.S. have tolerated a member of Congress joining a flotilla to break the blockade Cuba when Cuba was fully in the pocket of the USSR? Would it have allowed a member of Congress to have unauthorized meetings with Mao? There would have been a call to punish the rogue politician as well as a ground swell to remove (impeach) the politician by the electorate.

Not so in Israel.

Israel's tolerance of treason - not just dissent, but actual treason - is beyond any reasonable person's concept of "democracy." It is closer to anarchy and not to be tolerated.

Only in Israel.

 

MKs joining the "Gaza Victory: This is Our Holiday" march: Hanin Zoabi, Basel Ghattas, and Jamal Zahalka (Balad), Sheikh Raed Salah (Islamic Movement in Israel) and Ibrahim Tzartzur and Masoud Ganayem (Raam-Taal)

Tell me about War Crimes

 

There is a lot of talk lately about war crimes.

Mostly the talk is about war crimes allegedly committed by Israel in its aggression against Hamas.

As if war crimes were something new.

Certainly the United States never would commit war crimes. Nor would its loyal ally and former master, England. Or Russia, now or in the guise of the "Soviet Union."

The list can go on and on and on; hardly any nation is exempt.

How about the Federal's Gen. Sherman and his march across Georgia; his "scorched earth" policy. It might not have been a "war crime" then, but it would be now.

How about Germany. Slaughtering civilians - Romas, Jews, Communists, mentally disabled, homosexuals - that's counted as a "war crime."

Likewise bombing civilians in England; London was a prime target of the nazi's V-bombs; fortunately they were about as accurate as a Hamas rocket fired into Israel.

The U.S. and England retaliated and fire bombed the German city of Dresden. There are reports of mothers with babes in arms incinerated by the ally's bombs.

What Japan did to Koreans is not for "G-rated" blogs; but perhaps what the U.S. did to the civilians of Nagasaki and Hiroshima is likewise not stuff for a "G-rated" blog. War crimes?

Is it a "war crime" to bomb civilians?

If it is, then Hamas is guilty of war crimes.

Is it a "war crime" to deliberately put non-combatants into harms way?

If it is, then Hamas is guilty of war crimes.

Is it a "war crime" when civilians and traditionally non-military targets collateral damage when the aggressor places his weapons in highly populated areas and in hospitals and schools?

If it is, then Hamas is guilty of war crimes.

Is it a "war crime" when non-combatants are executed by beheadings broadcast for all the world to see?

If it is, then Muslims are guilty of war crimes.

Is it a "war crime" for military (e.g., the U.S. cavalry) and para-military (e.g., Cossacks) to attack villages and slaughter all the inhabitants simply "because." (Lest anyone forget, America's horse soldiers wiped out some 300 Sioux at Wounded Knee.)

Now reconsider Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

The U.S. dropped leaflets telling Japan that in "n" days a horrible weapon would descend upon it. Having warned the nation and having given it a chance to surrender and end the war in the Pacific, the Japanese government refused to end the war.

So who committed the "war crimes" that incinerated Nagasaki and Hiroshima?

Consider Israel and Gaza.

Israel is famous for calling non-combatants and warning them of an impending attack.

It drops leaflets.

It drops warning bombs.

If Hamas keeps the non-combatants in their homes and these people are injured or killed, who is guilty of "war crimes?"

U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt KNEW about the nazi's death camps. Despite people begging him to bomb the railroads taking people to the mostly-in-Poland death camps, FDR refused. Like Hitler, FDR would not "waste" resources on saving those headed to their deaths. (Hitler refused to relinquish his resources to the war effort, preferring to make his land "Jew free.") Was FDR guilty of "war crimes?" Was Hitler? Certainly the latter is a "no brainer."

If Israel would burn Gaza to the ground, a la Dresden, THEN Israel would commit a "war crime."

If Israel destroyed schools and hospitals not used as weapons depots or as launch sites for Hamas rockets and mortars, THEN Israel could commit a "war crime."

Given the number of pubic facilities - including the "neutral" UN buildings where Hamas weaponry has been discovered, and often admitted by Hamas or the UN - Israel MUST be given the benefit of the doubt; it's targeting enemy materials and launch sites, NOT public building per se. The "war crimes" lie at Hamas' feet, not Israel's.

Collateral damage happens, but it IS "collateral." Unlike Israel, Hamas fires its weapons at civilian targets in Israel. That is a war crime.

As much as Hamas, the PA, and their sponsor, Iran, might want to haul Israel before a world court for "war crimes," they cannot because they - Hamas, the PA, and Iran - have bloody hands from committing war crimes against others and their own.