Israel in the News Sep/Oct 2007
Israel Leaves, Terror Arrives
ARUTZ-7—Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel must learn from Hamas’s takeover of Gaza. “Every piece of land that we unilaterally evacuate becomes a place where rockets are deployed against us. We must ensure that what is happening in Gaza doesn’t reach Judea and Samaria as well. Unilateral withdrawals are not the answer. We said in the past that the retreat from Gush Katif would lead to increased terrorism and arms-smuggling, and we were right.”
He said the same mistake occurred in Lebanon: “Our hasty withdrawal from southern Lebanon [in May 2000] turned it into Hezbollahland, and our hasty exit from Gaza caused it to become Hamastan. If we leave Judea and Samaria, terrorism will increase; the IDF’s [Israel Defense Forces] presence there is preventing it from becoming Hamastan as well.”
‘No’ to Release
ARUTZ-7—One of the 256 terrorists slated for release in July as part of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s “good will” gesture to the Palestinian Authority said, “Thanks, but no thanks.” The man chose to remain in the Israeli prison so he could continue receiving free medication for his arthritis.
During the Hamas/Fatah war in Gaza, dozens of wounded Arabs, including several Fatah terrorists, were brought to Israeli hospitals for free treatment. Terrorists are often taken to Israeli hospitals when wounded during their attacks and receive the same care as their victims, albeit under heavy guard.
Assad Insists on Golan
ARUTZ-7—Syrian President Bashar Assad has told the Syrian parliament he is ready for peace talks with Israel providing he receives a formal commitment by Israel to evacuate and concede all of the Golan Heights.
“They must provide us with guarantees that all of the Golan will be returned,” Assad declared in a speech after being sworn in as Syria’s president for a second seven-year term. “For Syrians,” Assad said, “peace is tied to the word land.’’ Talks with Israel would only be conducted, therefore, “to achieve the main principle of land for peace and the return of the whole Golan.”
Nahool Teaches PA Kids to Die
ARUTZ-7—Hamas has found a way to continue feeding its children a steady diet of hatred against Israel and the United States. Meet Nahool, a cute little bumblebee whose goal in life is to be a martyr.
Nahool replaces the Mickey Mouse look-alike character, Farfur, on Palestinian Authority (PA) TV. Farfur was killed off by being beaten to death by an “Israeli agent.” Here is how Nahool was introduced to PA children:
Hostess Saraa: “Who are you?And where did you come from?’
Nahool: “I am Nahool, Farfur’s cousin.”
Saraa: “And what do you want?”
Nahool: “I want to continue the path of Farfur, the path of ‘Islam is the solution’. The path of heroism, the path of martyrdom, the path of the jihad warriors. Me and my friends shall continue the path of Farfur. And in his name we shall take revenge upon the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets [i.e. the Jews], the murderers of innocent children, until al-Aqsa will be liberated from their filth.”
Saraa: “Welcome! Welcome Nahool.” Farfur was the star of a television program that taught PA children how to carry out terrorist attacks, encouraging them to become martyrs in suicide bombings against Israelis.
Walt Disney’s daughter Diane, 73, was outraged when she learned of the use of her father’s friendly little mouse character. In an article in the New York Daily News, Diane Disney Miller called Hamas “pure evil.”
World Bank Blames Israel
The World Bank is accusing Jerusalem of creating the conditions for an “irreversible” economic collapse in Hamas-controlled Gaza, while Israel is transferring tons of food, medicine, and other supplies into the Gaza Strip.
The acting director for the World Bank in the Palestinian Authority (PA) territories said unemployment levels, marked at 30 percent in January 2007, could reach 37 percent or higher if businesses remain closed in Gaza and placed the responsibility for the dismal situation directly on Israel’s doorstep, claiming the closure of border crossings was responsible.
He did not mention the bloody civil war between the Fatah and Hamas factions, which lasted well over a year and resulted in hundreds of deaths and even more wounded from constant gunfights in the street. Gaza was taken over by Hamas in mid-June, effectively ending the brutal militia war but leaving the area in ruins.
Hamas has refused to guarantee security at the border crossings.
Meanwhile, the Israel Defense Forces are continuing their efforts to provide a response to the humanitarian needs in the Gaza Strip. The following humanitarian aid was transferred from Israel into the Gaza Strip through all the crossings except Rafiah.
Sufa Crossing—Approximately 8,880 tons of food, medical supplies, dairy products, flour, sugar, reproductive eggs, rice, cooking oil, straw and animal feed, raw food materials and construction supplies.
Kerem Shalom Crossing—Approximately 1,050 tons of food, medical supplies, dairy products, meat products, fruit, cooking oil and reproductive eggs.
Karni Crossing—Approximately 4,180 tons of wheat seed.
Erez Crossing—Approximately 8,433 vaccines.
Beware the BBC
To mark the 40th anniversary of Israel’s victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, BBC News Radio aired a pro-Arab program titled “Six Days That Changed the Middle East,” which soft-pedaled Arab threats to annihilate Israel, misrepresented facts, and painted Israel as a vicious, heartless aggressor.
The BBC’s obvious Arab leaning comes as no surprise, since a 2004 BBC document explained the company’s intent to cultivate the Arab and Islamic markets. Titled The BBC’s International Role: Submission to the Independent Panel on Charter Review, the 88-page report, available online, states, “For the foreseeable future, the Islamic world and its relationships with the ‘West’ will be a central global issue, and the BBC will continue to seek to build impact in the Arab region and the wider Islamic community….We are exploring the launch of a BBC Arabic television channel.”
In May, Asharq Alawsat, a leading international Arab daily, proclaimed, “Only a few months remain before Arab viewers worldwide can tune into the British Broadcast Corporation’s (BBC) Arabic Service satellite channel.”
The BBC, in fact, has been so pro-Arab that Israel boycotted the network in 2003 and nearly revoked its press credentials in 2006 due to its extremely one-sided coverage of the Second Lebanon War. An Israeli official said its reports were so slanted that the BBC looked like it was working for Hezbollah. The news outlet “is downright hostile to Israel on every level,” said an Israeli government official.
Recently Steven Stotsky, with CAMERA (Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America), listed scores of errors in the BBC program on the Six-Day War, not the least of which was the insistence that the war was all about Israeli aggression and occupation rather than Israel’s survival.
Now, with the BBC owing Hamas for the release of its captured journalist Alan Johnston in July, the outlet will no doubt be feeding its audience more of the same.
