The Last Exile

Via Batya, I learned there is a Qassam counter.

The mission statement:

QassamCount lets people know about every Rocket (whether it is a Katyusha, Grad, Qassam, or RPG) fired at Israel. Many media outlets do not report on these attacks so it’s up to us to provide you with the facts – and up to you to report them to the world. Our mission is to serve as a “factual backbone”, providing you with the facts so you can share them with your friends.

…and in good other news, Canada cuts funding to UNESCO. My pocketbook thanks the government.

Apparently, Hamas has ‘imposed’ a ceasefire on the Gaza Strip. So far only rockets have rained into Israel today.

But my WTF moment for this morning came courtesy of the Palestinian Authority comments reported in the Toronto Star’s report on the ‘ceasefire’

What I really do wish is that someone would ask the Palestinian Authority’s ‘spokesman/men’ how exactly will the PA be able to assert control over Hamastan? Oddly enough, the Associated Press report managed made to make that same point in the next paragraph.

Abbas, who wields limited power in the West Bank under Israel’s overall security control, asserts no such control at this time. Hamas routed his loyalists from Gaza in a violent 2007 takeover, and a reconciliation pact the two sides signed in May has stalled. Hamas, backed by Iran, opposes both peacemaking with Israel and Abbas’ statehood bid.

How very odd of the Associated Press; no doubt an editor feel asleep on the job and all well be back to normal in the next AP report.

Arutz Sheva has You Tubed a video collage of Israeli Knesset members who spoke out in favour of the ‘disengagement’ from the Gaza Strip chastising all those who said that the violence against Israeli civilians would increase after the disengagement from the Gaza Strip.

Normally, I would say flippantly that it never gets old being right…except I wish I was wrong in this case. However, (this is where I go old Biblical Prophet-style and say) any withdrawal – with or without a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians – will not stop the Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians. The land for peace formula is utterly and completely bankrupt.

The Popular Resistance Committee is an ad-hoc terror group composed of representatives from the various Palestinian militant terrorist fractions. Hamas is equally representative among the PRC, which is the ‘how and why’ when the PRC launches an attack into Israel (not the disputed territories) kills multiple Israeli soldiers and takes one soldier captive and the Israelis must negotiate with Hamas for his return. It is impossible to believe that the highly organized and planned multiple attacks on Israeli civilians last Thursday just outside Eilat, and planned by the Popular Resistance Committee could have trained and launched this attack without the knowledge of Hamas. Make no mistake, the Palestinians launched an attack within the recognized and undisputed borders of Israel against civilian buses and private civilian vehicles.

This attack was launched and staged to primarily attack Israeli civilians. The deliberate targeting of civilians is just the kind of behaviour which would have the international community issuing writs of indictments for war crimes – if it was committed by any other group of people rather than the Palestinians. The rocket barrages aimed deliberately at civilians is just the kind of behaviour which would have the international community issuing writs of indictments for war crimes provided – it was not committed by the Palestinians.

Not one single international writ will be issued against any Palestinian for the deliberate attack, maiming and murder of Israeli civilians. The Israelis know this, which is why they do not outsource the security of Israeli civilians to the international community. In fact, Hamas has yet to investigate any of the war crimes alleged to have been committed by Hamas members as set out in the UN Goldstone Report. Whether you agree or not with Israeli conclusions or even justice; you cannot deny or claim that the Israelis did not launch investigations. Hamas, never launched any investigation, nor will it.

The Israeli have not launched any retaliatory strikes against any non-military targets within the Gaza Strip. This is not to say Palestinian civilians have not been killed, but those have been killed were the result of being in close proximity of known military targets. It is the world of difference between these positions.

Yesterday, Hamas announced the ‘truce’ with Israel is over and umpteen rockets were launched against Israel from Hamastan with the express purpose of attacking Israeli civilians. Israel has continued to strike at suspected and known military targets within the Gaza Strip with no signs of possible let up and rumours of a ground attack are imminent.

Hamas is now calling for a renewed ‘ceasefire’ with Israel while allowing the ‘PRC’ to refuse. This is called having your cake and eating it too. In Hebrew, we refer to this as – chutzpah.

The Globe and Mail ran a weekend feature piece by Patrick Martin on Hamas – and I am using the by-line heading here: Hamas: Agents of terror, partners in peace, or both?Martin tries very hard to give a ‘well-rounded’ both sides kind of piece. Some of it useful, some of it not so useful. I do give Martin credit for at least acknowledging that Hamas’ ties to the Muslim Brotherhood – although, calling Hamas an ‘off-shoot’ gives the Muslim Brotherhood cover from the rather disturbing violence Hamas has deployed throughout the years – both against Israelis and Palestinians. Hamas, is simply; the Palestinian Chapter of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Like so very many articles on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict there are a number of distortions, often reinforcing this ‘cycle of violence’ narrative which so many in the western world cling on to without respite. It also allows organizations like Hamas to cover up their less than savory narratives. Take this one -

It was in 1994 that Hamas first launched its campaign of suicide bombings targeting civilians inside Israel. The first such attack took place in Afula, in central Israel, when a 19-year-old bomber blew himself up at a bus stop, killing eight Israelis and wounding 34 others.

The date was April 6, exactly 40 days after an Israeli settler, Baruch Goldstein, a physician and reserve army officer, entered the mosque at Abraham’s tomb in Hebron and killed 29 Palestinians at prayer, wounding dozens of others. That was the event, Hamas leaders say, that crossed “a red line” and changed the nature of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

…If Palestinian civilians at prayer could be attacked, Hamas reasoned, Israeli civilians would be considered targets too.

Which is all well and good…except The Beit El bombing also known as the Mehola Junction bombing in April 16, 1993 was the first ‘bombing’ Hamas took credit for – almost a full year before Baruch Goldstein’s infamous meltdown in Hevron.

Then there is this little gem:

Nothing quite says “Taliban” or even ‘moderate organization’ like a Hamas Agents attacking a wedding party inside the Gaza Strip…or the violent and bloody coup of the Gaza Strip in 2007.
…or launching a rocket attack at an Israeli school bus from the Gaza Strip and killing one Israeli school boy this past April.

For some reason, the entire history of Hamas targeting Israeli civilians inside the post-49 borders of Israel with rockets is conveniently scratched over…although, I admit, it probably is best to forget it – especially if one wants to accept Hamas can be ‘moderated’ or you have a vested interest in white-washing the Hamas narrative for mass Western media consumption.

As far as Hamas being an agent for peace goes…it probably only works as long as the word ‘peace’ and ‘grave’ are used in the same sentence.

Maybe it is me but there is just something widely appropriate for Ha’aretz’s columnist Gideon Levy to pen an op-ed piece arguing that Israel should give Hamas another chance on Holocaust Remembrance Day.

It has been less than a month since a guided missile attack emanating from the Gaza Strip targeted an Israeli school bus and killed a 16 year old boy.

Gilad Shalit is still held captive and a prisoner of Hamas….so yes, of course, why not give Hamas another chance?

I mean, why not roll the dice and play roulette with the other 7 million Israeli lives? It’s a perfect storm of delusion and I can just imagine how Levy would have argued against the Warsaw Uprising if he had been alive and present in the Warsaw ghetto.

For the sanest opinion piece on Holocaust Rememberance Day – read Sarah Honig.

Less than 24 hours after the Israeli Prime Minister left Israel to go the United States to participate in the ongoing peace talks four Israeli civilians were murdered in an ambush as they drove on highway 60 outside the Hebron area.

Their deaths were inevitable. It is a cycle, a pattern, we have seen it play out over and over again as peace negotiations begin. Every time it happens, there are official announcements from all interested parties that the participants will not let these deaths deter them from continuing negotiations which lead nowhere quickly.

Why this time should be different from any other talks when the Palestinian leadership is represented by the weakest leader the PLO has ever produced, a leadership camp which fractured and fraught with competing and conflicted interests should produce a different result than all the other xxx times peace talks have commenced; beyond my ability to engage in irrationality. And the Americans this time around are no better. Ynet News is quoting US Assistant Secretary of State Phillip Crowley as saying:

“We also are cognizant that there may well be actors in the region who are deliberately making these kinds of attacks in order to try to sabotage the process,” he said.

All of which goes to prove he just doesn’t get it. These aren’t actors, actors pretend to kill people, but are instead Israel’s neighbours and alleged peace partners except they are not prime for peace but war.

As a show of …good faith – the Palestinian Authority has rounded up 200 suspected Hamas members in the West Bank. Personally, given the area and its’ history, I would suggest rounding up the Palestinian security forces for interrogation would be a far more fruitful endeavour for appending the murderers. Colour me cynical, but using the ambush as a pretext for jailing one’s political proponents doesn’t strike me as taking one for Team Justice and Peace.

Ha’aretz is reporting Labor Minister of Defense Ehud Barak is suggesting Israel is willing to cede part of Jerusalem ahead of negotiations – and this after the murder of four Israelis. It just might be in Israel’s best interest to cede Barak to the Palestinians instead. It certainly couldn’t hurt.

What Bibi needs tell Obama is simply this; He is ready to meet the Palestinian leadership after the Palestinian have worked out their internal matters, and the Palestinian people are prepared for peace, real peace, which includes painful compromises on their part - as otherwise there is simply not anything to negotiate or even say. Time to go home and bury the dead and fortify Yisrael for the next round.

Until then, let’s shelve the two-state peace talks and explore the possiblity of a one state discussion.

The ongoing captivity Gilad Shalit is turning into a virtual propaganda boon for Hamas and its supporters. Ynet News:

Hamas-owned “Falasteen” journal published a “rare and special” interview with captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, an interview, which, only at the end of the report, turned out to be fabricated.
 
The paper’s political analyst Mustafa al-Sawwaf, was allegedly given the opportunity to interview the soldier in captivity, but at the end of his article, the journalist writes, “All this was in a dream, which I woke up from, after recording this interview.”

And what does Shalit learn in al-Sawwaf’s dream interview?

“I would not be exaggerating if I said I didn’t expect the treatment to be so good. Especially after I learned in school and in the army that the Arabs are murderers and criminals and that they deserve to die,” Shalit “said” in the fabricated interview.

“But these years I have spent here have proved to me that what I learned is not true and that they are people with feelings and that they love life and give civil and humane treatment, the opposite of what is said. I would like to end my words with a cry to my people – help me live, from your son, Gilad Shalit.”

If Shalit learned all Arabs are murders and criminals I don’t expect he learned that in an IDF basic training course…although, he might think so given his present circumstances but good thing it’s all a ‘dream’. I suspect Shalit would not necessarily characterize his kidnapping which resulted in the death of two of his comrades and the injuring of three others as particularly ‘civil’ or ‘humane’. Of course, there is also the fact he is held in such isolation that the Red Cross is not allowed to visit contrary to umteen laws regarding the treatment of prisoners of war.

According to this Toronto Star article the Canadian Military is running into staffing issues.

OTTAWA–The military has put up to a dozen international missions on the chopping block as it struggles with a massive personnel shortage, the Toronto Star has learned.

From a five-soldier team training the Kosovo Security Force to the single officer monitoring the 1974 ceasefire in Cyprus, to the 30 personnel deployed on peacekeeping operations in Sudan, all is up for review as Canada juggles the demands of Afghanistan, the Olympics, and the G8 and G20 meetings of world leaders this summer.

“Political will exists to accept downsizing or deactivation of missions whose effects are no longer required, are not meeting their intent, or who can no longer be conducted owing to force generation pressures,” according to an internal report last year laying out the criteria for continuing or cutting the international deployments.

The personnel pinch was first identified by Gen. Rick Hillier, then chief of defence staff, in May 2008. He warned that the Canadian Forces would need to “continuously and ruthlessly rationalize our operational demands.”

So I have a suggestion to help ease the personnel crunch; immediately end Operation Proteus. By this time most of you are probably scratching your heads wondering what the hell Operation Proteus is. I know I was. I never even knew the Canadian Armed Forces had any kind of join venture on the go with the Palestinians until I read the most ridiculous and overall butt-ignorant editorial penned for the St. Catherine’s’ Standard. However, the editorial did allude to a Canadian operational mission with the Palestinian security forces and before I wrote the whole thing off as stuff and non-sense; I thought I should do a little digging.

Operation Proteus is probably the least publicly flaunted operation the Canadian Armed Forces are involved with. Of course, it would probably hurt the current Conservative government’s “Jew-cred” if the Conservatives started to openly tout Operations Proteus rather than doing it on the sly QT. Nothing like using the Canadian army to train the Palestinian security forces to become better trained terrorists police officers. So don’t expect to see this on Sandy Crux’s list of the Harper’s Governments Accomplishments.

Simply put; Operation Proteus is the Canadian military’s contribution for training the Palestinian Security Forces – yes, we are training these guys who with frightening regularity often go postal and run amuck killing Israelis.

I bet you thought only the Americans and Euroweenies were the only ones dumb enough to train (ahem) security forces of the Palestinian thug-a-crats and sundry thieves who run riot through the billions given to the Palestinian Authority.

Yes, this is the same Palestinian Authority who first set in motion the infamous ‘jobs-for-guns’ program to al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade members to ‘lay down their guns’ for jobs in the Palestinian security forces.

Heaven knows, without the Palestinian Security Forces propping up one of the most innately corrupt gang of thugs and thieves the Palestinians have ever seen – what chance will any Palestinian know what it is like to enjoy justice without having to bride police, the judge or jury?

Furthermore, I would love to know what exactly is the Canadian military’s vetting process to ensure they are not training known terrorists? Although, I wouldn’t be surprised to learn the Canadian Armed Forces defers all Palestinian candidate decisions to the Palestinian Security Forces’ leadership.

So now the next time Palestinian Police decide to lynch a couple of directionally challenged Israeli reservists – or when a Palestinian security force personnel goes postal or even when a Palestinian military courts carries out the legal execution for the capital crime of selling land to a Jew; we call all sit back in safe and smug in Canada knowing how our government and army did its part. But for me, I am just sick about it.

Speaking of Jew killers – jailed multiple murder mastermind Marwing Barghouti is contemplating run for President of the Palestinian Authority from his Israeli prison cell. Seems entirely apt for a mafia like organization which the PA so closely resembles. Ynet News

Following doubts surrounding Abbas’ political future, the source said that Marwan Barghouti’s camp has started looking into the option that he will run for Palestinian Authority president. The source said that Barghouti passed a message on to his associates saying that he will announce his candidacy if there are any developments with Abbas.
 
The source said that though the chance that Abbas won’t run “does not actually exist, Barghouti sees himself as the natural candidate, and really the only candidate, for whom there is broad consensus within the movement. His associates have started examining the possibility.”
 
According to him, this position is bolstered by reports recently received by Barghouti and his associates from Hamas claiming that Barghouti will be included in a prisoner swap deal with Israel. “We understood from people close to Barghouti that he believes his chances of being released in a deal are more than 90%.”

I have no idea if the Israelis will ever let him on a prisoner exchange or not but I cannot help but smile at the thought of mulitple world leaders and foreign ministers having to make the trek into an Israeli jail to ‘commune or communicate’ with Barghouti. Pity the poor slob who has to frisk Hillary Clinton, but then again, maybe it could be arranged that the guards in charge of frisking the visiting foreign dignitaries just so happen to have been the parent, spouse, or sibling to one of Barghouti’s many, many victims. It appeals to my sense of justice. Besides I am ready to the coming campaign to free Barghouti by world leaders twisting themselves into knots trying to justify the unjustifiable and I have a whole collection of pictures to remind the world of the gruesomeness of the blood from his handiwork.

Photo Credit – NY Times