28-Sep-07: Why security checkpoints have to be there

From the Jerusalem Post this afternoon:

IDF soldiers arrested two Palestinians at the Bir Zayit checkpoint on Thursday night after finding two explosive devices in their car during a routine check. The explosives, which were ready for deployment, were detonated safely by army sappers. The two suspects were transferred to police for questioning.

They know the soldiers are there. They know the road runs into a security checkpoint. Yet they still get arrested, still carry their bombs, still pray for their 72 virgins. These are things you need to take into account when you formulate your position on the fateful question of what does a decent society have to do to protect itself from a barbarian onslaught.

A good Sabbath to all.

28-Sep-07: Confusing? Maybe, but we all need to get this right

Figuring out where you stand in the confusing, semi-factual, frequently context-free torrent of charges and counter-charges is hard for some to do. But absolutely essential if we're going to stop terror.

The events of the past two days are a classic showcase of the options we all face. And also of the dishonesty of certain news-media professionals for whom, when it comes to reporting terror, 'context' is a political categorization to be avoided at all costs.

As Israeli soldiers make their way back to safe territory this morning after an operation in Gaza (see AFP picture above) here's a subjective selection of news reports and commentary on what
AFP calls "a series of operations that killed more than a dozen people".

People indeed. Read on.

The 'massacre': IDF aircraft fired several rockets into a vehicle carrying five 'innocent' Palestinian Arabs in the neighborhood of Zeitun, south of Beit Hanoun
The context: All of the innocent by-standers were armed terrorists. All were active members of the Army of Islam, an organization headed by Mumtaz Durmush. Their vehicle was loaded up with missiles. This is the gang that carried out the kidnapping of BBC correspondent Alan Johnston recently. It was also involved in the abduction of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. The names are Fawzi al-Ashram, Hussein Ahl, Ayman Dalul, Osama al-Sifi and Samer al-Zaim. This morning, Shadi Abu Suraya, 30, a local commander in the Army of Islam, became the sixth 'innocent' thug from the same gang to go to his 72 virgins.

The 'massacre': Wednesday afternoon, an IDF tank fired on a group of Palestinians engaged in preparing to fire a missile into Israel near Beit Hanun. Four 'innocent' Palestinian Arabs were massacred here too. The missile was not fired.
The context: The names of the dead and their affiliations: Hayri Hamdan, a member of the PRC; Tair al-Basiuni, of Islamic Jihad; Muhamad Adwan, 20, and Muhamad al-Basiuni, 24, neither of them a known member of any terror organization in the Strip, but thoroughly enmeshed in the business of sending explosives into our homes.

The 'massacre': Thursday morning around 2am, an IDF helicopter fired and killed two 'innocent' Palestinian Arabs.
The context: Both are Hamas militants: Raji Hamdan and Mohammed Abu Rakba. Both were engaged in preparing to launch a Qassam missile. They did not succeed.

The 'massacre': Thursday night, an IDF force fired a rocket at a small group of Palestinian Arabs busily engaged in launching a Qassam rocket into Israel.
The context: An Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades militant, affiliated with Fatah, Hussam al-Hawihi, 21 died after the attack, and the rocket attack on Israel was thwarted.

Hamas Reaction: Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said: "Israel will pay a heavy price for its attacks in the Gaza Strip... Palestinian organizations would do everything in their power to resist Israeli attacks". Haaretz interprets this to mean a resumption of "suicide" bombings. Nothing new here. Mohammed Madhoun, a top aide to Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, said "the Israeli operations would strengthen the resolve of Gazans... honorable Palestinian blood shed by this Nazi army will only make us more steadfast". When Hamas speaks about Nazis, we say they should be respected. This is a subject they know well.

Fatah Reaction: Mahmoud Abbas, Palestinian Authority president, condemns Israel's strikes in Gaza Strip and "asks Security Council members in New York to intervene". By intervene, he surely means "intervene to curtail the round-the-clock terror attacks by unrestrained jihadists for whom the only good Jew is a dead or maimed Jew". Or not. Note that this is the 'moderate' Palestinian Arab leader whose forces have been massacred in recent weeks by Hamas 'militants' in riotous internal Pal-Arab brawling. His Fatah faction released an official announcement calling on Palestinians to become unified because of the "[Israeli] abuse, aggression and war crimes." (Puzzled? Consider this report from London today. "Hamas has formulated a new plan for reconciliation with rival Fatah following the crisis in the Palestinian Authority since the Islamist group's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last June, the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Sharq al-Awsat reported Friday.")

Others say:

Headline: Rockets launched from Gaza are only hurting Palestinian civilians. Quote: "...it must be noted that the rockets that keep hitting Israeli towns like Sderot cannot be described as instruments of resistance... the rockets serve no such purpose. Inaccurate and lacking the payload to inflict meaningful damage on any but the softest targets, their only function is to provide a regular pretext for Israeli attacks..." Source: Lebanon's Daily Star
...
International Middle East Media Center ("developed in collaboration between Palestinian and International journalists to provide independent English language media coverage of Israel-Palestine") says the Israeli army "carried repeated invasions and attacks in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank... [and] extra-judicially executed five fighters." We say: This notion of 'extra-judicial' is particularly irksome. Men who wilfully fire rockets, grenades and missiles into towns on the other side of the border are not cat-burglars. Their actions are acts of war. Extra-judicial is an entirely irrelevant and irresponsible concept in the war of a civilized society against barbarians.

Unfortunately, there's nothing neat and tidy about any of this. Still, you need to pick your side.

Either you're with the people who for years have resorted to missiles, grenades, rockets and anything else explosive that they can lob into our homes, towns, playgrounds and schools. Or you can stand with the Israeli people who are trying to defend an entire society from a jihadist onslaught.

26-Sep-07: What are the rational limits of restraint?

Reports of explosive rockets being fired randomly into Israel by thuggish Pal-Arab gangs are so commonplace as to be unreportable by virtually every branch of the global media. It's just one big yawn once the Qassam and grenade tally enters the thousands. A death here or there is occasionally reported, but if there's no blood, there's no interest.

Small wonder then that the thugs make endless efforts to get back into the headlines. And it seems they're making some progress. This afternoon, there are the first reports of two Qassam rockets being found primed, aimed and ready, in the suburbs of Jerusalem, along with a large cache of explosives. The location is a few minutes walking distance from the southern edge of Israel's capital city.

Quoting Pal-Arab sources, Haaretz says "two rockets were found today between the Aida refugee camp and the Beit Jala municipal building, in an area facing the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo in East Jerusalem. The words "God is great" were written on the rockets in Arabic. The rockets are about one and a half meters in length and 20 millimeters in diameter.

"In recent years, Palestinian militants have attempted to smuggle rockets into the West Bank... Several other attempts to develop Qassam rockets in the West Bank, with information from the Gaza Strip or Syria, have been thwarted, and rocket launchings have remained almost solely a Gaza phenomenon."

No longer. Now what?

26-Sep-07: More about our neighbors

So far this morning, the eve of the festival of Tabernacles or Sukkot, four Qassam rockets have crashed into Israel, fired from Gaza. (More than 4,000 in seven years. 1,800 since September 2006.) The BBC routinely calls Gaza "one of the most densely populated tracts of land in the world". Despite this and the fact that it has multiple police- and security-forces, Gaza's authorities are somehow never in the right place to intervene and stop these murderous thugs. A real puzzle.

1pm UPDATE: Today's tally is now seven Qassams. Haaretz says two hit "the rocket-weary town of Sderot". Fortunately no injuries so far. This morning Palestinians also lobbed 20 mortar shells into Israel from the southern part of the Gaza Strip. There's no strategy here other than terror. Israel's patience and restraint in the face of hate-filled violence is beyond comprehension - and also largely unrecognized.

3:45pm UPDATE: The tally is now nine, and the sun is still high in the sky.

23-Sep-07: Historical amnesia

The article below, written by Frimet Roth who is one of the two authors of this blog, appears in today's Haaretz.

The dangers of historical amnesia
Frimet Roth

It's been six years since 9/11, and Americans have been reexamining their attitudes toward the victims. Some believe enough energy has been expended on remembering. Last week, for instance, Time Magazine's Jeffrey Kluger asked "when is enough enough?" and noted with apparent agreement: "Some have suggested that we discontinue the moments of silence and solemn speeches and all the other [9/11] ceremonies."

I imagine remembering does grow tiresome after six long years. I say "imagine" because, as even Kluger conceded, "The families need no calendrical gimmick to feel their loss."

As a bereaved mother, I fall into that category. For us, every day is a fresh reminder.

But if Americans seem quick to forget, Israelis have no doubt been their mentors. Our historical amnesia is legion. Even in the midst of our own terrorism nightmare, aka the second intifada, Israel's eagerness to wash away any reminders of terror attacks was striking.

Journalists would proudly report within hours of a suicide bombing in a city center that traffic at the site was flowing normally again.

A recent television conversation between two respected Israeli journalists (one of whom had just won a journalism award) raised the issue of the Israeli media's treatment of the second intifada. They were both emphatic that news coverage of that period had failed; far too much time and newsprint had been devoted to those events, they maintained. Even in real time, the near daily slaughter of innocent Israelis was not worth a headline.

On the other side of the divide, forgetting is never an option. Haaretz published a picture recently of a Palestinian boy of seven or so standing in a pet shop, surrounded by photos that plastered all four walls. Not of cuddly kittens or adorable hamsters, but portraits of dozens of Palestinians who died in the conflict with Israel, most of them terrorists.

Along with their new pets, and their TV cartoons, Palestinian children are imbibing the culture of bloodshed.

All this forgetting has an impact on the fight against terrorism. It is enabling Israelis to sit by complacently as their vilified prime minister negotiates with his favorite "moderate" Palestinian, Mahmoud Abbas. Nobody seems concerned by recent reports that Abbas is viewing positively a reconciliation proposal from Hamas. It was first reported only in the Arabic press, but yesterday a senior Fatah official reiterated a "diluted" version of the option. If the impending international conference between Olmert and Abbas fails to achieve a breakthrough on the issue of creating a Palestinian state, the official warned, Fatah will resume its dialogue with Hamas.

Abbas has assured Israel he will definitely not seek any such reconciliation and will never welcome Hamas back into the government. But what's a white lie now and then between peace partners?

The Hamas that Abbas is courting anew is not merely unrepentant. It is also far better-equipped than the one we have known.

Earlier this month, another under-noted report in The New York Times revealed that Hamas has sent hundreds of its fighters abroad for military training, most to Iran. According to Maj. Gen. Moshe Kaplinsky, the Israel Defense Forces' deputy chief of staff, said the largely ignored article, Hamas is constructing positions and fortifications, building tunnels for fighting and smuggling in explosives, antitank weapons and more sophisticated rockets through the Egyptian desert. It already possesses improved antitank missiles and mortars and Katyusha rockets with a range of 10.6 miles. Is anyone still deluded that Hamas has peace on its agenda? Is Abbas?

If the data released this month by the Central Bureau of Statistics is accurate, the above threats may not matter much to most Israelis. The CBS indicates that Israelis could soon rival Americans as shopaholics. Since 2002, as unemployment in Israel dropped from 10 to 9 percent to 7.5 percent, household spending on durable goods skyrocketed by 36 percent. The economy is booming, and the public is in its thrall.

This may be good news in the short term. But conspicuous consumption is the new opiate of the West. And the quiescence it generates is working in Olmert's favor. Before allowing him to race off and meet Abbas, a suitcase full of concessions in hand, Israelis need to wake up and raise their voices.

We need to remember our own forgotten victims. Israel's continued existence depends on it.

...
Frimet Roth is a freelance writer in Jerusalem. She and her husband founded and manage the Malki Foundation (www.kerenmalki.org) in their daughter's memory. Malki Roth was murdered in the Sbarro restaurant massacre in 2001. The foundation provides concrete support for Israeli families of all faiths who care at home for a special-needs child.

22-Sep-07: Postscript to capture of Pal-Arab murder cell

This note is an important postscript to yesterday's report here about Israeli forces arresting a terror gang in Nablus after a well-publicized three day search which attracted wall-to-wall criticism outside Israel.

Today, Yom Kippur, Israeli security forces located the explosive belt intended to be used in the gang's terror attack. Haaretz says on its website tonight that the belt was found in a Tel-Aviv apartment occupied by Palestinians residing there illegally. They had smuggled it in parts from Nablus. Sappers blew it up in a controlled explosion. The location of the gang and of its weapons were based on intelligence information that a cell was intending to carry out a mass murder in central Israel during the High Holydays which are now underway. A similar report on the Yediot Aharanot website tonight (but, at this moment, sadly nowhere else) says one of the Palestinian Arabs arrested in this week's Nablus operation, Mahadi Ashur, had been working in Tel Aviv. Under interrogation, he provided Israeli security with the location of the bomb.

The BBC, which true to form, has reported in detail on the inconvenience caused to the curfewed residents of Nablus in the past few days by the pre-emptive actions of the Israeli authorities without making any effort to give the context, is today publishing an article lauding the IDF for the surgical precision of its intelligence-based intervention, and the remarkable outcome which saved dozens of innocent lives. Israeli authorities are also said to be despatching an urgent note tonight to the 72 dark-eyed virgins waiting in paradise, explaining the unavoidably-delayed arrival of their jihadist client.

The previous paragraph is of course pure fantasy except for the part about the BBC's failure to report accurately, fairly or with appropriate context.

21-Sep-07: Your lives, our lives, their lives

People who use the expression “war against terror” normally believe they are being clear about what they mean. Our experience is that different people often mean very different things. And when a real shooting war against terror is underway, you might be surprised at how confused and confusing the reporting can be. So allow us to analyze a specific chain of incidents that is unfolding as we write.

Mid-week, Israeli papers carried alarming headline reports that the intelligence establishment had identified a specific gang of terrorists with so-called 'suicide-bombing' (in unambiguous terms: murder) in their plans. The gang was being pursued by the army in the Nablus area following a concrete, focused tip-off. We know from living through this sort of thing in the past that intelligence tips, while never 100% certain, are reliable indicators of events taking place far from the media spotlight.

Persuaded by the accuracy of the intelligence, the IDF and the Border Police mounted a serious operation in Nablus, focused on the city’s Ein Beit Ilma neighborhood and placing residents under curfew. (The Palestinian Arabs and most of the media call it a refugee camp, though it's plainly not a camp - see photo. And if the residents are refugees then the word needs an overhaul.) Israeli forces stayed in place for three violent days, carrying out many arrests (at last count, 49 Palestinian Arabs believed to be involved in terror activities) and engaging in fire-fights with heavily armed locals while coming under frequent sniper attack.

The outcome was important for us. Israeli soldiers located and apprehended a complete four-person cell of Palestinian Arab terrorists planning a suicide bombing – the cell identified in the intelligence reports. In the alphabet soup of Palestinian Arab terror, these barbarians were affiliated with HAMAS (i.e. the government of the Pal. Arabs) and with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). Their names are Haled Nuri, Mustafa Nuri, Yusuf Nadi and Nihad Rashid Hasan Shakirat. In a report headlined "IDF captures head of Nablus cell planning suicide bombing", Haaretz says today, referring to Shakirat, that he was the head of a joint HAMAS and PFLP terror cell in the city and terror fugitive number one on Israel's list in Nablus.

Under interrogation, the cell-members admitted to planning a terrorist attack which the security forces below was set to happen today – the eve of Yom Kippur. Confession is a routine part of the terrorist modus operandi and psychology.

In an invaluable contribution to solving the problem, Mahmoud Abbas spoke at a press conference with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Thursday, and called on Israel to withdraw from Nablus. He complained that the counter-terror operations amounted to a “policy of invasion”. For most rational people, this reaction is more or less expected. When you attack the agents of terror and then you interview their elegantly-suited spokespeople, they will tend to complain about counter-terrorist activity. Sadly, most journalists and their editors will report this with a straight face, afraid or incapable of trying to figure the complex situation out and reach appropriate conclusions.

We’ll point out that if you happen not to be Abbas, and you believe (as we do) that there ought to be constant, all-out war by all available means against the barbarians who bring terrorism and hatred into our lives, then the outcome was an excellent one – as good as it gets.

Now we'll add that the army also arrested two senior terrorists from Mahmoud Abbas’ FATAH in this operation: Ibrahim Ismail and Jamal Ismail. But it happens that the names of the two Ismails are on the list of individuals granted amnesty last month by Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert. The deal – criticized bitterly by many in this country, including the authors of this blog – involved Al-Aksa Brigades terrorists allegedly laying down their arms and the IDF agreeing to stop pursuing them. (See our blog article "17-Jul-07: The Joke's On Us", in which we quote Palestinian terrorists accurately characterizing the charade of handing their weapons to Abbas's official militias with this blunt assertion: "It's all a joke".)

Sadly, the joke goes on. Yediot Aharanot’s web edition says the FATAH men were released early this morning, mere hours after being arrested in that IDF counter-terror operation. Why? Because their arrest drew criticism from FATAH "higher echelons". These men, it's said, were active in kidnapping HAMAS members following FATAH’s defeat in Gaza. Their arrest would jeopardize the entire amnesty deal whereby Al-Aksa Brigades terrorists are supposed to hand in their arms and be given jobs with the Palestinian Authority. Hence the release. Understand? Neither do we.

Yesterday (Thursday) the Palestinian Authority said – and they ought to be believed on things like this – that Israel has now agreed to add 41 more Fatah terrorist fugitives to the current amnesty list of 300 in what’s dubbed a “goodwill gesture.” It’s of course possible that there are rational politicians and civil servants, fully in possession of the relevant facts, who make decisions like this intelligently and with the best interests of the people of this country in mind. We can hope. Right now, we’re deeply worried.

Back in Nablus, Palestinian sources are quoted in the media downplaying the IDF's operation and saying none of the arrested are terror suspects. In their version, senior figures from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine in fact left town before the Israeli army forces entered. They also assert the city is subject to starvation (“Famine hits Al Ein camp”) and their claims are faithfully carried in the media. So is an Iranian story that "Israeli troops kidnap 20 Palestinians". The BBC manages to report "Two killed in West Bank clashes". Clashes - that's just the way the BBC likes this war against Palestinian Arab terror to be depicted.

The one headline we haven't seen yet, the one which might accurately sum up what's happened here this week, would be: "Terror massacre averted by proportionate, pro-active intervention; hundreds of innocent lives saved on eve of Day of Atonement".

Time to go and pray that the new year will be much better than the one just ended.

18-Sep-07: State terrorism: how it looks up-close

Jane's Defence Weekly, the authoritative British publication, yesterday described a huge blunder that caused the deaths of dozens of Syrian military officers and Iranian engineers. The context is a joint development programme by Iran and Syria to weaponise Syrian 'Scud B', 'Scud C' and 'Scud D' short-range ballistic missiles with chemical warheads.

This is so-far reported almost nowhere else in the media this morning. If you care to see what it's like to be the neighbour of a dictatorship frantically engaged in state terrorism in the fullest, most literal sense of that expression, read on.

This was a chemical weapons accident, says Jane's. It took place in a secret weapons facility in Halab, Syria, on July 26, 2007. Officers were in the midst of attempting to mount a chemical warhead with mustard gas on a Scud-C missile. A fire started in the missile's engine. This produced an explosion of stored chemical substances. The blast spread lethal chemical agents, including mustard gas, VX gas and sarin nerve gas. These are extremely toxic and banned by international treaties. 15 Syrian officers were killed along with "dozens" of Iranian engineers. Dozens of others were injured.

The incident is corroborated by Syria's official news agency. They mention only the Syrian casualties. The Iranians are ignored. The Syrian government rejects the possibility of sabotage. Its report says the explosion was triggered by a heat wave though the blast took place at 4:30 in the morning.

Jane's says the facility where the accident took place was built as part of a co-operation agreement signed between Syria and Iran in 2005. The joint activity included technological supply and assistance from Syria to Iran.

YNet this morning says Tehran was providing Damascus with means that would enable it to independently produce chemical weapons, plan and build facilities and carry out chemical weapons experiments. It reminds us that Syria is currently in the midst of a PR battle aimed at denying the allegations that it has nuclear ties with Iran and North Korea. On Tuesday, Syrian Expatriate Affairs Minister Bussaina Shaaban said that the allegations of nuclear cooperation between Syria and North Korea which led to the reported Israeli overflight were "an orchestra of lies". In an interview with the Iranian Fars news agency, the minister denied reports in Israeli and American media that suggested Pyongyang was helping Damascus build a nuclear installation in the country and said that "Syria maintains the right to respond when and where it sees fit."

Meanwhile CNN is reporting today that the U.S. military and intelligence community have been tracking multiple shipments of material from North Korea and destined for Syria - have already landed there according to a Pentagon official.

For more sleep-disturbing background analysis, have a look at yesterday's perceptive article in the London Times: "A tale of two dictatorships: The links between North Korea and Syria". The Times' Far Eastern correspondent points out that "Syria possesses the biggest missile arsenal and the largest stockpile of chemical weapons in the Middle East, built up over the last two decades with arms bought from North Korea. North Korea, which exploded a nuclear device in October last year, has become critical to Syria’s plans to enhance and upgrade its weapons." He quotes an unnamed Israeli security expert: “We’ve known for a long time that Syria has deadly chemical warheads on its Scuds, but Israel can’t live with a nuclear warhead.”

For some, the notion of terrorism, whether by a state or by deranged fanatics, is an abstraction. Here in Israel, it's a practical day to day reality, one that demands constant vigilance, finesse and some very difficult choices. As pathetic as Syria, North Korea and Iran - two autocratic police states and a jihadist thugocracy - may be in terms of the lives they enable for their citizens, for us they are a powerful, unholy trinity of wildcards capable of visiting almost any catastrophic scenario on our heads. A pity this is not better understood in the salons and faculty rooms of the civilized world.

17-Sep-07: Iran's Apocalypse Plans

Under the headline "600 Iranian missiles said to be pointed at targets in Israel", the Jerusalem Post today quotes an Iranian news website, Assar Iran, that says six hundred Iranian Shihab-3 missiles are pointed at targets throughout Israel. The plan is to launch some or all of them if either Iran or Syria are attacked, according to the website which is affiliated with the Iranian regime.

"Iran will shoot at Israel 600 missiles if it is attacked," the site is said to have reported. "600 missiles will only be the first reaction."

The illustration accompanying the report shows a poster of Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reading: "Missile maneuver of the Great Prophet". In the foreground, Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards test the long-range Shihab-3 missile in a central desert area of Iran.

Astounding and appalling as the claim is, it's worth noting that not a single news source other than the Jerusalem Post is currently reporting it.

The French foreign minister evidently thinks it might be credible. He's reported to have made some fairly forthright statements this past weekend, warning of the possibility of a world war with Iran:

The world should “prepare for war” with Iran, the French foreign minister has said, significantly escalating tensions over the country’s nuclear programme. Bernard Kouchner said that while “we must negotiate right to the end” with Iran, if Teheran possessed an atomic weapon it would represent “a real danger for the whole world”. The world should “prepare for the worst… which is war”, he said.
His comments came after Washington reminded Teheran that “all options were on the table” in confronting its nuclear policy, which many officials in the West believe has the ultimate aim of arming a nuclear warhead, despite Iran’s claim that it is for civilian purposes.

More to come.

17-Sep-07: Additional words (even in Persian) are superfluous

Thanks, Yaakov.