UN: Palestinian Rocket Targeting Israel Killed Palestinian Baby

March 11, 2013

An errant Palestinian rocket, not an Israeli airstrike, likely killed the baby of a BBC reporter during fighting in the Hamas-ruled territory last November, a U.N. report indicated, challenging the widely believed story behind an image that became a symbol of what Palestinians said was Israeli aggression.

November 14, 2012 Gaza man holds son killed by Palestinian rocket

Omar al-Masharawi, an 11-month-old infant, was killed on Nov. 14, the first day of fighting. An Associated Press photograph showed Omar’s anguished father, Jihad al-Masharawi, clutching his slain child wrapped in a shroud. Palestinians blamed Israel, and the image was broadcast around the world and widely shared on social media.

Now a report from the U.N. office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights says the baby was “killed by what appeared to be a Palestinian rocket that fell short of Israel.”

…Matthias Behnke, head of OHCHR office for the Palestinian territories, cautioned he couldn’t “unequivocally conclude” that the death was caused by an errantly fired Palestinian rocket. He said information gathered from eyewitnesses led them to report that “it appeared to be attributable to a Palestinian rocket.”

My Two Cents

You gotta love that -

While Israel was presumed to have been responsible, no one hesitated to blame the country and cry human rights violations.

But now the UN and news outlets have suddenly become exceedingly cautious in assigning blame, and can’t “unequivocally conclude” that the poor baby was killed by his own people, even with all the evidence pointing to a Palestinian attack.

And not a word has been spoken today about the baby’s human rights by any of the usual suspects – apparently, Palestinians only have human rights when Israel can be accused of violating them. Never mind the fact that Palestinians have been begging terrorist groups in Gaza for years to stop firing near major civilian population centers.

Gaza Man Confesses To Murdering Sister in “Honor Killing”

March 10, 2013

A man has confessed to strangling his 23-year-old sister to death in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip on Friday, police told a rights group…

Police told PCHR … one of her brothers confessed to strangling her to protect “family honor.”

According to a 2011 survey by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, some 73.6 percent of never-married women in Gaza have been exposed to violence by a family member.

Of these women, 92.4 percent were sexually abused and 71.2 percent were physically abused.

My Two Cents

I know, okay?

I know I should expect such reports by now and that I should be used to the world’s silence and hypocrisy.

But I just can’t – I just can’t accept that people can claim to be human rights activists when railing against Israel while completely whitewashing such gross violations of women’s rights in Palestinian society.

Seventy-five percent!

And those are only the non-married women – 90% of married Palestinian women have acknowledged being victims of abuse.

I just -

I’m speechless.

UN Double Standards Cover Up Palestinian Death

March 5, 2013,

Arab-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh writes,

Six days after Arafat Jaradat was found dead in Israel’s Megiddo Prison, another detainee died in a Palestinian Authority prison in Jericho.

Jaradat’s death triggered widespread condemnations not only from Palestinians but also from international human rights organizations and the United Nations…

But when Ayman Samara, a 40-year-old Palestinian man,

Palestinian Thief Poses As Religious Jew

March 3, 2013

A Palestinian car thief was caught in the act by police last week, while wearing a white kippa in an apparent attempt to pass as a religious Jew, Tel Aviv Police reported on Sunday.

Explaining The Rise In Tension

February 28, 2013

Hunger strikes, protests, rocket-fire – the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been quite a mess these past two weeks.

In sum:

Hunger-striking is a common tactic among Palestinian terrorists jailed in Israeli prisons and hoping for early release. Ten days ago, on the 18^th, Palestinians rallied in support of the most recent hunger-strikers. A few days later, a non-striking Palestinian died of a heart attack while in Israeli custody, apparently touching off additional riots and a rocket attack against Israeli cities.

But were these events as impromptu as they seemed?

Arab-Israeli journalist Khaled Abu Toameh says no.

According to Abu Toameh, “[T]he Palestinian Authority leadership has been encouraging
its constituents lately to wage a ‘popular intifada’ against Israel, each time finding another excuse to initiate confrontations between Palestinians and Israel.” The reason, he says, is

Will Europe Repeat A Dangerous Mistake?

February 21, 2013

It seems that Europe is a bit slow on the uptake.

In the last few days, Bulgaria urged the EU to take a harder stance against Hezbollah after the group was accused of committing a terrorist attack on European soil; Hezbollah was accused of attacking three villages on the Lebanese-Syrian border; and a man suspected of plotting terror in Cyprus admitted his Hezbollah membership.

And yet, as of this writing, the EU still refuses to recognize Hezbollah as the terrorist organization it is.

Of course, it’s understandable that the EU doesn’t want to rock the boat, particularly considering its large immigrant Arab population.

But one would imagine that EU members, of all countries, would be alert to the dangers of appeasing people agitating for bloodshed.

Israel’s Humanity: Saving Syrian Wounded

February 17, 2013

First, the unsurprising:

An Israeli hospital is treating people wounded in Syria, where civil war has killed thousands and wounded thousands more.

Ziv Medical Center in Safed, Israel, “cannot confirm” whether the seven Syrians being treated are from the Syrian opposition or the military, said Dr. Oscar Embon, the hospital’s director.

“We treat patients regardless of religion, race, nationality and give the best care we can provide,” Embon said.

The Syrians are under guard for their own protection, he said.

Israeli doctors frequently treat people from groups with which Israel has tensions, or even is engaged in conflict. In November, CNN visited an Israeli hospital treating an Israeli child and a Palestinian child, both wounded in warfare between Israel and militants in Gaza.

And then the more instructive:

On Sunday, anti-Assad Druze living on the Golan Heights sent a letter to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and IDF Chief of General Staff Benny Gantz, asking them to allow seven injured Syrians who were let into Israel on Saturday and who are being treated in an Israeli hospital to remain in the country following their release from hospital.

“I expect the Israeli authorities to act according to the values of the Jewish people in this matter,” one Druze lawyer wrote.

Israel must, of course, weigh its generosity against its own security needs. But regardless of what Israel decides to do in this case, it’s good to see that Golani Druze recognize the humanity of Jewish values.