Israeli Brutality

This is me, doing my bit, helping to save Palestinian lives.

Israellycool

standing still

I watched Pierre Rehov’s Silent Exodus last night. While I am relatively familiar with the plight of the nearly of the million Jewish refugees from the Arab Middle East, what struck me while I was watching Rehov’s documentary; is how so little has changed with the mentality of the Arab Middle East in the last 100 years. Right down to the calls to cut the throats or stab the Jews. It is like time literally has stood still, and not in a good way.

Canadian politics; Tory Hubris and Liberal Legacy

I have not written much about Canadian election because I have been thoroughly estranged and divorced from the entire process.  I have been following, but I am just not invested, in any political party.  This is what you get when political parties decide their political agenda via focus groups rather than well thought out principles. Simply put, there was no political party which comes close to representing my views on how the country should be run.  The Conservatives should have been my natural political home but I got kicked to the curb during the Harper years.  

I didn’t vote liberal, but I understand why Canadians, voted overwhelmingly liberal, and it was not because we are overtly amoured over Justin Trudeau or the Liberal party platform.  Trudeau’s mocking and pillorying will begin in short order for two reasons. Canadian history teaches us that Liberal entitlement knows no boundaries and a Liberal never learns from their mistakes. See here. This is why the Liberal parted elected the ultimate ‘legacy entitlement’ candidate as Liberal party leader despite a short order resume.

Political hubris is the greatest sin outside of outright criminality to the polis and Canadians voted Liberal overwhelmingly to punish the Conservatives for their political hubris.  The Tories forgot their role was to protect the polis and the country rather than their corporate cronies.  I wrote this months before the election was called, in response to my MP sending a questionnaire asking how the government was doing. 

I can live without the Government of Canada giving Volkswagen a loan to produce cars manufactured outside of Canada. I can live without ‘Canadian in name only’ companies whose production facilities are located outside the country being promoted by the Canadian government.

I can live without free trade agreements quite nicely, in fact, before NAFTA and hundreds of other Free Trade Agreements; the quality of goods and services produced was far superior to what is routinely offered for sale today in Canada. The pricing deferential, when compared to the quality and health risk, just isn’t worth it. 

I want to live in a country which is economically self-reliant and who has a Prime Minister who has the interests of all Canadian citizens at heart rather than the shareholder stock price of  a select few corporations. I want to have a Prime Minister who safeguards Canadian sovereignty, rather than giving it away, just so he can sign another free trade pact for his corporate cronies.

I can easily live without a Prime Minister of Canada giving away taxpayer’s money away to sponsor trade programs in foreign countries.   

I can live easily with the idea that one needs citizenship to buy property in this country.  I can live with the idea that Canadian companies have to look after their own labour supply, as opposed to the current practice of lobbying the government to import a constant stream of cheap labour to meet their business labour needs. I can live with a Canadian high school student serving me coffee or asking me - 'if I want fries with that?'  And if you cannot afford to pay a Canadian caregiver/nanny minimum wage; either raise your own children or don’t have any. 

I can live easily in a country where a Canadian Union does not have to take the federal government to court to protect the interests of Canadian workers from foreign controlled corporations.   

I can live with potentially lower tax rates caused by a surplus of full-time jobs available for the working poor that pay a living wage rather than minimum one. And, I can live with a Prime Minister who cuddles dogs rather than kittens. Ironically, I was a 'Conservative' longer than Stephen Harper has been leader of the Conservative Party, but don't think for a second you can count on me during the next election.

Rabid - The Piece Partners

It's hard to understand the level of viciousness the Israelis are up against in the Lone Wolf Intifada. Mere words are inadequate when faced with this level of degenerate evil. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority protests the 'summary executions' committed by the Israelis against their Palestinian attackers....

I don't know how you stop this level of rabid attack except by summary execution. Be warned, this isn't a bedtime video.

תיעוד דרמטי מהפיגוע במלכי ישראל: רגעי הדריסה ומסע הדקירות. pic.twitter.com/f1um1uJGOx

— הערוץ הראשון (@Channel1Iba) October 13, 2015

I am spent my lunch hour pondering if I could countenance any outcome from this scenario than how it played out in real time.

Trying putting yourself; in the position of the Israeli shooter. You are armed; you are in a doorway, a few feet down from the attack site. You witness a man deliberately mow down with his car a group of people waiting for a bus. You watched the man crash his car, jump out and immediately start hacking the victims with a meat cleaver.

Would you have shot to kill or ‘disarm’ him?

I have come to the conclusion I would have emptied my gun on him. My sanity would demand that I make sure he can never hurt anyone again.


Just when I thought the insanity could not get worse the UN gets involved.

Earlier Tuesday, by contrast, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Israel to carry out a “serious review” on whether its security forces are resorting to excessive force in clashes with Palestinians. Ban finds “the apparent excessive use of force by Israeli security forces” to be “troubling,” his spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters as violence continued in Jerusalem, Ra’anana and the West Bank. This “demands serious review as it only serves to exacerbates the situation leading to a vicious cycle of needless bloodshed,” he said.

Everyone knows

If you were to search to find articles discussing whether home demolitions of suicide bombers were an effective strategy against terrorism you will find countless articles all saying the practice was ineffective, and consequently, the Israeli military abandoned wide-spread home demolitions around 2006.

The original military study was highly flawed in methodology and used an incredibly small and narrow sample but the conclusions were widely championed by not only by the Israeli left but by progressives world wide.  

Regardless, the political sphere in Israel, has taken up home demolitions of any Palestinian engaged in terror in recent years for horrendous acts of terror commited by Palestinians against Israeli civilians in around 2010.

In May 2014, Hebrew University, released a much larger and comprehensive study on the practice of punitive home demolitions, and concluded, that a decrease in terrorism resulted.

 So my point being, what everyone is alleged to know, is often wrong.

If you thought Netanyahu was a problem for the US Administration; wait till they have to deal with "Yvette" Liberman.

Apparently, most Israelis are not very happy with Netanyahu's handling of the Lone Wolf Intifada.

Times of Israel reports:

A survey Saturday, commissioned by Israel’s Channel 2 and conducted by Midgam, found that 73 percent of respondents were either “dissatisfied” (35%) or “very dissatisfied” (38%) with the prime minister’s leadership in light of the security situation. When asked who would be the most capable leader in curbing the attacks, 22% said Yisrael Beytenu chairman and former foreign minister Avigdor Liberman. Jewish Home party chief Naftali Bennett came in second with 17% and Netanyahu third with 15%.

Former chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi received 9%, while Zionist Union head Isaac Herzog got 5% and centrist Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid 4%.

Israelis have a right to be dissatisfied. Offering to put cameras on the roads won't stop attacks, in fact, cameras have absolutely no deterence value to stop Palestinian attacks given that the political infrastructure supports such attacks, and most likely, Fatah will be paying salaries to all Palestinians convicted of attacks against Israelis. Not to mention, cameras are easily disabled or destroyed, and it will take time - far too much time to get a network running when the attacks are happening now.


Jerusalem Mayor Barkat had the right of it. Canceling all Palestinian work permits would have been a good start until the 'troubles' ceased. This attack in Tel Avi probably would not have happened...luckily there was a soldier around but there won't always be one.

Is a Pallywood Star being born? Updated

Pallywood is the name for the nascent film news agencies of the Palestinians, who product deliberately staged events and then flag it as real news. Yes, the term is dismissive and it is meant to be.

I found this video from the "Shehab News Agency" facebook feed dated October 9th. It's video of allegedly an Israeli military vehicle running over a Palestinian Stone Thrower. Now I am not really familiar with military vehicles used in the West Bank so I cannot speak to its 'authenticity'.

The video is obviously poorly edited. You can tell when there are multiple breaks in the feed and a suggestion of it being shot during different times of the day. There are two stoners who are put in two separate ambulances but we can only see one stoner be allegedly run down. In the clip we don't see the actually impact of vehicle-stoner. Odd all those cameramen but no one got the 'money' shot. Interesting thing about the Shehab News Agency - apparently it's a Hamas operation on Facebook. At one point Shehab News Agency 'news' feed was removed.

#شاهد .. تعرض شابين للدهس المتعمد من قبل آليات الاحتلال في المواجهات المستمرة قرب مستوطنة "بيت إيل" شمال البيرةتابعونا على انستغرام: https://instagram.com/shehabagency/

Posted by Shehab News Agency on Friday, October 9, 2015

But it's in the comments where things get interesting, and I found another video posted of what looks like the same incident or at least it looks like another 'out-take' of the same incident. Only this comes from the 'Quds News Network'. And there is only one stoner who is remarkably unharmed in this shot. Of course, this guy was the second stoner who was put in the ambulance in the first video. The vehicle is considerably slowed down during this 'out-take'.

#فيديو | شاب ينجو باعجوبة وحركة إحترافية .. إحدى دوريات الاحتلال العسكرية تدهس شابًا خلال مواجهات قرب مستوطنة "بيت ايل" شمالي مدينة البيرة.

Posted by ‎شبكة قدس الإخبارية‎ on Friday, October 9, 2015

Looks remarkable healthy, for a man who just got run over by an Israeli military vehicle.

Then enter Vice News , and Low and Behold, embedded in to this article is another ‘outake’ of this same incident. This was posted to the facebook page of a Hamde Abu Rahma. I had to take a screen shot of Vice article for future reference.

Apparently Rahma moonlights as a 'news photographer' from Ramallah. This one is also highly (poorly) edited. Notice the stoner who is run over is not the stoner loaded into the ambulance but there are a number of notable stills added to this video, and attributed to a Zaher Abu Husain -a journalist who is affiliated with Fatah, at least according to his facebook page.

During the ongoing clashes today near Beit El, northern Ramallah city, an Israeli jeep runs over a young Palestinian man.West Bank; Palestine. 9/10/2015
Posted by Hamde Abu Rahma on Friday, October 9, 2015

During the ongoing clashes today near Beit El, northern Ramallah city, an Israeli jeep runs over a young Palestinian man.West Bank; Palestine. 9/10/2015

Posted by Hamde Abu Rahma on Friday, October 9, 2015

Notice the man being carried into the ambulance is not the man who was hit. You can tell that cause he is wearing a white shirt rather than a black one.

So Pallywood? You decide.

Someone needs to teach Palestinians not to riot

and throw stones at guys with guns. There is a great deal of noise suggesting the Intifada of Lone Wolves is the third Palestinian Intifada, but regardless, a third Palestinian Intifada really won't work out any better than the first or second Intifada.

Nothing seems to unite Palestinians of all fractions like a riot. It has increasingly become hard to argue that rioting, throwing stones, and stabbing/killing Jews, it not the cornerstone of Palestinian culture.

The Mayor of Jerusalem aka Batman

This is the Nir Barkat, the mayor of Jerusalem, (aka known as Batman) walking around the city near Shuafat (an Arab area).

I admit I am jealous. Toronto never has cool mayors. Can you  picture David Miller or John Tory like this? Concerned citizens would have to take away their gun before they hurt themselves with it. Admit it, Rob Ford doing this, would so not be cool. There is nothing cool about an alleged crackie with a gun walking around the city streets. Although, it might finally make a dent in the Police Budget...

It is not a Jew thing either because there is no way Mel Lastman could pull this off. I once met Mel Lastman in the Eaton Centre. He wished me a Chag Sameach, which was kind of awkward, since we were both inside a mall on a Yom Tov, but he is just too tiny.  I felt like a giant standing beside him and I have not cracked 5'4" since I gave up dancing on pointe. Besides, the sneakers, t-shirt and jeans are an incredible hard look to pull off over 50, and still look cool, rather than faded.

I swear its a Sabra thing.

H/T: Rafi

Driving While Jewish

Netanyahu’s 44 seconds of silence at UN are being widely mocked — ‘pathetic,’ ‘creepy’ –

So says the notorious hate site Mondoweis. I won’t link but you can google it.

It’s funny about 44 seconds.  Lots of things can happen in 44 seconds –inevitable hatreds can rise, life altering events can all conspire to happen in a brief 44 second pause.

It can be a pause for emphasis in a speech by the Israeli Prime Minister at chastising the UN body for its “utter silence, deafening silence” when Jewish Israelis are threatened.

Photo: Haztola

Or it can be the time it takes Palestinian gunmen to murder 2 Jewish parents in their car - in front of their children. It is only a miracle that their children ages 9, 7, 4, and 4 months survived the attack.

Baruch dayan emet.

Since Abbas gave notice he was repudiating the Oslo Accords; does this mean we can move in now?

As per Mahmoud Abbas’ characterization of Palestinians and their culture of peace and coexistence, I thought it would be instructive to detail what the last 7 months looks like living beside a people who have a culture of peace since so many ‘peaceful incidents’ never make the international papers.  

The Israeli Shabak (internal security) or as it is known by its acronym (the Shin Bet) just happens to carries a monthly summary of all attacks.

January2015

 Following is a regional distribution of attacks:  0 attack from the Gaza Strip, (2 in December); 105 attacks in the Judea and Samaria (133 in December); 18 attacks in Jerusalem (26 in December); Green Line: 1 attack. 
Jerusalem and the Judea and Samaria area: Most attacks executed in January 102 out of 123 were in the form of firebombs (December: 127 out of 159). 
 Distribution of attacks according to regions and pattern profile: 
Following is a distribution of attacks in January 2015 according to regions:
The Gaza Strip – 0 attack. 
Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem – 123 attacks: 17 IED (including pipe bombs and improvised grenade); 3 small arms shooting; 1 stabbing attacks (in Jerusalem); 102 firebombs (17 in Jerusalem).
 The Green Line – 1 attack: stabbing (in Tel Aviv).

February2015

Following is a regional distribution of attacks:  0 attack from the Gaza Strip, (as in January); 84 attacks in the Judea and Samaria (105 in January); 12 attacks in Jerusalem (18 in January).

Jerusalem and the Judea and Samaria area: Most attacks executed in February 76 out of 96 were in the form of firebombs (January: 102 out of 123). 

Following is a distribution of attacks in February 2015 according to regions:

The Gaza Strip – 0 attack.

Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem – 96 attacks: 15 IED (including pipe bombs and improvised grenade); 4 small arms shooting; 1 stabbing attacks (in Jerusalem); 76 firebombs (11 in Jerusalem).

March2015

Following is a regional distribution of attacks:  0 attack from the Gaza Strip, (as in February); 58 attacks in the Judea and Samaria (84 in February); 31 attacks in Jerusalem (12 in February).
Jerusalem and the Judea and Samaria area: Most attacks executed in February 78 out of 89 were in the form of firebombs (February: 76 out of 96). 
Following is a distribution of attacks in March 2015 according to regions:
The Gaza Strip – 0 attack.
 Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem – 89 attacks: 8 IED (including pipe bombs and improvised grenade); 2 small arms shooting; 1 stabbing attack (in Jerusalem); 78 firebombs (30 in Jerusalem).  

April 2015

An Israeli civilian was killed and another seriously injured in a vehicle attack at Jerusalem's French Hill on 15 April. Eight members of the security forces were injured in several stabbings and vehicle attacks. Four police officers were injured (two moderately and the other two slightly) in a vehicle attack near A-Tor in Jerusalem on 25 April. Three IDF soldiers and a border police officer were injured in stabbings: one IDF soldier was slightly wounded at the Trans-Samaria Checkpoint on 2 April; two soldiers were injured (one seriously and the other slightly) at Sinjil Checkpoint near Ramallah on 8 April; and a border police officer was moderately injured near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on 25 April.

Following is a regional distribution of attacks:  1 attack from the Gaza Strip, (0 in March); 82 attacks in the Judea and Samaria (58 in March); 38 attacks in Jerusalem (31 in March).

 Jerusalem and the Judea and Samaria area: Most attacks executed in February 108 out of 120 were in the form of firebombs (March: 78 out of 89). 

 The Gaza Strip – 1 attack: rocket launching.

 Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem – 120 attacks: 7 IED (including pipe bombs and improvised grenade); 2 run-over (in Jerusalem); 2 stabbing; 108 firebombs (36 in Jerusalem).

Throughout April 2015 one rocket was launched** from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, while in March no rockets or mortar shells were launched from Gaza Strip or Sinai towards Israel.

  

May2015

9 Israeli citizens (6 civilians and 3 members of the security forces) were injured in terrorist attacks in May. 6 of them suffered injuries in vehicle attacks, and 3 were stabbed in Judea and Jerusalem.

Vehicle attacks: one police officer was slightly injured in Hebron on 9 May; 3 civilians were injured (one moderately and 2 slightly) at Alon Shvut Junction on 14 May; and 2 police officers were slightly injured in Abu Tor, Jerusalem on 20 May.

Stabbings: one civilian was slightly injured in Mishor Adumim on 11 May, and 2 civilians were slightly injured at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate on 24 May.

Following is a regional distribution of attacks:  1 attack from the Gaza Strip, (as in April); 91 attacks in the Judea and Samaria (82 in April); 60 attacks in Jerusalem (38 in April).

Jerusalem and the Judea and Samaria area: Most attacks executed in February 129 out of 151 were in the form of firebombs (April: 108 out of 120). 

 Distribution of attacks according to regions and pattern profile:

The Gaza Strip – 1 attack: rocket launching. 

Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem – 151 attacks: 2 run-over (1 in Jerusalem); 2 stabbing (1 in Jerusalem); 2 small arms shooting; 16 IED (including pipe bombs and improvised grenade);  129 firebombs (58 in Jerusalem).

 High-trajectory launchings from Gaza Strip and Sinai

 Throughout May 2015 one rocket was launched** from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, as in April.**Clarification: The number of launchings is the number of rockets/mortar shells actually launched during one high-trajectory fire attack. For example: one attack may include a salvo of three launchings, that is, three rockets/ mortar shells, and so it will be counted as one attack and three launchings.

June 2015

Two Israeli citizens were killed in shootings in Judea and Samaria: one near Dir Abzia on 19 June, and the other near Kida on 29 June.Eight Israelis (5 civilians and 3 members of the security forces) were injured in terrorist attacks in June. 4 civilians were wounded in the abovementioned lethal shootings (one on 19 June and 3 on 29 June). Two IDF soldiers were stabbed: one was critically wounded at Jerusalem's Damascus Gate on 21 June, and another was moderately injured at Rachel's Crossing checkpoint near Bethlehem on 29 June. A civilian and a police officer were injured by firebombs: one near Shuafat refugee camp on 13 June, and the other near Hizma on 21 June.

Data regarding terror attacks in June 2015

Following is a regional distribution of attacks:  3 attack from the Gaza Strip, (1 in May); 69 attacks in the Judea and Samaria (91 in May); 51 attacks in Jerusalem (60 in May). 

Jerusalem and the Judea and Samaria area: Most attacks executed in June 98 out of 120 were in the form of firebombs (May: 129 out of 151).   

Distribution of attacks according to regions and pattern profile:

 The Gaza Strip – 3 attacks: rocket launching.

 Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem – 120 attacks: 2 stabbing (1 in Jerusalem); 4 small arms shooting; 16 IED (including pipe bombs and improvised grenade);  98 firebombs (50 in Jerusalem).

  High-trajectory launchings from Gaza Strip and Sinai

 Throughout June 2015 three rockets were launched** from the Gaza Strip towards Israel, compared to one rocket in May.

July 2015

Following is a regional distribution of attacks:  1 attack from the Gaza Strip, (3 in June); 63 attacks in the Judea and Samaria (69 in June); 42 attacks in Jerusalem (51 in June); 1 attack from Sinai. 

Jerusalem and the Judea and Samaria area: Most attacks executed in July 90 out of 105 were in the form of firebombs (June: 98 out of 120). 

 Distribution of attacks according to regions and pattern profile:

 The Gaza Strip – 1 attack: rockets launching.

 Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem – 105 attacks: 1 stabbing; 2 small arms shooting; 12 IED (including pipe bombs and improvised grenade);  90 firebombs (50 in Jerusalem).

 Sinai – 1 attack: rockets launching.

 High-trajectory launchings from Gaza Strip and Sinai 

 August 2015

5 Israeli citizens were slightly injured in stabbings. One civilian and one member of the security forces were stabbed on Route 443 on 9 and 15 August, respectively. Two members of the security forces were stabbed in Samaria on 15 and 17 August, and another officer was stabbed at Jerusalem's Lions' Gate on 26 August.

Three soldiers were injured (two seriously and one slightly) in a vehicle attack near Sinjil, Ramallah on 6 August. Another soldier was moderately injured by a pipe bomb thrown at an IDF post in Beit Jala on 19 August.

One civilian was slightly injured by gunfire at a passing vehicle near Kedumim on 30 August. Two other civilians were moderately and slightly injured by a Molotov cocktail thrown at a vehicle near Beit Hanina, north of Jerusalem, on 3 August.

 Data regarding terror attacks in August 2015

Following is a regional distribution of attacks:  3 attack from the Gaza Strip, (1 in July); 117 attacks in the Judea and Samaria (63 in July); 51 attacks in Jerusalem (42 in July).

 Jerusalem and the Judea and Samaria area: Most attacks executed in August 136 out of 168 were in the form of firebombs (July: 90 out of 105). 

Distribution of attacks according to regions and pattern profile:

 The Gaza Strip – 3 attack: rockets launching.

 Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem – 117 attacks:  5 stabbing; 1 vehicular run-over attack; 4 small arms shooting; 22 IED (including pipe bombs and improvised grenade);  136 firebombs (50 in Jerusalem).

High-trajectory launchings from Gaza Strip and Sinai

Throughout August 2015 3 rockets were launched** from the Gaza Strip towards Israel as opposed to July: 2 rockets one from the Gaza Strip and one from Sinai.

I would be remiss if I did not draw special attention to the July figures; 12 IED/Pipe Bomb attacks and 90 firebomb attacks. In the interest of ‘fairness’ there was 1 arson/ firebomb attack allegedly committed by unknown person(s) of Israelis.  Still, 90:1 is still quite a ratio of restraint.  Although, I am not sure how much peace the Israeli public can stand.