Mufspeek

Desecrated jewish graves on the Mount of Olives - photographer unknown

The people of Israel have lived 3,700 years without a memorandum of understanding with America and will continue to live without it another 3,700 years. Menachem Begin

There was another bombing in Jerusalem today, this one wounded twenty one people. Israeli authorities called it a terrorist attack. I am sure many liberals here in America will rejoice and prefer to view the bloodshed as a brilliant act of resistance against the hated occupier.

Like Hillary pal Sydney Blumenthal's son Max did two weeks ago regarding a Palestinian attack killed five Israeli soldiers.

In undercover recordings published Sunday by The (U.K.) Telegraph, Blumenthal, an activist and writer, is heard praising an “incredible” 2014 massacre carried out by “commandos” with Hamas’s al-Qassam Brigades against Israeli soldiers stationed at a kibbutz and army base called Nahal Oz.
“With GoPro cameras attached to their helmets, [they] burst into the Israeli base and kill every soldier they encounter in hand-to-hand combat,” Blumenthal said during a March 5 event held at the London School of Economics.
“The message it sent to young Palestinians in the West Bank, in Jerusalem and abroad, was incredible,” he continued. “You see your people in commando uniforms, bursting into a military base and showing up the occupier.”During his March 5 speech, Blumenthal defended Palestinian violence against Israel.“There’s often prison revolts which take place everywhere, because people are normal. People are normal in the Gaza Strip, and so they take up arms,” he said. He also gloated that the attack “[popped] Israel’s security bubble.”

Sounds suspiciously like one of Obama's old press secretaries.

"The Obama administration insisted Monday that a Palestinian killed by an IDF while attempting to throw a Molotov cocktail at Israeli civilians is not a terrorist.
The Palestinian, a teenager with U.S. citizenship, was shot Friday and buried wearing a green Hamas headband. The Obama administration said in a statement on Friday that it “expresses its deepest condolences to the family.”
At a State Department briefing today, Associated Press reporter Matt Lee asked spokesperson Jen Psaki whether it is appropriate to offer “deepest condolences” to the family of someone killed while attempting to carry out an attack on civilians.
“There are reports … that [the Palestinian teenager] was throwing Molotov cocktails at cars on a highway, and I’m wondering, if that is the case, would you still have been so speedy in putting out a statement and offering your condolences to the family?” asked Lee. “The argument that is being made by some in Israel is that this kid was essentially a terrorist, and you don’t agree with that, I assume,” Lee continued.
“Correct, we don’t,” Psaki said. Lee then asked whether the fact that the teenager was buried wearing a Hamas headband was “of concern at all.” Psaki replied, “I just don’t have any more on this particular case.”"

I don't know how many times I have to say that I find a lot of the Netanyahu Administration's behavior wrong and distasteful. I don't like being thrust into the role of an Israeli apologist. But do I get letters...

In any case what I find even more distasteful is the behavior of some on the left that condemn Israeli with ridiculous Monday morning quarterbacking and twenty twenty hindsight. Like Senator Pat Leahy for instance. Leahy wants to cut off funding for Israel because they have the temerity to kill assailants who are trying to murder them instead of trying to immobilize them.

He cites four cases, the first being one Fadi Alloun, who tried to kill a 15-year old Israeli boy in Jerusalem with a knife, than ran through the streets attempting to stab and slash multiple people. The assailant refused to drop his weapon and was killed by security forces. He had recently written “Either martyrdom or victory”on a Facebook page, and his acts were obviously premeditated.

Next we have Ahmed Manasra who on October 12, 2015, accompanied by his cousin, set out armed with knives to kill Jews in Jerusalem. They first attacked a young man who fortunately escaped with severe lacerations. They then pounced on 13-year old boy on a bicycle, stabbing him in the neck before being chased off. The rampage was stopped when a civilian rammed into the duo with his car. They were taken to an Israeli Hospital where their lives were saved.

Two others who were cited as being the recipients of extrajudicial punishment were Hadeel Hashmaloun and Mutaz Awiza. Hadeel was a woman who was said to have brandished a knife at a checkpoint and attempted to stab a soldier.

We know the Israelis are a horrible people but even so, if you come at most soldiers or cops here in America with a knife or a gun, I think that you can expect to be killed. Creating a different standard for Israelis seems a bit ridiculous. Live by the sword, expect to die by the sword or in any case, very quickly.

The Obama administration is certainly on board.

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration accused Israel of using excessive force against Palestinians during a wave of deadly violence, in an annual report that pointed to a global decline in human rights.
The annual report by the State Department into human rights abuses around the world accused Israeli forces of “excessive use of force” in the Palestinian territories, and “arbitrary arrest and associated torture and abuse, often with impunity,” by the IDF, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
According to numbers cited in the report, 149 Palestinians were killed in 2015 by Israeli security forces, but only 77 were in the course of attacking Israelis.
“There were numerous reports of the ISF (Israel security forces) killing Palestinians during riots, demonstrations, at checkpoints, and during routine operations; in some cases they did not pose a threat to life,” the report read.
The numbers clash with Israeli accounts that some two-thirds of Palestinians killed during a wave of violence beginning in October were in the midst of attempting or carrying out attacks and the rest died in clashes with security forces.

Only 77 of the poor people were attacking Israelis? Jeez. I honestly hate talking about Israel. I get crap from friends and family members, many who are quite hostile to the country. But I hate it when J Street types, people who have never lived in the country, as I have, nor even visited it, presuppose to know better than Israelis on the proper way of dealing with an enemy that wishes to do them in. Let me say once again, Netanyahu has been a duplicitous asshole regarding settlement policy. But do I understand the dynamic that feeds his underlying calculus, I actually think I do. Perhaps we can discuss it another time.

Bernie does a great dance on the subject. Israel has a right to defend itself but not too much, if you know what he means...Shrug off those missiles from Gaza until there are a few more casualties.

I have many friends who are Syrian and Iraqi Christians and have known many jews that originally came from Middle Eastern arab countries. The stories of repression that they tell of living under the thumb of Islam are both startling and terrifying. And they are without a doubt the most open eyed and realistic regarding the nature of the middle eastern conflict and the people most resolute in taking a harder line. Because they know. Liberal Americans, jewish or not, they don't know.

But by all means, all you enlightened liberals, continue to blather. Because you obviously know best.

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Wailing Wall - Shepp

On another front, UNSECO says that the jews have no cultural or historical link to the Temple Mount, site of the first and second temple. Good old United Nations. Want to talk fair and balanced?

The UNESCO executive board on Thursday adopted a resolution on "Occupied Palestine" presented by several Arab countries.
It referred to Israel as the "occupying power" several times, and only referred to the Temple Mount as Al-Aqsa Mosque, likewise calling the Western Wall by the name Al-Buraq Wall, a term created in the 1920s by Arabs in an ahistorical attempt to claim the site.
The resolution criticized Israel for "excavations and works" in eastern Jerusalem, and urged it to stop "aggressions and illegal measures against the freedom of worship and Muslims' access" to the Temple Mount.
The resolution also outrageously accused Israel of "planting fake Jewish graves in Muslim cemeteries."

Which is kind of interesting because the mount is the holiest site in Judaism and jews can document their connection to the landscape there for over 3500 years, contrasting to Islam, which was born in the seventh century.

Lord, in keeping with all your righteous acts, turn away your anger and your wrath from Jerusalem, your city, your holy hill. Our sins and the iniquities of our ancestors have made Jerusalem and your people an object of scorn to all those around us. Daniel 9:16

Can we stop with this notion that people that are pro Israel think that Israel is somehow above criticism and reproach canard?  Because it is simply not true and I have never heard even the most ardent zionist hawk make that argument. Israelis are more prone to self criticism than anybody else I have ever witnessed. Two jews, five opinions.

What they will say is that perhaps you can save a little ire for the neighbors, perhaps recognize that it is the only functioning democracy in the Middle East, although it obviously doesn't match everybody's lofty standards.

In fact it is a place where Arab members of the Knesset have even advocated for its destruction and applauded violence the intifada. Can you imagine the chances of someone surviving in Pakistan or Saudi Arabia too long after making a similar argument in one of those countries?