Stand for Israel

Sometimes a headline says it all

Ha'aretz: "Hamas: War will settle Jerusalem dispute, not talks"

Col. Richard Kemp defends Israel

Richard Kemp, a British army colonel who has served in Iraq and Afghanistan, looks at the conduct of the Israel Defense Forces during Operation Cast Lead and concludes: "The IDF did more to safeguard the rights of civilians in a combat zone than any other army in the history of warfare." Watch his entire testimony before the U.N.

Netanyahu: Don't believe the lies about Temple Mount dig

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issues a call for sanity:

"There is an extreme minority that has spread lies according to which Israel is planning to conduct excavations beneath the Temple Mount," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said regarding the recent unrest in east Jerusalem.

"I want to make it clear that these are lies, and I call on the majority of Arabs in Israel not to believe these lies," said the PM at the onset of Monday's cabinet meeting, "The vast majority of Israel's Arabs are not being dragged in by these provocations.

"I want to tell the Arab citizens of Israel – those who want to lead normal lives – that you are a part of the State of Israel. The government is working to make certain that you (Arab sector) enjoy full equality in every field, be it education, economy, employment or infrastructure," he said.

Hamas may station human shields on Gaza border

A particularly macabre and shocking manifestation of Hamas' culture of death:

The IDF is concerned that Hamas is planning to resettle thousands of displaced Gazans in caravans and temporary homes along the border with Israel, defense officials said on Sunday.

The army learned recently of the plan, initiated by Hamas Housing Minister Yousef al-Mansi, under which thousands of Palestinians who are waiting for their homes that were damaged during Operation Cast Lead to be repaired will be housed in temporary structures and caravans along the border with Israel.

The IDF believes that Mansi plans to set up the temporary villages to serve as obstacles in the event that Israel sends ground forces into Gaza. The border villages will also likely serve as cover for tunnels that Hamas will dig under the security fence and into Israel to carry out attacks.

The next time you hear about Israeli officials being sought for prosecution for imagined "war crimes," remember this: Hamas will, without hesitation, place innocent Palestinian men, women, and children in harms' way if it thinks that by doing so it will garner victory on the battlefield, or in the media.

Mashaal: We'll keep kidnapping Israeli soldiers

Just days after the release of a video showing kidnapped Israeli solider Gilad Shalit, more evidence (as if it was needed) of Hamas' instransigence surfaces:

Hours after Israel released 19 female Palestinian prisoners - an additional prisoner will be released Sunday - in exchange for a video proving captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit was alive, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal on Friday night threatened to capture more Israeli soldiers in order to win the release of all Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons.

Gilad Shalit appears healthy in video

Hours ahead of the start of the Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) holiday, the nation of Israel was relieved that footage of captive soldier Gilad Shalit showed him healthy and lucid. 

A copy of the video, which was received today in exchange for the release of 20 female Palestinian prisoners, was flown immediately to the Shalit family, who live in the village of Mitzpe Hila, which is northwest of the Sea of Galilee. The family asked to view the video in private and notified the Prime Minister’s office that the video could be made public. (Shalit’s sister, Hadas, did not view the video with her family: She’s currently serving in the IDF and spent today at her base.)

Israeli media report that the footage is about two minutes long and shows a clean-shaven Shalit holding up a Palestinian newspaper dated Sept. 14. Not surprisingly, some world coverage focused on the prisoners being released rather than the fact that this is the credible first signs of life of the soldier received in 2 years.

Meanwhile, Israeli sources caution that the video exchange doesn’t represent a break-through in negotiations for Shalit’s release (he’s been held prisoner by Hamas for three and a half years now): The earliest anyone could expect a deal is mid-2010.

The video is the first time that his family has seen Shalit since he was kidnapped nearly 1,200 days ago. (An audiotape was released in 2007).

Lop-sided swaps reveal Israel's truest nature

 

 

The Israeli security cabinet approved swapping prisoners for information about Gilad Shalit’s fate on Wednesday. According to the deal, Israel will hand over 20 female prisoners on Friday and Hamas will hand over a videotape that offers evidence that the kidnapped soldier is still alive.

 

Insightful Israeli blogger The Muqata questions the worth of the videotape anyway, since the German mediator apparently already saw the video: “If he’s already seen it,” Muqata asks, “why do we need to release 20 Palestinian FemaleTerrorists?” (And goes on to lament that the world community appears to place a higher value on the lives of Palestinians being held for terrorist acts than on the lives of the Jews they murder.)

 

Israelis will be debating the wisdom of the swap (and of the proposed exchange of 1,400 prisoners for Shalit himself) – there’s no question that such exchanges provide direct incentives for terrorist groups to kidnap more soldiers, as well as Israeli civilians and even Jews who aren’t citizens of Israel. The wisdom of that is for the Israeli people to decide.

 

One thing the existence of the debate does provide clear evidence of, though, is the incontrovertibly paramount value that human life holds for the Jewish state and the Jewish people. Most of us around the world cannot imagine making such an un-even swap. But Jews live by a tradition that tells them that saving one life is the equivalent of saving the entire world.

 

And Jewish law teaches that pikuach nefesh, saving a life, takes priority over nearly every other act (a notable exception is desecrating the name of God).

 

It is precisely this value—the preciousness of life—that Israel’s tyrannical enemies exploit. And yet, we lovers of Israel know that, vulnerable though it may make us, it also is our greatest strength.

 

How sweet it would be for Gilad Shalit to sit in the Sukkah, reunited with his family and all of the nation of Israel, during the next week’s Feast of Tabernacles.

 

May Israel’s leaders receive wisdom and guidance, and may the Source of Comfort—and Salvation—lower His protective cloak over Gilad Shalit and his family:  “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners.” (Isaiah 61:1)

 

To listen to audiotape (with subtitles) of Shalit from 2007, click here.

Squabbling Palestinian factions agree: Kidnapping Israelis gets results

The incomparable Palestinian Media Watch reports that Hamas and the Palestinian Authority--whose frequent disagreements have flared into gun battles on more than one occasion--have found something to agree upon: Kidnapping Israeli soldiers works!

Since Israel changed its decades-old policy of not negotiating with terrorists, "militants" have been able to get huge concessions from the Jewish state--releasing thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including outright murderers--for the release of a few soldiers, the bodies of a few more, and one civilian captive.

The cartoon below refers to Hamas' confidence that they'll be able to get Israel to release up to 1,400 prisoners (yes, that's one thousand four hundred separate people)  in exchange for Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier kidnapped just before the start of the 2006 Lebanon War.

The cartoon ran in Al Quds newspaper (Aug. 28, 2009) and shows Shalit as a key. The text on the lock reads "prisoners."

PMW also points to a cartoon (a cartoon?) mocking Shalit, promising "You [Israelis] will all be Gilads. We'll capture you." Another ridicules Shalit's fate, depicting him calling for his mother while a child laughs at him, saying, "You've been rotting here for 3 years, and no one cares."

Find more about Shalit here and watch SFI for how you can help him.

Video: Netanyahu's speech at the UN

The Jerusalem Post has posted video of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's powerful speech at the UN yesterday. It's well worth watching in its entirety -- and it's also worth reading an analysis of the speech in which Michael Oren, the Israeli Ambassador the the US, calls the speech "successful and even historic." The Israeli Ambassador to the UN agreed that the speech was effective and would stay in the memories of those who heard it for a long time, but, she cautioned against thinking that supporters of Israel can expect much change from the UN General Assembly.

Meanwhile, officials from Hamas and the Palestinian Authority made clear that their positions aren't changing:

1. A Hamas official called the Gaza war the "largest massacre of the century": " 'Netanyahu spoke of the Holocaust but Israel committed the largest massacre of the century,' Army Radio quoted a Hamas spokesperson as saying in reference to Operation Cast Lead."

2. Hamas denied any Jewish claim to the land of Israel: "Another Hamas representative was cited by Israel Radio early Friday morning as rejecting references Netanyahu made to the Jewish people's claim to Israel, saying that 'Palestine has never been Jewish land.' "

3. The Palestinian Authority made clear that they will not recognize Israel as a Jewish state: "Saib Erekat, the Palestinian Authority's chief negotiator with Israel, called Netanyahu's demand that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a Jewish state unacceptable."

What does it say about the prospects for peace when even the ostensibly more moderate of the two ruling Palestinian groups cannot bring itself to accept one of Israel's most fundamental, non-negotiable -- and entirely legtimate -- conditions for making peace?

Israel captures "most wanted terrorist"

One of the men responsible for the horrific 2002 Park Hotel terrorist attack has been arrested:

A senior Hamas terrorist, involved in planning the 2002 suicide bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya, was arrested overnight Monday in the West Bank, security officials announced Tuesday.

Muhammad Harwish, head of Hamas's armed wing in Tulkarm, was apprehended along with his personal aide, Adnan Samara. The two were being interrogated by security forces.

A Duvdevan special forces unit, along with personnel from the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) and special Border Police forces, arrested the pair after encountering them during a search for weapons in Tzurif, close to Bethlehem.