To all my media colleagues who take issue with my constant critique of our profession, it's because of abysmal coverage of events like "Nakba" and "Naksa" Day. You know, there's good reasons why the public largely thinks we're a bunch of media whores. Here are a few:
Simon Plosker over at Honest Reporting gives a good overview of bad news coverage of the so-called "Naksa Day" events along the frontier between Israel and Syria.
"Once again a flood of headlines present Israel as an aggressor responsible for the deaths of dozens of unarmed civilians. Was this really a peaceful protest or another Syrian-engineered attempt to breach Israel’s border? Where did the media get it right and where did it go wrong?"
The following video is a warning issued by an IDF soldier to rioters approaching the Syrian-Israeli border near Majdal Shams, one which I heard broadcast live on the day in question:
Translation to English:"Stop! You are breaching an international border. We warn you not to damage security infrastructure. Whosoever attempts to violate Israel's sovereignty or security infrastructure puts himself in jeopardy. Please return to Syria."
Got that. Good, Now, here's a map of the area in question, courtesy of EoZ, who wonders, "So where was UNDOF on Sunday?":
UNDOF is the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force in Syria. This is its mandate:
Maintain the ceasefire between Israel and Syria;
Supervise the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces; and
Supervise the areas of separation and limitation, as provided in the May 1974 Agreement on Disengagement.
Here is a map showing its area of operations. I have highlighted Majdal Shams, where the riots were yesterday and on May 15th.
(Click on map to embiggen)
The map shows that the Arab rioters passed through miles of UNDOF areas patrolled by the Austrian contingent of UNDOF. The entire UNDOF forces consist of around 1200 lightly armed peacekeepers. So what did they do on Sunday to defuse tensions on the border?
Be sure to read the rest, and maybe you can provide an answer to his questions.
The title of this article refers to pro-Palestinian groups that organized last May’s six-ship bid to breach Israel’s anti-armament maritime blockade of Gaza. The so-called humanitarian mission ended with nine passengers dead and dozens of other injured. Seven Israeli naval commandos were shot, stabbed, and beaten by peaceful terror-enablers on board the lead craft, the Mavi Marmara.
Now, slow learners who survived the first encounter say they plan to send more, and larger such convoys towards the Hamas-ruled coastal enclave on the upcoming first anniversary of the event.
The Hamas-affiliated Turkish IHH and the Free Gaza movement said they would send another two sea convoys in April and May, Israeli media reported on Monday.
However, Hamas often responds to Israel’s allowing in humanitarian aid via several monitored crossing points by issuing counter-offers promising Israel's annihilation:
...and then bombing said crossing points, cutting off the aid along with their noses.
So, after the Islamist group’s violent coup wresting power from the Palestinian Authority in 2007, and deadly shrapnel showers visited on Israeli cities by close to 10,000 Kassam rockets for more than seven years, Israel cordoned off the Strip until further notice, meaning either Hamas’ leadership learns to dance the hora, or, failing that, that their jig is up.
For those who may not remember, that six ship flotilla ferried – along with guns, knives, chains, clubs, slingshots and other humanitarian weapons – some 40 martyrdom-seeking Turkish Islamists aboard the Mavi Marmara.
Israeli intelligence officials have proven direct links between the IHH, Hamas, and al-Qaida, and video and audio clips by those aboard the last slow boat to hell showed many preparing for martyrdom when the Israelis showed up.
In the pre-dawn hours of May 31, nine of them got their wish when Israel Navy SEAL teams fast-roped from helicopters down to the decks intending to seize the craft and turn it towards Ashkelon Port.
There, Israeli officials made clear that the paltry aid aboard the other five craft, which included expired medicines, non-functioning wheelchairs, and third-hand clothes, would be transshipped to nearby Gaza by truck, after being inspected. The goods eventually reached Gaza, where even Hamas turned them down.
Poor intel by Israel’s intelligence services, however, meant that the Shayetet 13 commandos, who were packing little more than paintball guns and sidearms in expectation of peaceful protesters, rappelled down the ropes...
and straight into the waiting arms of a howling mob itching to display their humanity.
Coping with the ensuing melee and the international diplomatic, political, legal, and public-relations fallout from the raid-gone-arwy has proven to be one of Israel’s most daunting challenges in recent years, with the next chapter developing just as soon as the next ship of fools decides to anchors aweigh.
“Freedom Flotilla II,” as the organizers dubbed the tubs, is set to shovel like-minded acolytes from almost a dozen countries, including the U.S. and Canada, once again into the breech. One of the leaders is Dror Feiler, a 60-year-old Sabra artist and musician who emigrated to Sweden in 1973.
Feiler is a vehement critic of the Jewish State and the entire Zionist idea.
But when not “spitting in the well he drank from,” Feiler – apparently a musician and artist – still finds time to answers to the muses: In 2004, he erected a protest art exhibit at the National Antiquities Museum in Stockholm, cleverly entitled, “My Heart Swims With Blood.” The display featured “a boat floating in a pool of red liquid with a photo of the Palestinian suicide bomber Hanadi Jaradat attached to the mast as if ‘forming the sail of a little toy boat on a pool of blood.’”
(Charming, no?)
Hanadi, if you may recall, murdered 21 diners and wounded 51 others at a jointly Jewish-Arab owned restaurant in Haifa that year when – after first having a sumptuous meal herself (she reportedly didn’t pay) – detonated a bomb vest she was wearing.
“Art for art’s sake,” Hanadi for Allah’s sake and all that, but, let’s go back to the flotilla.
The Turkel Commission report, released on Sunday, said Israel acted properly in its anti-weapons blockade policy against the terrorist-led enclave and in its counter-terror operation to gain control of the flotilla.
“The naval blockade imposed on the Gaza Strip – in view of the security circumstances and Israel’s efforts to comply with its humanitarian obligations – was legal pursuant to the rules of international law,”
former Israeli Supreme court justice Jacob Turkel, who headed the five-member panel, said of the unanimous conclusions. The blue-ribbon panel, which included two esteemed international observers, said the naval commandos acted in self-defense in using deadly force to take over the ship.
In an interview held shortly after the raid took place, I spoke with an Israeli-American maritime security and counter-terrorism expert, who shared his take on the tactics and events on and below-decks aboard the Mavi Marmara. His thoughtful conclusions in June, 2010, presaged those reached by the commission seven months later.
Ariel Siegelman, 30, heads The Draco Group, an international security firm experienced in guarding freighters and passenger ships making their way through the pirate-infested waters of the Gulf of Aden, the south China Sea, and elsewhere.
Siegelman grew up in Atlanta, Ga., and, when not staving off Somali pirates, lives in Jerusalem with his wife and baby.
At first glance, Siegelman doesn’t strike you as someone who’s used to facing off against pirates and gunmen, until the soft-spoken, observant Jew shares hair-raising experiences as a professional Israeli security chief guarding passenger vessels and freighters plying treacherous waters far from his hearth and home.
You can listen to the radio feature I produced of that conversation here.
In addition to the interview itself, the report includes clips of statements from a passenger on the Mavi Marmara hoping for martyrdom (on his third try, no less; “inshallah,” as he hopefully puts it), audio of the Israeli Navy warning off one of the flotilla craft, and responses including, “shut up – go back to Auschwitz!” and, “We’re helping Arabs going against the U.S. — don’t forget 9/11, guys.”
Going by off-the-record remarks by senior Israeli officials I’ve spoken with, and testimony by senior Army officers before the Turkel Commission, when and if the next such group shows up off Gaza’s shoreline, Israel will not only not have forgotten either of those responses – having learned painful lessons from the last flotilla – it will be readying a fitting response of its own.
JERUSALEM, June 21 (Xinhua) -- Israel on Monday began allowing more humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, while promising continued enforcement of its naval blockade on the enclave, a spokesman with Israeli Prime Minister's office said. Read more.
"Preparing for a germ warfare attack, Israel stages its largest ever drill on emergency preparedness as hundreds of emergency response experts from around the world attend a simulated biological attack on Tel Aviv."
It's about a group of religious martial arts aficionados practicing, "Abir," apparently a Yemenite take on the well-known "Krav Maga" fighting style.
There are many, and mostly fascinating comments about the video by those in the know about martial arts, all discussing - some arguing - over fine points of technique, what's similar or different from other styles and schools, and so forth. I often join in, and it's fun and informative as you can read there... and then there's the hate mail:
I get these sort pretty often, usually after violent events between Israelis and their neighbors.
Most are frighteningly imbecilic, some just frightening, a few nauseating, and then there are the ones like this: Just plain murderous. Just to remind me about other kinds of martial fan clubs.
It's good though, in a twisted way: it reminds me what we're all up against, and to be alert. The wave is coming this way.
From Barry Rubin, but applicable to so many situations, especially many of my readers:
Dear Reader: Thank you for your note explaining why ___ Israel is to blame for not having destroyed Hizballah ___ Israel is to blame for not having destroyed Hamas ___ Israel should win total victory ___ Israel should invade the Gaza Strip and take it over ___ Israel is going to collapse because of the demographic gap ___ Israel is doing hasbara all wrong and you have the solution ___ Israel should make its main priority answering all the idiots who attack us rather than going about our business ___ Israel should make huge concessions to the Palestinians just in case they might like to make peace after getting them ___ Israel should make huge concessions to the Syrians just in case they might like to make peace after getting them ___ Israel should let Hamas stage terrorist attacks and not respond to show we are nice people, those of us who are still alive ___ All of the above
I very much appreciate your taking the time to write. Your interest in Israel is very much welcomed by people here. Given the clarity of your ideas, if you are Jewish, permit me to suggest you:
___ Make aliya and join the army ___ Make aliya and pay taxes ___ Make aliya and have a lot of children ___ Make aliya and find out it isn’t so simple to entertain you and gratify your wishes ___ All of the above
If the above does not apply to you, you aren't Jewish or you are not interested in all those alternatives, perhaps you might consider the need to:
___ Get another hobby ___ Focus on dictatorships in Iran and Arab states to see how they treat people ___ Think what it is like to live under an Islamist regime ___ Do some actual reading and research on the Middle East before mouthing off ___ All of the above
In future, please feel free to write to someone else. Otherwise I will be happy to send you my rates for corresponding with you. We accept checks, cash, and credit cards. Sincerely yours, Barry Rubin
