The Palmach and the Arabs Up Until November 1947

I have in the past dealt with the issue of the presumed "better morality" of the Palmach pre-state defence units under the aegis of the left-wing socialist Zionist parties, Ahdut Ha'Avoda and HaShomer HaTzair. Their claim was always that the Irgun and the Lechi were but fascists and blackguards and roughnecks.

However, Palmach members also were involved in activities that today would land them in an international tribunal for 'war crimes'.

I blogged about the attack on an Arab village.

I also blogged about castrations of Arab rapists.

 The Book of the Palmach 

published in 1957 contains more instances which I will briefly summarize.

Starting on page 602 and continuing until 605, under the heading "Guerrilla Actions" or "Small-scale Combat", several anti-Arab reprisal attacks are described.

For example, in the autumn of 1943 (the actual time was March 1942), a three-man squad of Pluga Alef entered a Bedouin encampment near Waldheim (today's Alonei Abba) 

to avenge the murder of Alexander Zaid. Zaïd was murdered on July 10, 1938 when ambushed by an Arab gang while on his way to meet members of kibbutz Alonim. The killer was Qassem Tabash, a Bedouin from the al-Hilaf tribe. He was killed in reprisal in front of some 20 of his fellow tribemen.

By the way, the Palmach eliminated two Germans at the Templar village there as well in 1948.

In February 1944, a squad from Pluga Alef were in the vicinity of Masada on a training trek. Near Ein Gedi, they were set upon by armed Beduoin brigands and, in defending themselves, killed two in an exchange of fire.

During the spring of 1945, the Palmach was involved in leading clandestine immigration overland from Lebanon. On occasion, they were set upon by Arab gang members who demanded, with threat of death, a payment as if a toll crossing. To halt this practice, members of Pluga Gimel disguised themselves as Arabs, crossed into Lebanon, engaged the gang members in conversation and then opened fire and killed several. This put an end to the attempts to threaten Jews coming into the homeland.

In the spring of 1947, Arab terror was resurrected. Two Jews were murdered in mid-May and the Palmach determined that a cafe in Fajja village, some 2 kilometers east of Petah Tikva,  was a gang headquarters for members of the Arab Al-Suwerka tribe. It was subsequently attacked on May 21. 

Palestine Post, May 22, 1947

More on this incident here.

Another incident occured in August 1947 at the Cafe Hawai. Following a murderous robbery attempt, the Palmach and Hagan made a reprisal raid a week later:

Palestine Post, August 17, 1947

On October 7, 1947, a Palmach unit set out on a reprisal raid against a murderous gang near Kfar Syrkin who had killed two Jews previously that week.

Palestine Post, October 7, 1947

That evening, a Palmach squad set out to the orchards near Rosh Ha'Ayin to find the gang. In the battle, three gang members were killed, as well as a Jaffa prostitute who was spending the vening there, and one was wounded.

Palestine Post, October 8, 1947

A few incidents happened in the fall on the Negev protecting the supply and transportation lines to the kibbutzim there.

As a result of the start of the Arab-Israel War of 1947-49, the situation only worsened.

^

Can TV Sex Entertainment Be Politically Relevant?

Sure, why not?

Look what I found at Pajamas Media:

Larry David’s Curb Confession: Leftist Jews Want to Have Humiliating Sex

with Anti-Semitic, Muslim Women

This piece, by David Swindle, associate editor for FrontPage Magazine and the managing editor for NewsReal Blog, relates how Larry David, the leftist creator-star of HBO’s Curb Your Enthusiasm has "crafted one of his show’s greatest, most important episodes — and all apparently by accident."  Which is...?

Okay, here it is

(Warning – plot spoilers of course follow)

The premise of the episode: Larry and his friend/manager Jeff discover a new “Palestinian” Chicken restaurant and decide to go in spite of knowing that their fellow Jews would disapprove. Once there they chow down on the best chicken they’ve ever eaten, indifferent to the anti-Semitic posters on the walls. Larry also discovers a new object of lust: the sexy “Palestinian” woman who manages the restaurant...But how does Larry win the affections of the dark-haired Muslim beauty?

Later in the episode Larry and Jeff return to the restaurant with their friend Marty Funkhouser who has recently converted from Reform Judaism to Orthodox. He wears a yarmulke that’s more attention-grabbing and ostentatious than any Orthodox Jew I’ve ever known. Before they enter Larry tries to force Marty to take it off. A fight ensues, attracting the attention of the Muslims eating inside. When the fight is over Larry has ripped off Marty’s yarmulke and frightened him back to his car. When he and Jeff enter they are applauded and embraced as fellow anti-Semites. (One imagines that this is a comparable reaction to what Noam Chomsky got when he visited Hezbollah.) The “Palestinian” manager, Shara, [played by Anne Bedian, who is Canadian-born of Armenian background] then approaches Larry, sexually aroused by this act of a secular Jew tormenting an Orthodox Jew.

The inevitable sex scene between the two of them follows. Shara is the sexual aggressor, dominating over Larry as he lies on the bed. She shouts anti-Semitic slogans all the while. It apparently isn’t just Larry’s fantasy to have sex with a Muslim woman; rather, he wants to be degraded in the process. [note: "So it was weird to sit on top of Larry, and be like, 'You ready?' And he has this cushion patch on his crotch, to prevent any, whatever, accidental contact, and his assistant is bringing him his breath spray.” That’s hot! “ I was like, 'Come on Larry, I'm doing all the work here, you're not doing anything.' And he said, 'That's what's going to make it funny.' "]

But the satirical truth is kicked up to the next level when Marty walks into Larry’s house to hear the Jew-hating cries of passion upstairs. He sits to wait, forced to listen while Larry continues having sex with a woman who wants to exterminate them both. Afterwards Larry is indifferent at what his good friend has just heard, and Shara sees Marty as she leaves. There’s truth behind the satire. Adam Shapiro is the co-founder of the International Solidarity Movement and has a “Palestinian” wife who would likely grab Larry’s attention...The episode ends with Larry walking down between two competing protest lines at the opening of a new franchise of the “Palestinian” Chicken restaurant setting up shop next door to a Jewish deli. The unattractive Jewish wife of Jeff angrily swears and yells at Larry for him to come and join them on the pro-Israel side. Meanwhile, Larry’s new “Palestinian” lover is on the other side and says she has a sister named Yasmine she wants to bring to bed with them next time. The episode ends with Larry wondering which side to join and the audience knowing the answer...

Swindle concludes:

...politically the show was about as evil as one could get. (What next Larry? Going to have a kapo during World War II getting abused by Warden Ilsa?) But I couldn’t contain my laughter — if I was writing my own satire of the Left then this would basically be it. That it was written by a progressive and broadcast on HBO is even better.

Another reviewer, Blair Mandell, has this

...the majority of the show is based around Al-Babbas, a chicken restaurant run by anti-Zionist Palestinians. They're not quite militant and they don't seem to want to co-exist with Jewish people in the Holy Land, but they're relatively tolerant of Larry and Jeff's (Jeff Garlin) presence..Larry is also particularly attracted to Shara (Anne Bedian), one of the owners of Al-Babbas who is particularly outspoken against the Jewish people. In Larry's mind, nothing is more attractive than someone who hates you.

...The highlight of the episode comes when Larry and Jeff prevent Marty from wearing his yamaka in Al-Babbas, earning a standing ovation from the other patrons and amorous attention from Shara. She becomes so taken with Larry that she promises to "f*** the Jew" out of him as she shout outs anti-Jewish slogans to maintain her sexual excitement. It's ludicrous and a little unbelievable, but David still makes it work...Outwardly, Larry and Jeff are against the new Al-Babbas, but their hearts are with their stomachs on this one...the beautiful Shara, [later] promises a three-way with Larry and her sister if he joins her side in the fight. Larry's decision isn't shown, but his first choice will always be in his self interest....Larry's side visit to Funkhouser's Rabbi was also pretty funny as he alternately fought with her over the Palestinian Chicken and then apparently used it to force her to allow Funkhouser to go golfing on the Sabbath.

Btw, for unabashed adults, the sex scene is here. And the text of most of it is here.

Now, I've heard of Muslim women justifying rape of Jewish women as part of the struggle (see: Egyptian Lawyer Nagla Al-Imam Suggests Arab Men Should Sexually Harass Israeli Women and Declares: Leave the Land So We Won't Rape You, Al-Arabiya TV (Dubai/Saudi Arabia) - October 31, 2008 ), but actually doing it themselves and to Jewish men?

^

We All Were Raped - By Gideon Levy, Andrew Sullivan, Et. Al

You will recall the case of an Arab who claimed he was racially discriminated against, having being found guilty of rape by deception in that he pretended to be a Jew to be able to have sex with a Jewish woman on a chance date. Here was my take then.

Well, this blog of Victor has the real story and an attack on media bias.

Here are some details from JTA:-

A Palestinian man accused of rape by deception for posing as a Jew forcibly raped the victim, according to her testimony. Portions of the woman's testimony against Saber Kushour were published Sept. 3 in Ha'Ir, a weekly magazine of the Israeli daily Haaretz distributed only in Tel Aviv.

...the court accepted the plea bargain on a charge of rape by deception in place of rape without consent because of the victim's past and her confused and contradictory testimony.

According to her testimony, published in the article, Kashour invited her to see the building where he said he worked, and then brutally raped her on the top floor of the building, leaving her naked and bleeding. She said the sex was not consensual, as Kashour claims.

According to her testimony, published in Ha'Ir, the victim said, “He said he wanted to invite me for coffee and show me his workplace there." The reason she gave for agreeing to leave with a stranger was “I looked for someone to put my trust in."
She went on to say, "...I really trusted him.”

The woman reportedly was raped repeatedly by her father from the age of 6 and forced into prostitution by him. At the time of the rape she was staying in a women's shelter, according to the article. She was hospitalized after the rape in a government-run psychiatric hospital in a ward for women who were sexually abused.

Full details here.

Will Victor get his apologies?



P.S.

Here is something I missed at the time:

Rape 'by Deception' May Become A Crime In Massachusetts

Massachusetts legislators considered a bill Wednesday that would close a loophole in rape laws to allow prosecutors to bring charges against people who gain a victim's consent to sex through deception.

Under current law, rape in Massachusetts can only be prosecuted if the act involves force and non-consent. The law does not protect victims who have been intentionally duped into having sex without force or violence.

"There is a myth that rape only happens in a dark alley by a stranger -- this is not true," said Rep. Peter Koutoujian.

Without the new legislation, police and prosecutors are virtually helpless when someone reports a rape that occurred because the victim was deceived or tricked into consenting. Legislators cited a case in western Massachusetts in which a woman consented to intercourse with her boyfriend's brother because he claimed to be the woman's boyfriend.

Israel isn't in bad company with its legal system.


- - -

CNN - Raping the Media Consumer

CNN has a show called PRISM.

It is portrayed a "a provocative news program that will challenge viewers to step outside of their comfort zones, to see the news from a different vantage point, be it: cultural, political, geographical, economical, historical, by different ages, genders or faiths."

Well, they did that today at 19:10 or so Israel time.

They covered the "rape by deception" case.

Details:

...Saber Kashour, the Israeli Palestinian who admitted pretending to be a single Jewish man before having sex with an Israeli woman...Kashour told CNN the relations with the woman, who has not been identified publicly, were consensual...Kashour, who acknowledged having told the woman he was single, said he is known as "Dudu," a nickname for the Jewish name "David," but also his own nickname.

"Apparently, later she discovered that I was an Arab and complained to the police," he said.

..."It is terrible, but the law says very clearly that if someone has sexual intercourse using deception about his identity to conduct the act, it can be considered rape," said Leah Samael, a lawyer specializing in civil rights and human rights cases.

But, if the circumstances had been different -- if a religious Jew had said he was not religious in order to woo a potential suitor -- "he would not be brought to court," she said. "And I am not sure that, on this occasion, it is a reason to charge. To have intercourse in daytime in a deserted building in the center of town -- I say the circumstances speak for themselves."

She added, "The thing that interests me in the case is the need, the necessity, of Arabs in Israel to pretend. To speak without an accent so as not to be seen as Arabs. To dress not to look like Arabs."...

Criminal law rarely applies to minor lies, like dyed hair or a changed name," said Dana Pugach of the Noga Legal Center for Victims of Crime. "But it would apply to the more meaningful lies," she said.

"For example, where a doctor persuades a woman to have sex claiming it would be a part of the medical treatment. As for this particular case, it is not the fact that he was an Arab and claimed to be Jewish. The court emphasized the fact that he claimed to be single while he was married, which would be relevant in the context of a romantic relationship."...

CNN highlighted it on Prism. Leah Samael continued in the Ben Wedeman report with a racist spin. Then she's also on a bonus live interview. Gideon Levy is quoted that if a Jewish man had pretended to be Muslim to have sex with a Muslim woman, would he have been charged? No. But does he really know that? He doesn't.

Leah continued by saying a Pal. can't sleep with a Jew. It's sheer racism according to her.

But all of her talk was simply conjecture as well since we are talking law - and the law is that deception is rape. But Samael went on - this is encouraging apartheid. An almost five minute story.

I think we need a strong female voice on this.



P.S.


In 2008, the High Court of Justice set a precedent on rape by deception, rejecting an appeal of the rape conviction by Zvi Sleiman, who impersonated a senior official in the Housing Ministry whose wife worked in the National Insurance Institute. Sleiman told women he would get them an apartment and increased NII payments if they would sleep with him.

High Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein said a conviction of rape should be imposed any time a "person does not tell the truth regarding critical matters to a reasonable woman, and as a result of misrepresentation she has sexual relations with him."

Rubinstein said the question was also whether an ordinary person would expect such a woman to have sex with a man without the false identity he created.

In the past, men who misrepresented themselves in this way were convicted of fraud.

One such case was that of Eran Ben-Avraham, who told a woman he was a neurosurgeon after which she had sex with him, and was convicted of three counts of fraud.

Oops

Exclusive: CIA Station Chief in Algeria Accused of Rapes

The CIA's station chief at its sensitive post in Algeria is under investigation by the U.S. Justice Department for allegedly raping at least two Muslim women who claim he laced their drinks with a knock-out drug, U.S. law enforcement sources tell ABC News.

Officials say the 41-year old CIA officer, a convert to Islam, was ordered home by the U.S. Ambassador, David Pearce, in October after the women came forward with their rape allegations in September.

The discovery of more than a dozen videotapes showing the CIA officer engaged in sex acts with other women has led the Justice Department to broaden its investigation to include at least one other Arab country, Egypt, where the CIA officer had been posted earlier in his career, according to law enforcement officials.

Condi Just Sent Me Her Reaction

With all this rape talk and mention of wet dream fantasy, (here and here and also here) Condi has just reacted:



But I can't figure out whther she's happy, bothered or just indifferent.

David Landau Supports "Rape"

Haaretz's editor it seems has taken a bad fall out of his editor's chair.

...comments made by David Landau, editor of the Israeli daily, Haaretz, to Condoleezza Rice about Israel needing to be “raped” by the U.S. to achieve a Mideast settlement caused quite a stir among the 20 or so attendees at a confidential briefing with the secretary of state on a recent visit to Israel.

The incident, which took place Sept. 10 at the private residence of America’s ambassador to Israel, Richard Jones, has not been fully reported until now. What is contested is not the raw language Landau used but the context of his impassioned comments.

...Landau, who was seated next to Rice, was said to have referred to Israel as a “failed state” politically, one in need of a U.S.-imposed settlement. He was said to have implored Rice to intervene, asserting that the Israeli government wanted “to be raped” and that it would be like a “wet dream” for him to see this happen.

When contacted this week, Landau said the description was “inaccurate” and “a perversion of what I said.” He said his views had been delivered with “much more sophistication.” But he added: “I did say that in general, Israel wants to be raped — I did use that word — by the U.S., and I myself have long felt Israel needed more vigorous U.S. intervention in the affairs of the Middle East.”

(Kippah tip: Isi Liebler)

Anybody out there wishing to "rape" Landau?

P.S. Steve Plaut wrote:

You think this has anything to do with the fact that the Hebrew U's anthropology department has just declared rape to be an act of anti-racism and kindness, whereas Refusal to Rape is an act of racism?

He Had to Pee on Her?

Sometimes, it's the minor items that really are the most disgusting:

The Haifa District Court on Sunday sentenced Ahmed Hindawi, a border policeman, to 16.5 years in prison for raping a 70-year-old Holocaust survivor.

Hindawi, 23, was convicted of rape, sodomy, extortion, disruption of proceedings and shooting in a residential area. He was also given a suspended sentence of three years in addition to the jail sentence.

The indictment shows that one year ago, as the defendant was driving along a highway north of Haifa, he noted the victim walking along the side of the road. He stopped the car and demanded she enter the vehicle. The victim refused and crossed over to the other side of the road. Hindawi then exited his car and grabbed her, throwing her over the railing on the side of the road. The woman tried to push Hindawi off, but he struck her on the head until she released her grip on the railing. He then pulled her into a thorny bush and raped her.

According to the indictment, Hindawi then urinated on her in order to humiliate her, and left her there with injuries all over her body.

Hindawi confessed to the deeds shortly after police began questioning him on the incident.

Source.

They Were Plundering & Raping Then

When?

In 1858.

Before Zionism.

Here:-

a group of German Christians, in conjunction with American Christians, established "Mount Hope," a farming colony outside Jaffa, in the 1850s. Among the group's members were the brothers Friedrich and John Steinbeck (the latter being the grandfather of the Nobel laureate John Steinbeck). The brothers married the daughters of Walter Dickson, an American member of the group.

In January 1858, the colony was attacked by Bedouin and plundered. Friedrich Steinbeck was murdered and his wife and sister-in-law were raped. All the American settlers, including the "German" John Steinbeck, left and returned to the United States.

The incident stirred a great furor in the American press as well as in the State Department and the Senate. At the request of the Senate, President Buchanan submitted a detailed report of the actions taken by the American consuls in "the Levant" to ensure that those who perpetrated the horrific acts would be punished and that such deeds would never recur.

Raping as 'resistance' - My latest op-ed

In the Jerusalem Post -

Raping as 'resistance'

A good friend of mine, Edva Naveh of Sha'arei Tikva in Samaria, made an interesting observation recently concerning the gang of Beduin youths who, according to their indictment, committed a series of rapes in the Galilee area. She was struck by reports in the Hebrew media - YNET, for instance - saying that the rapes were perpetrated as a form of nationalist vengeance against IDF operations in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

The Post headlined its March 1 report: "Police make new arrests in 'terrorist rape' case."

Now if it's true that these were "terrorist rapes," Edva wondered why feminist organizations in Israel which devote themselves to combating rape, harassment and trafficking in women appear to have ignored the entire matter.

These organizations also deal with sexual abuse, pay-scale disparities and other economic and social issues. Many have been active in protesting President Moshe Katsav's continued tenure, despite the fact that he's not been formerly charged. Haim Ramon's kissing episode also deeply disturbed the feminists - not to mention the rest of us.

HOWEVER, Edva asked, why hasn't the feminist community addressed - or at the very least investigated - the matter of Jewish women allegedly being raped out of nationalist motivation?

Millionaire Ofer Glazer and MK Yoram Marciano have been pilloried by them for reported sexual improprieties. Actor Rami Heuberger is being criticized. But the behavior of the young residents of Galilee has been largely ignored by the feminists.

Where are the feminist voices of MKs Ruhama Avraham and Zahava Gal-On? Surely it can't be that "rape as resistance" is judged as being less of a crime than the standard criminal variety?

What about humanitarian groups here and abroad which define themselves as liberal, left or progressive? They've been rightly vociferous in condemning rape used in the course of war, as in Bosnia, Rwanda, the Congo and Darfur. Why the apparent silence in this instance?

Sociologists suggest that rapes carried out against the background of political violence are intended to show the affected men that they cannot even defend their women; that they are worthless. The tactic is used to fragment societies.

HISTORIANS TELL us that during the American Civil War, in April 1863, Francis Lieber, a Columbia College professor, wrote instructions (promulgated by president Abraham Lincoln) in the code of military conduct. Article 44 stipulates: "All wanton violence committed… all rape… of such [civilian] inhabitants, are prohibited under the penalty of death."

Both Edva Naveh and I wonder whether Gal-On, Shulamit Aloni, Avraham and Shelly Yacimovich would support a similarly severe form of punishment for these young men, were they found guilty?

Meanwhile, won't they, at the very least, speak out on the issue and stop ignoring it? Why the double standard? Why ignore a behavior pattern that is surely criminal and, if the reports prove accurate - and the defendants' words and actions shown on the news broadcasts seem to confirm police suspicions - would be an offshoot of the terror campaign that Arabs have practiced against Jews for over 80 years in the land?

LET US consider some possibilities that explain the feminists' silence:

They are not convinced that the assertions are true. After all, the trial hasn't begun and the accused are innocent until proven otherwise.

On the other hand, no one has seen any solid evidence against Moshe Katsav, and yet demonstrations have been conducted outside his residence and demands made for his ouster.

Feminists might see protesting as inherently prejudicial given the low socioeconomic status of the Beduin accused.

But since when is socioeconomic status an excuse for feminist silence? Haredim (like those who live across the Green Line) don't seem to get a feminist pass because of their lack of social and economic wherewithal.

Maybe feminists do accept that the "occupation" - as they call it - was a contributing factor. Which gets us back to: Is sexual violence less of a crime even if, using the prevailing "progressive" feminist worldview, the rapes were impelled by an immoral, oppressive situation and carried out by a deprived population?

What seems to be at work here is an aberrant form of Israeli post-feminism: a sick twist on the "she asked for it" excuse - not because of being provocatively dressed, but because of the provocation of being a Jewess and representing the larger -"oppressive" - state.

LEFT-WINGERS have for years been promoting the theory that violence in Israeli society, and especially violence directed at women, is somehow connected with the IDF service of their husbands and boyfriends. The theory's proponents assume that the soldiers are either frustrated, or have become numbed by the force they must use against the civilian Arab population in the disputed territories. This pent-up anger is eventually released, the argument goes, at home against children, mothers and girlfriends.

This post-Zionist outlook has insinuated itself inside the feminist mindset. And when you mix radical feminism with an ultra-left view of the Arab-Israel conflict, I'm not surprised that the feminists are immobilized by reports that the Galilee rapes might have been motivated by an Arab animus toward Jews.

Whatever the reason for the silence of Israel's women's movement, it is a blemish on those parts of its ideology that mainstream Israel embraces, not to mention immoral from a Zionist standpoint.

It is still not too late for women's groups to raise their voices on behalf of rape victims of the Galilee. Let them do so.