Taking Israelis Hostage ... in 1948

From the pages of the Palestine Post in November 1948, reporting on an event on the night of November 5:

and then the next month:

^

This Took Place In Israel?

Reported:

MORE BLOODSHED IN _____: Following the killing of a _____ woman in _____ yesterday, the _____ rulers of the _____ have embarked upon a fury of vandalism and terrorism against the _____ residents of _____, resulting in the deaths of six men by beating and a 12-year-old girl, _____, who is said to have died of heart failure or nervous collapse when _____ soldiers burst into her family’s house by breaking down the door. A total of 250 people have been killed. Hundreds of people have been arrested and subjected to terrible abuse. Eventually about 50 people aged from 15 to 50 years old were held, to be paraded before 18-year-old _______, the daughter of the murdered _____ woman who was with her mother at the time of the attack, but was herself uninjured. Yesterday, a 17-year-old ______,  _____ _____, succumbed to injuries sustained in an attack by _____ soldiers.

No.

The full story:

MORE BLOODSHED IN CYPRUS: Following the killing of a British woman in Cyprus yesterday, the British rulers of the island have embarked upon a fury of vandalism and terrorism against the Greek residents of Famagusta, resulting in the deaths of six men by beating and a 12-year-old girl, Ioanna Zachariadi, who is said to have died of heart failure or nervous collapse when British soldiers burst into her family’s house by breaking down the door. A total of 250 people have been killed. Hundreds of people have been arrested and subjected to terrible abuse. Eventually about 50 people aged from 15 to 50 years old were held, to be paraded before 18-year-old Margaret Cutcliffe, the daughter of the murdered British woman who was with her mother at the time of the attack, but was herself uninjured. Yesterday, a 17-year-old Greek Cypriot, Andreas Louka, succumbed to injuries sustained in an attack by British soldiers.

October 4, 1958

But this does remind us of Mandate Palestine under British rule - and that they learned nothing from that experience:

According to declassified documents, EOKA was on the brink of defeat in March 1957 but staged a spectacular recovery by summer the following year, partly due to the repressive measures against the population that made it harder to recruit informers, which in turn produced no usable intelligence.

It was at that point, July 1958, Britain began its biggest push until then against EOKA with Operation Matchbox – one intelligence report of which is only marked for declassification after 120 years. The operation involved collective punishment with mass arrests, detentions, roadblocks, searches censorship, curfews and general heavy handedness, or what Bell described as “harassment of the Greek population” with a “staggering lack of humanity”.

EOKA pushed back with a wave of reprisals against the British with 45 killings in October 1958 including a sergeant’s wife, Catherine Cutliffe, who was shot dead in broad daylight near Famagusta on October 3.

The backlash brought more sledgehammer tactics against the Cypriots and in a number of cases British army discipline completely broke down as enraged soldiers took out their anger on the population.

Governor Foot had warned against the operation and of its consequences, which had come to pass.

“I admired the Governor, a humane and decent man with the right instincts; but his motto of ‘firmness with courtesy’ fell on deaf ears,” Bell says. Foot was surrounded by hardliners keener on the firmness than the courtesy. “I stopped making excuses for the methods being used and recognised armed repression when I saw it. It was an assault upon the people.”

 

^

JVP Supporting Terror

Gaza incendiary kites are terror.

They have burned thousands of dunams in hundreds of fires.

There is the danger they will set alight a children's kindergarten or a residential home or land at an industrial park with much inflammable material.

They have been copied and sent into Jerusalem.

Many of them now also carry explosives.

And here is the ad of Jewish Voice for Peace in the Nation:

Dear Rivka Rebekkah V.:

a.  To free Gaza, remove the Hamas regime.

b.  Incendiary kites are terror.  They are violent.  Their fire and explosives can kill.

c. Trying to destroy a security fence, cross a border and invade another country with the purpose of committing mayhem and murder, is not a popular protest.

d. Israel's security requirements, the result of Gaza's continued terror actions including tunnels and rocket and sniping, is quite justified.

You and JVP are not being "just", not applying "equality" and are quite "undignified".

^

Hammerman's Anti-Zionist Terror

Ilana Hammerman has smuggled Arabs-called-Palestinians into Israel illegally from Judea and Samaria as an act of defiance.  With friends*.

Now, she ratchets up the incitement speech.

She has published, in Haaretz, of course, an op-ed:

Israel Is the Terrorist

sub-titled:

Young Palestinians are not carrying out acts of terror- they are leading a desperate struggle against an army

Selected outtakes:

the West Bank – in which not a single dunam belongs to the State of Israel 

the reality there [in Judea & Samaria]...it’s one of state-sponsored terror, [by] the State of Israel. 

All this stems from

the choice of Israeli governments to use terror to impose the “state of the Jewish people” on the entire region between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River.

Despite the terror of Haj Amin El-Husseini 1920-1948, that of the Fedayeen 1948-1956, that of the PLO founded in 1965, Hammerman writes that it is 

 this policy [of Israel] that gives rise to the acts of resistance against it.

Either she cannot think, cannot read or, like too many in the anti-Zionist camp, simply ignore facts of history, fly in the face of logic and seek to harm Jews and the state's existence.

Anti-Zionist terror.

_________

*
Annelien Kisch, Ramat Hasharon; Daphne Banai, Tel Aviv; Esti Tsal, Jaffa; Irit Gal, Jerusalem; Klil Zisapel, Tel Aviv; Michal Pundak Sagie, Herzlia; Nitza Aminov, Jerusalem; Ofra Yeshua-Lyth, Tel Aviv; Roni Eilat, Kfar Sava; Ronit Marian-Kadishay, Ramat Hasharon; Ruti Kantor, Tel Aviv

^ 

Mispurposeful Language

UK Secretary of State Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson in Parliament at Question Time yesterday:

We supported it only because it contained new language pointing out the infamy of terrorism that Israel suffers every day, not least on Sunday, when there was an attack in Jerusalem. I was glad that the resolution identified that aspect of the crisis in the middle east, 

For Illustrative purposes only

The actual language:

Recalling also the obligation under the Quartet roadmap for the Palestinian Authority Security Forces to maintain effective operations aimed at confronting all those engaged in terror and dismantling terrorist capabilities, including the confiscation of illegal weapons, 

Condemning all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation, incitement and destruction,  

...Calls for immediate steps to prevent all acts of violence against civilians, including acts of terror, as well as all acts of provocation and destruction, calls for accountability in this regard, and calls for compliance with obligations under international law for the strengthening of ongoing efforts to combat terrorism, including through existing security coordination, and to clearly condemn all acts of terrorism;  

"New language"?

"Infamy"?

Actually the wording is purposeful ("all"; "acts of violence against civilians") in its intent to allow the Arabs to claim Israel is engaged in terrorism.*

He fools himself.  And the British House of Parliament.

Well, at least there was this exchange:

Mrs Theresa Villiers (Chipping Barnet) (Con)

Will the Secretary of State agree to meet me and colleagues to discuss our grave concerns about resolution 2334, which my constituents believe will make peace in the middle east harder to achieve by imposing a complex set of preconditions that the Palestinians will use to avoid serious engagement in negotiation?

Boris Johnson

I am very grateful for that question, and I am happy to offer exactly such a consultation with colleagues. I know that the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), has already undertaken to do just that.

*

For those in the dark, the PA considers a "Jewish settler" and a "Jewish settlement" an act of state terror justifying their acts of "resistance" (actually, terror).

The text is quite ambiguous and permits the Arabs to act against Jews.

^

Deadened Thinking

Hezbollah is a Lebanese organization.

It has strong links to Syria.

An Iranian general was killed in the Israeli attack.

So, how is this 'explained' (is there an Arab word for hasbara?)?

Here:

According to Walid Charara, a political analyst based in Beirut, the recent targeted attack by Israel on Hezbollah in Syria has now expanded the battle lines between Hezbollah and Israel.

"This action demonstrates that Israel is looking to expand the confrontation between itself and Hezbollah," he told Al Jazeera. "They used to hit the party in Lebanon; now it's doing so in Syria. You can say the front is now open from Naqoura to the Golan Heights and beyond.

"This is a direct attack on Hezbollah members in Syria, so Hezbollah will respond, but when and how, it will be a surprise."

And college/university academics, their pupils, cultural and entertainment icons, and other public figures buy into this thinking.  Even Jim Clancy did, adopting 'hasbara' as an anti-Israel meme.

And what were they doing there if not planning terror ops?

Here is Nasrallah in November last:-

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Tuesday warned Israel that it would have to close its airport and seaports in the event of a third Lebanon war, saying its rockets could strike every part of the country.

...“Israelis are saying in the media that they would have to close down Ben-Gurion airport and the Haifa port and yes, that’s true,” Nasrallah said, according to the Daily Star. “You should close all of your airports and your ports because there is no place on the land of occupied Palestine that the resistance’s rockets cannot reach,” he said.

Nasrallah said that Hezbollah's presence in southern Lebanon is strong, and that the group is prepared for a fight. "The deterrent power of our resistance is what is preventing war," he said.

Last week, he said that Israel 'can't imagine' the weapons Hezbollah has

Hezbollah has every weapon Israel can think of, party chief Hasan Nasrallah warned in excerpts of an interview with pan-Arab Al-Mayadeen satellite channel.

“The resistance in Lebanon has everything the enemy can imagine and not imagine,” Nasrallah told Al-Mayadeen’s Ghassan Bin Jeddo...“We have weapons of all types; whatever [weapons] comes to mind,” he added.

Those Israel targeted were not on a picnic.  But the antis can't think that way.

Deadened thinking processes.

^ 

Are they Shooting?

This was confirmed:-

Al-Aqsa Brigades opens fire on Qalandia, injuring Israeli soldiers
Published Saturday 26/07/2014 (updated) 26/07/2014 20:35

RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- The Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade early Thursday claimed responsibility for opening fire on Israeli forces at Qalandia checkpoint, launching a gun battle that they say wounded a number of Israeli soldiers.

And there was a shooting at the Rechalim junction on July 21 with one wounded.

But is this believable?

Militants open fire at settlement near Nablus

NABLUS (Ma'an) -- Palestinian fighters opened fire on an Israeli settlement near Nablus early Thursday, in the latest in a string of armed attacks on Israeli settlements and checkpoints across the West Bank in the last two weeks.

Palestinian security sources told Ma'an that armed assailants opened fire on Shavei Shomron, located at a major junction on the main road leading north from Nablus.

Israeli forces shot back live fire, with no injuries reported on either side...On Tuesday, Palestinians opened fire and injured an Israeli soldier in Qublan, also near Nablus.

Guess I'll have to check. 

^

American Tourist Victim of Arab Terror?

[this is constantly being updated]

In the Davar newspaper of April 21, 1953, we read that two Jews were killed in Jerusalem the previous day:

Zvi Genoar or Geneur (phonetic spelling)  Genauer, 63 (see below), and his American niece, 24, Devorah, were found dead, shot in their home in Jerusalem.  Zvi's gemara was open on the table.  Both had been shot multiple times, he in a chair, she in her bed.

Although it is not specified, I am fairly sure this was an incident related to me by the late Rina Mor who vividly recalled it. As the article notes, the house had its doors open.  As I was told, this happened in Bayit Vegan, a religious neighborhood across from Mount Herzl, then an 'outlying' area.  As the man did not wish to be in the house with a woman alone, he left all the doors open and the Arab terrorists found easy prey. (see update below)

It's mentioned on page 80 in this book, Jerusalem Divided: The Armistice Regime, 1947-1967, by Raphael Israeli (with a wrong date by three days).

If anyone has more details, please leave them as comments.

________________

UPDATES

This clipping from Maariv, April 22, notes that the woman was to be married in the United States shortly and that she had attended the Journalists' Independence Day Ball the day before her murder.  Despite a request from the American Consulate, the Mixed Armistice Commission observers were not permitted by the Jordanian Legion to cross over into Jordanian-occupied territory with their tracking dogs.

and on the same subject from Herut:

and this clipping from the following day indicates the Consulate assured Washington that indeed, the Rabbi and his niece were American citizens:

Herut has the age of the man as 33 (which fits better with the ages of his children) and notes that the woman had been studying at an educational institute for children in Ktamon with severe learning psychiatric disabilities

and Herut also reports on Consulate interest:

This section on the April 23 report in Al HaMishmar indicates that the murder took place in the area of Yonah Street which is in Geula and that the man had immigrated only 9 months previously and originated from Seattle, Washington

HaTzofeh of April 21 indicates he studied at the Mir Yeshiva, had studied at the Lakewood Yeshiva of Rav Aharon Kotler and came from Washington

More on April 22 which indicates that a representative of the American Consulate attended the funeral and that the man came from a Mizrachi Zionist family

More on the Consulate interest:

The American consulate here today entered the investigation of the murder of two Americans in this city yesterday. The victims, Zvi Genauer and his niece Deborah Genauer, were buried today.The Israeli police, meanwhile, have called on the United Nations authorities here to follow up the track of the murderers which leads to the Arab village of Beth Iksa, just across the Jordan line. The spoor of the killers was followed by bloodhounds.Zvi, a rabbinical student at a Yeshiva here, and Deborah, a New York social worker who spent a year in Israel, were riddled with Sten gun bullets. Zvi was found at a table in the kitchen clutching an open religious book while Deborah was found shot in bed in another room. Three children of Zvi who were sleeping in another room were unharmed. His wife and two other children were in Tel Aviv at the time. Deborah was due to leave for the United State. Shortly. Zvi and his family had been in Israel for the past five years.

A notice of expression of sorrow in HaTzofeh of April 24 for Devorah from the Mizrachi movement:

According to a 2011 obituary, the widow of Rabbi Tzi Hirsh Halevi Genauer, the male victim in the terror attack, died on December 22 that year.  Her name was Feigel Cecille, daughter of Karlin Rabbi Nissan Filtshik (SP?).  Her daughter, Bluma Wolpe, wife of Shalom Duber Wolpe, resides in Betar Illit.

I am now informed by JB that "the Genauers are a very prominent Seattle family, with many members living here".

From the Seattle Daily Herald, 22 April 1953, Page 13

Rabbi, Woman Slain In Jerusalem JERUSALEM (UP)— Dogs followed footprints today from a ransacked suburban house where a Seattle rabbi and his New York niece were slain to the Jordan- Israel armistice line. Police said the route of the tracks had been reported to the United Nations Israel- Jordan Armistice Commission. Authorities disclosed that a nine- year-old playmate of one of Rabbi Harry Genauer's five children found his body and that of Deborah Genauer, his niece, yesterday about 12 hours after they had been shot to death. Genauer's body was slumped over a Talmud opened at a page which read "he who sits up with the dead is absolved from reciting the Shma Israel in morning prayer." He had been shot in the abdomen seven times. Miss Genauer, said by relatives to be a graduate of Brooklyn College, had been shot in the head eight times. Her body was on a bed. Genauer came to Jerusalem from Seattle five years ago to study at the Orthodox Talmudic Academy. Miss Genauer was planning to return to the United States in a few weeks to continue her graduate work in psychology, relatives said.

and from the Fresno Bee the next day:

JERUSALEM -- AP -- Israeli police today pressed a search for the slayers of Deborah Genauer, 21, of Seattle, Wash, and her uncle, Zvi Genauer, a former resident of Lakewood, NJ, who were found shot to death in the uncle's home here. Authorities said the house was ransacked and evidence indicated the killers were marauders. Miss Genauer was the daughter of Mr and Mrs. Isaac Genauer, Seattle. Zvi Genauer came to Israel a little more than a year ago with, his wife and five children. The police said they apparently were shot with a sten gun at close range. The girl's body was found in bed and her uncle slumped over a table on which was opened the Talmud, a Hebrew religious book.  Miss Genauer, a graduate of Brooklyn College who had been visiting her relatives, had planned to return home to be married but had stayed over a few extra days lor the celebration of the fifth anniversary of Israel's independence.

The Palestine Post reported

There was a general outcry when General Bennet L. de Ridder, the U.N. Chairman of the Israel-Jordan Mixed Armistice Commission refused to comply with the Israeli request to call an emergency meeting of the Commission to discuss the latest developments and, in particular, the murder of Zvi Genauer and his niece, Dvora, in Jerusalem. This incomprehensible U.N. decision was taken despite the fact that the tracks of the three marauders, responsible for this murder, were discovered by an U.N. observer and an Israeli officer who noted that they led to the Jordanian-occupied village of Beit Iksa. The General claimed that it was not the duty of his Commission to deal with incidents "of this type."

_____________________

I have been informed by a family member that in the early 1960s, the Israel Police notified the family that a man hospitalized at Ezrat Nashim Mental Hospital gave a death-bed confession to a Rabbi that it was he who had committed the murders while on a leave from another psychiatric facility (the same one as Devora had been working at?).  The police could not interview the man as he died before the police being informed by the Rabbi but they were convinced that the man had been telling the truth and that certain details fit.


^

Did They Remove 'Terror' From the Dictionary?

Terror?

Is that term in the dictionary anymore?

[today's] incident occurred less than a week after a nine-year-old Israeli girl was stabbed as she played in her garden in the West Bank settlement of Psagot, near Ramallah.
Police are treating that attack, on Saturday, as a militant action and are still searching for the perpetrator.
Last month an Israeli soldier was shot dead in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, in what the army believes was a Palestinian sniper attack, although no suspects have been arrested.

-AFP

Control the speak, you control the mind.

^

Frivolous Law Suit

This appears to me to be such a frivolous legal move:

Palestinians to sue US pro-settler groups    In a reversal of usual roles, a group of Palestinians is filing a civil lawsuit against American organizations that they claim support terrorist acts by Israeli settlers against Palestinians in the West Bank.  Two U.S. citizens are among those suing under the Anti-Terrorism Act, a 1991 statute that allows American victims of international terrorism to sue for damages in the United States.

...“I think it’s important for the American justice system to show that they’re going to apply the statute in a neutral and even-handed way, ” said Eric Lewis, a Washington-based lawyer who has had clients accused by pro-Israel groups of aiding Palestinian terror.

And what is the charge?

The suit was filed against pro-settler organizations on the basis that they help supply arms for Israeli settlers and support those who attack Palestinians. Malito & Adolfsen, a litigation firm based in New York, is filing the case in the southern district court of New York. The firm refused to comment.

The defendants - the Hebrew [sic! Hebron] Fund, the Central Fund of Israel, the One Israel Fund, American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, and Christian Friends of Israeli Communities - did not respond to requests by Al Arabiya for comment.

...Recent research by ADC found that some pro-Israel groups said they use donor money for educational or peaceful purposes, but actually use it for other things. “When you look into their activities and their news releases, you find out that… they’re engaging in warfare...,” Ayoub said. 

That is not only ridiculous and untrue but unprovable within the framework of thus suit, as I understand it.  Some background.


And the chances of success?

Both Ayoub and Lewis see obstacles for the case, but expressed optimism.  “If the plaintiffs can show knowledge that those who donated to these organizations knew that these were settler organizations that were going to use violence to displace Palestinians… then I think you have a reasonably good chance of getting over the procedural hurdles,” said Lewis...Ayoub said he views this lawsuit as a positive, primarily because it puts the issue on the table.

This is what the write in connection  with my home village of Shiloh?

THE PARTIES
The American Plaintiffs
23.
Plaintiff Aydu Husam Ahmad, a U.S. citizen, lives in Sinjel a village located 21 kilometers northeast of Ramallah in Occupied Palestine and surrounded by the village of Turmus Ayya and the Israeli settlement of Shilo. Since 2002, Jewish Settlers have hampered Sinjel villagers' access to their traditional lands. Mr. Aydu Husam Ahmad was attacked several times by the Settlers. The latest was in May 21, 2012 where he was stoned by The Settlers when he tried to protect his olive trees from being uprooted. He filed a report with the Israeli police.

What does this

 surrounded by the village of Turmus Ayya and the Israeli settlement of Shilo.

mean?


How can he be "surrounded"?  Even their English is as illogical as their legal claims.
 
And if they are talking about terror, does the court know who placed an explosives-laden refrigerator in Jerusalem's Zion Square in 1975?

Palestinian militant group PLO claimed responsibility for the attack. Later on it was revealed that the attack was executed by the Arab-American Ahmed Jabara, aka Abu Sukar, whom originated from Turmus Aya. Jabara was assisted by Bassem Tabila of Nablus whom fled to Jordan before he could be arrested.

Israel freed Ahmed Jabara from prison in 2003 as a gesture to Yasser Arafat. Shortly after his release, Jabara called for the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers at a rally in Bethlehem that was widely covered by the Palestinian media.

Fifteen people were killed in this terror act and 77 were injured.  All civilians.

Among them:  Rivka (née Soifer) Ben-Yitzhak, 35, an American citizen, and her husband, Michael, who left behind two small children

Maybe someone should be suing the lawyers for assisting possible terrorist supporters?  Who knows if this Ahmad was not involved, or maybe a member of his family?


And furthermore, Shiloh was established in January 1978.  The terror attack in Zion Square was earlier by three years.  So how can the "settlement" be a cause of Turmos-Aya residents, if they wish to argue, being 'forced' into "resistance" against the "settlement enterprise"?

There was this earlier:

The Palestinians have threatened to pursue Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) if it builds new Jewish settlements east of Jerusalem.

In 2008, it seems to have begin. But 'beaten back'.


Let's have this suit throw out  ---  fast.

^

14 Months Late and Bibi Agrees With Carline Glick

As reported, yesterday

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu Thursday vowed to strike at those who attack Israel and said the Jewish state can never stop fighting terrorism...Netanyahu said Israel must constantly fight against those who perpetrate and plan terrorism." Israel must always fight terrorism, he continued, "It will not stop if we do not fight it."  Sinai, he continued, has become a terrorism zone, something he said Israel is "dealing with." The security fence being built along the southern border will not stop missiles, but a solution for that too will be found, he said.

Last February, at the book launch of a book I edited along with the late Harry Hurwitz, Caroline Glick was one of the more critical speakers and among other things, said

Another problem with the deal that Israel made with Sadat the dictator is demonstrated by the current unrest in the Sinai...The last thing on Israel's mind in 1978 was the Bedouin tribes in the Sinai. Back then Sinai's Bedouin were pro-Israel and bitterly disappointed when Israel withdrew. But a lot has changed since then.

Over the past 20 years or so, the power of Egypt's central authority in its hinterlands has weakened. The strength of the Bedouin has grown. And over the past decade or so, the Bedouin of Sinai, like the Bedouin from Saudi Arabia to Jordan to Israel have become aligned with the Muslim Brotherhood and its al Qaida and Hamas spinoffs.

The Bedouin attacks on Egyptian police and border guard installations in al Arish and Suez over the past three weeks are an indication that the fear of a strong state, which was so central to Israel's thinking in during the peace process with Egypt, is no longer Israel's most urgent concern. Transnational jihadists in the Sinai are much more immediately threatening than the Egyptian military is. But the peace treaty - signed with a military dictator -- provides neither Israel nor Egypt with tools to deal with this threat.

Well, a year later, several attacks later, we salute Caroline Glick. ^

US Trying to Catch Up to Israel

On the issue of "targeted killings".

Here:

U.S. to offer legal backing for "targeted killing": source

The Obama administration on Monday plans to outline how U.S. laws empower the government to kill Americans overseas who engage in terrorism against their home country, a source familiar with the matter said, months after a drone strike killed a U.S.-born cleric who plotted attacks from Yemen.

...U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder plans to address the issue and the underpinning legal principles for using lethal force during remarks at Northwestern University School of Law on Monday afternoon in Chicago, the source said Sunday on condition of anonymity.

...U.S. officials have refused to talk much publicly about the program...The speech will be the latest attempt by the administration to address the issue, an unusual break from past precedent of eschewing virtually any discussion about the top-secret program.

Defense Department lawyer Jeh Johnson last month referred to the so-called "targeted kill" program, saying that it pursued legitimate military targets overseas and rejected suggestions that the United States was engaged in assassination.

Finally, some support for all the specuious attacks on Israeli "illegality".

^

Prostitutes, Terror and Teheran

AP reporting -
Thai cops: Iran suspects cavorted with prostitutes

The three Iranian men detained for allegedly plotting bomb attacks in Bangkok on Israeli diplomats had more than terror on their minds in Thailand. Police said Friday that they had also cavorted with prostitutes at a beach resort...

...The Iranians hung out with several female sex workers during their stay there...A cellphone image taken by one of the women, published by the Bangkok Post with an article headlined "Suspects partied in Pattaya," purportedly showed the three Iranians at a Middle Eastern bar or restaurant surrounded by hookah water-pipes, two of them cradling women in their arms. The men posed for the photo around a low, drink-filled table on which there appeared to be at least one bottle of beer.

The woman who took the image said one of the now-detained suspects, Mohammad Kharzei, had asked her to escort him "because he was not good at speaking English," according to the Bangkok Post.

She said she brought two companions for Kharzei's friends, and they had drinks and played snooker together. The woman detected nothing awry, except when one of the Iranians "barred her from approaching a closet" in his hotel room, the newspaper reported.

Boy are they in trouble back in Teheran.

^

Backgammon Terror

Reported:-

Authorities are expected to release three passengers whose behavior during a flight to Phoenix Tuesday morning caused the plane to be diverted to St. Louis...Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials told KTVI that three passengers were removed from the plane for suspicious activity.

According to the station, members of the flight crew became alarmed when one of the men got up to use the bathroom while the light instructing passengers to remain seated was still on. Another man was not seated in his assigned seat, KTVI said.

The men, who were Israeli citizens of Russian descent, also raised concerns after being seen with what the station described as "an ornate wooden box" and a backgammon game.

Can we have a bit of culutral sensitivity training?

^

Terrorists Are Worse Than Sudanese Infiltrators?

Deputy Minister for Health Yaako Litzman asks, in Hebrew:

if the border is wide open for infiltrators from Sudan, is it a wonder terrorists can get through?

And I add:

is any responsibility for Thursday's events to be attributed, in any way, to the "human rights groups" and other organizations that wage a campaign of sympathy for the infiltrators, the "persecuted ones", "assylum seekers", from the Sudan and other countries, the prostitutes/sex slaves (willing or not), who come across Israel's Sinai border and are cuddled and protected and made heroes?   Journalists that accompanied them coming across?

Could, perhaps, the solidarity they generated slowed down in the years previously the building of the fence there?

Think about that.

^

Official Norway Just Lost My Sympathy

According to this JTA report

Norway's ambassador to Israel drew distinctions between the Oslo and Utoeya massacres and Palestinian terrorism. Svein Sevje said in an Israeli newspaper interview Tuesday that while the Norwergian bomb and gun rampages that killed 76 people and Palestinian attacks should both be considered morally unacceptable, he wanted to "outline the similarity and the difference in the two cases. "Palestinians, the ambassador told Maariv, "are doing this because of a defined goal that is related to the Israeli occupation. There are elements of revenge against Israel and hatred of Israel. To this you can add the religious element to their actions."

..."We Norwegians consider the occupation to be the cause of the terror against Israel," he said. "Those who believe this will not change their mind because of the attack in Oslo."

Since we all know that Arab terror preceded the 1967 war, "occupation" cannot be the cause - unless, of course, all of Zionism and the return of Jews to their homeland is defined as an "occupation". And, I'm guessing, the ambassador and the political establishment of Norway does believe that. Like that "boycott" sign at the island the day before the slaughter.

Woe is Norway.

______________

UPDATE

OC informed me of It was a bit of moral equivalence on the part of Norway's Foreign Minister when reacting to a similar terror event to that of last week which occured here in Jerusalem, the massacre of high school students at the Merkaz HaRav Yeshiva, when he linked IDF actions around Gaza to the Arab terroro.

Here:

“I strongly condemn yesterday’s terrorist attack on the Israeli students in Jerusalem. I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to their families,” commented Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.

Eight students were killed and 11 injured when a Palestinian gunman opened fire in the library of the Jewish seminary Mercaz Harav in West Jerusalem on 6 March. This is the most serious terrorist attack in Jerusalem for four years.

“I am deeply concerned about recent developments, and hope that this incident will not have a negative impact on the further negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.  The increasing violence in recent weeks in Gaza and southern Israel is very worrying. The use of violence seriously undermines efforts to ensure lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” Mr Støre underlined.

__________________

Was sent this:

January 2009: NORWAY: Jewish children are not allowed to play outdoors

April 2011: Norway: Muslim Taxidrivers Refuse to Drive Jews to Synagogue
May 2009: More Jewish Graves Desecrated in Norway
2009: OSLO: ANTI-ISRAEL RALLY TURNS VIOLENT
2011: Norway: ALL Rapes In Past 5 Years Committed By Muslims
2008: Jewish Genocide watch: Jew Hatred in Norway Part II
2009: JIHAD ON THE JEWS: Something rotten in the state of Norway
2008: ISLAM ATTACKS - Death for Writer! Norway Hides
2007: Massive Islamic Terror Plots: Germany, Norway, Denmark
2007: Email from Norway
2006: Norway calls for Israel Boycott


^

Militants Bombed

Nope, not Israel.

The US:-

Suspected US drones kill 38 in Pakistan

The unusually heavy barrage suggests the US has no intention of halting its drone programme despite tensions with Pakistan

Three suspected US missile strikes in north-western Pakistan in less than 12 hours have killed at least 38 alleged militants, an unusually heavy barrage at a time when relations between the two countries are badly strained, Pakistani intelligence officials said...

...In the latest strike, suspected US missiles hit a house in Dremala village in the South Waziristan tribal area early on Tuesday, killing at least eight alleged militants, according to two Pakistani intelligence officials. Two other officials put the death toll from the strike at 13...Before dawn on Tuesday, suspected US missiles hit a house in the Shawal area of North Waziristan, killing 10 alleged militants...Late on Monday, suspected US missiles hit a house in Gorvak village in North Waziristan, killing at least 20 alleged militants...The US refuses to publicly acknowledge the covert CIA drone programme in Pakistan...

Setting an example for the fight against terror.

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Their Bite Is Indeed Worse Than Their Bark

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 21, 2011

STANDWITHUS CONDEMNS ANTI-JEWISH HATE SPEECH AND VIOLENT ATTACK AT SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

A small number of pro-Israel protestors, including supporters of StandWithUs, participated in a peaceful protest against the “Celebrate Palestine Festival” event held at the University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies [SOAS] on March 20th. The event included calls for boycotting Israel and libeling it as an “Apartheid” country.

...Anti-Israel activists then engaged them in conversation. One man verbally assaulted them with anti-Semitic slurs, saying, “the best thing that Jews have ever done was to go into the gas chambers. It was the best thing to happen to Germany to have been cleaned of Jews. The same thing needs to happen in the Middle East.” Another anti-Israel activist then punched and bit a Jewish member of the group, who was hospitalized. This was an unprovoked attack. His attacker was later arrested by police.

StandWithUs unequivocally condemns the disgusting act of violence against peaceful Israel supporters on the SOAS campus. The attacker evidently was spurred on by the hate-filled, one-sided event taking place at SOAS.

...reported StandWithUs-UK Coordinator Gili Brenner who was one of the pro-Israel demonstrators. "It is unacceptable that violent rhetoric by Palestinian supporters spills over into violent actions. We expect the university to condemn this attack and those who incited it. Universities must have a policy of zero tolerance policy for hate speech and anti-Semitism. They should carefully monitor incendiary events like ‘Celebrate Palestine' to ensure that hate speech, violence, and suppression of free speech do not occur,” said Michael Dickson, StandWithUs-Israel Director who was in London during the incident.

“Unfortunately, the kind of blatant anti-Semitism, bigotry, and incitement to hatred that occurred at SOAS lurk at the bottom of far too many anti-Israel events on campuses...It is important that the right to challenge anti-Israel events be protected, and Israel’s supporters must not be intimidated or silenced by the mindless violence that occurred on Sunday,” commented Joy Wolfe, UK Chairman of StandWithUs.

Pics:

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What Do A Bagel and A Pair of Tefillin Have In Common?

First, we had a series of alarms on airplanes when observant Jews put on their teffilen:

This month:

Pilots on an Alaska Airlines flight from Mexico City to Los Angeles locked down the cockpit and alerted authorities Sunday when a flight crew grew alarmed at the behavior of three men who turned out to be conducting an elaborate orthodox Jewish prayer ritual, officials said.

The men, all Mexican nationals, began the ritual that involves tying leather straps and small wooden boxes to the body, and the crew of Flight 241 alerted the cockpit, airline spokeswoman Bobbie Egan said.

January

A Jewish teenager trying to pray on a New York-to-Kentucky flight caused a scare Thursday when he pulled out a set of small boxes containing holy scrolls, leading the captain to divert the flight to Philadelphia, where the commuter plane was greeted by police, bomb-sniffing dogs and federal agents.  The 17-year-old on US Airways Express Flight 3079 was using tefillin, a set of small boxes containing biblical passages that are attached to leather straps, Philadelphia police Lt. Frank Vanore said.

The teen explained the ritual after being questioned by crew members of the flight, which had left LaGuardia Airport around 7:30 a.m. headed for Louisville and was operated by Chautauqua Airlines, authorities said.

Officials with the airline, however, said crew members "did not receive a clear response" when they talked with the teen, according to a statement issued by Republic Airways, which owns Chautauqua.

And on a ferry in New Zealand in December last.

There's even a film in the works.

But now, we go from religion to culinary considerations:

Florida Professor Arrested for Having a "Suspicious" Bagel on a Plane

Passengers claimed man had suspicious package in the overhead compartment

A Florida professor was arrested and removed from a plane Monday after his fellow passengers alerted crew members they thought he had a suspicious package in the overhead compartment.  That "suspicious package" turned out to be keys, a bagel with cream cheese and a hat.

...Milatovic, who is a mathematics and statistics professor at the University of North Florida, was minding his business when other passengers turned into super sleuths.  Passengers reported hearing strange noises coming from a plastic bag. State police said later that the bag contained a set of keys, a bagel with cream cheese, some other small food items, a hat and a wallet.

And you thought a pat-down was your only flight discomfiture.


UPDATE

For the plane traveler and other situations:
http://www.jerusalemkoshernews.com/2011/03/traveling-with-tefillin/


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Terror Works Best When They're Poor But Smart

That's what this academic article asserts:-

Selection, Availability, and Opportunity: The Conditional Effect of Poverty on Terrorist Group Participation

Jennifer Kavanagh
Department of Political Science and Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, USA

Abstract

Poverty is often identified as a determinant of terrorist group participation, but existing research reveals mixed support for this relationship. Some studies find that macroeconomic decline is associated with increased production of terrorists, but micro-level research suggests terrorists have above average socioeconomic status and educational attainment. In this article, the author argues that poverty should increase terrorist group participation only for individuals with high education. The author suggests that as a result of terrorist group selection preferences and the lower opportunity costs for militant group membership in economically depressed environments, the likelihood of terrorist group participation should be highest for the highly educated, poor members of any population. The author tests the hypotheses using data from Krueger and Maleckova (2003) on participation in Hezbollah, adding an interaction term to their model. The results support the hypotheses. Poverty increases the likelihood of participation in Hezbollah only for those with at least high school education.

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