From Israel for Your Information

 

Just as the world’s media downplayed or simply ignored not only the massive forest and other fires where many were proved to be arson, there are some other stories which might not have reached the rest of the world we thought you might desire hearing all about. We will start out with lighter fare and work our way through to wherever it leads us. One factoid which became known this week has supposedly struck some in the Arab world as distressful, that there has been a steady increase of Israeli Arabs joining the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF). Another was the breaking up of a terror cell of eight Hamas backed Arab residents from the Sur Baher and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhoods of East Jerusalem. The cell was preparing to carry out shooting attacks in the Israeli Capital of Jerusalem and surrounding areas, including against an IDF base and targets on Mount Scopus, home to the Hebrew University and Hadassah Hospital. The cell had reconnoitered some of their targets and were about to attack the IDF base in North Jerusalem on Mount Scopus. The cell was apparently started by Hamas back in 2015 after many of its members were released from serving their sentences for previous “nationalistic” crimes, a euphemism for terrorist attacks. A statement released by Shin Bet reported, “The disruption of the [terror] network preventing a number of serious terror attacks in Jerusalem and its discovery again highlights the danger posed by terrorists with Israeli ID cards, who benefit from the freedom of movement and access to firearms, making it relatively easy for such individuals to carry out terror attacks.”

 

In plain English the point was that the instigating tactics and inflaming of anti-Israel and anti-Semitism exists and has been growing amongst Israeli Arab, especially those who received citizenship when East Jerusalem was formally annexed and the residents granted Israeli identification cards. Many of these who have taken to terrorism were initially educated by the Palestinian Authority (PA) and never were honestly integrated into Israeli society and still dreamed of the destruction of the Jewish State. This was also a further warning of some of the problems which now exist after so many decades of Arab incitement throughout their society and particularly in their education indoctrination schools and camps. The silence from the world’s media on these two stories stem from the same inadequacy, or better put, were filtered from the news by the same principle, no news which backs the Israel or Jewish side of this conflict must be permitted. On the other hand, every time an Arab is harmed even through a verbal slighting, no matter what the reasoning this must be blown out of proportion and be used to show the racism in Israeli reporting by the European and leftist world media. The simple fact of breaking up a terrorist squad one would think could be a good news story but only if it takes place in Paris, Rome, Berlin, London or any other Western metropolis as preventing terror in these parts is part of the “War on Terror” while the same events in Israel is part of “other news” and not the slightest degree of equal importance. The media would have you believe that terrorism in Israel is separate and totally different and unrelated to terror outside of Israel. According to too many media news editors, Israeli terrorist attacks are deserved while all terror outside Israel is horrific and actually Israel’s fault in the first place and thus can be reported and even blamed upon Israel if even the most tenuous connection is possible.

 

This brings us to our last story before more opinion comes your way. The United Nations, that great arbiter of beneficial actions has decided to vote next week in the General Assembly to fund a blacklisting of Israeli and international companies operating in Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and in Judea and Samaria. There will be no distinction as to whether these companies employ Palestinian Arabs or that by boycotting them they are acting in a hurtful manner as we can assure you that in virtually every company which had facilities outside the Green Line is employing both Israeli settlers and Palestinian Arabs. Why, you may ask, would the international community boycott or otherwise target Israeli companies who employ Palestinian Arabs with equal rights and salaries as Israeli citizens possibly causing these Palestinian Arabs who this is done to support their good paying jobs. The reason is as sick as it is disgusting. These Arabs, who work alongside Jewish workers, hold management and supervisory position in equal percentages as Jewish workers with some supervising Jewish workers, despite what you may have been told, are not helping the cause of proving Israel to be an Apartheid state which segregates against Arabs. All Palestinian Arabs must be dependent on Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah, UNRWA, and be providing ample fodder for the terror mills. Israeli employed Palestinian Arabs make often half again higher wages that even the PA security forces are paid and this makes for bad news. These Palestinian Arabs are considered by the world media to be collaborators and that can only be an evil Zionist plot to employ these Palestinian Arabs and provide them jobs and equal treatment and what would happen should the world find this out. When SodaStream was boycotted and maligned sufficiently that they closed their Judea plant and this cost nearly a thousand Palestinian Arab jobs but this was heralded as a good thing as it presumably cost the Jew settlers their jobs, but it did not because they have Israeli Identification Cards and thus just had a farther distance to drive to work and kept their jobs. The Palestinian Arabs would need to receive special work permit identification cards which would also have required clearance from the PA as well as Israel and these papers were slow if ever coming at all thus all that was accomplished by the boycott of SodaStream was the loss of Palestinian Arabs’ jobs making for another group of PA Arabs that Israel would not permit to work. Now there is a story they did report but did so making it seem like SodaStream had simply fired their Arab workers at their Judea plant and never noting it was the media that hounded them in closing that plant.

 

Many of these to be blacklisted Israeli companies will either move their companies within Israel or simply go bust and close up all together. Palestinian Arabs will lose good jobs and Jews residing now near their work will need to take transportation or drive further to reach their work. This blacklisting makes for some added stress for the Jews working in Judea and Samaria for these companies but it denies the PA Arabs of jobs which serves the propaganda campaign against Israel. If PA Arabs must suffer so Israel will look bad, well then to help these PA Arabs we must first destroy their jobs and lives. They are destroying workplaces where Jew and Arab work together in peace and with mutual respect in the name of helping the Arabs who without this help would have nowhere to turn, but it is more like because of this help they lose it all and then have nowhere to turn. These lost jobs are then trumpeted in the media of a wickedly evil within Israeli society refusing to hire Arabs despite the reality that it was the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanction) Movement which stole the existing livelihood from these PA Arabs who they now lament lost their jobs. It is one of the worst cases of it works so let’s fix it which leads to destroying a better life for PA Arabs because the story line must read Israel denies PA Arabs the opportunity to work. How can these NGOs demonize Israel if Israeli companies are treating PA Arabs as equals in their factories in Judea and Samaria, those “settler” companies? That is a question the media refuses to admit to facilitating.

 

The reality that the world is not being told about is that it has been the PA leadership which has refused to make any deal with Israel as they still adhere to the Khartoum Conference’s Three No’s which are, No Peace with Israel, No Negotiations with Israel, No Recognition of Israel. This was the agreement reached in an emergency session of the Arab League. It was his going against these agreements for which the Muslim Brotherhood, potentially but unproven assists from the Arab League or other Arab nations, arranged the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat after he Negotiated with Israel, made Peace with Israel and thus Recognized Israel. Anwar Sadat was a brave soul who knew he was tempting fate when he initiated talks with Israel meeting in Jerusalem with Menachem Begin. For reaching an agreement with Israel, Egypt was returned the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula with its small but profitable oil fields, its Sharm El Sheikh Resort community and with the destruction of twenty-plus Israeli settlement communities being removed and the Israelis taken back within Israel. That last bit is proof positive that the “settlements” are not an impediment for peace. If a true and real peace required their destruction, then such would become a definitive possibility, but the world does not want a peace or any settlement of the Palestinian Arab situation, the world wants it to fester and to become ever more dire with the Palestinian Arabs without jobs such that the destruction of Israel becomes the cry of the day. Mahmoud Abbas has flat stated that he will only accept a peace which destroys Israel as a Jewish State and is perfectly fine with an Israel ruled by Arabs. The fact that the Arabs he desired be moved to Israel include every Arab in any refugee camp including the camp in Jenin and the camp outside Nablus and even the camp attached to Gaza City. Yes, there are three massive refugee camps for Palestinian Arabs with their being held prisoners within lands under Palestinian Arab autonomy, complete rule when speaking of Gaza under Hamas. These Palestinian Arabs are guarded by Arab security forces and some even meet with family through the barbed wire topped fences. One need understand that these Arabs must be kept separate from their brethren because they are the political hammer and crowbar with which Israel is to be destroyed and as such they are only useful if they are kept as refugees in their own lands. And yes, the media, the Western governments, and the United Nations all know about these refugees left in these camps for the purpose solely of bringing about the destruction of Israel and they all agree that this is the end to be desired even if it leads to every Israeli Jew and Christian being slaughtered along with many Arab Muslims who are deemed to be traitors to the cause for being Israeli citizens and having a good life with all the benefits of being an Israel over being a Palestinian Arab inside the fences of Jenin, Nablus and Gaza City. Oh, and one last thing, there are no Arab refugee camps within Israel and Israel took in the same numbers if not more refugees of Jews forced to flee their homelands in Arab countries across the Middle East and North Africa. None were placed in refugee camps and left to languish in misery just to make a political point, they were taken in as brothers and sisters as they are just as much family as the Ethiopian Jews who were airlifted to Israel when their homelands turned on them and they needed a new home. These are all realities you will never hear from the media hype of mean horrible Israelis victimizing Palestinian Arabs with genocidal rage and hatred.

 

Israel being the good guys is rarely covered and when it is it has often been Israelis rushing to some of the world’s worst disaster places to assist in helping in any way possible. Israel has civilian corps and military units which are trained to provide assistance, do search and rescue, set up and man a complete field hospital including OBGYN, delivery rooms and a nursery as well as fully capable operating rooms and clinics which can treat people where they live and are injured plus perform triage of a sort for the main field hospital. One of the best examples was Haiti after their devastating earthquake and the Philippines after a horrific typhoon. Israel was at Japan after the earthquake and tsunami which destroyed the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant meltdown and destruction. Israel assisted in New Orleans after Katrina and in New York City and all its affected surrounding areas after Superstorm Sandy. Israel has assisted in Turkey, Nepal and just about every nation willing to accept Israeli help.

 

Top left Haiti Earthquake Top right Philippine Typhoon 2014
Bottom left Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant explodes
Bottom right remains of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant

 

Israel has a group of heart specialists who assist with special cases where children require specialized help. The group is known as Save A Child’s Heart (SACH) and will go to any length including flying children and parents to a third country or even a fourth in order to bring them to Israel to receive the medical care not available to them at home. SACH also trains pediatric heart doctors the world over, especially the developing world, sets them up with entire treatment facilities and thus spreads their good work to many more children the world over. For any wishing to enjoy a benefit symphony to benefit SACH being held Sunday, January 29, 2017, in the Los Angeles area, please find information and link at the very bottom of this article and please visit the SACH link above if you are at all curious of their entire range of assistances provided.

 

 

Beyond the Cusp 

 

Enforced Status Quo Equals Anti Jewish Status

This slant that is anti-Zionist, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic is even demonstrated in the blurb used to describe new articles as is quite evident with this news summary I received in my e-mail notices in one of my News Briefs, especially when the actual events are compared to the one sentence slight against the Israeli police and their actions seen below with title and their reference included.

 

“Israel police enter Islam holy place
Israeli police entered one of Islam’s holiest places — annexed east Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque — on Sunday to tackle suspected Palestinian rioters, police said. Israel routinely imposes age restrictions on Muslim worshippers. (original report from AFP) ”

 

The reason I have a differing opinion and am fully aware of the slanting is because this was one story from a week worth of coverage in local news of the events on the Temple Mount. The events described so dripping with such enmity was because the reality was there had been an escalating series of events planned ahead of the Jewish commemoration of the destruction of the First and Second Temples which is observed on the ninth of the Jewish month of Av except as that fell on the Sabbath the observance was postponed to the tenth which was Sunday. The intent was two-fold, first was to deny Jews access to visit the place of the Temples’ destructions and second was to attempt to hurt or worse any of the security police which has become a Temple Mount regularity which has taken an even more violent turn as time has passed, as have other attacks such as the rock attacks, where the rocks have increased in size and lethality, on motorists which has spread to some of the Arab towns within the Green Line such as the Galilee. The particular incident the News Brief and corresponding article referred to took place early Sunday morning where the police were assaulted with rocks, bricks, cement blocks, boards and fireworks which have often been modified in such a manner so as to cause injuries plus this Sunday were accompanied by throwing flammable liquids on the officers before losing pyrotechnic fireworks with intent of lighting the officers on fire. The assailants had stocked the al-Aqsa Mosque, the presumed holy site of great reverence, with their projectiles and other weapons and had used rope and other devices to force the doors open allowing them access to their provisions and preventing the officers from simply closing them off in the Mosque in order to terminate the assaults. This was the reason the police entered the Mosque as they sought to free the doors and lock their assailants inside and reduce the danger to the officers as they are not permitted to arrest these youths except in the most egregious of instances. A couple of the officers were evacuated to Hadassah Medical Center for medical treatment while the others were treated by paramedics on the scene.

 

Israel Police issued the following a statement, “The police forces acted with skill and professionalism, showing determination and courage under a shower of rocks, fireworks and iron bars. As they began to remove the barriers placed at the entrance to the mosque, masked men continued to shoot fireworks at police, injuring several of them. In light of the severe confrontation and the escalating actions of the rioters and with the aim of preventing further injury to police… forces entered a number of meters inside and closed the doors to the mosque with the rioters inside, restoring order.” (See pictures of condition inside the holy site held precious by Islamic faith found when Temple Mount Security Police were forced to enter the immediate first few meters of the al-Aqsa Mosque to secure doors to end riot. This is how this mosque has been denigrated into an armory for assaults on Police and Jews entering the Temple Mount pictures c/o Arutz Sheva article titled Muslim Rioters Attack Israeli Police on Temple Mount)

 

Basket of Bricks used as ammunition for throwing at security police during riots

 

Scene inside Muslim revered holy site the al Aqsa Mosque which has been desecrated as having been reduce to an ammunition and safe attack rally point for riots and assaults on Police and Jews visiting Temple Mount

 

Scene inside Muslim revered holy site the al Aqsa Mosque desecrated and reduced to an ammunition and safe attack rally point after finally secured and doors closed guarded by Police ending daily rioting

 

 

There have been reported calls in the Palestinian official media calling for the taking back of the Temple Mount from the Jews who have no historical reason to visit the area as there has never been a Jewish Temple or other holy site ever on the grounds. The most recent claims have explained that the Arab society was in Jerusalem for thousands of years before the Jews arrived and the Jews came to steal the wealth of the Arab society and to steal their holy areas and deny the Arabs their rightful lands. These exhortations almost always include calls for taking back the area through violent confrontations as it is known that when the Arab youths riot that the Temple Mount will more often than not be closed initially to Jewish visitation and that only if such does not end the confrontations within a few days, even up to a week, that the Israeli authorities allow the restriction of males under age 40 from accessing the al-Aqsa and other areas on the Temple Mount. Such bans rarely last more than a few days and afterwards the level of the violence is reduced but builds back to levels dangerous to the lives of the Police within a short period. That is the unreported cycle of violence.

 

The other non-news is the way Jewish visitors to the Temple Mount are treated both by the Muslims and the Police under orders from the Jordanian Waqf which was left in control of the Muslim holy sites and has expanded their jurisdiction to the entirety of the Temple Mount over time and directly due to feckless and timidity of Israeli leadership in the Knesset and the higher ranks of the Police and IDF responsible for keeping order both on the Temple Mount and throughout Arab neighborhoods and surrounding areas. This tactic of non-confrontation has had the exact opposite affect than intended and has only served to embolden the Arabs and has not calmed the European seething anger looking for Israeli, Jewish, transgressions over which to breathe their fire and accuse once more Israel of the accursed crime of self-defense, the one crime Israel’s defenders are never to be permitted. So Israel does the only honorable thing they are permitted by the NGO busybodies, the European political sharks seeking fame and glory on Israel’s grave, the United Nations human rights abusers who sit in judgement of the human rights offenders imagined in Israel to hide their own transgressions and whoever else desires to join the feeding frenzy. If ever a better trap was fashioned, a restive revolution ungovernable by its own governance and set beyond the jurisdictions of the actual government by those who will to destroy the Jewish State by any means at their disposal that continued and will continue unabated until somebody takes the helm in this madhouse of a nation slowly committing suicide because everybody is too worried about the opinions of the world and thus afraid to take responsibility and act to govern instead of run from every confrontation that seeks to destroy their nation all to please the unpleasable.

 

What makes this all the more confusing is that there seems to be no reason beyond the decision that the world had made a terrible blunder allowing the Jews back their ancestral homelands during the treaties and restructuring of half of Europe and much of the Middle East and North Africa after World War I. Many claim that the powers who agreed at San Remo now desired to renege on their promises. But perhaps there is another reason, a reason more esoteric. Perhaps the reason is the same reason that the Jews have been hunted and sought out for destruction in the ancient eras and that is in order to prove that Hashem does not exist for if the Jews were to disappear then the covenant would be broken and thus Hashem’s word would have been made irrelevant and thus make way once again for all gods to be made by man and thus controlled by man. Initially that was the reason for permitting the Jews to return to their lands as it was promised that the land would spit out and refuse harvest to all its conquerors and await the return of the Jews before once again producing a bountiful harvest. The brilliant idea was to give the Jews their ancestral wastelands which none had turned profitable for over two thousand years. The lands refused to produce for Rome, for the Ottomans, for the British and for all the others inbetween so the solution was to have the Jews return and the land to fail them as well and prove there was no existence known as Hashem to those silly Jews who refuse to even call Him by His real name. So they gave the wastelands that had scorned all who resided within and even refused Allah when his believers attempted to use Jerusalem as a place for gathering but not to honor it as their capital choosing instead the climes of Damascus. There was a slight problem, a miscalculation, a refusal to consider the impossible; what if the lands of Israel began to produce and proved fertile for the Jews proving Hashem and His every promise. Did they not know that Torah predicted the return after an unbelievable and unprecedented exile not survivable by any other peoples? Was not this exile predicted and the return as well? Well, now that the land is providing its bounty and the Jews and Israel do flourish those who had made their designs on its failure must find a new manner of taking this bountiful land and making it produce for them. It will not and cannot as it is promised to only one. They had two millennia to find the answer and make Israel bloom and the only workable solution was to allow the return of the Jews and this had infuriated those who refuse to believe. So they hamstring Israel at every turn and use tricks and pressures to make life unbearable and yet the land and the people flourish. What they have refused to see and bear witness is that the Arabs who live amongst the Jews do too flourish in proportion to their willingness to live peaceably. Perhaps the rest of the world would benefit if they too lived and existed at peace with Israel rather than in perpetual confrontation. For one moment just sit back and wonder at what miracles of medicine, software, agriculture and of every other discipline could be produced if only Israel were not forced to fight against the evil desires of the rest of the world. Imagine the gifts if only Israel were left in peace to work towards the betterment of all people. As John Lenin stated, ‘Imagine,’ imagine Israel completely dedicated to inventiveness and not half her efforts simply to keep the peace and be at peace. Of course John Lenin wished for us to dream of a socialist utopia proven unworkable by all who have tried except for one, Henry David Thoreau, but he had his own Walden Pond and its benefactor who could afford such dreams, nations cannot, just as this world could have their Walden Pond except it would be named Israel.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

The Media and Anti-Israel Anti-Zionist Slanted Coverage

Read or listen to news reporting which emanates from the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation), AFP (Agence France Presse), AP (Associated Press), CNN (Cable News Network), Reuters, Fox News, UPI (United Press International), Yahoo, Google, Al Jazeera, The New York Times, or even if your news comes with a laugh as you get your news from Comedy Central, or the myriad of smaller news agencies, television news, radio news, political talk shows, print media or even blogs including Beyond the Cusp, as all of these rely on the major news reports and other media to provide the meat and gristle on which we all prey upon to survive and provide the best commentary and even historical references and other interesting color as well as opinions and positions well backed up with facts. The problem comes when you are covering Israel and trying to report relatively fairly, though our Zionist roots tend to make our writings have a slant, often the opposite than many of the news reports, due to their omitting valuable and necessary information or taking the word of terrorist leaders without any filter or validations and pass these propaganda as raw unadulterated news, one needs to carefully provide balance and factual backup of your positions. Here at Beyond the Cusp we often refer to our views as being pro-Israel and pro-Zionist as we made Aliyah almost two years past and have enjoyed our new nation and have found the people to be very accommodating, friendly, helpful and finally finding other Jews who feel as we do about Israel and the problematic situation our dear nation has had foisted upon us. As we are all damaged when Israel is damaged and we feel that it is bad enough that so many news sources report about Israel always in a biased, strongly negative light and then we are told that all we need do is talk more forcefully and then our voices will be heard and Israel will have a positive side that might go a far way to negating the perceived negative slant. The difficulty with this suggestion is when Israelis speak more forcefully the reporters write the quote relegating them to have come from someone who appeared as a desperate Israeli, anxious Israeli, enraged Israeli, or simply called a crazed Israeli which negates everything related as the reporter introduction makes sure to discount any pro-Israel opinions by only using the most wide eyed and loud Israeli and pit their frenzied Israeli opposite a Hamas Fatah spokesperson who is telegenic and calm or they simply just have the Hamas or Fatah spokesperson alone with no intelligent counter either way. Last summer’s coverage of Operation Protective Edge and the United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) review looking for violation of human rights both have glaring deficiencies which no factual based reasoning could do without, namely facts. Let’s just look at the simple and obvious slanted coverage and review.

The United Nations Human Rights Commission made the slanting of their report easiest to explain as their biasing of their review was by obvious omissions. Their review began on June 13, 2014 omitting the previous months’ provocation which included the kidnapping of three teens by Hamas operatives who then killed the youths burying them in a shallow grave near their Arab community. The review also omitted the ramping of rocket firing out of Gaza which had reached intolerable levels of several hundreds a day reaching Tel Aviv area which was another escalation. Had Israel not had Iron Dome systems ringing Tel Aviv and other areas of heavy population areas intercepting these rockets, including a number of newer rockets with obviously greater range and warheads than during previous confrontations, the Israeli casualties may easily have outnumbered those suffered by Gazans as a number of the largest missiles with as high as one thousand pound warheads would have struck central downtown Tel Aviv and taken down fifty plus story buildings. This too did not manage to be recorded in the ramping of the threats out of Gaza. By starting on June 13, 2014 and concentrating their review on the start of the Israeli response to the ramped up rocket fire into Israel and by their slanting through starting point they managed to make the Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah and others rockets fired into Israel to be a response to Israeli unprovoked invasion and not Israeli actions being in response to the kidnapping followed by the increased rocket launches into Israel. Their study further counted the resulting casualties in a manner which portrayed the lack of Israeli casualties pitted against the numbers of Gazan casualties as another sign that Israel was using disproportional force. The reality was completely due to Israel using disproportional defense of their civilians with the Iron Dome missile interception system which intercepted Hamas and friends rockets with an unbelievable rate ranking its success at approaching perfection well over ninety percent with the few rockets which got through being unable to cause multiple deaths was due to the Israeli investment in rocket and bomb shelters and hardening schools and other places where children might otherwise have simply become victims. By concentrating on simply casualty figures the UNHRC was ignoring the fact that the Israelis had invested in defensive measures which kept their people safe while Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah, Islamic State and others invested their money on rockets, weapons and tunnel construction which they intended to utilize in a night of mass terror in Israel. The Israeli Defense Force (IDF) found unbelievable and unestimated number and existence of tunnels both as an interconnected assault system under Gaza itself and infiltration into Israel with many of the tunnels having dug numerous branches such that it provided multiple exits and deploy points in Israel. They found IDF uniforms with proper unit markings, handcuffs and large plastic locking straps which can also be used as handcuffs along with syringed and sedative drugs which could be used to make anyone captured into a manageable subject barely conscious thus easier to take hostage, maps of the Israeli communities they were probably going to take hostages, these maps included identifying buildings where the most valuable hostages would be located such as schools, day care centers and other similar denotations, motorcycles which would permit the deployment of terrorists and maps of Tel Aviv and bordering areas. They found plans in the tunnels which described in detail a horrific and well thought out plan which would have added to the confusion after a massive rocket assault on Rosh Hashanah attacking the very synagogues in Tel Aviv where the largest were denoted on the maps, the Jewish New Year’s celebration. Israel dodged a bullet by locating and searching the tunnels thus averting a disaster if this plan had been launched during the High Holidays.

So, by omission of the attacks by making the study by the UNHRC begin with the first volleys of artillery and tank fire followed by IDF forces going into Gaza, the UNHRC turned a defensive effort into a calculated assault with an intent to destroy as much of Gaza as they could by the IDF, IAF (Israeli Air Force) and the Israeli Navy. The UNHRC also investigated on site and took every Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other Gazans who were chosen for the interviews by the Hamas governing body as unbiased sources while on the Israeli side the UNHRC had specific NGOs (Non-Governmental Organizations) from whom they asked for representatives for their witness accounts as their debriefing of official spokespersons. The problem comes from the NGOs they questioned all being under the funding umbrella of the New Israel Fund or directly funded by the European Union and individual governments. These are NGOs whose main raison d‘être is to denounce the IDF and any right leaning or actual nationalist or Zionist politician and have an especially deep hatred of Prime Minister Netanyahu and guilt by association any government coalition he heads. These NGOs are almost universally funded by outside entities including anti-Israeli NGOs most often from Europe or the United States, European governments and wealthy individuals and their organizations who particularly hate Israel or simply hate Jews such as George Soros. The UNHRC refuses to use random or official entities to procure information and seek out those who will further their intents to demonize Israel. Thus the UNHRC always will produce a severely biased and derogatory study of Israel, the only nation that the UNHRC bylaws demands that they pass a resolution denouncing Israel for the crime-de-jour before addressing anything else the UNHRC is investigating.

The European and world media entities listed at the top of the article did a similar attitude check during the coverage of Operation Protective Edge. Their reporting hardly ever mentioned the three teens kidnapped and murdered and only obliquely referenced the massive increased ramping of the rockets and mortars launched at Israeli population centers usually claiming that Israel responded to rocket launchings always intoned to imply that the rocket launchings were not a huge deal. One has to wonder how these same broadcasters would cover merely three rockets per day being fired into their home nation’s cities by terrorists who ruled a neighboring enclave as Gaza is to Israel. We all know they would be hailing their heroic forces which would have received orders to go into the neighboring enclave and raze it to the ground and those instructions and orders would have followed an intensive series of artillery and bombing runs designed to completely eradicate the entity and the world would have thought nothing of it. If you doubt that there would be an intense reaction to such just read about how the English reacted initially to the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Belfast and around London and you will read about the British calling up reserve troops and placing them at almost every corner in Belfast and the use of heavy equipment in their fight against the IRA. Meanwhile the slant of the coverage was to incessantly keep a running total as provided by official spokespersons for Hamas, like they would never lie, and report on Gazan casualties while stressing that there have been almost no casualties in Israel implying disproportional force used by the Israelis. They never divulged the why almost no Israelis were being casualties. The reason actually was a form of disproportional planning and investment in civilian protections. Hamas and friends had a system of bunkers and tunnels that they could have given shelter comfortably to every living thing in Gaza and still managed to get their people through the tunnels to where they could best attack Israel always with the intent on striking civilian targets inside Israel. When the largest hospital in Gaza was struck the media was very quick to blame Israel sighting their own eyewitness accounts of a projectile striking the hospital and then implied directly that it had to be an Israel projectile. Within minutes the Hamas spokespeople were disseminating that the Israelis had struck a Hospital on purpose and for no reason as there was no military target there. They never requested the IDF look into how the hospital was struck and if they had they would have been shown the four rocket series launched from that location and that the four rockets diverted from their firing location and one struck somewhere in Ashkelon, one struck the Shati Refugee Camp, one went out over the Mediterranean Sea and one struck the al-Sifra Hospital. These trajectories were given in care of the Israeli projection systems mapping (see below map) used for immediate return fire on the location from where the rockets originate.

Radar Trajectory of barrage launched from within Gaza depicting strike points including the short round strike on the Shifa Hospital which Israel blamed by Hamas and Media accepted Hamas talking point unchecked

The biggest piece of omission was the real reason for the disparate numbers of casualties and damage to infrastructure. This was due to a form of disproportionate defense systems provided for the protection of their civilians. As denoted earlier, Israel has a series of shelters and all new residential structures are required to have one room in the units made as a rocket shelter which is fortified to provide what is deemed adequate protection and all large buildings have such rooms easily accessible to those working inside while schools and such are also fortified against rockets nearly universally in Israel. There is a similar system in Gaza which is better known as the terrorist bunker and tunnel systems but the Gazan civilians are not permitted to take shelter within. But such is not the main reason for the difference in these numbers as there was a force multiplier which rendered the vast number of rockets fired out of Gaza ineffective as they were intercepted by the Iron Dome System which track the rockets and determines if they are heading for an area where civilians are likely to be and those it intercepts with an accuracy and percentage beyond expectation. But there is also the attitude difference which was pointed out by the Israeli Prime Minister when he was asked well after the fighting had ended and in an interview by Israeli media which was made available for the asking, still waiting, still? Anyways, Prime Minister Netanyahu stated simply that, “We use our rockets to protect our civilians while Hamas uses their civilians to protect their rockets.” But there is more. While Israel placed the Iron Dome Batteries strategically just outside civilian areas such that they would have the most advantageous angle for intercepting Hamas and friends’ rockets. The Iron Dome systems were the only combat units stationed anywhere near civilian centers unless intelligence predicted a strike was imminent. This stationing IDF units and indirect fire stations such as mortars, rockets, missiles and artillery units outside of built up areas was intended to provide all military targets as far as possible from civilian centers such that any rockets fired at Israeli military would not pose any threat to the civilian population. Hamas, Islamic Jihad, ISIS, Fatah, al-Qaeda and the rest of the merry bands of terror entities operated exclusively from civilian areas as shown in this video below

There is one final item and for a change we will try to keep it short. It has to do with the lie that Gaza is the most heavily populated area on earth. How many times have you heard that reported or alluded to in conversations with asides like, Reporter Bob, isn’t it crowded with people all in a closed in area there is Gaza? –Reporter replies, Why, yes, attractive anchor person, you can hardly move in places it is so tight and people at every turn wherever you look (camera pans a large group of Gazans standing around looking innocently going about who knows what but it sure is crowded as camera return to reporter Bob, and that picture about says it all as this is the scene wherever you go. What you never quite figure out is how come whenever they go to reporter Bob he is not surrounded by Gazans getting in the way of the camera as they go about fighting their way through people packed like sardines in a can. Truthfully, if we were to compute density of people during the work week Tel Aviv with its skyscrapers has a higher density than does Gaza City. The reality is very different because as Israel places their military out in the open away from civilians, Hamas and friends lace their military units amidst civilians and often right next to schools, hospitals, hotels where the media stay (as in above video) and also try to gather as many kids near their rocket launches in an attempt to get as many civilians killed as possible. I can hear the propaganda question already of well isn’t Gaza so built up that there is nowhere for the Hamas soldiers to operate? Soldiers?!, we reply. Hamas and friends terrorist forces have places to operate outside of the two or three large metropolises but they choose their locations to endanger the maximum number of civilians as possible. Why would one of the complaints made about the blockade of Gaza in order to keep weapons out also prevents the farmers from getting their goods out to market easily. So, there are farms in Gaza which implies there are open spaces in Gaza. The argument that if they operated outside the cities in the farm areas, then the farmer’s crops might get damaged is a divergence committed to excuse their risking lives of people making the crops worth more than the lives of Gazans. So, crops are to be protected and civilians are worth less than crops, what an argument but the reporters just report that there is no place else for the rockets and command centers to be set up as Gaza is the most densely populated on the plant. Well, yes, if you do not consider Hong Kong, Singapore, Vatican City, The Maldives, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Nauru, Taiwan, Barbados, Malta, Monaco and finally Gaza, yep, the most densely populated place on the planet except for those top ten and that one in the pesky one holding down slot eleven pushing the most densely populated area on earth down to number twelve, oops. If they are instead talking about Gaza City by itself well then we need to compare cities, well it did not make the list of the top fifty cities for population density. Well, I looked hard to find a list which placed the Gaza Strip as the most densely populated nation and the best it came in at on one and only one list at third and otherwise always twelfth give or take a couple of slots and more leaning at even further down the list than twelfth. But what about open spaces you ask? How about my handy-dandy map of the Gaza Strip showing the built-up population-dense areas versus open lands as a picture is worth a thousand words and I promised to keep this short.

Display shows large open areas with little population where Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other combatants could operate without threat to the population.

All done. Hope I was brief enough and did not stray off too far from the point and thanks for visiting.

Beyond the Cusp