This is a little known fact. France has a Consulate in Gaza, thus recognizing the legitimacy of Hamas terrorist government in the Gaza Strip. And the site HERE. It is very cleverly done. America has a virtual e-consulate in Gaza, France has a physical very real consulate.
Source: Aroutz Sheva 7
France warned Israel on Tuesday not to endanger civilians after one of its diplomats and his family was wounded in a retaliatory strike carried out by the IAF.
French foreign ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said the French consul in Gaza, 'Franco-Palestinian' citizen Majdi Shakura, was injured in an airstrike on the Hamas-run enclave in the early hours of Monday morning.
According to Shakura, the blast blew out the windows of his house, resulting in the diplomat and his 13-year-old daughter being cut by flying glass and his 42-year-old wife to miscarry two months into her pregnancy.
The strike reportedly targeted the nearby home of a member of the Hamas terror organization, which controls Gaza. Local emergency services said a 20-year-old member of Hamas' 'naval security forces' was killed in the strike.
"France regrets this airstrike," Valero said. "While being committed to Israeli security, France notes the absolute necessity of avoiding all harm to civilians. The Israeli authorities have been reminded of this imperative."
Legal experts note – contrary to popular belief – there is no such requirement under international laws governing warfare. Billeting combatants, storing munitions, and launching attacks from civilian areas as Hamas does is a violation of international law. Nor is Israel proscribed from launching counter-strikes on such areas if legitimate military targets are present.
Showing posts with label Gaza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaza. Show all posts
Tuesday, 15 November 2011
Monday, 13 June 2011
5-star hotel opens in Gaza under Spanish management
Sources: JSS News (Reportage vidéo sur le dernier hôtel 5 étoiles de Gaza) and Spanish TV (video, report begins at approx. 18 minutes)
A 5-star hotel was inaugurated last week in the Gaza strip, the "huge open air prison, which suffers from a chronic lack of basics". The luxury hotel boasts 200 rooms, 68 staff members (they hope to double the figure within a year), and a huge swimming pool (reserved for male patrons), filled with water which in such dire shortage in the Gaza "concentration camp".
Oddly, the Spanish TV chain does not diclose the name of the owner or the name of the hotel. But it looks like the Mövenpick... The hotel will be managed by a Spanish hotel group.
A 5-star hotel was inaugurated last week in the Gaza strip, the "huge open air prison, which suffers from a chronic lack of basics". The luxury hotel boasts 200 rooms, 68 staff members (they hope to double the figure within a year), and a huge swimming pool (reserved for male patrons), filled with water which in such dire shortage in the Gaza "concentration camp".
Oddly, the Spanish TV chain does not diclose the name of the owner or the name of the hotel. But it looks like the Mövenpick... The hotel will be managed by a Spanish hotel group.
See HERE
A Taste of “Concentration Camp” Gaza: The Movenpick Hotel
Friday, 21 January 2011
French Minister attacked by Gaza mob over Gilad Shalit
Source: Arutz Sheva
French Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie was attacked by a mob in Gaza on Friday morning. Her attackers were enraged over statements she had allegedly made the day before supporting human rights for kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
Alliot-Marie was mobbed as she entered Gaza, with a crowd surrounding her car, pounding on its windows, and throwing shoes at the vehicle. One person jumped on the car. Two children were pushed in front of the first car in Alliot-Marie's convoy, forcing the convoy to a stop while the attack continued.
One sign at the rally had a picture of Alliot-Marie with a red cross over her face. Others called on the foreign minister to leave Gaza.
Hamas police eventually stopped the furious protest and allowed the convoy to continue. Hamas leaders expressed sympathy with the rioters, saying Alliot-Marie's comments regarding Shalit reflected a “total bias toward Israel.” Alliot-Marie was not hurt in the attack.
She had met Thursday with the parents of Gilad Shalit. The kidnapped soldier, who Hamas claims to have in custody, holds French citizenship. Alliot-Marie assured his parents that “France has not forgotten Shalit,” and said she would insist that the European Union ask Hamas to allow Red Cross representatives to visit Shalit, as required by international law.
According to AFP, trying to 'justify' the incident, the Gaza mob may have mistakenly believed that Alliot-Marie termed Shalit's captivity a “war crime.” Shalit's father Noam had called on France to push the EU to condemn the kidnapping as a war crime, and his statement was wrongly attributed to Alliot-Marie on Israel Radio's Arabic-language website, an AFP reporter said. This has not been corroborated.
Friday, 9 October 2009
15 European citizens living in Israel take legal action against the European Union
"... more than 50,000 EU citizens are living in towns and villages at the southern areas of Israel, nearby the border with Gaza, and they are exposed to consistent Palestinian terrorists’ rocket attacks. Most of the EU-Israelis, like all other Israeli civilians in these areas, are suffering from mental trauma and some of them have suffered severe property damages. The EU must take responsibility for them and prevent any EU financial assistance from getting to terrorist hands in Gaza."In January, an amazing 350 NGOs filed complaints against Israel for war crimes - mostly were European and no doubt many received funds from the European Commission and European governments. Now the JC reports that :
"Fifteen European citizens living in Israel are taking legal action against the European Union for failing to protect them from Palestinian rocket fire while they are living in Israel".
The citizens, of Britain, France, Italy and Hungary, who are all currently living in Israel, have filed a claim with the European Commission demanding that the EU intervenes in the funding of terrorism in Gaza, and takes action to protect them from terrorists while they live in Israel.
They claim that the EU has a duty under Article 3.2 of the European Treaty to offer its citizens “an area of freedom, security and justice.”
All 15 litigants currently live in the southern Israeli town of Sderot, which has been an ongoing target of Kassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip.
They are supported by the European Initiative, Europe's pro-Israeli lobby organisation.
The group is demanding that the EU stops the transfer of European money to Hamas, prevents known terrorists and their leaders entering the EU, and prevents non-profit organisations misusing European funds. They also ask the EU to undertake “any means possible” to protect European citizens living in Israel against terrorism.
The European Commission has confirmed the complaint has been received from lawyers Mordechai Tzivin in Israel and Hugo and Roel Covaliers in Belgium. It has been sent to the Commission’s external relations department.
Mr Tzivin said: "The European Initiative estimates that more than 50,000 EU citizens are living in towns and villages at the southern areas of Israel, nearby the border with Gaza, and they are exposed to consistent Palestinian terrorists’ rocket attacks.
"Most of the EU-Israelis, like all other Israeli civilians in these areas, are suffering from mental trauma and some of them have suffered severe property damages.
"The EU must take responsibility for them and prevent any EU financial assistance from getting to terrorist hands in Gaza"."
Wednesday, 12 August 2009
Israeli seeks damages from EU over Hamas rocket attacks
"We plan to add to the claim any Israeli who holds a European passport and who lives within terrorist-rocket range. The EU grants hundreds of millions of euros a year in aid to Gaza, and it is inconceivable that European citizens should be harmed by money supplied by the EU. It's time that the EU takes responsibility." (Mordechai Tzivin)
Source: article by Bruno Waterfield in the Daily Telegraph
An Israeli man is mounting a landmark legal challenge to demand European Union compensation for damages caused by Hamas rocket attacks on his home.
Israeli and Belgian lawyers acting for Eyal Katorza, who is also a French citizen, are preparing a legal case demanding that the EU does more to protect the 300,000 Europeans living in Israel.
Legal documents, seen by The Daily Telegraph, have accused the EU of indirectly funding Palestinian terrorism because of a failure to "prevent the misuse of European funds by non-profit organisations which use these funds to finance terrorism". [Full text of draft legal complaint in Eyal Katorza case]
Mr Katorza has demanded EU "reparations for lost job income, reparations for physical and psychological damages, reparations for property damages, monies for reinforced buildings against missiles or any other military projectiles".
The dual French-Israeli citizen, from Sderot in Israel's Negev region, has lost his job and family business because of Qassam rocket attacks launched from the Gaza strip by Hamas.
His lawyers have cited clauses in the EU Treaties that offer protection to Europeans even while they are living abroad.
Mordechai Tzivin, Mr Katorza's Israeli lawyer, has appealed to other EU-Israeli citizens to join the action, to be launched later this week, a call that has been supported by the European Citizens Council in Israel.
"We plan to add to the claim any Israeli who holds a European passport and who lives within terrorist-rocket range," he said.
"The EU grants hundreds of millions of euros a year in aid to Gaza, and it is inconceivable that European citizens should be harmed by money supplied by the EU. It's time that the EU takes responsibility."
Source: article by Bruno Waterfield in the Daily Telegraph
An Israeli man is mounting a landmark legal challenge to demand European Union compensation for damages caused by Hamas rocket attacks on his home.
Israeli and Belgian lawyers acting for Eyal Katorza, who is also a French citizen, are preparing a legal case demanding that the EU does more to protect the 300,000 Europeans living in Israel.
Legal documents, seen by The Daily Telegraph, have accused the EU of indirectly funding Palestinian terrorism because of a failure to "prevent the misuse of European funds by non-profit organisations which use these funds to finance terrorism". [Full text of draft legal complaint in Eyal Katorza case]
Mr Katorza has demanded EU "reparations for lost job income, reparations for physical and psychological damages, reparations for property damages, monies for reinforced buildings against missiles or any other military projectiles".
The dual French-Israeli citizen, from Sderot in Israel's Negev region, has lost his job and family business because of Qassam rocket attacks launched from the Gaza strip by Hamas.
His lawyers have cited clauses in the EU Treaties that offer protection to Europeans even while they are living abroad.
Mordechai Tzivin, Mr Katorza's Israeli lawyer, has appealed to other EU-Israeli citizens to join the action, to be launched later this week, a call that has been supported by the European Citizens Council in Israel.
"We plan to add to the claim any Israeli who holds a European passport and who lives within terrorist-rocket range," he said.
"The EU grants hundreds of millions of euros a year in aid to Gaza, and it is inconceivable that European citizens should be harmed by money supplied by the EU. It's time that the EU takes responsibility."
Monday, 4 May 2009
Norwegian and French newspapers compare media coverage of Gaza and Sri Lanka
"Even at the UN tragedies are not equal. [...] If in January the war in the Gaza Strip, rightly, provoked a whirlwind of diplomatic activity, punctuated by nocturnal meetings of the Security Council, Sri Lankan civilians die in relative indifference."
Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews
Business editorial states "There is a difference between Singalese and Jews"
"Dagens Næringsliv is Norway’s largest business daily. Yesterday many readers found the following editorial a refreshing change from the same-same of Akersgata (Norway’s Fleet Street):
"Social commitment - The tragedy of Sri Lanka is entering its temporarily last act
During the next few days the last little piece of land still controlled by the LTTE, the Tamil Tigers, will probably be conquered by Singalese troops. After almost three decades of war 70,000 people - at least - are dead. The island’s commercial life and environment have been severely injured. Millions of Tamils have been displaced and exiled. The problem, integrating the Tamil minority, is unsolved.
This should concern us. Norwegian authorities, led by our present Minister of Development Erik Solheim, has been strongly committed to creating peace. The conflict is in many ways an enlarged edition of the conflict in the Middle East, where also Norway was engaged in peace attempts, with about the same miserable result.
LTTE behaves as brutally as Hamas and Hizbollah - at least, with suicide bombing and recruitment of child-soldiers as its specialities. At the same time the Singalese governments’ warfare makes Israel’s conduct against the Palestinians appear mild and humane.
But even though the sufferings are greater, we are less concerned. Media coverage is far more muted. Academics and artists do not sign petitions, musicians do not arrange supportive concerts. Concerned doctors are busy elsewhere. When 3,500 people participated in the demonstration in Oslo earlier this month, there was hardly a white face in sight.
There is, obviously, a difference between Tamils and Palestinians - and there is a difference between Singalese and Jews. Whatever the reason may be.""
-----------------------------------------------------------
Source: LE BLOGNADEL
From Le Monde :
"Even at the UN tragedies are not equal. Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans are learning it at their own expense. For three months in the north-east of the island, they have been trapped in heavy fighting between brutal government forces and the unscrupulous Tiger rebellion. If in January the war in the Gaza Strip, rightly, provoked a whirlwind of diplomatic activity, punctuated by nocturnal meetings of the Security Council, Sri Lankan civilians die in relative indifference.
The UN lukewarm reaction is difficult to explain. According to the Organization's unofficial figures, unverifiable in the absence of observers, nearly 6,500 people have already died - five times more than in Gaza." (April 30)
"The crime is almost perfect. Close to 6,500 Sri Lankans have died, according to United Nations' estimates, and no corpse has hit the front pages of newspapers or TV screens. The authorities in Colombo have effectively banned all witnesses from the war zone. " (May 2).
Gilles William Goldnadel asks: "At this point, if I humbly point out that the Sinhalese are not Jews, will I be told again that I am overreacting ?"
Good point indeed.
Source: Norway, Israel and the Jews
Business editorial states "There is a difference between Singalese and Jews"
"Dagens Næringsliv is Norway’s largest business daily. Yesterday many readers found the following editorial a refreshing change from the same-same of Akersgata (Norway’s Fleet Street):
"Social commitment - The tragedy of Sri Lanka is entering its temporarily last act
During the next few days the last little piece of land still controlled by the LTTE, the Tamil Tigers, will probably be conquered by Singalese troops. After almost three decades of war 70,000 people - at least - are dead. The island’s commercial life and environment have been severely injured. Millions of Tamils have been displaced and exiled. The problem, integrating the Tamil minority, is unsolved.
This should concern us. Norwegian authorities, led by our present Minister of Development Erik Solheim, has been strongly committed to creating peace. The conflict is in many ways an enlarged edition of the conflict in the Middle East, where also Norway was engaged in peace attempts, with about the same miserable result.
LTTE behaves as brutally as Hamas and Hizbollah - at least, with suicide bombing and recruitment of child-soldiers as its specialities. At the same time the Singalese governments’ warfare makes Israel’s conduct against the Palestinians appear mild and humane.
But even though the sufferings are greater, we are less concerned. Media coverage is far more muted. Academics and artists do not sign petitions, musicians do not arrange supportive concerts. Concerned doctors are busy elsewhere. When 3,500 people participated in the demonstration in Oslo earlier this month, there was hardly a white face in sight.
There is, obviously, a difference between Tamils and Palestinians - and there is a difference between Singalese and Jews. Whatever the reason may be.""
-----------------------------------------------------------
Source: LE BLOGNADEL
From Le Monde :
"Even at the UN tragedies are not equal. Tens of thousands of Sri Lankans are learning it at their own expense. For three months in the north-east of the island, they have been trapped in heavy fighting between brutal government forces and the unscrupulous Tiger rebellion. If in January the war in the Gaza Strip, rightly, provoked a whirlwind of diplomatic activity, punctuated by nocturnal meetings of the Security Council, Sri Lankan civilians die in relative indifference.
The UN lukewarm reaction is difficult to explain. According to the Organization's unofficial figures, unverifiable in the absence of observers, nearly 6,500 people have already died - five times more than in Gaza." (April 30)
"The crime is almost perfect. Close to 6,500 Sri Lankans have died, according to United Nations' estimates, and no corpse has hit the front pages of newspapers or TV screens. The authorities in Colombo have effectively banned all witnesses from the war zone. " (May 2).
Gilles William Goldnadel asks: "At this point, if I humbly point out that the Sinhalese are not Jews, will I be told again that I am overreacting ?"
Good point indeed.
Monday, 19 January 2009
EU says Gaza reconstruction won't happen under Hamas rule
Welcome and long overdue clarity from the European Commission
"A senior European Union official said Monday that she expected humanitarian aid to Gaza to flow quickly, but signaled that reconstruction of buildings and infrastructure would only begin when the EU has an acceptable Palestinian partner.
Visiting EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner did not explicitly single out Hamas, but she strongly hinted that it would be difficult to rebuild Gaza as long as the Islamic movement remains opposed to international peace efforts.
"For reconstruction you also need on the other side an interlocutor, so how will this be done? Is there a reconciliation process in the meantime? What will be done? All that is open," she said
She also said that Hamas's confrontation with Israel was hindering prospects for a better life for the people of Gaza.
"We don't want to go on to reconstruct Gaza every I-don't-know-how-many-years," she said. "This is not what we want. What we would like to see is a clear sustainable peace."
Ferrero-Waldner's assessment came a day after Israel halted its three-week military offensive in Gaza aimed at ending years of Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel. A massive Israeli bombardment from land, sea and air left damage to homes, public buildings and utility lines valued by Palestinian surveyors at more than $1.4 billion.
Europe has traditionally been a leading contributor of aid to the Palestinians. But Ferrero-Waldner urged the Palestinian public to demand peace from its leaders.
"We have been at the side of the Palestinian population always and we will be at their side, but at the same time it's also for the Palestinian population on both sides to say, 'We want this peace,"' she said.
"We know that many people have been killed and we felt terribly sorry. We don't want to see civilians killed but at the same time the population has to decide if it wants to go to peace."
Ferrero-Waldner spoke a day after European leaders visited Egypt and Israel to pledge support for measures to stop Hamas from rearming and to turn a fragile cease-fire into a durable peace.
She suggested a rapprochement that returns Fatah to Gaza could be key to arranging international help. (...)"
Source: TJP
"A senior European Union official said Monday that she expected humanitarian aid to Gaza to flow quickly, but signaled that reconstruction of buildings and infrastructure would only begin when the EU has an acceptable Palestinian partner.
Visiting EU External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner did not explicitly single out Hamas, but she strongly hinted that it would be difficult to rebuild Gaza as long as the Islamic movement remains opposed to international peace efforts.
"For reconstruction you also need on the other side an interlocutor, so how will this be done? Is there a reconciliation process in the meantime? What will be done? All that is open," she said
She also said that Hamas's confrontation with Israel was hindering prospects for a better life for the people of Gaza.
"We don't want to go on to reconstruct Gaza every I-don't-know-how-many-years," she said. "This is not what we want. What we would like to see is a clear sustainable peace."
Ferrero-Waldner's assessment came a day after Israel halted its three-week military offensive in Gaza aimed at ending years of Hamas rocket attacks on southern Israel. A massive Israeli bombardment from land, sea and air left damage to homes, public buildings and utility lines valued by Palestinian surveyors at more than $1.4 billion.
Europe has traditionally been a leading contributor of aid to the Palestinians. But Ferrero-Waldner urged the Palestinian public to demand peace from its leaders.
"We have been at the side of the Palestinian population always and we will be at their side, but at the same time it's also for the Palestinian population on both sides to say, 'We want this peace,"' she said.
"We know that many people have been killed and we felt terribly sorry. We don't want to see civilians killed but at the same time the population has to decide if it wants to go to peace."
Ferrero-Waldner spoke a day after European leaders visited Egypt and Israel to pledge support for measures to stop Hamas from rearming and to turn a fragile cease-fire into a durable peace.
She suggested a rapprochement that returns Fatah to Gaza could be key to arranging international help. (...)"
Source: TJP
Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Europe: exploitation of children in anti-Israeli demonstrations
ESISC has issued a press release expressing concern about the way children had been exploitated during an anti-Israeli demonstration held in Brussels on 11 January, which gathered over 30,000 protesters :
"[The demonstration] gave rise to the most shocking exploitation of children:
- From the start of the demonstration, dozens of children were grouped at the head of the march, surrounded by adults and forced to repeat slogans that it was obvious some of them did not understand.
- Certain children carried banners or placards containing explicit calls to hatred, while others waved flags of terrorist organizations such as the Hezbollah.
- A group of children was allowed by the supervisors to set fire to an Israeli flag and then to trample on it to the cries of "Allahu Akhbar".
- At the end of the demonstration, the children were made to lie on the ground to perform a macabre "die in" meant to symbolize the children victims of Gaza.
The ESISC questions the compatibility of this manipulation of children with articles 19 and 29 (paragraphs B and C) of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and more generally, with the values of a democracy such as Belgium."
(Translated by P.)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Oslo: 'Children used as shields'
"A group of children with t-shirts and hands painted to look bloody went first in the demonstration procession from the Parliament to Israel's embassy yesterday. This was, among other things, to help prevent the demonstration from becoming violent, according to the organizers.
When the demonstrators got to the embassy the children were first in line and called out slogans, while the other were held back by the organizer's own guards.
It quickly turned out that the children unfortunately didn't contribute to the demonstration from being peaceful. A firecracker was thrown at the police which exploded right by the small children, who were very frightened and had to be led away." (more here)
Source: Islam in Europe
"[The demonstration] gave rise to the most shocking exploitation of children:
- From the start of the demonstration, dozens of children were grouped at the head of the march, surrounded by adults and forced to repeat slogans that it was obvious some of them did not understand.
- Certain children carried banners or placards containing explicit calls to hatred, while others waved flags of terrorist organizations such as the Hezbollah.
- A group of children was allowed by the supervisors to set fire to an Israeli flag and then to trample on it to the cries of "Allahu Akhbar".
- At the end of the demonstration, the children were made to lie on the ground to perform a macabre "die in" meant to symbolize the children victims of Gaza.
The ESISC questions the compatibility of this manipulation of children with articles 19 and 29 (paragraphs B and C) of the International Convention on the Rights of the Child and more generally, with the values of a democracy such as Belgium."
(Translated by P.)
-----------------------------------------------------------
Oslo: 'Children used as shields'
"A group of children with t-shirts and hands painted to look bloody went first in the demonstration procession from the Parliament to Israel's embassy yesterday. This was, among other things, to help prevent the demonstration from becoming violent, according to the organizers.
When the demonstrators got to the embassy the children were first in line and called out slogans, while the other were held back by the organizer's own guards.
It quickly turned out that the children unfortunately didn't contribute to the demonstration from being peaceful. A firecracker was thrown at the police which exploded right by the small children, who were very frightened and had to be led away." (more here)
Source: Islam in Europe
Friday, 9 January 2009
Israel is (always) wrong, stupid !, by Claude Moniquet
"No one is asking how Hamas was able to bring into Gaza "under absolute blockade" some tens of thousands of rockets and missiles or the components serving to manufacture them, arms, munitions, mines, rocket propelled grenades, anti-aircraft cannons, but… no food or medicine for the population." "If you put aside the United States, the Czech Presidency of the European Union - which expressed the view on Saturday, January 3 that the Israeli operation was "defensive" and not "offensive" – as well as several politicians and media who are isolated and not in tune with the rest, Israel has been again, for the past dozen days or so, subjected to rapid fire criticisms, each more virulent than the others.
"Aggression", "a disproportionate response" leading (obviously) to a humanitarian crisis, and "massacre", are the words and the ideas that come up most often in print and in the mouths of commentators. Some will even go further and categorise as "cynical" or proofs of "mental cruelty" the warnings sent out (via flyers, the radio and even by telephone) to the inhabitants of buildings targeted for bombardment and enjoining their evacuation. It is perfectly clear that no one will make the effort to note that the Israeli Army is, without doubt, the only one in the world to operate in this manner. Just as no one will dwell too long on the fact that dozens of Palestinians from Gaza - including women and children who were victims of the bombardments - are presently being cared for in the hospital of Ashkelon, in … Israel.
No, it is easier to condemn Israel. Surely, it is customary, almost a Pavlovian reflex. Is Israel building a wall to defend itself against a wave of attacks that have caused hundreds of deaths since the start of this century ? It’s a crime. Is Israel practicing the "targeted elimination" of terrorists ? That’s assassination. Has Israel launched a massive offensive to force reason upon an organisation devoted to its destruction which has launched from its territory thousands of rockets and missiles since the evacuation of the Gaza Strip in 2005 ? That’s still worse !
This cheap sentimentalism would have it that Israel, a strong State, is always wrong and the Palestinians, a small and oppressed people, is right about everything. Such a position is very practical, since it avoids asking a lot of questions and having to deal with unpleasant realities. The good souls who have been marching in Europe for several days now under the flags of Hamas don't make an effort to read, for example, a document in which that organisation sets down in black and white that "Jihad [is] its path and death on God’s route is the most distinguished of their hopes" (article 8). The European diplomats who hasten to the bedside of this same terrorist organisation will certainly not read this passionate document in which the following is also stipulated: "The initiatives, the supposed peace solutions and the international conferences urged to settle the Palestinian question go against the profession of faith of the Islamic Resistance Movement" (article 13).
No one is asking how Hamas was able to bring into Gaza "under absolute blockade" some tens of thousands of rockets and missiles or the components serving to manufacture them, arms, munitions, mines, rocket propelled grenades, anti-aircraft cannons, but… no food or medicine for the population.
No one is asking what other State would have waited two and a half years and thousands of rockets before responding? France? Great Britain? Algeria? Russia?
No one is asking what has become of the 2,000 to 3,000 Palestinian Christians of the Gaza Strip. They are not interesting, since they have been trying to flee from the terror for months now - not the terror of Israel, alas, but that of the green fascists. They even dynamited the only Christian bookstore of the city before assassinating its owner (how about that? no demonstration on that occasion…).
No one is asking why the entourage of Mahmud Abbas put the blame for the conflict on Hamas and not on "the Zionist entity." It would be annoying in fact to recall, for example, that the terrorists of Hamas assassinated more than a hundred supporters of the elected President and members of Fatah when they took power in Gaza (how about that : there was no petition. When dozens of Palestinians were "executed" by their "brothers", that did not interest anyone. Strange, isn’t it ?)
No one is asking how a movement that spreads reports on women ready "to blow themselves up among the swine and monkeys" (broadcast on al-Aqsa, on December 30) and which encourages children to become martyrs can have the nerve to express indignation over their deaths. And no one makes us say what what we do not say: the death of a Palestinian child from Israeli bombs is a cause for suffering, but the real guilty party is Hamas, not Israel …
But all these questions (and plenty more) are in vain, uninteresting and rather stupid in the end. They in fact risk leading us to think that Hamas is a totalitarian and terrorist organisation which should be fought. And that is something we would absolutely not want to consider, right ? That is not the essential point. The essential fact is that Israel is wrong. When will you finally understand that ? Sleep on, you brave folk. The world is simple and the media create your dreams for you."
Source: ESISC (in pdf)
Tuesday, 6 January 2009
Monday, 5 January 2009
Antwerp: calls to ban anti-Israeli demonstrations
" ... it's hallucinatory that the Antwerp police needs to arrest immigrants possessing Molotov cocktails ...""The self-employed organization Unizo of Antwerp and political party Lijst Dedecker are asking to ban further anti-Israel protests, following the recent clashes between police and demonstrators in the city.
Unizo Antwerp reacted indignantly to the riots of last Wednesday, after a protest action of the Arab European League in Borgerhout.
The shopkeepers want regulations to limit or even ban demonstrations in shopping streets. According to Unizo Antwerp the demonstrations damage the image of Antwerp as a shopping city and leads to investors holding back. This week starts off the most important sales period of the city, with special bargains for the next month.
The organization is also asking for extra vigilance in the affected shopping streets around the Turnhoutsebaan and in the diamond sector.
"Antwerp entrepreneurs and citizens are not responsible for the problems in the Middle East. Damaging properties and shops is not a solution for the conflict," emphasizes the organization. "We don't want to limit the right to free speech, but ask for respect for the right to do business."
The organization says that they had informed the mayor in advance of their anxiety but that he told them everything was under control. They are therefore extremely upset about the derailment of the demonstration Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Lijst Dedecker (LDD) wants to ban today's planned demonstration, a silent march of women's organizations. On Saturday police stopped an illegal protest in the Groenplaats square. 93 people were arrested, 60 of them minors, the youngest of which was 11. They were apparently called to demonstrate by SMS. Some of the Muslim youth had forbidden weapons such as Molotov cocktails, sticks and pepper sprays.
Police spread out in the area and stopped everyperson on their way to the square. If they said they were on their way to the demonstration or were wearing Palestinian shawls and shouting slogans, they were asked to leave. If they did not do so, they were arrested (administratively detained).
LDD says that "the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is being abused in order to create conflicts in Antwerp and to set population groups against each other.
"Flemish parliament member Jurgen Verstrepen says that "as long as nobody can convince me that there's no danger during the sales period, Patrick Janssens (Antwerp Socialist Mayor) must take responsibility."
Verstrepent thinks it's hallucinatory that the Antwerp police needs to arrest immigrants possessing Molotov cocktails on the most important sales day of the year. "Imagine that such 'rifraf' would take actions in the shopping masses. The results would be disastrous," says Verstrepen. The course of today's women's march was changed so as not to go through the shopping district."
Sources: Islam in Europe, HLN 1, 2, 3 (Dutch)
Previous articles:
Saturday, 3 January 2009
Photos of anti-Israeli demonstration in Brussels
A few pictures of the demonstration in Brussels, courtesy of Indymedia.
Several thousand protesters (7,000-10,000) gathered at the Martyrs' Square in Brussels to demonstrate against the Israeli attacks in Gaza. The square is a national cemetery and [445] soldiers who died in the Belgian Revolution are buried there. Today it is a place honoring all those who fought for the freedom of Belgium. The Flemish government offices are located there.
The statue, Patria, represents the fatherland, Belgium. Somebody bothered climbing it and covering it with the flag of Islam.
Hizbullah flags.
Israeli flag. A US flag was set aflame as well.
Portrait of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. 
Several thousand protesters (7,000-10,000) gathered at the Martyrs' Square in Brussels to demonstrate against the Israeli attacks in Gaza. The square is a national cemetery and [445] soldiers who died in the Belgian Revolution are buried there. Today it is a place honoring all those who fought for the freedom of Belgium. The Flemish government offices are located there.
The statue, Patria, represents the fatherland, Belgium. Somebody bothered climbing it and covering it with the flag of Islam.
Hizbullah flags.Israeli flag. A US flag was set aflame as well.
Portrait of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah. 
Friday, 2 January 2009
But many Arabs are rooting against Hamas, Fiamma Nirenstein
Article in Il Giornale by Fiamma Nirenstein"The most significant images of the war underway yesterday [28 December] are seen on the border between Gaza and Egypt with all the Arabesque plotting that the Middle East is able of composing. The Egyptian soldiers watch the border with grasped rifles from Rafiah along Tzir Philadephi; from the hours of the late morning unwinds the siege of the Palestinians who want to pass there beyond the border while the soldiers from the other part have ordered to hinder any fundamentalist tide of penetrating into the country of Mubarak, the moderate. Further along, there is the paradoxical scene of trucks full of humanitarian aid and ambulances, which the Palestinians won’t let pass as they yell at the Egyptians: "Let us enter alive instead of dealing with the dead".
Around five in the afternoon, while the sun sets on the Mediterranean Sea, F16s enter the scene fast and in four minutes destroy 40 tunnels under the border. It seems that they are the most important among the 600 dug for transporting inside Gaza goods of all kinds from Egypt, those that have filled Gaza with missiles. But yesterday the missiles, against all forecasts, did not rain from Gaza and the population of the south of Israel has passed a relatively tranquil day: sign that the targets hit by the IAF have been chosen with a clear intelligence operation and that the structures of Hamas find it hard to recover from an operation compared here in Israel to that of 1967, which hit Egyptian Mig-21s to the ground.
The Israeli military maintains that it has hit 50 percent of Hamas’s war resources, missiles, stored dynamite, etc. And Hamas prefers now to play the role of the victim, continues to point out, at least for a bit, that Israel continues to react in a "disproportionate" manner. But it is the Arab world, first and foremost, to be contradictory in front of Hamas’s victimization, and overall Egypt and the same Palestinian brothers guided by Abu Mazen: he has said from Cairo that he warned Hamas that its actions would bring an attack by Israel. Well, he has to take some of the responsibility, thus adding accusations for the dozens of Fatah militiamen who are Hamas’s prisoners who were killed in the prisons bombed by the Israeli: the massacre could have been avoided if they had been liberated beforehand. Also, the Egyptians have moved with ambiguity between demonstrations of solidarity with the Palestinians and disapproval towards Hamas’s incomprehensible politics, which has brought its population to the present situation. From Sana in Yemen, to many cities and Middle Eastern villages, including those of the West Bank and East Jerusalem itself, to Tehran, where Khamenei has asked all Muslims to fight for Gaza "in all ways possible," to Beirut where the protests called by Hezbollah yell slogans in which Mubarak’s name rhymes with Ehud Barak, to Amman where the Muslim Brothers have paraded with angry slogans, to Damascus where Mashaal calls for a military Intifada of the entire Arab world, has shown the usual anti-Israel rage, but this time it has also sparked anti-Egyptian and anti Fatah sentiments. Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s leader, has spoken with the same old tones of hatred, urging his men to be ready to defend themselves. But, cunningly, without inviting them to attack the Zionist monster.
It is the first time that moderates find themselves crushed in their reality, that they cannot wave the same flag of hatred against Israel. Hamas has immobilized them. And it is logical given the vertical rise of Islamic extremism in the Middle East. We have already written of a secret "moderate" Arab request to Israel of putting an end to it with Hamas, which is seen as Iran’s incendiary emissary, determined to destroy all equilibrium in the Middle East. Egypt, that has long attempted a truce between Fatah and Hamas, was furious beyond measure after that Hamas deserted the meeting of November in Cairo, surely by Iran’s request. In the meantime, Hamas searches for new shores: from Gaza City, Ismail Haniyeh has incessantly made many calls to Hamas’s leadership in Damascus, as well as to the King of Bahrain and to the rulers of Qatar. But Hamas can remain greatly harmed by the rupture with Egypt: there are in the works important economic agreements that seem very far from the snarling current reality. For sure now, after the facts of Gaza, the entire Arab world must come to terms with the new demonstrations of Israeli military deterrence, which after its war with Hezbollah in 2006 and because of the strategy of waiting chosen by the Israeli leadership, seemed to have greatly diminished. Now all neighbors, including Iran, know that the Israeli military is that of a time when it decides that - as Tzipi Livni said - "enough is enough.""
Source: Fiamma Nirenstein's blog
Italy: Fiamma Nirenstein will be in the next Parliament
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Proportionality: international law and practice, Hamas' behavior, Israeli conduct
"This is the destiny of democracy, as not all means are acceptable to it and not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it. Although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand."
Source: O Diplomata (information supplied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel)
On the Issues of Proportionality
International law
A military target remains a legitimate military target, even if it is located in a civilian area.
"Civilians do not enjoy absolute immunity. Their presence will not render military objects immune from attack for the mere reason that it is impossible to bombard them without causing injury to the non-combatants."
Oppenheim's 'International Law'
The use of civilians as shields to try to prevent attacks on military targets is prohibited.
"The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations."
Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 28
The armed forces are not liable where injury to civilians results from unavoidable collateral damage, provided it is proportionate to the military gain expected of the attack.
"Although they are not military objectives, civilians and civilian objects are subject to the general dangers of war in the sense that attacks on military personnel and military objectives may cause incidental damage… Members of the armed forces are not liable for such incidental damage, provided it is proportionate to the military gain expected of the attack."
Major General A.P.V. Rogers, a former Director of the British Army Legal Services
Terrorist organizations that hide behind civilians bear the primary responsibility for civilian casualties.
"Should civilian casualties ensue from an attempt to shield combatants or a military objective, the ultimate responsibility lies with the belligerent placing innocent civilians at risk."
Dinstein,' Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict'
The correct party to assess the proportionality of a military action is the military commander in the field.
"It is unlikely that a human rights lawyer and an experienced combat commander would assign the same relative values to military advantage and to injury to noncombatants.… It is suggested that the determination of relative values must be that of the 'reasonable military commander'."
Committee Established to Review NATO Bombings in Yugoslavia
The security of one's own forces is a relevant consideration in gauging proportionality.
"The concept of military advantage involves a variety of considerations including the security of the attacking force."
Bothe, Partsch and Solf, 'New Rules for Victims of Armed Conflict'
International practice
The above principles of the law of armed conflict have been adopted as the basis of military guidelines by most states. The following examples of military manuals are typical:
Australian Defence Force Manual:
The presence of non-combatants in or around a military objective does not change its nature as a military objective. Non-combatants in the vicinity of a military objective must share the danger to which the military objective is exposed.
Belgian Teaching Manual for Soldiers:
Objects occupied or used by enemy military forces are military objectives even if these objects were civilians at the outset (houses, schools or churches occupied by the enemy).
German Military Manual:
The term "military advantage" refers to the advantage which can be expected of an attack as a whole and not only of isolated or specific parts of the attack.
France's Law of Armed Conflict Manual:
The application of the principle of proportionality does not exclude that collateral damage may be suffered by the civilian population or civilian objects provided they are not excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.
Spain's Law of Armed Conflict Manual:
The principle of proportionality… is based on recognition of the fact that it is difficult to limit the effects of modern weapons and methods of warfare exclusively to military objectives and that it is likely that they will cause collateral damage to civilians and civilian objects.
Israel - IDF Operational Planning and Orders:
In cases where there is doubt as to whether a civilian object has turned into a military objective ... one is to asusme that is not a military objective unless proven otherwise.
Even when it is not possible to isolate the civilians from an assault and there is no other recourse than to attack, the commander is required to refrain from an attack that is expected to inflict harm on the civilian population that is disproportionate to the expected military gain.
Hamas' behaviour
Hamas' modus operandi is characterized not only by deliberate attacks on Israeli civilians, but also its disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians. Making no attempt to comply with the humanitarian obligation to distinguish combatants from civilians, Hamas terrorists wear civilian clothes and hide weapons and fire missiles from the heart of populated civilian areas.
In recent months, the Hamas controlled media in Gaza has publicly called for civilians to act as human shields in an attempt to prevent terrorist leaders and infrastructure from being targeted.
The following are but a few of the documented examples of calls in the Hamas controlled Gaza media for Palestinians civilians to serve as human shields:
- Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV called upon children to form a human shield at the home of a terrorist in the a-Shouqaf quarter of Sajaiyeh in order to protect the building from an anticipated IDF air strike (March 1).
- Al-Aqsa TV News broadcast a story about how a crowd of civilians gathered on the roof of Abu Bilal al-Ja’abeer in the Northern Gaza strip, used for launching terrorist attacks, in order to cause the IDF to abort a threatened air strike against the structure.
- Al-Aqsa TV called upon the Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip to go to the house of terrorist Othman al-Ruziana in order to protect it against an anticipated air strike (February 29, 2008).
- Al-Aqsa TV called upon the residents of Khan Yunis to gather at the house of Ma’amoun Abu ‘Amer due to an anticipated air strike. (February 28, 2008). An hour later dozens of Palestinians from Khan Yunis were reported to have gathered on the roof of Abu ‘Amer’s house to serve as human shields to prevent the house from being hit (Pal-today Website, February 29, 2008).
Israeli conduct
Israel makes significant efforts to avoid or minimize civilian casualties, by ensuring that its attacks are directed against legitimate military targets, and that in conducting its operations incidental injury to civilians is kept to a minimum. Every potential military operation is considered on an individual basis in order to ensure that it meets the test of proportionality.
In practice this means many proposed military operations are rejected when it appears that the likelihood of collateral damage to civilians and their property is too high. As Israel's High Court of Justice has held, in reviewing Israeli security actions:
This is the destiny of democracy, as not all means are acceptable to it and not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it. Although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand.
Source: O Diplomata (information supplied by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel)
On the Issues of Proportionality
International law
A military target remains a legitimate military target, even if it is located in a civilian area.
"Civilians do not enjoy absolute immunity. Their presence will not render military objects immune from attack for the mere reason that it is impossible to bombard them without causing injury to the non-combatants."
Oppenheim's 'International Law'
The use of civilians as shields to try to prevent attacks on military targets is prohibited.
"The presence of a protected person may not be used to render certain points or areas immune from military operations."
Fourth Geneva Convention, Article 28
The armed forces are not liable where injury to civilians results from unavoidable collateral damage, provided it is proportionate to the military gain expected of the attack.
"Although they are not military objectives, civilians and civilian objects are subject to the general dangers of war in the sense that attacks on military personnel and military objectives may cause incidental damage… Members of the armed forces are not liable for such incidental damage, provided it is proportionate to the military gain expected of the attack."
Major General A.P.V. Rogers, a former Director of the British Army Legal Services
Terrorist organizations that hide behind civilians bear the primary responsibility for civilian casualties.
"Should civilian casualties ensue from an attempt to shield combatants or a military objective, the ultimate responsibility lies with the belligerent placing innocent civilians at risk."
Dinstein,' Conduct of Hostilities under the Law of International Armed Conflict'
The correct party to assess the proportionality of a military action is the military commander in the field.
"It is unlikely that a human rights lawyer and an experienced combat commander would assign the same relative values to military advantage and to injury to noncombatants.… It is suggested that the determination of relative values must be that of the 'reasonable military commander'."
Committee Established to Review NATO Bombings in Yugoslavia
The security of one's own forces is a relevant consideration in gauging proportionality.
"The concept of military advantage involves a variety of considerations including the security of the attacking force."
Bothe, Partsch and Solf, 'New Rules for Victims of Armed Conflict'
International practice
The above principles of the law of armed conflict have been adopted as the basis of military guidelines by most states. The following examples of military manuals are typical:
Australian Defence Force Manual:
The presence of non-combatants in or around a military objective does not change its nature as a military objective. Non-combatants in the vicinity of a military objective must share the danger to which the military objective is exposed.
Belgian Teaching Manual for Soldiers:
Objects occupied or used by enemy military forces are military objectives even if these objects were civilians at the outset (houses, schools or churches occupied by the enemy).
German Military Manual:
The term "military advantage" refers to the advantage which can be expected of an attack as a whole and not only of isolated or specific parts of the attack.
France's Law of Armed Conflict Manual:
The application of the principle of proportionality does not exclude that collateral damage may be suffered by the civilian population or civilian objects provided they are not excessive in relation to the concrete and direct military advantage anticipated.
Spain's Law of Armed Conflict Manual:
The principle of proportionality… is based on recognition of the fact that it is difficult to limit the effects of modern weapons and methods of warfare exclusively to military objectives and that it is likely that they will cause collateral damage to civilians and civilian objects.
Israel - IDF Operational Planning and Orders:
In cases where there is doubt as to whether a civilian object has turned into a military objective ... one is to asusme that is not a military objective unless proven otherwise.
Even when it is not possible to isolate the civilians from an assault and there is no other recourse than to attack, the commander is required to refrain from an attack that is expected to inflict harm on the civilian population that is disproportionate to the expected military gain.
Hamas' behaviour
Hamas' modus operandi is characterized not only by deliberate attacks on Israeli civilians, but also its disregard for the lives of Palestinian civilians. Making no attempt to comply with the humanitarian obligation to distinguish combatants from civilians, Hamas terrorists wear civilian clothes and hide weapons and fire missiles from the heart of populated civilian areas.
In recent months, the Hamas controlled media in Gaza has publicly called for civilians to act as human shields in an attempt to prevent terrorist leaders and infrastructure from being targeted.
The following are but a few of the documented examples of calls in the Hamas controlled Gaza media for Palestinians civilians to serve as human shields:
- Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV called upon children to form a human shield at the home of a terrorist in the a-Shouqaf quarter of Sajaiyeh in order to protect the building from an anticipated IDF air strike (March 1).
- Al-Aqsa TV News broadcast a story about how a crowd of civilians gathered on the roof of Abu Bilal al-Ja’abeer in the Northern Gaza strip, used for launching terrorist attacks, in order to cause the IDF to abort a threatened air strike against the structure.
- Al-Aqsa TV called upon the Palestinians in the northern Gaza Strip to go to the house of terrorist Othman al-Ruziana in order to protect it against an anticipated air strike (February 29, 2008).
- Al-Aqsa TV called upon the residents of Khan Yunis to gather at the house of Ma’amoun Abu ‘Amer due to an anticipated air strike. (February 28, 2008). An hour later dozens of Palestinians from Khan Yunis were reported to have gathered on the roof of Abu ‘Amer’s house to serve as human shields to prevent the house from being hit (Pal-today Website, February 29, 2008).
Israeli conduct
Israel makes significant efforts to avoid or minimize civilian casualties, by ensuring that its attacks are directed against legitimate military targets, and that in conducting its operations incidental injury to civilians is kept to a minimum. Every potential military operation is considered on an individual basis in order to ensure that it meets the test of proportionality.
In practice this means many proposed military operations are rejected when it appears that the likelihood of collateral damage to civilians and their property is too high. As Israel's High Court of Justice has held, in reviewing Israeli security actions:
This is the destiny of democracy, as not all means are acceptable to it and not all practices employed by its enemies are open before it. Although a democracy must often fight with one hand tied behind its back, it nonetheless has the upper hand.
Germany's Merkel blames Hamas for Gaza violence
Angela Merkel is the only European leader to have unequivocally pinned the blame on Hamas (so far).
"German Chancellor Angela Merkel blames Hamas for the escalation of violence in Gaza because of the firing of rockets into Israel and the abandonment of its ceasefire, her spokesman said Monday. In a telephone call Sunday evening, Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "agreed that the responsibility for the development of the situation in the region clearly and exclusively lies with Hamas," spokesman Thomas Steg told a regular government news conference.
"Hamas unilaterally broke the agreement for a ceasefire, there has been a continuous firing of...rockets at Israeli settlements and Israeli territory, and without question - and this was stressed by the chancellor - Israel has the legitimate right to defend its own people and territory," Steg said.
"As a result it is completely clear that in this situation Hamas is called upon to permanently stop the firing of rockets so that Israeli military operations can be ended quickly." (...)"
Source: Easybourse
"German Chancellor Angela Merkel blames Hamas for the escalation of violence in Gaza because of the firing of rockets into Israel and the abandonment of its ceasefire, her spokesman said Monday. In a telephone call Sunday evening, Merkel and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "agreed that the responsibility for the development of the situation in the region clearly and exclusively lies with Hamas," spokesman Thomas Steg told a regular government news conference.
"Hamas unilaterally broke the agreement for a ceasefire, there has been a continuous firing of...rockets at Israeli settlements and Israeli territory, and without question - and this was stressed by the chancellor - Israel has the legitimate right to defend its own people and territory," Steg said.
"As a result it is completely clear that in this situation Hamas is called upon to permanently stop the firing of rockets so that Israeli military operations can be ended quickly." (...)"
Source: Easybourse
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