Doc's Talk: Pro-active advocacy-samples

Monday, January 05, 2009

Pro-active advocacy-samples

World's outrage at Israeli response 'wrongly directed'

Israel initiated a series of devastating air attacks upon selected Hamas targets in Gaza, resulting in the deaths and injuries of hundreds of Palestinians. Why did it do it? To stop the daily rocket attacks on southern Israel from Gaza.
This sounds all too familiar. A few years ago, the same situation occurred when Israel attacked Hezbollah bases in southern Lebanon to thwart rocket attacks on the northern part of Israel.

When people need food and medicine, why do their leaders choose to spend resources on war? How does Hamas get hundreds, even thousands, of rockets? Obviously, some nations have knowledge of and support such activity. Someone must be held accountable.

Israel has to act in defense of its borders and citizens. The world's concern and outrage is wrongly directed against Israel's response and little blame is assigned to the terrorists who have created the situation.

Like bad children, the perpetrators of these attacks are perhaps clamoring for the attention of the new American president. With all the other problems he must deal with, this issue is one of the highest priorities.

The leaders of the terrorists must experience the consequences of their actions. Peace won't come as long as the individuals behind these actions are committed to making war.

Kenneth Fellenbaum
Milford

---

[Note: PRIMER sent the following to the media as a statement endorsed by its board of directors. It was published by The Day today.]

The Day
January 4, 2009

Israel acts in self-defense

Published on 1/4/2009

From the moment in 1967 that it captured the Gaza Strip from its Egyptian occupiers, Israel was prepared to give it away in return only for peace. In 2005, having no partner with which to negotiate, it simply walked away from Gaza, leaving it to the Palestinian Authority while asking for nothing in return.

Since then, rather than building a real society in the territory completely under their control, the Palestinian Arabs used Gaza to launch thousands of mortars and missiles at Israeli civilians.

No nation can allow its citizens to be attacked. Israel therefore initiated an operation against the forces who have turned Gaza into a hostile, terror entity.

PRIMER-Connecticut (Promoting Responsibility in Middle East Reporting) regrets the necessity of what Israel is calling Operation Cast Iron. We support Israel in this effort to bring normalcy to those who have lived within the increasing range of the Kassam and Grad missiles launched from Gaza by Hamas and other terror groups. The operation's success is important not only to Israel, but also to those Palestinian Arabs who desire peace.

SUBMITTED BY ALAN STEIN. STEIN IS PRESIDENT OF PRIMER-CONNECTICUT.

---

Greenwich Time and Stamford Advocate
January 4, 2009

Too much war

To the editor:

What would we, the United States, do if every day rockets fired from Mexico were landing in Texas or rockets from Cuba were landing in Florida? Is there any doubt that we would do what the Israelis are doing and send our planes and troops to suppress those responsible, knowing that civilians will be killed as a consequence of war?

And, we, the United States, do not wait for the rockets to land. We reserve the right to strike to prevent being struck as we did in Iraq. There, women, children and civilians were killed and are being killed by us and we by them. It is part of war.

War is bad - bad for the soldiers and for the innocent civilians. And who are the innocent civilians? Certainly they are young children, but are they the women and men who encourage and feed the combatants? Are they the men and women who make the guns and bombs for the combatants? Are they part of the population who votes for and supports war, terror and terrorists, or if you prefer, freedom fighters?

And it seems that we, society, are unable to solve our problems by peaceful means. And now most of the things we kill each other for are foolish. Do you wear a headscarf? Are you a Jew, a Muslim, a Christian, a Hutu? Did your ancestor kill my ancestor? Did you say or do something that offended me?

Since humans have existed, the problem of war has not been solved. Nations, organizations of nations and wise men have all tried in vain. And so today all over the world, soldiers, civilians and children are being shot, bombed, maimed, tortured, raped, killed, burned and disfigured. Just open the newspaper and look at the pictures.

That conduct defines us as humans, and we are a bad species.

Donald Landsman
Greenwich

---

Greenwich Time and Stamford Advocate
January 4, 2009

Palestinians' hardships are being reported

To the editor:

As I read the letter to the editor from Mr. Urso on Jan. 2, my jaw dropped at the number of inaccurate statements he made. Comparing The Advocate's coverage of the Israel/Gaza conflict to Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany is utterly absurd. He brings up three pictures that favor the Israelis. I guess he missed Sunday's (Dec. 28) paper, which shows pictures of Palestinians affected by the bombs. And it explicitly states, in the headline, the number of Palestinian casualties, which Mr. Urso must have missed. I'm glad that he urges all Americans to educate themselves, because they will read about the true history of the conflict and I hope realize that Mr. Urso has no idea what he's talking about.

If he thinks the support of Israel is the reason that radical Muslims hate America, he is sadly mistaken. The reason they hate America is because we are a democracy. Israel is the sole democratic state surrounded by states that would love nothing more than its complete destruction.

Is it absurd that Israel wants to defend its citizens from merciless terrorist attacks?

What Mr. Urso calls "massively disproportionate destruction" is actually retaliation for all the terrorist attacks launched on Israel. When Israel takes military action, it takes great care to only go after militants, not civilians. When Palestinians attack Israel, they specifically attack civilians by blowing up buses and supermarkets. Israel's goal is the least amount of casualties while the Palestinians' goal is as many casualties as possible.

Ellen Linzer
Stamford

---

Danbury News-Times
January 4, 2009

Hamas should end terrorist attacks

In response to Owen Sullivan (letter, Jan. 2, "Israeli government blames the victims."

Likening Israel to the Nazis is sheer hypocrisy. It was no less a personage than Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Arab grand mufti himself, who stayed with Hitler during World War II, admiring Nazi ideology and methods, while aiding and abetting Nazi Germany.

Now those methods so admired by the Arabs' leader are attributed to the Jews. Please!

The claim that most victims of the fighting in Gaza are civilians is disputed by Hamas itself. On Dec. 28, Hamas TV said that 180 killed were from Hamas armed forces.

Both the United Nations and Saudi Arabia, neither of them best friends of Israel, assert that the current situation was started by Hamas.

Hamas and other terrorist organizations have been shooting rockets into Israel for eight years, deliberately trying to hit innocent civilians and terrorizing children.

No country could stand for that forever. Israel finally exercised its inherent right of self-defense and after repeated warnings, struck.

Unlike Hamas, Israel aims at military targets. Hamas cynically places its rocket launchers and weapons manufacturing facilities in residential areas, cowardly hiding behind the skirts of its women.

This violates international law. Meanwhile, Israel actually has been using cell phones to warn Palestinian residents an attack is coming!

All Hamas need do to end the bombardments are the three things demanded by the Quartet (United States, United Nations, Russia, and the European Union -- the group assigned the job of mediating the Palestine-Israel dispute): stop terror attacks, recognize Israel's right to exist, and honor previous agreements between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

Those who sow the wind reap the whirlwind.

Joel Abramson
Southbury

No comments:

The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk