Doc's Talk: ‘Son of Hamas’ Attacks My Veracity

Thursday, May 19, 2011

‘Son of Hamas’ Attacks My Veracity

Walid Shoebat

In an attempt to defend himself from my exposure of his record and actions, Mosab Hassan Yousef has solicited help from Gonen ben Itzhak – Yousef’s former handler within Shin Bet (Itzhak was fired from the organization). Itzhak intended to write and publicize a letter damaging my name and credibility. I obtained the letter sent by Itzhak prior to its publication, have seen its claims, and can offer proof beyond any doubt defending myself from the spurious charges therein.

It is crucial to note Itzhak’s own background: he was fired from Shin Bet for “financial mismanagement and lying.” Additionally, former deputy head of the Shin Bet (and current Kadima MK) Gideon Ezra has questioned the credibility of Mosab’s story, saying it was all “exaggerated.” Itzhak is also an extremist Greenpeace activist and a pro-Palestine, anti-settlement advocate. This man is now countering my honest, factual reporting of Yousef by claiming he investigated me and found that I was a “fraud.” I can prove he is now lying about my past, and given his current behavior, I am not surprised at the stated reason for his previous firing.

In my article exposing Yousef, I mentioned having witnessed a Jew being beaten at the hands of Jewish guards while a prisoner in the Masqubiyeh (Jerusalem Central Prison). Itzhak now writes of my account:

I visited many times the Masqubiyeh prison. Reading Mr. Shoebat’s description of the place, I can only say, Mr. Shoebat, you know nothing of the Masqubiyeh. Itzhak also challenges the veracity of my past as a PLO terrorist:

[Walid] claims to have been a PLO terrorist who bombed Bank Leumi in Bethlehem. Yet, I never heard his name before, never saw his name in any Israeli intelligence files, and there is no record of any such attack.

Itzhak then chooses to rebuke me for not being more involved in the current “Arab Spring”:

I found it strange that, while his brothers and sisters are being slaughtered in Syria, Libya, Egypt, and Yemen …

In other words, Itzhak thinks an Arab like me should be supporting the current Muslim Brotherhood-led revolts, as Yousef is doing.

And that’s about it. Itzhak provides nothing: no research material, no details of any sort, and no due-diligence to collaborate his supposed efforts to arrive at his “fraud” allegations. Itzhak has no access to any internal Israeli records, anyway — he was fired for misconduct. In actuality, his claims are simply a repeating of the slanders about me one can find circulating on the internet, as this is not the first time I have been so libeled.

For many years I have had my terror activity questioned, my imprisonment in the Masqubiyeh (with notorious bombmaker Mahmoud Al-Mughrabi, who recruited me to bomb an Israeli bank) denied. Itzhak is pulling his charges from New York Times reporter Chris Hedges and from Holocaust-denial supporter Jorg Luyken, writing for the Jerusalem Post, who has claimed that my story cannot be corroborated.

Further, I know Itzhak is being dishonest about performing due-diligence since it takes months to dig out the old records proving my past. This I know because I have put the time in to gather these records — it took me months, and there is more to be done. Additionally, Itzhak has clearly not even checked the Jerusalem Post archives (United Nations reports on the bombing I was involved in included references to Jerusalem Post coverage of the incident).

Enough: Below is evidence proving the activities of Al-Mughrabi and myself, evidence Itzhak claims does not exist.

Al-Mughrabi was my prison mate and my PLO recruiter: he sent me to bomb the Bank Leumi branch in Bethlehem. After his release from the Masqubiyeh, he was considered enough of a danger that Israel assassinated him on October 1, 1985: Israeli F-15B Eagle war planes, in Operation Wooden Leg, hit Arafat’s Tunisia headquarters in retaliation for the PLO’s murder of Israelis in Larnaca, Cyprus one week earlier. (The assassination mission that killed Al-Mughrabi can be pulled up on video via Al-Jazeera.) Arab sources like Middle East Report lamented his death:

In pain and sorrow we learn that our friend Mahmud Al-Mughrabi was killed during the October bombing raid in Tunisia. Mahmud was born in Jerusalem in 1960. By the age of 16 he was under detention 12 times and he was one of the first to speak in public about the methods of interrogation of Palestinian detainees used by the General Security Services in Israel. He then gave his permission to being publicly identified as an informant for the Sunday Times expose of Israeli torture in June 1977. In 1984, he managed to escape to Jordan after years of increasingly marginal existence under steadily deteriorating conditions of military occupation.

Famed Egyptian terror-apologist Edward Said spoke of Al-Mughrabi:

One of the victims of the Tunis bombing was Mahmoud Al-Mughrabi, born in Jerusalem in 1960, under detention twelve times by the age of 16, one of the informants of The Sunday Times to expose of torture in Israel (19 June, 1977) who “managed to escape to Jordan after years of increasingly marginal existence under steadily deteriorating existence of the Israeli occupation”, according to a memorial notice by Israeli Jewish friends that was repeatedly denied publication in Arab newspapers in East Jerusalem by Israeli military censorship.

Al-Jazeera and Said are not “Zionist” sources, but Arab.

Al-Mughrabi boasted of carrying out 15 bombing operations against Israeli civilians and infrastructure. His claims of torture within the prison are pure deception. He told his communist activist lawyer, Leah Tsemel — who represented him from 1976-1978 — that he had suffered severe electrocution, yet every time he returned from interrogations he was without a scratch. In fact, he disclosed that he was lying to Leah Tsemel, using her as a pawn to win his release.

I have researched old records of a litany of claims against Masqubiyeh: alleged tortures, humiliations, spitting incidents, sexual harassment, overcrowding, and even claims of being forced to watch rapes. All are unfounded upon examination. Unlike what Mosab described, the Masqubiyeh was humane, perhaps even more so than American prisons. Each inmate had his own bed and an in-the-cell shower. We ate three full meals a day, which included a beverage choice of tea or sweet punch. We were fine, and Al-Mughrabi always seemed fine after he returned from questioning.

I met Al-Mughrabi in the Masqubiyeh prison — his detention there is documented by the General Assembly of the United Nations records.2 The UN report reads:

Lea Tsemel’s clients whom Hedva Sarid says she saw being kicked, was a youth-called Mahmud el-Mughrabi. At l6, he had already been picked up a dozen times, and he was clearly regarded as a trouble-maker. Mughrabi gave us a detailed account of how he was beaten at the session Hedva Sarid interrupted. His story is in part corroborated by another prisoner though Mughrabi’s additional allegation of electric shock remains unconfirmed. Mughrabi was one of 24 Palestinians we interviewed who had been interrogated in the Russian Compound — “Moscobiya” the Arabs call it. … Thus the faces constantly re-appear among the countless detainees whose names can (or cannot) be seen on graffiti on the filthy walls of the Russian Compound (Moskubiye) prison cells. 3

The several riots in both Jerusalem, Bethlehem, and Beit Sahour in which I participated in are documented events:

The riots in Bethlehem, Beit-Sahur, Hebron, Jericho and Halhul were reported in Ha’aretz on 18 March 1976. 4

I first spotted Mahmud Al-Mughrabi during a demonstration on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. He was firing a low-caliber pistol when an Israeli post guard fired back, hitting Mahmoud Al-Jneidi instead. I was right behind Jnedi, who was killed by the shot.

Later on, I was imprisoned with Mahmoud Al-Mughrabi at the Masqubiyeh in 1977. I recognized him from that event on the Temple Mount.

We became friends. He recruited me into the PLO to carry out a bombing operation after my release. He gave me his address: Judo Star Martial Arts Institute on Bab Al-Wad Street in Jerusalem’s Old City. We met several times to plan an operation: we concluded that I could use my U.S. passport one day to hijack an airliner, but to start we would target all branches of Bank Leumi — mine was the branch of Bank Leumi in Bethlehem’s Manger Square.

The Jerusalem Post article by Jorg Loyken stated that “[Loyken] called Bank Leumi and there was no record of any bombing.” This meaningless statement provided no reference of what records were checked, and Loyken apparently did not check other sources or witness statements that were provided to him. (Loyken’s article has since been referenced by other news sources to attack the credibility and legitimacy of my story.)

After the publication of the Loyken article, witnesses came forth to rebut it and to confirm my account.

I spoke to Moshe Ozery, a retired military officer who served in the Israeli Defense Forces in the Bethlehem area under Moshe Ya’alon prior to Ya’alon becoming IDF chief of staff. Ozery was stationed in Beit Sahour during 1976-1977. He gave details regarding the bombing and demonstrations (and additionally gave a corroborating description of the injured soldier that I attempted to lynch during the Land Day demonstrations of March 1976).

The bombing of the Bank Leumi in Bethlehem’s Manger Square — as described in my books — was documented by the United Nations. Between December 24 and 27, there were two explosions in Manger Square: “Bethlehem (in Manger Square near the Church of the Nativity)” and “Explosive charge went off outside the local Courthouse 27 December 1977 JP. 2 Jan. 1978 Yediot Aharonot, 2 January 1978.” The Sharia Court in Bethlehem Square is part of the mosque in front of Bank Leumi.

James Al-Yateem — another witness from my village and a former classmate of mine — stated: “Not only was there an explosion on top of Bank Leumi in Bethlehem, but many of us knew that Walid did the bombing.” Al-Yateem also recounts several incidents of violence that I was involved in (including the attempted Land Day lynching).

Muhammad Meri Al-Atrash Shoebat, my relative, was also arrested at the Bethlehem Police Station after the explosion and released three days later.

I have other family connections that Itzhak has not explored. My cousin Jawad Younis, another terrorist who was exiled to Jordan, later became a prominent attorney and defended Abu Zubayda, Osama bin Laden’s henchman. My cousin Arin Shoebat was the mastermind of Operation Rishon Litzion, and Raed Awadallah Khalil Shoebat was behind an attempt to bomb Ben Yehuda street.

Gonen: how come you never discovered any of this? No wonder Shin Bet fired you.

—————————————————————-

1 Blaming The Victims by Edward W. Said and Christopher Hitchens (Verso 2001) on page 100. Also see The Spectator by F.C Westley, 1987, Volume 258, Issues 8269-8285, page 13. Also see Leila Baroody in The Arabs Under Israeli Occupation, 1977, pages 28-29. Also, see Middle East Report, issue 138, page 47.

http://student.cs.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/authors.php?auid=17970

http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/event.php?eid=990

2 A/32/132, S/12356 July 5, 1977

The article entitled “Israel tortures Arab Prisoners” and a related editorial which appeared in The Sunday Times 19 June 1977 with the request that they be circulated as an official document signed by Security Council Mustafa Medani, Permanent Representative of the Sudan Chairman of the Arab Group.

http://unispal.un.org/pdfs/A32132.pdf

http://unispal.un.org/UNISPAL.NSF/0/FE3D603D74F5729B85256FE0006CC519

3 Detention of Palestinian Youths in East Jerusalem, Journal of Palestine Studies 1977, University of California Press. Also see Noam Chomsky Protest From Israel, January 1977

4 International Documents On Palestine, Institute of Palestine Studies, 1978

Other articles:

http://www.moghrabi-jerusalem.com/shohdaaa/mahmoud.htm

http://pjf-pal.riadah.org/montada-f3/topic-t3.htm

http://rachedarfaoui.over-blog.com/article-36803579.html
Walid Shoebat is the author of God's War on Terror: Islam, Prophecy and the Bible.

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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.

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