Doc's Talk: From Hebron to Kurdistan

Friday, July 04, 2014

From Hebron to Kurdistan

[This column was written and filed with the Post hours after the discovery of the bodies of the Naftali Frenkel z"l, Gilad Shaer z"l, and Eyal Yifrah z"l , but before the murder of Mohammed Abu Khdeir. At this moment, one can only hope and pray that we will ultimately learn that the senseless murder of another innocent young man was not committed by Jews. DG]

We knew it would end this way. Three weeks without a sign of life, no demands from anyone for their return, no one assuming responsibility - the likelihood of a tragic ending was overwhelming. Most of us knew it, even if we acknowledged it only in whispers.

Yet the predictability of the outcome made it no less heartbreaking. The now standard Israeli ritual unfolded: Israel television (except for Channel 1, which stuck with football) broadcast images of a massive IDF presence in Halhul, just outside Hebron. Newscasters assumed devastated faces, apologizing that the military censor precluded their revealing much.

So Israelis turned to the international online media, which reported what everyone suspected. Whereupon Israeli media wordlessly got around the censor by showing a video of Israeli soldiers with hoes searching under piles of rocks.

By the time the military censor lifted the ban, the news was old. So Israeli media turned to the inevitable incriminations - also part of our sadly honed ritual. How was it possible that the police force removed from their tasks four officers who botched the handling of the phone call from one of the boys, yet refused to fire them outright? "How badly had the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) performed?" more than one newscaster asked guests who appeared in the studio. That many responded "Not bad at all" made no difference. The inquisition continued. Someone had to have made grievous mistakes.

Why this hunt for Israeli culprits? Because if we did not make terrible mistakes, we have to admit what we know but do not wish to accept - nights like Monday's are an inevitable part of living in this region. This was not the act of two lone, depraved murderers. The two were supported, directly and indirectly, by a wide network in Hebron, throughout swathes of the West Bank, in Gaza and in countries beyond.

We search for Israeli missteps because the truth is too painful to admit - we cannot fully protect ourselves, for we are surrounded on all sides by a death-addicted culture, by people embittered by hundreds of years of backwardness, mostly of their own making. Unwilling to join the West, unwilling to educate women, to conduct free elections, to take responsibility for the medieval qualities of their culture, they do what they have been doing for decades - some of them kill, while many others applaud and protect those who did the killing. They kill their daughters for having sex, they murder young men for being gay. They slay Christians for being Christian, Jews for being Jewish. They make no attempt to build serious educational institutions, or lay the foundation of a future transparent government. Just over the horizon, Sunnis slaughter Shi'ites and Shi'ites massacre Sunnis. Who would have imagined that crucifixion would actually make a comeback? But it has, thanks to ISIS in Syria.

Living in this region can be devastatingly lonely. So we must remind ourselves that we are here for a purpose, that Israel is our opportunity to model those values that the Jews take seriously. We believe in the sanctity of life. We believe in human progress. We are committed to unfettered roles for women. We believe the state should stay out of people's bedrooms. We believe that cultures can change, grow and learn from texts not their own - democracy may not have been a Jewish ideal at the time of the Talmud, but we see it as a fundamental value today. We believe that we can put Jews at the center of our concern, and still care deeply for other human beings.

And we still believe in our prophetic role in the world, speaking truth to power, utterly unabashed about our belief that we have created something here in Israel that merits international admiration, which our neighbors would do well to emulate.

The prime minister came close to getting it right on Sunday evening, the night before the boys were found, when he said that Israel supports the creation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq, where an autonomous Iraqi Kurdistan already exists. Israel supports Kurdish aspirations for independence, Netanyahu told a think tank in Tel Aviv, because the Kurds "are a fighting people that has proved its political commitment, political moderation, and deserves political independence."

It wasn't clear whether Netanyahu was referring only to Iraqi Kurds, or whether he had in mind Kurds living in Iran, Syria and Turkey as well, but no matter. He understands that we are awash in a dangerous sea of fanaticism. "Historic changes are occurring throughout our region, with important ramifications for both Israeli and world security. The Sykes-Picot Agreement which shaped the borders of our region almost 100 years ago has reached its end," he said, precisely a century after World War I unleashed ethnic forces that the world still struggles to contain.

Netanyahu had prepared his ground carefully. Foreign Minister Avigdor Liberman was quoted as saying to US Secretary of State John Kerry that "Iraq is breaking up before our eyes, and it would appear that the creation of an independent Kurdish state is a foregone conclusion." President Shimon Peres raised the same issue when he met with President Barack Obama last week, on his last US tour prior to his retirement. "The Kurds have, de facto, created their own state," Peres said, preparing the way for Bibi's remarks in Tel Aviv.

So Israel is coming out in support of the Kurds. That's fine, as far as it goes, but we can do better than Bibi did on Sunday night. Yes, Israel needs an axis of moderate forces in the region. But if Israel advocates Kurdish independence only because of security self-interest, as vital as that is, we will have missed a critical opportunity. Bibi should also have noted that because values matter, sovereignty needs to be earned. The Kurds deserve independence, he might have said, because their values are closer to those of the West. Israel believes in peoples having homelands in their ancestral lands - provided they are committed to decency, human rights, the values of the West.

Had he framed the conversation that way, he would also have intimated that Palestinian statehood took a major hit this week. With murderers being hidden in Hebron and rockets flying out of Gaza, does anyone imagine that the solution is the creation of a Palestinian state? Does Jeremy Ben-Ami of J Street still believe that the primary problem this region faces is occupation? Has anyone failed to notice that despite its devastating impact on his standing, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has still refused to call off his deal with Hamas? Does anyone really not understand why there will be no resolution of this conflict? Will Kerry and former secretary of state Hillary Clinton still hold Israel accountable? If Israel is to support the Kurds, let's make it clear that our stance stems from principles. We endorse their quest for sovereignty because values matter, because moderation is a virtue, because human beings deserve democratic regimes, because sovereignty must be earned.

If Israel is to support Kurdish independence, let's do so because Israel believes what Jews have been saying for thousands of years: Goodness and decency ought to be rewarded, and evil, no matter where it may lurk, must be called what it is - then uncovered and utterly destroyed.

The original Jerusalem Post column can be read here:
http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/A-dose-of-nuance-From-Hebron-to-Kurdistan-361429

Comments and reactions can be posted here:
http://danielgordis.org/2014/07/04/hebron-kurdistan-jerusalem-post-column/

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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.

Doc's Talk