Arlene Kushner: Hizballah's Drone, US Islamist Representative, The Flotilla and The Golan

From Arlene Kushner:
October 14, 2012

Setting Matters Straight

A week ago yesterday, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) or drone, entered the airspace of Israel.

Credit: Globalpost

Arlene Kushner On Turkey and The Flotilla

From Arlene Kushner:

November 4, 2011

"On Islamic Jihad"

A major piece I have written on the situation in Gaza and the role of Islamic Jihad has just gone up on Front Page Magazine.  Please see it, as it provides background and analysis of a very complex situation:

Read: Islamic Jihad: Iran’s New Favored Proxy

~~~~~~~~~~

A mini flotilla is sailing in the Mediterranean, headed towards Gaza as I write. This venture consists of two yachts -- one under the Irish flag and one Canadian.  In all there are 27 passengers aboard, from  Canada, the United States, Australia, the Palestinian Authority, and Ireland, plus one Israeli Arab; the organizers appear to be Irish. 

How Bad Is The Situation In Gaza? They Are Sending Aid To Somalia!

We are all familiar with the videos and pictures of the hotels, malls and amusement park in Gaza, disproving the complaint that Gaza is an open-air prison.

Videos like this one:



Now there is another indication that conditions are not what the self-proclaimed human rights activists are saying--Gaza is now sending aid to Somalia:

#Flotilla: Israel Presents Military Conclusions On Mavi Marmara Incident

It is best to read the conclusions of Israel's military examination of what happened aboard the Mavi Marmara directly from the IDF Spokesperson site--if for no other reason than to see what was actually said as opposed to reading the spin in the media.

Maj. Gen. (Res.) Giora Eiland noted that he was was nominated by the IDF chief of the general staff, Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi 5 weeks earlier to conduct a professional military investigation of the events that occurred on May 31st. He concluded that there were some professional mistakes made, but at the same time there were positive aspects, as well--specifically, the manner in which the Israeli commandos behaved, the decisions that they made and the way in which they took control of the ship. All told, there were at least 4 incidents where Mavi Marmara passengers shot at IDF soldiers and there is good reason to believe that the first incident of live fire shooting on the ship was by passengers of the Mavi Marmara.

Major General Eiland noted that the classified suggestions that he made were accepted in an open and willing manner by the officers who received them.

Here are the issues addressed:

IHH, Sponsor Of Gaza Flotilla, Banned In German

Here is the (Google)translation of the German article:

Federal Interior Minister de Maizière Hamas bans donations Association

Federal Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière has now banned the Frank-furt/Main-based organization "International humanitarian aid organization (IHH).

Look At The Facts: Life In Gaza Is Better Than In Humanitarian #Flotilla Countries Like Turkey, Lebanon And Iran

Gaza is better off than those noble countries that are so intent on sending them aid, for only the most humanitarian of reasons.

Ben-Dror Yemini is a researcher, a lecturer and a senior editorialist in Maariv, daily newspaper, Israel.The original Hebrew version is here.

HUMANITARIAN SHOW

Ben-Dror Yemini

Additional humanitarian aid flotillas from Lebanon, Iran and the West are en route to the Gaza Strip.  But the plight of the Turks, Iranians and the Palestinians in Lebanon is worse.  Even in Stockholm and Glasgow amidst the festivities.  Here are the facts.

Turkey was the most prominent country in the recent flotilla.  From there came the Mavi Marmara with members from an organization (IHH) affiliated with Global Jihad.  Lebanon is dispatching a ship that is due to arrive, perhaps in the coming days.  Even Iran, that bastion of humanitarian justice on Earth, is joining the party.  Thus, it would be worthwhile to check what is happening in these compassionate and strong countries, which are showing such noteworthy generosity in dispatching humanitarian aid to a weaker and depressed population.  A representative has even arrived from Sweden, Gil Feiler, a former Israeli.  Thus, we will also deal with Sweden.

Video Transcript: Arab Blasts Anti-Israel Sentiment In The Arab And Islamic World

The number of people killed in Arab police stations...is much higher than those who were killed in the Israeli-Arab wars
Magdi Khal

In a video of Egyptian-American Writer Magdi Khalil, director of the Middle East Freedom Forum saying what his fellow speaker does not want to hear.

Here is the transcript:

Egyptian-American Writer Magdi Khalil Blasts Anti-Israeli Sentiment in the Arab and Islamic World

Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian-American writer Magdi Khalil, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on June 15, 2010:

Magdi Khalil: Whenever there is an incident, Israel does “damage control.” This is part of the Israeli defense tactics. These are successful people, not like Ahmadinejad, who said that Security Council Resolution 1929 should be thrown into the garbage bin. They deal with things seriously. These people know the meaning of world public opinion.

My colleague said that Israel is supported by Western imperialism and by the U.S. If so, Israel will collapse when Western civilization collapses.

Video: IHH Leader About Mavi Marmara Instructs His Men To Throw IDF Overboard When They Land

In this footage, taken on board the Mavi Marmari on 30May2010, IHH leader Bulent Yildirim clearly instructs his followers to throw the Israeli commandos overboard when they land on the ship. His speech was made in Turkish and repeated in Arabic by a translator.

Are these the 'humanitarians' and 'pacifists' that we hear about aboard the Mavi Marmara?



Technorati Tag: Gaza Flotilla and Mavi Marmara and IHH.

Video: Maritime Martyrs--The Truth About The Mavi Marmara

The real objective of the Gaza Flotilla and the terrorist-connected IHH movement.



Technorati Tag: Gaza Flotilla and Mavi Marmara.

Peace Activists Aboard Mavi Marmara Were Duped By IHH--What About Next Time?

From the Intelligence And Terrorism Information Center (PDF)

Overview 

1. Statements made by IDF soldiers, pictures taken aboard the Mavi Marmara,
statements from passengers, information found in files on laptops seized from the ship and
statements made by passengers to the media after their release, all prove that the
violence employed against the IDF on board the ship was not spontaneous but
rather a premeditated operation. The operation was organized beforehand by IHH
and implemented by a hard core of 40 violent operatives who were taken on board
specifically for the purpose. This bulletin provides an updated picture based on recently
acquired information.

'Witness' On A Speaking Tour About What Happened Aboard Mavi Marmar Admits She Was On A Different Ship

This is still online on the Code Pink site:

Dear Friend,

I just returned from the Gaza Freedom Flotilla and started my speaking tour last night in NYC to share what I witnessed aboard the flotilla, and what people can do to end the siege.

I witnessed the Israeli attack that killed 9 persons and wounded 50 on the Gaza Flotilla - the six unarmed civilian passenger and cargo ships that were taking humanitarian aid to the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza to break the over three year Israeli siege of Gaza.

It is the beginning of a message from Ann Wright, United States Army Colonel (Ret.) announcing her speaking tour and requesting donations.

It is all very well and good for Wright to spread the good word--it would be even nicer if what she was spreading was the truth.

The fact of the matter is that although Wright clearly claims "I witnessed the Israeli attack that killed 9 persons and wounded 50 on the Gaza Flotilla"--Wright (and Code Pink by maintaining this page) are being very misleading.

The truth came out during an interview with Dr. Aaron Lerner, that Ann "I witnessed the Israeli attack that killed 9 persons and wounded 50 on the Gaza Flotilla" Wright was not on board the Mavi Marmara at all:

"We Con The World" Is About WHAT?

Who's conning whom?

In Caroline Glick’s “We Con the World” and the Tea Partying of the US-Israel relationship, Didi Remez writes:

The video is a repulsive attempt to use satire to make Israel’s case on Flotilla Devbacle. I recommend suffering through its entirety to grasp just how much. This is not really surprising to anyone who has ever read Glick’s columns or makes a cursory inquiry into her background.

It's not quite clear why inquiring into Glick's background is important to critique the video [view here], whose success seems to have irked Remez.

Last Words Of The "American" Killed Aboard The Gaza #Flotilla

In Best of the Web yesterday, James Taranto noted the truth about Furkan Dogan, who was killed aboard the Mavi Marmara:

Israel-haters are making much of the fact that one of the Turkish "humanitarians" killed last week while attempting to break Israel's naval blockade of Hamas was a U.S. citizen. This, however, was by accident of birth: Furkan Dogan was born in Troy, N.Y., but his parents were Turkish and he grew up in Turkey.

"His brother, Mustafa, told the Turkish news media that he was 'clean-hearted with a happy face,' " the New York Times reported Friday. But a report from the Middle East Research Institute says he was far from the all-American boy the Israel-haters are making him out to be. Memri quotes Hussein Orish of IHH, the Turkish outfit that instigated the flotilla:

We Are Long Past The Point Of Hypocrisy In Criticism Of Israel

In Should Jews Apologize to Turkey or Go Back to Poland and Germany?, Victor Davis Hanson notes the Turkish op-ed in the Washington Post, and the glass house in which Turkey lives:

There is, of course, no mention by Tan of the origins and nature of the Turkish “peace” group that organized the gambit. Only in passing does the ambassador mention the rallying cries of the protestors (e.g., “Whatever the aid carriers may have chanted in opposition to Israel, this was a humanitarian initiative.”), after failing to note the chants, in fact, included both calls for a new holocaust (“Shut up, go back to Auschwitz” ) and glee about Americans killed on 9/11 (“Don’t forget 9/11″).

If anyone might be offering apologies, it should be Ambassador Tan, or at least an explanation for why a ship left a Turkish port headed for a planned confrontation. A ship, it should be added, staffed in large part by the Insani Yardim Vakfi organization, which according to American and European intelligence chiefs is a terrorist organization with ties to al-Qaeda — an apparent conclusion that formerly a Turkish government used to share when it periodically raided the IHH’s compounds.

But on a larger point, the sanctimonious tone of Tan’s piece is depressing.

The Latest In Reuters Fauxtography--A Whole Lotta Crop (Updated)

A testimony in journalistic integrity!

Here is the Reuters original photo

But that is after Reuters got done with it. Here is what the original photo looked like:

Notice the hand on the left with the knife in its hand. We can't go around showing that those 'peace activists' aboard the Mavi Marmara were armed now--can we? Context be damned. This original photo is from the IHH website, where they are proud of their work and not ashamed of showing it off.

But in addition, if you lighten that area by the hand with the knife--guess what else you find hidden from view in the Reuters photo: a second injured Israeli soldier.

Hat tip: Killgore Trout on Little Green Footballs

But that is not the only example. Here is a photo taken off the website of a Turkish newspaper.

More Coming Out On The Terrorist Ties Of Members Of The #Flotilla

From YnetNews, we learn that among the peace activists--many who had good motives--there were those with ties to terrorism:

Media reports in Ankara on Wednesday revealed that three out of the four Turkish citizens that were killed during the raid declared their wishes to become shahids (martyrs). Another Dutch report claimed a Dutch activist, who was arrested by the IDF is suspected of being a senior Hamas operative.

In an interview with Turkish newspaper Haber, the family members of Ali Khaider Benginin (39), resident of east Turkey's Kurdistan region, revealed their relative's true intentions.

"I am going to be a shahid; I dreamt I will become a shahid – I saw in a dream that I will be killed," Benginin told his family before leaving for the sail. [emphasis added]

Why Does The Media Ignore The Terrorist Ties Of The #Flotilla?

Terry Glavin, journalist and university professor, writes

it was all but impossible to pick up a newspaper anywhere in Europe or North America that did not describe the debacle aboard the Mavi Marmara as anything less than a bloody assault launched by the Israeli Defence Forces in order to prevent peace activists from delivering much-needed humanitarian supplies to the desperately oppressed people of the besieged Gaza Strip, whose sufferings are solely the fault of Israel.

There’s no lack of cause to slag off Israel for the blockade. Cutting off Gaza has meant a lot of suffering among ordinary people there. But neither is there a lack of evidence that the Foundation for Human Rights & Humanitarian Relief (IHH), the Turkish charity that partnered with the Cyprus-based Free Gaza Movement to launch the flotilla, has a history of shadowy ties with some of the world’s most bloodthirsty terrorists. The IHH is openly affiliated with Hamas, and is also part of an umbrella coalition headed by Muslim Brotherhood leader Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who says suicide bombing is wrong except when it targets Israelis, and even pregnant Israeli women are fair game.

But the IHH is not the only flotilla group with terrorist ties that is being whitewashed by the media:

The #Flotilla And The Turkish "Decline Into Madness"

In Erdogan and the Decline of the Turks, Robert L. Pollock writes about the country that backed the Gaza Flotilla, and its leader.

He writes about Turkey's "national decline into madness":

For example, while there was much hand-wringing in our own media about "Who lost Turkey?" when U.S. forces were denied entry to Iraq from the north in 2003, no such introspection was evident in Ankara and Istanbul. Instead, Turks were fed a steady diet of imagined atrocities perpetrated by U.S. forces in Iraq, often with the implication that they were acting as muscle for the Jews. The newspaper Yeni Safak, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan's daily read, claimed that Americans were tossing so many Iraqi bodies into the Euphrates that local mullahs had issued a fatwa ordering residents not to eat the fish. The same paper repeatedly claimed that the U.S. used chemical weapons in Fallujah. And it reported that Israeli soldiers had been deployed alongside U.S. forces in Iraq and that U.S. forces were harvesting the innards of dead Iraqis for sale on the U.S. "organ market."

Gaza Flotilla: Bullet Proof Vests, Rifle Scopes And Stun Grenades Found Aboard Mavi Marnara

More has been uncovered aboard the Mavi Marmara--the only ship of the Gaza Flotilla that resisted the IDF as they boarded the ship. That was after the IDF gave them the option to redirect to Israel, from where they would be allowed to personally oversea the delivery of their aid to Gaza after it was inspected.

Clearly, unlike the other ships, the Mavi Marmara never had any intention of going quietly:

Electric saw used to saw metal rods off of the Marnara's deck. These rods were used to attack the Israeli soldiers boarding the ship

As the following video documents, some of the "humanitarian activists" came armed with stun grenades. That is not all that surprising, considering the terrorist ties of the Turkish IHH, which was implicated in the attempted Millenium bombing attempt on Los Angeles International Airport.



There is no doubt Mavi Marmara came prepared--but not for humanitarian purposes.
For this, Turkey must be held responsible.

[Hat tip: HonestReporting]

Technorati Tag: Gaza Flotilla and IHH.

The #Flotilla And The Issue Of Piracy

Over at Opinio Jurus, Julian Ku addresses the issue--raised by some--that Israel's actions against the flotilla amount to piracy:

But whatever can be said about the legality of the raid, it was not, as a legal matter, piracy. Let’s go to the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, Article 101:

Piracy consists of any of the following acts:

(a) any illegal acts of violence or detention, or any act of depredation, committed for private ends by the crew or the passengers of a private ship or a private aircraft, and directed:

(i) on the high seas, against another ship or aircraft, or against persons or property on board such ship or aircraft;

(ii) against a ship, aircraft, persons or property in a place outside the jurisdiction of any State;

(b) any act of voluntary participation in the operation of a ship or of an aircraft with knowledge of facts making it a pirate ship or aircraft;

(emphasis added).  I don’t think even the Gaza flotilla defenders claim that the IDF raid was “committed for private ends.” (Just the opposite, actually).  And, in general, piracy cannot be committed by a national ship, only by private ships or by national ships that have been taken over by their crews. 

Read the whole thing.

There are key issues that need to be addressed (when will the media note that one of the sponsors, IHH, has strong terrorist associations?), but the issue of piracy is not one of them.

Technorati Tag: Gaza Flotilla and Piracy.