Forsaking the Material Legacy of our Forebears

 Video Of The Week - Nikki Haley blasts Biden and Democrats on Israel - https://tinyurl.com/tb5k4ttk 

The threat to the archaeological record in the heartland of Israel, Judea and Samaria, the cradle of our civilization, is untenable, and cannot be subject to political persuasions.

By ILAN POMERANC, from the JPost -  https://tinyurl.com/2s4xf4pv

A muted but persistent cultural cleansing and destruction of immense proportion is occurring throughout Judea and Samaria. 

Historic sites, antiquities, and artifacts are being plundered, damaged, pilfered, or simply erased.  

In certain instances, illicit development work by Arabs in the area, such as the paving of pirate roadways or illegal mining operations, causes the unintentional destruction of rare and indescribably important antiquities. In other cases, it is the desire for looting and profit that causes intentional and irrevocable damage to archaeological sites in Judea and Samaria. 

Further still, and perhaps most egregiously, is the willingness of Arab leadership figures in Judea and Samaria to erase or culturally appropriate the history and archaeology of the Nation and Land of Israel fuel and intensify this cultural cleansing. After all, a rich archaeological record and abundant historical texts are the most conspicuous and potent testaments to the falsehood of Arab narratives concerning Am Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael. 

These attempts at cultural appropriation and expunction are also a critical aspect of the global campaign waged by many against Israel’s legitimacy and its very right to exist. The farcical proclamations made by UNESCO, the ethically bankrupt international body with a contempt for historical fact regarding anything to do with Israel, is one illustration of this campaign.

There is a troubling lack of awareness among the general Israeli public of the size and scope of the wanton destruction of antiquities in Judea and Samaria and its repercussions. 

Outside of Israel, awareness is almost non-existent except in archaeological and academic circles, and even then, it is limited. In recent years, a number of Israeli NGOs have been working hard to identify and publicize the ISIS-style damage and destruction. 

Addressing the problem properly will only come about with a sea change in the policies of the State of Israel toward archaeology as a whole in Judea and Samaria. A public outcry and the political pressure it can create are necessary to have the required policy changes enacted.

Currently, the Israel Antiquities Authority, one of the leading, if not the leading organization of its type in the world, is severely limited both in resources and in freedom of action in Judea and Samaria.

Given the Arab authorities’ facilitation as well as subtle and not so subtle support for the destruction and cultural appropriation of historic sites, diplomatic agreements on the subject have been contravened and so should be null and void. As such, the IAA should be empowered and have its mandate expanded in Judea and Samaria.

The threat to the archaeological record in the heartland of Israel, Judea and Samaria, the cradle of our civilization, is untenable. It cannot be subject to political persuasions. When the Taliban blew up the Buddhas of Bamiyan, outrage and condemnations were not based on whether one subscribed to leftist or rightist political ideologies. 

So too, politics are absent when we oppose the construction of a new parking lot or shopping mall over a two or three-century-old exilic cemetery on foreign soil in Europe or elsewhere.

It should then go without saying that there be no politicking when it comes to stopping the looting and destruction of the ancient tombs of our nation’s vaunted freedom fighters, the Hasmoneans, on our native soil at Jericho or at any other site in Judea and Samaria. 

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Hezbollah Provocations Raise Israel-Lebanon Tensions

Video Of The Week -Tense Quiet Takes Hold Along Israel-Lebanon Border -  https://tinyurl.com/4jyu2ej2

For the full Article from BICOM go to https://tinyurl.com/56d9wmtj

 

What happened: Two incidents on the Israel-Lebanon border on Wednesday raised the tension between Israel and Hezbollah.

·        In the first incident several men approached the border fence in the area close to Zarit. According to the IDF, Israel deployed “non-lethal” measures to prevent them from damaging the fence.

·        According to the IDF, “a number of suspects approached the border fence with Lebanon and attempted to tamper with the barrier. IDF forces immediately identified them and employed measures to push them back.”

·        The IDF released surveillance footage showing four people approaching the border fence, and running away after an explosion.

·        According to Lebanese reports, three men thought to be Hezbollah operatives were taken to a nearby hospital in Tyre.

·        In the second incident, a number of suspects approached the security fence in the area near Metulla. They threw rocks and started a fire adjacent (on the Lebanese side) close to the security fence. IDF soldiers fired warning shots into the air, and the suspects withdrew.

Context: Tension has been growing for the last month, since Hezbollah placed two tents south of the Blue Line (inside Israel) in the Mount Dov / Sheba farms area.

·        Israel has so far used diplomatic channels (with the US, UN and France) which led to one of the tents being dismantled.

·        Later on Wednesday, Hezbollah leader Nasrallah made a speech, marking the 17^th anniversary of the start of the second Lebanon war. Nasrallah warned Israel that Hezbollah would retaliate if the IDF were to remove the tent that remains. According to Nasrallah, the tent is inside Lebanon and he is demanding the removal of the fence Israel built around the northern part of Ghajar.

·        Ghajar is an Alawite village, on the Lebanese, Syrian, Israeli border, captured by Israel in 1967. In 1981 it was annexed by Israel and its residents offered full Israeli citizenship. The village’s northern neighbourhood has since expanded into Lebanon. The UN recognises the Blue Line runs through the village, but Israel has built the fence around the northern perimeter to ensure security.

·        Earlier in the week, US envoy Amos Hochstein met with Prime Minister Netanyahu to update on US efforts to deescalate the tension.  It was Hochstein that brokered the Israel-Lebanon maritime agreement last year.

·        Hochstein’s visit has been interpreted as a sign of a dual US approach to Israel. Whilst the Biden administration in unhappy about Israeli government’s domestic and West Bank policies, they have shared concerns when it comes to regional security.

·        As well as the erection of the tents, last week an anti-tank missile was fired close to Ghajar border area.

·        In recent months Hezbollah has set up numerous observation posts, permanent and semi-permanent structures along the border.

·        There is concern that Israel’s enemies interpret the country’s current internal divisions as a moment of weakness and will seek to exploit the security situation.

Looking ahead: US envoy Hochstein is expected to meet Lebanese political leaders in the days ahead, as part of his shuttle diplomacy to reduce tension and avoid a military conflagration.

·        Following the incidents on the border, Defence Minister Gallant said, “Anyone who tests us will get a response. We have a lot to do, and we will know how to do what is needed at the right time.”

·        The IDF believes that Nasrallah will not instigate an all-out war but may be willing to risk several days of fighting, the consequences of which are unknown, but include fears of a wider conflict.                                                                                           

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Media Romanticize Terrorists and Their Dreams of ‘Martyrdom’

 Video Of The Week - Israeli Farm Growing Unique Hybrid Fruits - https://tinyurl.com/54s33f83

For the full article from Honest Reporting go to - https://tinyurl.com/56zcsrt9

Spraying bullets at a group of Jewish worshipers, planning a pipe bomb attack in Tel Aviv and kidnapping a gravely-injured Druze teenager are apparently just some of the activities The Times of London’s diplomatic correspondent Catherine Philp considers to be part of “Palestinian resistance to Israel’s occupation of the West Bank.”

We must assume that Philp believes attacking unarmed civilians is a legitimate act of so-called “resistance” or she would not have used the word no fewer than seven times in only 15 paragraphs to describe the undertakings of the Jenin Battalion and Lions’ Den terrorist groups, which are behind scores of deadly attacks.

In the piece, ‘I was ready to die, says Palestinian fighter hit by drone strike,’ Philp strikes a creepily sympathetic tone as she introduces readers to the “new generation in the Palestinian armed resistance,” including teenage “fighter” Harbosh whose face, Philp observes, is “pockmarked by acne” as he is interviewed from his hospital bed recalling “how close he came to martyrdom” during the IDF’s recent counterterrorism raid in Jenin.

While giving a brief history of the Jenin Battalion, Philp describes this “militant coalition that has sprung up and thrived in the squalid surroundings of the Jenin camp where this week Israel began its largest military operation in the West Bank in two decades.”

She goes on to claim the group consists “overwhelmingly” of members aged between 16 and 22, all of whom have a “burning sense of grievance” having “grown up in an era when prospects for peace were in effect dead, in a moribund economy with few jobs, their only heroes martyrs whose images blanket the camp’s alleys.”

Aside from the obvious problem of Philp’s framing of Jenin terrorists as disenchanted youngsters with little choice in life other than to pick up an M16 rifle and start shooting, the presentation of the Jenin Battalion as a sort of grass-roots youth movement is simply bizarre.

After all, the terrorist group is well-funded by Iran (which Philp acknowledges) and comprises operatives from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades (which Philp ignores).

Indeed, the whole piece is replete with language that serves to glorify and justify Palestinian terrorism, from Philp’s quoting the uncle of one Jenin Battalion member who gushes that the new “generation is more dangerous than the previous one,” to her subtly romanticizing the “daring [Gilboa] jailbreak.”

Related Reading: Media Fails Come Thick and Fast as Israel Launches Precision Strikes on Jenin Terrorists

The piece, unfortunately, appears to be part of a trend in which media outlets publish strange terrorism puff pieces following the Jenin raid.

For example, The Economist recently promised to take its readers “inside the Lions’ Den,” which it described as the “West Bank’s Gen Z fighters.”

The piece, which describes the group that planned a large-scale terror attack in Tel Aviv as a “Palestinian armed-resistance group,” is packed with jarring statements that appear to whitewash the motivations and actions of a group that has repeatedly sought to maim and murder innocent Israelis.

Among the most troubling lines in the financial magazine’s feature are the framing of the Jenin raid to destroy terrorist infrastructure as the “most aggressive assault on the West Bank in over two decades”; describing confirmed terrorists as “Palestinian resistance fighters;” reimagining the Second Intifada as a mere “uprising” in which Nablus became the “center of opposition” and claiming Lions’ Den terrorists are primarily motivated by their “frustrations with the Israeli occupation and an enfeebled PA,” as opposed to a blind hatred of Israelis and Jews.

Related Reading: Israel’s Counter-Terrorism Raid in Jenin: More Media Mess Ups

Meanwhile, Sky News ran a piece about a “bullish” Hamas, which it suggested was a part of the “resistance.” Like Philp at The Times, one must wonder which Hamas-perpetrated suicide bombings Sky News’ Alex Rossi thinks constitute resistance.

Lastly, The Sunday Times was guilty of leaving crucial context out of a piece about bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families.

While the piece quotes the mother of a Palestinian man who died in Jenin in January, including a reference to her insistence that her son was “merely throwing rocks at Israeli troops” when he was killed, it fails to include the fact that he was claimed by the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades and had reportedly opened fire on the IDF just before his death.

The media’s recent tendency toward glamorizing terrorists is a disturbing trend.

And while journalists are free to write about whomever they want — regardless of how beyond the pale they are — editors should ask themselves why they seem to only give Palestinian terrorists a free pass.

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"BBC" Laps Up Amnesty’s Latest Anti-Israel Hit Job

Video Of The Week - PA. Does NOT Control Jenin https://tinyurl.com/3r2yc25h

 Carrying on its long tradition of unfairly attacking Israel, Amnesty International has published another hatchet job masquerading as a serious investigation this week.

 The report, “Israel/OPT: Civilian deaths and extensive destruction in latest Gaza offensive highlight human toll of apartheid,” accuses Israel of committing a war crime in its pursuit of Islamic Jihad terrorists in the Gaza Strip last month.

 As is the usual fashion when it comes to Amnesty, the 1,300-word denunciation of Israel exercising its legally-sanctioned right to defend itself is replete with hyperbole, distortions and outright lies — the latter demonstrated in Amnesty repeating its well-worn libel that Israel is an apartheid state.

 Given that Amnesty so clearly has an anti-Israel axe to grind, one would think that reputable news organizations, like the BBC, which prides itself on its commitment to impartiality, would take anything published on the Amnesty website with a pinch of salt.

 Alas, not so.

 Instead, the BBC has regurgitated almost word-for-word Amnesty’s most damaging allegations surrounding Israel’s role in the May conflagration, including Amnesty’s claim that the IDF mounted “disproportionate air strikes which killed Palestinian civilians.”

 Of course, and this should go without saying, there is nothing disproportionate about killing terrorists who are planning to launch attacks on Israeli civilians.

 In the piece, ‘Amnesty: Possible war crimes in recent Israel-Gaza fighting,’ the BBC’s Middle East desk correspondent David Gritten quotes at length Amnesty’s repeated claim that Israeli strikes to take out Islamic Jihad commanders were excessive, as well as the NGO’s malicious assertion that the risk to civilians in Gaza was “likely disregarded” by those in Israel who “planned and authorised the attacks.”

 While Amnesty may have convinced most journalists that it is an unimpeachable source of information, the BBC should really have examined the organization’s sad and sorry history of getting things wrong or letting its ideologically-driven leanings interfere in conflicts that it apparently knows very little about.

 For example, Amnesty was widely criticized last year when it released a report that accused the Ukrainian military of endangering civilians by “establishing bases and operating weapons systems in populated residential areas, including in schools and hospitals” — apparently forgetting that Ukraine was forced to position soldiers in urban areas to avoid being completely overrun by invading Russian troops and to protect those very Ukrainian civilians in the path of Russia’s military.

 Unsurprisingly, when Islamist terrorists plant rockets inside and underneath civilian centers in Gaza, Amnesty has very little to say in the way of condemnation.

 However, the most worrying aspect of the article is Gritten’s abject failure to probe the veracity of Amnesty’s allegations, as any serious journalist should.

 If he had, he would have noted that Amnesty’s claim that Israel started the five days of fighting, is complete and utter fiction. As HonestReporting has repeatedly pointed out, Operation Shield and Arrow was launched in response to a barrage of rocket fire from the Strip after Islamic Jihad terrorist Khader Adnan eventually died in an Israeli prison following a protracted hunger strike in a bid to secure his release.

 Gritten also appears to go to great lengths to clean up Islamic Jihad’s image, particularly by not bothering to mention that the group is an internationally-recognized terrorist organization that has been proscribed by pretty much the entire Western world, including the United Kingdom where the BBC is based.

 Indeed, Gritten even prominently features the group’s “spokesman” Tariq Salmi saying Islamic Jihad welcomed Amnesty’s report, which “proves that the occupation [Israel] was the one that began the aggression by committing grave crimes.” This, while not mentioning the fact that the group’s sworn goal is the annihilation of the Jewish state using “the Jihad solution and the martyrdom style as the only choice for liberation.”

 As an independent organization, Amnesty International is free to publish as many unfair screeds about Israel as it likes.

 As a state-funded broadcaster tasked with delivering non-partisan news coverage to millions, the BBC should robustly challenge Amnesty’s biased bilge. 

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