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Expected Upsurge in Gaza Violence (Op/Ed)

  

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Via:  buzz-of-the-orient  •  6 years ago  •  15 comments

Expected Upsurge in Gaza Violence (Op/Ed)

Expected Upsurge in Gaza Violence (Op/Ed)

by Richard Kemp, Gatestone Institute, May 13, 2018
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/12297/gaza-violence

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Pictured: Palestinian men in Gaza prepare to launch a firebomb attached to a kite, over the border fence to Israel. (Image source: AFP video screenshot)

I predict a riot — and much worse. The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas is orchestrating a 'demonstration' at the beginning of this week of up to 200,000 people on the Gaza border with Israel, and is intent on turning it into an orgy of death and bloodshed. If that happens, the UN and EU, human rights groups and many Western media organizations will have helped bring it about.

Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip, is planning the bloody culmination of six weeks of violence along the border that has so far led to the deaths of around 50 of their own people and wounding of hundreds more. Now they intend to pile the bodies higher still, exploiting what they see as a perfect storm. It is the seventieth anniversary of the creation of the modern State of Israel — a date that Palestinians revile as 'Nakba' or 'Catastrophe' Day. It coincides with the opening of the US embassy in Jerusalem, a move abhorrent to those who consider the existence of the Jewish State illegitimate. And it is the beginning of the Islamic festival of Ramadan, a time when violence throughout the Muslim world often spirals.

Hamas claim that the purpose of their 'demonstrations' is to break through the Israeli border en masse, march through the country and reclaim the homes that they say their people were thrown out of when Israel was formed — exercising the strongly disputed 'right of return'. But they know they cannot achieve that in the face of the formidable Israel Defence Force.

So the true and malevolent purpose of Hamas's plan is to incite violence in such a way that the IDF has no choice but to respond with lethal force, killing Gaza civilians. This makes Hamas the first government in history to deliberately lure its enemies to kill its own civilian population. Why does it wish to sacrifice its people so barbarically? To bring down upon Israel the vilification of the Western world. To isolate and criminalise the country and cause condemnation by political leaders, the UN and the EU, human rights groups, academics and the media.

Hamas has followed this strategy many times in the past, firing rockets at Israeli civilian communities and constructing under the border sophisticated attack tunnels from which fighters would storm into the heart of Jewish communities and carry out mass murder and abduction. Thousands of Palestinians have died, including human shields that are so central to Hamas's strategy, as the IDF has been compelled to forcefully defend its people. The world has often reacted with horror and outrage, blaming Israel for the bloodshed provoked by Hamas — just as intended.

If anything, Hamas's current plans are even more effective. Rockets and attack tunnels look like what they are — engines of war. But political leaders, international organizations, human rights groups and the media — the primary targets for Hamas's lethal propaganda — find it hard to understand how demonstrations, falsely portrayed as peaceful, like they might see in their own cities, can pose a sufficient threat to warrant the use of deadly force.

The price paid in Palestinian blood of stopping border penetrations has so far been high and is likely to increase sharply this week. But imagine the consequences if the IDF failed to stop these crowds breaking through the fence. The nearest Israeli communities are just a few minutes dash from the border by armed terrorists intent on mass murder. In this scenario, with gunmen indistinguishable from unarmed civilians, who themselves often also pose a violent threat, it is hard to see how the IDF could avoid inflicting far higher casualties in defence of their territory and people.

To prevent this catastrophic scenario becoming reality, the IDF has adopted a graduated response. They airdropped thousands of leaflets and used SMS, social media, phone calls and radio broadcasts to warn the people of Gaza not to gather at the border or approach the fence. They even contacted Gaza bus company owners, asking them not to transport people to the border.

When these appeals were nullified by Hamas's coercion of the civilian population, the IDF used tear gas to disperse the crowds that approached the fence. Next, they fired warning shots overhead. Finally, only where absolutely necessary and lawful, they used ball ammunition aimed to disable rather than kill. Several died as a result of this gunfire and many more were wounded. Of the 50 people Palestinian authorities claim were killed up to now, Israel assesses that 80% were terrorist operatives or individuals associated with them.

I have heard many armchair experts arguing that Israel should have acted differently, but not one credibly explain how. Instead, the UN, EU and a range of human rights groups and media organizations have devoted their efforts to unjustly condemning Israel's actions. If there was genuine concern for human life and human rights among these people, rather than a fixation on unfairly vilifying Israel, they would harshly condemn Hamas. Instead, their criticism of Israel plays directly into Hamas's hands and validates the use of human shields and the strategy of forcing the killing their own civilians.

Richard Kemp commanded British forces in Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans. He has spent time on the Gaza border in recent weeks, observing the Hamas-orchestrated violence and Israeli military reactions.


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Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
1  seeder  Buzz of the Orient    6 years ago

Most likely Hamas will send as many children and women to help the terrorists break through the border fence so Israel will be forced to stop them and suffer the condemnation by not only the rest of the world, but by the Israel-bashers on NT who would see nothing wrong with a mob invading their own homes. "Welcome, welcome, would you all like a cup of tea?"

Of course I expect the usual criticism of the source of this article, but only an biased ignorant fool would be critical of the author, who is neither Jewish nor an Israeli, and his credentials are impeccable.

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
2  JohnRussell    6 years ago

No value [ph]

 
 
 
Greg Jones
Professor Participates
2.1  Greg Jones  replied to  JohnRussell @2    6 years ago

It seems that person has shown up, like clockwork. Rather than debate, a personal attack is unleashed yet again.

He never disappoints, Buzz!  Face Palm

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.2  seeder  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  JohnRussell @2    6 years ago

I expected you to criticize the website, notwithstanding the credibility of the author and the factual accuracy of the contents.  At least I'm not narrow-minded.  I posted the comment "Of course I expect the usual criticism of the source of this article" with you in mind.

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
2.2.1  JohnRussell  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @2.2    6 years ago

Skirting the CoC [ph]

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
2.2.2  Texan1211  replied to  JohnRussell @2.2.1    6 years ago

Is there anything in the article that isn't true?

If not, it seems rather silly and pointless to attack the source.

Please list your sources for refuting what is in the article.

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.2.3  seeder  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  Texan1211 @2.2.2    6 years ago

Don't hold your breath, Texan. He despises Gatestone Institute almost as much as he despises Trump. Look, everyone's entitled to despise a source because its politics are the antithesis of their beliefs - I despise Stormfront for the same reason, but if it published an article with indisputable facts I wouldn't have much choice, as he well knows, but to criticize the author and the source instead of the truths, however, I don't intend to make a fool of myself for doing so.

 
 
 
JohnRussell
Professor Principal
2.2.4  JohnRussell  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @2.2.3    6 years ago

No value [ph]

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.2.5  seeder  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  JohnRussell @2.2.1    6 years ago
Comment removed for context [ph]

And I can't call out those who do so for supporting what THEY support or I could get banned from this site.

"Should I forget thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand wither and my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth"   Psalm 136:5

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.2.6  seeder  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  JohnRussell @2.2.4    6 years ago

IMO those who call it a bigoted site are bigots themselves. The only articles from the site that I publish are those that contain actual facts, and IMO valid opinions.

The fact that you deny actual facts that are related in those articles doesn't speak well for your judgement.

The facts don't lie, John - there is no bigotry in reporting them.

Here's a little twisted quote for you to think about, John.

"Ask not what Israel has done and is still doing for you, but ask instead what you can do for Israel."

What have YOU done for Israel, John, anything?

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
2.2.7  Ender  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @2.2.3    6 years ago

  Gatestone Institute  (formerly  Stonegate Institute  and  Hudson New York ) is a right-wing  anti-Muslim  think tank that publishes articles, particularly pertaining to Islam and the Middle East. The organization has attracted attention for publishing false articles and being a source of viral falsehoods.  Gatestone was founded in 2012 by  Nina Rosenwald , who serves as its president   Former  U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations   John R. Bolton , now national security advisor, was its chairman from 2013 to March 2018.

Gatestone authors frequently appear on Russian government-controlled media such as Sputnik News and RT.  Several Gatestone articles were promoted by Russian trolls working for the Kremlin-linked  Internet Research Agency , as the articles often have a common purpose with a Russian disinformation campaign which seeks to portray Western society as in crisis due to immigration of Muslims

The Gatestone Institute has been described as "anti-Muslim",  regularly publishes articles to stoke anti-Muslim fears,  and has published false stories to that end.  Gatestone frequently warns of a looming “jihadist takeover” and "Islamization" of Europe leading to a “Great White Death.”  Gatestone authors have a particular interest in Germany and Sweden, and frequently criticize leaders such as Macron and Merkel

Multiple viral falsehoods originate from Gatestone.

In 2011   and 2012,   Gatestone published articles claiming that Europe had Muslim " no-go zones ", falsely describing them variously as "off-limits to non-Muslims"  and "microstates governed by Islamic Sharia law".   The claim that there are areas in European cities that are lawless and off limits to local police or governed by Sharia is false.   Gatestone's claims were picked up by many outlets, including   FrontPageMag ,   and   The Washington Times .   The idea of no-go zones originated from   Daniel Pipes ,   who later retracted his claims.

On November 18, 2016, Gatestone published an article that said the British Press had been ordered to avoid reporting the Muslim identity of terrorists by the   European Union . Snopes rated the claim "false". Snopes pointed out that the report only made a recommendation and it was issued by the   Council of Europe , not the   European Union .   Gatestone subsequently corrected the article and apologized for the error,   before removing it entirely from its website.

In 2017, Gatestone falsely claimed that 500 churches closed and 423 new mosques opened in London since 2001, and argued that London was being islamized and turning into "Londonistan".   According to Snopes, Gatestone used "shoddy research and cherry-picked data."   Specifically, Gatestone only counted churches that closed but not churches that opened; data for the period 2005-2012 alone show that 700 new churches opened in London.

The Gatestone Institute published false articles during the   2017 German federal election .

Gatestone Institute - Right Biashttps://i1.wp.com/mediabiasfactcheck.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/right031.png?resize=300%2C34&ssl=1 300w" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px"> RIGHT BIAS

These media sources are moderately to strongly biased toward conservative causes through story selection and/or political affiliation. They may utilize strong loaded words (wording that attempts to influence an audience by using appeal to emotion or stereotypes), publish misleading reports and omit reporting of information that may damage conservative causes. Some sources in this category may be untrustworthy.

The  Gatestone Institute , a New York-based think tank, has become one of the most important hubs in America’s Islamophobia industry, pumping out reams of dangerous anti-Muslim propaganda of the kind lapped up by far-right mass murderer Anders Breivik. The transatlantic dimensions of Gatestone’s influence have so far gone largely unnoticed, but its close links to several British groups, including the Quilliam Foundation, Stand for Peace and the Henry Jackson Society deserve close scrutiny.

The Gatestone declaration serves the same function as the so-called  ”Charter of Muslim Understanding ,” which similarly called for Muslims to be required to make special denunciations. Commissioned by UKIP’s Gerard Batten,  that document  was called  “frightening”  even by pro-Israel Tory MP Robert Halfon, who compared it to a first step to wearing a yellow star, as Jews were required to do under Nazi rule

One UK organization known to have received funding from the same source as Gatestone is the Henry Jackson Society. The woman behind all this money is Nina Rosenwald, who has been dubbed the “ sugar mama of anti-Muslim hate ” by journalist Max Blumenthal. She funds Gatestone, where she is also president, via her New York-based mega-foundation, the Abstraction Fund, and through Abstraction she has also channeled money to HJS via its U.S. fundraising arm.

 the growing interest in Islam displayed by HJS (which I and colleagues from Spinwatch documented in our  recent report  on the think tank) and in particular, the work done by its own university watchdog arm, Student Rights to smear Muslim students on  British campuses , fits a clear pattern in line with the Campus Watch/Canary Mission model. Many of these neoconservative Gatestone-linked groups also co-operate among themselves, for example Student Rights has reportedly  worked “closely” with Quilliam . Another UK group associated with Gatestone, less well known than Quilliam or HJS/Student Rights but equally destructive in its use of American-style attack-politics, is the ironically named Stand for Peace.

While SFP’s definition of extremism is not clear, its modus operandi is very similar to Campus Watch, Canary Mission and Student Rights (in short: blacklisting and smearing) and its targets are usually Muslims. Perhaps its most despicable action though was to portray humanitarian volunteer Alan Henning as a  supporter of violence  at a time that he was being held hostage by ISIL and shortly before they brutally killed him.

SFP has also sought to blacken the name of numerous charities providing aid to desperate people in crisis  in Syria  and  Gaza . Its tenuous complains and dubious claims may have contributed to the  withdrawal  of government funding from certain Muslim groups branded “extremist”; the  closure of bank accounts held by a number of Muslim groups and individuals deemed outside HSBC’s “risk appetite”; and the Charity Commission’s disproportionate focus on  various Muslim groups .

SFP founder Sam Westrop, 26, is also listed as a "distinguished senior fellow" of the Gatestone Institute, alongside fellow Britons Douglas Murray of HJS, right-wing activist Denis MacEoin, Daily Telegraph journalist and MI6 conduit Con Coughlin, the  zealous Christian Zionist  and ex-British army officer Richard Kemp and former British ambassador Charles Crawford. Westrop also regularly contributes articles to Gatestone. One of these pieces, titled " The Real Islamophobia ," is displayed prominently  on SFP’s website . It is a fine example of the Islamophobia-denial that helps anti-Muslim hate to grow by downplaying the problem, belittling and blaming the victims: all activities in which Westrop’s  American benefactor  Gatestone specializes.

The Gatestone Institute is a New York-based advocacy organization that is tied to neoconservative and other right-wing networks in the United States and Europe. [1]  Chaired by John Bolton , a former Bush administration diplomat and a conservative foreign policy hardliner, Gatestone is a clearinghouse for right-wing commentaries on national security, the Middle East, and Islam, as well as a convener of high-dollar events on security and energy issues. It is an offshoot of the neoconservative Hudson Institute .

Operating under the Hudson banner, Rosenwald brought [the controversial anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders ] to town in 2008 to warn against the Muslim plot to ‘rule the world by the sword.’ Wilders’s tirade during that visit against the prophet Muhammad, whom he described as ‘a warlord, a mass murderer, a pedophile,’ was strident even by the standards of the hawkish Hudson Institute.

The institute has also announced plans to publish books. But the bulk of the organization’s day-to-day output consists of blog posts by Gatestone fellows and likeminded writers offering neoconservative commentary on current events and alarmist dispatches about the spread of Islam. Frequent topics include Israeli security, purported Palestinian malfeasance, Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, and the supposed threat of Sharia law in Europe and North America.

Other Gatestone posts have urged a second military intervention in Libya  and inveighed against a diplomatic agreement over Iran's nuclear program.

Gatestone contributors often espouse views associated with the far right. Posts by Gatestone writers have alleged an impending "Islamic takeover" in the United Kingdom,  warned that France is on the verge of "submitting to Islam,"  fretted that “Islamic Sharia law could easily become a permanent reality in Spain and across the [European] continent,”  and accused the U.S. government of "promoting Islam" in the Czech Republic and other European countries.

Gatestone's writers take a hard line on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, harshly criticizing Palestinian negotiators and political authorities and offering support to Israel's right-wing government. When Israel pulled out of U.S.-brokered talks after Hamas and Fatah reached a tentative reconciliation in April 2014, Gatestone contributor Richard Kamp asserted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu "had no choice other than to suspend the peace process. … How could he possibly continue to negotiate with an entity that is itself negotiating with a vicious, murderous and unrelenting terrorist group hell-bent on the destruction of Israel and outlawed around the world?

After the failure of the 2014 Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Friends of Israel Initiative member Richard Kempan wrote an op-ed for the Gatestone Institute criticizing efforts to reach a two-state solution. “The stark military reality is that Israel cannot withdraw its forces from the West Bank—either now or at any point in the foreseeable future,” Kemp wrote. “There can be no two state solution and no sovereign Palestinian Arab state west of the Jordan, however desirable those things might be.”

Kemp added: “Nor can there be a one-state solution with democratic rights for all because that would spell the end of the one and only democratic and Jewish state and the beginning of a new autocracy and the next exodus of the Jews. For those who do not want that to happen, the harsh reality is continuation of the status quo.”

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.2.8  seeder  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  Ender @2.2.7    6 years ago

LOL. Keep trying, YOUR biased articles don't "trump" (no pun intended) what you've decided are MY biased articles. Notwithstanding opinions, there are still irrefutable facts.

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
2.2.9  Ender  replied to  Buzz of the Orient @2.2.8    6 years ago

There is also biased reporting to push a narrative.

He’s the former British army officer who’s the toast of pro-Israel propaganda groups around the world. One of them has termed him  the “voice of reason” for defending Israeli conduct in war.

But recent reports suggest  former Colonel  Richard Kemp  is also a religious fundamentalist motivated in his ideological support for Israel by a hard-line  Christian Zionism .

In July,  Kemp spoke at the Christians United For Israel annual summit  in Washington, DC. A report on one right-wing site said he had “delivered an impassioned defense of Israel that brought many in the room to tears.”

“Kemp began by revealing his own Christian faith,” claimed  the report on Frontpage Mag  (the site is run by  David Horowitz , a key figure in America’s  Islamophobia industry

In common with other forms of Zionism , Christian Zionism has a long history of anti-Semitism .

The idea that the Jews of Europe were an “alien” presence in their home countries was a common one for British imperialists like  Arthur Balfour – the minister whose  infamous declaration  arrogantly agreed to hand Palestine over to the Zionist movement.

Such anti-Semites decided that they didn’t want Jews in the country, and instead they should be sent to Palestine. After all, didn’t the divine word of God in the Bible prove “the Jews” were from Palestine?

The modern successors of such pernicious doctrines are Zionist Christian fundamentalist groups – foremost among them CUFI.

CUFI says it aims to “educate Christians on the Biblical and moral imperatives to support Israel and to build Christian support for Israel throughout America.” It receives support from many top Israeli and American politicians. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the keynote address via video link this year, as he has also done previously.

One attendee wrote online that Netanyahu  glowingly endorsed CUFI’s founder: “his dear friend of many years  John Hagee .” And yet this fundamentalist Evangelical preacher is also an anti-Semite.

Like many Christian fundamentalists, Hagee blames Jews for their own persecution over the centuries, seemingly because they have not “accepted” Jesus.

In 2006, the same year CUFI was founded, it came out that  Hagee wrote in one of his books that Hitler had been a “hunter” sent by God to persecute the Jews so they would have go “back” to Israel:

God then sent the hunters. The hunter is one who pursues his target with force and fear. No one could see the horror of the Holocaust coming, but the force and fear of Hitler’s Nazis drove the Jewish people back to the only home God ever intended for the Jews to have – Israel. I stand amazed at the accuracy of God’s Word and its relevance for our time.

This is the sort of end-times theology that on one hand considers “the Jews” to be “God’s chosen people,” but on the other believes that all Jews will have to convert to Christianity to save themselves from the coming destruction of the final days.

This is the kind of organization that Kemp, Israel’s “voice of reason,” has seen fit to associate himself with.

Link

Kemp has stated that there should never be a two state solution, has ties to anti Islamic groups and supposedly speaks to the dead.

Kemp also reportedly told his  Christians United For Israel  (CUFI) audience that he had communicated with the dead. According to the Frontpage Mag report, he had “that morning, spoken to Orde Wingate … ‘I spoke to him this morning at Arlington [military cemetery]’.”

Kemp reportedly told his audience Wingate was “the greatest Christian Zionist in Britain.”

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
2.2.10  seeder  Buzz of the Orient  replied to  Ender @2.2.9    6 years ago

Wikipedia:

The Electronic Intifada ( EI ) is an online Chicago -based [1] publication covering the Israeli–Palestinian conflict . It describes itself as not-for-profit and independent , providing a Palestinian perspective on the conflict. EI was founded by Ali Abunimah , the Palestinian-American son of Jordan 's UN ambassador, [2] and Arjan El Fassed , a former Dutch politician.

"...providing a Palestinian perspective on the conflict. EI was founded by Ali Abunimah , the Palestinian-American son of Jordan 's UN ambassador, [2] and Arjan El Fassed ,"

LOL. Yes Elder, it certainly IS biased.

 
 
 
Texan1211
Professor Principal
3  Texan1211    6 years ago

Good for Israel.

Continue not to take shit from the Arabs intent on wiping you off the face of the earth.

 
 

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