From Agence France-Presse, July 11, 2008 06:48am, by correspondents in Puerto Montt:
NAZI hunters said today they were closer to tracking down Aribert Heim, the infamous sadistic "Doctor Death", after finding one of his daughters and what they called "credible" information.
Chile, July 10 AFP - Nazi "We have hard facts, which are credible, but have to be checked," Sergio Widder, Latin America director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, told AFP. "Those who spoke to us did so in good faith, without trying to twist the information."
An Austrian doctor, Heim is wanted for killing hundreds of concentration camp victims with his horrific medical experiments, including performing operations without anaesthesia and injecting petrol directly into their hearts.
Widder said dozens of people had come forward with information on Heim, which led the Centre's investigators to this town, some 1,000km south of the Chilean capital of Santiago. All those who offered details on Heim, who would now be 94, were interviewed by Efraim Zuroff, a historian considered the best "Nazi hunter" in the world. Zuroff also is the director of the Israel office of the Wiesenthal Centre.
"All the information we have points to Heim living in this area. Somewhere between Puerto Montt and Bariloche" in Argentina, Zuroff told reporters today. "We think there must be someone here who may have the key to finding Heim. There is a $US500,000 ($A523,500) reward for that person, provided by Heim's victims," he said.
Zuroff said no matter how old Heim was, he had to be held accountable for his crimes. "He castrated people, he used parts of their body to decorate his office. I'm not giving out these details to emotionalise the issue, but for people to understand how important it is to catch this criminal," Zuroff said.
The Wiesenthal delegation said they had found Heim's daughter Waltraut Boser in Puerto Montt, but had not contacted her. Now aged 60, Boser is believed to be married to a local businessman and to have lived in Chile some 30 years. During that time, she has travelled to Europe roughly 50 times, and in the last two years visited the Bariloche area in neighbouring Argentina about a dozen times. Several Nazi criminals have found refuge in Argentina. Heim disappeared from public view some 43 years ago.
AFP cmc
Friday, July 11, 2008
Did Revolutionary Guards doctor missile photos?
From Ynet News, 10/7/08:
Discrepancies between photo, video of Iranian missile test indicate possible attempt to cover up technical difficulties during Persian Gulf exercise. On Thursday evening a senior US officer told CNN that Iranian reports on its missile tests were false. The network quoted him saying that Iran had not conducted trials with long-range missiles, as it had claimed on Wednesday.
The officer said the US believes Iran had fired seven short to medium-range missiles. US intelligence reports stated that one of the missile launches was not successful, and it was fired by the Iranians on Thursday. The Iranian news agency that generally publishes documentation of drills of this sort has not published any new photos from the large-scale launch that was allegedly held by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The only documentation of the event was published by the Revolutionary Guards' news agency, an irregularity in drills such as this, which are normally covered by nationwide press.
Earlier a Ynet inquiry revealed that the Revolutionary Guards doctored at least one photo of the missile test conducted in the Persian Gulf and "added" at least one missile launching that never took place.
The photos were sent to the news agencies by the Revolutionary Guards and were published by media outlets worldwide, including Israel. In a videotape of the Iranian missile testing, which was shot from a slightly different angle, three missiles can be seen launched, while a fourth remains on the ground.
Several internet sites also claimed that the missile photos were manipulated by the Iranians in an attempt to cover up possible technical difficulties that arose during the test....
Discrepancies between photo, video of Iranian missile test indicate possible attempt to cover up technical difficulties during Persian Gulf exercise. On Thursday evening a senior US officer told CNN that Iranian reports on its missile tests were false. The network quoted him saying that Iran had not conducted trials with long-range missiles, as it had claimed on Wednesday.
The officer said the US believes Iran had fired seven short to medium-range missiles. US intelligence reports stated that one of the missile launches was not successful, and it was fired by the Iranians on Thursday. The Iranian news agency that generally publishes documentation of drills of this sort has not published any new photos from the large-scale launch that was allegedly held by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.
The only documentation of the event was published by the Revolutionary Guards' news agency, an irregularity in drills such as this, which are normally covered by nationwide press.
Earlier a Ynet inquiry revealed that the Revolutionary Guards doctored at least one photo of the missile test conducted in the Persian Gulf and "added" at least one missile launching that never took place.
The photos were sent to the news agencies by the Revolutionary Guards and were published by media outlets worldwide, including Israel. In a videotape of the Iranian missile testing, which was shot from a slightly different angle, three missiles can be seen launched, while a fourth remains on the ground.
However, in the still photo all four missiles are seen fired into the air almost simultaneously. Some of the details in the images of the launched missiles are suspiciously similar; the tail of the fourth seems to be an exact copy of the missile on the far left.
Several internet sites also claimed that the missile photos were manipulated by the Iranians in an attempt to cover up possible technical difficulties that arose during the test....
IDF prepares for action as truce 'could be near its end'
From THE JERUSALEM POST Jul. 9, 2008, by Yaakov Katz and AP:
Following a week of near-daily Palestinian violations of the Israeli-Hamas cease-fire, senior defense officials said Thursday that the truce could be in its final stages and that as a result the IDF was preparing for possible future incursions into the Gaza Strip.
"It is not clear how much longer the cease-fire will last and we need to be prepared for an operation in Gaza," a senior defense official told The Jerusalem Post shortly after two Kassam rockets struck the western Negev Thursday afternoon. ... Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
On Thursday evening Hamas said it had arrested the two men who had fired the rockets, according to an official from the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades. Reuters quoted the official as saying that Hamas's security forces had detained two of its members who were part of a Kassam launching squad.
...A senior Hamas leader confirmed on Thursday that his group will hold to the cease-fire and stop violators....
Following a week of near-daily Palestinian violations of the Israeli-Hamas cease-fire, senior defense officials said Thursday that the truce could be in its final stages and that as a result the IDF was preparing for possible future incursions into the Gaza Strip.
"It is not clear how much longer the cease-fire will last and we need to be prepared for an operation in Gaza," a senior defense official told The Jerusalem Post shortly after two Kassam rockets struck the western Negev Thursday afternoon. ... Fatah's Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades claimed responsibility for the attack.
On Thursday evening Hamas said it had arrested the two men who had fired the rockets, according to an official from the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades. Reuters quoted the official as saying that Hamas's security forces had detained two of its members who were part of a Kassam launching squad.
...A senior Hamas leader confirmed on Thursday that his group will hold to the cease-fire and stop violators....
Rice warns Iran: US will defend Israel
From AFP, 10/7/08:
TBILISI [Georgia] (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Thursday that Washington had beefed up its security presence in the Gulf and would not hesitate to defend Israel and other allies in the region.
"We will defend American interests and the interests of our allies," Rice said, answering a question on an Iranian threat to "set fire" to Israel. "We take very strongly our obligation to defend our allies and we intend to do that," she said at a news conference in Tbilisi. "In the Gulf area, the United States has enhanced its security capacity, its security presence and we are working closely with all our allies... to make (sure) they are capable of defending themselves," she said.
The comments by the United States' top diplomat came after Iran again ratcheted up its rhetoric against the West and test-fired a series of missiles on Wednesday and Thursday. One of the missiles tested has the range to reach Israel and US bases in the Gulf. Rice did not specify the steps the United States had taken to boost its security presence in the Gulf, but said its plans focused on Washington's "determination to prevent Iran from threatening our interests or the interests of our friends and allies.
"I don't think the Iranians are too confused either about the capabilities and power of the United States," Rice said on a brief visit to the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
...Rice meanwhile also alluded to US plans for a missile defence system in eastern Europe intended in part to reduce the Iranian threat. She had previously signed an agreement in Prague by which the Czech Republic would host part of the proposed missile shield. Rice said the system would "make it more difficult for Iran to threaten, be bellicose and say terrible things."
Ex-Soviet Georgia is a close ally of the United States and is located north of Iran in the Caucasus mountains. Rice was here to affirm US support for the pro-Western course of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
TBILISI [Georgia] (AFP) — US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Iran on Thursday that Washington had beefed up its security presence in the Gulf and would not hesitate to defend Israel and other allies in the region.
"We will defend American interests and the interests of our allies," Rice said, answering a question on an Iranian threat to "set fire" to Israel. "We take very strongly our obligation to defend our allies and we intend to do that," she said at a news conference in Tbilisi. "In the Gulf area, the United States has enhanced its security capacity, its security presence and we are working closely with all our allies... to make (sure) they are capable of defending themselves," she said.
The comments by the United States' top diplomat came after Iran again ratcheted up its rhetoric against the West and test-fired a series of missiles on Wednesday and Thursday. One of the missiles tested has the range to reach Israel and US bases in the Gulf. Rice did not specify the steps the United States had taken to boost its security presence in the Gulf, but said its plans focused on Washington's "determination to prevent Iran from threatening our interests or the interests of our friends and allies.
"I don't think the Iranians are too confused either about the capabilities and power of the United States," Rice said on a brief visit to the former Soviet republic of Georgia.
...Rice meanwhile also alluded to US plans for a missile defence system in eastern Europe intended in part to reduce the Iranian threat. She had previously signed an agreement in Prague by which the Czech Republic would host part of the proposed missile shield. Rice said the system would "make it more difficult for Iran to threaten, be bellicose and say terrible things."
Ex-Soviet Georgia is a close ally of the United States and is located north of Iran in the Caucasus mountains. Rice was here to affirm US support for the pro-Western course of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili.
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Iran tests missiles, vows to hit back if attacked
From Reuters, Wed Jul 9, 2008, by Zahra Hosseinian and Fredrik Dahl:
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran test-fired nine missiles on Wednesday and warned the United States and Israel it was ready to retaliate if they attacked the Islamic Republic over its disputed nuclear projects.
Washington, which says Iran seeks atomic bombs, told Tehran to halt further tests if it wanted the world to trust it. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, insists its nuclear program aims only at generating electricity.
....Speculation that Israel could strike Iran has mounted since its air force staged an exercise last month that U.S. officials said involved 100 aircraft. The United States has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the nuclear row....
MISSILE SHIELD
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested the tests justified an American missile shield plan with bases in eastern Europe that Russia strongly opposes. "Those who say that there is no Iranian threat against which to be building missile defenses perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians about ... the range of the missiles that they test fired," Rice said in Bulgaria.
Russia, which has resisted U.S. calls for tougher U.N. sanctions on Iran, nevertheless says it shares concerns about Tehran's nuclear program. It responded to an Iranian rocket test in February by questioning Tehran's motives.
Italy joined criticism of Iran's latest missile tests.
...Iran's State Press TV said the "highly advanced" missiles tested by the Guards included a "new" Shahab 3 missile, which officials have said could reach targets 2,000 km (1,250 miles) away. Iran has said Israel and U.S. bases are in its range.
...Iran incentives if it will suspend uranium enrichment. Tehran has rejected the demand.
Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for about 40 percent of globally traded oil, if it is attacked. The U.S. military says it will prevent any such action.
The war of words heightens risks that a misunderstanding or a minor clash in the Gulf, for instance, could get out of hand....
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran test-fired nine missiles on Wednesday and warned the United States and Israel it was ready to retaliate if they attacked the Islamic Republic over its disputed nuclear projects.
Washington, which says Iran seeks atomic bombs, told Tehran to halt further tests if it wanted the world to trust it. Iran, the world's fourth largest oil producer, insists its nuclear program aims only at generating electricity.
....Speculation that Israel could strike Iran has mounted since its air force staged an exercise last month that U.S. officials said involved 100 aircraft. The United States has not ruled out military action if diplomacy fails to resolve the nuclear row....
MISSILE SHIELD
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice suggested the tests justified an American missile shield plan with bases in eastern Europe that Russia strongly opposes. "Those who say that there is no Iranian threat against which to be building missile defenses perhaps ought to talk to the Iranians about ... the range of the missiles that they test fired," Rice said in Bulgaria.
Russia, which has resisted U.S. calls for tougher U.N. sanctions on Iran, nevertheless says it shares concerns about Tehran's nuclear program. It responded to an Iranian rocket test in February by questioning Tehran's motives.
Italy joined criticism of Iran's latest missile tests.
...Iran's State Press TV said the "highly advanced" missiles tested by the Guards included a "new" Shahab 3 missile, which officials have said could reach targets 2,000 km (1,250 miles) away. Iran has said Israel and U.S. bases are in its range.
...Iran incentives if it will suspend uranium enrichment. Tehran has rejected the demand.
Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz, conduit for about 40 percent of globally traded oil, if it is attacked. The U.S. military says it will prevent any such action.
The war of words heightens risks that a misunderstanding or a minor clash in the Gulf, for instance, could get out of hand....
On the trail of 'Dr Death'
From BBC NEWS, 2008/07/09:
Dr Death, Aribert Heim, now 94 years old.
(Photo from Jerusalem Post)
Aribert Heim's crimes rank among the worst of the Holocaust, and after a hunt that has spanned almost half a century, Nazi-hunters believe they are closing in on him.
Israel's chief Nazi hunter [Efraim Zuroff, of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, will spend two days in Chilean Patagonia before crossing to Argentina] ...to step up the hunt for the Nazi fugitive Aribert Heim[, who] tortured and killed prisoners in Mauthausen concentration camp in World War II, but fled Germany in 1962 before authorities were able to arrest him.
Chilean and Argentinean newspapers have published pictures of Heim in 1950, 1959 and how he might look now. These are also displayed on posters advertising the search.
"In the last few days we've received information from two different sources, both relating to Chile, which we think have very good potential," the director of Israel's Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Mr Zuroff, said.
"The reason we are going [to Patagonia]... is of course the fact that Heim's daughter lives in Puerto Montt, and we think there is a strong likelihood that he might be in that area or in the area between Puerto Montt and Bariloche [Argentina]."
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, along with the German and Austrian governments, has offered $495,000 (315,000 euros; £250,000) for information leading to Heim's arrest.
Although he would now be 94, they believe Heim is still alive because his family has yet to claim around $1.6m sitting in a German bank account in his name, says the BBC's Gideon Long in Santiago.
In order to make the claim, his family would have to prove he is dead.
The search for Heim is part of Operation Last Chance, a final bid to bring Nazi war criminals to justice more than 60 years after the end of WWII.
Body parts
Heim kept meticulous notes of his activities at Mauthausen.
He performed operations and amputations without anaesthetic to see how much pain his victims could endure. Injecting victims straight into the heart with petrol, water or poison were his favoured method at Mauthausen.
"His crimes are fully documented by himself, because he kept a log of the operations that he carried out," Mr Zuroff said. "He tortured many inmates before he killed them at Mauthausen, and he used body parts of the people he killed as decorations."
One testimony from a camp survivor accuses him of cutting off the head of a murdered Jewish prisoner and boiling off the flesh to enable the skull to be used as an exhibit. Stories like this abound. One claims that the doctor removed tattooed skin from one victim and turned it into a seat cover.
Born 28 June, 1914 in Radkersburg, Austria, Heim joined the local Nazi party in 1935, three years before Austria was annexed by Germany. He later joined the Waffen SS. After the war, Heim was detained by US forces, but later disappeared. He practised medicine in the German town of Baden-Baden until 1962, when he fled the country after being tipped off that the authorities were about to prosecute him.
'Passage of time'
If Heim is still alive, he would have just turned 94. Some may argue that it is wrong to put an a frail old man on trial for alleged crimes committed more than half his lifetime ago.
But Mr Zuroff is uncompromising: "The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the perpetrators," he said in a previous interview with the BBC.
"Killers don't become righteous gentiles when they reach a certain age. And if we were to set a chronological limit on prosecutions, it would basically say you could get away with genocide."
Dr Death, Aribert Heim, now 94 years old.
(Photo from Jerusalem Post)
Aribert Heim's crimes rank among the worst of the Holocaust, and after a hunt that has spanned almost half a century, Nazi-hunters believe they are closing in on him.
Israel's chief Nazi hunter [Efraim Zuroff, of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, will spend two days in Chilean Patagonia before crossing to Argentina] ...to step up the hunt for the Nazi fugitive Aribert Heim[, who] tortured and killed prisoners in Mauthausen concentration camp in World War II, but fled Germany in 1962 before authorities were able to arrest him.
Chilean and Argentinean newspapers have published pictures of Heim in 1950, 1959 and how he might look now. These are also displayed on posters advertising the search.
"In the last few days we've received information from two different sources, both relating to Chile, which we think have very good potential," the director of Israel's Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Mr Zuroff, said.
"The reason we are going [to Patagonia]... is of course the fact that Heim's daughter lives in Puerto Montt, and we think there is a strong likelihood that he might be in that area or in the area between Puerto Montt and Bariloche [Argentina]."
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, along with the German and Austrian governments, has offered $495,000 (315,000 euros; £250,000) for information leading to Heim's arrest.
Although he would now be 94, they believe Heim is still alive because his family has yet to claim around $1.6m sitting in a German bank account in his name, says the BBC's Gideon Long in Santiago.
In order to make the claim, his family would have to prove he is dead.
The search for Heim is part of Operation Last Chance, a final bid to bring Nazi war criminals to justice more than 60 years after the end of WWII.
Body parts
Heim kept meticulous notes of his activities at Mauthausen.
He performed operations and amputations without anaesthetic to see how much pain his victims could endure. Injecting victims straight into the heart with petrol, water or poison were his favoured method at Mauthausen.
"His crimes are fully documented by himself, because he kept a log of the operations that he carried out," Mr Zuroff said. "He tortured many inmates before he killed them at Mauthausen, and he used body parts of the people he killed as decorations."
One testimony from a camp survivor accuses him of cutting off the head of a murdered Jewish prisoner and boiling off the flesh to enable the skull to be used as an exhibit. Stories like this abound. One claims that the doctor removed tattooed skin from one victim and turned it into a seat cover.
Born 28 June, 1914 in Radkersburg, Austria, Heim joined the local Nazi party in 1935, three years before Austria was annexed by Germany. He later joined the Waffen SS. After the war, Heim was detained by US forces, but later disappeared. He practised medicine in the German town of Baden-Baden until 1962, when he fled the country after being tipped off that the authorities were about to prosecute him.
'Passage of time'
If Heim is still alive, he would have just turned 94. Some may argue that it is wrong to put an a frail old man on trial for alleged crimes committed more than half his lifetime ago.
But Mr Zuroff is uncompromising: "The passage of time in no way diminishes the guilt of the perpetrators," he said in a previous interview with the BBC.
"Killers don't become righteous gentiles when they reach a certain age. And if we were to set a chronological limit on prosecutions, it would basically say you could get away with genocide."
Wednesday, July 09, 2008
UN 1701 on verge of collapse
From THE JERUSALEM POST, Jul. 9, 2008, by Yaakov Katz:
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, passed to stop the Second Lebanon War, is on the verge of collapse as Syria continues to rearm Hizbullah, senior defense officials warned Tuesday night ahead of a scheduled security cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will convene the cabinet to discuss the rearmament of Hizbullah since the Second Lebanon War and to discuss ways to curb the flow of weapons from Syria to the guerrilla group. During the meeting, the ministers will be briefed by Military Intelligence on Hizbullah's rehabilitation and preparation for another round of violence with Israel.
Defense officials said Israel's only course of action at present was to attempt to place pressure on diplomatic officials from European countries that contribute to UNIFIL.
"Syria is rearming Hizbullah at a rapid pace and this is proof that 1701 has completely failed," one official said. The peacekeeping force's mandate will be up for renewal next month and Israel is looking to see if it will be possible to make changes that will give the force more freedom to prevent Hizbullah's rearmament.
United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701, passed to stop the Second Lebanon War, is on the verge of collapse as Syria continues to rearm Hizbullah, senior defense officials warned Tuesday night ahead of a scheduled security cabinet meeting on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert will convene the cabinet to discuss the rearmament of Hizbullah since the Second Lebanon War and to discuss ways to curb the flow of weapons from Syria to the guerrilla group. During the meeting, the ministers will be briefed by Military Intelligence on Hizbullah's rehabilitation and preparation for another round of violence with Israel.
Defense officials said Israel's only course of action at present was to attempt to place pressure on diplomatic officials from European countries that contribute to UNIFIL.
"Syria is rearming Hizbullah at a rapid pace and this is proof that 1701 has completely failed," one official said. The peacekeeping force's mandate will be up for renewal next month and Israel is looking to see if it will be possible to make changes that will give the force more freedom to prevent Hizbullah's rearmament.
Tuesday, July 08, 2008
Hillel Kook - paragon of activism not "silent diplomacy"
From JPost, by Isi Leibler, July 8, 2008:
...[A recent] petition appealed to Yad Vashem to emulate the recent decision of the Holocaust Museum in Washington and incorporate an exhibit relating to the valiant efforts of Hillel Kook (aka Peter Bergson) to rescue European Jews at the height of the Auschwitz inferno....
...Hillel Kook was the embodiment of tenacity and devotion, in stark contrast to the leaders of the American Jewish establishment of his time, whose deafening silence in the face of the Nazi extermination was scandalous. Yet, only over the last few decades has Kook's role truly been appreciated.
The most powerful Diaspora Jewish leader at the time was Rabbi Stephen Wise, president of the World Jewish Congress. On August 8, 1942, his Geneva-based Secretary General, Dr. Gerhardt Riegner, informed him of the systematic genocidal slaughter of European Jews. In an unforgivable lapse of judgment, acceding to a request of the US State Department, Wise failed to inform the world until November 25 of that year when a small item about Nazis murdering Jews appeared in the back section of The New York Times.
...When Wise, who prided himself on being a friend and confidante of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, finally asked the US president to intervene, Roosevelt said: "The only way to stop the slaughter is to win the war. Tell your Jewish associates to keep quiet." Wise decided not to rock the boat.
Alas, not only did he remain silent, but he also brutally attacked and branded as extremists those who tried to raise the alarm, predicting that they would unleash unprecedented waves of anti-Semitism on American Jews. His attitude, which was shared by the majority of the Jewish establishment, was the most shameful failure of Jewish leadership in the 20th century.
This was the environment in which Kook found himself. Born 1915 in Lithuania, a nephew of the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Eretz Yisrael, the legendary religious Zionist leader Avraham Kook, Hillel arrived in Palestine as a child with his father, the first community rabbi of Afula. Kook became a disciple of Jabotinsky and was soon engaged in Etzel underground activities. In 1940, Jabotinsky sent him to New York to create a Jewish Brigade to fight the Nazis. He adopted the name Bergson after his favorite philosopher and linked up with Ben Hecht, the brilliant playwright and publicist.
When news of the Nazi genocide emerged and Kook witnessed the impotence of the Jewish leaders, he concentrated his efforts on raising alarm bells in a desperate effort to save the doomed European Jews.
Despite their shoe-string budget and pariah-like treatment, Kook and Ben Hecht launched an extraordinarily effective campaign of press releases, highly provocative full-page advertisements and even successful pageants, which for the first time made the American public aware of the horrors European Jews were undergoing.
Wise and his WJC co-president Nahum Goldmann spared no efforts to undermine Kook's efforts, reviling his group as irresponsible fanatics. They tried to sabotage the effective 1943 march to the White House by 400 Orthodox rabbis who urged the administration to intervene to save Jews. In 1944 they even went as far as to call on the US administration to deport Kook, alluding to him as great an enemy to the Jews as Hitler.
But Kook was undeterred, dismissing his opposition as "the ghetto Jewish leadership" whose concept of "responsibility" amounted to doing nothing and keeping quiet. IN 1944, Kook's efforts bore fruit when the administration set up the War Refugee Board which obliged Roosevelt to take action to save the surviving Jews, utilizing diplomatic intermediaries like Raoul Wallenberg. It may have been too little and too late but it is estimated that 200,000 Hungarian Jews owe their lives to Kook's intervention.
Kook subsequently launched other projects, including the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation which unsuccessfully tried to present itself as a government of exile. Disappointed at having failed to save the majority of European Jews, Kook returned to Israel, became a member of the Knesset, and after parting from Menahem Begin, retired from active politics. He died in 2001.
In recent years, Kook has become a symbol for the Jewish activism and self-confidence which played such a crucial role in support of Israel and the freedom of Soviet Jewry. When Nachum Goldmann of the WJC tried to continue on the path of shtadlanut (silent diplomacy) in relation to Soviet Jewry, Kook was one of the role models who motivated Jews at the grass roots to override him.
Kook taught us not to place our faith in princes and in the last resort, to rely on ourselves. He demonstrated that silence in the face of evil and genocide is a crime and that [quiet] diplomacy achieves nothing unless accompanied by a concerted public campaign.
... Hillel Kook's courageous struggle is an important reminder that Jews are responsible for one another and that we must never again stand by and permit a repetition of the shameful dereliction of responsibility displayed by Jewish leaders during that black era.
...[A recent] petition appealed to Yad Vashem to emulate the recent decision of the Holocaust Museum in Washington and incorporate an exhibit relating to the valiant efforts of Hillel Kook (aka Peter Bergson) to rescue European Jews at the height of the Auschwitz inferno....
...Hillel Kook was the embodiment of tenacity and devotion, in stark contrast to the leaders of the American Jewish establishment of his time, whose deafening silence in the face of the Nazi extermination was scandalous. Yet, only over the last few decades has Kook's role truly been appreciated.
The most powerful Diaspora Jewish leader at the time was Rabbi Stephen Wise, president of the World Jewish Congress. On August 8, 1942, his Geneva-based Secretary General, Dr. Gerhardt Riegner, informed him of the systematic genocidal slaughter of European Jews. In an unforgivable lapse of judgment, acceding to a request of the US State Department, Wise failed to inform the world until November 25 of that year when a small item about Nazis murdering Jews appeared in the back section of The New York Times.
...When Wise, who prided himself on being a friend and confidante of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, finally asked the US president to intervene, Roosevelt said: "The only way to stop the slaughter is to win the war. Tell your Jewish associates to keep quiet." Wise decided not to rock the boat.
Alas, not only did he remain silent, but he also brutally attacked and branded as extremists those who tried to raise the alarm, predicting that they would unleash unprecedented waves of anti-Semitism on American Jews. His attitude, which was shared by the majority of the Jewish establishment, was the most shameful failure of Jewish leadership in the 20th century.
This was the environment in which Kook found himself. Born 1915 in Lithuania, a nephew of the first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Eretz Yisrael, the legendary religious Zionist leader Avraham Kook, Hillel arrived in Palestine as a child with his father, the first community rabbi of Afula. Kook became a disciple of Jabotinsky and was soon engaged in Etzel underground activities. In 1940, Jabotinsky sent him to New York to create a Jewish Brigade to fight the Nazis. He adopted the name Bergson after his favorite philosopher and linked up with Ben Hecht, the brilliant playwright and publicist.
When news of the Nazi genocide emerged and Kook witnessed the impotence of the Jewish leaders, he concentrated his efforts on raising alarm bells in a desperate effort to save the doomed European Jews.
Despite their shoe-string budget and pariah-like treatment, Kook and Ben Hecht launched an extraordinarily effective campaign of press releases, highly provocative full-page advertisements and even successful pageants, which for the first time made the American public aware of the horrors European Jews were undergoing.
Wise and his WJC co-president Nahum Goldmann spared no efforts to undermine Kook's efforts, reviling his group as irresponsible fanatics. They tried to sabotage the effective 1943 march to the White House by 400 Orthodox rabbis who urged the administration to intervene to save Jews. In 1944 they even went as far as to call on the US administration to deport Kook, alluding to him as great an enemy to the Jews as Hitler.
But Kook was undeterred, dismissing his opposition as "the ghetto Jewish leadership" whose concept of "responsibility" amounted to doing nothing and keeping quiet. IN 1944, Kook's efforts bore fruit when the administration set up the War Refugee Board which obliged Roosevelt to take action to save the surviving Jews, utilizing diplomatic intermediaries like Raoul Wallenberg. It may have been too little and too late but it is estimated that 200,000 Hungarian Jews owe their lives to Kook's intervention.
Kook subsequently launched other projects, including the Hebrew Committee of National Liberation which unsuccessfully tried to present itself as a government of exile. Disappointed at having failed to save the majority of European Jews, Kook returned to Israel, became a member of the Knesset, and after parting from Menahem Begin, retired from active politics. He died in 2001.
In recent years, Kook has become a symbol for the Jewish activism and self-confidence which played such a crucial role in support of Israel and the freedom of Soviet Jewry. When Nachum Goldmann of the WJC tried to continue on the path of shtadlanut (silent diplomacy) in relation to Soviet Jewry, Kook was one of the role models who motivated Jews at the grass roots to override him.
Kook taught us not to place our faith in princes and in the last resort, to rely on ourselves. He demonstrated that silence in the face of evil and genocide is a crime and that [quiet] diplomacy achieves nothing unless accompanied by a concerted public campaign.
... Hillel Kook's courageous struggle is an important reminder that Jews are responsible for one another and that we must never again stand by and permit a repetition of the shameful dereliction of responsibility displayed by Jewish leaders during that black era.
Hamas, long the peace spoiler, finds it hard to halt attacks
From McClatchy Newspapers, Saturday, July 5, 2008, by Dion Nissenbaum:
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip ...Two weeks into a shaky cease-fire...the Egyptian-brokered peace is slowly unraveling as Hamas leaders in Gaza struggle to keep militants — especially their Fatah rivals — from firing the occasional rocket at Israel.
It's an awkward situation for Hamas: After years of derailing Palestinian peace talks with Israel by staging suicide bombings, Hamas is now the one asking rivals to halt their attacks on Israel.
Hamas is using a mix of coercion and shame to try to keep militants from breaking the deal. In the past week, Hamas has arrested two Fatah members and given them stern warnings to fall in line.
Hamas also has directed all militants to get permission before firing any rockets at Israel. If it happens without approval, a Hamas-led crisis management team steps in. And the Islamist group has publicly accused Gaza rocket launchers of betraying the Palestinian people and playing into Israeli hands by staging their attacks.
So far, it hasn't been enough.
Since the cease-fire took hold on Jun 19, Gaza militants have fired 11 rockets and mortars at southern Israel. They caused little damage but Israel used them to justify temporarily blocking the flow of supplies into Gaza.
In response, Hamas leaders have accused Israel of breaking its part of the deal by closing the borders. They've also warned that the shut-down could jeopardize the possible release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants more than two years ago....
...Hamas has already detained several Fatah members, including a spokesman for the group's militant wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade....
...Mohammed Abu Irmana, the detained Al Aqsa spokesman, said in a telephone interview with McClatchy that Al Aqsa would continue to fire rockets if Israel keeps staging deadly raids in the West Bank....
...Members of Islamic Jihad, the Gaza group that was the first to break the cease-fire after two if its members were killed in an Israeli raid in the West Bank, said the same thing.
...."This cease-fire is a matter of rest," said a 20-year-old fighter who gave his non du guerre as Abu Mohammed. "It's a fighters' break, to prepare for the next stage."
BEIT HANOUN, Gaza Strip ...Two weeks into a shaky cease-fire...the Egyptian-brokered peace is slowly unraveling as Hamas leaders in Gaza struggle to keep militants — especially their Fatah rivals — from firing the occasional rocket at Israel.
It's an awkward situation for Hamas: After years of derailing Palestinian peace talks with Israel by staging suicide bombings, Hamas is now the one asking rivals to halt their attacks on Israel.
Hamas is using a mix of coercion and shame to try to keep militants from breaking the deal. In the past week, Hamas has arrested two Fatah members and given them stern warnings to fall in line.
Hamas also has directed all militants to get permission before firing any rockets at Israel. If it happens without approval, a Hamas-led crisis management team steps in. And the Islamist group has publicly accused Gaza rocket launchers of betraying the Palestinian people and playing into Israeli hands by staging their attacks.
So far, it hasn't been enough.
Since the cease-fire took hold on Jun 19, Gaza militants have fired 11 rockets and mortars at southern Israel. They caused little damage but Israel used them to justify temporarily blocking the flow of supplies into Gaza.
In response, Hamas leaders have accused Israel of breaking its part of the deal by closing the borders. They've also warned that the shut-down could jeopardize the possible release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants more than two years ago....
...Hamas has already detained several Fatah members, including a spokesman for the group's militant wing, the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigade....
...Mohammed Abu Irmana, the detained Al Aqsa spokesman, said in a telephone interview with McClatchy that Al Aqsa would continue to fire rockets if Israel keeps staging deadly raids in the West Bank....
...Members of Islamic Jihad, the Gaza group that was the first to break the cease-fire after two if its members were killed in an Israeli raid in the West Bank, said the same thing.
...."This cease-fire is a matter of rest," said a 20-year-old fighter who gave his non du guerre as Abu Mohammed. "It's a fighters' break, to prepare for the next stage."
Monday, July 07, 2008
Bishop Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal - another Anglican anti-Semite
Now for some background to the other Anglican "luminary" from Jerusalem, follow the link to this posting on "Stand Firm" by Greg Griffith, Thursday, July 27, 2006:
This man [Bishop Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal, the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem] is a disgrace. Lots of hand-wringing about Palestinian angels and choirboys, but not a word about the thousands of innocent Israelis killed over the years in pizzerias and bus stops by terrorists with car bombs, or with semtex belts strapped to their bodies. Rowan Williams should denounce this statement, but I won't hold my breath....
Follow the link to the full posting and note the comments from US Anglicans...We need some Australian Anglicans to also "Stand Firm" against the hijacking of their church for foul purposes....
This man [Bishop Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal, the Anglican Bishop in Jerusalem] is a disgrace. Lots of hand-wringing about Palestinian angels and choirboys, but not a word about the thousands of innocent Israelis killed over the years in pizzerias and bus stops by terrorists with car bombs, or with semtex belts strapped to their bodies. Rowan Williams should denounce this statement, but I won't hold my breath....
Follow the link to the full posting and note the comments from US Anglicans...We need some Australian Anglicans to also "Stand Firm" against the hijacking of their church for foul purposes....
Light Relief
I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad tidings all the time, so here's an old joke, updated to the Internet era, for some light relief:
A Jewish man was sitting at his PC and surfing an anti-Semitic web site. A friend of his, who happened to come in, noticed this strange phenomenon.
... “Moshe, have you lost your mind? Why are you on that hateful web site?”
Moshe replied, “I used to read Jewish Issues Watchdog.... but what did I find? Jews being persecuted, Israel being attacked, Jews disappearing through assimilation and intermarriage, Australian Anglicans raising money for anti-Semites....oy a broch!
So I switched to the anti-Semitic sites. Now what do I find? Jews own all the banks, Jews control the media, Jews are all rich and powerful, Jews rule the world.....The news is so much better!”
A Jewish man was sitting at his PC and surfing an anti-Semitic web site. A friend of his, who happened to come in, noticed this strange phenomenon.
... “Moshe, have you lost your mind? Why are you on that hateful web site?”
Moshe replied, “I used to read Jewish Issues Watchdog.... but what did I find? Jews being persecuted, Israel being attacked, Jews disappearing through assimilation and intermarriage, Australian Anglicans raising money for anti-Semites....oy a broch!
So I switched to the anti-Semitic sites. Now what do I find? Jews own all the banks, Jews control the media, Jews are all rich and powerful, Jews rule the world.....The news is so much better!”
Hate at the altar
For some more background on the Anglican anti-Semitic movement (recipient of Australian charity via "AngliCORD"), see this from the Boston Globe, by Dexter Van Zile, media analyst at CAMERA, the Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting in America, October 25, 2007:
Any organization led by someone who would display an image with such a bloody and violent history would immediately be repudiated by people of good will. Virtually everyone knows that a noose hanging from a tree is a prelude to a lynching. Its display is a vile act intended to intimidate African-Americans and other minorities into submission. It is a vestige of the Old South that has been discarded by all but the irredeemably racist.
Sadly, Old South Church in downtown Boston is playing host to just such a group this weekend - with one slight difference. Instead of displaying a noose during a time of racial tension, the leader of the group in question - the Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, founder of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center - invoked the anti-Semitic trope of Jews as Christ-killers during the second intifada, when Palestinian suicide bombers were murdering citizens of Israel.
The portrayal of Jews as Christ-killers has contributed to untold violence and hostility toward the Jewish people, but for some reason, Old South Church is allowing Sabeel and Ateek, an Anglican priest from Jerusalem [from the Diocese of Jerusalem, recipient of Australian AngliCORD charity], the use of its worship space.
The centerpiece of this effort can be seen in the hostile rhetoric of Ateek. For example, his 2000 Christmas message portrayed Israeli officials as Herod, who, according to the Christian gospel, murdered all the infants of Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus. In his 2001 Easter message, Ateek wrote, "The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily" and that "Palestine has become the place of the skull." And in February 2001, Ateek compared the Israeli occupation to the stone blocking Christ's tomb.
...Who or what is the author of this movement?
....there is some very compelling evidence to indicate that at least one of the originators of the divestment movement is the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, based in Jerusalem and headed by Na’im Ateek. Sabeel was founded by Anglican Canon Naim Ateek in 1989. It espouses Marxist leaning liberation theology in the service to the Palestinian cause.
Sabeel describes itself as “an ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among Palestinian Christians”, which “hopes to connect the true meaning of Christian faith with the daily lives of all those who suffer under occupation, violence, discrimination, and human rights violations”. However, according to Brigitte Gabriel, Naim Ateek and other Sabeel acolytes devote themselves to promoting hatred of Jews and Israel.
Naim Ateek - Anglican anti-Semite, purveyor of hatred, recipient of Australian Anglican "charity"
IF A church in Boston announced that it was renting space to a self-described peace group whose leader hung nooses from trees in former slave-holding states, the interfaith community would be outraged, the church would be condemned, and the wisdom of its pastor and governing council would be called into question, with good reason.
Any organization led by someone who would display an image with such a bloody and violent history would immediately be repudiated by people of good will. Virtually everyone knows that a noose hanging from a tree is a prelude to a lynching. Its display is a vile act intended to intimidate African-Americans and other minorities into submission. It is a vestige of the Old South that has been discarded by all but the irredeemably racist.
Sadly, Old South Church in downtown Boston is playing host to just such a group this weekend - with one slight difference. Instead of displaying a noose during a time of racial tension, the leader of the group in question - the Rev. Dr. Naim Ateek, founder of Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center - invoked the anti-Semitic trope of Jews as Christ-killers during the second intifada, when Palestinian suicide bombers were murdering citizens of Israel.
The portrayal of Jews as Christ-killers has contributed to untold violence and hostility toward the Jewish people, but for some reason, Old South Church is allowing Sabeel and Ateek, an Anglican priest from Jerusalem [from the Diocese of Jerusalem, recipient of Australian AngliCORD charity], the use of its worship space.
For the past three decades, Sabeel has billed itself as the voice of the beleaguered community of Palestinian Christians in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Israel. Over the years, Sabeel has been successful in convincing well-meaning, but largely ignorant Christians in the United States and Europe that the Palestinian people are innocent sufferers and the Israeli government their brutal oppressors.
The centerpiece of this effort can be seen in the hostile rhetoric of Ateek. For example, his 2000 Christmas message portrayed Israeli officials as Herod, who, according to the Christian gospel, murdered all the infants of Bethlehem in an attempt to kill the infant Jesus. In his 2001 Easter message, Ateek wrote, "The Israeli government crucifixion system is operating daily" and that "Palestine has become the place of the skull." And in February 2001, Ateek compared the Israeli occupation to the stone blocking Christ's tomb.
With these three images, Ateek has figuratively blamed Israel for the attempted murder of the infant Jesus, the crucifixion of Jesus the prophet, and for blocking the resurrection of Christ the Savior.
In the context of Christian-Jewish relations, language like this - which has preceded and justified the killing of Jews for nearly two millennia - is the equivalent of a noose hanging from a tree in the Old South. Its use during a time of violence can only serve to justify continued violence against Israeli civilians. Sadly, Ateek's defenders have said that he is merely using the "language of the cross" to describe Palestinian suffering, but in fact, he is describing Israeli behavior.
Taken to its logical end, language like this suggests that the only solution to Palestinian suffering is Israel's elimination, which Sabeel called for in a 2004 document that stated the organization's "vision for the future" is "one-state for two nations and three religions."
To make matters worse, Ateek has invoked the notion of the wandering, defenseless Jew as a good thing by writing that Jewish statehood contradicts the Jewish call to suffer. This type of language has been regarded as taboo by responsible Christians since the Holocaust, and its reemergence in Ateek's writing is as ominous as a noose hanging from a tree.
This is not peacemaking; it is demonization. Such language might have been tolerable in the Old South, but not today.
Not in Boston's Old South.
Also see this, from "Divestment: The How-To Manual", by David Meir-Levi, FrontPageMagazine.com Monday, February 20, 2006:
...western society is constantly inundated with an endless barrage of anti-Israel diatribe cloaked in the faux mantles of human rights, justice, peace, or support for the Palestinian victims of Israeli aggression. The goal is for the western world eventually to acquiesce to the anti-Israel ideological cornerstone: the demonization of Israel such that Israel is defined as a rogue state, the world’s worst violator of human rights, a state that does not have the right to exist. Thus will the terrorists’ ultimate destruction of Israel be not just justified, but actually welcomed.
They do not want peace. They want Israel destroyed.
They do not want peace. They want Israel destroyed.
...Who or what is the author of this movement?
....there is some very compelling evidence to indicate that at least one of the originators of the divestment movement is the Sabeel Ecumenical Liberation Theology Center, based in Jerusalem and headed by Na’im Ateek. Sabeel was founded by Anglican Canon Naim Ateek in 1989. It espouses Marxist leaning liberation theology in the service to the Palestinian cause.
Sabeel describes itself as “an ecumenical grassroots liberation theology movement among Palestinian Christians”, which “hopes to connect the true meaning of Christian faith with the daily lives of all those who suffer under occupation, violence, discrimination, and human rights violations”. However, according to Brigitte Gabriel, Naim Ateek and other Sabeel acolytes devote themselves to promoting hatred of Jews and Israel.
...Sabeel’s record clearly demonstrates its central goal of delegitimizing and dismantling the State of Israel. Sabeel is active in promoting an extreme anti-Israel agenda in Protestant churches in both North America and Europe . Sabeel’s efforts have promoted the campaign to isolate and delegitimize Israel through the divestment movement, which was originally adopted by the World Council of Churches, the Anglican Church in Britain, the Presbyterian Church, and others. Many of these Church statements are actually paraphrases or even verbatim quotes from Sabeel’s publications. Therefore, it may well be that the divestment campaign, the latest form of political warfare against Israel, can be attributed to the efforts of Na’im Ateek and his staff at Sabeel....
For more, see "The radicals behind the Anglican Church" by SARAH MANDEL in JPost, Feb 26, 2006
Sunday, July 06, 2008
Just another day of vilifying Jews
The Anglican Church is still up to its misguided and dangerous "mischief". They are raising money in Australia to support an anti-Semitic arm of the Church, in Jerusalem. Ultimately this Australian money will support terrorism. This fundraising is advertised by the Australian Friends of Palestine Association, which includes very senior Anglican Church officials on its mailing lists.
See this from an article by Paul Davenport, Development Program Manager, AngliCORD (Anglican Church of Melbourne):
As the situation of intimidation and insecurity in the West Bank and Gaza continues, the quality of the work of The Diocese of Jerusalem is all the more remarkable and important....
[The Diocese of Jerusalem has included such "luminaries" as Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal, and Naim Ateek, two virulently anti-Semitic Anglican Arabs:
[1] Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal is a proponent of “replacement theology,” a discredited doctrine that lies behind centuries of Christian anti-Semitism. It teaches that the Christian Church is the replacement for Israel and that the many promises made to Israel in the Bible are fulfilled in the Christian Church, not in Israel. So, the prophecies in Scripture concerning the blessing and restoration of Israel to the Promised Land are "spiritualized" or “allegorized” into promises of God's blessing for the Church. The doctrine insinuates that all God’s promises to the Jews -- including the land of Israel -– were forfeit because the Jews had denied the divinity of Christ.
Riah has claimed of Palestinian Christians: ‘We are the true Israel… no-one can deny me the right to inherit the promises, and after all the promises were first given to Abraham and Abraham is never spoken of in the Bible as a Jew…He is the father of the faithful.’ Speaking at a lecture in the Arab Anglican Episcopalian Centre in Ramallah (Fasl Al-MaQal, Feb 6, 2003) he also supported terrorism by putting the view that suicide “martyrs” receive eternal life: " "Greetings of appreciation to all martyrs that were killed on the Land of Palestine ….Do not consider those that were killed for the sake of God as dead, but alive with their Lord".
[2] Naim Ateek is also a “replacement theologist” whose papers invert history, defame the Jews, justify anti-Semitism (as a ‘logical’ consequence of Israeli policies) and sanitise Arab violence. He was amongst the writers that asserted the alleged ‘similarity’ between Israeli policy and South African apartheid several years ago, and he ‘blessed’ and justified the Arab intifada in 2000.]
...My recent visit to Jerusalem, Nablus, Gaza and Ramallah left me with a confusing mix of contradictory feelings.
... I was deeply saddened to witness the humiliation of these same people as they waited patiently for four hours before being admitted into Gaza at the Eretz checkpoint....
...Earlier in the week, while visiting the parish church in Nablus in the West Bank, we witnessed soldiers retaliating against stone throwing youth with rounds of semi-automatic gunfire. A short time later a 12 year old boy was admitted to St Luke’s Hospital. His X-rays showed shrapnel dangerously close to his spine. As I saw the distress of his parents and extended family, it brought home to me the ripple effect that such an incident must have within the community.
This is a complex situation characterised by violence, poverty and trauma. The Diocese of Jerusalem is looking for new ways to respond ["new ways..." ... I wonder what they might be? - SL]. In turn, AngliCORD is committed to supporting that response both financially, and through solidarity....
Note that AngliCORD is accountable to Archbishop in Council, Diocese of Melbourne and the Diocese of Melbourne Synod, and is accredited by the Federal Government's overseas aid body, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), to receive government grants.
AngliCORD Board:
See this from an article by Paul Davenport, Development Program Manager, AngliCORD (Anglican Church of Melbourne):
As the situation of intimidation and insecurity in the West Bank and Gaza continues, the quality of the work of The Diocese of Jerusalem is all the more remarkable and important....
[The Diocese of Jerusalem has included such "luminaries" as Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal, and Naim Ateek, two virulently anti-Semitic Anglican Arabs:
[1] Riah Hanna Abu El-Assal is a proponent of “replacement theology,” a discredited doctrine that lies behind centuries of Christian anti-Semitism. It teaches that the Christian Church is the replacement for Israel and that the many promises made to Israel in the Bible are fulfilled in the Christian Church, not in Israel. So, the prophecies in Scripture concerning the blessing and restoration of Israel to the Promised Land are "spiritualized" or “allegorized” into promises of God's blessing for the Church. The doctrine insinuates that all God’s promises to the Jews -- including the land of Israel -– were forfeit because the Jews had denied the divinity of Christ.
Riah has claimed of Palestinian Christians: ‘We are the true Israel… no-one can deny me the right to inherit the promises, and after all the promises were first given to Abraham and Abraham is never spoken of in the Bible as a Jew…He is the father of the faithful.’ Speaking at a lecture in the Arab Anglican Episcopalian Centre in Ramallah (Fasl Al-MaQal, Feb 6, 2003) he also supported terrorism by putting the view that suicide “martyrs” receive eternal life: " "Greetings of appreciation to all martyrs that were killed on the Land of Palestine ….Do not consider those that were killed for the sake of God as dead, but alive with their Lord".
[2] Naim Ateek is also a “replacement theologist” whose papers invert history, defame the Jews, justify anti-Semitism (as a ‘logical’ consequence of Israeli policies) and sanitise Arab violence. He was amongst the writers that asserted the alleged ‘similarity’ between Israeli policy and South African apartheid several years ago, and he ‘blessed’ and justified the Arab intifada in 2000.]
...My recent visit to Jerusalem, Nablus, Gaza and Ramallah left me with a confusing mix of contradictory feelings.
... I was deeply saddened to witness the humiliation of these same people as they waited patiently for four hours before being admitted into Gaza at the Eretz checkpoint....
...Earlier in the week, while visiting the parish church in Nablus in the West Bank, we witnessed soldiers retaliating against stone throwing youth with rounds of semi-automatic gunfire. A short time later a 12 year old boy was admitted to St Luke’s Hospital. His X-rays showed shrapnel dangerously close to his spine. As I saw the distress of his parents and extended family, it brought home to me the ripple effect that such an incident must have within the community.
This is a complex situation characterised by violence, poverty and trauma. The Diocese of Jerusalem is looking for new ways to respond ["new ways..." ... I wonder what they might be? - SL]. In turn, AngliCORD is committed to supporting that response both financially, and through solidarity....
Note that AngliCORD is accountable to Archbishop in Council, Diocese of Melbourne and the Diocese of Melbourne Synod, and is accredited by the Federal Government's overseas aid body, the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), to receive government grants.
AngliCORD Board:
- President: The Most Reverend Dr Philip Freier, Archbishop of Melbourne
- Chair of the Board: The Ven Alison Taylor, Parish Priest St Dunstan's, Camberwell South
- Deputy Chair: Mr Andrew Flint
- Chief Executive Officer: Mr Michael Smitheram
- The Venerable Philip Newman, Archdeacon of: Christian Unity, Relations with World Religions. Board Chair of Shelford Girls' Grammar.
- The Revd David Boyd, Chaplain St Paul's Anglican Grammar School, Warragul
- Ms Wendy Rose AM, Former Chief Executive Save the Children Fund; Vice President ACFOA
- Ms Tracey Matthews, Workplace Asst & Training. Registrar, Diocese of Canberra Goulburn
- Mr Damien Arnold, Resources Manager, Breast Cancer Australia
- Mr David Woods, Company Secretary for AngliCORD.
Anatomy of a massacre
From THE JERUSALEM POST, Column One, Jul. 3, 2008, by Caroline Glick [posted in full - this is too important to summarise...]:
Government and police spokesmen would have us believe that the carnage in Jerusalem on Wednesday was unavoidable. Husam Taysir Dwayat, the convicted rapist, burglar and drug dealer turned jihadist who mowed down innocent people with his bulldozer on Jaffa Road was not suspected of links to terrorist organizations. The sociopathic, violent criminal who had "returned" to Islam over the past month raised no red flags. There was nothing to be done. No one is to blame.
If the protestations of the government and the police that nothing could have prevented Dwayat from using his bulldozer to murder three people sound familiar, it is because they are. Immediately after Ala Abu Dhaim entered into Mercaz Harav yeshiva on March 6 and massacred eight students, government and police spokesmen said the same thing. There was no way to prevent the attack. No one is to blame.
These statements are no more than easy excuses for incompetence. While it may be true that neither Dwayat nor Dhaim were members of a terror group, it is certainly true that both of these Jerusalemite terrorists operated in an atmosphere that engenders both radicalism and lawlessness. Their decisions to murder innocent people were products not only of their own evil natures, but of an atmosphere of permissiveness that naturally intensifies any latent desire to cause death and mayhem. If they had been operating in a different environment, it is possible they would have behaved differently.
Four months ago, Dhaim was able to enter Mercaz Harav by dint of his job as a driver for the Jerusalem Arab-owned transport company HaPnina. HaPnina had a city contract to transport school children. Dhaim, who arrived at the yeshiva in a company van, aroused no suspicion when he entered the yeshiva with a large box where he hid his rifle.
After Dhaim committed his massacre, the municipality immediately tried to abrogate its contract with HaPnina. HaPnina sued and the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court issued a temporary injunction requiring the city to continue using HaPnina until the judge ruled on the case. When Judge Hagit Mack-Kalmanovich finally decided in the municipality's favor on June 13, she noted that that the company had ignored a court order to provide documentation showing that its drivers had no criminal records and were qualified to transport children.
If the municipality were more vigilant in overseeing its contractors, it could have discovered that HaPnina was employing criminals well before the massacre. Perhaps then Dhaim wouldn't have been able to enter the yeshiva.
It is a criminal offense to praise acts of murder. When hundreds came to pay their respects for Dhaim and proclaim him a hero, the police could have arrested and interrogated all of them. Among those who arrived at the Dhaim's mourning tent was Wednesday's terrorist, Dwayat. If he had been arrested then, it is possible that police would have discovered that this convicted rapist had recently become a jihadist. It is also possible that Dwayat himself would have been intimidated.
But rather than enforce the law, the police did nothing. Rather than arrest the hundreds who came to praise Dhaim, the police excused their inaction by bemoaning the fact that the due process rights of Jerusalem Arabs made it impossible to destroy the homes of Arab terrorists in the capital without proper legal authorization. That is, they justified their decision to do nothing by complaining that they can't do everything.
The police's permissive behavior is nothing new. In Dhaim's and Dwayat's Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, as in the Beduin settlements in the Negev and the Arab cities and villages in the Galilee, the police simply refuse to enforce the law. They do not patrol the streets. They do not arrest religious, educational and political leaders who solicit terrorism or incite hatred. They do not enforce building laws. They do not protect state and privately owned land from squatters. Today some 90 percent of Arab construction in Israel is carried out without permits. Whole towns in the Negev have been built on stolen state land. And the police do nothing.
As a consequence of police inaction, thieves, smugglers, terror solicitors and other dangerous criminals are allowed to operate in the open. Fearing the wrath of human rights groups on the one hand and Arab rioters on the other, the police simply do not enforce Israeli law in the Arab sector.
This police passivity manifests itself not only in times of relative calm but also in emergency situations. For instance, at both Mercaz Harav and on Jaffa Road, the police were inexcusably passive. In both attacks the terrorists were only stopped by citizens who took the initiative when the police failed to act.
On Wednesday Dwayat killed two motorists and overturned a truck before a policeman and a security guard climbed into the cab of his bulldozer. And then, instead of shooting him, the policeman simply tried to restrain him. Due to the police's refusal to shoot, Dwayat killed 33-year-old Batsheva Unterman while the policeman was standing next to him in the bulldozer's cab. It was only the intervention of "M.," an unarmed IDF commando soldier on furlough, that ended the carnage.
M. climbed onto the bulldozer, took the security guard's gun and shot Dwayat in the head three times. Another policeman only shot Dwayat after M. had already killed him.
At Mercaz Harav, it took the police some 20 minutes to show up in force. Until then, only one police officer was at the scene. And as he heard the anguished cries of teenagers being murdered, he opted not to go in and protect them. He stood outside and did nothing. Dhaim was only stopped when yeshiva student Moshe Dadon and furloughed paratrooper Capt. David Shapira killed him. As luck or providence would have it, Shapira is M.'s brother-in-law.
In failing to act against Arab Israeli lawlessness and the terror it engenders, the police are little different from the government. Like the police, the government turns a blind eye to the radicalization and lawlessness of Arab Israeli society. And when the unchallenged lawless and jihadist atmosphere leads inevitably to massacre, the government talks of how its hands are tied and makes angry, tough declarations not backed by policy. Then it quickly moves to change the subject.
The government's refusal to form a coherent policy regarding the deteriorating situation in Israeli-Arab society was exposed at the Knesset on Wednesday. There, just as Dwayat was on his killing spree, the Knesset was scheduled to vote on two bills written by opposition lawmakers after the Mercaz Harav massacre. If passed, the bills will allow the government to revoke the citizenship of terrorists and their family members and prohibit the families of dead terrorists from publicly celebrating their actions.
The government's Ministerial Committee on Legislation voted to oppose the bills some weeks ago. It only changed its mind in light of the massacre on Jaffa Road. As opposition leader and Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu noted on Thursday morning in an interview with Israel Radio, the government's support of the bills was pure political opportunism. The sudden change in its position made clear that the government has no policies, only postures.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak reacted to Wednesday's attack by loudly proclaiming their support for destroying Dwayat's home. But as Netanyahu noted, they are policy-makers, not spokesmen. Their job is to act, not to declaim about their preferences.
And yet, making loud, crowd pleasing declarations is the only policy the government has for dealing with anything. Both Barak and Olmert know that in sovereign Israel it is legally impossible to simply destroy a house without due process. Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz is still trying to work out how to legally destroy Dhaim's home four months after he attacked. If Barak and Olmert really were interested in destroying terrorists' homes, they could pass a law explicitly empowering the government to do so.
While the police could end the atmosphere of lawlessness by enforcing the laws already on the books, the government can take positive steps to reverse the trends toward radicalization of Israeli Arab society. It can pass regulations barring anti-Zionist propaganda in public school curricula and sanctioning the immediate firing of public school teachers who teach students to hate Israel. It can suspend government funding of municipalities and local councils that do not enforce building codes. It can set up well-paid community police comprised of loyal citizens. The government can prosecute Arab politicians and leaders who treat with the enemy for treason.
But not only is the government doing none of these things, it is taking active steps to legitimize Israeli-Arab rejection of the State of Israel. So it is that far from barring the study of the myth of the so-called Nakba, or catastrophe of Israel's birth, in Arab schools, Education Minister Yuli Tamir is encouraging Israeli Jewish schools to teach the lie to their Jewish students. Rather than take action against Arab leaders who actively work to radicalize Israeli-Arab society and solicit terrorism, the government bends over backwards to appease these leaders in the name of multicultural pluralism.
The government has not sufficed with seeking to appease Arab radicals by embracing their anti-Israeli propaganda as legitimate. It is also actively working to marginalize the sectors of Israeli society that support policies aimed at reversing the trend of Arab radicalization.
M., the hero of Wednesday's attack, is case in point. M., a clearly motivated, resourceful and brave soldier, is 20 years old. At his age, he should have already been in the army for nearly two years. But he was only drafted four months ago. It turns out that the IDF didn't want him. Even as IDF commanders bemoan the dwindling draft rolls as more and more young men and women evade military service, the IDF fought for two years to keep M. out of its ranks.
The IDF opposed M.'s service because in 2005 he was arrested for protesting against the withdrawal from Gaza. Charges were never filed against him. But the mere fact that he was arrested for opposing one of the stupidest and most disastrous government policies the IDF has ever implemented was sufficient to make him politically suspect.
Then, too, by Thursday morning, unnamed government sources were warning that "right-wing extremists" were planning to start attacking Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods.
It is far easier to attack imaginary enemies than to face real ones.
It is possible that both Dhaim and Dwayat couldn't have been stopped. But it is certainly true that given the environment of lawlessness and governmental flaccidity in which they operated, there were no countervailing forces in their lives that might have led these evil men to have second thoughts about murdering innocent Israelis in the name of Allah.
Political bluster will not prevent the next attack. There are policies that Israel can enact today that will make the option of mass murder less attractive to its Arab citizenry. But as Barak, Olmert and their colleagues have made clear, nothing will happen under the current government.
Government and police spokesmen would have us believe that the carnage in Jerusalem on Wednesday was unavoidable. Husam Taysir Dwayat, the convicted rapist, burglar and drug dealer turned jihadist who mowed down innocent people with his bulldozer on Jaffa Road was not suspected of links to terrorist organizations. The sociopathic, violent criminal who had "returned" to Islam over the past month raised no red flags. There was nothing to be done. No one is to blame.
If the protestations of the government and the police that nothing could have prevented Dwayat from using his bulldozer to murder three people sound familiar, it is because they are. Immediately after Ala Abu Dhaim entered into Mercaz Harav yeshiva on March 6 and massacred eight students, government and police spokesmen said the same thing. There was no way to prevent the attack. No one is to blame.
These statements are no more than easy excuses for incompetence. While it may be true that neither Dwayat nor Dhaim were members of a terror group, it is certainly true that both of these Jerusalemite terrorists operated in an atmosphere that engenders both radicalism and lawlessness. Their decisions to murder innocent people were products not only of their own evil natures, but of an atmosphere of permissiveness that naturally intensifies any latent desire to cause death and mayhem. If they had been operating in a different environment, it is possible they would have behaved differently.
Four months ago, Dhaim was able to enter Mercaz Harav by dint of his job as a driver for the Jerusalem Arab-owned transport company HaPnina. HaPnina had a city contract to transport school children. Dhaim, who arrived at the yeshiva in a company van, aroused no suspicion when he entered the yeshiva with a large box where he hid his rifle.
After Dhaim committed his massacre, the municipality immediately tried to abrogate its contract with HaPnina. HaPnina sued and the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court issued a temporary injunction requiring the city to continue using HaPnina until the judge ruled on the case. When Judge Hagit Mack-Kalmanovich finally decided in the municipality's favor on June 13, she noted that that the company had ignored a court order to provide documentation showing that its drivers had no criminal records and were qualified to transport children.
If the municipality were more vigilant in overseeing its contractors, it could have discovered that HaPnina was employing criminals well before the massacre. Perhaps then Dhaim wouldn't have been able to enter the yeshiva.
It is a criminal offense to praise acts of murder. When hundreds came to pay their respects for Dhaim and proclaim him a hero, the police could have arrested and interrogated all of them. Among those who arrived at the Dhaim's mourning tent was Wednesday's terrorist, Dwayat. If he had been arrested then, it is possible that police would have discovered that this convicted rapist had recently become a jihadist. It is also possible that Dwayat himself would have been intimidated.
But rather than enforce the law, the police did nothing. Rather than arrest the hundreds who came to praise Dhaim, the police excused their inaction by bemoaning the fact that the due process rights of Jerusalem Arabs made it impossible to destroy the homes of Arab terrorists in the capital without proper legal authorization. That is, they justified their decision to do nothing by complaining that they can't do everything.
The police's permissive behavior is nothing new. In Dhaim's and Dwayat's Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem, as in the Beduin settlements in the Negev and the Arab cities and villages in the Galilee, the police simply refuse to enforce the law. They do not patrol the streets. They do not arrest religious, educational and political leaders who solicit terrorism or incite hatred. They do not enforce building laws. They do not protect state and privately owned land from squatters. Today some 90 percent of Arab construction in Israel is carried out without permits. Whole towns in the Negev have been built on stolen state land. And the police do nothing.
As a consequence of police inaction, thieves, smugglers, terror solicitors and other dangerous criminals are allowed to operate in the open. Fearing the wrath of human rights groups on the one hand and Arab rioters on the other, the police simply do not enforce Israeli law in the Arab sector.
This police passivity manifests itself not only in times of relative calm but also in emergency situations. For instance, at both Mercaz Harav and on Jaffa Road, the police were inexcusably passive. In both attacks the terrorists were only stopped by citizens who took the initiative when the police failed to act.
On Wednesday Dwayat killed two motorists and overturned a truck before a policeman and a security guard climbed into the cab of his bulldozer. And then, instead of shooting him, the policeman simply tried to restrain him. Due to the police's refusal to shoot, Dwayat killed 33-year-old Batsheva Unterman while the policeman was standing next to him in the bulldozer's cab. It was only the intervention of "M.," an unarmed IDF commando soldier on furlough, that ended the carnage.
M. climbed onto the bulldozer, took the security guard's gun and shot Dwayat in the head three times. Another policeman only shot Dwayat after M. had already killed him.
At Mercaz Harav, it took the police some 20 minutes to show up in force. Until then, only one police officer was at the scene. And as he heard the anguished cries of teenagers being murdered, he opted not to go in and protect them. He stood outside and did nothing. Dhaim was only stopped when yeshiva student Moshe Dadon and furloughed paratrooper Capt. David Shapira killed him. As luck or providence would have it, Shapira is M.'s brother-in-law.
In failing to act against Arab Israeli lawlessness and the terror it engenders, the police are little different from the government. Like the police, the government turns a blind eye to the radicalization and lawlessness of Arab Israeli society. And when the unchallenged lawless and jihadist atmosphere leads inevitably to massacre, the government talks of how its hands are tied and makes angry, tough declarations not backed by policy. Then it quickly moves to change the subject.
The government's refusal to form a coherent policy regarding the deteriorating situation in Israeli-Arab society was exposed at the Knesset on Wednesday. There, just as Dwayat was on his killing spree, the Knesset was scheduled to vote on two bills written by opposition lawmakers after the Mercaz Harav massacre. If passed, the bills will allow the government to revoke the citizenship of terrorists and their family members and prohibit the families of dead terrorists from publicly celebrating their actions.
The government's Ministerial Committee on Legislation voted to oppose the bills some weeks ago. It only changed its mind in light of the massacre on Jaffa Road. As opposition leader and Likud Chairman Binyamin Netanyahu noted on Thursday morning in an interview with Israel Radio, the government's support of the bills was pure political opportunism. The sudden change in its position made clear that the government has no policies, only postures.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak reacted to Wednesday's attack by loudly proclaiming their support for destroying Dwayat's home. But as Netanyahu noted, they are policy-makers, not spokesmen. Their job is to act, not to declaim about their preferences.
And yet, making loud, crowd pleasing declarations is the only policy the government has for dealing with anything. Both Barak and Olmert know that in sovereign Israel it is legally impossible to simply destroy a house without due process. Attorney-General Menahem Mazuz is still trying to work out how to legally destroy Dhaim's home four months after he attacked. If Barak and Olmert really were interested in destroying terrorists' homes, they could pass a law explicitly empowering the government to do so.
While the police could end the atmosphere of lawlessness by enforcing the laws already on the books, the government can take positive steps to reverse the trends toward radicalization of Israeli Arab society. It can pass regulations barring anti-Zionist propaganda in public school curricula and sanctioning the immediate firing of public school teachers who teach students to hate Israel. It can suspend government funding of municipalities and local councils that do not enforce building codes. It can set up well-paid community police comprised of loyal citizens. The government can prosecute Arab politicians and leaders who treat with the enemy for treason.
But not only is the government doing none of these things, it is taking active steps to legitimize Israeli-Arab rejection of the State of Israel. So it is that far from barring the study of the myth of the so-called Nakba, or catastrophe of Israel's birth, in Arab schools, Education Minister Yuli Tamir is encouraging Israeli Jewish schools to teach the lie to their Jewish students. Rather than take action against Arab leaders who actively work to radicalize Israeli-Arab society and solicit terrorism, the government bends over backwards to appease these leaders in the name of multicultural pluralism.
The government has not sufficed with seeking to appease Arab radicals by embracing their anti-Israeli propaganda as legitimate. It is also actively working to marginalize the sectors of Israeli society that support policies aimed at reversing the trend of Arab radicalization.
M., the hero of Wednesday's attack, is case in point. M., a clearly motivated, resourceful and brave soldier, is 20 years old. At his age, he should have already been in the army for nearly two years. But he was only drafted four months ago. It turns out that the IDF didn't want him. Even as IDF commanders bemoan the dwindling draft rolls as more and more young men and women evade military service, the IDF fought for two years to keep M. out of its ranks.
The IDF opposed M.'s service because in 2005 he was arrested for protesting against the withdrawal from Gaza. Charges were never filed against him. But the mere fact that he was arrested for opposing one of the stupidest and most disastrous government policies the IDF has ever implemented was sufficient to make him politically suspect.
Then, too, by Thursday morning, unnamed government sources were warning that "right-wing extremists" were planning to start attacking Jerusalem Arab neighborhoods.
It is far easier to attack imaginary enemies than to face real ones.
It is possible that both Dhaim and Dwayat couldn't have been stopped. But it is certainly true that given the environment of lawlessness and governmental flaccidity in which they operated, there were no countervailing forces in their lives that might have led these evil men to have second thoughts about murdering innocent Israelis in the name of Allah.
Political bluster will not prevent the next attack. There are policies that Israel can enact today that will make the option of mass murder less attractive to its Arab citizenry. But as Barak, Olmert and their colleagues have made clear, nothing will happen under the current government.
Young Hero of the Bulldozer Terror Attack
From YouTube 2/7/08:
The young man in the blue tee-shirt is an inspiring hero. He borrowed the weapon from a bystander, and mounted the bulldozer to get at the terrorist who was protected from the police shots by the armoured windows of the machine.
Look at how he does what he needs to, to stop the murderer, then carefully checks the revolver the ensure that it's safe before handing it back to the owner... It's a calm calculated act of heroism, but how sad that our young men are called on to do this to protect the nation?
Note that this act is a mitzvah in accordance with Din rodef (“the case of the pursuer”), which might be more idiomatically translated into English as “the right of self-defense.”
It refers to the rabbinic precept that, as articulated by Maimonides, says:
“Every Jew is obligated to save a pursued person from his pursuer, even if this means killing the pursuer.”
A “pursuer,” in the rabbinic context, is someone who is a threat to someone’s life. If you see a murderer pursuing others in the street to kill them, he is a rodef and it is your duty, if you can carry it out without risk to your own life, to stop him in any way you can — even by shooting and killing him.
The young man in the blue tee-shirt is an inspiring hero. He borrowed the weapon from a bystander, and mounted the bulldozer to get at the terrorist who was protected from the police shots by the armoured windows of the machine.
Look at how he does what he needs to, to stop the murderer, then carefully checks the revolver the ensure that it's safe before handing it back to the owner... It's a calm calculated act of heroism, but how sad that our young men are called on to do this to protect the nation?
Note that this act is a mitzvah in accordance with Din rodef (“the case of the pursuer”), which might be more idiomatically translated into English as “the right of self-defense.”
It refers to the rabbinic precept that, as articulated by Maimonides, says:
“Every Jew is obligated to save a pursued person from his pursuer, even if this means killing the pursuer.”
A “pursuer,” in the rabbinic context, is someone who is a threat to someone’s life. If you see a murderer pursuing others in the street to kill them, he is a rodef and it is your duty, if you can carry it out without risk to your own life, to stop him in any way you can — even by shooting and killing him.
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