Israeli forces attack aid Gaza aid flotilla, kill activists

Jazakallahu Khayran for starting this thread. To keep the expected ration and desire to responses to this abominable act in one place I am making this thread a sticky. Let us all try to keep posts about this here on this thread. Please post sources for all quoted new sources.

Israeli prime minister cancels White House meeting
AP

*
Buzz up!507 votes
* Send
o Email
o IM
* Share
o Facebook
o Twitter
o Delicious
o Digg
o Fark
o Newsvine
o Reddit
o StumbleUpon
o Technorati
o Yahoo! Bookmarks
* Print

This video image released by the Turkish Aid group IHH Monday May 31, 2010 purports to show Israeli soldiers aboard a military vessel in international AP – This video image released by the Turkish Aid group IHH Monday May 31, 2010 purports to show Israeli soldiers …

* Mideast Conflict Slideshow:Mideast Conflict
* Activists dead as Israel storms ship Play Video Video:Activists dead as Israel storms ship Reuters
* Up to 19 dead as Israel forces storm Gaza aid boat Play Video Video:Up to 19 dead as Israel forces storm Gaza aid boat AFP

17 mins ago

JERUSALEM – Israel's prime minister has called off a planned visit to the White House to deal with a crisis over a botched naval raid that killed 10 pro-Palestinian activists.

Netanyahu, who is in Canada, was set to travel to Washington to meet with President Barack Obama on Tuesday. But his office says he decided to return home early after Monday's commando raid.

The commandos intercepted a flotilla of activists trying to deliver aid to the Gaza Strip. The deadly crackdown has drawn widespread international condemnations.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SOURCE

Turks rally against Israeli attack


Protesters denounced the raid on Gaza aid ships by Israel [Reuters]

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets in the Turkish city of Istanbul to denounce Israel over its attack on the convoy of Gaza-bound aid ships that left at least 19 people dead.

Around 10,000 people marched from the Israeli consulate in Istanbul towards the city's main square on Monday, shouting slogans and waving banners saying "Killer Israel".

Protests also took place in Ankara, the capital.

A Turkish charity has said most of those killed in the raid on six ships in international waters were Turkish nationals.

Earlier on Monday protesters attempted to storm the Israeli consulate, scaling over the compound's walls, but were blocked from going further by police.

Israel has advised its citizens to avoid travel to Turkey and instructed those already there to keep a low profile and avoid crowded downtown areas.

source : Aljazeera English..

Protest also took place in other muslim countries, but with less numbers.

Today I am Palestinian.

another news report

At Least 10 Killed as Israel Storms Aid Flotilla

Israeli commandos on Monday stormed six ships carrying hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists on an aid mission to the blockaded Gaza Strip, killing at least 10 people and wounding dozens after encountering unexpected resistance as the forces boarded the vessels.

The operation in international waters off the Gaza coast was a nightmare scenario for Israel that looked certain to further damage its international standing, strain already-tense relations with Turkey, and draw unwanted attention to Gaza's plight.

Television reports in Israel and Turkey said as many as 19 people were killed in the clashes at sea, but the higher death toll could not be immediately confirmed.

The two sides offered conflicting accounts of what happened.

A reporter on one of the boats said the Israelis fired at the vessel before boarding it.
Israel claims its naval forces met violent resistance from the ship's passengers - knives and clubs, but also live fire - and so they fired back.
A Turkish TV journalist on board one ship reported that members of the flotilla raised a white flag to the Israeli military, after one person had been killed. But it was quickly clear, CBS News correspondent Richard Roth reports, that there had been several more dead and wounded among the 600 or so passengers.

SOURCE

20 dead as Israeli forces storm Freedom Flotilla:

Source:

GAZA CITY : At least 20 passengers have been reported dead and over 60 wounded on Monday when Israeli forces stormed Freedom Flotilla (a boat carrying pro-Palestinian activists bound for Gaza), Aaj News reported. Executive Director Aaj News Talat Hussain along with his team members is onboard, whose where about could not be known.

AFP: Unconfirmed media reports from Hamas's Al Aqsa television said up to 20 passengers had been killed, of whom nine were Turkish nationals.

Media reports also said that senior Arab Israeli leader Raed Salah had been severely injured in the clashes, in which Gaza-based Hamas TV station said up to 20 people were killed.

According to Israel's private channel 10 television, Israeli marine commandos had opened fire after being attacked with axes and knives by a number of the passengers on board the aid ships, the television said, without giving the source of its information.

Israel's army radio said between 10 and 14 people had been killed in clashes which broke out after the passengers allegedly tried to grab weapons off the naval commandos who tried to storm one of the boats.

It was not clear whether the clashes took place on just one of the six boats making up the aid convoy.

Police said Israeli security forces were put on high alert to handle any "possible disturbances" among the country's Arab Israeli population in the wake of the deadly naval raid.

Turkey's foreign ministry warned that the raid on the Flotilla, which included Turkish vessels, may lead to "irreparable consequences" in bilateral ties.

"We strongly condemn these inhumane practices of Israel," a written statement said.

"This deplorable incident, which took place in open seas and constitutes a fragrant breach of international law, may lead to irreparable consequences in our bilateral relations," it said.

The Islamist Hamas movement which controls the Gaza Strip on Monday urged Arabs and Muslims to "rise up" in front of Israeli embassies across the globe in protest against Israel's deadly raid.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas slammed the killings as "a massacre", while Arab League chief Amr Mussa said the raid was a "crime" against a humanitarian mission.

The Israeli military censor ordered a block on all information regarding those injured or killed during the storming of the ship.

Gaza's Al-Aqsa television showed footage of black-clad Israeli commandos descending from helicopters and clashing with activists, as well as several wounded people lying on the deck of the ship.

The ships, carrying more than 700 passengers, were on the last leg of an aid mission to deliver some 10,000 tonnes of supplies to Gaza, which has been under a crippling Israeli blockade since 2007.

Hamas reacted angrily to the deadly raid.

"We call on all Arabs and Muslims to rise up in front of Zionist embassies across the whole world," said Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri, using the Arabic word 'intifada'.

Ismail Haniya, the Islamist movement's prime minister in Gaza, slammed the "ugly attack" in a statement in which he called for "the United Nations to protect the activists" on board the boats.

The boats had started heading towards Gaza from international waters of Cyprus at 3:00pm (1200 GMT) Sunday, with organisers saying they hoped to enter Gaza waters during the daylight hours.

About six hours after their departure, three Israeli missile boats left their naval base in the northern coastal city of Haifa on a mission to intercept the flotilla, reporters on board one of the vessels said before being told to turn off their phones.

Israel had at the weekend slammed as "illegal" the convoy's attempt to break the Gaza blockade and warned it would intercept the ships, tow them to the Ashdod port and detain the activists before seeking to deport them.

It labelled the convoy a media stunt, insisting the humanitarian situation is stable in Gaza despite reports to the contrary from aid agencies and offering to deliver the supplies through its own land crossings.

"This is a provocation intended to delegitimise Israel," Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon said on Saturday.



And here is a you tube video

@ Brother Woodrow:

Pakistani news channel reports that 20 are killed while 60 are injured!

Innalillahi Wa Inna Aliye hi Rajion!


UN to hold emergency talks on aid Flotilla

UNITED NATIONS : The UN Security Council was to hold emergency talks Monday on the crisis triggered after Israeli navy commandos stormed a Gaza-bound aid flotilla, killing up to 19 people, a UN diplomat said.

The talks would take place at 1:00 pm (1700 GMT), the diplomat said. The UN Security Council is currently chaired by Lebanon until 0400 GMT Tuesday and earlier Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri had called for an emergency session in the wake of the deadly Israeli raid.

"Prime Minister Hariri has asked the Lebanese delegation at the UN to call for an emergency meeting over what happened today," a Lebanese official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said.

SOURCE


Turkey withdraws Embassador to Israel

ANKARA : Turkey's deputy prime minister says Turkey is withdrawing its ambassador to Israel, canceling three joint military exercises and calling on the U.N. Security Council to meet urgently over Israeli action against Gaza aid ships.

Bulent Arinc says Turkey is withdrawing its ambassador on Monday and also calling back a youth soccer team from Israel.

Arinc says Israel's actions are equal to “piracy.” He ruled out sending Turkish warships into the Mediterranean.

Around 10,000 Turks marched in protest from the Israeli consulate in Istanbul to a main square, chanting, “Murderous Israel you will drown in the blood you shed.

SOURCE

Is anyone watching the link? It was live when I posted. Probably still is.

And the video has been taken from the same source AAj News.
It is a Pakistani news channel!

Do you know, the brave brother we see in the video is actually a Pakistani reporter and one of my favourite who was present on that ship and has been taken into custody by Israeli blood thirsty hyenas! We don't even know whether he is alive or dead! Oh Allah!!!

Aid volunteers, international law massacred off Gaza

The ship, Mavi Marmara, was attacked by Israeli forces early on Monday morning, with marines storming aboard from dinghies and rappelling down from helicopters. Information so far has been sketchy because Israel imposed a media blackout. Israeli government sources said "more than 10" activists died. Israeli media has spoken of up to 19 dead and dozens of injuries. Unconfirmed news reports said nine Turks have been killed.

Israel sparked an outcry across the world when its naval commandos attacked a defenseless Gaza-bound international aid convoy in international waters, killing at least 10 aboard a Turkish ship.

Following the raid on the aid convoy, Israel confiscated the cargo as well as the vessels and docked them in the Israeli port of Ashdod. Dozens of passengers were arrested, news reports said. Further information regarding the fate of the wounded and the remaining passengers could not be obtained because of Israel's media blackout. Turkey demanded an immediate and detailed account from Israel on the state of the Turkish citizens in Israeli custody and told Israel to send home the injured Turks.

Israel had warned that it would intercept the convoy, which was carrying some 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid. There were hundreds of international activists aboard the ships, including a Nobel peace laureate and a Holocaust survivor. But despite the Israeli warnings, the violence of the response shocked the world, sparking outrage in the Middle East, within the United Nations and in Europe. The United States, Israel's key ally, however, was exceptionally cautious, saying only that it regretted the loss of life and that it was looking into the “tragedy.”

In addition irreversibly damaging Israel's ties with Turkey, the bloody interception dealt a fatal blow to efforts to advance tentative peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and is likely to increase international pressure on Israel to end its three-year-long blockade of Gaza.

"This attack is another sign of the reckless levels that the Israeli government's violent policies have reached," Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Arınç, who presided over an emergency meeting of the government and senior military commanders earlier in the day, said in a televised speech. The government, which had disassociated itself from the aid convoy, saying it was a nongovernmental initiative, received criticism over the way it handled the entire incident, with opposition politicians and media commentators laying the blame on decision-makers for not offering any protection to the aid ships, knowing that they would be intercepted by Israeli forces.

“I was expecting an intervention,” said Murat Mercan, the chairman of Parliament's Foreign Affairs Commission. “But, I was not expecting bloodshed, the use of arms and bullets. Israel is engaged in activity that will severely hurt its image,” he added.

Turkish-Israeli relations have long been tense, mostly as a result of the Israeli blockade of Gaza, but a violent attack on Turkish civilians in international waters is worse than any worst case scenario that was ever imagined. Angry Turks attempted to storm Israeli Consulate in İstanbul and then marched to Taksim Square in an angry protest, prompting ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) Deputy Chairman Hüseyin Çelik to warn against “being carried away by emotion” and calling for prudence.

The international community earlier warned Israel not to engage in an offensive against civilian vessels carrying peaceful activists whose aim was to break the three-year-long economic blockade on Gaza which has severely plagued Gazans. The United Nations, the European Parliament, the International Committee of the Red Cross and Amnesty International have all drawn attention to the people's long plight in Gaza, where Gazans, including children and the sick, are deprived even of their basic needs.

Although Israel says it warned the ships to turn around and that its soldiers were attacked by passengers on board, it is unlikely to receive international sympathy. European leaders expressed “profound shock” over the bloody interception and the UN put the blame on Israel.

United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Robert Serry and the head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Filippo Grandi, expressed shock at the killings aboard boats carrying humanitarian supplies in international waters. "Such tragedies are entirely avoidable if Israel heeds the repeated calls of the international community to end its counterproductive and unacceptable blockade of Gaza," they said in a joint statement.

“It's disgusting that they have come on board and attacked civilians. We are civilians,” said Greta Berlin, a spokeswoman for the Free Gaza movement, which organized the flotilla.

“We were not expecting such an operation in international waters,” Ömer Faruk Korkmaz, an official of the Humanitarian Aid Association (İHH), which led the aid shipment in Turkey, said. “Israel has been caught red-handed and the international community will not forgive it.” Korkmaz said the ship was being escorted to Haifa.

Israel, who declared that five of its soldiers were wounded during the operation, was defiant after the incident, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announcing that the attack had his full support. “We made repeated offers that they should bring the boats to the port of Ashdod and from there we guaranteed that all humanitarian cargo would be transferred to the people of Gaza,” Mark Regev, a spokesman for Netanyahu said.

Mideast peace a distant dream
Israeli officials said Prime Minister Netanyahu was considering whether to cancel a White House meeting on Tuesday with US President Barack Obama and fly home early. Those talks had been expected to focus on US efforts to advance tentative negotiations with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. But peace talks, mediated by Obama's envoy, seem unlikely to continue for the time being.

For Israel, storming the ships after they ignored warnings to turn back was part of a strategy of isolating the Islamist Hamas in Gaza in the hope of tilting Palestinian sympathies toward US-backed Abbas. But Abbas's credibility has been undermined by Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, another territory where Palestinians want statehood, and he can ill-afford to stand by as outsiders bleed on behalf of Gaza's 1.5 million Palestinians.

The Palestinian president described the Israel's pre-dawn interception as a “massacre” and declared three days of mourning in the Palestinian territories.

Hamas, which has largely fallen from world headlines since its war with Israel some 18 months ago, on the other hand, welcomed what it described as a win-win situation from the standoff at sea. Hamas government head Ismail Haniyeh said of the activists: "You were heroes, whether you reached [Gaza] or not."

Israeli forces were on high alert on the Gazan, Syrian and Lebanese borders as well as around Jerusalem, the occupied West Bank and areas of northern Israel, where much of the country's Arab population lives. Israeli officials denied reports that a leading Arab Israeli Islamist had been killed on the convoy.

Across the Middle East, anger against Israel was mounting. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said the action was “inhumane.” Syria, which hosts the exiled leadership of Hamas, called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League.

"Israel's kidnapping of civilian hostages from international waters and their arrest constitutes a barbaric aggression and Israel bears complete responsibility if anything happens to them," Hezbollah lawmaker Hassan Fadlallah told Reuters.



"It's going to be a big scandal, no doubt about it," Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, the Israeli trade minister, who is known to be a moderate in Netanyahu's cabinet, told Reuters Insider in an interview in Doha, where he was on a visit to Qatar, one of the few Arab states where Israeli officials can travel. Ben-Eliezer said the whole thing was a “provocation from its beginning” and added: "We tried our best to block the way. Everyone can judge us. When there is blood, you cannot explain anything."



http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/ne...-off-gaza.html

While most people will stand by any nations right to check and search any incoming ship for contraband. I believe most will also agree that to do so by a commando raid is excessive force.


May Allaah(swt) make this tragedy become a victory for Palestine as the world sees first hand international reports of what Israel really is.

PRESS RELEASE FROM TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTRY

We protest in the strongest terms the use of force by the Israeli Defense Forces against the civilians from many countries who want to transport humanitarian assistance to the people in Gaza, and among whom there are women and children, which, according to the initial information available, resulted in the death of 2 persons and injury of more than 30 people.

Israel has once again clearly demonstrated that it does not value human lives and peaceful initiatives through targeting innocent civilians. We strongly condemn these inhuman acts of Israel. This grave incident which took place in high seas in gross violation of international law might cause irreversible consequences in our relations.

Besides the initiatives being conducted by our Embassy in Tel Aviv, this unacceptable incident is being strongly protested and explanation is demanded from Israil’s Ambassador in Ankara, who has been invited to our Ministry.

Whatsoever the motives might be, such actions against civilians who are involved only in peaceful activities cannot be accepted. Israel will have to bear the consequences of these actions which constitute a violation of international law.

May God bestow His mercy upon those who lost their lives. We wish to express our condolences to the bereaved families of the deceased, and swift recovery to the wounded.



http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/ne...ts-israel.html

format_quote Originally Posted by M.A.S.H.

It did have sovereignty then. Arabs were the first to break a UN decision (the partition plan). And arabs didn't want an independent Palestine anway, they were defending their own claims to the land.

1- They have no sovereignty, they never did and never will!
2- There is nothing to break as far as Arabs are concerned, you are so incredibly ignorant.. have a crash course in the real facts before you open your yap ey?

A Crash Course in the Real Facts
Israel's supporters in this country have been flooding the Internet with what they call A Crash Course in the Real Facts. It consists of 20 points, all misleading in the way they are written. A point by point rebuttal follows...
NATIONHOOD AND JERUSALEM
1. Israel became a nation in 1312 B.C.E., two thousand years before the rise of Islam.
The use of the word “nation” is ambiguous unless it is defined. It is confusing and misleading to use a modern notion and apply it to what happened in 1312 BC. This is how Black’s Law Dictionary defines the word "nation":

“a people, or aggregation of men, existing in the form of an organized jural society, usually inhabiting a distinct portion of the earth, speaking the same language, using the same customs, possessing historic continuity, and distinguished from other like groups by their racial origin and characteristics, and generally, but not necessarily, living under the same government and sovereignty.”

According to this definition Israel became a nation once it became an independent kingdom in 1011 BC (King David 1011-971 BC; and King Solomon 971-931 BC). In 931 BC, the kingdom was divided in two: Israel in the north, (capital Samaria) from 931 to 722 BC; and Judah in the south (capital Jerusalem) from 931 to 587 BC.
Samaria fell to Assyria in 722 BC and a large portion of the population was deported. This kingdom lasted for 209 years.
Jerusalem fell to the Babylonians in 587 BC and the cream of the population was deported. This kingdom lasted for 344 year.
The total number of years during which Israel was a "nation", even if we take into consideration the small Kingdom of Judah is 424 years. Outside this period Israel was more of a religion than a nation.
The Pittsburgh Platform of 1885 was issued by a group of reform rabbis. It stated: “we consider ourselves no longer a nation but a religious community" (see full text of Pittsburg Platform ).
Furthermore, a letter dated April 20, 1964, from Assistant Secretary of State Phillips Talbot to Rabbi Elmer Berger stated: the State Department "does not recognize a legal-political relationship based upon religious identification of American citizens ... it should be clear that the Department of State does not regard the Jewish people concept as a concept of international law" (see full text of the letter ).
Israel ceased to be a nation in 587 BC. It became a nation again in AD 1948. According to the definition given in Black’s Law Dictionary Jews who are not Israelis do not belong to the Israeli nation, they belong the Jewish faith like their coreligionists in Israel. 2. Arab refugees in Israel began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967, two decades after the establishment of the Modern State of Israel.
First, there are no Arab refugees in Israel, unless the writer has already annexed the Occupied Territories, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon to Israel.
The problem of the Palestinian refugees, that the writer calls “Arab” refugees to confuse the reader and avoid using the word Palestinian, started from the moment Israel was established in 1948, since some 700,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and their homeland and were not allowed to return. There is even a UN resolution that deal with the Palestinian refugees. It is General Assembly resolution 194 of 11 December 1948. The resolution deals explicitly, among other things, with the return of the Palestinian refugees to their homes.
Whether the "Arab" refugees began identifying themselves as part of a Palestinian people in 1967 or not is irrelevant. The fact is that there is today a universal aknowledgment that there is a Palestinian people, even Israel acknowledges this fact. To deny it won't solve the problem of Israel.

3. Since the Jewish conquest in 1272 B.C.E. the Jews have had dominion over the land for one thousand years with a continuous presence in the land for the past 3,300 years.
What is said in No. 1 above is relevant here. I detect a contradiction between what is said in 1 above and what is being said here. How can Israel be considered a nation in 1312 BC (see No. 1 above) when the "Jewish conquest" of the land of Canaan occurred later in 1272 BC?
There can be no nation without “inhabiting a distinct portion of the earth,” according to the definition. The continuous presence in the land, if we accept it for the sake of argument, was a presence of the Jews as individuals not as a nation. Following the first revolt, the Romans destroyed the Temple in AD 70. After the second revolt (AD 132-135), the Jews were either killed or sold into slavery and dispersed in the Roman Empire. Emperor Hadrian built a temple in honor of Jupiter on the site of the Jewish temple and issued a decree that prohibited under penalty of death the presence of the Jews in Jerusalem. The prohibition was lifted after the Muslim Arab conquest.
4. The only Arab dominion since the conquest in 635 C.E. lasted no more than 22 years.
In 638, not 635, Jerusalem and Palestine, were conquered by the Muslim Arabs. The Muslim rule lasted from 638 to 1099, from 1187 to 1229 and from 1239 to 1917 which is the year Jerusalem fell to General Allenby. In the interim periods, that is from 1099 to 1187 and from 1229 to 1239 the Crusaders established the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. The total number of years Muslims ruled Jerusalem and Palestine is 1,181 years not 22. The writer was off the mark by just 1,159 years. It should be mentioned that before the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after World War One, there was only one dominion, Muslim dominion. Speaking of Arab dominion is misleading.
5. For over 3,300 years, Jerusalem has been the Jewish capital. Jerusalem has never been the capital of any Arab or Muslim entity. Even when the Jordanians occupied Jerusalem, they never sought to make it their capital, and Arab leaders did not come to visit.
Jerusalem was a Jewish capital for no more than 424 years (see No. 1 above). In fact, Jerusalem was a meaningful capital only when the kingdom established by David was unified, that is from 1011 BC to 931 BC, or 80 years. The fact that Jerusalem was never a capital of any Arab or Muslim entity doesn't make it less of an Arab city. San Antonio has never been the capital of the United States. Does this mean that it is a Mexican city?
6. Jerusalem is mentioned over 700 times in Tanach, the Jewish Holy Scriptures. Jerusalem is not mentioned once in the Koran.
What does this suppose to mean? What is the conclusion that must be drawn from this statement? How about counting the number of times Jerusalem was mentioned in the New Testament?
7. King David founded the city of Jerusalem. Mohammed never came to Jerusalem.
The answer given in 6 above is relevant here. Again, what about Jesus? In their profession of faith, Christians say at every mass: “for our sake he (Jesus Christ) was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered, died and was buried. On the third day he rose again in fulfillment of the Scriptures." These events didn't happen in Paris or New York but in Jerusalem.
8. Jews pray facing Jerusalem. Muslims pray with their backs toward Jerusalem.
Another incongruous statement. What are we supposed to make of it? The issue is not a religious one, as the author is trying to establish from points 5 to 8 . It is an issue of self-determination of a disenfranchised indigenous people. Also, the writer is presenting the issue as if it is an issue between the Jews and the Muslims ignoring the fact that the Arab Christians in the Middle East outnumber the Jews of Israel and the billion Christians in the world outnumber the 14 million Jews. The fact also is that Christianity has more holy sites in Jerusalem than Judaism and Islam combined. The Church of the Holy Sepulcher, the holiest place in Christianity, is in Jerusalem. If the issue is a religious one, then the Christians' claim is stronger than that of the Jews or the Muslims.

ARAB AND JEWISH REFUGEES
9. In 1948 the Arab refugees were encouraged to leave Israel by Arab leaders promising to purge the land of Jews. Sixty-eight percent left without ever seeing an Israeli soldier.
Simha Flapan in his book, The Birth of Israel: Myths and Realities, refers to the terrorists methods used by the Haganah, Irgun and LEHI to force the Palestinians out of their homeland. Flapan estimated that “84 percent (of the Palestinians) left in direct response to Israeli actions.” The Irish journalist, Erskine Childers, examined the American and the British radio-monitoring records for all 1948. In his article "The Other Exodus" that appeared in the (London) Spectator of May 12, 1961, he wrote the following: "There was not a single order, or appeal, or suggestion about evacuation from Palestine from any Arab radio station, inside or outside Palestine, in 1948. There is repeated monitored record of Arab appeals, even flat orders, to the civilians of Palestine to stay put." (see the full text ).
10. The Jewish refugees were forced to flee from Arab lands due to Arab brutality, persecution and pogroms.
The Jews were forced to flee the Arab countries not because of Arab brutality but because of Jewish brutality. Akiva Orr in his book Israel: Politics, Myths and Identity Crises wrote the following: “in 1948 Jews were not expelled from countries like Iraq, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, but induced to leave by Zionist emissaries from Israel who often used dirty tricks like throwing bombs into synagogues to create the impression of anti-Jewish persecution to stampede the Jews to Israel.” Once in Israel, some of the Iraqi Jews have even sued the Israeli government for damages. Also, Wilbur Crane Evenlan, a former senior officer in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) wrote in his 1980 book Ropes of Sand: America's Failure in the Middle East:

"In attempts to portray the Iraqis as ani-American and to terrorize the Jews, the Zionists planted bombs in the U.S. Information Service library and in synagogues. Soon leaflets began to appear urging Jews to flee to Israel. ... Although the Iraqi police later provided our embassy with evidence to show that the synagogue and library bombings as well as the anti-Jewish and anti-American leaflet campaings had been the work of an underground Zionist organization, most of the world believed reports that Arab terrorism had motivated the flight of the Iraqi Jews whom the Zionists had "rescued" really just in order to increase Israel's Jewish population." (pp. 48-49)

For a first-hand account by an eyewitness, read Naeim Giladi's testimony in The Link of April-May 1998,published by the Americans for Middle East Understanding, Inc.Read The Jews of Iraq . 11. The number of Arab refugees who left Israel in 1948 is estimated to be around 630,000. The number of Jewish refugees from Arab lands is estimated to be the same.
Again the Palestinian refugees, (not Arab refugees) who left Israel in 1948 did not leave Palestine voluntarily but were driven out by the Jewish terrorist organizations (see 9 above). On the other hand, the Jewish “refugees” left voluntarily or induced to leave from their Arab homelands (see No. 10 above).
12. Arab refugees were INTENTIONALLY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands to which they fled, despite the vast Arab territory. Out of the 100,000,000 refugees since World War II, theirs is the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples' lands. Jewish refugees were completely absorbed into Israel, a country no larger than the state of New Jersey.
Should we show our appreciation to the writer for his concern about the Palestinian refugees who were “INTENTIONALY not absorbed or integrated into the Arab lands?” The writer is lamenting the fact that the Palestinians are “the only refugee group in the world that has never been absorbed or integrated into their own peoples’ lands.” Well, their land is Palestine. I am all for their return to their land. The writer wants the Palestinian refugees to be absorbed in the Arab lands. This is exactly how criminals think. They want to remove any trace of the crime they have committed; then they can delude themselves that they have a clear conscience.

THE ARAB-ISRAELI CONFLICT
13. The Arabs are represented by eight separate nations, not including the Palestinians. There is only one Jewish nation. The Arab nations initiated all five wars and lost. Israel defended itself each time and won.
If the writer knew how to count he would have found out that there are 20 Arab states not 8. Whether there are 20 or 70 Arab states, Palestinians are entitled to live in their homeland. As far as the "five wars" intitiated by the Arabs: The first war was the 1948 war and was triggered by the establishment of Israel. The 1956 war was started by Israel with the help of France and Great Britain. The 1967 war was started by Israel. The 1973 war was launched by Egypt and Syria to liberate their occupied territories, not more. The 1982 war against Lebanon was started by Israel.
14. The P.L.O.'s Charter still calls for the destruction of the State of Israel. Israel has given the Palestinians most of the West Bank land, autonomy under the Palestinian Authority, and has supplied them with weapons.
The PLO Charter has been amended and all clauses calling for Israel’s destruction were cancelled. On April 24, 1996, the Palestine National Council voted 504 to 54 to cancel those clauses. Contrary to what is stated, Israel has NOT given the Palestinians most of the West Bank. The West Bank was divided into three zones: Area A fully controlled by the Palestinian Authority consists of 12%; Area B jointly controlled by Israel (security control) and the Palestinian Authority (civilian control) consists of 26.8%; and Area C totally controlled by Israel consists of 61.2%. Who then controls most of the West Bank? (see map )
15. Under Jordanian rule, Jewish holy sites were desecrated and the Jews were denied access to places of worship. Under Israeli rule, all Muslim and Christian sites have been preserved and made accessible to people of all faiths.
Under Jordanian rule Israel, the Jewish state, was officially at war with Jordan. Under the Israeli rule, Muslim and Christian Palestinians from the occupied territories are today denied access to places of worship. Those Muslims and Christians who have access to places of worship are Israeli citizens. Desecration of holy sites is done by fanatics. There is no shortage of them among Muslims, Christians and Jews.

THE U.N. RECORD ON ISRAEL AND THE ARABS
16. Of the 175 Security Council resolutions passed before 1990, 97 were directed against Israel.
That is because Israel was at fault 97 times.
17. Of the 690 General Assembly resolutions voted on before 1990, 429 were directed against Israel.
That is because Israel was at fault 429 times.
18. The U.N was silent while 58 Jerusalem Synagogues were destroyed by the Jordanians.
Why is it that Israel did not complain to the U.N.?
19. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians systematically desecrated the ancient Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives.
The U.N. is not a super government. Member states must take the initiative to complain or ask for a Security Council meeting to take up their complaints.
20. The U.N. was silent while the Jordanians enforced an apartheid-like policy of preventing Jews from visiting the Temple Mount and the Western Wall.
See answer given in No. 19.


These are incredible times. We have to ask what our role should be. What will we tell our grandchildren we did when there was a turning point in Jewish destiny, an opportunity to make a difference?
These are indeed incredible times. We should tell our grandchildren the truth.
For those of you who were kind and interested enough to read, the preceding, let me add two more items:
a) Israel is the ONLY MEMBER OF THE UN THAT IS NOT PERMITTED MEMBERSHIP ON THE SECURITY COUNCIL
For Israel to be a member of the Security Council it has to belong to one of the five following groups: Asian states, African states, Latin American and the Caribbean states, Eastern European states, and Western Europe and other states. If no one group wants to accept Israel as a member then there must be something wrong with Israel.
b) Israel has NEVER BEEN PERMITTED MEMBERSHIP IN THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS
As far as I know, it is because Israel insists on using the Star of David as en emblem. The Red Cross accepted the Crescent next to the Cross because there are many Muslim states in the world. How many Jewish states are there in the world?
START NOW!!
Send this to 20 other people you know and ask them to send it to twenty others, Jews and non-Jews, it doesn't really matter. The truth and the cause of peace are universal values we all share, and everyone must know.
By all means. Don't just send this to 20 other people but to the whole world, so that the whole world will learn the truth and the whole world will also learn how the truth is being distorted and the facts are being manipulated by the author of this Crash Course in the Real Facts.

Back to Table of Contents

they should confiscate the keyboards of under-educated morons!