Tag Archives: Hamas

Green MPs Marama Davidson and Golriz Ghahraman demonstrated selective outrage last week, suggesting that their concern for human rights in the Middle East extends only so far as Israel can be blamed. In the space of one week they stridently and publicly condemned Israel for protecting its border and population …

“Poor Palestinians”.  Yes, some Arab Palestinians and Gazans are poor, but many are mega wealthy. In 2012 the estimated the number of ‘Gaza millionaires’ was said to be 800.  As of July 2014 there were some 1,700.  See ‘Luxury in the world’s largest prison !‘ Front Page Magazine says:  Fatah, …

It was Saturday morning.  I woke up to the sound of the Red Alert siren app ringing, announcing in-coming missiles somewhere in Israel. Where?  I knew it wasn’t in Haifa (yet) because the municipal siren wasn’t screaming outside but elsewhere in Israel, people were running to their bomb shelters. In …

Fault-finders of Edward Horgan‘s ‘Standing up for Palestine’ in this week’s Ireland’s Sunday Independent newspaper (print, digital online) and Irish Examiner’s reader’s blog with slight changes in all three expect to be hit by the standard ‘Criticism of Israel isn’t antisemitism’ cliché. Well here’s a message.  Lies aren’t criticism. Here’s …

Only by resisting territorial concessions on the Golan, Israel prevented deployment of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on the fringes of the Galilee; only by resisting territorial concessions in the “West Bank” can Israel prevent them from deploying on the fringes of Greater Tel Aviv.  Israel has a strategic interest in …

In brief, this crazy: On Monday, the IDF identified a tunnel from Gaza that had entered Israel. It was under active construction, and not simply left over from before 2014. Beginning in Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, it extended “dozens of meters” into Israel – headed towards Kibbutz Kissufim two …

Hamas is deepening its ties with Iran and its radical Shi’ite axis. Iranian cash is once again expected to fund Gaza’s war preparations and arms build-up program. Before the 2011 outbreak of the war in Syria, Sunni Hamas and Shi’ite Iran were united by their goal to destroy Israel. Iran …

My friend – who on occasion says to me, “Sometimes you just have to put one foot in front of the other and keep going” – will undoubtedly recognize herself here. When the situation is not to our liking, we must keep going, without despair, heading in the right direction. …

Last Wednesday night began the week-long holiday of Sukkot, which is referred to as Z’man Simchatenu – the season of our rejoicing. It is a holiday of many delights, rich in mystic symbolism. A couple of days earlier, I had begun work on a pre-Sukkot posting focused on the joys …

Big new developments in the case against World Vision for funding terror linked groups in Gaza.   The Israeli Authorities have now confirmed all the claims Andrew Hamilton made back in 2012/13. Posted below the  letter to the Australian Foreign Minister and a Press Release. Regards Andrew Hamilton. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The …

Some events of note have happened in Gaza in the last week or so, not necessarily related, but they make up a part of a bigger problem, one that is not being sufficiently aired and dealt with in the public domain. I will move chronologically. The first event was the …

In my last posting I shared several ways in which Israel’s shifting relationships with other nations are yielding positive results. We return to that theme here, to look at other ways in which Israel has developed more self-confident, self-assertive policies. Previously, my focus was on Africa, but Asia also deserves …

The international press is still going on about your hunger strike in Israel’s prison system. They are treating your requests as if any other country would honour such demands on the part of murderers they have in THEIR prisons. Tell me, Mr Barghouti – how do your prison conditions compare …

It’s a given that the political scene is rarely static.  But the present – both here and in the US – seems particularly fraught with shifts and unpredictability.  The trick is to identify what’s real and what currents flow unseen beneath the surface. Today I want to take a look …

Instead of pouring millions into inoperative desalination plants & rusting sewage treatment works, humanitarian aid should be generous relocation grants to help Gazans find safer, more secure lives elsewhere “If the borders opened for one hour, 100,000 young people would leave Gaza”  –  Rashid al-Najja, vice dean, Gaza’s Al-Azhar University; …

Yolande Knell displays her ‘half a story’ cred. Fisking  Can Paris summit save fading two-state solution?  For many, the holy city of Jerusalem is meant to be a shared capital for Israel and the Palestinians – two peoples in two nations, living peacefully, side-by-side. At least that is the dream …

When an Islamist drove his truck into a crowd in Nice last July, New Zealand Prime Minister John Key spoke out against the terror attack.  When an Islamist drove his truck into a crowd in Berlin last December, New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English spoke out against the terror attack.  …

Lawfare Many New Zealanders would probably have thought about the threat terrorism poses to us, and how that threat can be managed.  The state of Israel has been at the forefront of the battle against terrorism for decades. That battle takes different forms: through diplomacy, intelligence, security forces, cyber security …

The poster on the left represents a bit of anti-Zionist propaganda that has been around for decades and is among the negative images of Jewish self-determination that today’s college kids grew up with.   Although the western progressive-left generally supports anti-Zionism, American Jews still cling to the Democratic Party despite …

Temple Beth Israel is putting on a concert featuring David Broza: Israeli superstar David Broza has been considered one of the most dynamic and vibrant performers in the singer/songwriter world. His charismatic and energetic performances have brought to worldwide audiences, a fusion of three different countries in which he was …