Soccer Dad: Comments of the week

June 29, 2006

Comments of the week

1)AbbaGav's excellent Prepare Now for Jenin II, prepares us for the upcoming journalistic malpractice that we can expect in the near future.

Meanwhile LGF links to a number of the same pictures and reports that one of his readers recognizes the ordnance as being Iranian in origin.

But the comment that really got me was the one by Rotem

Back in 1994 when they still thought Nachshon Vaxman was in the gaza strip I was sitting on an APC in Kisufim Gate waiting for orders to rush into Gaza for a rescue mission.

Of course the reason for this was that Mohammed Deif was widely believed to have planned the kidnapping and he was in Gaza. Here's how the Washington Post reported it
(Israeli Captive Killed in Rescue Attempt; Three Kidnappers, Commando Also Die In `Brief, Harsh' Raid; [FINAL Edition]
Barton Gellman. The Washington Post (pre-1997 Fulltext). Washington, D.C.: Oct 15, 1994. pg. a.01)

At the news conference, an Israeli journalist asked Rabin a question that implied a government intelligence failure. Bir Nabalah, between greater Jerusalem's northwestern edge and the Palestinian town of Ramallah, is not only close to Waxman's last known whereabouts but also a well-known stronghold of Hamas sympathizers. A large mosque in Bir Nabalah, built with financial support from Palestinian Americans, has been closed several times under accusation of fostering terrorism.

"We were sure that they were in Gaza, with a reasonable certainty," Rabin said. "We are dealing with a reality that there is no certainty in information." Later, he said his evidence had been largely "circumstantial."

Israeli officials tonight justified this week's demands on Arafat with the argument that Gaza had become a nerve center for Hamas, even if it had not provided refuge to Waxman's captors.
"All the instructions, including the attack at the beginning of the week, were given from Gaza," Rabin said, referring to an incident Sunday night in which two gunmen sprayed hundreds of rounds into a popular pedestrian mall in West Jerusalem.

Because Israel had been holding Arafat responsible all week, the mistake placed the onus back on Israel. Should Arafat have acted against Deif? Of course. But that wasn't the issue that Barton Gellman explored; thus he let Arafat off the hook.

2) Elder of Ziyon has an interesting poll from Europe on the Muslim perceptions of Jews in different European countries, with one surprising result. Muslims in France have a less negative view of Jews. That prompted Elie's Expositions to ask

Strange that the "hate rate" in France was so much lower than in England, when anti-semitic Muslim riots are much more common in the former.

which led to some interesting speculation by the Elder

I was wondering about that. Could be that the African immigrants were undercounted or that most French Muslims are actually somewhat integrated into society and don't live in those slums. It also could be that the French reaction against the anti-semitism made an impact.

3)Finally last but not least there was a post (which was based on an earlier comment, which is why it's included here) by West Bank Mama, Cliff notes from Kvetchy blogger that addressed an issue I feel strongly about. It makes me proud to be a blogger!

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