Project Ghetto Chronic

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Grens Rafah voor 1 dag geopend

Voor een dag wordt de grensovergang bij Rafah geopend voor de Pakestijnen.
>video

Orthodox in 'de Baarsjes'

Vandaag was ik met mijn kleinzoon op de kinderboerderij van stadsdeel de Baarsjes in Amsterdam-West. Een echtpaar met drie kinderen slenterden er met plezier rond. Zichtbaar duidelijk een orthodox-joods gezin, jiddisch sprekend. Ze zijn hier met vakantie en hebben het naar hun zin.
Een paar jaar geleden werden in de Baarsjes synagoge-bezoekers met stenen bekogeld. Het kan dus anders en beter. Gerard Reve zou zeggen: halleluja, niks andehanda!

C.H.

Foto Nassrallah in puinhopen van Beiroet

JPost.com: A picture of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nassrallah was placed among the rubble in Beirut. Photo: AP

Ophef in Italie over Islamitische advertentie

Ophef is er in de Italiaanse media over een advertentie in enkele bladen, die door Islamitische organisaties is geplaatst, waarin de acties van het Israelische leger in de gazastreek op een lijn gesteld worden met de massamoord in de Toscaanse plaats Marzabotto door de nazi's. Algemeen is er afschuw. De Corriere della Sera - de NRC van Italie - schrijft op 19/8: Antisemitisme en ophitsen tegen Israel en Joden is kennelijk geoorloofd.

C.H

Italie, wat doen we met Libanon?

In Italie is rumoer ontstaan over bezoek van de Italiaanse min. van buitenlandse zaken aan Libanon. Min. D. Alema liet zich rondleiden door Hezbollah politici. In de media is hij te zien gearmd met de woordvoerder van De Partij van God. Rechts en ook vanuit de centrumlinkse coalitie is er kritiek. D.Alema zou Israel-onvriendelijk zijn. Groot probleem voorcentrumlinkse coalitie: de Italiaanse regering heeft tweeduizend peacemakers voor Libanon toegezegd, maar is in verlegenheid gebracht door weigering van andere landen om ook troepen naar Libanon te sturen. Woordvoerders van de joodse gemeenschap in Italie verwijten de regering de belangen van Israel te verwaarlozen en het terrorisme-gevaar van Hezbollah te onderschatten. Opmerkelijk was een uitlating van een lid van de regeringscoalitie-woordvoerder van de kleine fractie Roos in de Vuist: Israel in de europese gemeenschap en in de Nato!

C.H.

Lone soldiers of Israel

Haaretz.com 19-08-2006

Living the Zionist dream, dying in defense of Israel
By Amiram Barkat and Daphna Berman

Three soldiers with no family in Israel (termed 'lone soldier') have been killed since the fighting started in the North and two others have been wounded. Last Tuesday Staff Sergeant Yonatan Vlasyuk from the Ukraine, who served in an elite unit and lived with an adopted family in Kibbutz Lahav, was killed. A day later, Sergeant Assaf Namer of Australia, of Golani was killed, followed Tuesday by the death of an American, Staff Sergeant Michael Levin, a paratrooper. In the same incident another lone soldier in Levin's unit, Yonatan Marcus, was wounded. Another lone soldier, Ilan Grapel, of Queens, New York, was among 20 soldiers wounded Tuesday night in the battle of Taibe. Major Avital Knacht, who deals with lone soldiers in the IDF human resources branch, said the IDF does not give out information about the number of its lone soldiers or those serving in combat units. However, she noted that the rate of volunteering for combat units among lone soldiers is higher than in the general population. Knacht said the lone soldiers "come to Israel ready to give their all, and the best way to do that is through combat duty." Aharon Horwitz, a former lone soldier from Cleveland, said that as a teenager, he felt that "Israel is a Jewish state and so I thought that I also had a responsibility to serve." He said his parents were supportive, but "it was hard for my mother to be so far away and not know where I was. Some of my [lone soldier] friends had parents who were less supportive and so that was difficult." According to Horwitz, the American soldiers he came across were some of the most idealistic ones in his IDF service. "They would always volunteer for things like kitchen duty. They were very motivated because they are volunteers, which is a self-selecting group." Speaking from his bed at Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, in American-accented Hebrew military slang, Grapel told Haaretz that after he decided to serve in the army during a year of study at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, he thought it should be in a combat unit. Grapel, whose father is Israeli, has a grandfather in Tel Aviv and distant relatives in Hod Hasharon; however, Ruthie, a childhood friend of his father Danny, opened her home to him and became his adopted family. When Grapel told his parents of his desire to serve in a combat unit he said his father took it naturally but his mother Irene was afraid. "But she was afraid before I joined up because I rode the buses," Grapel said.
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Josh Sekenofsky, a lone soldier from England, and a roommate of Michael Levin, admitted that serving so far from family can sometimes be difficult. "It can be lonely when you are on leave and you are by yourself. But for Mikey and me, this was something we always wanted to do. We used to listen to the news outside of Israel, and it got to the point where we couldn't listen to the news anymore, that we need to do something about it." An estimated 2,300 lone soldiers are currently serving in the IDF, most of them coming from the Former Soviet Union. But soldiers from Western countries are serving as well, including an estimated 120 who are North American-born. Some are the sons of Israelis living abroad but most have no prior connection to Israel. Many come to Israel with the intention to settle here, but some come only to serve in the army. "On one hand, I feel total pride, since I spent my whole life raising our kids to be Zionists," Marla Comet-Stark, who lives in Ohio and whose son is now in basic training in Givati, told Haaretz. "But, on the other hand, I feel like saying 'just kidding, I didn't really mean the whole Zionism thing - there are other ways to help Israel.'" Tziki Aud, who serves as an adopted father for many lone soldiers and is also head of the Jewish Agency's information center for new immigrants, knew Michael and his friends well. "These are people who came only out of ideology and Zionism," he said. "They had no economic interests and could have made more money if they stayed in America. Their friends went off to college, but they decided to make aliyah [emigrate to Israel] instead. Sometimes, these soldiers come without the support of their families. Their parents are in the U.S. and once they come here, their friends become their family." Yaakov Seligman, 20, joined the army in March of this year, leaving his family and friends behind in South Florida. Raised in an observant family, he attended Jewish and Zionist schools and says he always dreamed about moving to Israel. Most of his former classmates are in the U.S., enjoying the relaxed life of an American college student. But Seligman says that he is doing something "more meaningful." His parents, he says, are "proud, but worried."

Column uit 1968

Do you remember Eric Hoffer? He was a longshoreman who turned into a philosopher, wrote columns for newspapers and some books. Eric Hoffer was a non-Jewish American social philosopher. He was born in 1902 and died in 1983, after writing nine books and winning the Presidential Medal of Freedom. His first book, The True Believer, published in 1951, was widely recognized as a classic. Here is one of his columns from 1968. CAN YOU BELIEVE..... This article was written 34 years ago!!! Some truths never change.

ISRAEL'S PECULIAR POSITION
by Eric Hoffer
(LA Times 5/26/68)

The Jews are a peculiar people: things permitted to other nations are forbidden to the Jews. Other nations drive out thousands, even millions of people and there is no refugee problem. Russia did it, Poland and Czechoslovakia did it, Turkey threw out a million Greeks, and Algeria a million Frenchman. Indonesia threw out heaven knows how many Chinese-and no one says a word about refugees. But in the case of Israel the displaced Arabs have become eternal refugees. Everyone insists that Israel must take back every single Arab. Arnold Toynbee calls the displacement of the Arabs an atrocity greater than any committed by the Nazis. Other nations when victorious on the battlefield dictate peace terms. But when Israel is victorious it must sue for peace Everyone expects the Jews to be the only real Christians in this world. Other nations when they are defeated survive and recover but should Israel be defeated it would be destroyed. Had Nasser triumphed last June [1967] he would have wiped Israel off the map, and no one would have lifted a finger to save the Jews. No commitment to the Jews by any government, including our own, is worth the paper it is written on . There is a cry of outrage all over the world when people die in Vietnam or when two Blacks are executed in Rhodesia. But when Hitler slaughtered Jews no one remonstrated with him. The Swedes, who are ready to break off diplomatic relations with America because of what we do in Vietnam, did not let out a peep when Hitler was slaughtering Jews. They sent Hitler choice iron ore, and ball bearings, and serviced his troop trains to Norway. The Jews are alone in the world. If Israel survives, it will be solely because of Jewish efforts. And Jewish resources. Yet at this moment Israel is our only reliable and unconditional ally. We can rely more on Israel than Israel can rely on us. And one has only to imagine what would have happened last summer [1967] had the Arabs and their Russian backers won the war to realize how vital the survival of Israel is to America and the West in general. I have a premonition that will not leave me; as it goes with Israel so will it go with all of us. Should Israel perish the holocaust will be upon us.

De tijd heelt geen wonden

15 augustus 1945: Kapitulatie van Japan.
Overlevenden van de 'jappenkampen' aan het woord.
Een documentaire van Tuindorp Films Haarlem.

Mail van Chieps uit Jeruzalem

Deze mail kreeg ik van mijn van origine Hollandse vriendin Chieps, die met man en 3 kinderen een maand bij haar ouders te logeren was in Amsterdam. Afgelopen zondag gingen ze terug. Ze is met een Sabra getrouwd (al 15 jaar) en woont in Jeruzalem.

"De situatie is hier heel gespannen, ruim 300.000 vluchtelingen, de meeste reservisten zijn opgeroepen (in praktijk betekent dat bijvoorbeeld vier zonen uit het gezin van mijn buren, 2 in Gaza, 2 in Libanon, 2 zonen van onze secretaresse in Libanon enz. enz.), alle rayonkantoren van Bituach Le'umi in het noorden zijn gesloten. Er worden inzamelingsacties gehouden om de nood van de vluchtelingen te verlichten, pakketten worden naar de soldaten gestuurd, mensen stellen hun huizen open voor vluchtelingen. In Nederland ervoer ik de berichtgeving als eenzijdig. Niet qua feitenoverdracht, wel qua prioriteit die gegeven werd aan het leed van de Libanese bevolking tegenover het leed hier. Ook hier zijn in het noorden al meer dan 3000 raketten gevallen (in het noorden, in het zuiden waren we de duizend ook al lang gepasseerd.) Ik ben weer op kantoor zoals je begrijpt en alles gaat goed.

Dag meissie, liefs, Chieps"

Radio Judaica vanuit Brussel

Joods radiostation vanuit Brussel, met yiddische muziek en oude smartlappen.

Honest Reporting sponsor advertentie

The following advertisement supports the work of Honest Reporting.




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B'Tselem: Human Rights in the Fire Zone, Gaza and Beirut

B'tSelem 10 augustus 2006

Public attention has been drawn in recent weeks away from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Now all eyes are on Lebanon and northern Israel, on the military confrontation taking a heavy toll on the residents of the region. Many have become refugees. Some residents have no home to return to. Many hundreds have lost their lives. Particularly worrisome is the high number of dead men, women, and children who were not taking part in the hostilities. Human rights violations in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip continue, and there is reason for concern. More than one hundred persons have been killed in the Occupied Territories since the beginning of the fighting in Lebanon. Many of the persons killed were not taking part in the hostilities. The IDF continues to act in the Occupied Territories, making arrests, destroying structures, and bombing residential neighborhoods from the air. The separation barrier continues to be built, and living conditions in the areas under occupation continue to be intolerable. It is precisely at such times that careful monitoring of Israel's acts in the Occupied Territories is needed. This edition highlights illustrative cases of the current reality in these areas.

Hostilities in Lebanon and northern Israel

48% of Gaza fatalities - civilians not taking part in the hostilities

In July, the Israeli military killed 163 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 78 of whom (48 percent) were not taking part in the hostilities when they were killed. Thirty-six of the fatalities were minors. In the West Bank, 15 Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces. The number of Palestinian fatalities in July was the highest in any month since April 2002. Of the incidents B'Tselem investigated in Gaza over the past month, the organization has identified three cases in which Israel may have committed grave breaches of international humanitarian law. B'Tselem wrote to the Judge Advocate General, demanding that he order a Military Police investigation into the incidents, and to prosecute those responsible if the suspicions are verified.

B'Tselem: Investigate the killing of civilians in the Gaza Strip

On 12 July, around four o'clock in the morning, an Air Force plane bombed a three-story building in Gaza City, causing it to collapse. Nabil and Salwah Abu Salamiya and their seven children, who lived in the building, were killed in the attack. Four other civilians were injured. According to the IDF, the bombed building "served as a hiding place for senior activists in the military wing of Hamas." As in similar cases, the army did not provide evidence that would explain the killing of the civilians. The principle of proportionality states that an attack is forbidden if the side making the attack knows it will cause injury to civilians that exceed the military advantage anticipated. Breach of this principle is considered a war crime under international humanitarian law, for which the persons responsible bear personal criminal liability. B'Tselem wrote to the Judge Advocate General and demanded that he immediately order a Military Police investigation of the persons responsible for the bombing, including the Chief-of-Staff and the Commander of the Air Force.

Israel's military operation in Gaza: the Humanitarian Perspective

More than one month has passed since the IDF began Operation Summer Rains. The Gaza Strip is sealed closed. The humanitarian situation, which was dire before the operation began, has grown worse. International aid organizations are supplying food and water to needy families and substitute housing to residents who lost their homes or had to flee IDF bombing. There is a shortage of vital medicines because Karni Crossing is closed and as a result of the financial crisis of the Palestinian Authority. The Air Force bombed an electricity relay station. As a result, the supply of electricity to the residents of the Gaza Strip has been irregular. The irregularity of electricity supply has caused a breakdown in the water network, homes and shops have been unable to refrigerate food products, and twenty-two hospitals have had to rely on generators and to limit their use to emergency procedures and services. As long as Israel controls all of the borders surrounding the Gaza Strip, it is responsible for the orderly supply of all the needs of the population. Israel's destruction of civilian targets in Gaza breaches the principle of distinction between combatants and civilians, is disproportionate, and is, therefore, illegal.

Soldiers used Palestinian civilians as human shields in Gaza

Findings of an investigation by B'Tselem into an IDF operation in Beit Hanun, in the northern Gaza Strip on 17 July, show that IDF forces took control of two buildings and used six occupants, among them two minors, as human shields for about twelve hours. During this time, there were intense exchanges of gunfire at the location. During the operation, the soldiers endangered the lives of the civilians in an attempt to protect themselves from Palestinian gunfire. Among other things, the soldiers forced a Palestinian occupant to accompany them in a search of the apartments, handcuffed occupants and held them in the stairwell, which was exposed to gunfire from the outside. B'Tselem wrote to the Judge Advocate General, demanding an immediate investigation of the incident.

High Court accepts state's contradictory arguments on barrier

On 17 July 2006, the High Court of Justice rejected a petition that Palestinian residents of villages around the Ariel settlement had filed opposing the section of the separation barrier that surrounds the settlement. The barrier's route in that area penetrates deep into the West Bank and places, in addition to Ariel, fourteen settlements on the "Israeli" side of the barrier. The barrier in this area will separate seven villages north of the settlement from the district's major town, Salfit, where the residents go for a full range of services. In its response to the decision, B'Tselem pointed out that the High Court erred grievously. On the one hand, the High Court accepted the state's position that the barrier's route intended to leave an empty "warning space" between it and the houses in the settlement. On the other hand, the High Court itself mentioned that there is a plan to expand the settlement into that very space. The High Court should have realized that a "warning space" is incompatible with a built-up area. Clearly, the state's security argument was used as a cloak of legality for the political considerations that lay behind the route chosen for the barrier.

www.btselem.org Israeli information center for human rights in occupied territories

Al Jazeera tv uitzending

Bijzondere uitzending van Al Jazeera waarin
Wafa Sultan, een arabisch-amerikaanse psychologe uit Los Angeles, de moslimwereld bekritiseert en met verrassende uitspraken komt. >>

Maxwell Street Klezmer Band Chicago

>Video

Ynetnews

Voor het laatste nieuws, actualiteiten en achtergronden uit Israel.
>ynetnews.com

Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Israel

Letting the virgin out of the cage: Hisri Ali

Van Jpost.com (books):
Ayaan Hirsi Ali on Israel
By MANFRED GERSTENFELD
Aug. 3, 2006 8:42 Updated Aug. 4, 2006 14:31

Her preoccupation with security is felt throughout our conversation. Before Ayaan Hirsi Ali arrives in the hotel where we meet, one of her state-provided guards tells me she can only sit at one specific table in the lobby. Elsewhere she may be shot at through the windows. When she arrives, surrounded by tall bodyguards, two young Danish men in the room come over to express their admiration for her.
When we start to talk, she is worried about somebody who remains seated too close to us for her taste. I explain that he is probably a foreigner who has no idea who she is. Finally the hotel manager, who is very honored by her visit, suggests that we continue our conversation in his office.
On Israel"I visited Israel a few years ago, primarily to understand how it dealt so well with so many immigrants from different origins," she says. "My main impression was that Israel is a liberal democracy. In the places I visited, including Jerusalem as well as Tel Aviv and its beaches, I saw that men and women are equal. One never knows what happens behind the scenes, but that is how it appears to the visitor. The many women in the army are also very visible.
"I understood that a crucial element of success is the unifying factor among immigrants to Israel. Whether one arrives from Ethiopia or Russia, or one's grandparents immigrated from Europe, what binds them is being Jewish. Such a bond is lacking in the Netherlands. Our immigrants' background is diverse and also differs greatly from that of the Netherlands, including religion."
Not all of Hirsi Ali's reactions to what she saw in Israel were positive, however.
"From my superficial impression, the country also has a problem with fundamentalists," she says. "The ultra-Orthodox will cause a demographic problem because these fanatics have more children than the secular and the regular Orthodox."
On Palestinians"I have visited the Palestinian quarters in Jerusalem as well. Their side is dilapidated, for which they blame the Israelis. In private, however, I met a young Palestinian who spoke excellent English. There were no cameras and no notebooks. He said the situation was partly their own fault, with much of the money sent from abroad to build Palestine being stolen by corrupt leaders.
"When I start to speak in the Netherlands about the corruption of the Palestinian Authority and the role of Arafat in the tragedy of Palestine, I do not get a large audience. Often one is talking to a wall. Many people reply that Israel first has to withdraw from the territories, and then all will be well with Palestine."
On Double Moral Standards "The crisis of Dutch socialism can be sized up in its attitudes toward both Islam and Israel. It holds Israel to exceptionally high moral standards. The Israelis, however, will always do well, because they themselves set high standards for their actions.
"The standards for judging the Palestinians, however, are very low. Most outsiders remain silent on all the problems in their territories. That helps the Palestinians become even more corrupt than they already are. Those who live in the territories are not allowed to say anything about this because they risk being murdered by their own people."
On IslamHirsi Ali's criticism of Islam is more general. "Almost nobody in the West wants to understand that Islam's problems are structural. Contemporary Islam hardly exists. Islam stopped thinking in the year 900 and has stood still for more than a thousand years. Western Muslims, however, live in an environment where you can think independently without your head being chopped off by somebody.
"If one wants to meet contemporary Muslims, one has to go to the Ahmadiyya movement. The Muslim mainstream, however, considers them heretics. I have been educated as a Muslim and I want to change some of Islam's tenets. This makes me a heretic and thus radicals want to eliminate me."
Hirsi Ali explains why she is a danger to radical Muslims.
"They realize that I know too much about Islam. I am also a woman. If a woman no longer believes, she frees herself. They are deathly afraid that if one drops out, others may follow; that is how herds function."

The writer is Chairman of the Board of Fellows at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. This interview was part of a major project of about 100 interviews with prominent Dutch people on the Dutch attitude toward Jews and Israel, which was funded by the Israel Maror Foundation.

J.A.R. - Stalin's forgotten Zion

Geillustreerde geschiedenis (1928-1996) van Birobidzhan, onderdeel van het J.A.R. (Jewish Autonomous Region) in het oosten van de Sovjet-Unie.
>Fotoreportage

Maira

Documentaire, een reis naar Auschwitz. (41 min.)

Reactie van IDF op aanslag Qana

Van de officiele website van het Israelische leger (IDF):

IDF Response to Events in Qana
Sunday 30/07/2006 21:53

Following the incident that occurred yesterday morning, Sunday, July 30, 2006, in Qana, the IDF reiterates that the attack was carried out as a result of the continuation over the last few days of rocket fire from the targeted area against Israeli communities. Residents of all villages in the vicinity, including Qana, were warned in advance to stay out of areas from which rockets are launched against Israel.
"IDF acted tonight against terror targets in the village of Qana. Qana has been used since the beginning of these events as a hideout and the place from which approximately 150 rockets have been fired at the territory of the State of Israel, in 30 salvos, some of which struck Haifa and points north," said Major General Gadi Eizenkot, head of the Operations Branch, today.
IDF is distressed by all harm done to uninvolved civilians, despite the fact that it comes as a direct result of the Hezbollah terror organization's criminal exploitation of Lebanese civilians as human shields. "Even after this tragic event, the circumstances of which are still being investigated, we appeal to the residents of southern Lebanon to distance themselves from terrorists, to distance themselves from launch areas, for their own safety," said Major General Eizenkot.

Israeli cities struck by rockets from Qana. Graphic: IDF Spokesperson

"We are focusing on significant terror targets," said the Air Force Chief of Staff Brigadier General Amir Eshel. "The terror makes cynical use of uninvolved civilians as human shield, it lives among them and attacks from among them, and we are making efforts to avoid harming uninvolved civilians."
18 Israeli civilians killed by rockets from Lebanon
To date, 18 Israeli citizens have been killed and hundreds wounded as a result of rocket fire against the State of Israel. All responsibility for any and all harm done to Lebanese civilians in these areas lies on the shoulders of the Hezbollah terror organization, which abuses civilians as human shields, and on the Lebanese government which fails to prevent this.

Warning leaflet distributed by IDF for the safety of Lebanese in and south of Litani.

Rockets being launched against Israel in the village of Qana
Please click here to download the video

Qana plan van Hezbollah?

van YnetNews.com :
Lebanese website blames Hizbullah for Qana deaths

Anti-Syrian elements in Lebanon openly point finger at Hizbullah as guilty of killing of dozens of civilians in order to curtail plans for disarming group. 'Hizbullah has placed rocket launcher on building's roof and brought invalid children inside in bid to provoke Israeli response,' they write.

Is Hizbullah behind the tragic incident in the village of Qana that claimed the lives of some 60 people? While the Israeli army continues to investigate the circumstances leading to the building's collapse, some in Lebanon do not hesitate to point the finger at the Shiite organization and claim it is to blame for the death of dozens.

The Lebanese website LIBANOSCOPIE, associated with Christian elements in the country and which openly supports the anti-Syrian movement called the "March 14 Forces," reported that Hizbullah has masterminded a plan that would result in the killing of innocents in the Qana village, in a bid to foil Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's "Seven Points Plan", which calls for deployment of the Lebanese army in southern Lebanon and the disarming of Hizbullah.

'Disabled children placed inside building'

"We have it from a credible source that Hizbullah, alarmed by Siniora's plan, has concocted an incident that would help thwart the negotiations.
Knowing full well that Israel will not hesitate to bombard civilian targets, Hizbullah gunmen placed a rocket launcher on the roof in Qana and brought disabled children inside, in a bid to provoke a response by the Israeli Air Force. In this way, they were planning to take advantage of the death of innocents and curtail the negotiation initiative," the site stated.

The site's editors also claimed that not only did Hizbullah stage the event, but that it also chose Qana for a specific reason: "They used Qana because the village had already turned into a symbol for massacring innocent civilians, and so they set up 'Qana 2'." Notably, the incident has indeed been dubbed "The second Qana massacre" by the Arab media.