25 may 2014
Jerusalem police arrested 26 Jewish extremists protesting Sunday at a holy site on Mount Zion outside the Old City that will be visited by Pope Francis, a spokesman said.
The arrests took place just hours before Francis' arrival in Jerusalem.
"Demonstrators at King David's Tomb threw stones and bottles at the security forces, lightly injuring two police," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, referring to a site revered as holy by Christians, Jews, and Muslims where the pope will celebrate mass on Monday.
"Among those arrested was a soldier who threatened a police officer with his weapon when one of his friends was arrested," he added, saying some of them had broken into the room where the ancient sarcophagus is located before being evacuated.
Israeli public radio said 150 extremists had gathered to denounce the pope's upcoming visit and were chanting slogans against the atrocities committed by the church against Jews during the Crusades and the Inquisition.
The upper floor of the building where the tomb is located is known to Christians as the Cenacle, the place where Jesus ate the Last Supper and where his followers were baptized by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Under Israeli law, Christians are only permitted to pray there twice a year, and plans for the pope to celebrate mass there have prompted weeks of protest and several incidents of anti-Christian vandalism.
The arrests took place just hours before Francis' arrival in Jerusalem.
"Demonstrators at King David's Tomb threw stones and bottles at the security forces, lightly injuring two police," spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said, referring to a site revered as holy by Christians, Jews, and Muslims where the pope will celebrate mass on Monday.
"Among those arrested was a soldier who threatened a police officer with his weapon when one of his friends was arrested," he added, saying some of them had broken into the room where the ancient sarcophagus is located before being evacuated.
Israeli public radio said 150 extremists had gathered to denounce the pope's upcoming visit and were chanting slogans against the atrocities committed by the church against Jews during the Crusades and the Inquisition.
The upper floor of the building where the tomb is located is known to Christians as the Cenacle, the place where Jesus ate the Last Supper and where his followers were baptized by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.
Under Israeli law, Christians are only permitted to pray there twice a year, and plans for the pope to celebrate mass there have prompted weeks of protest and several incidents of anti-Christian vandalism.
13:19 Israeli police have arrested 26 Jewish extremists who were "throwing stones and bottles" at a site in Mount Zion in Jerusalem that the Pope is expected to visit tomorrow.
Two police officers were injured in the clashes.
The clashes come after 15 Jewish radicals were put under house arrest in recent days in order to prevent disturbances prior to His Holiness' visit, and amid a wave of anti-Christian and anti-Arab attacks within Israel in recent months.
Two police officers were injured in the clashes.
The clashes come after 15 Jewish radicals were put under house arrest in recent days in order to prevent disturbances prior to His Holiness' visit, and amid a wave of anti-Christian and anti-Arab attacks within Israel in recent months.
24 may 2014
Fearing disruption by Jewish extremists when Pope Francis visits Jerusalem this weekend, police said on Friday they would issue restraining orders against 10 more activists, bringing the total to 15.
And just two days before the pope's arrival, police said that offensive "anti-Christian graffiti" was discovered on the outer wall of a church in the southern desert city of Beersheba, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
A picture distributed by police showed Hebrew graffiti reading "Jesus = son of a bitch," prompting police to open an investigation. The attack comes after a wave of hate crimes against Christian sites and property by Jewish extremists in recent months.
Earlier, Rosenfeld said Jerusalem police chief Yossi Pariente had decided to slap another 10 people with restraining orders for the duration of the pope's visit to the city, which begins on Sunday.
On Wednesday, three young Jews were confined to house arrest on suspicion they were planning to disrupt the pontiff's two-day visit.
Restraining orders were also imposed on two students from a Jewish seminary at Mount Zion, where on Monday the pope will celebrate a mass at the Upper Room where Jesus held the Last Supper.
"We have taken some pre-emptive steps to distance people who, according to intelligence received, were intending to disrupt the visit," Pariente told Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
But police said they had no information about any attempt to harm the pope himself.
"We have no intelligence about plans to harm the pope himself, but there are plans to embarrass the State of Israel or to disrupt public order during this sensitive visit," he added.
Some 8,000 extra police officers are to be deployed on Jerusalem's streets for the duration of the visit.
Israel has been struggling to contain hate crimes by Jewish extremists targeting Palestinian and Arab property, including an increasing number of attacks on mosques and churches.
Despite scores of arrests, there have been no successful prosecutions, prompting concern from Christian leaders.
Also on Friday, two Jerusalem men were detained for questioning after putting up flyers "condemning Christianity and the pope." They were later released but handed orders to stay at least 150 meters (yards) from the pope, Rosenfeld said.
Meanwhile, West Bank officials said around 3,000 members of the Palestinian security forces were to be deployed for Sunday's papal visit to Bethlehem, a third of whom would be from the elite presidential guard, a spokesman told AFP.
And just two days before the pope's arrival, police said that offensive "anti-Christian graffiti" was discovered on the outer wall of a church in the southern desert city of Beersheba, spokesman Micky Rosenfeld told AFP.
A picture distributed by police showed Hebrew graffiti reading "Jesus = son of a bitch," prompting police to open an investigation. The attack comes after a wave of hate crimes against Christian sites and property by Jewish extremists in recent months.
Earlier, Rosenfeld said Jerusalem police chief Yossi Pariente had decided to slap another 10 people with restraining orders for the duration of the pope's visit to the city, which begins on Sunday.
On Wednesday, three young Jews were confined to house arrest on suspicion they were planning to disrupt the pontiff's two-day visit.
Restraining orders were also imposed on two students from a Jewish seminary at Mount Zion, where on Monday the pope will celebrate a mass at the Upper Room where Jesus held the Last Supper.
"We have taken some pre-emptive steps to distance people who, according to intelligence received, were intending to disrupt the visit," Pariente told Yediot Aharonot newspaper.
But police said they had no information about any attempt to harm the pope himself.
"We have no intelligence about plans to harm the pope himself, but there are plans to embarrass the State of Israel or to disrupt public order during this sensitive visit," he added.
Some 8,000 extra police officers are to be deployed on Jerusalem's streets for the duration of the visit.
Israel has been struggling to contain hate crimes by Jewish extremists targeting Palestinian and Arab property, including an increasing number of attacks on mosques and churches.
Despite scores of arrests, there have been no successful prosecutions, prompting concern from Christian leaders.
Also on Friday, two Jerusalem men were detained for questioning after putting up flyers "condemning Christianity and the pope." They were later released but handed orders to stay at least 150 meters (yards) from the pope, Rosenfeld said.
Meanwhile, West Bank officials said around 3,000 members of the Palestinian security forces were to be deployed for Sunday's papal visit to Bethlehem, a third of whom would be from the elite presidential guard, a spokesman told AFP.
22 may 2014
The Israeli Jerusalem District Police indicted Haim Gamliel, 24, and three minors, who under the assumed name Yossi Cohen, used several WhatsApp groups and a Facebook page called “Jews Against Assimilation” to organize attacks on Arabs for racist reasons. The indictment attributes to Gamliel charges of conspiring to carry out a crime for racist motives, and assault, it turns out that the messages sent in the group were aimed at finding and reporting incidents of “assimilation” and rescuing Jewish girls,” and called for attacking Arabs.
Gamliel’s conviction was made possible following a police investigation, after an Arab worker in a store selling handbags in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim quarter was attacked. The attack, by three youths aged 16-17, took place in January. The three were arrested about a week ago, and confessed and said they had beaten the man “because he is an Arab,” and said they were sent to the site by the WhatsApp group run by Gamliel.
Before the attack, Gamliel wrote in the group: “We are a very right-wing organization who hate the idea that Arabs hunt Jewish girls, so we opened a Facebook account of a very pretty, attractive Jewish girl, and she is indeed attractive — she’s attracted many Arabs, sets times and places to meet with them, these terrorists arrive and don’t get anything but a beating.”
The police and GSS agents investigating the price tag incidents in the past month in Yokneam arrested another four suspects and the police are checking their role in the incidents.
Gamliel’s conviction was made possible following a police investigation, after an Arab worker in a store selling handbags in Jerusalem’s Mea Shearim quarter was attacked. The attack, by three youths aged 16-17, took place in January. The three were arrested about a week ago, and confessed and said they had beaten the man “because he is an Arab,” and said they were sent to the site by the WhatsApp group run by Gamliel.
Before the attack, Gamliel wrote in the group: “We are a very right-wing organization who hate the idea that Arabs hunt Jewish girls, so we opened a Facebook account of a very pretty, attractive Jewish girl, and she is indeed attractive — she’s attracted many Arabs, sets times and places to meet with them, these terrorists arrive and don’t get anything but a beating.”
The police and GSS agents investigating the price tag incidents in the past month in Yokneam arrested another four suspects and the police are checking their role in the incidents.
12 may 2014
Israeli settlers are stopped by Palestinians in the village of Burin in the Nablus district on Monday, May 12
Dozens of Palestinians on Monday detained three Israeli settlers who were driving quad bikes through a village in the northern West Bank.
Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that three settlers entered the Nablus-area village of Burin on four-wheelers and "provoked" residents.
Palestinians stopped the settlers and "detained" them in an apartment in the village before contacting the PA security services, Daghlas said.
The PA liaison department then delivered the settlers to Israeli officials.
A spokeswoman for Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories confirmed the incident, saying the settlers rode into Burin "accidentally."
"The settlers were taken out from the village by the Palestinians to the hands of the (Israeli) Civil Administration without any damage. In this moment they are handling the extraction of the ATVs from the village," Sapir Mizrahi said.
She confirmed that the settlers were armed and said that it was illegal for Israeli settlers to enter Palestinian villages.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Israeli police were "looking into the circumstances of how they (the settlers) accidentally entered Burin."
Israeli settlers regularly make their way onto Palestinian land in the West Bank, often in attempts to damage Palestinian property.
In March, Palestinian farmers detained an Israeli settler after they caught him chopping down olive trees in their fields near the Nablus-district village of Talfit.
In January, farmers from the Nablus town of Qusra held some 18 settlers captive after they tried to uproot olive trees in the village.
The settlers were later transferred to Israeli military forces via Palestinian liaison officials.
Settlers routinely attack Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank, and Israeli authorities rarely investigate crimes carried out by settlers against Palestinian communities.
Dozens of Palestinians on Monday detained three Israeli settlers who were driving quad bikes through a village in the northern West Bank.
Ghassan Daghlas, a Palestinian Authority official who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank, told Ma'an that three settlers entered the Nablus-area village of Burin on four-wheelers and "provoked" residents.
Palestinians stopped the settlers and "detained" them in an apartment in the village before contacting the PA security services, Daghlas said.
The PA liaison department then delivered the settlers to Israeli officials.
A spokeswoman for Israel's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories confirmed the incident, saying the settlers rode into Burin "accidentally."
"The settlers were taken out from the village by the Palestinians to the hands of the (Israeli) Civil Administration without any damage. In this moment they are handling the extraction of the ATVs from the village," Sapir Mizrahi said.
She confirmed that the settlers were armed and said that it was illegal for Israeli settlers to enter Palestinian villages.
Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said Israeli police were "looking into the circumstances of how they (the settlers) accidentally entered Burin."
Israeli settlers regularly make their way onto Palestinian land in the West Bank, often in attempts to damage Palestinian property.
In March, Palestinian farmers detained an Israeli settler after they caught him chopping down olive trees in their fields near the Nablus-district village of Talfit.
In January, farmers from the Nablus town of Qusra held some 18 settlers captive after they tried to uproot olive trees in the village.
The settlers were later transferred to Israeli military forces via Palestinian liaison officials.
Settlers routinely attack Palestinians and their property in the occupied West Bank, and Israeli authorities rarely investigate crimes carried out by settlers against Palestinian communities.
11 may 2014
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This clip was shown that evening on all three main Israeli TV channels.
By Uri Avnery Uri Avnery is an Israeli peace activist, founder of Gush Shalom, and a former member of the Israeli Knesset. Just before Israel's 66th Independence Day, the country acquired a new national hero. If it is true that every nation gets the national heroes it deserves, it was a rather worrying spectacle. The video clip that turned David Adamov from an anonymous soldier into a national figure was taken with a Palestinian camera in Hebron. |
The clip starts with the scene in Hebron. In the middle of Shuhada street stands a solitary soldier with a green beret and a rifle. He looks like any soldier, with the short beard now in vogue among Israeli youngsters.
Some kind of discussion develops between the soldier and elderly Palestinians in the street. But the camera turns to a Palestinian teenager, unarmed, who approaches the soldier, pushing his face very close to him and touching his shoulder with his hand.
The soldier reacts angrily, swinging his rifle. At this moment, another teenager enters the frame and passes the soldier from behind.
The soldier, obviously feeling threatened, swings around and cocks his rifle, ready to shoot. Threatening both teenagers, he tries to kick one, all the time uttering a stream of foul language. Then he notices the photographer, orders him to to stop filming and curses his mother in the most vulgar terms. End.
For those of us who know the reality in the West Bank, there was nothing special about it. Scenes like this happen all the time. If the soldier does not kill anyone, it's just routine. If he does kill, the army announces that an investigation has been opened. Generally that is the last anyone hears of it.
What was special is that the whole scene was photographed and broadcast. Army orders forbid soldiers to behave like this when photographers are present, and especially to threaten the cameramen. Painful experience has taught the army that such clips, if broadcast abroad, can seriously undermine Israeli propaganda (officially called "explaining").
Even more unusual was the announcement of the Army Spokesman that same evening, that the soldier had been judged by his superiors and sent to army prison for 28 days.
'The army lost control'
All hell broke loose. The social media sprang into action. Hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of soldiers declared their solidarity with the soldier who became known as "David Nahlawi."
("Nahal" is an army unit founded originally by David Ben-Gurion to further his idea of combining army service with "pioneering" agricultural work. Hence the green beret. The idea is as dead as Ben-Gurion himself, and the unit is now an ordinary infantry brigade. The ending "awi" is Arabic adopted by Hebrew slang.)
Many soldiers, including officers, flooded the internet with photos of themselves hiding their faces behind self-made signs saying "I am David Nahlawi." Some did not even bother to hide their faces.
After 24 hours the number of pro-David "likes" passed a hundred thousand, most of them posted by soldiers. It was the first military mass rebellion in the annals of the Israeli army. In some armies, it would be called a mutiny, punishable by death.
Faced by a totally new situation, for which it was quite unprepared, the army lost control. It published a statement coming close to an apology.
The Army Spokesman, it appeared, had been mistaken. David was not sentenced to prison for threatening to kill Palestinians (perish the thought!), but for something that happened a few hours before the incident: David had beaten up his direct commander and another soldier. The Hebron incident had not yet been investigated, and therefore David had not yet been judged for it.
There was another correction. In the first day after the clip was shown, the news spread that one of the Palestinian youths had been carrying a knuckle-duster, a clear proof of his aggressive intention and of the danger the soldier found himself in. Then the media carried a correction: an analysis of the clip showed that there was no knuckle-duster or any other weapon. It was just a string of Muslim prayer-beads.
The incident raises a number of questions, each more serious than the other.
The first and obvious one: why did the army send a lone soldier to guard a street crossing in the middle of Hebron on his own, a town where supreme tension rules even on the quietest of days?
Hebron is clustered around the "Tombs of the Patriarchs" which harbor the graves of Abraham and Sarah, which, like the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, are holy to both Jews and Muslims. 160,000 Muslims daily confront the few hundred fanatical Jews and Jewesses who have settled there, and who openly declare that their aim is to bring about the expulsion of all Muslims from the entire city.
Hebron is Apartheid City. The main street where the incident took place (appropriately called in Arabic "martyr’s street") is closed to Arabs. Incidents can break out any time.
So why did the local military send a lone 19-old soldier to guard a street there?
Any soldier, even a normal one, sent to do guard duty alone in a dangerous place, may easily panic. In the clip David definitely looks frightened.
'The essence of occupation'
But David is not an ordinary soldier. According to the army itself, just a few hours before he was sent to this post, he attacked his superior and a comrade, beating them up in what sounds like a hysterical rampage. A few hours later, after already being sentenced to prison, he was sent out on this lonely task.
It is not the sane judgment of Private David that is in doubt, but the sanity of the officer who ordered him there.
The whole situation goes far beyond the dimensions of a local incident, which happily ended without victims.
It shows the reality of the occupation, in which a population of millions of human beings is living without defense and rights, completely dependent upon the mercies of every single soldier.
This Israeli army is no worse than any other. It is a mirror of its society, composed of the humane and the sadists, the sane and the mentally disturbed, rightists and leftists, Ashkenazi and Oriental. Judging from his family name (Adamov) David Nahlawi seems to be of Bukharan origin, the Oriental side of the immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Suheib Abu-Najma, the 15-year old Arab boy involved who looks even younger, was lucky. A Palestinian of any age, walking in any street, cannot be sure what kind of soldier he will come across, and what his mood may be. His life may depend on it.
That is the essence of occupation.
But the significance of the incident goes far, far beyond these lessons. It is revolutionary -- in the original sense. For the first time in the history of Israel, and perhaps of the world, the internet is providing the basis for a rebellion of the soldiers against the army.
One may consider the mutiny on the battleship Potemkin in Odessa, 1905, or the uprising of the Petrograd garrison of February 1917, in order to compare it to the totally different situation in today’s world of the internet. Now, in less than 24 hours, hundreds of thousands of soldiers can openly defy the army command, turning the army into an empty vessel.
Once this has been shown, the mutinous capabilities of the social media are unlimited. It puts an end to the sacred assumption that the army obeys the civilian elected authority. It also puts an end to the assumption that a military coup can only be carried out by a junta of senior officers, the "clonels." Now simple soldiers, incited by some rabble-rousers, can do it.
Benyamin Netanyahu was left, literally, speechless (something very unusual for him). So was Moshe Ya'alon, the Defense Minister, a former incompetent Chief of Staff. So was the present Chief of Staff, Benny Ganz, who in this crisis was shown to be helpless.
In the specific situation of Israel, this is extremely dangerous. Of course, it is easy to imagine a Potemkin-like situation, where the simple soldiers rise up against the brass in the name of equality, but that is sheer fantasy. With the army rank and file composed of teenagers, who are indoctrinated from the age of three in the spirit of Jewish victimhood and superiority (both), such a rebellion, if it occurs, is bound to be right-wing, perhaps even fascist.
Until this week, such a rebellion seemed impossible. When Ariel Sharon deployed the army in 2005 to evict a few thousand settlers from the Gaza Strip, no soldier dared to refuse. Now, with the capabilities of the social media, the story could end quite differently. The next time the army is ordered to remove a settlement, there may be mass refusal carried by the internet.
There is a message in this for every army in the world. A new historical era has begun. Any army can rebel by internet.
Army prisoner David Adamov can be proud of himself.
Some kind of discussion develops between the soldier and elderly Palestinians in the street. But the camera turns to a Palestinian teenager, unarmed, who approaches the soldier, pushing his face very close to him and touching his shoulder with his hand.
The soldier reacts angrily, swinging his rifle. At this moment, another teenager enters the frame and passes the soldier from behind.
The soldier, obviously feeling threatened, swings around and cocks his rifle, ready to shoot. Threatening both teenagers, he tries to kick one, all the time uttering a stream of foul language. Then he notices the photographer, orders him to to stop filming and curses his mother in the most vulgar terms. End.
For those of us who know the reality in the West Bank, there was nothing special about it. Scenes like this happen all the time. If the soldier does not kill anyone, it's just routine. If he does kill, the army announces that an investigation has been opened. Generally that is the last anyone hears of it.
What was special is that the whole scene was photographed and broadcast. Army orders forbid soldiers to behave like this when photographers are present, and especially to threaten the cameramen. Painful experience has taught the army that such clips, if broadcast abroad, can seriously undermine Israeli propaganda (officially called "explaining").
Even more unusual was the announcement of the Army Spokesman that same evening, that the soldier had been judged by his superiors and sent to army prison for 28 days.
'The army lost control'
All hell broke loose. The social media sprang into action. Hundreds, then thousands, then tens of thousands of soldiers declared their solidarity with the soldier who became known as "David Nahlawi."
("Nahal" is an army unit founded originally by David Ben-Gurion to further his idea of combining army service with "pioneering" agricultural work. Hence the green beret. The idea is as dead as Ben-Gurion himself, and the unit is now an ordinary infantry brigade. The ending "awi" is Arabic adopted by Hebrew slang.)
Many soldiers, including officers, flooded the internet with photos of themselves hiding their faces behind self-made signs saying "I am David Nahlawi." Some did not even bother to hide their faces.
After 24 hours the number of pro-David "likes" passed a hundred thousand, most of them posted by soldiers. It was the first military mass rebellion in the annals of the Israeli army. In some armies, it would be called a mutiny, punishable by death.
Faced by a totally new situation, for which it was quite unprepared, the army lost control. It published a statement coming close to an apology.
The Army Spokesman, it appeared, had been mistaken. David was not sentenced to prison for threatening to kill Palestinians (perish the thought!), but for something that happened a few hours before the incident: David had beaten up his direct commander and another soldier. The Hebron incident had not yet been investigated, and therefore David had not yet been judged for it.
There was another correction. In the first day after the clip was shown, the news spread that one of the Palestinian youths had been carrying a knuckle-duster, a clear proof of his aggressive intention and of the danger the soldier found himself in. Then the media carried a correction: an analysis of the clip showed that there was no knuckle-duster or any other weapon. It was just a string of Muslim prayer-beads.
The incident raises a number of questions, each more serious than the other.
The first and obvious one: why did the army send a lone soldier to guard a street crossing in the middle of Hebron on his own, a town where supreme tension rules even on the quietest of days?
Hebron is clustered around the "Tombs of the Patriarchs" which harbor the graves of Abraham and Sarah, which, like the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, are holy to both Jews and Muslims. 160,000 Muslims daily confront the few hundred fanatical Jews and Jewesses who have settled there, and who openly declare that their aim is to bring about the expulsion of all Muslims from the entire city.
Hebron is Apartheid City. The main street where the incident took place (appropriately called in Arabic "martyr’s street") is closed to Arabs. Incidents can break out any time.
So why did the local military send a lone 19-old soldier to guard a street there?
Any soldier, even a normal one, sent to do guard duty alone in a dangerous place, may easily panic. In the clip David definitely looks frightened.
'The essence of occupation'
But David is not an ordinary soldier. According to the army itself, just a few hours before he was sent to this post, he attacked his superior and a comrade, beating them up in what sounds like a hysterical rampage. A few hours later, after already being sentenced to prison, he was sent out on this lonely task.
It is not the sane judgment of Private David that is in doubt, but the sanity of the officer who ordered him there.
The whole situation goes far beyond the dimensions of a local incident, which happily ended without victims.
It shows the reality of the occupation, in which a population of millions of human beings is living without defense and rights, completely dependent upon the mercies of every single soldier.
This Israeli army is no worse than any other. It is a mirror of its society, composed of the humane and the sadists, the sane and the mentally disturbed, rightists and leftists, Ashkenazi and Oriental. Judging from his family name (Adamov) David Nahlawi seems to be of Bukharan origin, the Oriental side of the immigrants from the former Soviet Union.
Suheib Abu-Najma, the 15-year old Arab boy involved who looks even younger, was lucky. A Palestinian of any age, walking in any street, cannot be sure what kind of soldier he will come across, and what his mood may be. His life may depend on it.
That is the essence of occupation.
But the significance of the incident goes far, far beyond these lessons. It is revolutionary -- in the original sense. For the first time in the history of Israel, and perhaps of the world, the internet is providing the basis for a rebellion of the soldiers against the army.
One may consider the mutiny on the battleship Potemkin in Odessa, 1905, or the uprising of the Petrograd garrison of February 1917, in order to compare it to the totally different situation in today’s world of the internet. Now, in less than 24 hours, hundreds of thousands of soldiers can openly defy the army command, turning the army into an empty vessel.
Once this has been shown, the mutinous capabilities of the social media are unlimited. It puts an end to the sacred assumption that the army obeys the civilian elected authority. It also puts an end to the assumption that a military coup can only be carried out by a junta of senior officers, the "clonels." Now simple soldiers, incited by some rabble-rousers, can do it.
Benyamin Netanyahu was left, literally, speechless (something very unusual for him). So was Moshe Ya'alon, the Defense Minister, a former incompetent Chief of Staff. So was the present Chief of Staff, Benny Ganz, who in this crisis was shown to be helpless.
In the specific situation of Israel, this is extremely dangerous. Of course, it is easy to imagine a Potemkin-like situation, where the simple soldiers rise up against the brass in the name of equality, but that is sheer fantasy. With the army rank and file composed of teenagers, who are indoctrinated from the age of three in the spirit of Jewish victimhood and superiority (both), such a rebellion, if it occurs, is bound to be right-wing, perhaps even fascist.
Until this week, such a rebellion seemed impossible. When Ariel Sharon deployed the army in 2005 to evict a few thousand settlers from the Gaza Strip, no soldier dared to refuse. Now, with the capabilities of the social media, the story could end quite differently. The next time the army is ordered to remove a settlement, there may be mass refusal carried by the internet.
There is a message in this for every army in the world. A new historical era has begun. Any army can rebel by internet.
Army prisoner David Adamov can be proud of himself.
10 may 2014
Palestinians stand next to graffiti reading in Hebrew "Arabs Out" on the wall of a mosque in the northern Israeli town of Umm al-Faham on April 18, 2014
Israel's best known writer, Amos Oz, says that Israelis behind a wave of hate crimes against Muslims and Christians are "Hebrew neo-Nazis," Haaretz newspaper reported on its website Saturday.
It quoted the award-winning author as saying terms such as "price tag," widely used to describe attacks on Palestinians and others by Jewish extremists, are sanitized euphemisms.
They are "sweet names for a monster that needs to be called what it is: Hebrew neo-Nazi groups," Haaretz quoted Oz as telling guests Friday at an event marking his 75th birthday.
He said there was a difference between perpetrators of such events in the Jewish state and elsewhere.
"Our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the support of numerous nationalist or even racist legislators, as well as rabbis who give them what is in my view pseudo-religious justification," Haaretz quoted him as saying.
Earlier Friday, vandals spray-painted anti-Christian graffiti on a Jerusalem church, despite police stepping up security around religious sites ahead of a visit by Pope Francis later this month.
"Price tag ... King David for the Jews ... Jesus is garbage" was written in Hebrew on the wall of St George's Romanian Orthodox church near an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
Police also said "Death to Arabs" was found written on a house in the Old City in east Jerusalem, and swastikas were scrawled on the wall of a west Jerusalem apartment.
After Hebrew graffiti reading "Death to Arabs and Christians and to everyone who hates Israel" was daubed on its Notre Dame complex in Jerusalem on Monday, the Roman Catholic church demanded Israeli action.
"The bishops are very concerned about the lack of security and lack of responsiveness from the political sector, and fear an escalation of violence," the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.
The attacks on Christian property come amid a rise in anti-Arab property crimes. Israeli ministers held an emergency meeting Wednesday, pledging to enforce harsh measures against perpetrators.
Israel's best known writer, Amos Oz, says that Israelis behind a wave of hate crimes against Muslims and Christians are "Hebrew neo-Nazis," Haaretz newspaper reported on its website Saturday.
It quoted the award-winning author as saying terms such as "price tag," widely used to describe attacks on Palestinians and others by Jewish extremists, are sanitized euphemisms.
They are "sweet names for a monster that needs to be called what it is: Hebrew neo-Nazi groups," Haaretz quoted Oz as telling guests Friday at an event marking his 75th birthday.
He said there was a difference between perpetrators of such events in the Jewish state and elsewhere.
"Our neo-Nazi groups enjoy the support of numerous nationalist or even racist legislators, as well as rabbis who give them what is in my view pseudo-religious justification," Haaretz quoted him as saying.
Earlier Friday, vandals spray-painted anti-Christian graffiti on a Jerusalem church, despite police stepping up security around religious sites ahead of a visit by Pope Francis later this month.
"Price tag ... King David for the Jews ... Jesus is garbage" was written in Hebrew on the wall of St George's Romanian Orthodox church near an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood.
Police also said "Death to Arabs" was found written on a house in the Old City in east Jerusalem, and swastikas were scrawled on the wall of a west Jerusalem apartment.
After Hebrew graffiti reading "Death to Arabs and Christians and to everyone who hates Israel" was daubed on its Notre Dame complex in Jerusalem on Monday, the Roman Catholic church demanded Israeli action.
"The bishops are very concerned about the lack of security and lack of responsiveness from the political sector, and fear an escalation of violence," the Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem said.
The attacks on Christian property come amid a rise in anti-Arab property crimes. Israeli ministers held an emergency meeting Wednesday, pledging to enforce harsh measures against perpetrators.
Although police have made scores of arrests, there have been nearly no successful prosecutions for such attacks, and the government has come up under mounting pressure to authorize the Shin Bet internal security agency to step in.
The Pope's visit to the region is scheduled to begin in Jordan on May 24.
The Pope's visit to the region is scheduled to begin in Jordan on May 24.
6 may 2014
From 1988-2006, Ilan Shmuel, 51, allegedly raped or sexually assaulted several female family members.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s former driver was indicted in the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday for hundreds of sexual assaults and rapes against six minors, mostly relatives of his, over 21 years.
The indictment against Ilan Shmuel, 51, a Zecharya resident, was filed by the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.
It includes accusations that from 1988-2006, Shmuel raped, or sexually assaulted, several female family members and from 2007-2009, he sexually assaulted A.A. (also referred to in the indictment as G.G.), a friend of his daughter, who was nine-years-old at the time.
As the victims were minors, their real names are under a gag order.
The narrative of the indictment goes as follows: Shmuel sexually assaulted and raped B.B., who was 12-years-old, dozens of times, starting in 1988, over a one to two-year period – at B.B’s grandparents’ house.
The assaults included forcing her to learn a variety of sexual skills, while telling her that men she had sexual relations with later in life would appreciate that “you are already experienced.”
In one incident where Shmuel raped B.B. he told her she would enjoy it, but when she cried out in pain, he said: “It will be over soon.”
While driving B.B. home, Shmuel told her he had just “lost control” but that it “would not happen again,” and that she “should not tell anyone.”
However, Shmuel continued to rape B.B. repeatedly in the future, sometimes forcing her into the grandparents’ home as B.B. tried to resist.
From 1991-1995, Shmuel sexually assaulted C.C., a family member who at the time was 11-years-old, dozens of times and in numerous ways – in her home.
In 1996, Shmuel sexually assaulted D.D., a family member who at the time was nineyears- old, numerous times and in a variety of ways, at his house and in his car.
From 2004-2006, Shmuel sexually assaulted E.E., a family member who at the time 11-years-old, numerous times and in a variety of ways, while at his house.
In some cases, E.E. was unable to perform as Shmuel demanded, but he continued sexually assaulting her.
Shmuel also raped and sexually assaulted F.F., despite her crying out in pain, and sexually assaulted G.G.
Both F.F. and G.G. were also minors, while F.F. was another family member and G.G.
was a friend of a family member.
With many of the minors, Shmuel told them it would be their “special secret” and not to tell anyone.
According to media reports, Shmuel was Netanyahu’s driver until 2011, when he was removed from the post after the office discovered that he was being investigated for sex crimes.
The prime minister would not comment on the previous case against Shmuel.
The Prime Minister’s Office said that they were told about the new allegations a month ago and immediately reported the matter to the relevant authorities. Shmuel was placed on leave.
They added that they are dealing with the case in keeping with regulations placed on state agencies.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s former driver was indicted in the Jerusalem District Court on Sunday for hundreds of sexual assaults and rapes against six minors, mostly relatives of his, over 21 years.
The indictment against Ilan Shmuel, 51, a Zecharya resident, was filed by the Jerusalem District Attorney’s Office.
It includes accusations that from 1988-2006, Shmuel raped, or sexually assaulted, several female family members and from 2007-2009, he sexually assaulted A.A. (also referred to in the indictment as G.G.), a friend of his daughter, who was nine-years-old at the time.
As the victims were minors, their real names are under a gag order.
The narrative of the indictment goes as follows: Shmuel sexually assaulted and raped B.B., who was 12-years-old, dozens of times, starting in 1988, over a one to two-year period – at B.B’s grandparents’ house.
The assaults included forcing her to learn a variety of sexual skills, while telling her that men she had sexual relations with later in life would appreciate that “you are already experienced.”
In one incident where Shmuel raped B.B. he told her she would enjoy it, but when she cried out in pain, he said: “It will be over soon.”
While driving B.B. home, Shmuel told her he had just “lost control” but that it “would not happen again,” and that she “should not tell anyone.”
However, Shmuel continued to rape B.B. repeatedly in the future, sometimes forcing her into the grandparents’ home as B.B. tried to resist.
From 1991-1995, Shmuel sexually assaulted C.C., a family member who at the time was 11-years-old, dozens of times and in numerous ways – in her home.
In 1996, Shmuel sexually assaulted D.D., a family member who at the time was nineyears- old, numerous times and in a variety of ways, at his house and in his car.
From 2004-2006, Shmuel sexually assaulted E.E., a family member who at the time 11-years-old, numerous times and in a variety of ways, while at his house.
In some cases, E.E. was unable to perform as Shmuel demanded, but he continued sexually assaulting her.
Shmuel also raped and sexually assaulted F.F., despite her crying out in pain, and sexually assaulted G.G.
Both F.F. and G.G. were also minors, while F.F. was another family member and G.G.
was a friend of a family member.
With many of the minors, Shmuel told them it would be their “special secret” and not to tell anyone.
According to media reports, Shmuel was Netanyahu’s driver until 2011, when he was removed from the post after the office discovered that he was being investigated for sex crimes.
The prime minister would not comment on the previous case against Shmuel.
The Prime Minister’s Office said that they were told about the new allegations a month ago and immediately reported the matter to the relevant authorities. Shmuel was placed on leave.
They added that they are dealing with the case in keeping with regulations placed on state agencies.
5 may 2014
Anti-Palestinian graffiti is daubed on a bulldozer on May 5, 2014 near the town of Abu Ghosh
Israeli police have arrested seven Jewish minors on suspicion of involvement in racist acts and vandalism, police said on Monday.
Four of them between the ages of 13 and 15 are suspected of spraying racist graffiti at a building site by a Palestinian village west of Jerusalem on Sunday, spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
Another three were arrested near Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday for spitting at a priest. In their bags, police found Israeli flags with Hebrew slogans on them, including the words "revenge" and "price tag," she said, without giving their ages.
All seven suspects are to be brought before a judge on Monday to extend their remand in custody, Samri said.
On Sunday, a Jerusalem court extended by three days the detention of a man from the extremist settlement of Yitzhar who was arrested last week with his wife over an arson attack on a mosque in Israel last month, public radio said.
"Burning mosques and churches, desecrating holy books and cemeteries and damaging Arabs' cars have become common phenomena on both sides of the Green Line," said an editorial in Haaretz newspaper by Hussein Abu Hussein, a lawyer who founded the rights group Adalah.
During the first and second Palestinian uprisings (1987-1993, 2000-2005), a single stone thrown at an Israeli bus would see Israel's Shin Bet security services and police investigators acting rapidly to round up, arrest and prosecute those involved, often within hours, he wrote.
"The Arab public -- particularly the youth -- suspiciously wonders on social media why law enforcement’s resourcefulness and speed disappear when it comes to Jewish terror. Why doesn’t the Shin Bet get involved? Is it because the victims are Arab?" he wrote.
Ongoing indifference by the Israel authorities could spark "a religious war" with people taking the law into their own hands to protect their holy places, and could easily end in violence if one of the perpetrators were to be caught in the act of desecrating a mosque, he warned.
Last week, the US State Department for the first time included mention of "price tag" attacks in its global report on terror, saying such incidents were "largely unprosecuted".
On Sunday, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said she would back the idea of defining such acts as "terrorism."
There are hundreds of racist attacks against Palestinians and their property every year, but the perpetrators are rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
Israeli police have arrested seven Jewish minors on suspicion of involvement in racist acts and vandalism, police said on Monday.
Four of them between the ages of 13 and 15 are suspected of spraying racist graffiti at a building site by a Palestinian village west of Jerusalem on Sunday, spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
Another three were arrested near Jerusalem's Old City on Sunday for spitting at a priest. In their bags, police found Israeli flags with Hebrew slogans on them, including the words "revenge" and "price tag," she said, without giving their ages.
All seven suspects are to be brought before a judge on Monday to extend their remand in custody, Samri said.
On Sunday, a Jerusalem court extended by three days the detention of a man from the extremist settlement of Yitzhar who was arrested last week with his wife over an arson attack on a mosque in Israel last month, public radio said.
"Burning mosques and churches, desecrating holy books and cemeteries and damaging Arabs' cars have become common phenomena on both sides of the Green Line," said an editorial in Haaretz newspaper by Hussein Abu Hussein, a lawyer who founded the rights group Adalah.
During the first and second Palestinian uprisings (1987-1993, 2000-2005), a single stone thrown at an Israeli bus would see Israel's Shin Bet security services and police investigators acting rapidly to round up, arrest and prosecute those involved, often within hours, he wrote.
"The Arab public -- particularly the youth -- suspiciously wonders on social media why law enforcement’s resourcefulness and speed disappear when it comes to Jewish terror. Why doesn’t the Shin Bet get involved? Is it because the victims are Arab?" he wrote.
Ongoing indifference by the Israel authorities could spark "a religious war" with people taking the law into their own hands to protect their holy places, and could easily end in violence if one of the perpetrators were to be caught in the act of desecrating a mosque, he warned.
Last week, the US State Department for the first time included mention of "price tag" attacks in its global report on terror, saying such incidents were "largely unprosecuted".
On Sunday, Justice Minister Tzipi Livni said she would back the idea of defining such acts as "terrorism."
There are hundreds of racist attacks against Palestinians and their property every year, but the perpetrators are rarely prosecuted by Israeli authorities.
