Calls At UN To Bring Israel To Trial

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September 13, 2009

Jerusalem – Tension is mounting in Israel as it awaits the publication of the Goldstone

Commission’s report, which inquired into allegations directed against Israel relating to Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip. The report is set to be published in the next few days.

The commission, headed by a South African judge, was established by the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and is largely regarded as anti-Israel. Israel has refused to cooperate with the commission and argues that it has predicated much of its findings on false and biased information that it obtained from Hamas. There is concern that the findings will be quite harsh and serve as a basis for litigation against Israel for “war crimes”.

UN High Commissioner of Human Rights Navanethen Pillay, the South African judge, who hosted the anti-Israel Durban 2 conference last April, has already made clear her hope that the UN will ask The Hague to begin proceedings against Israel.

Pillay’s position is based on the Darfur precedent, since Israel has not ratified the international court’s charter and is not a member of it. The UN Security Council is authorized to order the start of litigation against countries that are not members of the court, and in the case of Darfur, the council did indeed instruct the court to start procedures against senior Sudanese officials for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. She said she hoped that the UN Security Council would respond in kind if the Goldstone Commission found possible war crimes.

Meanwhile the current president of the UN Human Rights Council rejected the demand of the “UN Watch” that British jurist Christine Chinkin be disqualified from the Goldstone Commission. The group argued that statements and articles by Chinkin in which she accused Israel of war crimes even before the commission had begun its work, which indicated that she held a predetermined bias.

“Innocent Civilians” were actually…Palestinian Security Apparatus Members

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

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September 11, 2009

After international human rights organizations accused Israel of killing Palestinian policemen who were not involved in the fighting or in terror during the course of operation “Cast Lead”, a new study by Jonathan Dahoah Halevi shows that the complaints were hasty and baseless. The complaints that the IDF killed “traffic policemen” and innocent policemen are inaccurate. The decisive majority of the Palestinian “policemen” were activists in the military wings of the Palestinian terror organizations and fighters who had undergone military training. [1]

Israel was accused by the international human rights organizations of “illegal” attacks in the killing of hundreds of Palestinian policemen who were not involved in the fighting or in terror activity in the course of operation “Cast Lead”. Nevertheless, a check of the facts shows that the complaints by the human rights organizations were hasty and baseless. Amongst the 343 members of the Palestinian security forces who were killed, 286 were identified as terror organization activists (83.4%). The total number of terror activists and “fighters” amongst the Palestinian security organs dead therefore totals at least 311, that is to say 90.7% of the fatalities.

The Background

During operation “Cast Lead” (December 27, 2008-January 18, 2009) Israel attacked targets of the Palestinian terror organizations (primarily of Hamas) and targets of the security forces subordinate to the Hamas government. Human rights organizations – including Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and the Btselem organization – argued that the security forces targets were not legitimate military targets and the Israeli attacks were essentially illegal.

Human Rights Organizations: Israel Killed Innocent Policemen

Amnesty

In an announcement published on December 28, 2008 Amnesty International Organization noted that “Scores of unarmed civilians, as well as police personnel who were not directly participating in the hostilities, are among the Palestinian victims of the Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip. Such disproportionate use of force by Israel is unlawful and risks igniting further violence in the whole region”. [1]

Another announcement by the organization on December 29, 2008, stated that “Amnesty International reiterates its call for an end to reckless and unlawful Israeli attacks against densely populated residential areas which have killed more than 300 Palestinians since 27 December, including scores of unarmed civilians and police personnel not taking part in the hostilities.” [2]

Human Rights Watch

The Human Rights Watch organization addressed the issue of attacking Palestinian security forces targets in detail. In an official document of questions and answers pertaining to the war that it published on December 31, 2008 the organization noted the following:

“May Israel lawfully attack police stations and police personnel in Gaza? Israel has launched repeated attacks on police stations in Gaza, killing and injuring large numbers of police. The legality of such attacks depends on a number of factors; it is incorrect to assert that police and police stations in Gaza are automatically valid military targets.

Under international humanitarian law, police are presumed to be civilian – and thus immune from attack – unless formally incorporated into the armed forces of a party to a conflict or directly participating in the hostilities. Thus, police only engaged in ordinary police roles, such as regulating traffic or ordinary law enforcement, would not be subject to lawful attack, while those who are Hamas fighters can be targeted. Police who engage in both ordinary law enforcement and at times in fighting would, like other civilians, be subject to attack whenever and for such time as they were actively participating in the hostilities.

Police stations are presumptively civilian objects. However, if a police station is being used for military purposes, such as a Hamas military headquarters or a place to store weapons for use in fighting, that station could be subject to lawful attack. Such attacks in any case must not cause disproportionate civilian loss, and so must factor in any reasonably anticipated harm to police or others who are not participating in the hostilities. Without further research on the ground, it is not yet possible to determine whether the police stations struck by Israel served any military purpose, and were therefore legitimate objects of attack.” [3]

Human Rights Watch managed to complete its study on the attack targets and formulate a clear position in less than two weeks. In an oral declaration provided at a special Ninth meeting of the UN Human Rights Council on January 12, 2009, Human Rights Watch determined that “blanket attacks on Gaza police stations and ministry buildings, indicate that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is not limiting its attacks to military targets as required by the laws of war.” [4] In another announcement from January 27, 2009, it was divulged that the organization was investigating Israel’s “Targeting presumptively civilian installations such as police stations and government offices that were not legitimate military targets.” [5] Human Rights Watch notes that “Israel launched its military campaign on December 27 with an attack on the Gaza City police headquarters, which killed at least forty cadets during a police academy graduation ceremony.” [6]

Btselem

The Btselem organization on February 8, 2009, published a document entitled “An Outline for Investigating the Actions by the Army.” The following was written in the document:

“On the first day of the operation on December 27, 2008, the Army bombed the main police building in Gaza and killed 42 police cadets who were at that moment on parade. From an interview that Btselem conducted with one of the course instructors it emerges that the cadets were studying first aid, methods of dispersing demonstrations, order drills etc. Later on the soldiers were assigned to the various arms of the police in the Gaza Strip that is responsible for maintaining order.”[7] The Btselem organization, so it seems, embraced the Hamas version that we are dealing with innocent policemen who are not terror activists and intended only to fulfill normal policing duties, and most definitely not take part in military activities or terror attacks against Israel.

Who Really Were the Palestinian Police Attacked by Israel?

The determination by the three human rights organizations – Amnesty HRW and Btselem -from which it could be inferred that Israel attacked innocent policemen was apparently impetuous. These organizations did not conduct an in-depth inspection regarding the identity of the killed soldiers nor did they await the publication of the IDF version that relied inter alia on tapping the intelligence sources regarding the targets that were attacked. The official list of the slain members of the Palestinian police was published for the first time on the police website only on February 24, 2009, in other words a relatively long time after the human rights organizations had already published their conclusions regarding the nature of the targets that were attacked. [8]

The human rights organizations made use of terminology such as “the Palestinian policemen”, “police”, police personnel”, and “police stations” in order to describe the slain members of the Palestinian security forces, while observing that one was not dealing with bodies that constituted an “army”, but a civilian policing force. This description of the Palestinian security forces is fundamentally erroneous. The term “Palestinian police” was incorporated in the interim accords between Israel and the Palestinian Authority (1995) pursuant to the Israeli demand that sought to avoid awarding the Palestinians the trappings of an independent state. Lumped under the rubric “Palestinian police” were all the sundry security bodies that fulfilled combat and terror roles against Israel, the intelligence and preventive intelligence bodies as well as those active in policing and maintaining order.

Following the Hamas victory in the parliamentary elections (January 2006), the government decided to establish a new security force-“the Executive Force”-subordinate to the Ministry of Interior, that is considered a qualitative military force intended for “qualitative missions” in the fighting against Israel and opposition elements to the regime (the force suppressed, including via the use of executions, protest activity by Fatah and other bodies). Jamal Abu Samhadana, who headed the Popular Resistance Committees terror organization and an ally of Hamas, was placed in charge of this force.

Following the military coup (June 2007) that enable Hamas to take over the Gaza Strip, the Hamas authorities conducted a reorganization of the Palestinian security forces (“the Palestinian police”). The main bodies are:

The Police-the qualitative infantry forces that are intended also for fighting against Israel and they comprise “the Rapid Intervention Force”, “the Executive Force”, “the Naval Police” and the “Military Police”.

National Security-an infantry force.

Security and Protection – a skilled force loyal to the Hamas regime in charge of providing security for the leadership and sensitive institutions

Internal Security – the preventive intelligence apparatus

Civil Defense- evacuation and rescue forces

An analysis of the lists of Palestinians slain in the years 2007 2008 reveals that activists in all the Palestinian security apparatuses took part in terror activity and fighting against the IDF. [9] The Hamas leadership presents these organizations alongside “the Palestinian Resistance” as the spearhead of the continued armed struggle and the jihad for liberating all of Palestine.

The Slain Members of the Palestinian Security Forces-the Numbers

The Palestinian police published an official list of 232 “policemen” killed in the course of operation “Cast Lead”. An examination of the names revealed that one of the policemen (Ibrahim Mahmoud Saad al-Masri) was included in this list by accident, because he was killed in fighting with an IDF force on June 11, 2008 and not in the course of operation “Cast Lead” and the list therefore includes 231 slain who are relevant to the study.

Ihab al-Ghussein, the spokesman for the Palestinian Military of interior, divulged that the number of killed in the Palestinian “police” totals 230, the security and protection apparatus sustained 50 fatalities, National Security and Internal Security 10 slain (it is not clear from the wording if he intended the total losses for both apparatuses or in each apparatus) and Civil Defense 11 slain. This means a total of 301 killed (or 311) amongst the various Palestinian security apparatuses of the Hamas government. [10]

This study examines the official lists of policemen that were published (the first partial list totaled 185 “policemen” and the second more inclusive one 232 “policemen”), and the lists of fatalities put out by the Palestinian human rights organizations PCHR and El-Mizan (that distinguish between police and civilians) as well as additional information that was published in open sources (the websites of the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas government, the Palestinian press etc.). From the total data the names of 345 activists defined as Palestinian “policemen” or “security personnel” killed during the course of operation Cast Lead were amassed.

The job of gathering this data was not easy. The PHCR list notes the names of 1417 slain. Mizan includes in the report that it published 1346 killed. The Hamas government claims, that 1452 Palestinians were killed during the war. There is an unexplained gap of 106 killed. Additionally, an examination of the names of security forces slain (about 25% of the total number of killed) revealed duplicate entries of three killed on the PCHR lists were identified and they are: Ihab Abdallah Muhammed Hamdan, Islam Muhammed Abd-al-Rahim al-Sahar and Ashraf Zuheir Mahmoud al-Sharabasi. Two of the killed, (Muhammed Samir Abd- al Latif and Muhammed Adnan Salim Ata Allah) identified by the PCHR organization as policemen turned out to be civilians.

Spelling errors in the names also encumbered the research. Thus for example, PCHR notes today the family name of Ahmed Kamel Hamuda Al-Dalu as Al-Barlu and the family name of Ahmed Fuad Mahmoud Al-Askari as Al-Shurti. In another entry the first name of “Jihad” instead of “Bhaa”. We are dealing with typos (and deficient copying from the handwriting due to the similarity between letters), but they required careful inspection of all the data. Most problematic is the age of those slain. In this research we have the general year of birth for most of the entries in accordance with the age divulged by the human rights organizations. In cases where exact information existed the complete data was noted.

The Connection between the Slain Members of the Palestinian Security Forces and the Palestinian Terror Organizations

The PCHR organization contends that only 10 Palestinian “policemen” or “security personnel” were also “fighters”. All the rest it claims were “civilians”. An analysis of the list of the slain Palestinian security forces members (see the attached table) shows, that of the 343 killed from the security forces 258 of them (i.e. 75.2%) were Hamas activists and almost all of them were activists in Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. 12 killed (3.5%) were members of the Popular Resistance Committees terrorist organization, eight of the killed (2.3%) belonged to the military wings of the Fatah organization (Hamas supports some of the Fatah wings and operates them for its purposes), three of the killed were activists of Islamic Jihad (0.9%), 4 of the killed (1.16%) were defined as “fighters” and their organizational affiliation is unknown, and another killed (in 0.3%) belonged to the “Army of the Umma” that is an extreme Islamic terror organization identified as one of the offshoots of the Al Qaeda organization in the Gaza Strip.

One should emphasize that in the official fatality list killed published by the Palestinian police only one policeman was a member of the traffic division, and he was senior NCO Hussein Naim Hussein Abbas. This solitary traffic cop was also an activist in the Al Qassam Brigades.

Amongst the other killed there are 27 fighters (7.9%) out of the list of security forces killed belonging to units undergoing infantry training and intended for fighting against Israel, and they are: the National Security, Military Police the Intervention Force, Naval Force, bodyguards and the Cavalry Units that take part in patrolling the border with Israel. The total number of terror activists and fighters amongst those killed from the Palestinian security apparatuses therefore totals 311, namely 90.7%.

A check of the remaining killed from the Palestinian security forces did not produce an affiliation with any terror organization. Some belong to various units, such as extraction rescue and administration, two were civilians working in the police and with regards to the others no further details were discovered regarding their job, rank and the unit in which they served.

At the police headquarters that was attacked on December 27, 2008 an officer training course for policemen was in progress according to the PCHR list published on the official website of the organization 89 dead were counted (some died of their wounds after a few days). From these 60 of the killed (67.4%) belonged to Hamas and almost all of them were activists in the Al-Qassam Brigades., the military wing of Hamas, two (2.2%) belonged to the military wings of the Fatah and one of the killed (1.1%) to the Popular Resistance Committees. Five alone are not identified by organizational affiliation or by their military/security unit.

Amongst the others killed, 18 fighters (20.2%) out of the list of security forces members killed came from units that are undergoing infantry training and are intended for fighting against Israel, and they are: the military police, bodyguards and the Cavalry unit that takes part in patrolling the boundary with Israel. The total number of terror activists and fighters amongst killed at police headquarters (al-Jawazat) therefore totals 78, i.e. 87.6%.

No list was encountered detailing the names of all the students in the officer’s training course. Nevertheless, it is clear that the identification provided by the trainees’ names and a description of a course in the official sources can demonstrate the nature of the course’s participants and its contents. The official website of the Al-Qassam Brigades divulges, that we are dealing with “a theoretical military training course” (Ø¯ÙˆØ±Ø© ØªÙ†Ø´ÙŠØ·ÙŠØ© Ø¹Ø³ÙƒØ±ÙŠØ©) that lasted a week and it was defined as a “closed course” (that included apparently sleeping at the base during the course). Below is information on 10 activists (out of 42 “policemen”) who took part in the military course and were killed in the IDF attack on December 27 while they stood on parade:

1. Omar Bakr Shimali -born in 1988, an activist in the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam brigades the military wing of Hamas. Already at a young age Shimali was an activist in the Hamas student organization (al-Kutla al-Islamiya) and as a adolescent joined the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades. At first he operated with the framework of the “Support Unit ” of the al-Qassam Brigades; after a short period he was transferred to the “Advanced Unit” and at a later stage he was assigned to the “Special Unit” of the brigades and was stationed occasionally on front-line positions. At the same time Shimali, was active in the military police and worked at police headquarters.[11]

2. Mohammed Khaled Shahiber -born in 1987, an activist in the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Already at a young Shahiber was active in the framework of Hamas. In 2006 he officially joined by taking the oath of loyalty to Hamas and in 2007 he joined the Al-Qassam Brigades where in the framework of his activity he was occasionally stationed in front-line positions. [12]

3. Bilal Mahmoud Omar – born in 1989, an activist in the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. During his studies he was active in the Hamas student organization (al-Kutla al-Islamiya). In 2006 he joined the Muslim Brotherhood movement and at the same time he was active in the Hamas security apparatus. In 2007 after completing high school studies he joined the ranks of the Al- Qassam Brigades and was assigned to forward positions in the western region of Gaza on the seacoast. He took part in the military training of the Al- Qassam Brigades. He served as the security guard at the home of the police commander Tawfik Jabber. [13]

4. Sidqi Ismail Hamad-born in 1983, an activist in the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He was active in Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood and in mid-2008 he joined the Al-Qassam Brigades. He served as a bodyguard of the Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and of the Member of Parliament for Hamas Khalil Al-Haya. He was an officer with the rank of lieutenant in the Security and Protection apparatus. [14]

5. Mohammed Tawfik Al-Nimra – born in 1986, was an activist in the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He joined Hamas in 2003 and swore loyalty to the Muslim Brotherhood movement a few days before he was killed in the attack. In 2006 he joined the ranks of the Al-Qassam Brigades and in their framework he underwent courses in horseback riding, operating mortars and first aid. He was stationed in front-line positions. [15]

6. Mohammed Ziad Al-Nabih – born in 1981 a member of the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He was active in the Hamas high school and college student organization (al-Kutla al-Islamiya). He joined Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in 1995 and the Al-Qassam Brigades in 2004 and in their framework he underwent military training. He worked in the Palestine police. [16]

7. Nasser Abdallah Al Ghara-born in 1962, an activist in the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades,, the military wing of Hamas. He joined Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood in 1989. A few years ago (apparently in 2004) he joined the Al- Qassam Brigades. He was active in the engineering unit of the Al- Qassam Brigades that was engaged in preparing explosive charges.[17]

8. Nahez Salim abu-Namous – was born in 1989, active in the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. Already at a young age he was active in the framework of the Hamas school organization (al-Kutla al-Islamiya). In 2007 he joined the Al-Qassam Brigades and underwent in their framework military training that included inter alia infantry fighting and operating mortars. At first he was assigned to infantry units and subsequently to the artillery unit of the al- Qassam Brigades. [18]

9. Hussam Muhammed Al-Majaida – was born in 1982, active in the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He joined Hamas in 2004 and a year later the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades. He underwent basic military training as a fighter in the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades and was stationed in forward positions. He has active in the Executive Force of the Palsestine Police established by the Hamas Government in 2006. [19]

10. Hassan Maher Hassan Aruk -born in 1985, he was active in the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He participated in Hamas movement activities. He was stationed in front-line positions. He joined the ranks of the Palestinian police after the Hamas military coup in summer 2007.[20]

The Manifest Miracle in Operation “Cast Lead”

The Palestinian terror organizations report on the fighting that they conducted against the IDF forces within the densely populated urban area of the Gaza Strip. Inter alia there are reports about the launching of many hundreds of mortar shells at IDF forces while they were still in the settled Palestinian areas, the launching of antitank missiles (RPG, Yassin and “Battar”) at Palestinian houses that the IDF forces had entered, small arms fire and machine gun fire at IDF forces within the Palestinian neighborhoods, detonating powerful explosive charges near Palestinian houses, booby-trapping houses and setting traps in transportation arteries, etc.

Nevertheless I have yet to encounter a single report about a Palestinian who was killed or was even lightly wounded by “friendly Palestinian fire”. All the Palestinians killed and wounded are exclusively attributed to the IDF. In all of Israel’s wars, including the war in Lebanon (Summer 2006) and in operation “Cast Lead”, the IDF sustained quite a few losses from “friendly fire”. In “Cast Lead” 4 soldiers out of the 10 killed and scores were wounded as a result of “fire from our own forces”.

The Palestinian achievement, so it appears, is “most impressive”. The Palestinian mortars proved themselves surprisingly as most accurate in fire against a built-up area, while the bullets of the al- Qassam Brigades were able to distinguish with an accuracy level of 100% between an IDF soldier and a Palestinian civilian. It is amazing that the human rights organizations, including the organizations Btselem, Amnesty and Human Rights Watch, do not speculate about the explanation for this manifest miracle and they do not demand from the Palestinians to display the results of autopsies and crime scene investigations of the fragments in the corpses of those killed (or at least in cases where there is uncertainty regarding the circumstances of death).

Implications and PostScript

The charges made against

the IDF for presumably killing “traffic cops” and “innocent” policemen fulfilling a civilian role are incorrect. The decisive majority of the Palestinian “police” were activists in the military wings of the Palestinian terror organizations (and primarily those of Hamas) and fighters who had undergone military training.

An analysis of the data informs us that a “Hamasization” process of the Palestinian security organs has taken place since the military coup carried out by the organization in summer 2007 and the strategic pact between Hamas and other terror organizations (Resistance Committees, Islamic Jihad and splinter groups from Fatah) who received “representatives” in the security apparatuses.

The recruitment of Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades activists to the official security organs allows the Hamas government to pay their salary out of the government budget, and thus enlarge Hamas manpower levels and channel the organization’s independent resources to other needs such as armaments and the like.

The human rights organizations-Amnesty HRW and Btselem failed in their hasty publication of grave charges against the IDF on this matter even before the full and official data for the dead amongst the Palestinian security forces were published. Beyond this, it would have been proper for them as human rights organizations to have protested the transformation of the Palestinian security apparatuses into the strongholds of Palestinian terror organizations instead of accepting as logical and natural that community “policemen” could be members and activists in terror organizations who believe in genocide, and carry out this ideology in practice by terror atrocities including suicide bombings. The Btselem organization found it necessary to cite the words of an “instructor” from the Palestinian police (almost certainly a Hamas activist) regarding the nature of the “officer training course” without demonstrating a check of the trainees’ names.

The lists of Palestinian dead contain quite a few errors and one should not accept them as revealed authority. The PCHR organization failed to mention the affiliation of hundreds of Palestinian security personnel to the terrorist organizations and their being “fighters” and thus artificially inflated the list of “civilians” who were killed by the IDF.

[1] http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/israeloccupied-palestinian-territories-civilians-must-be-protected-gaza-

[2] http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/israeloccupied-palestinian-territories-end-unlawful-attack-and-meet-gaza

[3] http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2008/12/31/q-hostilities-between-israel-and-hamas#_May_Israel_lawfully

[4] http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/01/12/grave-violations-human-rights-occupied-palestinian-territory

[5] http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/01/27/israelgaza-international-investigation-essential Ö·

[6] http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/03/20/remote-control-death

[7] http://www.btselem.org/Download/200902_Operation_Cast_Lead_Position_paper_Heb.pdf

[8] http://police.ps/ar/articles.php?action=listarticles&id=3

[9] http://www.jcpa.org.il/Templates/showpage.asp?FID=528&DBID=1&LNGID=2&TMID=99&IID=19183

A similar study on the 2008 fatalities was recently completed and it will be published shortly.

[10] http://www.moqawmh.com/ara/index.php?act=News&id=2649

[11] http://www.alqassam.ps/arabic/sohdaa5.php?id=1342

[12] http://www.alqassam.ps/arabic/sohdaa5.php?id=1352

[13] http://www.alqassam.ps/arabic/sohdaa5.php?id=1287

[14] http://www.alqassam.ps/arabic/sohdaa5.php?id=1396

[15] http://www.alqassam.ps/arabic/sohdaa5.php?id=1399

[16] http://www.alqassam.ps/arabic/sohdaa5.php?id=1402

[17] http://www.alqassam.ps/arabic/sohdaa5.php?id=1406

[18] http://www.alqassam.ps/arabic/sohdaa5.php?id=1393

[19] http://www.alqassam.ps/arabic/sohdaa5.php?id=1380

[20] http://www.sabiroon.org/news/specialNewsDetails.php?code=730&category=7

CHEAP COMPARISON: Israel and Apartheid

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

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September 11, 2009

It has become fashionable to use the word “Apartheid” as an adjective to Israel these days, particularly since the first Durban conference in August 2002. We have the “Apartheid wall” and “Apartheid roads” and are regularly called an “Apartheid state” as alluded to by former US president Jimmy Carter in the title of his recent book “Peace not Apartheid.”

Israel is not an Apartheid state. I know. I came from one. To compare Israel to Apartheid South Africa demonstrates ignorance and, in many cases, malevolence. Apartheid South Africa was unique and should be remembered as such lest it be repeated.

Elements of Israeli society may be guilty of racism, and there is no denying some discrimination against Israeli Arabs, but this is no Apartheid South Africa. And Israel’s occupation and settlement of the West Bank may be unfair, unjust, and brutal, but it is a result of a clash of nationalisms over territory, not the imposition of economic and social slavery though a codex of laws aimed at discrimination for the benefit of a tiny minority of the country’s population. Yes in some places there are separate roads for Palestinians and Jewish settlers and the separation barrier is hideously ugly, but these are responses to security problems, not the imposition of a pre-meditated discriminatory system.

In Apartheid South Africa there was no independent legislature, no free press, no open and accountable government, no representation, and no independent judiciary. Apartheid meant total economic exploitation by two million Whites who enslaved, abused and systematically discriminated against people ten times more numerous than them. It was a system of madness that was dedicated to forcibly moving millions upon millions of people from their tribal lands to Bantustans, leaving people with no means of support other than to work for minimal wages in the country’s mines or as domestic servants.

Apartheid South Africa carried out more judicial hangings than any other country on earth, including Black men who were found having sex with a white woman, something automatically assumed to be rape. It was a place where people disappeared into the night never to be heard of again if they opposed the regime, including anti-Apartheid activists from among the Jewish community.

If you were Black you needed a pass to be in the city and if caught without one you were summarily sentenced to months of hard labor in prison work gangs, and if you were Black you lived under curfew, and you had to have a note from the master or the madam allowing you out after hours, something I remember providing for our servant Grace when I was nine.

It was a dark horrible regime of fear with no intention of ever making peace with the Black people, only to continually exploit them. Say what you may about Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians at least the sides are engaged in some form of conciliatory process, at least people on both sides can see a theoretical resolution of the problem. In Apartheid South Africa no resolution of the conflict was ever intended and if international sanctions had not brought the Apartheid regime to its knees those behind it would still be firmly in power.

There was the Shoah and there is genocide. There was Apartheid South Africa and there is discrimination, racism and occupation. These things should not be confused.

THE DARK SIDE OF A HUMAN RIGHTS EXPERT

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

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September 11, 2009

Marc Garlasco, the senior Human Rights Watch expert is one of the authors of some of the most venomous reports against Israel and the IDF. But he has another occupation: He a compulsive collector of Nazi insignia and memorabilia. Yesterday Garlasco wrote in his blog: “I would reply, but I do not want to encourage them.” The organization is trying to explain: “That is part of Garlasco’s work as a military historian.”

Another scandal hits the human rights organization, Human Rights Watch (HRW), one of Israel’s biggest critics regarding the Palestinian population. Three weeks ago Ma’ariv disclosed that senior figure Joe Stork is a radical anti-Zionist who opposed any recognition of Israel, and even showed understanding for the Munich Massacre of athletes. Yesterday it became clear that Mark Garlasco, the organization’s senior military researcher is an enthusiastic collector of Nazi memorabilia.

Garlasco, who is responsible for a number of harsh reports against Israel and the IDF – amongst which was a report that presented Gaza residents’ claims about the IDF’s use of phosphorous shells during Operation Cast Lead, as well as a report on the deaths of an entire family on the Beit Lahiya beach following an IDF bombing – is a regular attendant of Nazi memorabilia collectors’ forums and has even written an extensive book on the subject.

Mark Garlasco’s loaded hobby was revealed yesterday in the blog Mere Rhetoric. The blog succeeded in cross-checking data from Garlasco’s open biographical records and the details of a surfer using the pseudonym Flak88, a German anti-aircraft shell. This same surfer demonstrated both great interest and knowledge on Nazi memorabilia collecting. The blog’s authors even hinted that, in light of the overlapping details, both figures – the real one and the virtual – are actually one and the same.

The blog’s research showed that Flak88 is in the habit of collecting various Nazi memorabilia, like medals and insignia, and to post pictures of them on the forums of similar collectors. In 2007, Flak88 made a posting on a forum dedicated the Wehrmacht, the Nazi army. “Friends, he wrote, “this year I was lucky and I collected a few items. Most I already had. I hope that you enjoy the pictures.” Flak88 added links and documents to the posting, which authenticated them. Apart from that, Flak88 wrote an extensive book, with over 400 pages on collecting Nazi items. The book sold for $100 on Nazi collector forums.

Emma Daly, Communications Director at Human Rights Watch, confirmed to Ma’ariv that Flak88 and Mark Garlasco are the same person. With that she clarified that the organization denies the suggestions regarding Garlasco’s tendencies. “Mark Garlasco is not pro-Nazi,” said Daly, “These allegations are monstrous. He does not delve into Nazi memorabilia. Garlasco is a student of military history and he has an interest in military history.”

With that, Garlasco’s biography, as it appears on the HRW website, shows that he has a BA in Government and a Masters in International Relations. Before joining HRW he was employed by the Pentagon as an analyst on the subject of Iraq. After joining the human rights organization, Garlasco became its senior military expert and headed investigation teams to Gaza, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Iraq and Georgia.

In recent years Garlasco has been involved in a series of investigations against the IDF, in the Gaza Strip and in Lebanon. Garlasco, for example, checked the allegations against the IDF on the use of cluster bombs in the Second Lebanon War. In the past months Garlasco published two reports on Operation Cast Lead: In one he determined that the IDF used phosphorous shells and in the second he checked the use of UAVs. “The UAV operators can see their targets on the ground clearly and can divert the missiles after launch, Garlasco determined. “Based on those abilities, Israel must explain why there incidences of civilian casualties.”

Professor Gerald Steinberg, Director of NGO Monitor, which published this on Garlasco yesterday, is sure that there is a direct connection between the reports that he writes and his fetish. “HRW is considered a very prestigious, very moral, organization,” says Steinberg. “It leads the attacks against Israel, on the basis of human rights violations, but a number of senior figures there have an anti-Israel ideological background. We see this clearly with Garlasco.”

Garlasco himself replied laconically to the publications. “I would reply, but I don’t want to encourage them, wrote Garlasco under the pseudonym Flak88, “Anyway, I doubt if they read my book. More than anything else, it is related to my work.”

CAN OF WORMS: understanding a human rights group that critiques Israel

By

Center for Near East Policy Research

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September 11, 2009

If it was only one case, it would be possible to claim it was a coincidence. Even two cases are not proof. But the more that Human Rights Watch (HRW) – the most important international human rights organization – is exposed, the more it becomes clear that something there really stinks. No, this is not a gentle phrase; it is certainly not diplomatic. But it is doubtful if there is a word that better describes the can of worms being exposed there. Sarah Leah Whitson, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Division, the division responsible for the astonishing reports against Israel, served on the advisory committee of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee before joining HRW and supports boycotting Israel. Her deputy is Joe Stork, who was also revealed in this newspaper as an anti-Zionist radical who opposed any recognition of Israel and as a member of a team that issued a statement supporting, or at least understanding, the massacre of athletes in Munich.

NGO Monitor, led by Prof. Gerald Steinberg, is currently releasing a detailed report on HRW that also exposes the systematic misleading, and also the deception, as well as additional members of the organization, such as Lucy Mair, Reed Brody, Darryl Li and Nadia Barhoum, the common denominator of which is radical anti-Israel activity. They are supposed to be “objective judges.” It is becoming clear that their credibility is equal to that of Al-Qaida’s reports on the Zionist movement. The major problem is their reports receive serious coverage in the respectable media in Israel and throughout the world.

Now joining the party is Mark Garlasco, HRW’s senior military analyst, who was previously in the vanguard of venomous reports against Israel.

This is the man, for example, who determined that an Israeli shell caused the deaths of an entire Palestinian family in Beit Lahiya on the Gaza coast in June 2006, and other various accusations related to the Second Lebanon War and Operation Cast Lead. Space is too short to list Garlasco’s quantity of errors. But he is against Israel so it’s OK.

It is still not clear if Garlasco is himself a Nazi. Claims to this effect deserve detailed scrutiny but it seems that one may suffice with what there is. He collects Nazi memorabilia. This is not innocent collecting. In many cases, collectors belong to a grouping with a clear ideology; sane people are not among them.

Garlasco led the American army’s targeted elimination unit in Iraq. He was also among those responsible for pursuit of Saddam Hussein. Then how did the targeted elimination man become a senior HRW official? How is it that the militarist from the Right is stuffed into the lairs of the Left? Could it be that the Nazi memorabilia fancier also fancies a movement whose ideology is the closest thing to the Nazi movement?

The answer lays in what usually joins the extreme Left and the extreme Right in the world at large: Hatred of Israel. What is even clearer is that HTW is being exposed as a dangerous organization that needs a serious shake-up. Human rights around the world deserve much more that terrorism admirers like Stork or Nazi memorabilia collectors like Garlasco.

Israeli Government To Begin PR Tours

By

David Bedein

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September 6, 2009

Jerusalem – Israeli government ministers Moshe Yaalon, Yossi Peled, Dan Meridor and Benny Begin are to leave for the United States with the goal of drumming up support for Israel.The ministers will leave one at a time, between September 6 and October 18.

Israel Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon and the former Israeli consul general in New York, Alon Pinkas, who currently serves as the Foreign Ministry “roaming consul,” will also join the tour.

The emissaries will address university students, public leaders and public opinion formers, including senators, Members of Congress, administration officials, governors, mayors, journalists, members of influential organizations and Jewish communities, church leaders and other community leaders. The lectures will be given in Washington, New York, Chicago, Boston and Atlanta, among other locations.

Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who conceived the idea of sending the delegation, said, “polls that were recently conducted in the United States prove once again that the American public perceives Israel as an important ally, and that Israel’s standing in American public opinion is solid.”

Tensions Mount On Israel’s Northern Border

By

David Bedein

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September 6, 2009

Two Hezbollah guerrillas prepare Katyusha rockets at their base near the Chebaa Farms area on the Lebanese-Israeli border in south Lebanon during a tour for the media organized by Hezbollah in this May 22, 2001 file photo. Israel’s military has determined that Hezbollah is expanding its presence along the Lebanese border with the Jewish state. The UN Security Council called a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. (Mahmoud Tawil/Associated Press)

Jerusalem – Israel’s military has determined that Hezbollah is expanding its presence along the Lebanese border with the Jewish state.Israeli military sources said thar Israeli reconnaissance units have been detecting Hezbollahâ€¨positions in Lebanese villages near the Israeli border. Theâ€¨operatives, dressed in civilian clothes, have been renting houses or storesâ€¨for the storage of equipment and housing of fighters.

“Hezbollah has intensified its deployment along the Israeli border,” aâ€¨military source said. “What was secret a year ago is a lot less secretâ€¨today.”

These Hezbollah actions have been deemed a violation of the United Nationsâ€¨Security Council-arranged ceasefire that ended the Lebanon war in 2006.â€¨Under the council resolution, Hezbollah was banned from maintaining aâ€¨presence south of Lebanon’s Litani River.

Hezbollah weapons were said to include air defense systems, such asâ€¨the SA-8 and SA-18. The sources said Hezbollah has also stockpiled rocketsâ€¨with a range of more than 200 kilometers.

Over the last year, the sources said, Hezbollah has been smugglingâ€¨rockets, rocket-propelled grenades, assault rifles and other weapons intoâ€¨villages near the Israeli border. They said Hezbollah, which deployed bothâ€¨fulltime and reserve units, began operations in Shi’ite villages and movedâ€¨to Christian and Sunni communities.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Hezbollah has accumulated moreâ€¨than 40,000 missiles and rockets. Barak said he expected Hezbollah to useâ€¨these weapons in any conflict with Israel.

“If there is a conflict on our northern border, we will use allâ€¨necessary force,” Barak said.

Meanwhile, the Middle East Newsline has confirmed that Hezbollah efforts in Sunni villages have been quietly discouraged by the government in Beirut. In mid-August, residents of Marwahin foughtâ€¨Hezbollah operatives who tried to bring weapons into the village, about twoâ€¨kilometers from the Israeli border community of Zirit.

The Israel Army, which closely monitors the border with ground and airâ€¨surveillance, photographed a gun battle between Hezbollah and Sunniâ€¨villagers. Lebanese Army troops were summoned and stopped the fighting.â€¨In the Israel Army video, released on Aug. 25, Marwahin residents wereâ€¨seen attacking Hezbollah operatives, who fled to an unmarked vehicle. Lebaneseâ€¨soldiers blocked the Sunni residents from reaching the Hezbollah sportâ€¨utility vehicle.

Israeli Military sources said the clash was a rare demonstration of oppositionâ€¨by Lebanese to the Hezbollah deployment near the Israeli border. They saidâ€¨in most cases Hezbollah efforts to purchase or rent homes in border villagesâ€¨did not encounter resistance.

“It is clear that Hezbollah wants to return the Israeli-Lebanese borderâ€¨to the same state that existed on the eve of the [2006] war,” the sourceâ€¨said. “The difference is we are more aware of their activities.”

Tensions Mount On Israel’s Northern Border

Two Hezbollah guerrillas prepare Katyusha rockets at their base near the Chebaa Farms area on the Lebanese-Israeli border in south Lebanon during a tour for the media organized by Hezbollah in this May 22, 2001 file photo. Israel’s military has determined that Hezbollah is expanding its presence along the Lebanese border with the Jewish state. The UN Security Council called a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. (Mahmoud Tawil/Associated Press)

By DAVID BEDEIN, Middle East Correspondent

Sunday, September 06, 2009