Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Speech at the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Day Ceremony

The following is the transcript of the speech given by Israeli Prime Minister last night while observing Yom HaShoah: 

Tonight, the eve of Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Day, we remember our brothers and sisters who were murdered in the death camps, in the forests and in the killing fields. We listen to the voices of the survivors who serve as the voice of the millions who died.

Before their deaths, many of the murdered begged, "Do not forget us. Tell our story - tell the world, tell the following generations - how great our suffering was, how terrible the horror was, how great our sacrifice was."

We owe the survivors a tremendous debt for their courage to return to life, to establish families, to contribute to building the country, and for their courage to speak out and tell their stories. It is only during the past several years that we have been doing more to help and make things easier for the survivors in their twilight years, and we will continue to do so.

Distinguished guests,

Several months ago, I headed the Israeli delegation to the ceremony marking 65 years since the liberation of the death camps Auschwitz and Birkenau. The candle-lighting ceremony took place outside in front of the monument. It was 15 degrees celsius below zero, but it was still warmer than the terrible winter of 1944-1945 when temperatures ranged from 30 to 35 degrees below zero. We stood for about 30 minutes during the ceremony, well-dressed for the weather, but nevertheless we were freezing. Suddenly I understood a simple, chilling truth about millions of my brothers and sisters who ended up in that cursed place: those who didn't burn, froze; and those who didn't freeze were burned.

Several months prior, I had visited the Wannsee Villa in Berlin. When I was there, I saw the original invitation for the meeting of high-level Nazi officials, during which they decided on the destruction of the Jewish people. On the invitation that was sent by the Deputy Head of the SS was written: "The chief of the Reich main security office, Reinhard Heydrich, cordially invites you to a discussion about the Final Solution to the Jewish problem. Breakfast will be served at 09:00".

This is how, in an elegant villa on the shore of a pastoral lake, over breakfast and glasses of cognac, 15 men sat and decided how to destroy our people. No one batted an eyelid; no one expressed any doubt regarding the mission, either its necessity or its justness. Immediately after the meal, they began their work to erase the seed of Abraham from the Earth.

As I was walking through the villa, moving from document to document, I felt myself becoming filled with helpless rage, and the feeling continued to grow until it became a flood. At the end of the tour, my German host asked me to write something in the guest book. I sat in the chair and the sadness and the anger rose up and started to overflow. And because of the storm of emotions I wrote three words: Am Israel Chai [the People of Israel live].

Tonight at Mount Herzl, I say it again: Am Israel Chai. The people of Israel will continue to live. It re-established its country, gathered its exiles, built its army, settled its homeland and reunited its capital, Jerusalem. "The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people." That is how David Ben-Gurion opened the Declaration of Independence. The State of Israel was born out of the ruins and the ashes, and today it impresses the entire world with the force of its creativity and innovation, with its advanced research and knowledge, with the momentum of its economy and with its free and democratic society.

Within several decades, the State of Israel has become one of the most advanced countries in the world: Israeli products help cure illnesses and feed millions of people; Israeli developments help irrigate fields and orchards on every continent; and Israeli ideas help save energy in every corner of the globe. Israel is a rich source of innovation for the world and is looking to the future.

Nevertheless, today we must ask the question: have the lessons of the Holocaust been learned? I believe that there are three lessons: fortify your strength, teach good deeds and fight evil.

The first lesson - fortify your strength - relates first and foremost to us, the people of Israel who were abandoned and defenseless when faced with waves of murderous hatred that rose against us time after time.

"In every generation there are those who stand against us." And in this generation we must fortify our strength and independence so that we will be able to prevent the current enemy from carrying out its plan.

Fortifying our strength is the first condition for our existence.

At the end of the day, it is also a necessary condition to expanding the circle of peace with those neighbors who accept our existence.

The second lesson - teach good deeds - means accepting or rather teaching to accept the other and differing opinions. This is the recognition that is the foundation for the Jewish perspective that every man is created in G-d's image and that every man has full rights to freedom, to life and to choosing his own path.

This is the essence of a free society. This is the basis that would prevent the growth of a Nazi ideology or any other fanatic ideology that preaches genocide and carries it out.

This is what we teach the children of Israel, which is a magnificent country, a beacon of tolerance in a dark and fanatical region.

But, ladies and gentlemen, this teaching of good deeds has a complementary side, and that is the third lesson of the Holocaust: fight evil. It is not enough to simply do good and be tolerant. A free society must ask itself what it will do when faced with the destructive forces of evil that seek to destroy and trample man and his rights.

There is no tolerance without boundaries and the boundary of tolerance must be outlined. And that is the answer that all free countries must define for themselves.

The historic failure of the free societies when faced with the Nazi animal was that they did not stand up against it in time, while there was still a chance to stop it.

And here we are today again witnesses to the fire of the new-old hatred, the hatred of the Jews, that is expressed by organizations and regimes associated with radical Islam, headed by Iran and its proxies. 

Iran's leaders race to develop nuclear weapons and they openly state their desire to destroy Israel. But in the face of these repeated statements to wipe the Jewish state off the face of the Earth, in the best case we hear a weak protest which is also fading away. 

The required firm protest is not heard - not a sharp condemnation, not a cry of warning.

The world continues on as usual and there are even those who direct their criticism at us, against Israel.

Today, 65 years after the Holocaust, we must say in all honesty that what is so upsetting is the lack of any kind of opposition. The world gradually accepts Iran's statements of destruction against Israel and we still do not see the necessary international determination to stop Iran from arming itself. 

But if we learned anything from the lessons of the Holocaust it is that we must not remain silent and be deterred in the face of evil. 

I call on all enlightened countries to rise up and forcefully and firmly condemn Iran's destructive intentions and to act with genuine determination to stop it from acquiring nuclear weapons.

These are the three lessons of the Holocaust: fight evil, teach good deeds and fortify your strength. 

My friends, where does our strength come from? From our unity, from our heritage, from our common past and future. We treasure our past and forge the path to our future.

We are not here by chance. We returned to this land because it is our land; we returned to Zion because it is our city. We are paving roads north and south, and transforming a barren land into a flourishing garden. This is our answer to those who seek our destruction. 

As the prophet Isaiah said: 

"Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle; and it shall be to the Lord for a memorial, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." 

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Israel Marks Yom Hashoah

The above video was just uploaded to the Internet from Israel. The two minute long siren is to commemorate the 6 million murdered in Europe for being Jews.

Here are others blogging about topics related to this observation, or the continued hatred of Jews in the world...

Elder of Ziyon "70 years ago: The boats of unwanted Jews"

Israel Matzv "Londonistan Israel Independence Day celebration canceled"

Israelly Cool "Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)"

IsraPundit "Israel, Despite Hamas Rockets and Media Scorn, Must Not Compromise on Peace or Terror"

The Muqata "Two Minutes of Siren"

YID With LID "UN Racism Conference Day One-->DURBAN II TRUTH 0"

Previously:

Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)

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Yom HaShoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day)

I made the above video in memory of the six million souls murdered by Hitler and his Nazi followers.


To say that the Holocaust of European Jewry (1933-1945) is an unprecedented episode in the history of the Jewish nation is not merely an understatement. It is an inaccuracy of the greatest magnitude, for such an event is unmatched in any recorded history. Millions of Jewish people suffered for twelve years under the terror of Nazi rule, where anti-Jewish propaganda, segregation, and then murder were the norm.

Though there are other cases in history of Genocide, the Holocaust was characterized by its methodical, systematic, efficient, almost scientific murder of any person with Jewish roots. Assimilation or conversion offered no protection in this situation.

At the core of the Holocaust we find modern anti-Semitism, the current version of Jew Hatred - that same phenomenon which appeared throughout the centuries, perhaps finding its most blatant manifestation with the medieval Church. The modern German anti-Semitism was based on racial ideology which stated that the Jews were sub-human (untermensch) while the Aryan race was ultimately superior. The Jew was systematically portrayed as a low-life, as untouchable rot (faulniserscheinung) and as the main cause of Germany's problems.

Germany had major problems resulting from World War I. The Weimar Republic, which was established on the ruins of the defeated Germany, had relinquished land on almost all fronts, had succumbed to military jurisdiction under the Allies, and was forced to pay reparations beyond the prevalent economic capabilities. The rocketing inflation and economic insecurity became even worse with the advent of the Great Depression of 1929. By 1932, unemployment in Germany peaked, and it was in this economic and political climate that Adolf Hitler established the Nationalist-Socialist Party (with Mein Kampf as its manifesto). With Hitler's rise to power in 1933 began the national policy of organized persecution of the Jews.

The subsequent Holocaust of European Jewry can be divided into four periods of time:

1. 1933-1939: The aim of the Nazis during this time was to "cleanse" Germany of her Jewish population (Judenrein). By making the lives of the Jewish citizenry intolerable, the Germans indirectly forced them to emigrate. The Jewish citizens were excluded from public life, were fired from public and professional positions, and were ostracized from the arts, humanities, and sciences. The discrimination was anchored in German anti-Jewish legislation such as the Nurnburg Laws of 1935. At the end of 1938, the government initiated a pogrom against the Jewish inhabitants on a particular night which came to be known as Kristallnacht. This act legitimized the spilling of Jewish blood and the taking of Jewish property. The annexation of Austria in 1938 (Anschluss) subjected the Jewish population there to the same fate as that in Germany.

2. 1939-1941: During this time, the Nazi policy took on a new dimension: The option of emigration (which was anyway questionable because of the lack of countries willing to accept Jewish refugees) was brought to a halt. The Jew-hatred, which was an inseparable part of Nazi policy, because even more extreme with the outbreak of World War II. As the Nazis conquered more land in Europe, more Jewish populations fell under their control: Jews of Poland, Ukraine, Italy, France, Belgium, Holland, etc. The Jews were placed in concentration camps and compelled to do forced labor. Ghettos were set up in Poland, Ukraine, and the Baltic states in order to segregate the Jewish population. In the camps and ghettos, great numbers of Jews perished because of impossible living conditions, hard labor, starvation, or disease.

Hitler's political police force, the Gestapo, had been founded two months after the Nazi rise to power. It became the most terrifying and deadly weapon of the Nazi government, and was used for the destruction of millions of Jews.

3. June 1941 - fall 1943: This was the time during which the Nazis began carrying out the Final Solution to the Jewish problem. Systematic genocide of the Jewish people became official Nazi policy as a result of the Wannsee Conference (Jan. 1942). Special task forces, known as Einsatzgruppen, would follow behind the German army and exterminate the Jewish population of newly conquered areas. In this manner, entire Jewish communities were wiped out. At this point, many concentration camps which had been set up shortly after the Nazi rise to power, became death camps used for the mass-murder of Jews in gas chambers. Some of the more well-known extermination camps were Auschwitz, Chelmno, Bergen-Belsen, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek, and Belzec.

4. 1943 - May 1945: The beginning of 1943 was a turning point in the war. This time saw the gradual collapse of the Third Reich until its ultimate surrender on May 7th, 1945. Despite the weakened position, the Nazis continued with their plan of destruction of the Jewish population in the ghettos and camps still under their control. As the Soviet army proceeded westward, the Nazis hastened the destruction of the Jews and then of their own facilities in order to cover the tracks of their crimes. In the fall of 1944, the Nazis began the evacuation of Auschwitz, and in January 1945, Himmler commanded to evacuate (by foot) all camps toward which the Allied forces were advancing. In this so-called "Death march", tens of thousands of more Jewish lives perished.

In the Holocaust, approximately 6 million Jewish men, women, and children were murdered.

It is important to note that the success of the Nazi machine could not have been so great were it not for the cooperation of the local populations of the conquered territories such as Poland, Ukraine, the Baltic states, and even western countries such as France. On the other hand, there were cases of governments and individuals who did their best at risk to their own lives to save the Jews. One such example was the organized evacuation from Denmark of the Jewish population to Sweden.

Following the war, many have asked why the Jews succumbed to the Nazis like "sheep to the slaughter." One cannot ignore the many shows of resistance among the Jews to their fate: The Jewish Partisans who fought in the forests of Eastern Europe, the Jews who joined forces with the local underground resistance, and the uprisings in ghettos and in concentration camps.

There is no doubt that the Holocaust accelerated the establishment of the State of Israel. As a result of the great catastrophe which occurred to the Jewish people, many nations realized that establishing a state was a necessary step for the protection of and the expiation for the Jewish people.

With the end of the war and unconditional surrender of Germany, international military courts were set up for the quick trials and sentencing of the Nazis for their war crimes against the Jewish people and against all humanity. (One of the better known is the Nurnberg Trials.) In 1960, the Israeli Mossad captured one of the greatest war criminals, Adolf Eichmann, in Argentina. He was brought to Jerusalem where he was tried and sentenced to death.

In 1951, the Knesset declared that the 27th day of Nissan is to be Holocaust Day, a day of commemoration of the Jews who perished and for those who showed resistance and heroism. In 1959, the Knesset passed the law of Holocaust Day.

Every year, since 1989, the Knesset (in cooperation with "Yad Vashem") performs the ceremony of "Everyone Has a Name" in which the names of all of the holocaust victims are read out loud.

Source: The Holocaust

And for those of you who say, "Never Again" I would remind you that there are people trying to wipe Jews from the face of the earth today. They are called Muslims.

Bear witness:



Watch a presentation regarding the heirs of Hitler at The Islamic Mein Kampf.

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The arrests following the Caracas Synagogue attack: 15 Minutes on Latin America

Fausta follows up on the Mariperez Tiferet Israel Sephardic Synagogue attack of January 10 in Caracas, Venezuela at 11pm Eastern Time today.

Visit the showpage, or her page on Conservative Thunder.

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On Blog Talk Radio: Chavismo's anti-Semitism:15 Minutes on Latin America

Fausta's Blog is on the air again at 11am Eastern.

While Seven police officers were among 11 people arrested for the attack on the Caracas synagogue last week, few are talking about The Anti-Semitic Germ in Chavismo and his Jewish problem.

You can listen on her showpage and chat, or on her page at Conservative Thunder.

View her post on the show today. (think of it as show prep)

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Israel Unfair and Unbalanced

Ain't that the truth!!!
Hat Tip: Jim Qualls (via email)

Lefties just don't understand.

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WARSAW GHETTO UPRISING AN OVER-REACTION European Leaders Blame Jews for Disproportionate Response

I just got this in my email, and believe this is what the New York Times would run if the people who are there now were there when these events occurred.

A quick search revealed this 2006 article on The People's Cube as the source.

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Hamas Leader: "There is no chance that true Islam would ever allow a Jewish state to survive in the Muslim Middle East. Israel is an impossibility."

Thank God that the IDF has killed this man! 

This is the type of man that lefties and other myopic anti-war protestors give aid and comfort to every single time they take to the streets in protest of Israel defending herself against these war criminals. 

These people who protest who protest against Israel are siding with terrorists, and they stand alongside people like these in Ft Lauderdale, Florida:

And these people in San Fransisco:

Lefties claim to want peace, but support the very people who make peace impossible. 

If the Muslims wanted peace with Israel, all they would have to do is lay down their arms.

If Israel laid down their arms...the Muslims would eradicate them from the earth. 

Now, I ask you, "What is so hard to understand about that?"

How long before some of these people start their own intifada here?

How long before one of them straps a bomb on and walks into a crowd?

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Operation Cast Lead Update for January 6, 2009

The sentiment of anti-Semitism in the wake of Operation Cast Lead has led to a terrorist attack in France, as a burning car was rammed into a Toulouse synagogue:

A burning car was rammed into a synagogue door in southwest France as the interior minister convened Muslims, Jews and police in Paris to warn against contagion from the Gaza conflict.

Damage to the synagogue in a Toulouse neighborhood was limited to a blackened door, and there were no injuries even though a rabbi was giving a course to adults inside, said an official of the regional prefecture, Anne-Gaelle Baudouin.

Police called to the scene found remnants of a Molotov cocktail in the car and a car nearby with three unlighted Molotov cocktails, Baudouin said.

Source: |Ynet News|, in Burning car rams synagogue door in France


Here are the two bloggers who have been live-blogging Operation Cast Lead:

The Muqata, with Day 11 of the War, Tuesday January 6, 2009


Israelly Cool, with Operation Cast Lead Tues Jan 6th, 2009


And here are others who have been covering it with numerous posts full of information and rich with links to other sources of information:

Mere Rhetoric (a new discovery!)
Israel Matzav
IsraPundit
YID With LID
Elder of Ziyon


And here are some more traditional news outlets:


Al Jazeera
Arutz Sheva
BBC Middle East
DEBKAfile
Ha'aretz
IDF Spokesperson
Internet Haganah
One Jerusalem
Israel Politik
Jerusalem Post
UK Telegraph Israel
Yahoo! News: Middle East Conflict
YNET NEWS



Here is my roundup of events relating to Operation Cast Lead on January 6, 2009...


Michael Bloomberg to CNN: Check your Facts:





Does Hamas have a surprise?

Dozens of missiles - some scoring direct hits - have been indiscriminately launched at Israeli civilians in the last 24 hours. Hamas's mid level soldiers are bragging about how they have even bigger rockets and other "tools" that they haven't used yet. The good news: given that the IDF's Gaza intel was top-notch and that they've already captured some Hamas operatives, Israel might well know what's coming. The bad news: Israel might well know what's coming

Source: |Mere Rhetoric|, in HAMAS BOMBS ANOTHER ISRAELI SCHOOL (PLUS: WHAT'S THEIR NEXT "SURPRISE"?)



Here we have a reminder that Israel is fighting a war against terrorists; A Hamas leader has threatened the lives of Jewish children around the world...just classy enough to earn the love of lefties everywhere!

"They have legitimised the murder of their own children by killing the children of Palestine," said Mahmoud Zahar, in a televised broadcast recorded at a secret location. "They have legitimised the killing of their people all over the world by killing our people." Mr Zahar, a hard-line political leader, made his first appearance since Israeli launched its offensive against his organisation.

Source: ||, in Hamas leader: Revenge for Israel's Gaza assault will be murder of Jewish children across the world




Here is speculation about Israel possibly re-occupying the Gaza strip:

The way events played out yesterday did not stir the political leadership into thinking of stopping the ground offensive and moving toward a cease-fire. On the contrary, Israel is moving toward a decision to occupy the whole Gaza Strip.

The message yesterday from Jerusalem was that it is impossible to end Operation Cast Lead without an achievement, and if in the next two days there is no satisfactory diplomatic solution, Israel will have to broaden the operation.

“Broadening the operation” could mean moving from house to house as in Operating Defensive Shield in 2002 in the West Bank, aiming to kill or capture as many Hamas fighters as possible. Or it could mean surrounding Gaza City, similar to the way the Egyptian Third Army was cut off in 1973, or like the siege of Beirut in 1982, until Hamas’ leaders emerge from their hideouts with their hands up. This could take several weeks.

Source: |IsraPundit|, in ANALYSIS / Israel is on its way to reoccupying all of the Gaza Strip
...which leads me to ask, "If Israel occupies Gaza as part of a war, doesn't that mean Israel can officially annex the Gaza Strip into Israel?" The only problem I see with that is that Israel would give these idiots the right to vote in Israeli elections, where they could do more harm than any number of terror attacks.


This from Al Jazeera:

The Israeli military appears to be broadening its assault on the Gaza Strip as heavy artillery fire is reported from the southern Gazan city of Khan Younis.

Palestinian witnesses said Israeli tanks have moved into Khan Younis, the second biggest urban area in the Strip after Gaza City, in what seems to be an attempt to isolate it from Rafah.

Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza, said Khan Younis is strategically significant on several levels - including that Palestinian fighters can fire missiles into Israeli territory from there.

He stressed reporting teams cannot confirm the reports as they are unable to reach the south from Gaza City in the north because the Strip has been effectively dissected by a column of Israel troops.

Source: |Al Jazeera|, in



Jewish homes attacked, firebombed in Europe:

In the course of the day [Sunday January 4] it became known that in the night from Saturday to Sunday a fire bomb was thrown at a house in Antwerp. The house belongs to a Jewish family. As if by a miracle the fire extinguished itself. The consequences could otherwise have been disastrous because at the time of the attack 12 children were sleeping in the house.

The targeted house is located in the Oedenkovenstraat in Borgerhout, within walking distance of the Turnhoutsebaan. The Turnhoutsebaan was in 2002 the location of serious riots after an AEL [Arabisch Europese Liga, “Arabic European Legue”] demonstration went out of control.

UPDATE: There were rags with fire accelerators stuffed in the letter box and then set on fire. The public prosecutor takes the matter very seriously. Mayor Janssens [SP.A, Socialist Party] said that the Police continue to conduct surveillance to protect the Jewish community.

More details about the attempted arson are not known and/or not yet released. However, it is known that several people from the Jewish community have received serious death threats.

Source: |Atlas Shrugs|, in JEWISH HOME FIREBOMBED IN BELGIUM



This note from Hamas:

Gaza, 5 Jan. (AKI) - Despite Israel's continuing military offensive in the Gaza Strip, the ruling Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, warned on Monday it had "thousands of fighters" ready to fight and would finally be victorious in the conflict.

"We are sure of victory and we have bombed Israeli cities with hundreds of missiles," brigades spokesman, Abu Obeida, told the Arab network, al-Aqsa.

"We have prepared thousands of brave fighters who are waiting for you in each corner of the street and will welcome you with fire," he said.

"As long as the aggression intensifies, your losses will increase."

Israeli troops, backed by aerial and naval firepower, were reported to have surrounded Gaza City on Monday after 10 days of aerial bombardment.

Soldiers were also reported to be positioned on the north-south road at Netzarim, effectively splitting the besieged territory in two and blocking Palestinian supply lines.

"Israel has only killed innocent civilians and this proves the failure of its military action," he said.

He claimed that that his group was about to launch Qassam rockets and for the first time a new type of missile that was only the beginning.

"We want to experiment with other arms and bombs against you," he warned Israel.

Source: |ADN Kronos|, in Middle East: Hamas fighters 'waiting' to strike Israel



And this shocker of a story that Mubarak (Egyptian President) wants Israel to win against Hamas:

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak stunned visiting foreign ministers Monday when he said he wanted Israel to emerge as the winner in the current conflict in Gaza.

The European foreign ministers, headed by Karel Schwarzenberg of the Czech Republic, whose country currently holds the European Union's rotating presidency, met with Mubarak in Cairo before travelling on to Jerusalem.

The ministers met with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni after arriving in Jerusalem and briefed her on their discussions with the Egyptian president.

It was at that meeting that ministers confided that Mubarak had told them 'Hamas must not be allowed to emerge from the fighting with the upper hand.'

Source: |The Irish Sun|, in Egyptian President Mubarak says he wants an Israeli victory in Gaza

That is all I have time for right now. Maybe I will put up more later.

My prayers are with the brave soldiers of Israel and the people of Israel.

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Sderot, An Israeli Town Under Attack

This is what the IDF is in Gaza trying to stop.

This is what the anti-war protestors encourage Hamas to do to innocent civilians.

This is what moral equivalence leads to.

This video was released on Christmas Eve of 2007.

Where were the lefties protesting the murder and terrorization of the civilians in Sderot?

If they really cared about what they call "human rights", they would be in the streets just the same for the actions of Hamas when they terrorize and murder civilians instead of giving aid and comfort to terrorists, as can be seen in this article from the Palestinian Al Manar website:

Israeli massacres in Gaza for the ninth consecutive day drove millions across the globe to protest against oppression, criminality and bloodshed. 
 
World capitals witnessed massive rallies in solidarity with the Palestinians suffering in Gaza Strip. Demonstrations have been held since the beginning of the Israeli massacre that has claimed the lives of more than 485 Palestinians and injured 2,500, calling upon the international community to act responsibly.
 
The UNSC failed for the third time to issue a statement calling for a stop of the Israeli war. 
 
Hundreds of thousands of Turks demonstrated outside Israeli and United Nations missions in Istanbul and Ankara Sunday, protesting Israel's ground offensive in Gaza, CNN Turk news channel reported. 
 
Waving Palestinian flags, “stop the war placards” and chanting anti-US and anti-Israel slogans, the masses defied a very cold and snowy weather to express support to Gaza and to denounce the Israeli invasion of the densely populated region. Turkish party leaders and representatives condemned in their speeches the international and official Arab silence as to the genocidal war in Gaza. 
 

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Hypocrisy Recognized

SWAC Girl has collected some quotes from around the blogosphere on the meme of hypocrisy.

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Al-Manar TV Loaded Poll Question of the Day

I was checking out the various Arab news websites, and I found this beauty of a poll question regarding the current Gaza situation:

Source: Al Manar-TV (run by the terrorist group Hizbullah)

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Opration Cast Lead Update for New Year's Eve

Operation cast Lead continues, and before I dive into coverage, I'd like to introduce a video made by the Elder of Ziyon. He wondered what an Israeli propaganda video would look like if they copied the style of the pro-Hamas propaganda videos...



I will cherish that video as long as I draw breath. I know that tune will be stuck in my head for quite a while!

For more up-to-date coverage of the events in Israel, I suggest you visit these tireless bloggers:

Israelly Cool, and today's thread
The Muqata and today's thread
Israel Matzav
The Elder of Ziyon

So, here is some of what I have found, and I have included a post about a pro-George W Bush Rally held in (of all places) Dearbornistan, Michigan!

Now that Hamas’s long war against Israel is matched with a short war in Gaza, protests are erupting everywhere from the blogosphere and Arab capitals to the United Nations, and they began on the very first day. Salon.com "blogger Glenn Greenwald calls the Israeli retaliation to more than a year of rocket attacks a “massively disproportionate response.” UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay “strongly condemned Israel’s disproportionate use of force.” The Israeli counterattack is, indeed, disproportionate, but it could hardly be otherwise. “At last count,” J.G. Thayer wrote, “one Israeli and two Palestinians (sisters, ages 13 and 5) died from rocket attacks. So a proportionate response, one presumes, would have required Israel to kill a single Palestinian and two of its own citizens.”

There were, I suppose, other “proportionate” responses available aside from killing one Palestinian and two Israelis. The Israel Defense Forces might have launched thousands of air strikes against targets in Gaza to match the thousands of Qassam rockets fired at the cities of Sderot and Ashkelon. It’s unlikely, however, that this is what Israel’s critics have in mind.

So what do they have in mind? What would a legitimate and “proportionate” response actually look like? Surely they don’t believe Israel should scrap its sophisticated weapons systems, build Qassam rockets, and launch those at Gaza instead.

Source: Michael J. Totten, in What Would a Proportionate Response Look Like?

I received a call from my friend Ali in Dearborn, MI the other day. After Desert Storm I brought Ali to America as a refugee. Ali had been an Iraqi Air Force Lieutenant Colonel who surrendered to my unit and then led me to a huge intelligence find. Some of what we discovered would eventually be used in Saddam Hussein trial. I was awarded a medal for the find and Ali spent 3 years in a POW camp until I was able to get him to the USA.

After living in Saint Paul for a number of years he moved to Dearborn, MI where there is a large Iraqi population and became a US citizen. I'll tell you more about Ali's story at a later date.

Ali told us of massive demonstrations in the streets of Dearborn following the shoe throwing incident in Baghdad. Unfortunately, we never saw reports in the main stream media about these demonstrations. Why? Because these demonstrators were showing support for President Bush. They were angry that after giving freedom to 25 million Iraqi's that a member of the press in Iraq would insult the Iraqi people with his shoe throwing escapades. They were also angry that the American media gave the incident so much air time.

Source: The Eagle's Nest Blog, in Why Is This Not Fit For The Evening News?
Hat Tip:

Security chiefs in London are concerned that the escalation of violence in Gaza with the prospects of a ground offensive by the IDF could provoke a violent response by Arab and Muslim Londoners with minority elements influenced by Al-Qaeda plotting reprisal attacks in London.

MI5 have outlined the possible security threats posed by Al Qaeda:

Explosive devices

These can be delivered to their targets in vehicles, by post or by a person. Currently an explosive device within a vehicle is the most prevalent means of attack. Unlike the Provisional IRA, who also used this method, Al Qaida networks often seek to ensure that their target is hit by employing a suicide operative within the vehicle to detonate the device at the required moment.

Suicide bombers are also deployed to carry an explosive device into the vicinity of a target individual or location. On some occasions the terrorists decide, as they did in the Madrid commuter train attacks in March 2004, to detonate their devices remotely, so that they can go on to perpetrate further attacks.”

Source: National terror Alerts, in Terror Threat In London Severe - Highest Level Since 9/11


NEWS FROM OPERATION CAST LEAD

Hamas has been dealt a serious blow by the repeated IAF strikes in the Gaza Strip since Saturday, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Yuval Diskin said on Wednesday.

"Hamas has been attacked as it has never been attacked before; it has suffered serious damage and its governability in Gaza has been severely impaired," Diskin told ministers at a meeting of the security cabinet.

The Shin Bet head added that many of Hamas's senior activists were hiding out in mosques and hospitals in Gaza, some of them in the guise of doctors and male nurses.

Source: Jerusalem Post, in Diskin: Hamas dealt a 'serious blow'

A Hamas representative in the PA legislative council this year expressed pride in the fact that women and children are used as human shields in fighting Israel. He described it as part of a "death industry" at which Palestinians excel, and explained that the Palestinians "desire death" with the same intensity that Israelis "desire life."

The following is the full text of the comments by Hamas representative Fathi Hamad: "For the Palestinian people death became an industry, at which women excel and so do all people on this land: the elderly excel, the Jihad fighters excel, and the children excel. Accordingly [Palestinians] created a human shield of women, children, the elderly and the Jihad fighters against the Zionist bombing machine, as if they were saying to the Zionist enemy: We desire death as you desire life."

Source: Israel matzav, in Video: Hamas explains its use of human shields

A 21-year-old woman from Warsaw, Poland is volunteering at Magen David Adom's first aid and ambulance station in Ashkelon, which has already been hit by several rockets and missiles. Dominique Borovska said her parents were worried "but know I am a responsible girl and that the place where I am working is concerned about my safety."

A graduate of a first-aid course in the Polish Red Cross, Borovska took a refresher course at MDA before joining the ambulance staff. She is also a flute player and music student at Warsaw's conservatory and has a twin sister who is a ballet dancer.

Source: Jerusalem Post, in Polish volunteer dodges rockets for MDA in Ashkelon
[**Note** I volunteered with the MDA during Operation Desert Shield/Desert Storm, and this is a very worthy program to consider participating in. I hope to do it again someday, especially now that I am into taking video and photos and could share the experience with others.]







PRO-PALESTINIAN ISRAEL HATERS GATHER

Source: Blackfive, in Palestinian Protest at State Department

The most important thing is to listen to the rhetoric and lies in the videos. Notice there are very few Palestinians, very few Arabs speaking. The Arab Community, like IVAW, like every other group of “victims” are being used by the anti-war community to work us all up into a lather. But you can see that for yourself.

Source: This Ain't Hell, in Pallywood comes to DC

Surely Khomeini would be proud. Even though "Britain has called for an urgent ceasefire," that's not good enough. Nothing will ever be good enough -- not allowing sharia courts to operate in Britain, nor financially supporting Hamas. The more you concede, the more will be demanded of you -- till you live in complete submission in accordance to Koran 9:29: "Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection."

"Iranian students raid British Embassy residence in Gaza protest," from the Telegraph, December 30:

A group of Iranian students stormed the British diplomatic compound in Tehran on Tuesday evening, accusing London of supporting the Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, Iran's official news agency reported.

"A large group of people and students entered the Gholhak gardens, which are occupied by the British embassy, to protest at Britain's policies in supporting the Zionist regime and put up the Palestinian flag there," state news agency IRNA reported.

Source: Jihad Watch, in Iran: Students (i.e., "Muslim youth") raid British Embassy



See more of this protest here.


Pamela Geller has an excellent roundup of the major anti-Israel protests and counter-protests on Atlas Shrugs.


That is it for now, and likely the last update until next year.

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Photo of the Year: "Death to all Juice"

Let me guess, English is not this guy's first language?

This type of illiterate hatred of the Jews and more photos can be found on Atlas Shrugs.

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Into the Bowels of Jew-Hatred

For those who want to read constantly updated posts from Israel, I suggest The Muqata and Israelly Cool. The Jerusalem Post is another good source of information, and Kol Israel has links to all the media sites in Israel and Arab media also.

[Egads---I forgot the Elder of Ziyon! This blogger also is keeping a calender of the numbers of daily rocket and mortar attacks on Israel (December and all time)]

If you know of anyone else in Israel who is live-blogging, please leave a link in the comments, and I will add it to the list, whether it be in English, Hebrew or Arabic.


Instead of posting another exhaustive link fest to the events in Israel (I may post one at the end of the day in Israel, 2pmish eastern Time, as a sort of news wrap-up if my Internet Connection holds), I thought it would be a change of pace to bring you the reactions of the Jew-Haters from the deepest darkest recesses of the Internet, but first, here are a couple of good guys reactions:


Pro-Israel demonstrators mobbed and beaten up by pro-terrorist demonstrators in Toronto, Canada...police do nothing:

Arrived around 1:30pm at 180 Bloor St W where the Israeli consulate is located to join the pro-Israeli fellows who braved the cold and threats of Pali terrorists across the street to show that Israel is not alone.


Although we were a lot less than those Pali terrorists we made a stand for a while before being overrun by the Pali terrorists and Toronto Police did absolutely nothing. They were overwhelmed by the number of the terrorists.

Source: |The Spirit of Man|, in Back from Israel rally

Might I suggest taking a firearm and defending yourself against such hooliganism? Especially since the police have demonstrated that they will not protect you?

Even the Legacy Media is, for the most part, pro terrorist and anti-Israel. Just witness this report on the biased coverage from CNN:

"CNN International's coverage of yesterday's fighting in Gaza concluded at midnight with a rush of images: mangled civilians writhing in the rubble, primitive hospitals overflowing with the wounded, fireballs mushrooming between apartment complexes, the funeral of a Palestinian child. Missing from the montage, however, was even a fleeting glimpse of the tens of thousands of Israelis who spent last night and much of last week in bomb shelters; of the house in Netivot, where a man was killed by a Grad missile; or indeed any of the hundreds of rockets, mortar shells, and other projectiles fired by Hamas since the breakdown of the so-called ceasefire. This was CNN at its unprincipled worst, grossly skewering its coverage of a complex event and deceiving its viewers. Yet Israel should not have been surprised."

Source: |Winds of Change|, in GAZA AND CNN

Donald Douglas, writing at American Power, takes Ezra Klein to task as a 1930s style appeaser:

I've written a couple of times now on the left's response to the outbreak of war in the Middle East. Still, Ezra Klein deserves an honorable mention in this rogue's gallery of self-styled 1930s-appeasement look-alikes. Klein, for example, has this to say in response to a New York Times' report that attacks from Gaza were "deeply disturbing" even though there were "no recent deaths and few injuries

Source: |American Power|, in God Bless the State of Israel, wherein he also links to a good article by Caroline Glick in Israel, which I have taken the liberty to excerpt below:

This morning I knew the strike against Gaza was beginning when the thunderous roar of jet fighters en route to their mission shook my home. I was immediately overwhelmed by a profound sense of hope and relief.

Finally, after months of passivity, incompetence and empty threats that simply eroded Israel's credibility in the eyes of our enemies and friends alike still further, the IDF has been ordered to defend the country. Finally after the anger and defiance of residents of Ashkelon, Sderot and the kibbutzim and moshavim around Gaza had long been transformed into pleas of desperation, the government seems finally to be fulfilling its most important duty -- protecting the citizens of the State of Israel.

Source: |Caroline Glick|, in Airstrikes in Gaza

So, we are about to leave the bounds of Western Civilization into a Nietzschean underworld of hate, racism and paranoia...grab your flashlights, gas masks and barf bags. Remember these people are defending people who stone children...

Nowhere does the divide between left and right become so clear as to the welfare of the State of Israel and her right to defend herself. This is why I so adamantly label the anti-war types in the Ron Paul "r3VOLution" as being lefties...because their Foreign policy leads to the same exact thing as lefty Foreign Policy...the defeat of Western Civilization by the Barbarian Philosophies of the East. And I will take you now, into the region where hatred of Israel, paranoia and stupidity collide...the message boards where Jew-Hating Ron Paul Supporters gather...

I am willing to bet that the Palestinians are firing rockets in retrobution to Israeli action. Possibly false imprisonment of Palestinians. A rocket killed one person, and Israel killed 260+. Same old story there.

Source: |Daily Paul|, in Just theory here...

and this gem of anti-Semitism:

[AIPAC] Has to be all kinds of happy about knowing they continually fund this with our tax dollars.
http://www.aipac.org/
I especially love on their website where they say help support Israels quest for peace....LOL..
worthless zionist propaganda.

Source: |Daily Paul|, in AIPAC

And speaking of those who blame everything on Jews or Zionism...I bring you Hell's Children...the Storm Front forums:

Another insightful commentary from Robert Fisk, a British reporter who for years has written on the Israel/Palestine situation:

Quote:

Robert Fisk: Leaders lie, civilians die, and lessons of history are ignored

Monday, 29 December 2008

We've got so used to the carnage of the Middle East that we don't care any more – providing we don't offend the Israelis. It's not clear how many of the Gaza dead are civilians, but the response of the Bush administration, not to mention the pusillanimous reaction of Gordon Brown, reaffirm for Arabs what they have known for decades: however they struggle against their antagonists, the West will take Israel's side. As usual, the bloodbath was the fault of the Arabs – who, as we all know, only understand force.

To read the rest of the article
__________________
Quote:
“The Jews’ determination to wipe out of public life every sign of the predominant Christian character of the United States, is the only active form of religious intolerance in our nation today.” ---Henry Ford

Source: |Geoffrey1 of Storm Front|, in Re: The true story behind this war is not the one Israel is telling

And this gem of utter stupidity and racism:

Every country should bomb Israel off the map as they know they get away with it and claim the old women and children did it to themselves like the they did of Lebanon, and many were Christians, not Hezbolloh.

Obviously the jews are trying to start something up as Obongo gets into power with his Zionist Vice President Biden. As well to try and get a rise out of Iran. Guess the Merry Christmas greeting from Iran was just too much.

One other matter is the area of Gaza is a very long historic sore spot for the jews and one reason they have not made it part of Israel either. It was the area of the famous Battle of Magan in early Sumeria where the jews and the blacks were totally defeated and driven back and the legendary Sacred Bowl of Odo (ODIN) was retrived. One of the orginal Holy Grails. Ar-Thur or God Thor Ar Dur. Ever since it has been jewish revenge on the White Race and any others they can go at. Gaza to the jews is a place or sacrifice to their Ba'al.


Yes and the time of the menorah that symbolizes the holocaust of the White Greeks, so the jews have to carry out their unholy times now and kill as many as possible to appease their bloodthirsty god ba'al- Moloch.
__________________
HEAR NO MONKEY,, SEE NO MONKEY, HAVE NO MONKEY. STEP ON THE MONKEY!

NO AFRICAN GOVERNMENT FOR OUR WHITE FOUNDER'S AMERICA NOW AN OCCUPIED ONCE FREE COUNTRY!

Source: |Ivan-Ritter of Storm Front|, in Re: At Least 140 Killed As Israel Launches Air Strikes In Gaza Strip

These evil people all hate the good that is Israel, and side with terrorists, lefties and Paulites against the beacon of Western Civilization in the Middle East, Israel.

I address this to the good, decent people who support Ron Paul:

I know that there are Ron Paul supporters who love Israel, aren't racists, and support Israel's right to self-defense. You, however, are not blameless in allowing these vermin to thrive in your movement. Ron Paul should have been more forceful in his condemnation of these people, and you should be more forceful as well. 

Your message is tainted by these evil people. They should be jettisoned from your movement.

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