Israeli military censorship prohibits revealing the identity of the new commander (Hebrew) of the Border Police’s elite counter-terror unit, Yamam (this post displays a priceless photo of Shimon Peres mugging with weapons with Yamam personnel). Not only am I not under the jurisdiction of Israeli censorship, I make a point of bucking censorship because most of it is, as in this case, ludicrous. An Israeli confidential source informs me the new commander, which the Israeli media may only call “Colonel Shin,” is Col. Shlomi Michael, former head of Central Unit of the Tel Aviv police (Yamar). Among the many crimes his unit failed either to prosecute or solve since he assumed command, was the Tel Aviv gay community center murders and the alleged rape of P. by television journalist, Yoav Even. In fact, there is still an Israeli gag in place prohibiting mentioning Even’s name in connection with the rape.
Before assuming command in Tel Aviv, Michael commanded a unit of Mistarvim, the controversial forces which infiltrate Palestinians towns and villages in order to arrest or kill suspected militants. They also arrest Palestinians demonstrating peacefully and brutally manhandle detainees in the process. I’ve featured photos of such treatment here.
Today’s Haaretz reveals that a Mistarvim unit infiltrates the Bilin anti-Separation Wall protests in order to provoke violent outbursts by protesters. The undercover officers throw stones at the IDF forces on patrol in order to permit the latter to unleash their overwhelming and regularly lethal firepower against unarmed civilians. In fact, such soldiers arrested Israeli MK Mohammed Barakeh, claiming he assaulted one of them when this photo clearly shows HIM being assaulted. So much for reality as seen by Israeli security forces. In any other democratic country police would be fired for throttling an elected national official. In Israel, they give them medals if they’re Israeli Palestinian leaders.
Michael is moving up in the world to an elite SWAT-type unit charged with policing domestic terrorism and hostage situations. One of their snipers was killed during the Sinai Islamist terror assault on Eilat last summer. Among other controversial actions in which Yaman played a role: its snipers killed a number of the Israeli Palestinian unarmed protesters in the protests of October, 2000 in Umm al Fahm. It also has been responsible for a long list of targeted killings as documented in the Hebrew (though not the English) Wikipedia article.
UPDATE: I posted this scoop to the Israeli news portal, HaKafe (motto: “THE Democratic Forum”) and it was taken down. The site wasn’t prepared to buck the Israeli censor unfortunately. I’ve asked other Israeli bloggers whether they might be willing to join a campaign to challenge censorship en masse by reporting it.
A few days ago I read the obituary of Edward Kennedy, a courageous American journalist who violated WWII military censorship by reporting the surrender of Nazi forces a day before the U.S. wanted the news reported. For his trouble, his bosses at AP fired him and apologized to the U.S. military. Kennedy spent the rest of his life seeking vindication that he’d made the right decision. Recently, the current head of AP apologized profusely to his family and praised Kennedy for being a courageous journalist who did the right thing.
I understand the Israeli system of censorship is difficult to face alone. But I’m convinced that if enough websites and media outlets could join together they could make a dent in this noxious system. It would be much harder for the censor to take on a group of sites acting in defiance.
I recognize that I’m not as vulnerable as anyone in Israel is. Therefore, I can’t expect anyone to take a risk when they are the ones who would pay the price. Very few journalists in Israel have been willing to do what Edward Kennedy did. Only two by my count over the past 50 years or so. But Kennedy is testament to the fact that even if you lose your job over something this, there can be a second act. Kennedy went on to be the editor of the Santa Barbara (CA) newspaper and the owner of a newspaper in Monterey, CA. His life had that second act, fortunately and his courageous defiance of censorship was vindicated in the long run.
He isn’t a Col.
Col = Military Rank
His rank – Commander, a police rank.
The latest misdeeds of a Mista’arvim unit: killing a Palestinian civilian in the West Bank village of Kafr Ranum.
While using a Palestinian village for an infiltration drill, the inhabitants mistook the disguised soldiers for burglars and attacked them.
Ynetnews only mentioned that a soldier had been dismissed after kicking a handcuffed Palestinian in the face [you see, we’re the “only-Democracy-In-The-Middle-East”], but “forgot” that another Palestinian was killed.
http://972mag.com/undercover-idf-soldier-kills-palestinian-in-drill-goes-unpunished/42493/
http://www.btselem.org/firearms/20120424_ramun_incident
Haaretz has two articles on the killings:
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/idf-failed-to-investigate-why-soldier-killed-palestinian-1.424265
http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/unnecessary-killing-in-west-bank-1.428439
Palestinian blood surely is cheap in the Only-Ethnocracy-in-The-Middle-East
Erratum: Before Bob Mann starts nitpicking: “killings” without “s”. Only one was killed.
You may be aware that Mr. Barakeh is currently on trial with respect to the charges that you mention in your piece.
I believe that, in the trial, it has been confirmed that undercover members of the IDF threw stones in the direction of their own colleagues. Those witnesses were not identified.
There is an article in Ha’aretz on the subject:
‘Undercover Israeli combatants threw stones at IDF soldiers in West Bank’
http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/undercover-israeli-combatants-threw-stones-at-idf-soldiers-in-west-bank-1.428584
So it is IDF strategy to start the trouble. I never really doubted it.
And your conclusion is based on what facts?
The False Flag tactics of the IDF Masada unit writ large is the story of Israel itself
The spectacular Israeli success of pretending to be the victim of Palestinians and then using that to ethnically cleanse Palestine is a world classic farce and the Israelis that have been most involved with it are proud, proud as punch that the have aided the cause of Israel with such tactics
The whole war on terror that the Israelis finally got the US to engage itself in, hook line and sinker, was only the most recent manifestation of this False Flag Plot
Get the Arabs to fight back against the US for Israeli Lobby-generated malefeseance in the Middle East and for the AIPAC-enfored American support in aiding and abetting Israel setting up and Apartheid state – and then USE THAT Pearl Harbour to virtually enslave the US to Israel, fighting in the ‘Israeli False Flag Cause’, forever
Hoaxing the US into attacking Iran for them will be a 1000yrs worth of hoax – the US will be fighting Iran and Islam for the next 1000 yrs if Israel manages to stagemanage the US into this next war for Israel
Another 1000 yrs of billions per year going to Israel as well, of course
Just like Mossad pretending to be CIA when they hired Jundallah – it’s False Flag all the way with Israel, which is why Israel is so dangerous to the US
A few years ago, just before the wall that now surrounds and isolates the village of Al Ram was built, I was part of a parade that include a local youth band, villagers, some international visitors and a few Israelis including Uri Avnery. IDF and border police attacked us with sound grenades, tear gas and rubber coated steel bullets. A sound grenade exploded near my head and I now have to wear hearing aids. I was shot in the leg with a rubber coated steel bullet. There were several serious injuries among Palestinians. No stones were thrown. There were two or three IDF (…sorry that went off too soon.)
…there were two or three members of IDF among us, disguised as Palestinians. The locals caught on immediately that they were Israeli Jews.
A year later when I returned to Al Ram, the wall had been erected, 28 feet high.
Israel has become the home, the epicenter, of False. The State has the main task of creating lies on a massive scale and distributing them throughot the world. “False” is the most universal “Product of Israel.”
It is so thick and it spreads to the US with ease. The ingenuity, rather the “disingenuity,” of US groups like AMCHA and Stand With US is breathtaking in this regard. That’s why we need and value this site…for its vigilance and defiance.
Nowhere in the article from Ha’aretz you quoted does it say the Israeli undercover forces threw stones in order to enable Israeli army forces to react in a certain way. It’s more than likely they threw stones so as no to be identified as “mista’arvim” by the Arab demonstrators.
You’re a real bulls^#}]r aren’t you? Pissing on our backs and making us think it’s rain? You can delude yourself, but don’t think we’re going along for the ride.
What is wrong with what Simone wrote? This is the job of Mistarvim. It nice to sit in Seattle and criticze the Shabas unit. A criticizm that is all based on dubious Ha’aretz biased report.
What’s wrong with what she wrote other than it’s a steaming heap of cow manure?? Haaretz’s report is based on a verbatim account of the testimony of the mistarvim. Are you saying they police didn’t say what they’re quoted as saying in court??
I really wonder how people can live in such denial. It reminds me of a short documentary I saw years ago about an exposition on Austrian Nazis. A women clearly identified pictures of her own father, she had been told for years that he’d been a leading member of the Party, but she simply wouldn’t believe it. In front of the camera, in the middle of the exposition, among dozens of photos of him in the German uniform, she still stuck to the image of a loving Dad.
On the Mista’arvim, another article by Haggai Matar:
http://972mag.com/commander-admits-israeli-officers-threw-stones-at-soldiers-in-bilin/44802/