חשיפה: חמושים מסיני פרצו לאחרונה לשטח ישראל, וירו על מסוק חיל האוויר
حصري: مسلحون من سيناء اقتحموا مؤخرا الحدود الاسرائيلية وأطلقوا النار على مروحية حربية
Yesterday, Israel’s military censor, Brig. Gen. Ariella Ben Avraham, prohibited Yediot Achronot from reporting about a newsworthy portion of a speech PM Netanyahu delivered to Likud Party faithful in which he bragged about Israel’s fight against Islamist terror. Why? Because Netanyahu publicly revealed that Sinai militants (whom he lumped together under the convenient term, ISIS) penetrated Israeli territory and fired a missile at an Israeli military helicopter. Bibi’s boast involved reporting to his acolytes that Israel then attacked the cell and wiped it out. He does not say whether they were attacked on Israeli or Egyptian territory. If the latter, then Israel violated Egyptian sovereignty in doing so.
The video, which I didn’t have access to yesterday, is now widely posted on YouTube and elsewhere. Above, you’ll find Bibi’s entire speech (the Sinai section begins around 14:35) and the portion highlighting the Sinai attack just below it.
Another reason for censoring the news is that is exposes weaknesses in Israel’s border defenses. After spending billions on a supposedly air-tight border fence and installing all manner of sophisticated audio-video surveillance devices in a state-of-the-art system, a bunch of desert Bedouins succeeded in penetrating it. Why did they get so far as to be able to infiltrate into Israel with an anti-aircraft rocket launcher and launch a missile? Some general should have egg on his face.
Here is what Bibi says in the video:
You should know that on the Sinai border, not too long ago, ISIS fighters fired on one of our helicopters. In penetrating our border, they crossed into our territory. We liquidated them. We faced a concentration of ISIS fighters in Sinai and we stopped them dead in their tracks.
UPDATE: Subsequent Israeli media reports indicate that Netanyahu wasn’t speaking about an incident that happened “not too long ago.” In fact, it happened in 2011 and was widely covered in the Israeli media at the time. It was, as Yossi Melman indicates, a major IDF security lapse (as I reported at the time). In his speech, Netanyahu boasts about countries which cannot control their borders and points out how impregnable Israel’s borders are. This incident in fact points out the opposite. Several different groups of Sinai attackers penetrated Israeli territory and conducted running gunfights over several hours with IDF forces. Even worse, Israel pursued some of the attackers into Egyptian territory and killed Egyptian police who were also pursuing the militants. Finally, the Sinai militants weren’t allied with ISIS as Netanyahu claimed. In fact, they were Bedouins affiliated, if anything, with al Qaeda. Not that Netanyahu would know the difference or care. All of this makes both Bibi a liar and the censor look like even more of an idiot than she already is. I thought about titling this post: Bibi Lies, Israel Cries, and the Censor Doesn’t Think Twice!
This information is updated from yesterday’s post, which I wrote based on a report from an Israeli source. I had not yet seen the video myself. Bibi’s remarks portray the incident somewhat differently than what I posted yesterday.
Apparently, the prime minister can boast to the Party faithful about the exploits of the IDF in wiping out terrorists. But the rest of Israel may not know that Sinai militants penetrated Israeli territory and launched a terror attack against the IDF. If this isn’t schizophrenia, I don’t know what is.
Apparently, the Likud hasn’t gotten the censor’s memo as there are multiple videos of his entire speech, including the portion in which he speaks of the attack.
האסור לחזור על הסוד שגילה נתניהו לפעילי ליכוד מגחיך עוד יותר את הצנזורה שמחמירה לאחרונה את גישתה ראיון איתי בעין ה7https://t.co/ht2BoVk5h0
— Yossi Melman (@yossi_melman) October 3, 2016
I’m tempted to say that Censor Ben Avraham is a fool. But wouldn’t that be obvious? Who is she protecting? Israel’s security? And who does she work for? You see, this is the problem with having a military censor: she’s employed by the army and so represents its interests, or her perception of them. She doesn’t represent the public as a political appointee might. And why does Israel think that a military censor would do a good job of protecting Israel’s security interests, when she’s more interested in protecting the asses of the generals who might be taken to task for permitting the infiltration in the first place?
Yossi Melman, one of Israel’s veteran national security reporters is having his own private battle with Ben Avraham, which I documented here. He writes in this tweet:
The prohibition against reporting the secret which Netanyahu revealed to the Likud activists is yet another self-inflicted wound on the part of the censor…
Thanks to Ronnie Barkan for editing the video featured above.
I read Egypt’s Sisi gave tacit approval to Israel for strike at Islamist cell in Sinai. Well aware of the slow desintegration of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt due to infighting. Israel is cooperating with Turkey, Egypt and Saudi Arabia where there is commonality in interests. Latest gift to US military …
○ Fatih Al-Sham Front’s Second Man Reportedly Killed By US-Coalition Airstrike
Ahmed Salama Mabruk has a very long history of terror activity spread from Pakistan, Sudan, Albania, Chechnya, Egypt and Syria. In stages he was imprisoned by Russia, recaptured by US military and rendered to Egypt in the Clinton years. During the Arab Uprising he was freed from prison as the Muslim Brotherhood gained political power.
[comment deleted: off topic. Read the comment rules carefully, stay on topic.]
Hello, Barbarella, you’re back! You get banned, and then, right away some ‘new’ person starts commenting on a daily basis, like you always do. What a coincidence. (Shame! etc. etc.)
@Elizabeth
Madame. You can call me Hans Brinker, because I don’t know you from a ‘hole in the wall’.
But thank you for the Jane Fonda comparison. She’s one of my heroines.
You know I am Dutch (Hans Brinker), but are supposed to be new here. That is about as believable as when you claimed to support Machsom Watch, Adalah and Breaking the Silence.
This often seen defense by “Israelis” do not criticize us because others have done exactly the same is “hilarious”. With that ideology you present can be said: Why “Israelis” are whining so much about WW2 events and about past events when “Israelis” in Israel have done and are doing exactly the same acts against “others”: Genocide, exploitation, mass killings, racism, apartheid, massive theft etc, Why?
In case of Israel we must make the numbers proportional if we compare them to USA or to other larger countries. When the 5 million “Israelis” living permanently in Israel put in prison and concentration camps 10,000 Palestinians it would mean in USA 650,000 people. If Israel kills in their frequent larger Gaza operations 1,500 Palestinians in a couple of weeks it means in USA “size” 97,500 people. Alone if we consider the amount of people Israel is occupying (Gaza and West Bank) it would mean in USA’s scale almost THREE times the whole population of MEXICO. So is what Israel and Israelis are doing irrelevant?
Now If this comment was written pro Israeli it would be be banned here for making such statements
Genocide?
Mass killings?
I love how these words are thrown around as if they mean nothing. Do you have any idea what genocide means?
Racism? I’m not sure what’s more racist then stabbing random Jews, because they are Jews..
And sorry you don’t get to make assumptions that 1500 dead would be 100,000 dead In a large population.
Wikipedia defines it so: Genocide is the intentional action to destroy a people (usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group) in whole or in part.
It has happened for decades in Israel/Palestine and many are afraid that we have seen only the beginning of that genocide and the worst parts will happen in future. The “Israelis” certainly are mentally ready to the bloody finishing of their invasion “project”. And what was and is done has been certainly planed and intentional. The invader is not the defender.
If the “Israelis” were not the violent, racist occupiers you could earn some sympathy points with your stabbing comment. Were the Germans stabbed and shot in France and Poland during WW2 simply because they were German Christians or was there some other reasons behind those attacks? You there obviously can not resist to use the “we are the victims” card. Always …
@Simo: Nobody except racist bigots claim that Israel is committing genocide. Not even the UN, not even the Arab countries, only the most extremist antisemitic elements from Iran and Hamas accuse Israel of genocide and mass murder. And THEY have lots of credibility LOL. Invading or occupying may be bad but is not “genocide”, by the definition that you yourself quoted.
The claim that there is a Zionist/Israeli plot to “destroy” the Palestinian people is exactly the kind of demonization that distinguishes legitimate criticism from outright bigotry based on extremism and lies, and it hides behind progressive liberalism and political correctness.
“Many are afraid that…” is exactly how Donald Trump propagates his lies. You slyly don’t make the unsubstantiated claim yourself, you just say that others claim it, and throw the lie out there, only to deny saying it when its shown to be false.
@Yehuda: Stuff & nonsense!
Of course, YOU don’t think Israel is committing genocide. Because you’re Israeli. Hitler wouldn’t have admitted to committing genocide either if the concept existed then. I’d say that Palestinians & other victims of Irsaeli aggression feel a bit differently on the subject. And as for what the Arab world thinks of Israeli killing, you’re completely ignorant. Why would you even pretend to know what the Arab world thinks on the subject? What I particularly hate about people like you is that you not only affect to speak as an Israeli, but you speak for everyone else as well, as if you know either what they think, or what they should be thinking. The term “genocide” is widely used to describe Israeli policy. I personally don’t use the term in that context as I’ve written here. But others do & I don’t dispute to use the term, especially if they are among the victims of the killing.
But the issue of “mass murder” is entirely different. Certainly when a country wages war on civilian populations & murders 2,300 Gazans most of whom are women & children it IS mass murder. Certainly, Israel officials & generals will face war crimes trials at some point. That is what will fix the legitimacy of the term, rather than your skewed nationalist-motivated rejection of the term.
Israel has murdered 40,000 Palestinians since 1948. That is a plain fact. I don’t care whether you call it mass murder, or an attempt to destroy the Palestinian people, or any other name. It is what it is. And it is a war crime.
Do NOT drag in entirely extraneous terms like “bigotry,” “extremism,” racism or anti Semitism. It is none of those things. And I will not permit you to distract by interjecting those irrelevant red herrings. Use these terms again in this context & you will be on the road to being moderated.
The claim that “mass murder” is unsubstantiated is flat out false, as I’ve pointed out above.
Since Richard does not allow reply to his own “statements of fact” – I would says this, flat and simple.
Israel has not murdered 40000 Palestinians since 1948 – anymore that the US murdered 1.5 million Vietnamese or 2.5 million Japanese.
This is a conflict – plain and ugly.
Israel currently holds the upper hand.
If one believes that had the Arabs prevailed in 1948 – there would be a discussion is 2016 about the fate of the “7th million” – there are drugs to deal with hallucinations.
As for genocide – Israelis created the Palestinian nation – no amount of historical revisionism can change the fact the Palestinian national identity exists only as a result of the Zionist/Israeli identity. That being said, Palestinian national identity exists today and is in conflict with the Israeli national identity. Unless both identities learn to accept that both have legitimate claims – a compromise – even in the limited from of “modus vivendi” or “Hudna” – is still a distant dream.
@ Stan Feinberg: Your claim is false. ANyone can challenge my claims as long as they present credible evidence to support the claim.
If you agree that Israeli generals & PMs should face the ICC in the Hague then we can sort this all out. If you are right, then they will be declared innocent of mass murder & war crimes. If you are confident of your claim you shouldn’t have a problem with having them face justice.
But generally when a powerful military force makes war against a civilian population, killing massive numbers of women & children, all civilians, that is a war crime and murder. Israel has done this regularly for decades.
The U.S. too committed war crimes against the Vietnamese & Japanese when they engaged in mass murder of civilians. Our leaders never faced the ICC because it didn’t exist. But our current counter terror policy is a violation of international law as well. I personally think our military & political leaders should face similar charges.
You can resolve the conflict between identities either by recognizing a Palestinian state and withdrawing from its territory or by creating a single unified state. NOthing less will be satisfactory.
Stan Feinberg says October 6, 2016 at 11:09 PM: “Israelis created the Palestinian nation – no amount of historical revisionism can change the fact the Palestinian national identity exists only as a result of the Zionist/Israeli identity.”
ROFL. The Palestinian nation exists since 1925 when the nationality law of the mandated State of Palestine was enacted by its mandatory goverment in accordance with the treaty of Lausanne.. What doesn’t exist is a Jewish nation/citzenship.
@ Moshe: Don’t be an idiot. No Palestinian stabs an Israeli because he’s Jewish & you know it. They stab them because they are settlers, because they steal their land, because they kill their mothers & children. They kill them because they see Israeli police & soldiers killing their fellow Palestinians. They don’t see them as “Jews” or “Jewish” at all. It is all too convenient for you to turn this into a religious war because you can cynically play the anti-Semitism card & generate automatic Pavlovian sympathy among the outside world. But that s(^t doesn’t work here. So don’t try it again.
Excuse me, but YOU don’t tell other commenters what they do or don’t get to do.
The topic is censorship. If the United States government hides an arrest, and seals a criminal complaint, then they have committed censorship.
Yes or no?
@ Lotta: Once again & for the last time, I make the editorial decisions. Don’t dispute them. You don’t define what the topic was or wasn’t. Nor do you justify why your comment was on-topic. I define it. You were off topic. If you continue in this vein you will be moderated.
Although we’re straying off topic I will respond if you permit.
” The term “genocide” is widely used to describe Israeli policy. I personally don’t use the term in that context as I’ve written here. But others do & I don’t dispute to use the term, especially if they are among the victims of the killing.”
1. Genocide is not a “policy”. It is an action. It has an objective definition, it is not a feeling. That some of the victims or other critics use it to describe Israel’s actions (for political or other reasons) does not make it correct.
2. Is the Nazi genocide of Jews only a genocide because the Jews “feel” that way? What of the Iranian or other holocaust deniers, who make this claim?
3. If you “personally” don’t think its a genocide but you don’t dispute it, and allow others to use such a loaded term, (and shut other people up from disputing it) you are being inconsistent and overtly biased, in that you chide or ban “supporters” of Israel from using similarly inflammatory terms such as “terrorism” or “anti-antisemitism” based on YOUR supposedly objective standard.
4. “What I particularly hate about people like you is that you not only affect to speak as an Israeli, but you speak for everyone else as well,” So you hate people like me for expressing an opinion, which is exactly what you do on this blog. You don’t claim to speak on behalf of a certain select public, or even the Palestinians themselves? OK. Well the cards are stacked here, but, well, its your blog.
5. “Israel has murdered 40,000 Palestinians since 1948. That is a plain fact. I don’t care whether you call it mass murder, or an attempt to destroy the Palestinian people, or any other name. It is what it is. And it is a war crime.” And herein you openly reveal your totally distorted and biased perception. Which official body or court considers the victims of this ethnic conflict to be victims of mass murder or genocide?
But I know we’re off topic, so I’ll stop commenting on this thread, you’ll shut me up anyway.
@ Yehuda:
Of course it is. THe Nazi final solution was both genocide AND a policy. Policy is carried out by organized action. You’re creating artificial distinctions where none exist. I never said genocide was a feeling & don’t even know what this means. Israeli policy of wholesale slaughter of Palestinians, eradication of their cultural & educational institutions, theft of their land–all of this could be construed by some as genocide. Again, this isn’t my own personal practice. But I understand it when victims use the term.
NOpe. I hate it when people like you claim to know, understand, or speak for peoples whose views and feelings you know nothing about. So you dont’ know what Arabs or Palestinians think. You don’t know their views on anything. THat means you have no right to claim to know what they feel about anything. Unless of course you have a credible source that reflects what you claim. But of course you don’t.
THere are many standards under which such adjudication can be reached. One of them is a trial before the ICC, which I advocate for both Israeli & Palestinian offenders. But numerous international bodies including the Russell Tribunal & others have found Israel guilty of war crimes. Eventually, I predict the ICC will as well, though this may take a bit longer.