I think that my approach to that last one (Gilad Shalit) sums up them all.

In my letter Calling the bluff of around a year ago, I advocated severely curtailing specific rights of Palestinian prisoners until our missing soldiers received their rights under international law. Would it work – at least to allow Red Cross access to Gilad Shalit? Consider the following:

On August 25, a few days before Gilad Shalit’s birthday, Israel stopped Palestinian prisoners’ visiting rights. Palestinian Ma’an News Agency reported on the measures, together with accusations that Israel was acting illegally and bending to extremist pressure.

The very same day, a Hamas delegation left for Egypt to meet with a German negotiator to try to make progress on the negotiations for Shalit’s release and Hamas “affiliates” claimed that a deal was days away.

Palestinian prisoners’ rights were immediately restored, and now we hear from Hamas that a deal is “still a long way off”.

Frankly, I am sick of hearing that Israel, after making so much effort and taking so much risk to behave in both an ethical and legal manner, has committed “war crimes”, has acted “disproportionately” or is in breach of some fancifully contorted “international law”, especially redefined to strip Israel of the right and obligation to protect its citizens.

I believe that in every field of our dealings with the Palestinians, the time has come to apply only one buzzword: “reciprocity”. The definition from Wikipedia will do for me:

In international relations and treaties, the principle of reciprocity states that favours, benefits, or penalties that are granted by one state to the citizens or legal entities of another, should be returned in kind.

The pattern is consistent. The Palestinian lobby starts with a lie which is so unbelievable that we belittle it – or even ignore it. The lie is repeated often enough until the world believes it – and even our natural supporters in the Jewish Diaspora begin to adopt it, repeat it and reinforce it. It then becomes a reality we have to deal with. Eventually even the Israeli government toes the line. Frankly we are fools. And if we ever thought “never again!”, why don’t we fight back?

“…in the big lie there is always a certain force of credibility; because the broad masses of a nation… would never come into their heads to fabricate colossal untruths, and they would not believe that others could have the impudence to distort the truth so infamously. Even though the facts which prove this to be so may be brought clearly to their minds, they will still doubt and waver and will continue to think that there may be some other explanation. For the grossly impudent lie always leaves traces behind it, even after it has been nailed down, a fact which is known to all expert liars in this world and to all who conspire together in the art of lying.” —Adolf Hitler , Mein Kampf, vol. I, ch. X

His primary rules were: never allow the public to cool off; never admit a fault or wrong; never concede that there may be some good in your enemy; never leave room for alternatives; never accept blame; concentrate on one enemy at a time and blame him for everything that goes wrong; people will believe a big lie sooner than a little one; and if you repeat it frequently enough people will sooner or later believe it.”

Most telling, however, is the experiment which thoroughly tested and disproved the idea that removing settlements or Jews from “Palestine” will somehow magically lead to peace. In September 2005, all the settlements in the Gaza strip were voluntarily abandoned. The Gaza strip was made completely “Judenrein” or Jew-free. We all know the results.

The world “rewarded” Israel by allowing Prime Minister Ariel Sharon address a near-empty plenum of the UN, and then promptly placed all blame for Palestinian failures on Israeli shoulders. Instead of an opportunity for state-building, the Palestinians chose a path of self-destruction and terrorist war against Israel. Rocket attacks, suicide bombings, and internal violence and corruption didn’t let up for a moment. And the infant Gaza economy was deliberately destroyed from the inside.

But, we are told, Hamas did all of this, and that the Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) led Palestinian Authority is “different”, “moderate” and “responsible”. Another big lie.

The very same Abbas led Palestinian Authority was in power in Gaza when Israel left. Hamas didn’t come to power until June 2007 – some twenty months later! And Abbas’ Fatah political party, which also controls the Al Aqsa terrorists, has (in Arabic only, of course) consistently agreed with Hamas. Just last week, a Fatah activist once again declared on PA Television that they don’t want peace. As Fatah strong man Mahmoud Dahlan explained on PA Television in March, the Palestinians will not recognise Israel; any contrary statements are purely designed to obtain international funds and support. Is it any wonder that Abbas refuses Benjamin Netanyahu’s unconditional invitation to meet to discuss peace?

Don’t misunderstand me. I am in favour of anything that has a reasonable chance of bringing peace to our region. But Israel is being pushed to make huge one-sided high-risk concessions, for which it gets little or nothing in return; all on the basis of a web of lies that have been thoroughly disproved, but repeated often enough, loudly enough and from high enough places that the world either pretends to or really does believe.

And this is just one the most recent example of the way the Palestinians and the world have adopted Adolf Hitler’s “big lie” principle to outflank the Jews.

But how to fight back? The only way I can think of is to tell “the big truth”. Start calling out the truth loudly enough, clearly enough, often enough that it begins to stick. Call every bluff in no uncertain terms. Don’t defend. Fight back. But it takes each and every one of us to do it. Loudly. Publicly. Every time.

What truths can we tell? How should we tell them? Please post your ideas and comments at my website for everyone to read.

A European Commission technical assistant has created a storm by making political statements about Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, blaming Israel for the waste of European Taxpayer’s money. Al-Jazeera (amongst others) reports the unnamed official as saying “[I]t is the European taxpayers who pay most of the price of this dependence, including US 280 million dollars so far this year, because settlements prevent the PA from functioning normally.”

 This Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs has put the clerk in his place with a well worded rebuke, delivered to the head of the EU delegation in Israel. They not only point out what utter nonsense the man uttered, that he has no place taking a political stand, that his legal assumptions are way off base, that the economic assumptions are out of line with the facts on the ground, that in fact the West Bank economy has improving – even at a time when the rest of the world economies are shrinking - and that the politics that obviously drives him to speak out are not in synch with European or even Palestinian interests.

What the Israeli government did not say is something that has been shouted out by many independent critics for years – that the EU and many European governments have DELIBERATELY AND KNOWINGLY CHOSEN to throw money at the Palestinian cause, knowing full well that it is wasted – being diverted to support violence and corruption.  And every time a new report scratches away the thin veneer of respectability pasted on this blatant waste of public funds, European officials find another layer to patch it over.

 This time, however, the old canard of “it’s all the Joos fault” simply reeks of base anti-Semitism.

 If it is of any relevance, the Funding for Peace Coalition website or the website of the Taxpayers Alliance or my own archive will give you plenty of background about the known waste of international donations to the Palestinian cause.

The government controlled Syrian Arab News Agency reports that Khaled Meshall of Hamas says:

1.       Any intra-Palestinian peace must include an agreement allowing violence against Israel

2.       The Arabs have done so much for peace with Israel that it is now Israel’s turn

 Huh? 

The Israeli cabinet met today to discuss mounting US led international pressure for Israel to further open Gaza crossing points.

The discussion comes just a day after the IDF foiled a major border attack involving 10 Palestinian gunmen, mortars and booby-trapped horses. Apparently all part of a plan to breach the border, kill Israelis and hopefully (for them) kidnap another Israeli soldier. And it comes as we approach the 3 year anniversary of the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit - 3 years that the Palestinians have cruelly refused to meet their obligations under the Geneva Conventions to allow Red Cross access - let alone his release or even just a sign of life.

And what good would come of additional goods allowed through the border?  Just two days ago, Palestinian Media Watch published translations of May 20 2009 reports by the official Palestinian Authority newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadida,  confirming that thousands of tons of medical equipment - including 46 ambulances stripped of their equipment and painted black to be used as military vehicles - have been hijacked by Hamas for direct military use or for re-sale to the population after confiscation.  So much for the humanitarian aid that Israel allows through the borders.  It just supports Hamas' nefarious activities.

So does this seem auspicious timing for the US to be pressuring Israel to lower its border defences?  Wouldn't the US be better off putting pressure on Hamas to conform to its obligations under international law, stop all violence against Israel and remove its jackboot from the necks of its own citizens?

What many Israelis find strange, though, is what seems to be US pressure for Israel to leave its settlements in Judea and Samaria.  The broad Israeli consensus is that it would turn into another Gaza, with a Hamas take-over just a matter of time. Aside from the inevitable rocket attacks on all of Israel's civilian population, they question what would be gained by allowing the destruction of the infant West Bank economy as happened in Gaza?

Visiting Buchenwald was President Obama’s way of avoiding criticism by the Jewish community of the increasing political pressure on Israel.  His speech at Buchenwald was clearly a jibe at Iran’s President Ahmadinejad – but at the same time it represented an indirect insult to the Palestinian Authority’s President,  Mahmoud Abbas.

 "To this day, there are those who insist the Holocaust never happened – a denial of fact and truth that is baseless and ignorant and hateful," Obama said. "This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts, a reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history."

Holocaust denial (and denial of the historical connection of Jews and Christians to the Holy Land) is widespread in the Palestinian Authority.   President Mahmoud Abbas’ doctoral thesis and subsequent book described the Holocaust as "The Zionist fantasy, the fantastic lie that six million Jews were killed," and claimed that the minimal number of Jews that were murdered to actually be the victims of a Zionist-Nazi plot.

Abbas seems to have lived up to his media reputation as “pragmatic”, and has not as yet publicly responded to being labeled “ignorant and hateful” by the American President.  He has presumably put it on the scales against Obama’s Cairo speech;  the undeniable suffering of the Palestinian people that resulted from their own warmongering, their rejection of every peace initiative and their terrorist murder of  innocent Israeli civilians was equated with the herding of innocent Jewish men women and children into extermination camps for wholesale slaughter by the Nazi regime and their assistants.  Keeping Palestinian silence also promotes the US abrogation of past agreements with Israel, and their demand that selective passages of certain abrogated agreements effectively be honored by Israel only.  With the US adopting not just the Palestinian line but even their negotiating tactics,  It is no wonder that the Israeli press are describing US and Israeli administrations to be on a collision path.

It will be interesting to see how the American Jewish community will respond to the equation.

I have burned many  electrons over the years highlighting reports about the abuse of financial aid to the Palestinians. The Funding for Peace Coalition probably did the most comprehensive job back in late 2004 with their report Managing European Taxpayers' Money: Supporting The Palestinian Arabs - A Study In Transparency. Not much seems to have changed since then. 

 The Palestinian Authority continues to be led by the same corrupt cronies, and continues to provide “terrorist insurance” payments to imprisoned murderers and their families. The Abbas led PA continues to incite violence against Israel through its public statements, television shows and hate education. And the JCPA reports that the internationally funded PA still has Hamas and other terrorists on the payroll.

 In Gaza, the criminal Hamas government has been caught red handed time and again stealing international aid – either selling it back to the people to fund their war crimes, or diverting it directly to their guerilla terrorist forces. And Hamas keeps firing rockets into Israeli towns using their own human shields every day. And the smuggling tunnels bring in more weapons all the time.

James Lindsay, former legal counsel for UNRWA, issued a report Fixing UNRWA: Repairing the UN's Troubled System of Aid to Palestinian Refugees, where the recommendations are more than telling. He argues that implementing them would return Palestinians “to what most of them so desperately seek: normal lives.” Lindsay directly and indirectly argues that much of the UNRWA budgets are spent providing services to people who simply don’t need the charity, and many are not refugees, and some are not even Palestinians. In summary, Lindsay says:

No justification exists for millions of dollars in humanitarian aid going to those who can afford to pay for UNRWA services. In addition, UNRWA should make the following operational changes: halt its one-sided political statements and limit itself to comments on humanitarian issues; take additional steps to ensure the agency is not employing or providing benefits to terrorists and criminals; and allow the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), or some other neutral entity, to provide balanced and discrimination-free textbooks for UNRWA schools.

Gunnar Heinsohn of the Raphael Lemkin Institute at the University of Bremen, an institute devoted to comparative genocide research, argues quite cogently that UNRWA and other international aid exacerbate the problems of the Middle East, providing unlimited indiscriminate welfare which encourages a high birth rate, but no useful employment. The result is a “youth bulge” of young men who provide “cannon fodder” for their unscrupulous leadership to indoctrinate and send into battle against their fellow Palestinians or Israel. Heinsohn compares Gaza to other areas of conflict, where “The warring stopped because no more warriors were being born.” His recommendations parallel those of James Lindsay.

 Heinsohn also points out, as have many before him, that the Arab world is well aware of the issues. “UNRWA is benevolently funded by the U.S. (31%) and the European Union (nearly 50%) -- only 7% of the funds come from Muslim sources.” They allow the West to develop the cannon fodder, while Iran, Syria and others provide the cannons.

 US president Obama’s most recent proposal to provide $900 million for Gaza restoration via the Palestinian Authority flies in the face of all this evidence and professional advice that international funding feeds the conflict.

I can only wonder. During the current world economic crisis, why do Western governments continue to pour so much money into UNRWA, the PA and other Palestinian causes, knowing full well that it will never achieve its stated objectives?

Why don’t you write to your local representative and ask how much of your tax money is being handed over to the Palestinians?  I am sure that you could suggest some more effective uses for your money right now!

We all know that operation “Cast Lead” (as the war in Gaza was labeled) was successful in reducing the Hamas attacks on Israel. What the media may not have mentioned is that the Palestinians are in daily breach of the cease fire, leading to inevitable Israeli responses. No doubt, as things intensify, you will hear a lot about on Israeli actions –but probably not much about the war crimes that lead up to them...continued Palestinian attacks on civilian targets, using their own women and children as human shields. The Israel Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center issued a report two days ago, detailing twelve specific  cease-fire breaches in the 13 days prior. (Scroll to the bottom of the link for a table of events.) Since then,  a Kassam hit Kibbutz Sha’ar Hanegev and a Grad hit Ashkelon, bringing the score to one war crime a day.

It is interesting that while Hamas claims overall responsibility and control of the Gaza strip, at least some of the attacks are being perpetrated by Mahmoud Abbas’ so called “moderate” Fatah faction – which is so generously funded by the EU and other Western governments. 

The tragic close to the abduction of Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser brings to our whole nation a deep sense of grief, loss and frustration. It also brings a sense of dismay and foreboding.  How will we now deal with the realities of negotiating with Hamas for the return of Gilad Shalit?   Have we increased the risk and price of further abductions by taking what many perceived as the only possible and moral course of action?

But grief, dismay and foreboding will not bring Gilad home, nor prevent further abductions.    Is there a solution?

Palestinian treatment of our prisoners and their attacks on civilians launched from civilian neighbourhoods constitute severe breaches of the Geneva Conventions and are clear war crimes. And yet our enemies constantly distort the language and terms of human rights and international law to demonize Israel.    It is time to call the Palestinian bluff. 

Israel should declare that - after years of this demonization and years of our enemies playing with our emotions over Ron Arad, Eldad Regev, Ehud Goldwasser, Gilad Shalit, Zachary Baumel, Yehuda Katz, Tvi Feldman and Guy Hever – it is acting against the Palestinian breaches of international law.

With no further notice, all Palestinian security prisoners should be denied all access by third parties – International Committee of the Red Cross, journalists, families – anyone.  Once a prisoner is taken, his whereabouts, condition, status or even the fact of his confinement will not be confirmed or denied.  Access to judicial process will be granted, but only to the point that arrest and confinement is proven legal, and to the extent that legal counsel accepts these new rules, and agrees not to leak any information except as necessary to conduct a proper defence. All other contact with the outside world, stipends from foreign governments or the Palestinian Authority, cash, gifts, letters from any source will be forbidden.  All opportunities for study, or any other form of advancement or entertainment will be prevented.  These people will be held prisoner under the same conditions as our boys.  As soon as the fate of our missing soldiers is satisfactorily resolved; as soon as those still alive are treated according to international conventions;  as soon as the Palestinians cease their war crimes, we will return to the natural compliance with those rules that we believe in and have complied with for the last 60 years.

Illegal?  No doubt there will be immediate appeals to the High Court.  No doubt there will be international pressure. The Government must not falter.  It must immediately prepare the necessary emergency legislation to allow this track.  It must filibuster and delay until it can be achieved. 

We must let the world know that we are no longer prepared to be victims of its double standards.

Rising world food prices together with a cold snap sent the price of tomatoes skyrocketing throughout the Middle East.  Haaretz columnist Amiram Cohen complained that the price of tomatoes in Tel Aviv jumped to NIS 12 for aging tomatoes and to NIS 23.30 in up-beat Ivn Givriol Street.  That’s $7 a kilo!  Cohen says that the problem is the way the world economy works, and suggests cutting out the long chain of middle men, and starting a vegetable patch in the balcony window box.

But is it really the fault of the economic system we have built, and is home planting the solution?

According to President Ahmadinejad manipulation by Iran’s “enemies” is the reason for a 16% inflation rate and tomatoes reaching $3.25 a kilo in Teheran : "In order to harm us, they (enemies) make plots, for instance they come and push tomato prices up in the market. They think we will give up our ideals with their plots."   And his solution?  Trust in Allah and the revolution.  "Of course, God willing, the problem of meat, chicken and tomatoes will be solved. One should be aware that our revolution is like a bulldozer ... the enemies think by throwing a few small stones and sand they can stop this bulldozer,"

In its April Gaza Strip fact sheet, the United Nations is marginally more circumspect. While recognising that fuel transit depots and goods crossing points have been attacked, the UN completely ignores Hamas’ commandeering of fuel supplies in Gaza to create an artificial shortage.  The report opens by complaining of Israeli restrictions on fuel limiting the UN’s ability to distribute food.  The immediate next sentences: “Market prices increased significantly in the month of April. Tomato prices, for example, rose 156% [to NIS 3.20 or $1 a kilo].”  The implication is clear.  And while detailing all the hardships and health risks created by the fuel shortage, there is no mention of the ample fuel available to transport and launch incessant rockets to injure and traumatise Israeli civilians.

Meanwhile, the LA Times reports that in Egypt, Lebanon, Oman and other countries American policies are being blamed for increasing food prices.  And organisations such as the Moslem Brotherhood, Hezbollah, Hamas,  the Islamic Action Front and others are gaining ground amongst the poor – censuring the local regimes as well as the “enemy” for the crisis, handing out food together with their fundamentalist messages of hate. 

Is commentary on the price of tomatoes still politically correct?