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Israel Tag

Today was the second attempt by Hamas and other terrorist groups to breach the Gaza-Israel border under cover of civilian "protests." When this was tried a week ago, approximately 18 Gazans were killed, almost all of them documented to be military members of terror groups, as we documented in two posts, PHOTOS: Most Palestinians killed at Gaza border clash were terrorists. and 15 terrorists now identified among dead from last Gaza border clash, as Palestinians plan toxic tire fire.

The confrontation at the Gaza-Israel border during the so-called "Great Return March" last Friday reportedly resulted in 18 deaths of Palestinians, at least 11 of whom have been identified as Hamas, Islamic Jihad or other terror military members. When more information becomes known, it is likely to result in all or almost all of the dead being terrorists. See my prior post for details, PHOTOS: Most Palestinians killed at Gaza border clash were terrorists.

While the German police struggle to take back control of their streets, the Merkel government has been "concerned by the situation in Gaza." The German Foreign Ministry called for "resumption of negotiations to find a solution that would be suitable to all people between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea." This week, two large-scale riots took place in Hamborn district of Duisburg, a small town some 50-minute ride from the north-western German city of Cologne.

Tonight is the first night of Passover. As is written in the Passover Haggadah:
For not just one alone has risen against us to destroy us, but in every generation they rise against us to destroy us; and the Holy One, blessed be He, saves us from their hand!
As if you needed any reminding that nothing has changed, witness today's Hamas-organized attempt to storm the Gaza border, with women and children pushed to the front lines as human shields. The military leader of Hamas was blunt about the objective:

I've never seen the Israeli series "Fauda," but it certainly has received a lot of buzz. The series, in Arabic and Hebrew, details Israeli undercover units operating in Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) against terror suspects. From the few clips I've seen, it's something along the action level of "24" though not on a 24-hour timeline.

Let's face it. The omnibus bill sucks and proves once against the Republican Party is not the party of fiscal responsibility and small government. But they did include the Taylor Force Act, named after the American vet killed two years ago, which will stop payments to the Palestinian Authority until it stops rewarding terrorists for killing Jews and Americans.

Why have American academic presses rejected a book manuscript by Dr. Eliezer Tauber, a former dean and highly-regarded Israeli history professor at Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Middle Eastern Studies? Tauber is an award-winning and prolific expert on the early phases of the Arab-Israeli conflict. By all accounts, his latest book about the April 9, 1948 battle in the Palestinian village of Deir Yassin has “many strengths” and provides the most comprehensive investigation to date of what was both a seminal event in Israel’s War of Independence and in the creation of the Palestinian refugee problem.

Earlier this week, the government of Israel organised  the three-day #DigiTell18 conference aimed at formulating strategies to counter anti-Israel campaigns, hosting 60 pro-Israel advocates from 15 different countries in Jerusalem. I had the privilege to represent my grassroots group Indians For Israel at the event. “For the first time, BDS [anti-Israel boycott campaign] groups are on the defensive,” said Gilad Erdan, Israel’s Minister for Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy, highlighting the recent successes of the pro-active approach adopted by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government to combat these vicious and well-coordinated online campaigns.

Richard Landes is a brilliant man who has worked tirelessly for close to two decades to expose the biases and distortions present in worldwide media coverage of the Israel/Palestine conflict. I also count him as a friend. I've written about Landes and his work many times before. Among other things, he is the person who uncovered the media's compliance in shaping the Muhammed al Durah story into anti-Israel propaganda, and he also coined the phrase "Pallywood."

Natan Sharansky is winding down his leadership of The Jewish Agency for Israel, a post he has held since 2009.  The Jewish Agency serves to strengthen ties of Jews around the world with Israel. You can read their most recent annual report on their activities here (pdf.) To honor Sharansky's service and life, the Jewish Agency is encouraging people to share memories about Sharansky, including using the hashtag #CelebrateWithNatan. So I thought I'd use this as an opportunity to recollect Legal Insurrection's prior coverage of Sharansky, plus a new story I just learned about him.