Friday, January 7, 2011
[By Vic Rosenthal, crossposted from FresnoZIonism.]
The ADL is shocked -- shocked, I tell you -- that Hamas is antisemitic:
New York, NY, January 6, 2011 ... The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today condemned the remarks of a senior Hamas official who claimed that the Holocaust was "a lie that has crumbled" and suggested that Zionists had committed "countless Holocausts" on the Palestinian people.
The League called his statements "a disturbing reminder of the virulent anti-Semitism promoted by Hamas and the ongoing threat the group poses to Israel."
Mahmud Zahar, a senior leader of the Gaza-based terrorist group, made the remarks during a memorial ceremony for 43 Palestinians killed at a U.N. school in the Jabaliya refugee camp during Israel's military incursion into Gaza in December 2008. -- ADL press release
I can't help but remark that the press release itself is misleading. It fails to mention that IDF shells did not hit the school, and that all the fatalities were in the street outside the school where a Hamas mortar team had set up and fired at IDF troops. Five Hamas fighters were killed there, and an undetermined number of civilians who were next to them (certainly fewer than 43). Even the ADL has accepted the Palestinian version of the event!
It's important to understand the difference between what happened in Gaza and what happened in Treblinka, as the ADL suggests. So here is the official IDF account:
336 In this incident, which occurred on 6 January 2009, IDF mortar shells landed outside a school being used as a UNRWA shelter. No mortar rounds hit the school itself, but landed in the road outside the school and at a nearby compound, resulting in flying shrapnel that reportedly injured several people inside the school, and killed or injured others nearby.
337 The IDF's 'investigation of the incident found that, on 6 January 2009, an IDF force operating in the El-Attatra-Jabaliya area came under an effective barrage of 120mm mortars launched from a site about 3.5 km. from the force.(263) The launching site was situated only 80 metres west of the UNRWA school. The mortar attack lasted for almost an hour, with one mortar being fired every few minutes. As reported in the media, local residents later confirmed that mortar fire was coming from the vicinity of the school.(264)
338 Soon after the source of fire was detected, a scouting unit was dispatched to confirm the location. Approximately 50 minutes after the mortar attack had begun, two independent sources cross-verified the location of the mortars. Only subsequent to this, and after verification of a safety margin of at least 50 metres between the target (i.e., the identified source of mortar fire) and the UNRWA school, did the force respond to the ongoing barrage, by using the most accurate weapon available to it -- 120mm mortars.
339 The IDF force that was under attack fired four mortars, about 5-10 minutes after the cross-checked identification of the source of fire, and while Hamas mortars were still being fired towards the forces. The IDF response succeeded in stopping the Hamas mortar attack. Indeed, as a result of the response, five Hamas operatives were killed. The effectiveness of the mission in achieving its military objective is thus indisputable.
340 The IDF acted to defend the lives of soldiers under fire, in order to stop continuing mortar attack. The defensive action targeted an identified source of mortar fire which represented a concrete and immediate threat to the force. The IDF executed the responsive fire with as much precision as possible, given the available munitions. Indeed, the fact that all the Israeli shells landed outside the school grounds demonstrates the care Israel took not to hit the school itself, consistent with its obligations under the Law of Armed Conflict.(265)
What we need to note here is that the IDF used the minimum practical amount of force needed to achieve its objective, which happened to be defensive. This is a textbook illustration of proportionate use of force in wartime.
Perhaps to the surprise of some of the NGOs that contributed to the Goldstone Report, an army at war is not required to fight an enemy without hurting noncombatants, nor is it required to suffer as many casualties as the other side. 'Proportionate use of force' simply means not using a sledgehammer to kill a enemy mosquito when that sledgehammer might also kill noncombatant gnats. Many recent examples can be found in which armies have ignored this principle. Israel's conformity to it is probably greater than that of the US or NATO, for example.
Of course it's simply crazy to compare accidental deaths of noncombatants in war to deliberate murder during commission of genocide, which is what the Holocaust was and which is what Hamas explicitly promises for the Jews in what it regards as "Islamic land".
In a distressingly familiar way, Zahar inverts reality by accusing the "Zionists" of precisely what he intends to do to them.
In the same vein, there is now a sort of virtual Yad vaShem to memorialize the "Gaza Holocaust". The Ibdaa Institute for Research and Training site (ironically and correctly called 'creativity' in English) presents the usual blood libels for consumption by Arabic readers. Although it is not certain exactly who is paying for it, NGO Monitor writes,
On the site, Ibdaa thanks EU- and Europe-funded groups including the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR), Al-Mezan, and Al-Dameer. Additionally, in the summer of 2010, officials from Ibdaa met with representatives from IHH, the Turkish NGO and designated terror group from the "Free Gaza" flotilla. Funding information for Ibdaa is not available.
In addition, the site also lists several Palestinian Authority ministries, which are funded by the US and EU. So, as usual, the supposed civilized world is helping the barbarians prepare the ground for their truly genocidal program.
