Israel headlines: lies and hate in December 2013

Hundreds of headlines appear each day in Israel. How do you make sense of it all?

Over the course of a single day, headlines ricochet back-and-forth between dozens of topics. Reading the news becomes akin to watching six tennis matches at once.

Here’s a way to read the news. In this report, you’ll see an organized selection of headlines from Israel’s press. You’ll also see comments about those headlines.

Today, you’ll take a clear look at just one topic. The time period is the end of Chanukah, December 3-5, 2013.

 

The War on Israel

- Former PA Negotiator: Peace Deal 'Impossible'  

-IDF Admits Terror is on the Rise in Judea, Samaria

-Attack Thwarted at Tomb of the Patriarchs

-Hebrew University's Mount Scopus Campus 'a War Zone'

-Casualties from Terror in Heartland 'Up 120%'

-Stone-hurling suspects: Motivated by 'Jew-hatred'

-Abbas: If negotiations fail we'll appeal to international bodies

-Palestinian youth arrested with sharp screwdriver: 'I wanted to stab a soldier

-UN Envoy: We are Losing our Patience

- Lieberman: PA Trying to Sabotage Talks

-Hamas Leader: We Won't be Bound by Peace Agreement

-Livni: Israel's Security Interests will be Preserved

-Abbas Rejects Kerry’s Offer

- Kerry praises Abbas for negotiating ‘despite difficulties’

 

The language of international diplomacy used to be Latin. That’s no longer true. At least when it comes to Israel, the lie appears to have become the lingua Franca for diplomats.

Everyone participates—the European Union, the US and the United Nations. Lies about Israel have become so commonplace, they have become accepted truths.

They are not.

One of those lies has popped up again during this current news cycle. Envoy to the Middle East Robert Serry warned Israel that the international community would not be happy if Israel allowed current peace talks to fail. Serry said that the international community was losing its patience.

Clearly, Serry blames Israel for ‘no peace’.

That’s a lie.

Serry is not the first to express impatience towards Israel. The European Union wants a new Palestine to emerge from these talks--and it is ‘frustrated’ by Israel’s intransigence.

The US agrees. US Secretary of State John Kerry has told Israel that, if it fails to produce a new Palestine, it (Israel) will see ‘isolation on steroids’.  Kerry practically gave a green light for a new Intifada when he added (regarding the potential for failure), ‘does Israel want a third intifada?’

The UN, the EU, the US and the Palestinian Authority have all denounced Israel for its ‘settlements’. Abbas regularly uses the ‘settlements’ as an excuse to refuse to negotiate. He claims that building in ‘settlements’ drives a dagger into the heart of peace negotiations.

That’s another lie.

Now, Israel Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman makes trouble. He claims that ‘settlements’ represent just 1.5% of Judea-Samaria.

According to Evelyn Gordon (“Settlements: obstacle to peace,” Commentary magazine, November 17, 2011), Liberman is wrong. The ‘settlements’ do not make up 1.5 per cent of Judea-Samaria.

Gordon writes an interesting essay. She quotes the then-chief Palestinian negotiator, Seeb Erekat. She references an interview Erekat did on the Arabic radio station As-Shams (at the beginning of November, 2011). She paraphrases Erekat saying, ‘based on an aerial photograph provided by European sources, the settlements cover only 1.1 percent of the West Bank (ibid)’.

That’s it—1.1 per cent. Western nations have their panties in a twist over 1.1 per cent. They claim there is no peace because of 1.1 per cent. They are frustrated with Israel because of 1.1 per cent. They lose their patience with Israel because of 1.1 per cent.

Really?

Think about this claim. The West believes that 1.1 per cent of land kills prospects for peace?

Don’t believe it.

If you have ever negotiated anything, you know very well that 1.1% is nothing. The Arabs –and the entire Western world—attack Israel over 1.1 per cent?  There’s something is wrong with that.

The only reason anyone would demonize Israel over 1.1 per cent is that he demands Israel give up 100 per cent of Judea-Samaria—and then demands further that there will be no negotiation whatsoever. In fact, that’s exactly what’s going on here.

At the time this latest round of peace talks began, Abbas gave a speech (September, 2013) to graduates of the University of Jericho. In that speech, he declared that there will not be a peace agreement with Israel unless “all of the Palestinian Authority demands are met” (“Abbas: Meet Our Conditions, Then We Can Have Peace”, Arutz Sheva, Elad Benari, September 16, 2013).

That’s not a negotiator talking. That’s one who will not negotiate; and yet, whom does the West blame for ‘no peace’?

Israel.

During this news cycle, Israel’s security needs made headlines. As US Secretary of State John Kerry returned to Israel (on December 4/5), Chief Israeli negotiator Tzipi Livni announced that Israel’s security interests will be preserved. To this end, Kerry discussed with Abbas a plan to preserve Israel’s security interests. As the headline above indicates, Abbas rejected Kerry’s plan.

Who’s the intransigent one? Israel?

The West doesn’t care. They ignore Abbas. They denounce Israeli ‘settlements’.

Why does the West do that? Does it join the Arab in villainous counsel against Israel?

Well, if you listen to the UN, the US, the EU and Abbas, Israel’s ‘settlements’ won’t go away. This 1.1% is so destructive it makes peace impossible. To listen to these attacks, you’d think that Israel is using ‘settlement’ to create so large a footprint over Judea-Samaria that a new ‘Palestine’ would be impossible to create.

But in truth, ‘settlements’ consume only about 1.1%--by Seeb Erekat’s own words. Why is ‘settlement’ a problem?

It isn’t.

The war against Israel continues.

Look at the other headlines above. Arabs attack Jews during peace talks. The West ignores those attacks. Hamas says it will not be bound by any peace agreement with Israel. Jews are assaulted. Arabs hate.

What’s going on here? The West becomes irate at Israel because of ‘settlements’—when ‘settlements’ clearly aren’t the issue.

The Arabs, meanwhile, marinate in Jew-hate.  This, the West ignores.

We learn in our Tehillim (83:6) that Edom (the West) and Yishmael (Abbas) will take counsel together with others to strike a covenant against HaShem, the G-d of Israel.  Is that what’s happening here?

Don’t go away. This movie isn’t over.