Gaza

Media Malpractice: Good Guy with a Gun, ‘Animal’ Lies, Ignoring Hamas Admissions

May 17, 2018 by GregC

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America take aim at three examples of egregious media bias. They start with the heroism of Dixon High School (Ill.) school resource officer Mark Dallas, who saved countless lives in a would-be school shooting this week, yet the media glossed over the story since there was no body count and they have little interest in highlighting the effectiveness of a resource officer willing to engage the shooter. They also slam the press for selectively quoting President Trump to make it seem he was referring to immigrants as “animals” when he was responding specifically to comment about the vicious Latin American gang MS-13. And they throw up their hands as Hamas admits most of the people killed along the Israeli border were armed Hamas members and not random civilians and the media show no interest in reporting it.

‘The Palestinians Use Any Excuse to Riot Against Israel’

May 15, 2018 by GregC

Hamas, the media, and many nations are blaming President Trump decision to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem for inflaming Middle East passions and Israel for the scores of deaths along its border with Gaza this week, but a terrorism expert who grew up in the region says the embassy is just an excuse, radical groups are looking for any reason to paint Israel as the villain, and the media are perfectly willing to oblige.

For days, mainstream media outlets have shown side-by-side images of the ceremony opening the American embassy in Jerusalem and the deaths of Palestinians in Gaza. While critics of Trump and Israel suggest this loss of life was inevitable if the embassy was moved, Act for America President Brigitte Gabriel says there’s no real connection.

“Palestinians use any excuse to riot against Israel. As a matter of fact, these riots have been building up for weeks to culminate today – in what is celebrated across the Islamic world as the ‘Day of Catastrophe,'” said Gabriel.

“So what is the catastrophe that they are celebrating, that they dedicate a day to remember every single year? The establishment of the state of Israel. This Palestinian rioting is about hatred. It’s not about us moving our embassy or the occupied territories,” she added.

Gabriel, who is also the author of “They Must Be Stopped: Why We Must Defeat Radical Islam and How We Can Do It,” also pushed back on the widespread reporting that the Palestinian demonstrators were peaceful or “mostly peaceful.”

“It is not peaceful at all. I have seen background footage of Hamas rallying up their people to come to the border. They are showing up at the border with Molotov cocktails, even launching kites to help them set fire to the Israeli farms,” said Gabriel.

Among the dozens of Palestinians killed in the fighting was an eight-month-old baby, whose lifeless images have been broadcast around the world as evidence of Israeli repression. Gabriel says there’s much more to the story.

“Why would a mother bring an eight-month-old child where Molotov cocktails are being launched? Why are they doing that? They’re doing it because Hamas is willing to sacrifice the lives of its own children in order to get worldwide publicity against Israel,” she said.

That sort of thing is rarely, if ever, reported in the mainstream media. But why not? Gabriel says it’s a combination of Arabs and Palestinians rewriting history and feeding the misinformation to reporters and scholars who are largely alumni of institutions with a strong bias against Israel.

“Our universities have been influencing young minds because of all the money from the Middle East pouring into Middle East study departments and political science departments and appointing Arab professors who are anti-Israel and anti-America to basically brainwash the students,” said Gabriel.

Gabriel also asserts that giving up land does not lead to peace for Israel. Then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon withdrew Israel from Gaza in 2005. Subsequent elections places Hamas in charge. Gabriel says the Palestinian people live in squalor while Hamas officials live in sprawling mansions on the Mediterranean coast and hire their family members to high-ranking positions at very generous salaries. Much of the rest goes to purchasing weapons and training fighters.

In addition, Hamas destroyed the very lucrative flower and greenery industry deliberately left behind by Israel to provide an economic boost inside Gaza.

“They gave all that to the Palestinians. A businessman in New York gave $14 million so the Palestinians could start immediately in Gaza with an industry. Within 24 hours, Hamas in Gaza destroyed the greenhouses to the point they broke down the copper pipes and took them home. This is self-destruction,” said Gabriel.

And she says as long as the hatred for Israel rages, there will be no change in the region.

“The Arabs and the Palestinians cannot tolerate Israel in the Middle East and that’s what’s driving the hatred.

“Until the Palestinians learn to love their children more than they hate the Jews, that’s when we’ll have peace in the Middle East,” said Gabriel.

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Dem Impeachment Squabbles, Clueless in Seattle, Steve Schmidt vs. Reality

May 15, 2018 by GregC

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America enjoy watching Democrats publicly feud over how prominent the impeachment issue should be in 2018. They also shake their heads as the Seattle City Council tries to fight homelessness by taxing companies $275 for every employee if the business makes more than $20 million per year. They fire back as Never Trump “Republican” Steve Schmidt says Trump’s decision to embassy is only a calculation for the midterm elections and that the president has blood on his hands from the violence along the Israel-Gaza border. And Jim offers a champagne toast to mark the passing of prolific author and National Review friend Tom Wolfe.

U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, Constitutional Carry Vetoed, Media’s Middle East Bias

May 14, 2018 by GregC

Jim Geraghty of National Review and Greg Corombos of Radio America welcome the opening of the U.S. embassy in Jerusalem after three previous administrations acknowledged Jerusalem as the Israeli capital but refused to move the embassy. They also wince as Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin vetoes legislation that would allow residents to carry guns without a permit, leading Jim to wonder whether the anti-gun backlash after Parkland is making GOP officials more timid. And they roll their eyes as the media condemn Israel for defending its borders against thousands of Palestinians specifically sent to the border to instigate a response from Israel.

‘Israel Will Never Accept Iranian Bases on the Border’

May 10, 2018 by GregC

Israeli Defense Forces responded to an Iranian missile attack in northern Israel with an immediate barrage against Iran’s command and control infrastructure inside Syria, and a retired Israeli general says he hopes Iran got the message that its meddling near the border will not be tolerated.

Iran fired 20 missiles into Israel. Reports suggest the Iron Dome missile defense system worked well and that no Israeli citizens were injured. On the contrary, reports also suggest Israeli airstrikes did considerable damage to Iranian assets.

“I hope after the lessons they have been taught last night…they will change their attitudes,” said retired Israeli Brigadier Gen. Elihu Ben-Onn. “Israel will never accept any Iranian bases on the border between Israel and Syria on the Golan Heights. There is no way Israel will accept that from them.”

He says it’s bad enough that Iran already bankrolls and supplies terrorist groups like Hezbollah and Hamas with threaten Israel on a daily basis from Lebanon and Gaza respectively.

Ben-Onn is also not surprised that Israel is being criticized more harshly for the extent of its response than Iran is for initiating the hostilities.

“Unfortunately, whenever we are winning, we are to apologize for that. I don’t know why.

“Those people are a little bit ignorant and don’t understand what it means to live in the Middle East, what kind of enemies we have, what kind of struggles we are facing every day for our security. We are talking about our lives. This is not a movie. This is not cinema. This is not Hollywood,” said Ben-Onn.

“We don’t like the idea that they don’t understand the situation, but we know that we are the good guys and they are the bad guys,” added Ben-Onn.

Ben-Onn is encouraged that Iranian leadership got the message from the Israeli counter-strike.

“Just a couple of minutes ago, I heard that the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, said he didn’t want to open a new front in the Middle East. That was kind of soft language by the Iranians saying, ‘OK, maybe we tried but we learned our lesson and we’re going to stop this policy,'” said Ben-Onn.

Israel and Iran have never been directly at war. In fact, Ben-Onn says before the Islamic Revolution, the two countries had a productive relationship.

“Before 1979, when (Ayatollah) Khomeini came to power, Israel and Iran had a daily flight from Tel Aviv to Tehran. Many Israeli businesses worked in Iran and built the infrastructure in many fields: agriculture, construction, and they had many good times between the two countries.

“We never had a fight or any conflict. The only conflict is that the Iranians are supporting the enemies on the borders of Israel. The moment they are getting closer to the border and using missiles, this is something the Israeli government will never accept,” said Ben-Onn.