The TIPH of the Iceberg: Foreign Occupation of Israel

Foreign occupation in the Land of Israel? It conjures up visions of the Maccabean Revolt against the Syrian Greeks, the Jewish Uprising against the Romans, and the modern Hebrew Rebellion against the British. Historically, Jews don’t take kindly to foreign occupiers in their homeland.

Since 1994, I’ve been complaining about TIPH, the Temporary International Presence in Hebron, that anti-Israel/pro-Palestinian foreign occupier watchdog group, patrolling in Israel.

Temporary? Almost twenty five years is not temporary.

Enough is enough! It’s time for the Israeli government to kick them out of the City of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. And, let’s not forget, that Hebron was also David’s capital city, for almost seven years, before Jerusalem. Hebron is the second holiest city in Judaism, after Jerusalem.

But, the threat of invasion from foreign troops or “observers,” continues...

Just recently, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, has spoken about sending armed UN peacekeepers as one of four proposals, for safeguarding so-called Palestinians, that live under “Israeli occupation” in Gaza. First, let me remind you, that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005.

He also offered an alternative, “armed forces from a group of like-minded states operating under a United Nations mandate,” (from the 47 Muslim-majority states in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, for example?). It sounds a lot like a plan for an Islamic invasion of the Land of Israel, under UN/international legitimacy.

Gaza, or better, Hamastan, is occupied not by Israel, but an Islamic terrorist organization called Hamas. A parasitic group, that has fed off the misery of the Gazans since 2007.

In response to UNSG Guterres proposal, Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said, that “the only protection the Palestinian people need is from their own leadership. The Palestinian Authority incites its people to attack Jews, and the terrorist organization Hamas uses the Gazan public as hostages and risks the lives of residents for terror,” explained Danon. “Instead of suggesting ways to protect the Palestinian people from Israel, the UN should instead hold the Palestinian leadership accountable for continually endangering its own people.”

Hamas, is a group that for over fifteen years, has indiscriminately launched rockets, mortars, and missiles, into civilian Israeli cities, towns and villages. And more recently, has flown flammable kites and exploding balloons, wantonly burning crops and starting out-of-control wildfires in Israel.

Israel has the absolute right to Jewish self-defense. If someone doesn’t like it, too bad!

We saw what happened, during the Holocaust, when Jews couldn’t defend themselves. That will never be allowed to happen again. No foreign occupier, be they so-called Palestinians, remnants of the Arab Imperialist Wars of the 7^th century, or 20^th century Arab colonial settlers in the Land of Israel, can take that right away.

So too, no UN Occupation Troops, “peacekeepers,” or TIPH “observers,” from Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and Turkey, should be allowed in the Land of Israel.

Think about it for a moment, Norway, the country that brought Israel, the Oslo fiasco, euphemistically called the “peace process.” Switzerland, international banking center and beneficiary from Holocaust-era dormant Jewish bank accounts. And, Islamist Turkey, well what can be said about Islamist Turkey, rival to Iran for leadership in the region, and vociferously anti-Israel. These countries “observers” patrol, Hebron, the City of the Patriarchs?

In July, during a tour organized by the radical left-wing organization, Breaking the Silence, TIPH personnel visited the Jewish neighborhood of Tel Rumeida, in violation of the TIPH mandate. While there, a Swiss TIPH legal counsel was filmed hitting a young Jewish boy. Afterwards, Switzerland’s ambassador to Israel, Jean-Daniel Ruch, sent an “apology” to the Jewish community of Hebron. But, his letter started off by blaming the settlers, “Though this was no doubt preceded by some provocation on the side of the settlers...” he wrote.

Highhanded abuse from the foreign overlords...

Some days later, MK Shuli Moalem-Refaeli, Chairwoman of the Jewish Home Knesset faction, called on PM Netanyahu to remove TIPH from Israel, after another video was released. In the video, two TIPH “observers” can be seen, one puncturing the tires of a Jewish resident’s car in Hebron, while the second stands guard. The same Swiss “observer” who hit the child was involved.

Moalem-Refaeli said, “This is not the first time that their [TIPH] people have been documented working against the people of the Jewish community in Hebron, and who knows what other injustices were not recorded? Instead of serving as a factor that is supposed to calm the area, they are doing the opposite.” She called the extension of the group’s presence “absurd” and “pointless.”

In fact, TIPH was never meant to be neutral, but pro-Palestinian, read it’s mandate:

1. “to promote by their presence a feeling of security to the Palestinians of Hebron;

2. to help promote stability and an appropriate environment conducive to the enhancement of the well-being of the Palestinians of Hebron and their economic development;

3. to observe the enhancement of peace and prosperity among Palestinians;

4. to assist in the promotion and execution of projects initiated by the donor countries;

5. to encourage economic development and growth in Hebron;

6. to provide reports as set out in paragraph 7 [of the Agreement on the Temporary international Presence in the City of Hebron]; and

7. to coordinate its activities with the Israeli and Palestinian authorities.”

Even Karin Aggestam, who served with TIPH in the year 2000, admitted in her groundbreaking analysis, published in the Cambridge Review of International Affairs (2001), that TIPH is not expected to be neutral. Since its mandate is to monitor the welfare of the Palestinian residents of Hebron in recognition of “the existing asymmetry between Israelis and Palestinians. Israeli authorities and particularly Israeli settlers, who have never accepted TIPH’s presence, have frequently accused TIPH of having a Palestinian bias. The Palestinian civilian population often feel frustrated at TIPH’s practice of observing rather than actively intervening.”

Well, now we know with video evidence, that, that last statement is patently false, TIPH does actively intervene for the Arabs, as Jewish residents of Hebron have been complaining about for years.

The TIPH mandate was originally set-up under a left-wing Rabin government, it’s renewed every three months by agreement of the State of Israel, and first with the PLO, then later the Palestinian Authority.

But why would a right-wing Netanyahu-led government continue to extend their mandate?

It could easily be dissolved. It’s about time, enough is enough.

First came TIPH, they were called “observers,” and who protested? Then came armed UN troops, and they were called “peacekeepers.” Again silence. Finally, a Muslim-led internationally sanctioned expeditionary force came to invade the Land of Israel…

Time to fight back, before it’s too late. Say no to foreign occupation in the Land of Israel!

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.

(c) 2018/5778 Pasko

The Torah’s National Structure in the Jewish Nation-State of Israel

This week’s Torah reading is Parshat Shoftim, yet just a few weeks ago, the Jewish people observed Tisha B’Av, mourning the destruction of the first and second temples. It seems God gave us some more time to learn all the laws of the Beit HaMikdash. Seventy years after Israeli political independence, fifty years after liberating Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, and the Third Temple still hasn’t been built? That’s certainly something to mourn over. But is fasting and saying Kinot/dirges, the only thing there is to do?

The Yalkut Shimoni – a midrash – on the Book of First Samuel (106) teaches us an awesome lesson about the Churban/destruction and exile by the Romans, Rabbi Simeon Bar Menasya said, “Israel was only exiled after it rejected the following three things, Malchut Shamayim/the Kingdom of Heaven, Malchut Beit David/Kingship from the House of David, and the Beit HaMikdash/the Holy Temple.

So we learn from this, that the cause of the exile of the Jewish people, was because we took too lightly, Torah observance (God’s rule), we should have demanded a rightful Davidic descendant be appointed as king, once the Maccabees drove out the Syrian Greeks, and Jews didn’t care enough about the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

A variant text in the Yalkut Shimoni explains from a different angle, why the Roman exile would be so long, as opposed to the limited seventy years of Babylonian exile, after the destruction of the First Temple. Rabbi Simeon Bar Menasya predicted, “In the future the following three things will be despised by Israel, the Kingdom of Heaven, David’s kingdom [the Messiah], and the building of the [Third] Temple.”

By the attitudes and behavior of most Jews today; the rampant secularization and assimilation; apathy about the Messianic concept and the Temple; Rabbi Simeon’s prediction seems to have come true.

But there is a third variant text, that gives the solution, how to end the exile. Rabbi Simeon Bar Menasya said, “Israel will not see a sign of the redemption until they repent and demand the following three things, the Kingdom of Heaven, David’s kingdom [the Messiah], and the building of the [Third] Temple.”

To remedy the situation, end exile and bring redemption, Jews must be taught to understand the value of these three things, then begin to demand them, and work to achieve them.

What does all this have to do with Parshat Shoftim? Well, actually quite a lot. This week’s reading, maps out for us, the ideal national structure, the policies of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, that Jews should be striving for today: Malchut/Kingdom, Sanhedrin/Torah, Nevuah/Prophecy, and Kehunah/Temple.

In the parsha, we encounter the Mitzvot/commandments, to establish a Torah-based Legal System (Deut. 16:18) and recognize G-d’s prophets (Deut. 18:15) - the Kingdom of Heaven; to appoint a king, and the laws of war (Deut. 17:14-20, 20:1-20) – David’s Kingdom; and issues dealing with the Priests and Levites (Deut. 18:1) – the Temple.

So, in fact, Rabbi Simeon was telling the Jewish people, to be redeemed, we need to implement those Mitzvot/policies that will re-build the ideal national structure in the Land of Israel.

What might some of these policy goals be? They can be summarized as kingdom and war; law, righteous justice, prosperity; and spirituality.

1. Israel needs a strongly pro-Jewish government. Better yet, how about exploring a kingdom? While waiting for the Son of David to arrive (and we should be petitioning Heaven constantly), the Torah empowers the Jewish people to establish a temporary government. The Maccabees had a kingdom. Monarchy provides a type of stability that democracy doesn't. With the rise of Islamo-fascism worldwide, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and particularly Iran, ISIS, and Hamastan threatening parts of the Land of Israel, a very strong hand must be used by Israel to defend its people and interests. Something that the current Israeli democracy seems to have trouble with. The conclusions of an earlier article of mine, “There is Only a Military Solution”, ring truer today than ever. In war, you fight to win. Its time to tell Jews the truth: the Arabs in Israel, the so-called “Palestinians”, are Amalek trying to replace us in our homeland, the Jewish Nation-State of Israel. This is total war, a zero-sum game; there will be only one winner, the Jewish people.

2. The legal system of Israel should be brought in line with the values of the Torah. Semicha/classical biblical ordination, has been recently revived. Rabbi Moshe Halberstam, a senior Rabbi on the Edah HaChareidit Rabbinical Court in Jerusalem, was the first to receive Semicha. A nascent Sanhedrin, a working Jewish Supreme Court according to Torah Law, is beginning to come into existence through the efforts of many rabbis and lay leaders. Rabbi Adin Steinzaltz, served as Nasi/President from 2004-2008. A society based on Torah Law will both free up the economy in key ways and establish healthy limits to economic activity, stressing other values beyond consumer consumption and wealth accumulation. It will encourage chesed (acts of kindness) and tzedek (righteousness and justice) through the social sector, building prosperity without hurting the poor and the weak. The final stage of ingathering the exiles will then be accomplished, bringing historical justice to the Jewish people. A just, prosperous, God-Centered Society is the goal. Pursuing spirituality will take center-stage, thus laying the foundation for the return of Prophecy and establishing Israel as a true, “Or LaGoyim/light unto the nations,” as envisioned by the prophet Isaiah.

3. We need to clean those insults to our religion, the so-called dome and mosque, off the Temple Mount. Jewish spiritual rebirth demands complete control over our holiest places in the Land of Israel. Let's think really big. It's time to build the Third Temple on the Temple Mount. There are Torah sources allowing it to be done before the Messiah comes. Building God’s House, would be the greatest Kiddush HaShem/Sanctification of His Name/expression of His Power & Rulership in this world, imaginable.

Let’s start before Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year and Coronation Day for the King of the Universe!

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.

(c) 2018/5778 Pasko

Hamas’s Theater of the Absurd: “Cannibals in Gaza”

A few weeks ago, I turned on my computer, and saw the most outrageous video of the year. The ‘brave’ teenage and twenty-something Palestinian ‘revolutionaries’ in Gaza, ‘resisting the occupation’ by the border fence, throwing rocks at the IDF, then retreating behind what looks to be a boy of 4-5 years old.

Brave Palestinian revolutionaries, using little children as Human Shields.

In another scene, a small boy is seen kicking and flailing his arms trying to escape someone wearing a Red Crescent vest, who seems to be trying to put him in the line of fire. Then there’s the photo of the baby in a diaper, holding a rock. Or, the video of four guys carrying someone off in a stretcher, and after they think they’re out of camera range, stop, and the ‘wounded one’ gets off, and picks up a rock to throw.

Hamas’s latest Theater of the Absurd production: “Cannibals in Gaza,” was in full swing.

Sure, the loony Left will say, “they are training them to participate in the Palestinian Revolution.” But by what standards of humanity are they behaving? Certainly not what we thought we had evolved to by the 21^st Century.

But Hamas continued this production for weeks, using the Arabs in Gaza as cannon fodder. Since then, there has been the spurious Palestinian claim, that an eight month old baby named Lila Randur, who was brought to the scene of the riots, died from inhaling tear gas. Also, Hamas refused to allow into Gaza, Israeli trucks with medical supplies. For what purpose? To boost the body count?

About the baby, IDF Spokesperson Major-General Avihai Adre’i responded that, “testimonies collected by the IDF, undermine the credibility of the Gazan Ministry of Health’s announcement regarding the death of the baby.”

A Gazan doctor told the Associated Press, that the baby, was known to have had a preexisting medical condition, and that he did not believe her death was caused by tear gas.

But think about this. Even if it’s true that the baby died from tear gas, what kind of parents would bring an eight month old baby, deliberately to the front lines of a war zone? And, using a dead baby as a prop, or, is that propaganda weapon against Israel?

Where are all the child’s rights activists of the world? Why aren’t they crying out at the abusive behavior of the Palestinians toward their children?

Soon after the bloodiest clashes, which saw 62 Palestinians killed, the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, announced that after a joint investigation conducted by the IDF and the General Security Service, at least 24 of those killed, in the Gaza border riots, were terrorists affiliated mostly with Hamas, and a few from Palestinian Islamic Jihad. Proving the Israeli claim true, later, Hamas Politburo member Salah Bardaweil boasted, in an interview with the Palestinian Baladna news outlet, “In the last rounds of confrontations, if 62 people were martyred, 50 of them were Hamas.”

IDF spokesperson Lt. Col. Jonathan Conricus said in response, “This proves what so many have tried to ignore, Hamas is behind these riots, and the branding of the riots as ‘peaceful protests’ couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Then, Iranian backed Palestinian Islamic Jihad claimed, that three members of its Saraya al-Quds military wing, were killed by Israeli forces in Khan Younis. So 53 of the 62 killed by IDF sharpshooters and others, were in fact ‘fighters’ intending violence, not peaceful protesters. The production must go on, it doesn’t matter that over 2,500 ‘actors’ were injured.

One rioter, who was captured by IDF soldiers after breaching the border fence and infiltrating into Israel, told the IDF that Hamas stage-managed the border riots to stay in power.

“Hamas organized the demonstrations so that people would not ‘turn’ on them,” he claimed, explaining that the humanitarian situation in Gaza has gotten so bad that Hamas planned out the ‘March of Return’ protests to let people blow off steam, and did it in a way that would get them publicity. A few dead Palestinians, who cares.

“Hamas controls everything in the strip. Hamas sends us messages to our Facebook accounts and to our cellphones. They come to mosques handing leaflet saying to go to the fence. When there's electricity, and televisions can be turned on, all you can see is the march. People got worn down and bored, and I'm one of those people,” he said.

The detainee backed Israel's claim, that Hamas uses women and children as human shields in the riots. “They tell women to go forward. They say to the woman: Go ahead, you are a woman, and the Israeli army does not shoot at women. They tell small children: Go ahead, the army does not shoot at small children. They tell a child to go ahead and he goes, it’s a little boy. They deceive him,” he complained.

While the IDF has indeed explicitly instructed not to fire at women or children, it has dropped leaflets and in other ways, urged Palestinians to refrain from coming near the fence, saying they are putting themselves in danger by doing so.

PM Benjamin Netanyahu stressed that sometimes harming civilians is inevitable. “They’re [Hamas] pushing civilians, women, children into the line of fire with the hope of creating casualties,” Netanyahu explained. “We try to minimize casualties. They’re trying to incur casualties in order to put pressure on Israel, which is horrible.”

DM Avigdor Liberman taking part in a Gaza Division situation briefing – together with Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot and Southern Command Chief Eyal Zamir – said that, “The Hamas leadership are a bunch of cannibals, who treat their children as weapons. They have rockets, personal weapons, and another type of weapon, children and [other] people.”

“Their goal is to lift Gaza’s blockade, not to build an economy or hold talks about coexistence, but rather to smuggle weapons [into Gaza] and create a Hezbollah-type model,” he stressed.

Yet, international media coverage has overwhelmingly portrayed the Palestinian ‘narrative,’ blaming Israel, instead of reporting the truth, that Hamas produced this horror show, “Cannibals in Gaza.”

The usual obligatory responses followed this Theater of the Absurd, politicians condemning Israel for ‘overreacting,’ summoning the Israeli Ambassador, urging restraint, and then Turkey and South Africa withdrawing their ambassadors in protest. Turkey and South Africa, such bastions of peace and moderation.

One exception has been the American administration, Nikki Haley has been wonderfully truthful in the UN, pointing out that no other country in the Security Council, would have acted as restrained as Israel.

But unfortunately, people like US Senators Dianne Feinstein and Bernie Sanders, have run to accuse Israel of using excessive force. Sanders has also accused the IDF of killing innocent people. He should check his facts before he runs to condemn Israel.

Bye-the-way, unless you’re an animal rights activist, vegetarian, or PETA supporter, someone who cries out for the suffering of every little one of G-d’s creatures, don’t be a hypocrite, don't cry for them when we have to kill them, they’re terrorists, and not quite human, they’re cannibals!

Ariel Natan Pasko, an independent analyst and consultant, has a Master's Degree specializing in International Relations, Political Economy & Policy Analysis. His articles appear regularly on numerous news/views and think-tank websites and in newspapers. His latest articles can also be read on his archive: The Think Tank by Ariel Natan Pasko.
(c) 2018/5778 Pasko