Doc's Talk: Billboards of Hate

Thursday, May 07, 2009

Billboards of Hate

Janet Levy
American Thinker

On April 21, Cindy Sheehan -- known for camping outside President Bush's ranch in 2005 to protest her son's military death in Iraq -- joined representatives from the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel. Sheehan and representatives of the 12 organizations that make up the Coalition dedicated 10 billboards in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which call for ending American military aid to Israel. The billboard message, "Tell Congress: Stop Killing Children, No More Military Aid to Israel," refers to a U.S. pledge to aid Israel over a ten-year period. The billboard features a picture of an Israeli tank juxtaposed with an innocent-looking headdress-cloaked Muslim Palestinian girl.

Last week, after fielding hundreds of complaints about the billboard ads, Lamar Advertising, which owns the billboard space, covered or removed the ads. A company spokesman denied knowledge of the billboard content; yet, news reports stated that a Lamar graphic designer suggested the images subsequently used.

The billboard creator, the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel, was founded by two Jews, Lori Rudolph and Rich Forer. It reports its mission as working "to inform the public and our elected officials how the Israeli military misuses American-made weapons technology and violates human rights." It also endeavors to report on the support provided to the Israeli defense establishment by the New Mexico state government, contractors and universities. In addition, the Coalition seeks to inform the public about the ongoing "illegal" occupation of "Palestinian Territories" by Israel which contributes "to unceasing conflict and suffering." The Coalition's literature refers sympathetically to the "indigenous" Palestinian population and explains how U.S. taxpayers are funding ongoing human rights violations and war crimes allegedly committed by Israel.

Apparently, the organization doesn't have a problem with U.S. aid to the Palestinian terrorist groups, Hamas and Fatah, which use aid money to indoctrinate children to hate and attack Israel, fund terrorist training camps, build weapons-smuggling tunnels and purchase weapons and missiles to fire at Israeli civilians. Nor does it appear that group members lose sleep over the impact of unceasing missile attacks, incendiary devices or suicide bombers that make their way into Israeli communities from Arab-Palestinian territories.

Coalition Members

The Coalition to Stop $30 Billion is comprised of several left-wing, anti-war and anti-Israel groups such as Amnesty International, Veterans for Peace and the Middle East Peace and Justice Alliance. These groups are decidedly anti-Israel.

For example, Amnesty International (AI) has focused a disproportionate share of criticism against the United States and Israel. In addition to opposing the U.S. war on terror, AI condemned military actions and security precautions, including the Patriot Act following 9/11. The organization accused Israel of "war crimes" and "deliberate destruction" during its defensive war against Hezb'allah in 2006; and, while it censured Israel in 63 official documents, it issued only 10 publications or alerts against the Palestinian Authority, six against Saudi Arabia and 20 against the Hezb'allah terrorist group.

Meanwhile, Veterans for Peace opposes the anti-missile defense shield, protests any attempts to outlaw the desecration of the American flag and combats recruitment efforts by the U.S. military in high schools around the country. The group opposes American support for Israel and refers to the U.S.-Israeli relationship as a "symbiosis of two world-class killing machines." Veterans for Peace actively supports war-crimes prosecution for members of the Bush administration, a U.S.-negotiated reunification of Korea and American participation in the International Criminal Court.

A visit to the website for the Middle East Peace & Justice Alliance (MEPJA) reveals a listing of materials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as helpful resources. The relationship between MEPJA and CAIR is unclear, but contact information is provided on the site for Ibrahim Hooper, CAIR's national communications director. Hooper has refused to denounce the terrorist acts of Hamas and Hezb'allah but openly condemned Israel when Israeli troops killed Hamas leader Ahmed Yassin. CAIR promotes itself as a Muslim civil rights organization; but, according to former chairman and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security, Senator John Kyl, CAIR receives backing and support from the Saudi -Wahhabi establishment. CAIR has been characterized by terrorism expert Steven Emerson as "a radical fundamentalist front group for Hamas."

In planning-session minutes leading up to the billboard launch, the Coalition to Stop the $30 Billion to Israel cited two federal laws under which aid is provided to Israel: the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) and the Arms Export and Control Act (AECA). Group members concurred that the provision in the FAA to prohibit "assistance to countries that violate human rights" was applicable as a case against Israel. The group also noted the AECA requirement that "weapons purchased from the U.S. to be used for legitimate self-defense." Although the proportion of rocket attacks against Israel and those returned by Israel in the six-month period before the Gaza defensive was listed in the Coalition's minutes as "1,000 to 0," Coalition members astonishingly concluded that since, "No Israelis were killed, legitimate self-defense does not apply here."

They also concluded that Israel was "failing to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants" and "failing in its proportionate response." Recommendations were fielded to work with Israeli "peace groups" and the J-Street Lobby. The J-Street Lobby is a George Soros-funded, non-governmental organization that has criticized Israel's military action to stop Hamas terrorist attacks as well as Israel's efforts to topple the "legitimate" government of Hamas, even though Hamas denies Israel's right to exist.

Israel's Middle East Record

The charges of human rights violations are remarkable given that Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. In direct contrast to the treatment of Jews in Arab Muslim countries, Arab-Israelis enjoy all of the same rights afforded to Jewish Israelis and have even served in the Knesset. Instead of the repressive and cruel practices of Islamic governments found in varying degrees in most Middle Eastern Muslim countries, Israel guarantees freedom of religion, freedom of association and freedom of speech and the press.

In 2005, Israel voluntarily expelled 11,000 of its own citizens from their homes, farms and businesses in Gaza in the service of peace and in an effort to provide territory exclusively for Arab-Palestinians. Subsequent to the Israeli withdrawal, a regional takeover by Hamas and escalated attacks against Israeli border communities proved that Israel did not have a peace partner in what became yet another base for Iran. With Hamas in power and calls in its charter for the destruction of the state of Israel, a "land for peace" strategy has clearly been an untenable option. Palestinian leaders demand Judenrein land concessions for Palestinian habitation, while the Palestinian Authority, Fatah and Hamas also demand the right to flood Israel with Arab-Palestinians. They denounce Israel's natural growth and development at the same time as they seek to allow Arab towns to expand without restriction.

Israel's three-week defensive operation in Gaza in late 2008, known as Operation Cast Lead, was prompted by an onslaught of over 8,000 missile attacks from Gaza aimed at civilian communities. Remarkably, a necessary military action to protect Israeli citizens prompted outrage and sympathy for the very Palestinian citizens who had elected Hamas as their government. Absent was any outrage and pity for the Israeli men, women and children who had been under almost constant rocket attacks in their communities for the previous four years. Israel was essentially blamed for the war that Hamas perpetuated against it.

Contrary to the claims of the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel, of the 1,400 mostly Palestinian civilian deaths that occurred during the Gaza defensive, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) examined a list of names of the deceased and concluded that 75% of Palestinian casualties were actually Hamas militants, many of whom fought in civilian clothes.

Despite unheard of measures to protect civilians by the IDF, civilian deaths resulted when Hamas launched attacks from schools and residential areas and used civilians as human shields, especially children. Further, despite tens of thousands of telephone calls, leaflet campaigns and megaphone warnings to civilians by Israel, Hamas succeeded in preventing the exodus of Gaza residents.

Unbelievably, six weeks after Operation Cast Lead, Palestinian rocket attacks against Israel returned to pre-war levels and the United States and Europe were busy pledging billions to Hamas-controlled Gaza and reducing aid to Israel. Still missing from the dialogue were concerns about Israeli children and any outrage at the recent Grad missile attack on a high school in Ashkelon. Israel is increasingly depicted as an aggressive bully rather than a victim of a clearly stated plan of annihilation. It is condemned for self-protective measures and blamed while Arab-Palestinian terrorism is overlooked.

As for the argument of proportionality, it is an apocryphal claim that smacks of anti-Semitism. Hamas missile onslaughts provoked Israeli military action and as the terrorist group is wholly dedicated to the annihilation of Israel, Israel's response corresponded to that deadly threat and not to the Palestinian's obviously weak capacity to wage war. Ironically, Israel is condemned for protecting its citizens with countermeasures that are more accurate and effective than that of the Palestinians. Because Israel builds bomb shelters, installs warning systems, imposes checkpoints and constructs a security fence to avoid civilian casualties, it faces charges of disproportionality. If this standard had been in place during World War II, victory would have certainly eluded the Allies. The very notion of Israel defending itself from Hamas attacks is obfuscated by specious arguments of equivalent culpability that are analogous to an equally ridiculous claim denying that World War II was caused by German aggression.

Billboard Company Actions

Founded in 1902, Lamar Advertising, the company that produced and posted the billboards for the Coalition to Stop $30 Billion to Israel, has 200 outdoor advertising companies and transit franchises across the United States and Canada. Its annual revenues exceed $1 billion and it employs over 3,000. Although V.P. and General Manager of Lamar's Albuquerque office, Mike Mons, stated that he reviews all billboards of a political nature for the company, he contends that by some fluke he missed this one. This explanation hardly seems plausible given that the billboard ads had already run for three weeks prior to being either covered or removed. When questioned about the number of responses received by Lamar about the controversial billboards, Mons stated that the number of calls and e-mails probably totaled close to a thousand so far.

However, Mons was unwilling to disclose whether the majority of responses were against or for the billboard message. His biggest concern appeared to be successful negotiation of ad guidelines with the Coalition to end the discomforting barrage of calls and emails to his company. Mons appeared unconcerned about the impact of the message and refused to comment on its political implications. Hal Kilsahl, V.P. of Governmental Relations at Lamar, said the company was concerned that the billboard message implied the U.S. military was killing children. Lamar was going to propose a revised message, he said, that would read "Tell Congress: No more military aid to Israel."

According to Coalition founder Lori Rudolph, the group met last night and voted to continue the billboard campaign. The Coalition is identifying new text and renegotiating the contract with the advertising company. They are wary, however, of attempts by supporters of Israel to pressure Lamar and may decide to postpone their billboard campaign. Apparently, Lamar agreed to honor the Coalition's contract as long as the words, "killing children," were eliminated. Lamar has stated that it will honor its initial eight-week contract with the coalition and pledged to cover all downtime and production costs to develop new ad copy and install new ads.

As Barack Hussein Obama draws closer to Iran, Syria and its proxy, Hezb'allah, moves to negotiate with Hamas and intensifies pressure on Israel, accusations about the influence of the "Israeli lobby," but not the Saudi lobby, abound. Increasingly, America's problems are blamed by Obama appointees on U.S. support for Israel and U.S. foreign policy appears to be becoming less favorable to the Jewish state. In addition, the Obama administration's derision of Israel's very urgent concerns about Iran's nuclear weapons development and its insistence on Palestine as a primary focus, further fuels the perception of a change in the U.S. commitment to Israel. Obama appears to be following the path of pushing Israel to sacrifice its security for the formation of a terrorist state and agent for Iran.

It is notable that an effort to demonize, delegitimize and turn public opinion against Israel is occurring against the backdrop of a U.S. foreign policy that is becoming less favorable to the Jewish state. Misguided anti-war activists like Sheehan and the Coalition are just a part of those who are increasingly vocal in their condemnation of Israel and who use one-sided, emotional arguments. It took a few short years in Nazi Germany to turn German citizens against its Jewish population to the point of participation and complicity in one of the worst genocides the world has ever known. The underlying motivation to erode U.S. support for Israel must be exposed for what it is - anti-Semitism - before it is too late.

If anyone knows where these people live or what work they do it would be good to pass it around

No comments:

The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

Doc's Talk