Leahey's dangerous letter
US Democratic Senator Patrick Leahey released a letter demanding Israel be investigated for war crimes. While this letter is worrying in and of itself, what is even more worrying is the degree to which Israel's name is being sullied in the international media.
While Israel has been reveling in polls which continue to show that the American public generally supports Israel, it is also worth it to pay attention to what's happening on the fringes.
Human rights organizations and the intellectual elite are beginning to move away from Israel, and their hostility is becoming more and more open. The charge is always "human rights.”
Leahey's letter cites the cases of four Palestinians who—according to Amnesty International—were illegally executed. One of them is Sa'ad al-Atrash, who tried to stab IDF soldiers outside the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron. Amnesty International claims that he didn't have a knife and that he didn't commit any attack, and based their findings on one unsubstantiated claim.
This is interesting, as al-Atrash said himself that he was going to commit an attack, and even posted a picture of himself on Facebook—knife and all—before he went and did it.
Fadi Alon also made it into Leahey's letter, where Leahey claimed that Alon wasn't in possession of a knife. Maybe, except that he was shot and killed after he stabbed a teenage girl and tried to run away. Perhaps shooting under these circumstances constitutes an execution?
Fadi Alon posted an anti-Semitic statement on his Facebook page calling for the success of the Palestinian "martyrs." Yet Amnesty International didn't bother to check, and neither did Senator Leahey. And so, Amnesty International's deceitful letter became a demand from the Senator to open an investigation against Israel while threatening to cease aid to Israel at the same time.
Leahey's letter was sent on February 17, but the fact that it was published after the shooting in Hebron isn't coincidental. The mayhem surrounding the incident should be studied by anyone who wants to learn how to manipulate the media, because almost none of these allegations have any basis in reality—the reality being that these are two terrorists who intended to murder. They are a part of the larger wave of terror which has been taking place over the last several months, in which dozens of Israeli civilians have been murdered. A large number of the attackers were killed on the spot as well.
The entire judicial, military, and political leadership have come out and said that IDF soldiers must maintain their human decency, even in the face of this barbarous, murderous terrorism. Yet somehow, Leahey is requesting an investigation against Israel. Specifically, he accuses Netanyahu, Ya'alon, and Eisenkot. In Israel, these men are attacked from the right, while Leahey is attacking them from the left.
It's easy to guess that the Senator only released the letter to certain newspapers who have already been manipulating the media against Israel - painting murderers as heroes and Israel as murderous. A casual reader of these papers would think that Israeli soldiers regularly look for weak Palestinian civilians and slaughter them for the fun of it.
The Senator is demanding an investigation of Israel—it seems that the manipulation has worked.
It's interesting to note that when the US carries out targeted assassinations—against militants of course—88 percent of those killed aren't actually militants. Even if Israel would carry out targeted assassinations on every terrorist who came to try to murder Israeli civilians, the attack would only be against the terrorists and not against innocent bystanders.
It's also interesting to know what this terrible offence to human rights actually is. Especially because the Head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Martin Dempsy has stated in the past that the IDF's record in regards to preventing the killing of innocent bystanders during war is a lot better than the US military. However, it's clear that Leahey prefers to listen to Amnesty International over Dempsy.
Now, we must turn our attention to the issue with the soldier. Although it's abnormal, although the IDF began its investigation of the incident even before the video was released, it's worth it to get to the big picture.
The big picture is that there is a Palestinian entity which encourages terror, and refuses a solution for two states for two people. On top of this, there is Hamas—part of Global Jihad—and a large part of the attacks in this wave of terror have been claimed by them. They claim the anti-Semtic ideology which they push forward. They aren’t working for peace. Israel isn’t attacking. Israel is defending. The big picture is forgotten, is flipped upside down.
In this backwords world, a US Senator demands an investigation against Israel, not against the authorities responsible for terror. All of the commendations from the prime minister, the defense minister, the IDF chief of staff, and others on the subject of the soldier in Hebron are correct. Their support is a sign of humanity and honor for every Israeli. But one gets the impression that this is the opposite, orchestrated by Israel’s enemies, and evidence of their successful manipulations. Leahey’s letter is another example of this success.
The British newspaper the Daily Mail published an article entitled “UK aid funds terrorists.” Murderers, such as Ahmed Sa’adat and Hakim Awad receive money via the Palestinian Authority in part from British donations to the Authority under the auspices of aid. Even Mahmoud Abbas built a palace at the cost of eight million pounds, some of which came from British aid donations.
The Palestinian Authority claims that the payments to terrorists and murderers have stopped. However, the British newspaper checked and exposed that, in fact, the PA was lying. The payments to terrorists go through a different process, designed to mislead and conceal their source.
The newspaper wasn’t satisfied with just publishing this information—it actually started a campaign to demand that a discussion on the matter be held in parliament.
Yet there is no need for illusions—one exposé won’t be enough to change the public opinion. A British representative at the Yedioth Ahronoth Conference on BDS said that 66 percent of young people in the UK believe that Israel commits war crimes. By comparison, only 52 percent of young Britons believe that the Assad regime has committed war crimes during the conflict there.
We also have to recognize Breaking the Silence for doing their part in the plot against Israel. Yet despite all of this, the investigation and campaign by the Daily Mail is a step in the right direction.
The thing is that they want to take every Israeli—rightist, centrist, and even leftist Zionist—and make the world think they’re fascists and hooligans. It’s a known goal, spreading the terrible idea that all Israelis, even the ones who sound moderate, are actually fascists. The McCarthyism of old—which was to label too many Americans as communist—is turning into a new form of McCarthyism, labelling Israelis as fascist.
