Puppet Masters
Soon after my Nov. 4 analysis, "In Defense of Richard Falk" was published by Media with a Conscience (MWC), the site editor forwarded to me an unusual chastising response. Unusual because it came from a relatively well-known scholar and writer by the name of Fred Skolnik.
Mr. Skolnik is the editor in chief of a 22-volume Encyclopedia Judaica (second edition), a work that won the Dartmouth Medal in 2007. He is also the author of numerous works of fiction all concerning life in Israel. It is not rare for Zionists to take me to task, and Skolnik is most certainly a Zionist. Yet it is rare that those who chastise are of Skolnik's stature. And so, a reply is in order.
Mr. Skolnik does not like Dr. Falk who, the reader might remember, is the present United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Palestinian Territories. And, because I defend Falk, he does not like me either. Indeed, as far as Skolnik is concerned I am part of "an army of Israel haters ... churning out endless ... venomous half truths" about the Land of Israel. Nonetheless, Skolnik has taken the time to write a three-page commentary to set me and my readers straight.
He says, "I will state Israel's case in as few words as possible, though you of course may not choose to publish this in order not to lose the effect you are aiming at." Well, that is silly. I have no objection to my readers seeing Mr. Skolnik's response. Here is how you can do so: go to the MWC site; search for Davidson; go to "In Defense of Robert Falk;" and scroll down to Skolnik's comment.
After a second Israeli attack on a media building in two days, this time killing two journalists, the spokesman for the Israeli Prime Minister, Mark Regev explains to al-Jazeera English that because the journalists were Palestinian the Israel military considered them legitimate "targets." Regev's remarks were made just a few hours after the November 19, 2012 bombing of al-Shuruq Tower and another building used to house the offices of several media outlets, including both Palestinian and international networks.
Speaking to al-Jazeera, Regev said, "We took out the target that we wanted to take out." When pressed by al-Jazeera over the injuries of eight journalists the previous day, where one lost his leg, Regev continued,
Oh you're talking about... oh first of all maybe we have a discussion about who is a journalist and if you'll allow me I will elaborate on this. There is the al-Aqsa station, which is a station that is a Hamas command and control facility, just as in other totalitarian regimes; the media is used by the regime for command and control and also for security purposes. From our point of view that's not a legitimate journalist.Al-Jazeera's correspondent then followed-up by asking, "So what are you saying? That a local Arab journalist life is any less than an internationalist journalist?" Apparently for Regev, yes, in Gaza there are no legitimate Palestinian journalists, only targets.

A Palestinian baby who was shot in the head by an Israeli soldier. One more example of how "Israel doesn't hurt children"?
Those of us who focus on Israel-Palestine are acutely aware of this horror.
Several years ago, I was researching the cause of death of Palestinian children killed by Israeli forces during the first months of the Second Intifadah, the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. As I counted up the numbers, I was chilled to discover that the single most frequent cause of death in those beginning months was "gunfire to the head."
The official stated purpose of the operation, which was called "pillar of Cloud," is to stop the shelling of Israeli territory by Palestinian rockets unmanaged missiles. The main purpose of the operation was the destruction of important objects of military infrastructure of Hamas and its political, military and religious leaders. Only recently was eliminated a few people headed the radical Hamas in particular directions, the leader of the extremist wing of the "Brigades of martyr Izzeddina al-Qassam".
Israel also did not rule out a ground invasion of Gaza (if necessary), and the Government has begun the recruitment of reservists. In addition, the military command began to pull to the borders of Gaza, troops and armored vehicles that would be further evidence of the seriousness of the intentions of the Israelis. The Israeli leadership there are also political reasons for launching a military operation.
First, the succeeding in January 2013 and worked in the Knesset - Parliamentary elections the State Israel. War could bring serious political dividends to all three major Israeli parties, inter alia, to add votes to Netanyahu and Lieberman.
Secondly, on November 29, 2012, at the request of the Palestinian National Authority's vote at the UN about becoming an observer State in the General Assembly. It would allow Palestinians to bring an action against the State of Israel in international courts.
The third objective reason is the preparation by the Government of Israel fighting against Iran. To attack targets in Iran and avoid possible response from both sides, from Iran and from Hamas, the Israeli Government provoked Hamas to attack now that has spent their entire military potential that cannot be quickly restored.
The new Fajar-5s have a 200-kilo warhead, which packs a bigger punch than the 175 kilos of explosives delivered by the rockets in current use with the Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip. To extend their range to cover the 85 kilometers from Gaza to Tel Aviv, Hamas removed a part of their payloads to make them lighter.
Tehran is sending the fresh supply of disassembled rockets to replenish the stocks its allies, the Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami, depleted in their round-the-clock attacks on Israel since Nov. 10.

Egypt's foreign minister and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh (second and third from left) in a hospital in Gaza City on 20 November, visiting a Palestinian woman wounded in an Israeli air strike.
He was echoed by Britain's foreign secretary, William Hague, who declared that the Palestinian Islamists of Hamas bore "principal responsibility" for Israel's bombardment of the open-air prison that is the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, most western media have echoed Israel's claim that its assault is in retaliation for Hamas rocket attacks; the BBC speaks wearisomely of a conflict of "ancient hatreds".
In fact, an examination of the sequence of events over the last month shows that Israel played the decisive role in the military escalation: from its attack on a Khartoum arms factory reportedly supplying arms to Hamas and the killing of 15 Palestinian fighters in late October, to the shooting of a mentally disabled Palestinian in early November, the killing of a 13 year-old in an Israeli incursion and, crucially, the assassination of the Hamas commander Ahmed Jabari last Wednesday during negotiations over a temporary truce.
"The talks are still continuing," an Egyptian official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters. He said Cairo was hopeful of an agreement later in the day.
Israel pressed on with its strikes in Gaza on the seventh day of its offensive and Palestinian rockets still flashed across the border as U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton headed to the region after attending an Asian summit.
The Jewish state launched the campaign last week with the declared aim of halting the rocketing of its towns from the Palestinian enclave, ruled by the Hamas
Medical officials in Gaza said 21 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday. An Israeli soldier and a civilian died when rockets exploded near the Gaza frontier, police and the army said.
Gaza medical officials say 130 people have died in Israeli strikes, mostly civilians, including 31 children. In all, five Israelis have died, including three civilians killed last week.
Clinton was due to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu late on Tuesday in Jerusalem. Earlier, he said that Israel was open to a long-term deal aimed at ending Palestinian rocket attacks that have plagued its southern region for years.
Comment: How is it that Hamas is said to NOT recognize Israel, when in fact Hamas (an elected political body, which Israel refuses to consider anything but a terrorist organization) is there at the negotiating table with Israel?
Netanyahu, master of turning the table and blaming the victim: "No country would tolerate rocket attacks against its cities and against its civilians. Israel cannot tolerate such attacks," Netanyahu said. Unless they are Hamas, Hamas is supposed to sit back and do nothing on the other side of the 30' wall that surrounds Gaza, on the other side of whichis their own country, Palestine, stolen from them (Hamas and the Palestinian people). They should sit idly by as another child is shredded into pulp from an apartheid tower. That is the thinking of Netanyahu. And all the world should bow to the whim of God's chosen people.
As the image above shows we've seen all of this many times before.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) issued a statement Tuesday expressing its "concern" for the use of footage which wrongly suggested the agency's complicity in "terrorist activities" targeting Israel. The agency also took issue with "the unauthorised use of its logo in computer-generated material."
"In a situation of conflict these allegations have potentially grave consequences. UNRWA takes with utmost seriousness the neutrality of its installations, particularly in times of heightened violence," the agency said in a statement.
On Saturday the Israeli Defense Force's (IDF) official Twitter account posted a link to a year-old video claiming "These are the tactics Hamas uses in the Gaza Strip."
Comment: How convenient. With the excuse that 'Hamas hides everywhere' the IDF argues it can target anyone - including civilians, children and the UN. Unsurprisingly, it is just another trick to facilitate its murderous objectives.
Comment: Debka Files is connected to Israeli intelligence. Its primary purpose is not to inform the public but to spread disinformation and propaganda - always under the pretense that intelligence sources provide validity.
In this case it is easy to catch the lie. For starters, Netanyahu has been eager for a while to start a war on Iran, so it was more or less expected that Israel would try to link the attack on Gaza (or anything for the matter) to Iran. Second, it does not make sense for Iran to give Israel and the US an excuse to bomb them, as that would be remarkably suicidal.
But lets look at the Fajar-5 (or Fajr-5) rockets. According to wikipedia these are the specifications: Are we supposed to believe that rockets which are more than 6 meters in length and which require a 10.45 meter launcher, and weighing some 16,000 kg (including the system), have been smuggled into Gaza through the tunnels? Gaza is under seige and under constant Israeli surveillance. How big do you imagine smuggling tunnels to be, and how easy do you think it is to carry supplies through them? Even if the rockets were dismantled, how many of them do you think could be succesfully delivered, reassembled and launched, and how much manpower and time would that require?
If you ask us, we would be surprised if they got one rocket operational after a year of taking a couple of screws at a time, and very lucky if it actually flew. It is interesting that the supposed Fajr-5 rockets launched to Tel Aviv either fell on the sea, were shot down by the Iron Dome, or hit some unspecified street without confirmed damages - depending on which version of the story you got.