[excerpt from transcript] Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Speech at the United Nations General Assembly September 29, 2014
“As Israel surgically struck at the rocket launchers and at the tunnels, Palestinian civilians were tragically but unintentionally killed. There are heartrending images that resulted, and these fueled libelous charges that Israel was deliberately targeting civilians.
We were not. We deeply regret every single civilian casualty. And the truth is this: Israel was doing everything to minimize Palestinian civilian casualties. Hamas was doing everything to maximize Israeli civilian casualties and Palestinian civilian casualties. Israel dropped flyers, made phone calls, sent text messages, broadcast warnings in Arabic on Palestinian television, always to enable Palestinian civilians to evacuate targeted areas.
No other country and no other army in history have gone to greater lengths to avoid casualties among the civilian population of their enemies. This concern for Palestinian life was all the more remarkable, given that Israeli civilians were being bombarded by rockets day after day, night after night. As their families were being rocketed by Hamas, Israel’s citizen army – the brave soldiers of the IDF, our young boys and girls – they upheld the highest moral values of any army in the world. Israel’s soldiers deserve not condemnation, but admiration. Admiration from decent people everywhere.
Now here’s what Hamas did: Hamas embedded its missile batteries in residential areas and told Palestinians to ignore Israel’s warnings to leave. And just in case people didn’t get the message, they executed Palestinian civilians in Gaza who dared to protest.
No less reprehensible, Hamas deliberately placed its rockets where Palestinian children live and play. Let me show you a photograph. It was taken by a France 24 crew during the recent conflict. It shows two Hamas rocket launchers, which were used to attack us. You see three children playing next to them. Hamas deliberately put its rockets in hundreds of residential areas like this. Hundreds of them.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a war crime. And I say to President Abbas, these are the war crimes committed by your Hamas partners in the national unity government which you head and you are responsible for. And these are the real war crimes you should have investigated, or spoken out against from this podium last week.
Ladies and Gentlemen, As Israeli children huddled in bomb shelters and Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system knocked Hamas rockets out of the sky, the profound moral difference between Israel and Hamas couldn’t have been clearer: Israel was using its missiles to protect its children. Hamas was using its children to protect its missiles.
By investigating Israel rather than Hamas for war crimes, the UN Human Rights Council has betrayed its noble mission to protect the innocent. In fact, what it’s doing is to turn the laws of war upside-down. Israel, which took unprecedented steps to minimize civilian casualties, Israel is condemned. Hamas, which both targeted and hid behind civilians – that a double war crime – Hamas is given a pass.
The Human Rights Council is thus sending a clear message to terrorists everywhere: Use civilians as human shields. Use them again and again and again. You know why? Because sadly, it works.”
Category Archives: American
Reality Check – Netanyahu’s Speech at the United Nations
“For 50 days this past summer, Hamas fired thousands of rockets at Israel, many of them supplied by Iran. I want you to think about what your countries would do if thousands of rockets were fired at your cities. Imagine millions of your citizens having seconds at most to scramble to bomb shelters, day after day. You wouldn’t let terrorists fire rockets at your cities with impunity. Nor would you let terrorists dig dozens of terror tunnels under your borders to infiltrate your towns in order to murder and kidnap your citizens. Israel justly defended itself against both rocket attacks and terror tunnels. Yet Israel also faced another challenge. We faced a propaganda war. Because, in an attempt to win the world’s sympathy, Hamas cynically used Palestinian civilians as human shields. It used schools, not just schools – UN schools, private homes, mosques, even hospitals to store and fire rockets at Israel.
As Israel surgically struck at the rocket launchers and at the tunnels, Palestinian civilians were tragically but unintentionally killed. There are heartrending images that resulted, and these fueled libelous charges that Israel was deliberately targeting civilians.
We were not. We deeply regret every single civilian casualty. And the truth is this: Israel was doing everything to minimize Palestinian civilian casualties. Hamas was doing everything to maximize Israeli civilian casualties and Palestinian civilian casualties. Israel dropped flyers, made phone calls, sent text messages, broadcast warnings in Arabic on Palestinian television, always to enable Palestinian civilians to evacuate targeted areas.
No other country and no other army in history have gone to greater lengths to avoid casualties among the civilian population of their enemies. This concern for Palestinian life was all the more remarkable, given that Israeli civilians were being bombarded by rockets day after day, night after night. As their families were being rocketed by Hamas, Israel’s citizen army – the brave soldiers of the IDF, our young boys and girls – they upheld the highest moral values of any army in the world. Israel’s soldiers deserve not condemnation, but admiration. Admiration from decent people everywhere.
Now here’s what Hamas did: Hamas embedded its missile batteries in residential areas and told Palestinians to ignore Israel’s warnings to leave. And just in case people didn’t get the message, they executed Palestinian civilians in Gaza who dared to protest.
No less reprehensible, Hamas deliberately placed its rockets where Palestinian children live and play. Let me show you a photograph. It was taken by a France 24 crew during the recent conflict. It shows two Hamas rocket launchers, which were used to attack us. You see three children playing next to them. Hamas deliberately put its rockets in hundreds of residential areas like this. Hundreds of them.
Ladies and gentlemen, this is a war crime. And I say to President Abbas, these are the war crimes committed by your Hamas partners in the national unity government which you head and you are responsible for. And these are the real war crimes you should have investigated, or spoken out against from this podium last week.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Speech at the United Nations General Assembly September 29, 2014
MUHAMMAD?
George Weigel said, in essence, that it was ludicrous to deal with a religion, Islam, that represented one and a half billion people by characterizing it, and the issues of our time with cartoon-like “sound bites”. When asked by the World Over Live ‘s host, Raymond Arroyo, just how should Christians view Islam, Weigel suggested starting with Pope John Paul II ‘s Crossing the Threshold of Hope, specifically the section, in which he deals with Islam, entitled MUHAMMAD?
Prayer for Our Day
Lord of Power and Might,
Harness the Four Winds
To serve Your Plan,
And bless Your inheritance.
Prostrate before You,
The Church raises a mighty cry,
To pierce the heavens,
And touch Your Merciful Heart.
Though our sins poison the many waters,
And our idolatry empower the Enemy,
May the sack clothe and ashes of our repentance,
Be sweet incense.
May our prayer and penance,
Be a shield emblazoned
With Your Name,
O Mercy Divine.
Reign down upon the Fiend,
The punishment our crimes deserve,
Chain Hell’s fury,
As in humility and meekness,
We render You Praise.
Salvation is Your Name,
O, Jesus.
Glad hosannas encircle Your Throne,
And the Glory of God
Shows forth in Love.
Holy, Holy, Holy,
The Seraphim cry in adoration,
As Powers, Thrones and Dominions,
Principalities and Virtues,
Pour down the Blood of Christ,
On Adam’s sin and seed,
To banish the Long Night.
Our God reigns,
His Cross lights up the sky.
Witnesses of Past and Present shout for joy.
Cherubim return to Your Jerusalem of Gold,
Spreading their wings above your Mercy Seat .
Your Temple is Presence,
Welcoming “Men of Good Will”,
As Angels and Archangels
Secure the Children of God.
Amen.
©2014 Joann Nelander
Killing Innocents
All we hear in the news is quandary and befuddlement, when Islam,Jihad, Muhammad,and the Qur’an make headlines. Nice people tend to think most others are nice, too. Well, wake up world; open your eyes America; all religions aren’t equal or benign.
For a crash course in reality, the following piece by Dick Roberts, is a concise synopsis of the jihad threat/reality. It makes sense fast and is to the point:
Killing Innocents
By Dick Roberts:
I often have times suggested that folks read the Qur’an in order to learn firsthand what Islam is and what motivates Muslims to kill innocents, those that do not abide in an “authentic” Muslim’s Qur’an based belief system. As I listened to Barack Obama claim that “ISIL is not Islamic – No religion condones the killing of innocents! ” I thought; the guy needs to read the Qur’an and understand the sequence of its numbered sura (verses) and what that means. I said something much less controlled as those who know me well might imagine, and I decided I must do this. I don’t want to do this, but I just can’t stand it anymore. I have a few similar things in the past, and as the fates would have it, I cannot find even one of them. I must save this…….
With this note I will save you the trouble of reading the Qur’an ( few will anyway), let alone the Hadith, or perhaps in a few cases inspire you to dig deeper. Let’s get started. Forgive me as I assume you are part of the Great Unwashed on this subject — such an upbeat subject it is.
First, allow me to recount briefly what we have heard time and again over the past decade or so from political types, church leaders and self- appointed expert ‘talking heads’ on TV. Almost without exception these “talkers” state without reservation that Islam is a religion of peace and that Islamic extremism is only a contemporary anomaly or deviation from “true” Islam. In some instances, they will even assert that “Islam,” the word itself, means peace. Paleeze!
George Bush said such things when he was president, Brit PM Tony Blair said it, current Brit PM Cameron said it a few days ago, — and even the current Pope has made statements about “authentic” Islam. The Pope’s case/statement, of course, raises the question: what is, “authentic ” Islam? Hold on — I will address it below.
At the same time, I can help but point out that Islamists, such as their rabid mouthpiece Anjem Choudary, typically reject these interpretations. (He’s on TV quite a bit) Choudry has repeatedly said “You can’t say that Islam is a religion of peace, because Islam does not mean peace. Islam means ‘submission,’ so, a Muslim is one who submits. There is a place for violence in Islam. There is a place for jihad in Islam.”
Let’s go a bit deeper. Continue reading
Islam 101 : Jihad Watch
Islam 101 by Gregory M. Davis
by Gregory M. Davis
author, Religion of Peace? Islam’s War Against the World
producer/director, Islam: What the West Needs to Know — An Examination of Islam, Violence, and the Fate of the Non-Muslim World
Islam 101 is meant to help people become better educated about the fundamentals of Islam and to help the more knowledgeable better convey the facts to others. Similarly, my book and documentary are meant to serve as concise explanations of the major moving parts of Islam and their implications for Western society. Islam 101 is a condensation of the book and documentary with the aim of lending clarity to the public understanding of Islam and of exposing the inadequacy of prevailing views. All should feel free to distribute and/or reproduce it.
Table of Contents
1) The Basics
a) The Five Pillars of Islam
b) The Quran — the Book of Allah
c) The Sunnah — the “Way” of the Prophet Muhammad
i. Battle of Badr
ii. Battle of Uhud
iii. Battle of Medina
iv. Conquest of Mecca
Be Holy! 