Sunday February 10, 2013, 2:33 pm
Please watch this video which tells how Israeli soldiers saved the life of a Palestinian child who was the victim of a Palestinian rock thrower!

Sunday February 10, 2013, 2:35 pm
This is what Jews and Israelis do: Save lives, no matter which human being, even terrorists!

There is no death penalty in Israel and therefore, when jihadists kidnapped a soldier, Israel released some 1100 Arab prisoners from jails, half of them involved in murdering Israeli civilians. Instead of being grateful to Jews and Israel, those who are treated in Israeli hospitals will probably go back and continue hating Israel and trying to destroy it.. This is what Western media fail to report!

Sunday February 10, 2013, 2:51 pm
the basis of Judaism is CHOSE LIFE! The basis of Islam is Don;t be like Jews who like life but CHOSE DEATH, i.e. "eternal life in Paradise with 72 virgins and 12 prepubescent boys.

Islam is a supremacist ideology similar to Nazi ideology, including delusional Jew hatred and promotes pedophilia, polygamy, misogyny, dhimmitude and murder for Allahu Akbar! Islam deserves as much respect as it gives: NONE! It belongs to a dung heap of history together with Nazism and Communism since it is not suitable for human consumption.

Sunday February 10, 2013, 3:07 pm
Judaism respects life, all human life which is the complete antithesis of Islam and how Muslims behave. So many people want to believe that Jews and Israelis are evil and abuse Palestinians - not true. Israel and Jews want peace but people won't accept that. The truth is not as interesting as a lie so let's believe the lie.

Sunday February 10, 2013, 4:11 pm
The Israeli miltary has killed hundreds, if not thousands of Palestinian civillians over the years, in "self defence?"... This One act of kindness does, in no way, make up for the very well documented illegal building of settlements on Palestinian land, or the death, destruction and war crimes committed against Palestinians.

This act of kindness is acknowledged and appreciated. Thanks for the post Beatrice.

Sunday February 10, 2013, 8:56 pm
to 12,

The Israeli military has killed Palestinian civilians largely as a response to Palestinians killing Israelis. It's called SELF-DEFENSE, and Israelis are usually forced into the position of having to do it by Palestinian bombers, rocket shooters, rock throwers -- and yes, rocks kill.

Israelis, in fact, routinely treat Palestinians in Israeli hospitals. There are many acts of kindness each day towards Palestinians from Israelis.

Unfortunately, Israelis daily showing kindness to Palestinians doesn't make the news. But Palestinians faking injuries and deaths sure do.

So Beatrice, I'm very grateful that you posted this story. I had not seen it before, and it's important to try to counter the Palestinian lies. Thanks so much.

Sunday February 10, 2013, 8:58 pm
Here's an example, 12:

http://themuslimissue.wordpress.com/2012/11/20/brazen-faking-of-images-reveals-hamas-desperation/

Monday February 11, 2013, 2:02 am
Google "Operation Cast Lead" Beth... No contest, and no further correspondence will be entered into. It would be pointless.

Monday February 11, 2013, 8:26 am
Well, (12), you. like other Israelophobes and Jew haters here, never seem to see the atrocities committed by your beloved Palestinian thugs - Hamas or the PA, both infamously corrupt and adept at persecuting and killing their own people, while firing daily rockets into Israel.

What would the US do if Canada fired rockets into 1/3 of its territory daily, sending in suicide bombers to blow up schools, cafes and buses, broadcast TV programs of hate preachers calling for the killing of all Jews and calling all Christians and Jews 'apes and pigs' according to Allah, and producing programs of hate with little kids trotted onscreen to recite poetry about killing Jews? (Exchange Jews/Christians with 'USAmericans') The US would have flattened Canada long ago and never put up with the hatred and antagonism that Israel has. Where's you righteous anger over this bigoted barbarism?

Where's your, and your fellow supposedly 'liberal' caring people, concern over the ethnic cleansing of all non-Sunni Muslims, and Christian women forced to wear the primitive Islamic veil or risk acid in the face or a public beating, or where is your concern for the gay people who are tortured, imprisoned and lynched by these Palestinian KKK, while in neighboring progressive, modern, free and democratic Israel gay people are free and safe (Tel Aviv was named the world's most gay friendly city in 2011 - no Arab/Muslim place could come close to the tolerance found in Israel).

Your hypocrisy is astounding. Israelis have contributed so much to humankind in medicine and science, while it is surrounded by countries of hate, backwardness, bigotry, intolerance, violence and oppression that produce nothing but hate, suicide bombers and oppression. Christians, Buddhists (the Jews have all been driven out of these, your favorite tyrannical lands, already) and others are being ethnically cleansed from every Muslim occupied land right now - killed, persecuted, driven out, etc. Where's your outrage over this?

You radical leftists are so hateful. You're so far to the left you've merged with the radical right - your hatred for Jews and israel is the same. There is never an Islamo-fascist atrocity that any of you hypocrites don't ignore and defend. Just like Hitler who loved Islam for its intolerance, Jew-hatred and warmongering. A decent person with any morals at all would be sickened by this hypocrisy and hate.

Your disdain for women, children (who your Palestani cowards use for shields), non-Muslims, atheists, gays and 'Liberals' (who are also persecuted) is offensive and disgusting. If the Palestanis were capable of living as civilized beings there would be no need for the wall or borders or checkpoints. It's interesting that nearly 1/3 of Israelis are Palestinians and they are free and don't seem to be in any hurry to move to "Palestine". Think about it.

Monday February 11, 2013, 8:33 am
I've read other stories where Israel has taken in refugees abused in Jordan and Egypt, and even from far off Nigeria they took in that poor man who converted out of Islam to Christianity and was terribly disfigured by acid (amazing they didn't just murder him as that is that law of Islam). And all for free. (Remember too that Israel was the only country to send aid to the victims of Hurricane Sandy in the US).

I also remember reading the story of the Palestinian woman who was given life-saving surgery in Israel for free and treated with kindness, who then came back for a check-up wearing a suicide bomb to kill those very people who had saved her life and shown her such kindness. THAT is the difference between Israel and the Muslim countries that surround it.

While Judaism, Christianity and other religions teach the Golden Rule, Islam is the only religion that does NOT teach it. Muslims are to treat non-Muslims with harshness but only show kindness to each other. It's amazing they aren't even more violent and hateful than they are.

Viva Israel! The Shining Light in surrounded by a sea of Darkness.

Monday February 11, 2013, 9:53 am
Well said, Rob and Jay and Carola,

Wherever Islam is, violence, torture, hatred, murder, and pretend victimization follows.

Monday February 11, 2013, 10:27 am
Rob and Jay. How dare you call me a Jew hater, please explain why you used this inflamatory description? I am a realist and believe in justice for all. But unlike some I make no pretence at defending the actions of rogue states or warmongering governments. My comment contains nothing but very well documented FACTS.

Monday February 11, 2013, 10:41 am
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 09, 2013

Israel Commits Crimes Without Punishment, by Stephen Lendman

Israel is a rogue state. It's a serial abuser. It commits crimes without punishment. It tolerates no criticism.

Last May, it suspended contact with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).

On April 30, Haaretz headlined "Israel joins UN list of states limiting human rights organizations," saying:

Censure followed an earlier Ministerial Committee on Legislation approval to restrict foreign governments from funding NGOs. It should have been for crimes against humanity. Israel commits them daily.

It spurns fundamental rule of law principles. It rejects Fourth Geneva's de jure applicability. It's defied dozens of UN resolutions. It ignored the International Court of Justice's 2004 condemnation of its Separation Wall.

It refused cooperation with the Goldstone Commission on Cast Lead. In 2012, it denied UN investigators entry to collect testimonies on its lawless settlements.

Since appointed UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Territories in March 2008, Israel prevented Richard Falk from entering Palestine. Rogue states operate that way. Israel is one of the worst.

January elections solidified fascist rule. Prime Minister Netanyahu is a world class thug. He heads Israel's worst ever government. Bipartisan MKs are racist, hardline rogues. What little opposition exists is weak-kneed.

Netanyahu exceeds the worst of Ariel Sharon and previous rogue leaders. He's an embarrassment to democratic governance. He menaces Israelis and Palestinians alike. He threatens regional neighbors and humanity.

Official policies reflect state terror, apartheid, belligerence, violence, institutionalized racism, exploitation, occupation harshness, neoliberal rapaciousness, and war as an option of choice.

Peace is a non-starter. Palestinians never had a legitimate partner and don't now. Things go from bad to worse. Daily events explain. Israel terrorizes Palestinians with impunity.

Yesh Din defends Palestinian human rights. It exposes Israeli abuses. It champions long denied accountability.

On February 3, its report discussed Israeli unaccountability. It highlighted crimes without punishment. From 2009 - 2011, indictments followed 2.5% of IDF abuse investigations.

In 2012, Israel's Military Police Criminal Investigation Division (MPCID) produced none. MPCID received 240 complaints. Seventy-eight investigations followed. Another 25 pertained to 2011 criminality.

Israel-style probes are whitewashes. Accountability virtually never follows. Palestinians are denied justice. They have no rights whatever.

In the second half of January alone, Israeli security forces murdered six unarmed Palestinians. They did so with impunity.

Breaking the Silence (BTS) explains. Israeli combat veterans speak freely. They served since the start of the second Intifada. They refuse any longer to stay silent.

They expose daily life in Occupied Palestine. Their testimonies bear witness to police state harshness. Daily crimes against humanity are committed with impunity.

BTS member Avner Gvaryahu spoke for others saying:

"I participated in dozens of operations, and after reading hundreds of eyewitness accounts that we have collected over the years at our organization, Breaking the Silence, the real, flexible rules of engagement have become apparent to me, allowing opening fire on unarmed civilians."

"More seriously, sometimes the fire is designed from the beginning to 'create friction' with the Palestinian population."

"In effect, there is no distinction between a Palestinian who fires at us and a Palestinian who throws a rock at us, a stone thrower and a demonstrator or a demonstrator and someone who simply does not obey our orders or gets insolent."

"All of them are attempting to undermine our control and at the end of the day, everyone is an enemy."

"And if every Palestinian is an enemy, then every Palestinian is also a target."

"And there is nothing he can do to stop being a target in our view."

"This assumption explains why over the past decade, orders have been given to open fire on civilians and rescue crews."

"There is no unit or area in the territories where such incidents have not occurred."

"(T)he army systematically harms all the Palestinians and attempts to create a compliant society that can be easily controlled."

"When any Palestinian, without any connection to what he is doing, is the enemy who must be fought, then even a Palestinian demonstrating for equality and independence is as frightening as an armed Palestinian, if not more so."

"And that's because unarmed resistance to the occupation poses a challenge to the security concept to which we have become accustomed."

Director of Research, Lior Yavne, commented on Yesh Din's findings, saying:

"The numerous defects in MPCID investigations of offenses against Palestinians, and in the Military Advocate General Corps’ supervision of the investigations, result in the closure of the vast majority of the files and a minimal number of indictments being served."

"This creates a feeling of lawlessness on the ground, which may be a central contributing factor in the rise in the number of killings over recent weeks."

Unaccountability is official Israeli policy. Few Palestinian complaints are addressed. Probes conducted are whitewashed. Militarized occupation denies justice. Israeli rules of engagement assure it.

On January 24, Haaretz headlined "The real rules of engagement in the West Bank," saying:

"Every soldier knows the protocol for opening fire, but the more powerful principle is that the enemy must be subdued."

So-called enemies are Palestinians wanting to live free on their own land in their own country. Israel calls them terrorists.

Occupied Palestine is a free-fire zone. No one's sure from day to day who'll live, die, be injured, arrested, or incarcerated in gulag hell.

Israeli soldiers are taught to be trigger-happy. Fire, ready, aim is policy. All Palestinians are suspects.

Identifying "suspicious" figures involves yelling "Stop."

Soldiers follow up in Hebrew and Arabic saying "Stop and identify yourself. Stop or I'll shoot." If they think Palestinians risk "human life," they're told to shoot to kill.

Protocol is policy. Soldiers do what they wish. It's their word against victims and/or bystanders. Justice never prevails. The above BTS comments explain.

Israeli rules of engagement enforce occupation harshness. They reflect police state viciousness. Edward Said once described a "bloody impasse."

Israel turned Palestine into an isolated prison. An entire population is subdued. It's suffocating. It's impoverished and brutalized. Victims are blamed for Israeli crimes.

Every imaginable indignity and degradation afflicts them. A cycle of violence harms them. They're terrorized for their faith, ethnicity and presence. Their redoubtable spirit is their only defense.

Oslo made things worse. Subsequent agreements hardened it. PA officials accepted what demanded rejection. Expect more concessions ahead.

Said deplored PA betrayal. He compared it to asking an "executioner if he wouldn't mind sharpening his axe a little before having another go."

Militarized occupation prevents peace, he said. It's an "atrocity." It's a crime against humanity. It's that and much more.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Monday February 11, 2013, 12:51 pm
(12) I thought you said you were not going to be involved because it was pointless!? I guess that wasn't so..huh!?

This goes to show where the REAL hatred comes from which is not Israel!! Any time they can save a human life of people that continuously try and destroy them is a very good example of turn the other cheek...God Bless them!!

Monday February 11, 2013, 12:52 pm
This ALMOST sounds like something MM would add on!

Tuesday February 12, 2013, 2:14 pm
let us hope peace can be built on this.....

Tuesday February 12, 2013, 4:21 pm
@ Carol... I said I wish no further contact with Beth. OK? - Please read the facts I posted regarding Israels' human rights abuses and war crimes, then you will be able to make an un-biased, informed comment. It's quite simple really. Saving one life does not make up for destroying thousands.

@ Dave... Whilst Netanyahu continues with his never-ending settlement expansion, there will be no peace. Palestine has offered to negotiate a peace deal but only if the illegal settlements stop, which I, the UN, the US and many signifcant others believe is the correct way out of this mess.

Tuesday February 12, 2013, 5:41 pm
Thx Bea, it is indeed good to read of a different kind of action by IDF from the usual. ( for the same reason I usually post those stories about Palestinians as well. )

Wednesday February 13, 2013, 5:56 am
noted

Wednesday February 13, 2013, 6:21 am
Noted .

Wednesday February 13, 2013, 2:29 pm
After nearly 10 years on Care2, I never thought I'd see the day that Care2 would deign to finally publish an article that shows Ysrael in a good light. Thank you, Care2!
Am Ysrael Chai!

Wednesday February 13, 2013, 2:57 pm
So, if they don't pass the security check, they're left to die?

Wednesday February 13, 2013, 4:26 pm
Good!

Wednesday February 13, 2013, 5:21 pm
How about this perspective: The entire situation is crazy, going back to ancient anti-semitism and belief if fairy tale biblical stories. Judas, according to the biblical story, ratted on Jesus, who, according to the story , was/is the son of God, with a predetermined end: being crucified so that He could rise to heaven. Right?
Well, then, Judas did his own pre-ordained part, in fact was chosen by God, who apparently is seen to govern the whole thing, in detail. Judas should have been venerated by the Christians, rather than spit upon!!
Let us not forget, somewhere in the New Testament it is written that nothing goes on in the lives of humans that God does not control, "even the loss of a single hair" on one's head!
So, for one the biblical basis for anti-semitism is crap.
With that established, if the logic makes sense to you, the centuries of anti-semitism that led to the Holocaust (and I have met a number of its survivors, so don't hand me bull about it never happened, just as Eisenhower believed people would be apt to say, when he ordered filming and photos of the death camps!), and then to the idea of establishing a "Homeland" for the Jews, was totally groundless, because the Jews ought never to have been called killers of Christ, but to have been lauded for their role in his Ascension!!
The Jews ought to have been, at the least, just let alone to do their thing,, or honored.
Isn't there a place in Islam wherein the Jews are seen as "The people of the Book/"

Wednesday February 13, 2013, 7:42 pm
Something positive from Israel. Thank you

Wednesday February 13, 2013, 9:30 pm
Finally an article that is not bashing Israel.

Wednesday February 13, 2013, 10:20 pm
Israel deserves nothing but bashing. It cares about no one but itself.

Wednesday February 13, 2013, 11:15 pm
noted with pleasure

Thursday February 14, 2013, 10:50 am
Hi all,

I think there have been some misconceptions here about Israel killing civilians. That part is not self-defence. It's just practical reality. Does anybody here know how to cut tough food with no danger of blunting the knife? It could be done with a high-power laser, I guess, but I can't afford one. It's the same sort of problem: I once ran the numbers on what it would take for Israel to effectively strike as Hamas in Gaza without bombing it, using the Soviet intact capture of Berlin as a starting-point, and found that it would take a force twice the size of the IDF. Israel cannot afford that "high-power laser", so it uses bombs. Does anyone know how to bomb a weapons-cache with the blast going only towards the weapons, and not sideways towards nearby buildings and pedestrians? It can be done with bunker-busters, but those might actually miss the weapons, requiring another bombing.

Even on the ground, if anybody knows how to engage an enemy in urban combat using modern weapons without danger to civilians, go and ask for a job as a general. None of the professionals, who have worked this problem for decades, have better answers than the IDF has produced. They just cannot complete the mission without endangering civilians. This is, in fact, central to the Palestinian militants' defensive strategy. They know that Israel is sensitive to international pressure, which is in turn sensitive to civilian casualties. They do their best to put as many civilians in harm's way as they can (instructing them to get outdoors when they receive warning of a bombing in their area, firing from within crowds and near civilian infrastructure, storing weapons inside civilian infrastructure, etc.) in the hopes that Israel will call off an operation, and this is normally how Israeli strikes end.

The Lendman article is very much like something MM would post, factually correct in some verifiable aspects, but implying a whole lot more than is actually true in those, and making wild claims with charged language in unverifiable aspects. For example, the OHCHR, despite the title, has nothing to do with human rights in the area. It deliberately limits the scope of its investigations in order to whitewash Palestinian militants' behaviour while ignoring Israeli legal and moral arguments. Israel has ratified the 4th Geneva Convention, but not the Additional Protocols, such as Additional Protocol 1 which practically started by saying "Palestinian militias are above the law insofar as the 4th Geneva Convention is concerned". "NGOs" sound so benign, and globally, for the most part, they are. In Israel, certain NGOs, particularly foreign-funded ones, have been found to funnel money towards terrorism or materially assist in it. This is like when Canada forbade donations to charities which were found to funnel money to the Tamil Tigers, not a censure-worthy act at all, let alone a crime against humanity. The ICJ condemned the wall, but it has no jurisdiction within sovereign territory so the barrier's route was beyond its purview, so its judgement was appropriately ignored, again not in violation of any treaty or convention. I could continue, but this pattern of failing to mention that "last detail", the one that totally changes the implication of each fact in the article, continues. Then it goes into calling the Netanyahu government "fascist" and "racist", terms so commonly applied by propagandists against any government they don't like that it have almost lost all meaning.

Thursday February 14, 2013, 1:22 pm
Thank you for the story Beatrice, and for that heart warming video. When my niece, Jennifer was about 9 or 10 years old she visited Israel with her cousins and her uncle and aunt. They visited the spot where it is thought Baby Jesus was born and the little group had to stand outside since the public weren't allowed entry. Seeing the children standing there one of the Israeli officials walked over to Jennifer and her cousins and with the permission of the uncle and aunt, led them inside and showed them the spot where it is thought this great event took place two thousand years ago. The children were thrilled. The Israeli soldiers are doing the right thing in helping the sick and injured in that area, where one act of kindness is worth a thousand bullets. The real enemy there is hatred and lack of understanding, which can only be conquered with kindness and compassion.

Thursday February 14, 2013, 3:33 pm
"one act of kindness is worth a thousand bullets." ?

Friday March 1, 2013, 5:11 pm
This kindness is under reported. There is much more reporting of Israelis who torture Palestinians. Both sides have stories. This one is an example to follow. Stories of torture need to balanced with the good. Torture is wrong no matter the country or justification. Most of us just don't know enough having not lived these experiences.