30-Jul-08: Admissions about the power of lying

As parents of a child murdered by terrorists, we have been asked by - literally - hundreds of journalists over the past few years how it feels, what we think about the people who sent them, what we believe ought to be done to prevent massacres like the one that killed Malki and other questions of a similar nature.

The experience has been instructive, but largely depressing. We have frequently found ourselves being asked questions by reporters who seem to have only the most tentative understanding of the war they are covering. (Not always. We have met some professional and impressive journalists. Far too few.) They are often ignorant of even the most basic historical and current facts, making them the easiest of prey when slick political activists spin them. And this spinning happens all the time.

Sometimes their political and social prejudices are so evident that the process of meeting them and fielding their inquiries is itself upsetting, offensive and even - on occasion - deeply alarming.

An item in today's Haaretz focusing on the appalling Mohammed Bakri, a film maker, throws some light on why those encounters of ours with representatives of the media can be so deeply disturbing. The man made a film called "Jenin Jenin" that in our opinion is filled with outright fact-inventions and falsehoods. And not just our opinion: see "Seven Lies About Jenin" in which Dr. David Zangen who was there as a medical officer right in the thick of the Jenin battle reviews the Bakri film - and is horrified.

Bakri describes a massacre that never happened, Israeli outrages that have no factual basis, a version of Palestinian Arab victimhood that is a 180-degree inversion of reality. And for these actions, he is applauded, even by Israelis. As he makes clear in the article below, he is an active player in a political process. And as his words help us see, he's a fervent disciple of the "ends-justify-the-means" school of reportage.

This is an interview that will almost certainly go nowhere and will likely have little impact (especially coming on the day that the prime minister of Israel pre-announced his retirement from the position). But we view it as a rare insight into the role played by liars and their lies; the dishonesty of certain people who package and present the analysis of this ongoing war.

More than that, the Bakri confession below serves as additional confirmation of how some people with political agendas will bend and invent and distort the truth if they think they can get away with it.

The tragedy in this part of the world is there are so many people ready to do what it takes to get away with it. Truth is only one of the casualties, as we who have lost a daughter know to our great sorrow.

'I lie to save people'
Last update - 22:58 29/07/2008
By Nirit Anderman

When you think about an evening of homage to a creative artist, what usually comes to mind is a civilized and serene event, marked by smiles, handshakes and words of thanks. But on Sunday it became clear that when the creative person being honored is Mohammed Bakri, the rules change. When it comes to Bakri, Israeli society can't keep mum. Several dozen angry demonstrators waited on the sidewalk across from Tel Aviv's Left Bank Club, where the evening of homage for the actor and director was set to begin.

"Mohammed Bakri is living in a movie," declared one of the demonstrators' placards, playing on a Hebrew slang expression meaning that the person in question is out of touch with reality. "Mohammed Bakri is an Oscar nominee for best liar," screamed another. "You are giving homage today to a person who has slandered the Israel Defense Forces. We have come here to honor the IDF and shame you," one of the demonstrators shouted into a megaphone.

The many guests who came to pay homage to Bakri seemed surprised by the stormy reception. They quietly slipped into the building on Ahad Ha'am Street. It seemed as though the police were the only ones indifferent to the tumult - they had been called to keep an eye on the demonstrators.

After being subjected to a barrage of curses, journalists were disappointed to find that Bakri was not eager to speak. But they insisted, shoving the microphones his way. Yes, he felt victorious about holding an evening like this, and yes, the demonstrators waiting downstairs were acting like "murderers, beasts of prey." A musical ensemble took to the stage, signaling the start of the evening's cultural part. The master of ceremonies, journalist Shlomi Laufer, said the event marked 30 years of Bakri's creative work as film and stage director as well as actor. But Laufer also noted that the evening paid homage to freedom of speech, too. The guests wished to encourage Bakri and to congratulate him for having survived the lengthy trial against him, which ended just a month ago, when the Petah Tikva District Court judge acquitted him of the libel suit filed by five reserve soldiers. They had alleged that his film, "Jenin Jenin," damaged their reputation.

The executive director of the Agenda organization, former journalist Anat Saragusti, spoke about the legitimacy Israeli society accords to a militaristic and violent weltanschauung, while denying the legitimacy of alternative worldviews. "When 'Jenin, Jenin' was screened, it immediately became illegitimate," she noted. "It is necessary to raise an outcry: How is it that when something is screened depicting one particular security perspective, it is all right, whereas another viewpoint is immediately perceived as dangerous, as endangering our existence?"

... "You said that you lied in order to give hope. I want to say that your truth gives hope, and I want to thank you for this," said one of the guests at the end of the screening. "You should know that you are not alone - we are all with you in this tragedy."

... Bakri also referred to the demonstrators outside the hall: "I lie, they say. Yes, maybe there is an instance in which I lie - when it is a matter of human lives, I lie. If my lie saves people, then I am proud to lie. I lie when I create hope out of nowhere. But those who cause me to lie are not the ones who were standing here outside and screaming like wild beasts. You are the ones who cause me to lie, you are the ones who help me create a new world."

The rest of the article is here.

Those who bakri in the name of one cause or another, lying "to save people" as they so disingenuously put it, have a great deal for which to answer; their editors, publishers and distributors even more so. As the film-maker himself put it after the Israeli Supreme Court reversed a ban on his controversial film in 2003: “Every truth has two sides–our side and your side–and the two truths are one big truth.”

Or one enormous body of lies, as he now openly admits.

22-Jul-08: A presidential visit?

In this Alice-in -Wonderland region, our leaders' decision are often confounding. Consider this sequence of events:

On July 16th we read the following report in Haaretz:

Celebrating in Gaza and Ramallah as well: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday welcomed the execution of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and Hizbullah. Abbas congratulated the family of released Lebanese murderer Samir Kuntar and sent his condolences to the Lebanese families receiving their loved ones' bodies as part of the deal

Today, not one week later, we learn that Israel's government deems that same Abbas worthy of a "historic" visit to Israel's Presidential residence. The encounter, we were informed, will feature a red-carpet welcome and Palestinian flags alongside the Star of David. President Shimon Peres said that the political situation would not affect Israel's commitment to pursue the peace process. A peace process with a terrorist-lover?

22-Jul-08: The once and future child murderer

Today's Jerusalem Post (for Tuesday 22nd July 2008) carries this op-ed by one of this blog's two authors. It's also published online by the Jerusalem Post. Additional background about the murderer mentioned in Frimet Roth's article can be found on the website that honors the memory of her daughter.

The once and future child murderer
Jul. 21, 2008
FRIMET ROTH , THE JERUSALEM POST

With the specter of another Ron Arad-type tragedy looming, the return of kidnapped soldier Gilad Schalit has taken center stage. Yet the impending prisoner release could spell a hero's welcome for my daughter's murderer, one even more chilling than that for Samir Kuntar.

Hamas has repeatedly said that one of its iron-clad conditions for Schalit's return is the release of all female and teenage Palestinian prisoners. And after Hizbullah's emboldening success in freeing Kuntar, Hamas is certain to be more extortionist than ever. But the government must plumb the ramifications of this purportedly "humanitarian" demand.

WHO ARE those anonymous female terrorists? And for what crimes are they imprisoned?

Women have acquired enviable status in the world of terrorism. They enjoy the best of both genders. On the one hand, their organizations deem them strong enough and clever enough to mastermind, coordinate and execute terror attacks. Then, once convicted, they morph into delicate, fragile creatures deserving early release by dint of their femininity.

In October 2003, Ahlam Tamimi was sentenced to 16 consecutive life sentences for her role in the terror bombing of Jerusalem's Sbarro restaurant. Fifteen men, women and children perished in that explosion on a hot August afternoon in 2001.

Tamimi, a communications student and a television news reader for the Palestinian Authority, was the linchpin of that atrocity. She had the prior practical experience of planting a bomb in a trash bin at a Jerusalem supermarket, one that was detected before it detonated. Tamimi was not apprehended at the time.

Several months later, she tried again. This time, she carried 10 kg. of explosives concealed in a guitar case. Izzaddin al-Masri, the suicide bomber, sat beside her in a taxi until they neared the Israeli checkpoint. Exiting alone, he approached the Israeli soldiers empty-handed. He sailed through the security check.

Meanwhile Tamimi, 23, attractive, dressed in Western-style clothing and chatting in English, aroused no suspicion. She passed unhampered through the Kalandiya checkpoint on Jerusalem's edge.

Once inside Israel, Masri got back into the taxi. He rode with Tamimi to the walls of Jerusalem's Old City, and from there they walked together into west Jerusalem. At the intersection of Jaffa Road and King George Avenue in the city's center stood Sbarro, a pizza restaurant. Why Tamimi selected it as the target is not hard to figure: On that vacation afternoon, it was filled with women and children.

In separating from her "weapon," Tamimi asked Masri to wait 15 minutes before detonating the bomb. She wanted to be far enough from the explosion to escape unscathed. He complied.

DURING THESE past five years, Tamimi has received all the perks that the Prisons Service offers: the right to dress in clothes of her choice, the right to visitors, the right to socialize with fellow prisoners, the right to decorate her cell as she sees fit, the right to study, the right to practice her religion and the right to wed (she recently married a male terrorist murderer, her cousin Nizar Tamimi). Tamimi has also been permitted two interviews. The first, in March 2006, was reported in the press. The second was videotaped and included in an award-winning documentary film, Hothouse. Some of the film's reviews, including one in The New York Times, featured a glamorous, smiling photograph of Tamimi.

I have tried to detect signs of suffering during Tamimi's five years of imprisonment - but in vain.

Nor has a hint of remorse surfaced. During her Hothouse interview, Tamimi learned that her act cost the lives of eight children, rather than the five she had believed died. She smiled upon hearing the updated tally.

In the first interview she had declared: "I'm not sorry for what I did. We'll become free from the occupation, and then I will be free from prison." Israel's past willingness to release convicted terrorists has made them confident of an early release.

TAMIMI IS no anomaly in the world of terrorism. At the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association in 2006, Juliette Shedd of George Mason University delivered a study entitled "Understanding Female Terrorists: An Analysis of Motivation and Media Representation." She culled myriad reasons that terrorist organizations avidly recruit women:

Terrorist organizations play upon the stereotypes of women to achieve their goals; popular opinion considers women as victims of violence... rather than perpetrators... The lore that arises around female terrorists can also provide an advantage... Because women are often not part of the terrorist 'profile,' they are able to get through security check points... and can provide cover for male terrorists by assuming mother or girlfriend roles...

Women... often display ruthlessness, dominance, and calm under pressure... In fact, 'shoot the women first' is reportedly an instruction given to counterterrorist recruits in West Germany and other Interpol squads...

A mystique also arises around female terrorists... There is a general sense that women are more likely to receive the media attention needed... In addition, women seem to inspire the question 'Why?'... journalists search for explanations for the violent activities of women [providing] a venue for the terrorist group to spread their message.

Writing in a 2006 academic study by the Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, Avi Issacharoff, Haaretz's special correspondent for Arab affairs, pointed out that "the lives of female suicide terrorists are no less tragic than those of male suicide bombers, yet the media accords women more sympathy and treats them with kid gloves."

WE ISRAELIS need to stop using lines like: "No price is too high to free our captive soldiers" or, as Minister-without-Portfolio Ami Ayalon put it last week: "Returning the abducted soldiers is above all else." Such assertions are hackneyed and patently false. Plainly there are demands with which no civilized government would comply.

If, for instance, Hamas instructed us to execute one Israeli child to gain Gilad Schalit's freedom, would we? Is releasing a mass child murderer, able and eager to kill more Jewish children, very different from that?

On the morning that the returned hostages Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were buried, Defense Minister Ehud Barak intimated that there is a red line when he said: "We will do everything that is possible and appropriate to bring Schalit home." But did he mean it?

Before the early release of an "ordinary" murderer, the judicial system ensures that the victims' voices are heard. Yet in the context of terrorist murders, the only concession to families of the victims is the publication - a mere 48 hours prior to the release - of the names of the prisoners being set free. Furthermore, the High Court has never once granted a terror victim's petition to block such a release.

Nevertheless, Smadar Haran, the wife and mother of Samir Kuntar's victims, revealed last week that her wishes had been factored into past government calculations. Even as she expressed her approval of Kuntar's release, she told the nation she had lobbied tirelessly to keep him behind bars for 27 years. She was motivated, she said, by a sense of duty to her murdered loved ones.

I also feel an obligation to my daughter Malki to do everything I can to keep her murderer behind bars. And the rest of Israel owes the same obligation to Tamimi's future targets - their own children.

---

The writer and her husband founded the Malki Foundation (www.kerenmalki.org) in memory of their daughter, murdered in the Sbarro restaurant massacre in Jerusalem in 2001. The foundation provides concrete support for Israeli families of all faiths who care at home for a special-needs child.

18-Jul-08: Terrorists Trying to Enter U.S.

Timely reminder of the possible consequences of getting it all wrong when terrorism is the subject:

European Terrorists Trying to Enter U.S. - Eileen Sullivan
European terrorists are trying to enter the U.S. with EU passports, and there is no guarantee officials will catch them every time, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Thursday. "The terrorists are deliberately focusing on people who have legitimate Western European passports, who don't appear to have records as terrorists," Chertoff told the House Homeland Security Committee. Chertoff reiterated his concern that terrorists could sneak radiological material into the country on small boats or private aircraft to create an explosive device known as a "dirty bomb."

16-Jul-08: So what's the right way to relate to a freed psychopathic thug?

What's the right way to describe the Lebanese man called Kuntar, an unrepentant convicted murderer of children, a vile terrorist serving a 542-year prison sentence, a thug who swears that as soon as he is free he will seek out his next murder victims?

That really depends on who you are.

A columnist for the Haaretz newspaper wrote this week that he is "a monster convicted of a crime so brutal that even the designation terrorist is too good for him". On an earlier occasion, the same writer said Kuntar "may never have deserved a life."

A columnist writing in The Atlantic magazine said Kuntar "is perhaps the most terrible person held in an Israeli prison, a man who crushed the skull of a Jewish child against a rock. Sometimes, these prisoner exchanges don't seem worth it."

How true that is can be seen in a Pakistani paper today that quotes someone from Hamas saying "there was no reason to soften its demands in light of the heavy price that Israel agreed to pay in its deal with the Lebanese group Hizbullah. "

The same thought had occurred to us.

Some people might be surprised to know that the "moderate" leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, odiously and publicly "extended congratulations" today to the killer’s family on his being "liberated".

Actual 'moderate' quotation: "He [Abbas] extends his congratulations to the family of Samir Kantar, the dean of Arab prisoners, and the families of the other released prisoners".

It's plain that Abbas wants people to know he's delighted that Kuntar is back on the streets.

Ismail Haniyeh, the slightly-less-moderate leader of the globally-outlawed Hamas regime in Gaza, says the child-killer is "a great hero".

Additional words are unnecessary. Kuntar delivers the goods. Period.

The killer's brother says getting him out of jail is "a historical achievement". You'd expect him to say that. But in Ramallah, heartland of Palestinian-Arab "moderation" and ground-zero for the in-pouring of massive quantities of foreign aid from Western Europe to the enlightened PA government, Mahmoud Abbas's own Fatah party organized a celebratory rally. "This is an historic victory over Israeli arrogance," says Ahmed Abdel Rahman, a top Fatah official and official advisor to the "moderate" Abbas.

Many ordinary Palestinian Arabs feel so uplifted by Kuntar's story that they are reported to be distributing candy in the streets in honour of his release from prison. This is not to be taken for granted; Palestinian towns already have too many child-killers walking their streets. But this one, perhaps because of his having bashed a four year-old Jewish child's head to pieces on rocks and killing her after first murdering her father in cold blood in front of her eyes, is special. He's a successful, authentic role model.

The government of Lebanon, a genuine member of the family of nations, a seat-holder at the UN, a sovereign state with its own flag and postage stamps and everything, officially rolled out the red carpet. Its government declared Wednesday to be an official public holiday. It's simply incredible to us that three of its most prominent politicians - Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri - are going to provide an honour guard to celebrate the return of the child-murderer. Have Lebanese everywhere swallowed their moral compass? Where's their outrage? Have they no pride? Don't they care what this says about them?

As for Kuntar himself, a graduate of an Israeli university (tertiary studies are routinely made available for free to terrorists in Israeli prisons), let's give him a moment to help us understand why those who support him are so enthusiastic.

In Kuntar's own words:

"I give you my promise and oath that my only place will be in the fighting front soaked with the sweat of your giving and with the blood of the shahids (martyrs), the dearest people, and that I will continue your way until we reach a full victory."

And this:

"I return today from Palestine, but believe me, I return to Lebanon only in order to return to Palestine".

He means it and he needs to be believed. His credibility is not in question.

The Chinese newsagency Xinhua accurately terms Kuntar a "convicted Lebanese killer". Sky News refers to him correctly and properly as a "Lebanese terrorist". But cooler, more mature, heads, like those at the cooler, more mature BBC, see things differently. The BBC has long referred to Kuntar as a "Lebanese militant" who was imprisoned because of his involvement in a "deadly guerrilla raid". Agence France Press news service, constitutionally incapable of attaching "terrorist" to the terrorist's name, also calls him a militant. And Associated Press can't bring itself to call the murderer anything more pointed than "Lebanese gunman".

We'll let Smadar Haran-Kaiser's words close this entry with a cold dose of water in our faces. Mrs Haran-Kaiser was a wife and the mother of two little girls aged 4 and 2 when Kuntar thrust himself into her apartment and her life in 1979. She has lived with the deaths of all three for the past 29 years. She watched the man who erased her loved ones walk to freedom this morning.

"This man, he is more than a killer to us, he is a symbol of the viciousness, the brutality, the hatred, of this fight against us. The demands for his freedom expose the evil faces from behind the mask, and show we cannot trust these people."

So sad. So true. How can it be that so many people fail to understand this? How can the lessons of terror be so consistently ignored, forgotten, twisted and misunderstood?

And who really pays the price?

16-Jul-08: Their values, our values

As a ceremony unfolds on Israel's northern border this morning, thoughtful onlookers are struck by what the exchange of murderers for dead kidnapped soldiers tells us about the two sides. Today's Jerusalem Post has the editorial below that captures our mood eloquently.

A disparity of images
Jul 15, 2008 20:49 | Updated Jul 16, 2008 9:12

Israelis are steeling themselves today for the painful images that will doubtless accompany the anticipated exchange of unrepentant terrorist Samir Kuntar for IDF reservists Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser.

It's already been a week of images that, mostly, encapsulate Israeli frustrations: newly-released but old photographs of Ron Arad; pictures of Syrian president Bashar Assad with his back turned to Ehud Olmert at the Bastille Day ceremony in Paris; and of Olmert at the same ceremony, his hand good-naturedly draped around Hosni Mubarak's shoulders.

Even the encouraging image of banter between Mubarak and Olmert left us wishing Egypt didn't hold our bilateral relations hostage to what happens with the Palestinians; while Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas looking so affable in Paris made us wonder what there is to smile about.

AN IMAGE that weighs heavily on our minds today is that of a smiling, 32-year-old Ehud Goldwasser in a photo recognizable worldwide. Yet his real life - as a son and brother, his deep love for his wife, Karnit, along with his work at the Technion, and his hobby as a photographer - has been largely obscured despite his unwanted celebrity.

The same holds true of 27-year-old Eldad Regev. He is often pictured in a photo that shows him carefree, sunglasses balanced on his head, smiling into the camera. His real life, too, is largely unknown. Friends describe him as "a fanatical football fan" whose dream was to become a lawyer.

Then there are the inscrutable images of Gilad Schalit, kidnapped on June 25, 2006, and held by Hamas in Gaza. That he is quiet and introverted comes through in the photos we have of him. Sometimes pictured in uniform, wearing eye-glasses, sometimes in civilian clothing looking like the boy next door, he seems even younger than his 21 years.

IMAGES REFLECTING Zionist sacrifices - and desire for peace - are nothing new.

On January 3, 1919, Emir Faisal, the Arabian-born Hashemite ruler, was famously photographed with Chaim Weizmann (both men wearing desert headdress). Faisal had just, conditionally, accepted the Balfour Declaration. Eight-nine years later, that image of Jewish-Arab partnership still beckons.

Of course, as the numerous Oslo-era meetings between a smiling Yasser Arafat and various Israeli leaders demonstrated, positive images - even written commitments - do not guarantee sincerity of intentions. Unlike the emir, the Palestinian leader could never reconcile himself to genuine accommodation with the Jewish state.

Yet when Arab leaders display warmth and try to meet Israel half-way, their goodwill is reciprocated. We think of the images of Anwar Sadat and Menachem Begin at the Knesset in November 1977, and how, within five years, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty.

Good personal relations do not dictate positive policy outcomes, but they certainly do no harm. King Hussein of Jordan first met publicly with prime minister Yitzhak Rabin on July 25, 1994. The two men developed a relationship of mutual respect and collegiality best captured in the famous photo of the king lighting a cigarette for the premier. The Jordanian-Israeli treaty was signed on October 26, 1994 - less than 100 days after Rabin and Hussein's first meeting.

THERE IS no surefire way to calibrate the right combination of image and substance that might pave the way to Arab-Israel peace. We know, however, what doesn't work. At the November 2007 Annapolis summit, for instance, the Saudi foreign minister wouldn't join in shaking hands with Olmert and Abbas - and thus chose to avoid giving much-needed legitimacy to Israeli-Arab reconciliation. A rare opportunity was squandered.

Sometimes, pictures only raise questions. How can the debonair Assad, so cosmopolitan in Paris with his fashionably dressed wife, also feel at ease in the embrace of the medieval-thinking mullahs of Teheran? Are image and policy really that divergent? Plainly, though, Assad avoiding Olmert, Assad opting not to replicate Sadat by coming to the podium of the Knesset, tells us much about his true intentions.

Today will bring difficult images of a Hizbullah-dominated Lebanon celebrating a slaughterer of innocents, and of an Israel mourning its fallen. That disparity of images reflects the yawning gulf of values between Israel and too many of its neighbors.

Indeed.