Take-A-Pen’s recent Letter-Writing Call ! 18 July 2008
Let’s write our letters about the so-called
“prisoner exchange” between
Actually,
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Ehud Goldwasser Z”l |
Eldad Regev Z”l |
Samir Kuntar |
There are many wide-spread misconceptions about
this “deal”, so where-ever you read about this case, Write Your Own Letter to
the Editor of your paper or to a VIP, to spread the truth. If you like, use any
of the points made in the opinion piece below: “Woe to
the nation whose hero is Samir Kuntar!”
(E .M. – www.take-a-pen.org )
Woe to
the nation whose hero is Samir Kuntar.
By
16 July 2008
Prisoner
exchange? No:
Israel
exchanged 5 Lebanese, among them a convicted mass-murderer, plus 190 bodies –
for the remains of its two abducted servicemen
The state and the citizens of
Israeli soldiers always
know that while they risk their lives to defend their citizens, their country
will also do its utmost to retrieve them should they fall into the hands of the
enemy. This is the tradition of
However, the present ‘deal’ seems to be particularly irrational
and painful. Though it was not absolutely certain, intelligence said
clearly that the abducted soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev were dead.
To release convicted murderers for dead bodies is not only too generous but
also very dangerous in more than one sense.
In the Ahmad Jibril precedence in the eighties Israel exchanged 6000
Arab fighters captured in Lebanon and released 70 convicted terrorists with
blood of Israeli civilians on their hands – for freeing 5 Israeli soldier
POW-s. Within 18 months
At the end the emotional and humanitarian urge to ease
the sufferings of the families of the soldiers won again in
There isn’t any other symmetry in this exchange either between receiving
bodies of soldiers who guarded a border to protect civilians, and handing over
live terrorists who penetrated
On the other hand, Samir Kuntar, the foremost terrorist
of the five released in the deal, is a heinous murderer, responsible for one of
the most despicable terror attacks on
In the gunfire two Israeli policemen and three of the
terror squad were killed. In the meantime the mother, Smadar, was hiding in the
home's crawlspace with her two-year-old daughter Yael.
Tragically, she accidently smothered her baby while
stifling her cries to prevent the terrorists from discovering them. The tragedy
of a whole family was complete.
This Samir Kuntar is the hero of Hezbollah, of the
Palestinians and a large part of the Arab world! They have been
celebrating him for years as their idol, and now have given him a hero’s welcome.
Similar “heroes” were the two Palestinians who murdered at point blank the
33-year-old and pregnant Tali Hatuel and her four daughters aged 3 to
What people can execute little girls in mafia style?
What nations can have such people as their role models? Shame
on such nations. Woe to such
nations.
An organization can be judged by whom it chooses to
idolize and to hold up as an example for its youth. Tellingly, Samir Kuntar, a
vile child-killer is the hero of Hizbullah, the Iranian-backed extremist
Islamist terror organization, which worships death and destruction in the most
inhuman ways, and clings to its goal of destroying
Hizbullah’s leaders are war criminals, but
unfortunately it hasn’t been said clearly and loudly enough. Hizbullah has been
the largest obstacle to any peace in the region and a threat to
The
Then, breaking all written and unwritten human laws,
Hizbullah denied any access to the two kidnapped men, or any information about
them, in order to maximize the suffering of their families and of a society
where humanist considerations are stronger than its direct interest. This
unlawful, pirate-like attitude of Hizbullah is a war crime and this should be
emphasized in every mention of their name until they are recognized
internationally as a terrorist organization.
Last but not least, blessed be the memory of the fallen
Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev.
- o
- o -
Scroll
down to read Take-A-Pen’s previous Letter-writing Calls, some of them still
relevant:
LW Call ii: Help to dismantle the ‘Muhammad Al
Durra Fraud! - UPDATE: Feb.15, 2008,
and
LW Call iii : Save SDEROT & Save
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LW Call ii -
Help us to spread the truth about the Muhammad Al Dura image!
Let’s
act to further check and discredit the most probably fake France 2 movie about
killing Muhammad al-Durra***!
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Can
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Famous
frame of the probably fake France
TV-2 movie about the alleged killing of
the Palestinian kid Muhammad al-Durra by |
January
22, 2008
A/ New Evidence against the Al Dura Fraud
provided by surgeon! - by
Read below:
B/ Reader’s Letter about Al Durra, by Take-A-Pen, published
in the Jerusalem
C/ Backgrounder about the Al Durra case - by Take-A-Pen*- October 25, 2007, Update: February
15, 2008 - (Also
in
English, Russian,
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B/ Reader’s Letter by Take-A-Pen, published
in The Jerusalem
”Not a single frame
supports France
To
the Letter Editor (as published on November 22, 2007)
More
important than the personal
Sir, - Re: "Outcry raised over missing minutes in al-Dura
film"(Nov.19): It is commendable that the Post is
covering this case, which has suffered from insufficient media
attention. But I disliked the tone of this article, which repeatedly
generalized supporters of Philippe Karsenty’s views such as myself as 'crying foul', as if this were a football
match.
Our
international media-watch organization, Take-A-Pen, has followed this important
and tragic case since September 2000. I traveled to
The article
discussed the interesting point that
More
important than the personal aspect is the fact that hundreds of
millions have believed for years
ENDRE MOZES,
Chairman
Take-A-Pen,
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C/ Al-Dura Backgrounder by Take-A-Pen* - October 25, 2007, Last Update: February 15, 2008
On September 30, 2000 the world watched with horror and pain
The footage
spread fast across the world, and the images,
together with the accusation against
Since then more and more experts around the world - and recently
the Israeli Defense Forces itself - concluded that the
Sensational Breakthrough on 14 November - Crucial Day
in the Court
However, on 12 September 2007 the case took a new turn. On that first day of the present appeal trial, the judge ruled that
On
November 14 the next two breakthroughs
followed. First of all;
Our
strong wish is now that the full truth about the Al-Dura case be found. That
The future? In
Paris, the city where Captain Dreyfuss was once unjustly sentenced and much
later rehabilitated, TV France 2 may also become from the accuser the libelous
party; for disseminating its probably fake Muhammad Al-Durrah movie and the
unfounded accusation it made, and for obstructing the finding of truth, by
concealing the full raw footage for so long and partly even today.
Take-A-Pen’s chairman was in the Paris
courtroom on November 14, to immediately inform You, in a joint project with
the prestigious HonestReporting organization, about the outcome of the hearing
– SEE OUR REPORT AND YOUTUBE MOVIE, ON TOP OF THIS
HOME PAGE! – (Nov. 15, 2007)
We’ll be in the
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*Endre MOZES, Take-A-Pen’s chairman wrote this
backgrounder/editorial, see at http://www.take-a-pen.org/CallForAction/CFA.html
** See at http://www.take-a-pen.org/CallForAction/CFA.html
*** The name Al Dura is written in many
forms, incl. al Dura, al-Dura, Al Durra, Al Durrah and more.
You may read selected previous letters and articles about this
case:
(1) Take-A-Pen Chairman’s Letter to President
of France, Nicolas Sarkozy; re: the Al-Durrah case - read below
(2) Background info for the Muhammad al-Durrah
fake - in English and in French:
http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2006/09/18/cybercast-news-service-weighs-in-on-al-durah-trial/
(3) IDF demands
(4) September 23, 2007 - Dam
Bursts at Al Dura Trial! – by Nidra
Poller - read below
Based
on all these you can write your own letter!
to your own paper
(1) Take-A-Pen Chairman’s
Letter to President Nicolas Sarkozy:
To: Le Président
de
Via Facsimile: 00 33 1 47 42 24 65
Dear President Sarkozy: September
3, 2007
Subject: Trial of Philippe Karsenty about
the Mohammed al-Durrah fake - and
the role of
Your election to
We are approaching you about a complex legal
case coming to an appeal court in
Below I recall some facts about this case and
about the close involvement of the French presidency.
(We, Take-A-Pen, are a global volunteer organization around the world which in
18 languages and in many countries watches the media and public life for their
truth or untruth said and done, particularly about Israel and the Middle East.
We act and publicly write in defense of the truth.)
One of the worse atrocities against truth the
world has seen in recent years was the less than a minute long movie of
This movie and the photos became the most
powerful icons of the Palestinians, of global Jihad and of hatred of
Powerful icons both for honest people who
naïvely believed that such cruelty had really happened, and for global
Islamist militancy which uses it since then for recruitment to terrorism, for
incitement to hatred of their young ones and even as a direct pretext of an
estimated at least 500 deaths in the worldwide upheaval Islamists launched
after the movie, including the murder of the journalist Daniel Pearl.
Daniel Pearl's killers used al-Durrah's image
in the video showing
The problem with the France TV-2 movie is that
it most probably is an absolute fake.
The short al-Durrah show, published and distributed
in the whole world free by TV-2, was edited from a forty times (!) longer raw
footage. But that raw footage, at least 27 minutes long, was never shown by TV
2 to the world or to professionals who formally requested to see it.
The single witness of the al-Durrah movie’s
authenticity was the photographer, Palestinian cameraman
Talal Abu Rahma himself. Charles Enderlin, Jerusalem
Bureau Chief for
On the other hand great many signs and
professional researches made by German, American, international and French
expert teams (including investigating reporter Philippe Karsenty of
Absurd contradictions were found by dozens
within that short movie, like: we can hear maybe a hundred shots, but later a
recording was found that during the editing of the movie the sound of one shot
was endlessly repeated. Or: after the hundreds of shots not one hole was seen
in the drum which stood right behind father and son allegedly for 45 minutes of
shootings. Or: the ambulance arrived and left the scene within a few seconds;
hardly enough for sportsmen to jump into the back of a car; but the evacuation
of the injured boy or his body could never be seen. No body or reliable
hospital record of the allegedly dead boy was ever found or documented.
All circumstantial evidence suggests strongly
that a cunning fake made by the photographer combined with the utmost
professional negligence by the film’s editor, Charles Enderlin, produced one of
the most severe global blood libels of our time.
Release of the crucial evidence held by TV-2 could
solve the doubts. It seems that this is exactly what TV-2 wants to avoid.
Since then this most ‘successful’ fake
propaganda film inspired a whole new Palestinian and Islamist lie industry;
whole studios, widely called and documented as ‘Pallywood’, are fabricating
staged false ‘news’.
In recent years the falsity of TV 2’s
al-Durrah movie has gradually became a global consensus. The only way TV-2
could obstruct truth be found and be fully proven, has been its refusal to
disclose the full raw footage.
Last September the French court rendered,
after then-President Chirac’s rather weird intervention, a judgment against
Philippe Karsenty for defamation, in favour of Charles Enderlin and TV-2
television station.
This politicized judgment damaged very seriously
the reputation of President Chirac, of the French justice system and of
Dear President Sarkozy! On September 12, 2007 Philippe Karsenty will
present his appeal to the court against the 2006 judgment.
We are appealing to you now for your support
to a fair and not manipulated appeal procedure.
Of course we are not suggesting that you
interfere with the course of justice; but we do suggest that you undo the
previous French President’s intervention seemingly against finding the inconvenient
truth.
We do request that you support the court
ordering France TV-2 to release the crucial evidence: the 27 minutes long
footage, filmed by the sole witness cameraman, and never shown to the public or
to experts.
True that the release of that evidence and the
court’s finding the truth about
We wish you, to
Respectfully,
Endre
MOZES
Chairman
of Take-A-Pen
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(2) Background information:
Background
info for the Muhammad al-Durrah fake, in English and in French:
http://www.theaugeanstables.com/2006/09/18/cybercast-news-service-weighs-in-on-al-durah-trial/
(3) UPDATE - 
IDF demands
ICEJ, Sept. 18, 2007
The IDF has apparently reopened its probe of a highly
controversial incident that helped fuel the second Intifada in its earliest
days seven years ago, as the Israeli military has requested
that the France 2 television network hand over its unedited video
of the shooting of 12-year old Mohammed al-Dura in Gaza.
The IDF request comes in the midst of a legal battle between the
network and its
The Palestinians turned al-Dura into a leading symbol of the armed intifada and
a model of child martyrdom for other Palestinian youths.
"The IDF is dealing directly with the network on the issue," an IDF
spokeswoman told Haaretz on Monday, without
explaining why the army had made the request.
The Palestinians blamed the IDF for the boy’s death and the IDF
quickly apologized, but a military investigation later concluded that
the boy was probably shot dead in a Palestinian crossfire. A local Arab
cameraman, Talal Abu Rahma, shot the video for the French network, which
widely distributed only 55 seconds of the 27 minutes of film taken.
Among the evidence pointing to Palestinian culpability is the angle of
fire and use of automatic weapons, both of which indicate a
unit of six IDF soldiers besieged in a nearby pillbox at Netzarim Junction
were not responsible for al-Dura's death on September 30, 2000.
(4) UPDATE – September 23, 2007:
Dam Bursts at Al Dura Trial
by
September 20, 2007
PJM (pajamasmedia)
Many have accused the photo of young Mohammed Al Dura’s father shielding him
from Israeli bullets of being a fake, but the original videotape from which
this photo was drawn has been hidden from view by France 2. Yesterday a French
judge finally ordered the channel to produce it. PJM’s
Nidra Poller
was one of the only journalists to witness this stunning turning point.
Maître Bénédicte
Amblard, representing Charles Enderlin and France
Karsenty is appealing his October 2006 conviction for defamation in
a case brought by state-owned TV channel
While the court of first resort had granted Karsenty’s right to question the authenticity of the news report, it followed the plaintiff’s arguments and found him guilty of bad faith and publication of unsubstantiated accusations based on a single source (Metula News Agency). Karsenty appealed.
Things looked grim for Karsenty as the hearing began. There was a technical problem with the large screen he had been authorized to bring into the courtroom (which is normally equipped with a tiny outmoded TV). And the judge sternly rejected his proposed projection of a didactic montage of the disputed al Dura images.
After a brief recess during which the technical problem was solved, the hearing began with a brief interrogation on Karsenty’s professional and financial situation, followed by a rather awkward résumé—by the second judge, designated as the “advisor”— of the initial case and conviction Karsenty’s counsel, Maître Marc Lévy, interjects a request for an expertise on the 27-minutes of unedited footage, which had been viewed by three journalists—Jeambar, Leconte, and Rosenzweig—who testified that they consisted of 24 minutes of staged scenes, with no images of the al Dura boy and his father and no trace of the boy’s “death throes” that Enderlin claimed had been edited out because it was “unbearable.”
Readers should know that “discovery,” as understood in the U.S., does not exist in the French system This is how France 2 could accuse Karsenty of making unfounded accusations without facing the obligation to produce the raw footage that might substantiate them.
The judge immediately grasps the importance of the raw footage and
asks “Do we have the film?” Maître Amblard replies, supremely self-confident: “Of course not.”
She seems to assume that the Court will bow to the higher authority of
The Avocat Général concludes, on the basis of jurisprudence, that the Appelate court does not need to examine the raw footage because the court of first resort had ruled on the case without seeing it. Maître Amblard seizes this favorable wind to embark on a typical Enderlin argument—just because 90% of the film is composed of staged scenes, it doesn’t mean that the remaining 10% is also staged. How could it be? It is the death of a child!
The judge calls a brief recess to deliberate on the request; the
judges decide to examine further evidence and leave the request for expertise
in abeyance. A setback for
The first exhibit is set in motion—the infamous news report of the death of the Palestinian child. The judge rejects Karsenty’s request to be allowed to interrupt the projection and explain, frame by frame, why the images do not correspond with the voice-over commentary. Things get prickly. Karsenty’s counsel fades into the background, the judge insists that she and her associates can see for themselves without Karsenty’s comments, he overrides the judge, the mood is tense but slightly comical.
Will she cut the projection and throw him out of court? Is he upsetting his apple cart? For anyone who has worked on the al Dura affair, it’s agonizing to hear Karsenty go through the tedious details while the judge, like any innocent observer, makes the same objections we’ve heard a thousand times. The shooting angle, the Israeli position, no blood, the wall intact after 45 minutes of alleged gunfire, the Reuters cameraman right next to them …The judge objects, obstructs, interrupts, but keeps watching, keeps listening, follows intelligently, assimilates large doses of information as Karsenty projects news reports from the days following the incident. Charles Enderlin and Talal Abu Rahmeh stick to their story, embellish it with details that have withstood examination for seven years but may soon be turned against them.
The projection continues with a news broadcast in which Enderlin, in all his glory as “objective reporter,” trashes the army investigation led by General Yom-Tov Samia… and ends by quoting from Haaretz: “The Israeli army shot itself in the foot.”
The Judge turns to Maître Amblard: “Are there any staged scenes in any of these news reports we’ve just viewed?”
Maître Amblard falters. She tries to refocus attention on the al-Dura report. But the judge insists. “Are there any staged scenes in the 27 minutes of raw footage that might have appeared in the news reports we’ve just watched?”
Maitre Amblard fumbles. Backs up a step as if she had been pushed. And whispers a most unconvincing “No.”
The court recesses. (Even though an informed source has already whispered the result in my ear, I am gripped with suspense.) The judges return and report their decision on the question in suspense. The expertise. The raw footage. They want it. They will not go forward until they have seen it. Maître Amblard drops her pencil. She is sincerely stunned.
Finally she mutters, “If the court orders my client to produce the
footage…of course…but I don’t know where it is.”
Maître Lévy
leaps forward and places a letter in the judge’s hands. It’s Charles Enderlin’s
response to the Israeli army request for handover of the raw footage. Enderlin
explains that it is in
One more brief recess as Maître Amblard attempts—in vain— to reach a
If the footage is not turned over voluntarily by the 3rd of October, the court will issue a formal request. The next hearing is scheduled for November 14th … to view the said footage. A relay hearing is scheduled for January 16, and the case will be heard in full on the 27th of February.
Philippe Karsenty has scored a significant victory. The al Dura report has been questioned ever since it was first broadcast seven years ago. The 27-minutes of raw footage have served as a protective shield for Charles Enderlin and France 2—the “proof” that was never presented. Even after reputable journalists had viewed the footage and testified to its nature, it retained its magical quality and was used to discredit anyone who questioned the veracity of the al Dura report.
Today, a
The outcome remains uncertain.
Will
Will President Sarkozy exert his authority and imperatively request
state-owned
And, finally, when will the French media tear off their false faces and admit what they know about the al Dura affair?
Despite an AP release and extensive international coverage over the
past few weeks, no mainstream media reporters attended today’s hearing. They
missed an early warning that the rules of the game may well be changing.
http://pajamasmedia.com/2007/09/dam_bursts_at_al_dura_trial.php
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Take-A-Pen’s Summary
and Call for further Letter-Writing Actions:
The Judge
firmly demanded handover by TV-2 of the 27-minute unedited film shot by Talal
Abu Rahmeh, kept as secret for 7 years! On 14 November France 2 failed to
present the whole 27 minutes long raw footage, but 18 minutes only, full of
staged scenes, and no indication whatsoever of Israeli involvement.
Nidra
Poller's article of Nov.20 above is maybe he best real
'Law and Order' story I read in years. The judges’ decision was a great
first success in the al-Durrah Case. At
the end
That is why TakeAPen sent
Letter 1 above to President Sarkozy urging his positive intervention, to undo
Chirac's negative one in the court in 2006.
Since then, Take-A-Pen’s
joint Youtube movie about the Nov 14 court day, our Al-Dura Backgrounder and
our Reader’s Letter, all above near the top of our Home page www.take-a-pen.org , are among the most
educational and updated documents about the Al-Dura Story, anywhere.
We
suggest now that after the first successes in this case, we all do now
something to support it.
Like to write and to send a Letter to the media, demanding that
they report now about the ongoing collapse of the unfounded
Let’s write
our letters to help to maintain the good momentum and to help
Letter-Writing Call iii - Save
GAZA & SDEROT = Save SDEROT & GAZA !
Read
1/ A neutral
organization which cares for one side only – can not be honest
Letter to UN High Commissioner for Human Rights,
January 22, 2008
From Maurice Ostroff
To the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Sir,
SPECIAL SESSION OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL ON 23 JANUARY, 2008
I will be grateful if you will kindly forward this letter to the
chairman of the above session, with the request that the contents be made
available to all attendees
That Israel is a focus of special attention by the HRC, is obvious from the
fact that in the short time since its formation in 2006, the above meeting will
be the fourth Special Session relating to that country. It is therefore
unsurprising that the HRC is anxious that the Israeli blockade of
Moral integrity requires that the HRC dare not miss this opportunity to
effectively release the Gazans from their nightmare.
However, to be practical and realistic, it is essential that it address the
party that really holds the key, namely Hamas. It may be expedient politically
to continue blaming
The HRC special session surely must realize that the flow of electricity, fuel
and other supplies into
It is completely illogical to expect Israel to refrain from acting to counter
the serious War Crime of rockets deliberately aimed from civilian areas in
Gaza, at Israeli homes, schools and hospitals with the declared intention of
killing and maiming as many as possible. More than 4,000 rockets have
landed in
The declared intention of the rocket launchers is to indiscriminately kill and
maim as many civilians as possible. If any had fallen on a school the number of
casualties would have been disastrous. In the past few weeks alone, more than
450 rockets and mortars have been launched. If each missile fired had achieved
the launcher's intention, the results would have been a massacre of huge
proportions. That this was and remains the intention cannot be ignored and it
is only by the grace of the almighty that it has not happened.
Removing the cause of the blockade by ending the firing of rockets would
obviously be of greater humanitarian value than cynically adding another
vengeful one-sided resolution against
Yours sincerely,
Maurice Ostroff
----------------------------------
2/ Letter to the International Herald
Tribune:
The International Herald Tribune doesn’t support free
speech -
in case that speech reveals IHT distortions
Reader’s Letter to International Herald Tribune:
To the
Letter Editor 17 December
2007
Sir,
Sub: “150 Civilian Rocket Victims
in Germany
Thanks God this title
is not true. But it will help us to understand the situation in
First, the term “Israeli
blockade”, even stressed as subtitle, is simply not true. The article itself
says later that
Secondly, you condemn
sanctions, but tell only in line 40 that
You don’t tell at all
the acute reason of sanctions. Palestinian armed groups, supported by Hamas,
launch rockets at Israeli civilian targets daily –above 2000 rockets since
Let’s do a ‘Gedenkenexperiment’ – an experiment in thinking: In case, -
fortunately theoretical case only – had Hamas in Western-Europe launched 25,000
primitive rockets into
Respectfully,
Endre MOZES, Chairman
Take-A-Pen - a
multilingual grass-roots media-watch network
Former 4 Take-A-Pen
Letter-Writing Calls, still valid:
1)
Former Letter-Writing Call #1:
There is
a fast spreading new outcry against BBC News malpractices from consistent bias
to even silent complicity with global terror.
Read this and Act with us:
“Terror victims are BBC licence-payers,
too” – Read sensational
Telegraph article and many comments (you can easily add yours) -
in the frame ”From
Take-A-Pen’s London correspondent” - on our English pg http://www.take-a-pen.org/english/index.html
or CLICK the English button on top of Home page
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2)
LW Call #2: - August 5, 2007
|
Whenever you read about
“moderate” Hamas - Write Your Letter to protest
! -
Read below
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3)
LW Call #3:
130 rocket victims in the
4)
LWC #4: Write Against British Boycotts, Bias and Cynicism - Evidence
that British Journalism is Biased - See ADL Ads here - Read below
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2) Former Letter-Writing
Call August 5, 2007
Palestinian
Hate Industry Exports in Russian to
Where-ever you read about “moderate”
Hamas - Write Your Letter to protest;
Hamas disseminates deadly anti-Semitic
cartoons to Russian speaking audiences
|
|
We learn from this IICC
article about novel methods of the Palestinian hate industry: the ruling Hamas
uses the Internet to disseminate anti-Semitic hate speech, like Nazi
Stuermer-like cartoons, to Russian speaking target audiences in The prominent theme
of the cartoons is that See one cartoon only
and try not to get sick. |
Read more in our next window: ‘Latest Items’ - by Endre Mozes & Dr Edward Markov of Take-A-Pen www.take-a-pen.org , and in Russian based on a call from Giyus.org , about an article
of the Terrorism Information Center on the http://ws.collactive.com/points/point?id=BKyJOcyj40yw website.
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3) Letter-Writing
Call : Last update: 9 September 2007
(original: 21May)
130 rocket victims in the
PALESTINIAN ROCKETS KILL
ISRAELI WOMAN AND HANDICAPPED BOY IN SDEROT
|
|
Shirel Friedman, 32, Z”L, of Sderot |
Shirel Friedman and Chai
Shalom were the 14th and 15th
Victims of Palestinian Kassam Rockets.
Write your letter stressing that
Some European newspapers say Kassams are ‘harmless home-made' rockets – but it’s simply
untrue. Think of this: 15 rocket victims
in
130 rocket victims in the
Or 700 rocket
victims in the
TAKE-A-PEN'S Letter-Writing
Call:
Whenever you read about Gaza or see a newspaper
down-playing the Kassams rockets as harmless, or now -
Write your letter to your paper and/or TV station!. On any aspect of the
Palestinian violence, either inside
You
can protest the indifference of the Western media and politicians to the
long-time suffering of Sderot's Jewish population, living under siege for more
than six years. Your letter may point out certain European newspaper's recent
trick; to stress Palestinian losses due to Israeli operations only, without
telling about the ongoing Palestinian anti-Israeli atrocities, committed by the
Palestinians unilaterally for a long time before, and also about the
Israeli self-constraint for the same long time.
You
may read some supporting info here below. E.M.
On 22nd
May evening a young Israeli woman, Shirel Friedman, 32, died from a direct
Palestinian rocket hit at her car in Sderot.
After more than 15 Kassam rockets received
that day, at 9:30 pm three further rockets hit Sderot, one directly Ms. Shirel Friedman's
car parked at the commercial center of the town. Shirel – a beautiful name
meaning 'Song of God' - suffered from injuries to her limbs and stomach. She
was evacuated by a Magen David Adom
(Red Cross) crew to the
On June 2 Chai Shalom, a 13 year-old wheelchair-bound boy, who had
cerebral palsy, was deaf and mute, and had congenital heart problems, also
died, in Beer Sheva's Soroka
Hospital, of injuries suffered from a direct hit of a Palestinian Kassam rocket
at the autobus of the institute of handicapped children in Sderot. All fifteen children
were injured. Chai Shalom – his name meaning ‘Living
Peace’ - became the 18th victim in Sderot.
All eighteen Israeli victims of the
Kassam rockets, including Shirel – ‘Song of God’ - and Chai
Shalom have been non-combatants.
Just think of it: 18 victims in
|
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Shirel Friedman's funeral on 22 May
2007 |
A
central question is: whether the 'occupation' is really the Palestinians’
main problem?
In addition to their endless aggression
against
After its long-kept unilateral
self-constraint proved to be counter-productive,
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Palestinian Rocket Barrage on Israeli civilian population
in Sderot
By Endre Mozes
21 May
2007 – Updated Sept. 9
Is the
'occupation' really the Palestinians' main problem? There are no
Israelis in
In the same
period also 140 Kassam rockets were fired at the Israeli civilian population of
Sderot and its vicinity, mostly by gunmen of the Hamas; of the official rulers of Palestinian Authority. However, their attempt to draw
While Hamas
demonstrates again that it has remained a terrorist organization – as it was
classified by the US, UK and the whole UN in the past – Israel on the other
hand demonstrated remarkable constraint and proved to be a moderate even in front
of such harshest Hamas violations of the previous truce.
Schools
have been closed in Sderot and more sensitive parts of Sderot's civilian
population have been evacuated. Israel's PM, Minister of Defense and the Chief
of Staff all agreed not to launch a major ground operation to Gaza, but to
target from the air directly the Hamas perpetrators of the Kassam rocket
attacks, and them only. The Israeli government declared that until the Hamas
continues the indiscriminate bombing of the civilian population in Sderot and
elsewhere in
Read two
further writings about Sderot right below. Read 2
relevant Readers’ Letters; ‘2503 Children
Don’t Go to School in Sderot and
And
wherever you see a distorted description of the situation in
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Briefing
by FM Livni to the Diplomatic Corps in
|
18 May 2007 |
|
"Israeli
citizens in the southern part of |
American reporters witness the sheer terror of rockets
in Sderot
http://web.israelinsider.com/Articles/Security/11381.htm
quoted in Take-A-Pen www.take-a-pen.org
4) Take-A-Pen's Letter-Writing Call Update
21July 2007 (original: 6 May)
Write Your Letter against British Boycott, Bias and Cynicism
Clear Evidence that British Journalism is
Biased!
Write your short reader's letter to your paper!
Write also in other countries, this boycott call's importance is global.
The British National Union of
Journalists called the British government and others to boycott
We have to do our best against it. Because this is not a one-time
event. This is only the climax of the long-time on-going incitement against
Many British papers have
condemned this NUJ boycott call. We, Take A Pen, do
not do this - at least not fully. Why?
Because, although we do despise the boycott call's content and the NUJ
for doing this, however we appreciate the clarity this NUJ boycott call
generated. For a long time this is the
first totally open, sincere, non-hypocritical, direct British declaration of a
sensitive and ugly fact; a fact we knew for years but couldn't easily
prove. With this formal decision the
representatives of the British journalists actually issued a formal certificate:
‘Certificate’ witnessing
that:
”A very large part of
the British media and of British journalists is institutionally biased against
Israel, ignorant about Israel and in its misinformed blind hatred ready to
leave behind all decency and journalistic
ethics, looking only for actively harming Israel and its people.”
Until this ‘certificate’
is formally withdrawn and the inciters of this active hatred are ousted from their rows, the British journalist community as a whole will
have been declared by itself to be incompatible and disqualified for any
impartial and honest coverage of what
happens in and around Israel. Active perpetrators of hatred against one side in
a dispute obviously can not pose themselves as honest reporters or commentators
in that same dispute.
As said many British writers and many British papers have condemned the
NUJ boycott against Israel, from the
Evening Standard and The Times to The Guardian, from the Daily Telegraph to The
Independent. Others, like The BBC have
been conspicuous in their word-twisting, only to avoid issuing a clear
condemnation. But all in all one can
appreciate the lot of disapproving writings in
The problem is that the boycott
call is only the tip of the iceberg of hatred-driven British journalism when it
comes to
Our, Take-A-Pen's politically independent volunteers around the world
follow world media in up to 18 languages.
So we are in the position to realistically compare international media
phenomena and tendencies. We found it
sadly and have been saying it for years, that a large part of the British
mainstream media covers the Arab-Israeli conflict and the life in
Bias: For years Take-A-Pen’s
criticism sent to the British media about their bias, even in thoroughly
documented cases, were rarely considered and honestly corrected (like in
one case by the Guardian), but were typically shrugged off (like by The
Independent). The worst case is again the BBC, which, after our critical
studies targeted us with several legal threats, aiming at intimidating us. This
is the actual practice about free speech of The BBC; self-declared champion of
free speech. (Seven threatening BBC mails are in our files).
It would be tempting to elaborate now on what many analysts say and
demonstrate with hundreds of examples, that the BBC News has been strongly
biased for years, but no more need. Recently both Arab sources and the BBC
itself declared, as if for the defence of the
kidnapped Alan Johnston, that the BBC's activity in
Cynicism: It would be tempting to discuss the cynical BBC's
championing freedom of information and spending
But let's withstand these temptations for distraction, today there is
no more need for further detailed proofs.
The debate 'Is the British
journalism biased?' is over. It has been concluded 'Guilty of
Bias', based on evidence issued by the most authentic forum possible; by
the British journalists themselves. The National Union of Journalists' decision to boycott Israel,
and Israel alone of all the countries and nations on earth, is full-proof
evidence that the representative body of British journalism discriminates
Israel and is actively hostile to Israel, biased and also much worse than
biased, this is totally incompatible with the least of journalistic ethics. Not reporting the facts but distorting them, not
objectively reporting but trying to manipulate them by active participation.
Not much consolation is that parts of the British journalism hate the
Had not fifty three (as voted) but
only five percent of British journalists believed in mediaeval blood
libels like that
Apartheid? In fact Israel is probably the
first and only country and nation in human history, which, while involved in a long and bloody war with a
dreadful enemy, did never do any harm to the ethnic minority akin with that
enemy, living within the country; Israel’s Arab population. 1.2 million Arabs are living in
We see the for example the
This NUJ boycott call
disqualifies the British press to claim to be a world leader, what until
now - it turns out, wrongly - many believed.
The honest silent majority of the British journalism has to work very
hard and with exceptional
perseverance in order to cure this severe professional and ethical illness
within, revealed by the detestable boycott call, and to do this both for pure
justice and in order to regain its good name.
Think about it. And even more important:
write your letter about it.
Write your short reader's
letter to your paper!
Write also in other countries, this boycott
call's importance is global.
.
Earlier
Take-A-Pen Letter-Writing Calls –
See in our ‘Archive for Past Letter-Writing Calls’ at: http://www.take-a-pen.org/CallForAction\CFA_Archive.html
5)
Write about the Crisis
in
but Because of
Orchestrated Islamist Incitement – updated June 5, 2007
6) The
40th Anniversary of the ‘Six Day War’ – Today, June 5, 2007
7) "
8) EXCLUSIVE interview with Albert
Einstein - about nuclear threat and about 'Taking A Pen'
9)
Article about Letter-Writing Calls
10) The Tragedy in Beit Hanoun
11) The Second
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