Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Israel's Pillar Of Cloud(Fire) From Exodus To The AMALEKITES To "Erase Gaza From The Map" & Over 100 Gazan Civilians Murdered Yet Defended By Israel And USA Gov'ts & Their Respective Media



Israel's Pillar Of Cloud(Fire) To "Erase Gaza From The Map" & Over 100 Gazan Civilians Murdered Yet Defended By Israel And USA Gov'ts & Their Media
Updated: 8:57 PM Nov. 20.
This is what Israel and Obama call targeted or surgical strikes in the middle of a city in Gaza. Surgical not so much! Just a blatant effort to terrorize and even kill civilians .


Overall, the Israeli onslaught has killed 108 Palestinians, including at least 24 children, and wounded roughly 800 people, including roughly 227 children, according to Gaza health officials, with tolls on the rise.

Day 6: Outrage, Protests Show Gaza Solidarity in Middle East :Death toll climbs on sixth day of Israeli attacks by Common Dreams, Nov. 19, 2012
...Washington supports Israel’s “right to defend itself” then claims a spurious neutrality – as if Israel’s bombs on Gaza didn’t come from the United States as assuredly as the Fajr-5 rockets come from Iran.

Meanwhile, the pitiful William Hague holds Hamas “principally responsible” for the latest war. But there is no such evidence that this is true. According to The Atlantic Monthly, the Israeli killing of a “mentally unfit” Palestinian who strayed towards the border may have been the start of the latest war. Others suspect the killing of a small Palestinian boy may have been the provocation. But he was shot dead by the Israelis when an armed Palestinian group tried to cross the frontier and was confronted by Israeli tanks. In which case Palestinian gunmen – albeit not Hamas – may have kicked-off the whole shooting-match.
Quotes from: Journalistic Cliches: 'Surgical Air Strikes', 'Rooting Out Terror', and 'Cyber-Terrorism' Cannot Conceal Reality By Robert Fisk November 19, 2012 "The Independent"

Update 8:29 PM

Obama and the Western Colonialist should take note as other Middle Eastern nations show support for Gaza against Israel and the interfering Americans who always side with the Israelis and ignore the death of civilians in Gaza or the crimes committed by Israel. President Obama can waffle all he wants but he must take a stand and stand on the side of the Rule of Law and International Law and morality or will he stand firmly on the side of Israel unconditionally.

If the Israel's intentions are to target Hamas Terrorists then why target journalists , the Media in Gaza, a national bank and innocent civilians -it should be clear Israel is out to undermine what civil society is left in Gaza so they can continue to tray to starve them out . Unfortunately if they try to cross over on the water the Israelis as is their habit is to shoot to kill anyone beyond the one mile safe zone. During Caste lead the Israelis destroyed cement factories and other industrial sites plus the United Nations compound and targeted journalists and first responders when they do the "double Tap". Americans either forgot that last war or think the Israelis should be permitted to obliterate Gaza and all of the people in it.

The Israelis are using a medieval or Christian Crusader form of warfare or even more ancient as in the long seige hoping to weaken the alleged enemy but then what ? Let them die in the streets from malnutrition and various diseaes cause by contaminated water because the IDF destroyed Gaza 's water and sewage treament facilities .

This is all very similar to what the US military did in Iraq bombing various utilities disrupting power destroying water and sewage plants blowing up hospitals police stations and schools and religious buildings all of which contravene International Law which neither the Americans or Israelis recognize as having authority over them.
Israel- Gaza conflict- Arab leaders show solidarity with Gaza
Published on Nov 20, 2012 by AussieNews1
There've been more Israeli airstrikes on Gaza in the past few hours which have killed nine people.
It pushes the death toll to over 120 Palestinians, since last Wednesday.
But as Jacky Rowland reports from Gaza, Arab leaders have arrived to show solidarity.
Source, credit to Aljazeera- http://www.aljazeera.com/video





And now a word from the Religious Right in the USA via Right Wing Watch
Liberty Counsel: In Re-Electing Obama, America Has Adopted "Sin As Official Public Policy" Published on Nov 20, 2012 by RWWBlog

Two weeks after the re-election of President Obama, Mat Staver and Matt Barber are warning that we have brought God's judgment upon this nation for doing so.



What is odd about this pronouncement is that it does not match the reality of what Obama is actually doing. For instance they call Obama anti-Israel and yet the Obama administration has in fact defended Israel's latest attack on Gaza. They call Obama a socialist yet he has spent billions bailing out private banks , investment firms and private industries such as the auto industry.

Obama is also far from being a pacifist after continuing the bombing in Afghanistan and taking on Qaddafi and giving the green light spending some six months non stop bombing of Libya. Obama has widened the drone wars and does not apologize for these attacks and Obama has allowed for the targeted assassinations of alleged terrorists. Obama did nothing while Israel carried out targeted assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists .

Obama has still not condemned the brutal crackdown on protesters in Bahrain or Saudi Arabia.

Obama ordered the arrest and indefinite detention of Whistleblower Bradley Manning and has not treated him with kid gloves but rather Manning has undergone physical and psychological abuses tantamount to torture under International Law.

Obama has banned certain torture techniques but also allows the military and CIA to use a number of other techniques which under International Law constitute torture on detainees but now refers to them as Enhanced interrogation Techniques.
Obama has also not taken any action to investigate the police brutality visited upon the Occupy Movement . You would think the right would be pleased about these actions or in some cases lack of action.

In the English version the Israelis are calling their latest "Action" against Gaza "Pillar of Defense" whereas in Israeli media it is called "Pillar of Cloud" which is a reference to the Biblical account of Moses and the Israelites exodus from Egypt . In order to hold back the Egyptian army God creates a "Pillar of Fire" . Once the Israelites have made their journey through the Sea of Reeds on the sea bed as God holds up the waters on both sides creating a path to let them pass the Pillar of Fire vanishes and of course the Egyptian army tries to cross through the path made by God God allows the water to come crashing down wiping out the Egyptian army . 

It is noteworthy that the Israelis in taking part in a war of aggression uses the Biblical notion of the Pillar of Cloud or Pillar of Fire in order to not just justify the assault on the innocent civilians of Gaza but to give it a Biblical and religious context to put forth the idea that per usual the People's Of Israel /The Israelites are the chosen of God and whatever they do is sanctified by God and need not to be approved by man or International Law.

Using such language the Israelis can compare the evil Egyptians in the time of Moses to the evil Palestinians who are the enemies of Israel and therefore by extension the enemies of God and so to completely exterminate the Palestinians would be justified. I mentioned previously this is the Hebrew or Israelite notion of "harem" annihilation or Genocide as required by God as God ordered when dealing with the Canaanites, the Amalikites etc. that none be left alive including babies and toddlers and the men and the women because the land upon which these peoples lived was not theirs to occupy but was promised to the Israelites. So the Palestinians are also in breach of God's law by remaining on soil that God gave to the Israelites.
Here's an explanation of the terms Pillar of Cloud and Pillar of Fire as used in the Book of Exodus in the Bible that is the Old Testament sourced from The Jewish Virtual Library
PILLAR OF CLOUD AND PILLAR OF FIRE

The earliest traditions of the Exodus from Egypt refer to the pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, which accompanied the Children of Israel on their way through the desert (Ex. 13:21–22). The visible symbol of the presence of God caused a panic among the Egyptians as it cut them off from the Israelites (Ex. 14:19b, 24a), and continued to guide and protect the latter uninterruptedly throughout their wanderings.

Later generations remembered it as a special sign of divine favor (cf. Ps. 78:14), no less important than the parting of the Sea of Reeds itself. Another early tradition connected the cloud with the *Tent of Meeting. According to the view attributed by critics to the author of the Elohist account (E), the pillar of cloud served not as a regular escort marching at the head of the people, but as an intermittent presence, descending from time to time to the entrance of the Tent of Meeting when God conversed with Moses (Ex. 33:9–10; Num. 11:25; 12:5).

The priestly authors, on the other hand, taught that "a cloud of the Lord" (not a pillar) with a fiery appearance by night, permanently covered the Tabernacle from the day of its completion, lifting only to signal the breaking of camp for a new journey (Ex. 40:34–38; Num. 9:15–23; 10:11–12, 34; 14:14). The Divine Presence in Solomon's Temple was similarly accompanied by the descent of the cloud (I Kings 8:10–11; cf. Ex. 16:10; Lev. 16:2) though the pillar of cloud and of fire did not accompany the Israelites into the Promised Land.

Note I have also borrowed this analysis from Philip Jenkins illuminating book Laying Down The Sword: Why We Can't Ignore The Bible's Violent Verses on Biblical cases of harem /annihilation/extermination /genocide as ordered by God.
also note Christians have also used such incidents in the Bible to justify their own Genocidal attacks on various peoples who they believed stood in their way and whom they Demonized as being as evil as the Canaanites or AMALEKITES (see notes at end of post).

and from the Real News Network:
Israel's government and its media have joined forces to defend Israel's unnecessary war against Gaza.Israel's Media Joins the WarIsrael's media rallies support for war as politicians jump on bandwagon for attack ahead of elections. 
Alongside the military assault on Gaza, the Israeli army has a adopted a new media strategy which has influenced coverage of the war in the Israeli press. Unlike in Operation Cast Lead four years ago, this time Israel decided to allow journalists into the Gaza strip, and has streamlined its process of delivering material from the battlefield to the press conference. The Israeli media has adopted the government's line that only military targets are being hit regardless of the rising Palestinian casualty toll, reported at 115 on Monday night. The Real News' Lia Tarachanky summarizes the coverage of Operation Pillar of Defense (Pillar of Cloud or Pillar of Fire ala Moses and the exodus from Egypt) in the Israeli press, quotes Editor-in-Chief of Ha'aretz Aluf Benn, and speaks to Michael Omer-Man, the Head of the Newsdesk at Jerusalem Post Online. Omer-Man is also the author of the analysis and news blog




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Journalist Robert Fisk notes that far too many journalists and the Media in general accepts the Israeli' Government propaganda about its latest "war on Gaza" . The Media are either too lazy or themselves immune to the deaths of over 100 innocent Palestinians while making a fuss over the 3 Israelis killed in this conflict.

Sadly even Rachel Maddow with whom I more often than not agree with sounds like another Media hack for the Israel government and for President Obama in speaking about the current conflict she ignores the deaths of over 100 innocent Gazan civilians compared to 3 Israelis killed. Listening to her and other media pundits you would think that the rockets sent by Hamas into Israel had destroyed multiple building and killed hundreds or thousands of Israelis -this conflict is not comparable to 9/11 so it would be refreshing if the media including Rachell Maddow could be a bit more objective when it comes to Israel's propaganda. Maddow like Obama appears to accept the Israeli propaganda which ignores that Israel is the oppressor not the Palestinians. It is Israel which has turned Gaza into a giant open prison where the prisoners have been put on a strict diet and whose infrastructure has been obliterated .

Is Maddow just naive on this subject or just reflecting the knee jerk American /Neocon/Neoliberal response to defending Israel unconditionally. Besides even if Israel does not send in ground forces this is already a war of aggression. According to Maddow and Obama killing /murdering innocent civilians is justified because one can only surmise that the Palestinians are getting what they deserve since they have refused to leave Gaza that is self-deport themselves to some other nation. Even she seems to think the Gazans somehow have a military equal to that of Israel and is therefore an existential and imminent threat to Israel -this is nonsense . over a million people in Gaza are being collectively punished by Israel which under International Law is a crime. Maybe like other liberals she believes taking a moderate view of the conflict this absolve her for ignoring the War Crimes and Crimes against humanity committed by Israel . If one hopes for justice on this conflict then the Israeli government must end its siege of Gaza and allow the free flow of goods and people in and out of Gaza.

So here's Rachel Maddow on Gaza and Israel as she ignores the death and destruction caused to Gaza by Israel's first class military machine which is fed by the American government .She appears to treat the whole issue as if it were a trivial matter. It is not a trivial matter to the over one million Palestinians in Gaza who are on a daily basis barely struggling to stay alive. She doesn't mention that over 100 innocent Gazan civilians have been killed or that according to real journalist on the ground that Israel began this fight by killing a mentally disabled Gazan for the crime of approaching the pretend border of Israel .

As for Obama he is just parroting the party line towards Israel that all American presidents do since when it comes to Israel they must support it unconditionally.



Journalistic Cliches: 'Surgical Air Strikes', 'Rooting Out Terror', and 'Cyber-Terrorism' Cannot Conceal Reality By Robert Fisk November 19, 2012 "The Independent"
-- Terror, terror, terror, terror, terror. Here we go again. Israel is going to “root out Palestinian terror” – which it has been claiming to do, unsuccessfully, for 64 years – while Hamas, the latest in “Palestine’s” morbid militias, announces that Israel has “opened the gates of hell” by murdering its military leader, Ahmed al-Jabari.

Hezbollah several times announced that Israel had “opened the gates of hell” for attacking Lebanon. Yasser Arafat, who was a super-terrorist, then a super-statesman – after capitulating on the White House lawn – and then became a super-terrorist again when he realized he’d been conned by Camp David; he, too waffled on about the “gates of hell” in 1982.

And we journos are writing like performing bears, repeating all the clichés we’ve used for the past 40 years. The killing of Mr Jabari was a “targeted attack”, it was a “surgical air strike” – like the Israeli “surgical air strikes” which killed almost 17,000 civilians in Lebanon in 1982, the 1,200 Lebanese, most of them civilians, in 2006, or the 1,300 Palestinians, most of them civilians, in Gaza in 2008-9, or the pregnant woman and the baby who were killed by the “surgical air strikes” in Gaza last week – and the 11 civilians killed in one Gaza house yesterday. At least Hamas, with their Godzilla rockets, don’t claim anything “surgical” about them. They are meant to murder Israelis – any Israelis, man woman or child.

...Washington supports Israel’s “right to defend itself” then claims a spurious neutrality – as if Israel’s bombs on Gaza didn’t come from the United States as assuredly as the Fajr-5 rockets come from Iran.

Meanwhile, the pitiful William Hague holds Hamas “principally responsible” for the latest war. But there is no such evidence that this is true. According to The Atlantic Monthly, the Israeli killing of a “mentally unfit” Palestinian who strayed towards the border may have been the start of the latest war. Others suspect the killing of a small Palestinian boy may have been the provocation. But he was shot dead by the Israelis when an armed Palestinian group tried to cross the frontier and was confronted by Israeli tanks. In which case Palestinian gunmen – albeit not Hamas – may have kicked-off the whole shooting-match.

Day 6: Outrage, Protests Show Gaza Solidarity in Middle East :Death toll climbs on sixth day of Israeli attacks by Common Dreams, Nov. 19, 2012
The death toll in Gaza continued to rise on Monday -- 108 people at last count -- following a night of Israeli airstrikes in the densely populated occupied territory, which continued throughout the day Monday. Israeli forces openly targeted residential and public areas and continued targeting media centers in Gaza City -- making it increasingly difficult to report ongoing Israeli war crimes.

Civilian causalities doubled over the weekend as Monday marked the sixth day of attacks. Monday has proven to be the deadliest day so far with at least 24 deaths.

Overall, the Israeli onslaught has killed 108 Palestinians, including at least 24 children, and wounded roughly 800 people, including roughly 227 children, according to Gaza health officials, with tolls on the rise.

On Monday a missile struck a three-story home in Gaza City's Zeitoun area, destroying the building and several surrounding homes. Associated Press reported this morning:

Shell-shocked residents searching for belongings climbed over debris of twisted metal and cement blocks in the street...Sitting in mourning with her mother and siblings just hours after her father's death, 11-year-old Aya Kitati clutched a black jacket, saying she was freezing, even though the weather was mild. 'We were sleeping, and then we heard the sound of the bombs,' she said, then broke down sobbing.
The strike killed three adults and a 2-year-old boy, and wounded 42 people, officials said.


Another four were killed, including two children, in a strike on a sports stadium, adding to the alarming child death toll.

NOTES:
AMALEKITES from The Jewish virtual Library
(Note I added more paragraphing to the original text)
AMALEKITES (Heb.עֲמָלֵק), people of the Negev and the adjoining desert, a hereditary enemy of Israel from wilderness times to the early monarchy (Exod. 17:8–16; Judg. 3:13; 6:3; 10:12; I Sam. 14:48; ch. 15; ch. 30). Amalek, a son of Esau's son Eliphaz (Gen. 36:2), was presumably the eponymous ancestor of the Amalekites.
Amalek and Israel

According to the Bible, Amalek was the first enemy that Israel encountered after the crossing of the Sea of Reeds. Inasmuch as contemporary archaeology has convinced most biblicists that the biblical traditions of enslavement in Egypt, wilderness wandering, and conquest of the land are unhistorical, traditions about Amalek and Israel in the pre-settlement period probably reflect later realities. In effect, by setting encounters with Amalek in the days of Moses and Joshua, the writers of the Bible were saying that hostilities existed from time immemorial. Among these traditions we find that Amalekites attacked the Israelites in a pitched battle at Rephidim, which, to judge by the Bible (Ex. 17:6, 7, 8–16; 18:5), is in the neighborhood of Horeb; if the locality Massah and Meribah (17:7) is to be found in the region of Kadesh-Barnea or is identical with it (Num. 20:1–14, 24; Ezek. 47:19), then this battle was waged in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula.
The Book of Exodus relates that Joshua fought against Amalek under the inspiration of Moses, who was supported by Aaron and Hur, and that he mowed them down with the sword. Amalek was not destroyed, however, and at the end of this war Moses was ordered to write in a document, as a reminder, that the Lord would one day blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heaven. In commemoration of the victory, Moses built an altar which he called "YHWH-Nissi," and proclaimed that "The Eternal will be at war against Amalek throughout the ages." This implies that Israel is commanded to wage a holy war of extermination against Amalek (Deut. 25:12–19), for in the early days "the wars of Israel" and the "wars of the Lord" were synonymous expressions (cf., e.g., Judg. 5:23).


In the biblical traditions, Israel, after sinning through cowardice and lack of faith as a result of the discouraging report of the spies, turned around and "defiantly marched to the crest of the hill country" (Num. 14:44–45) against the divine command and was punished by sustaining a shattering blow at the hands of the Amalekites and Canaanites who inhabited the hill country, the former no doubt being confined to its southernmost end (Num. 14:45). In this particular case, therefore, YHWH, who according to Exodus 17:16 had sworn eternal enmity to Amalek, permitted Amalek to defeat Israel, but, since He had specifically warned Israel against this particular undertaking, there is no real contradiction between Exodus 17:16 and Numbers 14:45. It is possible that this tradition is based on abortive attempts by Israel to expand its holdings in the South during the premonarchic period (see Num. 13:29; 21:1–3, 4–34; Deut 1:44).


More closely historical than the Pentateuch's accounts of Amalek are the traditions set in the period of the Judges and the monarchy. During the period of the Judges, the Amalekites participated with other nations in attacks on the Israelite tribes. Together with the Ammonites, they joined Moab against Israel and were among those who captured "the city of palms" – apparently Jericho or the pasture lands of Jericho (Judg. 3:12–13). It seems probable that the wanderings of the Amalekites, or of a particular part of them, extended as far as Transjordan in the neighborhood of Moab or Ammon. (Some scholars (Edeleman in Bibliography) have argued that there was a northern Amalekite enclave adjoining Ephraimite territory.)


The Amalekites and the people of the East joined the Midianite raids on the Israelites in the time of *Gideon, and, like true desert tribes, undoubtedly participated in the destruction of the crops, as related in the Book of Judges (6:1–7). The Amalekites took part in the battles in the valley of Jezreel (6:33; 7:12) and perhaps also in the Jordan Valley, but there is no evidence that Gideon also fought with the Amalekites in his pursuit of the Midianites in Transjordan. In no case did the Amalekites as a whole suffer decisive defeat at this time and their center in the Negev was not harmed.


The decisive clash between Israel and Amalek came only with the advent of the monarchy, in the famous Amalekite war of *Saul. According to the biblical account, the war began as a result of a divine command of the Lord to Saul through Samuel to smite Amalek and destroy it, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass" (I Sam. 15:3). Although Samuel alludes to Amalek's provocation of Israel, "in opposing them on the way, when they came up out of Egypt" (15:2), there is no mention of the battle of Rephidim and of the victorious war of Moses and Joshua. Samuel's words more closely parallel the narrative about the attack of Amalek in the Book of Deuteronomy (25:17–19), which relates that the Amalekites attacked the Israelites on their way out of Egypt, "when you were famished and weary," and cut down the stragglers in the rear, without mentioning any victorious Israelite counteraction. Deuteronomy explicitly admonishes the Israelites to remember Amalek and blot out its memory from under heaven, whereas in the Exodus version this can only be inferred (see above).


The command imposed on Saul to subject the Amalekites to the ban (*ḥerem), however, conforms to the version in Deuteronomy. The dispute between Samuel and Saul with regard to the ḥerem was not over the command itself, but the extent to which it had been put into effect. Saul's act of extermination was not absolute, for he spared the best of the sheep and cattle – setting aside part for a sacrifice to God – and *Agag, king of Amalek.


It should be noted that even the deuteronomic ḥerem, though it does not allow for the sparing of persons (such as Agag), except for particular ones (like *Rahab) specified in advance, permits the taking of booty (e.g., Deut. 2:34–5; Josh. 8:26–27) except in special cases (Deut. 13:13 ff.; Josh. 6:17 ff.). Despite the "pre-deuteronomic" literary framework of chapter 15 and its prophetic-ideological aim, embedded in it is an ancient historical tradition about a war of extermination that reflects Saul's war against Amalek. This may be seen in the record of Saul's wars in which the war of Amalek receives special mention: "He did valiantly, and smote the Amalekites, and delivered Israel out of the hands of those who plundered them" (I Sam. 14:48). The matter was, therefore, a war of rescue as were the wars of the Judges, and it seems that because of its difficulty Saul vowed that in the event of success he would devote the spoil to the Lord by ḥerem.

And so it goes,

GORD.

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