The Appalling Duma Arson Case

Saturday, December 5 2015

UPDATES 9:00 AM

***Palestinian terror in the last 24 hours . . .

The two worst attacks:

At 1:24 pm, a Palestinian terrorist in Abud close to Neve Tzuf stabbed an IDF soldier in the neck. The soldier remains in “critical but stable” condition this morning. Fortunately, the terrorist was shot and killed.

At 2:59 pm, a Palestinian terrorist driving a car rammed into a group of soldiers near Ofra. Two soldiers remain hospitalized this morning. Fortunately, the terrorist was shot and killed.

The timing of the above two attacks was not surprising. Between 1 pm and 3 pm on Fridays, we always have Palestinian attacks–as the mosque imams finish their Friday speeches calling on those in attendance to “go out and kill Jews.”

There were more than 40 more Palestinian shooting, “rock”, and Molotov firebomb attacks throughout Judea, Samaria, and eastern Jerusalem.

***The Islamist apologist and Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom strikes again . . .

Margot Wallstrom. Note the Islamic pendant on her necklace.

Thinking about the above attacks brings into sharp relief the comments made Friday by Wallstrom in the Swedish Parliament, comments that identically parrot the PLO line. Commenting on why she doesn’t condemn Palestinian terror against Israeli men, women, and children, Wallstrom accused Israel of “extrajudicial executions” and “disproportionate force.” 

So let’s get this straight . . . just in the context of yesterday.

In Wallstrom’s world, what should an IDF soldier do if he is being stabbed in the neck by a terrorist as happened yesterday at Abud? 

Is it an “extrajudicial execution” to kill the terrorist? Is it using “disproportionate force”?

In Wallstrom’s world, what should a group of IDF soldiers do when they see that a terrorist is ramming his car into their fellow soldiers as happened yesterday at Ofra?

Is it an “extrajudicial execution” to kill the terrorist? Is it using “disproportionate force”?

The Wallstroms of the world are perfectly happy with the “vulnerable Jew”–the one who has his hands tied behind his back and cannot respond to violence against him. Put a gun in the Jew’s hand so he can fight back, and the Wallstroms of the world will always rush to condemn the Jew.

***Speaking of the Wallstroms of the world . . .

There was a new survey out yesterday “American Attitudes Toward the Middle East and Israel,” which purports to show various and sundry items concerning Americans’ attitude toward Israel.

For example, the survey findings indicate that 37% of Americans believe that Israel has “too much influence on American politics” (of course this suggests that 63% do not). Another finding is that Americans believe that Israelis and Palestinians are equally to blame for the deteriorating situation in Judea and Samaria. Yet another says that 27% of Americans want economic sanctions against Israel and another 10% want “more serious action.”

The underlying theme of the survey is that American support for Israel is eroding.

Are any of these findings credible?

Your humble servant thinks not.

As with any “survey” or “poll”, one has to ask such questions as: Who commissioned the survey? Who wrote the questions? Who compiled the results? and numerous others. Only by answering these questions can we ascertain if any bias was involved.

In this case, the survey’s reliability is called into question immediately. 

The survey was conducted on behalf of the Brookings Institute by “nonresident Senior Fellow” Shibley Telhami. In fact, the survey is specifically entitled “American Attitudes Toward the Middle East and Israel: A public opinion poll by Shibley Telhami.”

Listing Telhami as the author of the poll is somewhat unprecedented. When was the last time you heard of an individual authoring a poll? It begs the question “who is Shibley Telhami?”

Telhami was born an Israeli-Arab in a village about fifteen minutes from Haifa, but has for at least the past decade occasionally described himself as “a moderate Palestinian-American.” Would it surprise you to learn that Telhami is the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland? Would it surprise you to learn that Telhami serves on the board of “Human Rights Watch” and is the Chair of “Human Rights Watch/Middle East?”–an organization that never misses an opportunity to castigate Israel.

We could go on and on, but you get the idea. Telhami is completely biased against Israel. 

What is also quite amazing about this survey is that the report lists the “Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland” as its sole sponsor.

Are you following this? The survey was authored and funded by Shibley Telhami.

Astonishing.

Again, anyone who would put any credence in a survey produced under these circumstances is out of her or his mind. 

TODAY’S BLOG:

Your humble servant is angry, in fact infuriated, with the so-called investigation into the fire at Duma.

To refresh your memory, on July 31st–just over 4 months ago–a Molotov firebomb was thrown into the home of the Dawabsheh family in the middle of Duma, a Palestinian settlement (pop. 2200) in northern Samaria near Shechem. In the ensuing fire, 18 month old Ali died immediately, his 4 year old brother was badly burned, his father died from from burns several days later, and his mother died of her injuries five weeks afterwards.

As we have said repeatedly on this blog, it was a horrific attack–and whoever did it should be prosecuted to the maximum extent of the law. 

There were no witnesses to the actual throwing of the firebombs. A next door neighbor and family member, Ibrahim , stated the next day that he had seen two masked men “standing over” over the mother and father as the house burned. That statement has never been corroborated. 

Immediately, the Israeli investigative services (read “Shin Bet”) decided because of Hebrew graffiti written on house that the attack had been carried out by “Jewish right-wing extremists” and launched a witch hunt against anyone who fit that definition. Never mind, that numerous attacks perpetrated by Palestinians have featured “Hebrew graffiti” being written on buildings.

The “left-wing” Israeli media pounced on the story and has run with lurid headlines ever since.

This was all despite the fact that information quickly emerged that the Dawabsheh family was “at war” with another clan in the settlement, and that numerous Dawabsheh family homes had been burned in the previous 12 months (another one burned two months ago).

Young Jews from Judea and Samaria were rounded up and thrown into “administrative detention” (read “prison”) without access to a lawyer, without being charged with any crime, and without any semblance of adherence to their civil rights. Some of them have now been in “administrative detention” for almost three months.

In recent days, the treatment of these “detainees” has been revealed by organizations working for their release. Locked in super-cold rooms with their hands handcuffed to chairs from 7 am to 12 pm, and not being allowed to sleep because of blaring noise piped into their rooms are just two examples of that treatment.

Throughout all of this, none of the detainees confessed to anything.

All of which brings us to three days ago.

One day after the United Nations had blasted Israel for making no arrests in the crime, Israel’s Shin Bet suspiciously let it leak that there was “a major development in the case.” By yesterday, in a gush of excitement, the Israeli media reported joyously that the police had “arrested far-right extremists” who had firebombed the Dawabshe home.

However, this was outrageously untrue.

Yes, security forces rounded up more Jewish youth. But that is it.

Again, there is no evidence. According to a police statement, the youth are being investigated “in the context of concrete suspicions” concerning the Duma attack. More than this they are being held because they are “suspected of belonging to a Jewish terrorist organization.” Suspicions . . . and suspected . . . 

Even Israel’s Minister of Public Security, Gilad Erdan, said yesterday that no charges are forthcoming–and that the “development” of these charges would take “a long time.”

Interestingly, one of those detained in the latest round-up is a teenaged American citizen whose family contacted the American Embassy in Israel to try to get their son out of detention. They were told that the Embassy would not help because “it is an internal Israeli affair” (this is the same American Embassy that endlessly sticks its nose into Israeli affairs).

Following this rejection, the family has now gone to court.

A lawyer for one of the detainees, Chai Haber, had this to say yesterday: “In a country that purports to be a democracy, people can be made to disappear without anyone being able to examine the actions of law enforcement in the investigation. I am certain that when the picture becomes clearer we will see that the announcement that progress has been made in the investigation was not in touch with reality.”

Another lawyer for the detainees said this: “It’s hard to find justification for preventing meetings with attorneys. This is especially true in the case of a minor who is under arrest, and when you don’t know anything about the suspicions or the state of your client and everything is cloaked in secrecy.”

Yet another lawyer denounced the detentions say that: “[Shin Bet’s tactics] befit a Third World country.”

True. True. And true again.

The Duma case will certainly go down in Israeli history as one of the sorriest episodes in Israeli jurisprudence.

It is appalling that Jewish youth have been taken into detention for months at a time without being charged with a crime, without legal representation, without access to their families, and without any civil rights whatsoever.