NYT Photos of the Day: Militant Settlers

New York Times captions the following photo as follows:

"The more militant settlers live in isolated outposts like Givat Tal.
Tens of thousands of settlers will like have to move under any
Israeli-Palestinian agreement, and many fear violence with ensue"

These are definitely the most armed and dangerous, militant settlers I've ever seen.

The captions on the NYT slide show present a subjective, biased view that lacks any background on the photos. For example, lets compare and contrast the following:

The following photo is captioned:

Up the road to the north, in Hawara, Palestinians scrubbed the walls
of a mosque that had been desecrated with graffiti.
Local villagers think this graffiti is the work of a
militant West bank settlement financed by a charity in Brooklyn.

Its irrelevant to note that the IDF and police have not found the vandals yet, despite having arrested dozens of people. In the past, Palestinians, Israeli radical leftists and ISM members have intentionally vandalized Palestinian property to libel the settlers.

Contrast the above photo with the next one in the NYT slide show:

Under armed escort, a group of settlers restored
a Jewish shrine inside a Palestinian refugee camp.

Here's a simple FAQ guide as a service to Muqata readers, with key points the NYT decided isn't important when you formulate your opinion.

Q: What "Jewish shrine" is this?
A: Tradition marks this "Jewish shrine" as the tomb of Joseph, one of the 12 sons of Jacob.

Q: Why do Jews want to go there if it's in the middle of a "Palestinian Refugee camp?"
A: This tomb, known in Hebrew as "Kever Yosef" is mentioned in the Olso accords as a Jewish holy site. The Oslo accords stipulated the Palestinian Authority responsibility "to ensure free, unimpeded and secure access to the relevant Jewish holy sites", and envisioned the inside of the tomb being guarded by Israeli soldiers, enabling daily access for students and pilgrims.

Q: Why did this "Jewish Shrine" need to be "restored"?
A: Palestinians rioted in October 2000, murdering IDF Border policeman Madhat Yousef, and attacking the IDF security contingent at Joseph's Tomb. The IDF troops evacuated the site, and on October 7, 2000 it was handed over to the Palestinian police. Hours after the handover, a Palestinian mob ransacked the structure, smashing the dome with pickaxes and setting the compound on fire.

Q: Why are the settlers under armed escort?
A: Because if they weren't under armed escort, they would be lynched by Palestinians thugs. Here's a rather brutal video of Palestinians lynching Israelis.

A few years ago, I made this video when visiting Kever Yosef. Having been there a few weeks ago, I can say that the site is still in shambles, and any restoration work done by "settlers" is immediately destroyed.

Over 300,000 trees burned down in Israel on June 29...

Help JNF replant these forests!

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד

NYTimes: Force Works better than Diplomacy.

It doesn't get any more politically incorrect than this -- and I wonder if The New York Times was crying when writing this article?

As the Obama administration tries to broker a resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, there is a dark truth lurking: force has produced clearer results in this dispute than talk.

...Meanwhile for many Israelis, the past decade looks like a model of the primacy of military action over diplomacy.

Through relentless commando operations and numerous checkpoints, the Israeli Army ended suicide bombings and other terrorist acts from the West Bank; since its 2006 war with the Lebanese militia Hezbollah, widely dismissed as a failure at the time, the group has not fired one rocket at Israel; and Israel’s operation against Gaza last December has greatly curtailed years of Hamas rocket fire, returning a semblance of normality to the Israeli south.

Two years ago, Israeli fighter planes destroyed what Israel and the United States say was a budding Syrian nuclear reactor; and last year in Syria, Israeli agents assassinated Imad Mugniyah, the top military operative for Hezbollah and a crucial link to its Iranian sponsors, a severe blow to both Hezbollah and Iran.

Diplomatic efforts, whether the Oslo peace talks of the 1990s or the Turkish-mediated negotiations with Syria last year have, by contrast, produced little. Every Israeli military operation of recent years — including the December invasion of Gaza that was condemned Friday by the United Nations Human Rights Council by a vote of 25 to 6 and referred to the Security Council following a report by a committee led by Richard Goldstone — has come under international censure.

Today all are viewed here as having been judged prematurely and unfairly but having delivered the goods — keeping Israel safe through deterrence. (NYTimes)

Obviously, they have to compare Israel's self defense to the Palestinian Terror -- and claim that Palestinian Terror works as well (which is true, since Peres and Rabin caved into Palestinian terror which started the Oslo accords, proving that crime pays...kidnapping Gilad Shalit will result in the release of a thousand terrorists...Olso was all about releasing terrorists...)

Read the article. Draw your own conclusions.

Visiting Israel?
Learn to Shoot at Caliber-3 with top Israeli Anti-Terror Experts!

Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד