ZGram - 10/10/2001 - "Israel reacts to yesterday's poll

[Ingrid Rimland]

Copyright (c) 2001 - Ingrid A. Rimland

ZGram - Where Truth is Destiny

October 10, 2001

Good Morning from the Zundelsite:

Nice to see the enemy squirm!  Today's Jerusalem Post Internet Edition
carries an article titled "Israel vs bin Laden in information war" in
response to yesterday's Newsweek poll.  Written by Herb Keinon, it's quite
a little gem about how things are done these days:

Read on:

Keinon, reporting from Jerusalem:

With Osama bin Laden blaming Israel for his attacks on America, and a
Newsweek poll showing a majority of Americans    believes terror against
America has to do with its close ties with    Israel, the Foreign Ministry
has begun an information campaign to    disabuse people of this notion.

Zundelsite:

Ever heard of trying to brush back an ocean tide with a broom?

Keinon:

"We are in a difficult position," one Foreign Ministry official said.
"On the one hand we want to keep a low profile. On the other hand, we
don't want it to be so low that we don't counter attempts to link us to
bin Laden's attacks."  The official described this linkage as "very
dangerous."

Zundelsite:

The dam is bursting, and there are not enough fingers on the Israeli's
hands to plug up the holes.

Keinon:

A Foreign Ministry team on Monday set up three working groups to deal
with the US operation in Afghanistan: the first will coordinate
diplomatic policy toward the US, the second will chart the country's
information campaign during the crisis, and the third will liaison with
Diaspora communities.

Zundelsite:

Now you know how it is done.  Even a blind hen can see that the Israeli
spin doctors are trying to put a good face on a very bad situation caused
by Israelis' repressive policies.

Keinon:

In its attempt to show there is no linkage between the attacks on New
York and Washington and Israel, the ministry has drawn up a number of
talking points for representatives abroad. In addition, it is in the
process of sending a number of prominent Israelis abroad to give
briefings on why there is no linkage between bin Laden's attacks and US
ties to Israel.

Zundelsite:

They may as well not try because any attempt will only highlight and lose
Israel even more credibility.

Keinon:

The talking points distributed to Israeli delegations abroad include
instructions not to bring up the linkage issue, but to be prepared with
answers if it comes up in the local media. The talking points include the
following:

Zundelsite:

These points are very revelatory, for they show that the Israelis know that
there are logical linkages, and thus they try to obfuscate them.

Keinon:

* The attacks on the US were not the result of any specific US policy,
but rather because of what the US represents. The attacks are part of the
war that fundamentalist, undemocratic forces have declared on the
enlightened, democratic world.

Zundelsite:

The Israelis must think the world really is made up of dummies.  What did
yesterday's poll reveal?

Keinon:

* The 1991 Gulf War was an ideological turning point for these
movements, when the US stationed forces in Islam's "holy of holies" -
Saudi Arabia.

Zundelsite:

Come on now.  Why did the terrorists not attack then, if that was the
reason for their anger?  Bin Laden was around.  The WTC and the Pentagon
were there.  And terrorists had hijacked planes before.    Something
obviously has changed the equation.  Could it have been the Clinton
Administration's blatantly close identification with Israel?  The top-heavy
make-up of the White House?  What is it that has brought about the change?
Apache helicopters assassinating Palestinians?  Israeli soldiers shooting
children's eyes out?

Keinon:

A number of years later bin Laden published various religious edicts
against the US, saying that the US was defiling the place where the
Prophet Muhammad lived.

Zundelsite:  There are many people now raising their eyebrows about the
heavy duty vilification of Bin Laden.  He may or may not be the guilty one,
but who is to say of the government refuses to reveal the evidence?

Keinon:

* Bin Laden has been behind a number of terrorist actions in Moslem
states. His basic goal is to replace secular Moslem regimes with regimes
based on Islamic law - all of which has no connection at all with Israel.

Zundelsite:

This is dangerous for Israelis - to keep focusing on this theological stuff
rather than examining their own behavior and policies.  It sure looks like
a primitive deflection maneuver.

Keinon:

* Bin Laden told the Italian newspaper La Republica in August 1998 that
the "International Islamic Front declares that the war has begun." The
preparation for the recent attacks in the US started no later than June
2000, before the Camp David summits, when negotiations between Israel and
the Palestinians were going strong - which shows that the attacks were
divorced from any connection to the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic
process.

Zundelsite:

Nobody is talking about the phony, one-sided diplomatic process being the
reason for the attacks.  It's Israel's brutal policies, shelling of refugee
camps, bulldozing of houses, uprooting of trees, building of ever more
Jewish settlements on Palestinian land, the killing of children - that is
what is at the bottom of all this hate!

Keinon:

* Attempts to show "understanding" for terror must be utterly rejected, and
dismissed as attempts to "justify the unjustifiable." Those who show an
"understanding" for terror are justifying and encouraging it.

Zundelsite:

Last blast:  When Jewish terrorists blew up the King David Hotel or
assassinate UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte, Israelis and Jews were
quick to justify their side's actions.  The same today - Sharon, Barak,
Netanyahu all justified their state terror against or because of
"Palestinian terror.  The world understands this perfectly!

[END]`

Thought for the Day:

"According to the London Jewish Chronicle, Rabbi David Goldberg said that
many Jews faced a 'crisis of conscience'..."

(http://www.irna.com/newshtm/eng/14133917.htm)