Might be surprised- Turns Out Hamas Likely Didn’t Kidnap and Kill the 3 Israeli Teens After All

[bigtree]

Last edited Sat Jul 26, 2014, 02:24 AM - Edit history (1)

_______________________________________

. . . the three Israeli teens whose killings gave Netanyahu pretext to attack and invade Gaza.

from Katie Zavadski at the New York Magazine:

When the bodies of three Israeli teenagers, kidnapped in the West Bank, were found late last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not mince words. "Hamas is responsible, and Hamas will pay," he said, initiating a campaign that eventually escalated into the present conflict in the region.

But now, officials admit the kidnappings were not Hamas's handiwork after all.

BuzzFeed writer Sheera Frenkel was among the first to suggest that it was unlikely that Hamas was behind the deaths of Gilad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel, and Eyal Yifrach. Citing Palestinian sources and experts the field, Frenkel reported that kidnapping three Israeli teens would be a foolish move for Hamas. International experts told her it was likely the work of a local group, acting without concern for the repercussions:

Gershon Baskin pointed out that Hamas has earlier this month signed an agreement to form a unity government with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, bridging, for the first time in seven years, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank and Gaza.

“They will lose their reconciliation agreement with Abbas if they do take responsibility for the kidnappings,” Baskin added.

Today, she was proven right:

After Israel's top leadership exhaustively blamed Hamas for kidnap of 3 teens, they've now admitted killers were acting as "lone cell."

read more: http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/07/hamas-didnt-kidnap-the-israeli-teens-after-all.html?mid=twitter_nymag


from Dell Cameron (Daily Dot) on July 25, 2014

The recent explosion of violence in Gaza may have been initially sparked by false or inaccurate claims, according to Israeli police.

The ongoing conflict began last month when three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped from a Jewish settlement in the occupied West Bank. Their bodies were later discovered in a field outside the city of Hebron. Before police were able to determine who was responsible, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu placed blame for the tragic deaths squarely on Hamas, Gaza’s elected political leadership—an accusation that may prove to be false.

On Friday, Chief Inspector Micky Rosenfeld, foreign press spokesman for the Israel Police, reportedly told BBC journalist Jon Donnisonhe that the men responsible for murders were not acting on orders of Hamas leadership. Instead, he said, they are part of a “lone cell.” Further, Inspector Rosenfeld told Donnison that if Hamas’ leadership had ordered the kidnapping, “they'd have known about it in advance.”

If the reported findings of the Israeli Police hold up and Hamas is officially cleared of any wrongdoing in the case of the three kidnapped Israeli teens, Netanyahu and the Israeli government may have to explain why a massive military operation, with an 80 percent rate of civilian casualties, was instigated under a false premise. And if violence in the West Bank continues to spread, the IDF may find itself divided on two fronts.

read: http://www.dailydot.com/politics/israel-gaza-kidnap-false-inaccurate/

related:

Sheera Frenkel ?@sheeraf 15h
My story @Buzzfeed 1month ago, in which Israeli officers say Hamas not behind the kidnap/killing of 3 Israeli teens: http://www.buzzfeed.com/sheerafrenkel/who-was-behind-the-kidnapping-of-three-israeli-teens-and-why …


*update*: Jon Donnison ?@JonDonnison. the BBC reporter who is the source for the story (Donnison claims Chief Inspector Micky Rosenfeld gave him the info) has at least one controversy associated with his reporting. A watchdog site called BBC Watch says Donnison tweeted a photo he said was in Gaza which turned out to be from Syria. Not exactly a scandal, but some might make something out of it to discredit this report - so, full disclosure and all that.

here's his apology for the mistake:



. . . seems straightforward to me and not something that should necessarily speak to his credibility, but hey, folks will talk. Anyway . . .

[bravenak]

1. Figures.nt

[Uncle Joe]

2. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, bigtree.

[Aerows]

3. Shoot first

ask questions later is how most conflict starts. Sad.

[kelliekat44]

95. And so, who is scheduled to speak to this on Sunday News shows? I guess, no one. nt

[delrem]

4. But, they got their pretext.

Now all they need do is mop up.

[A Simple Game]

69. Exactly, if it hadn't been this incident it would have been another. I doubt they were going

to be fussy.

At least they didn't have to manufacture an incident, unless they did.

[BlueStreak]

71. Israelis refer to "Cutting the Grass", equating slaying humanity with landscaping

They use this term "cutting the grass" to refer to their pattern of every year or so, going into the strip and murdering a bunch of Palestinians.

Yes, there is always a pretext.

But it is just necessary housekeeping, don't you see?

[Fantastic Anarchist]

101. Exactly. I'm surprised this isn't mentioned more. nt

[GoneFishin]

80. Of course. The "right to defend ourselves" is such a heap of bullshit.

It's about land theft. Saying that the continuous harassment of the Palestinians is not about stealing land is like bank robbers saying that robbing a bank is not about the money.

Whether during calm or during invasions, they always nibble away at the land.

[HooptieWagon]

5. Netanyahu has a lot of egg on his face...

... and a lot of blood on his hands. A stupid knee-jerk reaction rivaling that of the other war criminal, GW Bush.

[Unknown Beatle]

57. Mossad Motto

"By Way Of Deception, Thou Shalt Do War."

[Purveyor]

81. I highly recommend the book "By Way Of Deception - The Making and Unmaking

Of A Mossad Officer" by Victor Ostrovsky.

I read this book in the early 90's just because the israeli gov't tried so hard to have banned in the US. IIRC is was banned in Canada for sometime.

After reading this book, nothing about the israeli 'terrorist gov't' will surprise you.

[Unknown Beatle]

94. I'll look for it online

and probably buy it since I love to read. Thanks for the recommendation.

[dgibby]

68. Netanyahu, Bush, Cheney, Putin:

Brothers from another mother. Not a dime's worth of difference among them.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

6. I've got to ask...

Why is this part there?

Non-plagiarizing BuzzFeed writer Sheera Frenkel...

Why would someone have to specify that he was 'non-plagiarizing'?

[bigtree]

7. why don't I just remove that

. . . I tried to get the heart of the report and NYmag is responsible for the content.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

9. Sorry

not trying to be tangential - I just assumed it was some 'in-joke' type reference for which I was unaware of the antecedent. Perhaps another BuzzFeed writer got caught plagiarizing recently?

At any rate, this makes more sense than Hamas suddenly changing a long-standing policy of claiming all of its terrorist acts in the past. It doesn't make Hamas any 'nicer', but it certainly makes more sense at a point in time when they were seriously trying to get a 'unity government' working.

[bigtree]

12. they actually linked to the plagiarizing article in the report

. . . so you can read about it there.

[tishaLA]

13. one of the editors at BuzzFeed has been bisted for plagiarism

New reports just came out today about further instances of plagiarism, in fact.

[Scootaloo]

8. Didn't the Israeli government also have knowledge those poor kids were already dead?

[BillZBubb]

15. Yes. But they didn't have the bodies, so they played out the drama

That helped work gullible Israelis into war fever. The Likud got exactly what they wanted.

[cpwm17]

16. That's appears to be true

There were gunshots heard in the emergency phone call from one of the murdered settler kids and some talking that seemed to indicate that they were murdered. Israel officials put a gag order on the press preventing them from reporting the likely deaths of the kids, which gave Israel an excuse to go on a murderous rampage against the Palestinians in a collective punishment campaign designed to provoke the current hostilities.

[Ken Burch]

19. Not only that, but they lied to the kids' families for 18 days

telling the families the kids were still alive when they already knew they were dead.

[former9thward]

63. You don't know what they told the families.

When someone goes missing police always tell the relatives they could be alive even if they suspect they are dead. Until you have the bodies in front of you, you don't know for certain they are dead.

[former9thward]

64. No.

But I suspect you knew that. They may have suspected they were dead but you never say that until the bodies are in front of you because you don't know for certain.

[malaise]

10. 850 deaths later

Bibi also whipped up the vengeance meme.
That's the problem with being judge, jury and executioner.
And then they call themselves democracies.

[Tommy2Tone]

11. Israel pulled a Dubya and attacked Hamas and the West Bank

Exactly like Bush did with Iraq.

[cpwm17]

17. Yes, people that oppose Israel's unprovoked mass-murder against the Palestinians

are Hamas apologists, just like the folks that opposed the unprovoked mass-murder against Iraq were Saddam lovers. It's the same evil propaganda for the gullible public.

[7962]

59. No comparison. Saddam wasnt firing rockets at the US every day.

Nor was he calling for the destruction of the US either. Not to mention constructing dozens of tunnels into the country either. Hamas was planning a major attack in the coming months and they got caught.

[sulphurdunn]

90. Israel fired the first shot. Hamas shot back.

No evidence of any tunnels being used to do anything but smuggle things past the Israeli blockade until the start of hostilities. No credible evidence Hamas was planning an attack against Israel in the coming months.

[7962]

103. Here's the story, its up to you whether to believe it or not.

http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/07/25/hamas-prepared-attack-that-would-bring-israel-to-its-knees-israeli-defense-officials-say/

To your first point, Hamas still havent changed their declaration to destroy the entire state of Israel.

[MrModerate]

107. That article sounds like . . .

It was written by Netanyahu's press secretary. From my point of view it has no credibility.

[Purveyor]

112. Coming from algemeiner.com, it very well could have been. Algemeiner is the

israeli version of RT even if not openly funded by israel.

That said, I still think it important to read where their heads are at when not up their ass.

[MrModerate]

113. Yeah. Apparently, the IDF is the noble band of protectors . . .

While the Palestinians are terrorist vermin needing extermination. To think that this conflict could have been settled decades ago if the Israeli government didn't insist on continuing to steal land.

Sometimes I think the Israelis learned a different lesson from the Holocaust than the rest of us did.

[Flatulo]

114. Think about that a minute - just what would suffice as evidence? The only source for such

evidence would be Israel. It's impossible to verify.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

102. Settlements vs. Tunnels

You keep expanding settlements, then you deal with tunnels being made by people who will resist the theft of their land.

[BillZBubb]

14. No surprise. Netanyahu lied and Israeli propaganists beat the war drums.

Netanyahu needed a pretext to attack Hamas and he made one up. Nothing unusual about that. Typical disgusting behavior.

[SCVDem]

18. Would it be a reach?

The war is based on a lie so how far would they go to justify this massacre?

Would they down a commercial plane and blame Hamas? Remember the USS Liberty! Cancelling all flights was a good decision. This is after all, a war zone.

It sure is a good thing we're friends, huh?

[BlueCheese]

20. Not that it matters much, because the region is a powder keg that any spark will ignite...

But I thought the sequence was Israeli teens murdered, Palestinian teen murdered, rocket fire, invasion.

It was the rocket fire that was the reason or pretext (depending on your point of view), not the murder of the teens?

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

23. I think there was another step in there

Unless I'm conflating other events, I think I read in a post somewhere that after the Israeli teens were murdered and before the rocket fire, there were hundreds of arrests of Palestinians, and maybe even some Hamas guys killed by the IDF.

(Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, the cycle is so ongoing that it's hard to keep straight which bit of tit for tat is in response to whichever other bit.)

[BlueCheese]

25. I think you're right. I should have included that. eom

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

33. Found it again.

link to comment noting the rockets were fired after 6 Hamas types were killed by Israel.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

38. Yes, there was a "limited" bombing of Gaza -

at that time -- and that's what started the rockets into Israel.

[George II]

97. But is that accurate anyway? The article at first had a MAJOR error.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

98. Did it? What was the error?

I haven't seen the entire text, only the part that was excerpted and posted on DU.

What did they get wrong?

[George II]

99. The article at first attempted to link the Gaza rocket firing to an Israeli invasion of Gaza....

...around the time of the deaths of the three teenagers. In fact there was no connection, and they belatedly "corrected" themselves, a la Fox News/Republicans:

"Correction: Israel's crackdown in the West Bank—not Gaza — following the discovery of the three murdered Israeli teens instigated Hamas into firing rockets on Israel. We regret the error."

Plant false information and see if it grows legs, which apparently here it has.

[WillyT]

21. K & R !!!

[defacto7]

22. I've been saying from the start...

this is a setup.. I never stated blame just that none of this adds up and it points to a setup. There are too many groups that want a war... on both sides as well as people who have no side in this at all.

[Comrade Grumpy]

24. Netanyahu's big lie. He can't rot in hell soon enough.

[uppityperson]

26. k&r with arghhhhh

[JimDandy]

27. It wouldn't surprise me

if Israel is reversing course and now placing the blame on an Hamas 'lone cell' and not the leadership in order to get parties to the peace table.

[Board_Commentary]

28. Where are all the baby killer apologists?

You know they are reading this OP. Maybe they busy buying some Pampers™, or defending murder by claiming my ancestors' genocide proves that stealing land and murdering families makes their cause right on some other Post?

They never show up in these OPs.

They just glean over the link just like the facts presented that they cannot reconcile with their cogitative dissonance of outright support of murder while posting on a liberal board.

Come at me bros.

[shaayecanaan]

29. a pity about the 900 dead palestinians

I hear the gulf of Tonkin is nice at this time of year

[KoKo]

30. This should be Big Healine Leading News...yet only "NY Mag" has it?

That seems strange. Especially since this confrontation with Gaza was supposed to be revenge for the three teens deaths and then the horrific Israeli killing of a Palestinian boy.

Don't think "NY Mag" would get an exclusive on this ...so it seems a bit strange.

[bigtree]

34. well, they're basing their report on this BBC journalist's word

. . .and I really don't see any corroboration from 'Israeli officials,' so you're correct to be cautions about this.

Still, foreign reports are often sparsely sourced at first. I recall the report that 60 women and children had escaped in Nigeria which had one or two unofficial sources at first and didn't rise above the word of the locals.

I'd also take any denials, if they come, from the Israeli government or military with the same skeptical ear that I expect folks to give this report.

Right now, I believe all of the info that's available is in this post; certainly not enough to nail this down. Take it for what it's worth. I do think it's proper to apply whatever insight, logic, or knowledge you have to what you're reading and at least make an initial conclusion of whether you're inclined to accept the report, at least initially, until more info is available.

I've buttressed the original headline with 'likely' to denote my own hesitance in giving this report any more credibility than is evident, yet, still indicating my willingness to believe that it's a possibility. I think that's what the NewYork mag did in including the Buzzfeed speculation.

I hope that helps.

[woo me with science]

62. +10000

[NealK]

31. K&R

I think that I'm going to be sick. Netanyahu is a Maniac.

[blackspade]

32. This was obvious weeks ago.

Good reporting non the less.

[VA_Jill]

35. If you stop and think about it

Hamas usually hangs onto their hostages as bargaining chips. Killing them would be counterproductive. Bibi just wanted an excuse to bomb Gaza. That's the way he is.

[Jackpine Radical]

36. Tonkin. WMD. Battleship Maine. (nt)

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

40. See my comment and link above.

That links to another person's comment under another OP, and excerpts part of a report from an Israeli think tank that discussed how Israel bombed and killed 6 members of Hamas, and that the rockets were a response to those bombings. If there was an 'act of war' to start things off, it appears to be the IDF bombings that immediately preceded the first of those rockets.

[E-Z-B]

41. A "Think Tank", huh? Most times, the simplest explanations are the correct ones.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

42. Take the link.

Supposedly it's one affiliated with the IDF.

You can believe it or not, but don't simply dismiss it without at least looking simply because it doesn't fit your preconceived notions.

[sabrina 1]

47. They've killed hundreds of children, shameful, criminal and anyone who even tries to defend

it, should be ashamed. The world is fast losing patience with the slaughter of Palestinians. Few believe the excuses. While our 'leaders' appear to be terrified of Netanyahu and his gang of far right wing war criminals, the people feel differently, all over the world.

Seeing Kerry insulted by Israel is enough to anger the people of this country and it's not the first time. Things are changing, public opinion globally is opposed to Netanyahu and his extreme right wing government.

Seeing members of Isreal's parliament call for the extermination of Palestinians by killing the MOTHERS so they 'won't bear any more little rats', has SICKENED the world.

Go right ahead and defend them, defend calls from a member of a supposed Democratic parliament calling for the extermination of women and children to ensure their people are completely wiped out. Any decent democratic nation would have impeached that woman by now, instead there has been nothing but silence. Which says to the world 'we agree with her'.

[Fantastic Anarchist]

106. Who said this?

I didn't hear about this.

How sickening.

[bigtree]

43. here's another interesting, believable account

How Politics and Lies Triggered an Unintended War in Gaza

By J.J. Goldberg at the Jewish Daily Forward

[Karmadillo]

49. Here's why Hamas fired the missiles.

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/07/24/why-did-bernie-sanders-get-gaza-so-wrong/

Why Did Bernie Sanders Get Gaza So Wrong?
by JAMES MARC LEAS

<edit>

A report issued by the authoritative the “Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center” (ITIC), a private Israeli think tank that “has close ties with the country’s military leadership,” unintentionally debunked the Senate resolution more than a week before its unanimous consent vote in the Senate. The weekly ITIC reports regarding rocket fire are frequently quoted on the Israeli government’s own web site.

The ITIC July 8, 2014 report,“News of Terrorism and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict (July 2 – 8, 2014),” states: “For the first time sinceOperation Pillar of Defense , Hamas participated in and claimed responsibility for rocket fire .”

<edit>

The July 8 ITIC report also divulged why Hamas launched its first rocket fire at Israel in more than 19 months on July 7: On that night Israeli forces had bombed and killed 6 Hamas members in Gaza. The ITIC report includes a picture of the six Hamas members. Thus, a report from an authoritative Israeli source described the provocation for the resumption of rocket fire: Hamas rocket fire began only after Israeli forces had engaged in nearly a month of military operations in violation of the ceasefire agreement and had killed 6 Hamas members in Gaza.

more...

[7962]

60. "First rocket fire in more than 19 months"? Bullshit. Nearly 200 attacks before July

Since the beginning of 2014, there have been rocket and mortar attacks every month. Why would they make such an easily refutable claim as 19 months?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Palestinian_rocket_attacks_on_Israel,_2014

[Karmadillo]

66. Bullshit? Here's a link from the Jerusalem Post quoting the IDF on

Hamas' efforts to stop the missiles (and it's fair to say neither the Post nor the IDF would give Hamas good press unless it was pretty clear they deserved it). There are a couple of other links I put in this post describing how Hamas had recognized the 1967 borders and the 2002 Arab peace initiative. Again, it only sounds like bullshit because the US media has worked hard to pretend these facts are not facts. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025287123

http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/IDF-source-Hamas-working-to-stop-rockets-from-Gaza-311977

By JPOST.COM STAFF
05/03/2013 19:52

IDF source: Hamas working to stop Gaza rockets

<edit>

There is “some degree of dialogue” between Israel and parties in Gaza to prevent rocket fire into southern Israel, Brig.-Gen. Micky Edelstein, commander of the army’s Gaza Division, said on Friday.

Speaking at an IDF event in Sderot, Edelstein said that Hamas was working to thwart rocket attacks from the Strip.

“Today Hamas and other actors in Gaza are acting to stop the rocket fire. They don’t always succeed, and where they fail, the IDF acts,” the general said.

[7962]

82. The article said 1st rocket fire in 19 months. Thats not true. Thats what I posted.

"..where they fail, the IDF acts." Hamas obviously failed a lot since the start of the year. And how hard would they really be working when they still call for the destruction of Israel.

[Karmadillo]

84. The first rocket fired by Hamas in 19 months. And they had embraced the peace

movement, recognizing the 1967 borders and the accepting the 2002 Arab initiative.

http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.589343

United, the Palestinians have endorsed 1967 borders for peace. Will Israel?

<edit>

But the logic that was behind Arafat’s peace with Rabin is as sound today as it was in 1993. Israelis and Palestinians have no choice but to find a way to share the Holy Land, and this will happen only when our two nations are prepared once and for all to set to once side their maximalist claims. Israelis have to learn to live within their 78%, just as we must use our talents to transform our 22% into a unified and productive democracy.

For us Palestinians, the reconciliation agreement concluded between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza two weeks ago was a necessary condition for moving on from the past. The agreement brings our main political players to the same side, namely to the side of a historic agreement with Israel. The terms of agreement includes recognition of the 1967 borders. Hamas's political leaders, moreover, are willing to back the Arab peace initiative of 2002, which is the clearest sign I know that their readiness to sign off on the 1967 border is not a mere tactical move but reflects deeper strategic calculations.

The new technocratic government that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will form over the coming weeks will abide by all the terms of the Oslo Accords and the Middle East Quartet. It will be as well a government willing to use the Arab peace initiative as a framework for a negotiated peace agreement that, once signed, will offer the Israelis full diplomatic and commercial relations with fifty-seven Arab and Islamic states.

[sulphurdunn]

92. I'd fire rockets too.

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/07/reasons-rocket-attack.html

[JI7]

44. i don't think they said this was the reason they are going into GAza

i'm sure it may have helped get more public support and less protest from the country.

but i don't think this itself was the reason for it.

[cpwm17]

51. It is no coincidence that the Palestinians agreeing to a unity government in early June

was followed by Israel's aggressive behavior. Based on Israel's past behavior, Israel's aggressions were predictable. The three kids were murdered in middle June which was soon followed by Israel's brutal collective punishment rampage against the Palestinians and the murder of six Hamas officials.

Israel wants to keep the Palestinians as weak as possible and unable to make any kind of unified peace agreement with Israel. Peace interferes with Israel's seizure of more Palestinian property.

[Comrade Grumpy]

73. Yes. Netanyahu is scared to death of Palestinian unity.

He had done his best to blow up that deal, along with a lot of Gaza.

A thousand people died for Netanyahu's designs.

He should be in a cell at the Hague.

[Jefferson23]

77. That is it, in a nutshell, and some in his cabinet make Bibi look like Ghandi. n/t

[WinkyDink]

45. Well, we ARE the experts on invasions based upon "bad Intel."

[Pisces]

46. Shoot first, ask questions later.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

48. "Israel's top leadership" is like saying "Chairman Darrell Issa".

[bigtree]

50. »

[McCamy Taylor]

52. I figured it was not Hamas. Made no sense. Not sure why Israel has come clean now of all times.

Maybe Israel is looking for a way to get itself out of Gaza "with honor" before it completely alienates the rest of the world. However, simply admitting "Oops. They did not do it" does not do much good if Israel knew all along they did not do it, because now it looks like they attacked Gaza in retaliation for the protests that followed the lynching of a Palestinian child. And what kind of government tries to crack down hard--as in bombing civilians---when people protest the lynching of a child? A not very nice government.

[azurnoir]

53. No surprises what so ever in no small part because

Hamas however reprehensible their actions might be is not shy about taking responsibility for them, and in this case Hamas has denied any involvement to this day

and about the cell phone call Israeli authorities played it close to the chest until the bodies were found and then it was released to the public-you actually hear the kids get shot

[Fearless]

54. War crimes anyone?

Or does that only apply to nations we recognize?

[dougolat]

55. Also: roitov.com/articles/18htm "3 Boys for the West Bank"

Back in June:

the 42 second phone call

photo of the burnt car

it happened in Area C of the West Bank, an area mostly under Israeli control.

[Ichingcarpenter]

56. Interesting that a false flag

Interesting that a false flag would be used as pretext for invasion...where have I heard that before?

[ballyhoo]

61. Netanyahoo is pure Helgian Dialectic. If

he needs a situation that doesn't exist so he can exploit it, he simply creates one...kind of like Bush, Cheney and the rest of the turds.

[KansDem]

58. Palestinian teenager Muhammad Abu Khudair...

The autopsy was carried out at the Israeli Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in the presence of an official Palestinian pathologist, Dr. Sabir al-Aloul.

Muhammad’s body was ninety percent covered in burns varying from first to fourth degree in severity and he also had a head injury, al-Aweiwi stated.

He said that samples taken from the teen’s body would allow more in-depth analysis of the circumstances of his death.

Israeli authorities have imposed a strict gag order on reporting details regarding the investigation into Muhammad’s murder, which was an apparent reprisal for the killings of three Israeli teenagers who were abducted in the occupied West Bank on 12 June and whose bodies were found last Monday.

http://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/kidnapped-palestinian-teen-was-burned-death-autopsy-shows

[former9thward]

65. Palestinians celebrated the kidnappings.

No matter who did it.



Fatah students celebrate "kidnapping" of 3 Israelis at Bir Zeit University.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=774598939246788&set=a.138788489494506.13016.132032896836732&type=1&theater …
12:26 PM - 14 Jun 2014



A Hamas-affiliated website posted photos of the celebrations in Gaza over the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers (Screenshot: Paltimes.net)

[Karmadillo]

67. What's your point?

[La Lioness Priyanka]

72. how do we know that? this look likes ifthar celebrations or something else quite innocuous

[Karmadillo]

74. You are absolutely correct.

http://mondoweiss.net/2014/06/fingered-celebration-kidnaping.html

Media postings twist 3-fingered sign of support for Mohammed Assaf into celebration of reported teen kidnapping

<edit>

Well today Palestinian mountain climber Mohammed AlQadi woke up to find he was featured in media reports as part of a Palestinian campaign to “perpetuate their joy” over the reported kidnapping of 3 Jewish teens in the West Bank.

The Israeli website Walla News echoed the claim: 3 fingers to hostages.



Just one problem with that. There are scores of photos of people making this three-fingered sign because it was the way folks supported singer Mohammed Assaf’s bid to become Arab Idol last year. Mohammed AlQadi put up three fingers for Assaf.

[former9thward]

79. You won't believe me

so ask someone who reads Arabic to read the inscriptions to you.

[Douglas Carpenter]

83. you do know of course Israel kidnaps Palestinians all the time and are holding hundreds of them?

You do know that, don't you?

B'Tselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories

Administrative Detention



.Published: 1 Jan 2011

Updated: 29 Dec 2013
Illustration photo.Administrative detention is detention without charge or trial that is authorized by administrative order rather than by judicial decree. Under international law, it is allowed under certain circumstances. However, because of the serious injury to due-process rights inherent in this measure and the obvious danger of its abuse, international law has placed rigid restrictions on its application. According to international law, administrative detention can be used only in the most exceptional cases, as the last means available for preventing danger that cannot be thwarted by less harmful means.

Israel's use of administrative detention blatantly violates the restrictions of international law. Israel carries it out in a highly classified manner that denies detainees the possibility of mounting a proper defense. Moreover, the detention has no upper time limit. Over the years, Israel has placed thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention for prolonged periods of time, without trying them, without informing them of the charges against them, and without allowing them or their counsel to examine the evidence. In this way, the military judicial system ignores the right to freedom and due process, the right of defendants to state their case, and the presumption of innocence, all of which are protections clearly enshrined in both Israeli and international law.

As of the end of June 2012, Israel was holding about 285 Palestinians in administrative detention (for detailed figures click here).

Over the years, Israel has held thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention, for periods ranging from several months to several years. The highest number of administrative detainees was documented during the first intifada. On 5 November 1989, Israel was holding 1,794 Palestinians in administrative detention. In the early and mid-1990s, the number of administrative detainees ranged from 100 to 350 at any given moment, and by the end of the decade, there were no more than a few dozen detainees held at the same time. On 13 December 2000, two and a half months after the second intifada erupted, Israel held 12 Palestinians in administrative detention. In March 2002, the number stood at 44

In April 2002, during Operation Defensive Shield, Israel administratively detained hundreds of Palestinians. By the end of the year, more than 1,000 Palestinians were being held as administrative detainees. Since then, the number has declined. In 2005-2007, there was an average of about 750 administrative detainees at any given moment, and that number has consistently fallen since November 2007. In December 2010, the number of administrative detainees stood at 204 (for detailed figures click here).

Yet in 2011, this trend was reversed and there was an increase. In January, Israel was holding 219 administrative detainees, but by December that number had risen to 307. Some 29 percent of the administrative detainees were held for a period of between six to twelve months, and 24 percent for one to two years. Seventeen administrative detainees were held between two and four and a half years, and one was in administrative detention for over five years.

Over the years, Israel has also held a few Israeli citizens in administrative detention, among them settlers. These cases are scarce and most of the detainees were held for short periods.

Three pieces of legislation enable Israel to hold Palestinians in administrative detention:
1.Articles 284-294 of the Order regarding Security Provisions [Consolidated Version] (Judea and Samaria) (No. 1651), 5770-2009, which is part of the military legislation in the West Bank. Most administrative detainees are held under individual detention orders issued pursuant to this order.
2.The Emergency Powers (Detentions) Law, which applies in Israel and replaced the administrative-detention arrangement established in the Emergency Regulations of the Mandate period. It is rare for residents of the Occupied Territories to be administratively detained under this law.
3.The Internment of Unlawful Combatants Law, which came into force in 2002. Originally, the law was intended to enable the holding of Lebanese citizens who were being held in Israel at the time as “bargaining chips” for the return of captives and bodies. Now, Israel uses the law to detain without trial Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip, where the military legislation was repealed upon implementation of the “disengagement” plan, in September 2005.

B'Tselem's position is that the government of Israel must release all administrative detainees or prosecute them, in accordance with due process, for the offenses they allegedly committed. As long as Israel continues to use administrative detention, it must do so in a way that comports with international law - only in the most exceptional cases, when there is no other alternative, and in a proportionate manner.
http://www.btselem.org/administrative_detention

Israel set to double number of Palestinian administrative detainees

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/.premium-1.600480

[former9thward]

89. By your logic the U.S. "kidnaps" border crossers.

So, no, Israel does not kidnap Palestinians.

[Douglas Carpenter]

91. oh that is ridiculous - when you take noncombatants away without any legal charge or any need to

justify it and hold them anywhere from weeks to years without any hearing -- that is kidnapping - it certainly is much more kidnapping than capturing hostile enemy soldiers who are attacking.

[Jefferson23]

70. You're disrupting Bibi's pretext...thank you. K&R

[Divernan]

75. Anyone recall the Nazis' use of a false flag operation to justify invading Poland?

Thus started WW II. If social media had been on their asses, their lies/propaganda would have been promptly exposed and doubtless motivated immediate opposition from the get go.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gleiwitz_incident

The Gleiwitz incident (German: Überfall auf den Sender Gleiwitz; Polish: Prowokacja gliwicka) was a false flag operation by Nazi forces posing as Poles on 31 August 1939, against the German radio station Sender Gleiwitz in Gleiwitz, Upper Silesia, Germany (since 1945: Gliwice, Poland) on the eve of World War II in Europe. The goal was to use the staged attack as a pretext on the basis of which to invade Poland.

This provocation was the best-known of several actions in Operation Himmler, a series of unconventional operations undertaken by the SS in order to serve specific propaganda goals of Nazi Germany at the outbreak of the war. It was intended to create the appearance of Polish aggression against Germany in order to justify the subsequent invasion of Poland.

Much of what is known about the Gleiwitz incident comes from the affidavit of Alfred Naujocks at the Nuremberg Trials. In his testimony, he states that he organized the incident under orders from Reinhard Heydrich and Heinrich Müller, chief of the Gestapo.[1]

On the night of 31 August 1939, a small group of German operatives, dressed in Polish uniforms and led by Naujocks,[2] seized the Gleiwitz station and broadcast a short anti-German message in Polish (sources vary on the content of the message). The Germans' goal was to make the attack and the broadcast look like the work of anti-German Polish saboteurs.[2][3]

To make the attack seem more convincing, the Germans brought in Franciszek Honiok, a German Silesian known for sympathizing with the Poles, who had been arrested the previous day by the Gestapo. Honiok was dressed to look like a saboteur; then killed by lethal injection, given gunshot wounds, and left dead at the scene, so that he appeared to have been killed while attacking the station. His corpse was subsequently presented as proof of the attack to the police and press.[4]

In addition to Honiok, several other prisoners from the Dachau concentration camp[2] were kept available for this purpose.[3] The Germans referred to them by the code phrase "Konserve" ("canned goods&quot . For this reason, some sources incorrectly refer to the incident as "Operation Canned Goods."[5] In an oral testimony at the trials, Erwin von Lahousen stated that his division of the Abwehr was one of two that were given the task of providing Polish uniforms, equipment and identification cards, and that he was later told by Wilhelm Canaris that people from concentration camps had been disguised in these uniforms and ordered to attack the radio stations.[6]

[Divernan]

76. Hitler called it "propagandistic casus belli".

For months before the 1939 invasion, German newspapers and politicians, including Adolf Hitler, accused Polish authorities of organizing or tolerating violent ethnic cleansing of ethnic Germans living in Poland.

On the day following the Gleiwitz attack, 1 September 1939, Germany launched the Fall Weiss operation — the invasion of Poland — initiating World War II in Europe. On the same day, in a speech in the Reichstag, Adolf Hitler cited the border incidents, with three of them called very serious, as justification for Germany's invasion of Poland.[7] Just a few days earlier, on 22 August, he had told his generals, "I will provide a propagandistic casus belli. Its credibility doesn't matter. The victor will not be asked whether he told the truth.

from Wikipedia link above.

Casus belli - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casus_belli
Wikipedia
Casus belli is a Latin expression meaning "An act or event that provokes or is used to justify war"

[kentuck]

78. Also, read yesterday that Israeli soldier was not captured...

His body was found with seven others that were killed in battle.

[GoCubsGo]

85. Not surprised at all, sadly.

This is the kind of shit that happens when extremists go after each other.

[Divernan]

87. False equivalency.

One group of people want basic human rights and dignity restored; the other group refuses a two state solution and wants to "mow the lawn".

[GoCubsGo]

93. Hogwash.

Netanyahu and his ilk are extremists. Hamas are extremists. Note: I did not say that the people of Israel or the Palestinians who are trapped in the middle of this are extremists. These may be the ones who "want basic human rights and dignity restored." But, they are not the ones running the show. Netanyahu and Hamas are. I have seen nothing to indicate that the former has any desire to restore human rights and dignity to the people of Gaza.

[Douglas Carpenter]

86. it is implausible that any serious Israeli security personnel ever thought it was. They would know

the nuances of Palestinian politics enough to dismiss that suggestion out of hand.

[grahamhgreen]

87. Oops, I guess....

[George II]

96. "likely didn't"?

I'm skeptical, especially since the author of the cited article originally claimed Israel's "crackdown in Gaza" caused the Hamas rocket firing, but quietly corrected that at the bottom of the article: "Israel's crackdown in the West Bank—not Gaza—following the discovery of the three murdered Israeli teens instigated Hamas into firing rockets on Israel. We regret the error."

That's MAJOR revision. How many other errors or inaccuracies are in that article?

[bigtree]

100. the author of the claim in the title is Jon Donnison

. . . his claims about the 3 teens and Hamas are contained in a series of tweets and have been repeated in several articles.

https://twitter.com/JonDonnison

Donnison claims Chief Police Inspector Micky Rosenfeld gave him the info contained in the article about the teens.

The rest, what you've speculated and argued on this thread is an ongoing debate, with many folks expressing many different opinions, about who or what triggered Israel's assault and invasion of Gaza.


FWIW, BBC Reporter Jon Donnisson Doubled-Down Today On His Claims About The 3 Israeli Teens & Hamas

[George II]

104. Go to the bottom of your linked "Daily Dot" article:

"If the reported findings of the Israeli Police hold up and Hamas is officially cleared of any wrongdoing in the case of the three kidnapped Israeli teens, Netanyahu and the Israeli government may have to explain why a massive military operation, with an 80 percent rate of civilian casualties, was instigated under a false premise. And if violence in the West Bank continues to spread, the IDF may find itself divided on two fronts."

HUGE "if", and based on what is known, pure speculation.

"Correction: Israel's crackdown in the West Bank—not Gaza—following the discovery of the three murdered Israeli teens instigated Hamas into firing rockets on Israel. We regret the error."

HUGE "we regret", and sloppy reporting or regurgitating. It appears an attempt was made to falsely connect the deaths of the three Israeli teenagers to the Israeli reactionary attacks on Gaza, when in fact there was zero connection. And the reported basically dismissed this bungling with a casual "we regret the error".

[bigtree]

108. false attempt to link the deaths? They provided the correction themselves

. . . so I don't know how that shows some sort of attempt to deceive anyone.

Look at the statement you've made here:

"HUGE "we regret", and sloppy reporting or regurgitating. It appears an attempt was made to falsely connect the deaths of the three Israeli teenagers to the Israeli reactionary attacks on Gaza, when in fact there was zero connection. And the reported basically dismissed this bungling with a casual "we regret the error".

Why would it make a difference where Israelis provoked Hamas, if that was indeed the case? The claim is that it was Israel which provoked the violence by attacking first. That's not just expressed in this one article. It's a rather widely debated point.

here's a reasonably written account by J.J. Goldberg at the Jewish Daily Forward:

____ Once the boys’ disappearance was known, troops began a massive, 18-day search-and-rescue operation, entering thousands of homes, arresting and interrogating hundreds of individuals, racing against the clock. Only on July 1, after the boys’ bodies were found, did the truth come out: The government had known almost from the beginning that the boys were dead. It maintained the fiction that it hoped to find them alive as a pretext to dismantle Hamas’ West Bank operations.

The initial evidence was the recording of victim Gilad Shaer’s desperate cellphone call to Moked 100, Israel’s 911. When the tape reached the security services the next morning — neglected for hours by Moked 100 staff — the teen was heard whispering “They’ve kidnapped me” (“hatfu oti”) followed by shouts of “Heads down,” then gunfire, two groans, more shots, then singing in Arabic. That evening searchers found the kidnappers’ abandoned, torched Hyundai, with eight bullet holes and the boys’ DNA. There was no doubt.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately placed a gag order on the deaths. Journalists who heard rumors were told the Shin Bet wanted the gag order to aid the search. For public consumption, the official word was that Israel was “acting on the assumption that they’re alive.” It was, simply put, a lie.

Nor was that the only fib. It was clear from the beginning that the kidnappers weren’t acting on orders from Hamas leadership in Gaza or Damascus. Hamas’ Hebron branch — more a crime family than a clandestine organization — had a history of acting without the leaders’ knowledge, sometimes against their interests. Yet Netanyahu repeatedly insisted Hamas was responsible for the crime and would pay for it.

This put him in a ticklish position. His rhetoric raised expectations that after demolishing Hamas in the West Bank he would proceed to Gaza. Hamas in Gaza began preparing for it. The Israeli right — settler leaders, hardliners in his own party — began demanding it.

But Netanyahu had no such intention. The last attack on Gaza, the eight-day Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012, targeted Hamas leaders and taught a sobering lesson. Hamas hadn’t fired a single rocket since, and had largely suppressed fire by smaller jihadi groups. Rocket firings, averaging 240 per month in 2007, dropped to five per month in 2013. Neither side had any desire to end the détente. Besides, whatever might replace Hamas in Gaza could only be worse.

The kidnapping and crackdown upset the balance. In Israel, grief and anger over the boys’ disappearance grew steadily as the fabricated mystery stretched into a second and third week. Rallies and prayer meetings were held across the country and in Jewish communities around the world. The mothers were constantly on television. One addressed the United Nations in Geneva to plead for her son’s return. Jews everywhere were in anguish over the unceasing threat of barbaric Arab terror plaguing Israel.

When the bodies were finally found, Israelis’ anger exploded into calls for revenge, street riots and, finally, murder.

Amid the rising tension, cabinet meetings in Jerusalem turned into shouting matches. Ministers on the right demanded the army reoccupy Gaza and destroy Hamas. Netanyahu replied, backed by the army and liberal ministers, that the response must be measured and careful. It was an unaccustomed and plainly uncomfortable role for him. He was caught between his pragmatic and ideological impulses.

In Gaza, leaders went underground. Rocket enforcement squads stopped functioning and jihadi rocket firing spiked. Terror squads began preparing to counterattack Israel through tunnels. One tunnel exploded on June 19 in an apparent work accident, killing five Hamas gunmen, convincing some in Gaza that the Israeli assault had begun while reinforcing Israeli fears that Hamas was plotting terror all along.

On June 29, an Israeli air attack on a rocket squad killed a Hamas operative. Hamas protested. The next day it unleashed a rocket barrage, its first since 2012. The cease-fire was over. Israel was forced to retaliate for the rockets with air raids. Hamas retaliated for the raids with more rockets. And so on. Finally Israel began calling up reserves on July 8 and preparing for what, as Moti Almoz told Army Radio, “the political echelon instructed.”

Later that morning, Israel’s internal security minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch told reporters that the “political echelon has given the army a free hand.” Almoz returned to Army Radio that afternoon and confirmed that the army had “received an absolutely free hand” to act . . .

This is by no means the only account - of either the responsibility for the killings of the teens, or the responsibility for the attack and invasion of Gaza. You are certainly free to doubt the many accounts that assign responsibility, or maybe agree with them.

The only new revelation here, and the point of the post, is to highlight these new claims by the BBC reporter about what the police chief told him. The rest about who sparked the assault and invasion will likely not be resolved with this article or any other.

If you want to debate that, there are several folks on this thread who are already debating all of that. I'd suggest you engage with them over your concerns. - or, perhaps with the author of the article.

Jon Donnison's claims, however, are the most relevant part of this thread, I believe. You, obviously disagree. I think what I've provided (including the corrections in the article) speaks for itself.

[George II]

109. Yes, they issued a correction, but...

....much of the premise of the piece was that the "invasion" into GAZA (the initial "report" prior to the correction) was prompted by the deaths of the three teenagers, and that prompted the Hamas rocket attacks. In fact, Israel never entered Gaza until after the rocket attacks began, as the correction vaguely pointed out after the fact.

Worse than sloppy reporting, more like irresponsible reporting.

[bigtree]

110. read some more in this thread

. . .several accounts, including the one I just provided you, disagree with your assessment.

It's fine that you disagree, but there are other accounts which put the responsibility for initiating the attacks and invasion of Gaza on Netanyahu and Israel. It seems it's only 'irresponsible' if you disagree that Israel is to blame.

[George II]

111. I'll defer to Daniel Patrick Moynahan

[PatrickforO]

105. Sounds familiar. Didn't we do the same thing in Iraq?