The West Bank mosque that wasn’t torched

[Mosby]

Remember that “arson attack” in November by “Jewish extremists” against a West Bank mosque? Remember how that outrageous assault made headline news around the world? Remember how it showed that “both sides” – not just the Arabs – are guilty of violence, and “both sides” – not only Israelis – are suffering?

Well, guess what: It was a lie.

Snip

On Dec. 15, the Israeli police announced that after an investigation aided by the fire department, the Shin Bet security agency, and, yes, P.A. investigators, the mystery of the fire had been solved: a malfunction in an electric heater.

The mosque was not “torched,” as NBC News reported. It was not an “arson attack,” as Reuters claimed. No evidence of a flammable liquid was discovered. The claim by United Press International that “anti-Arab graffiti was applied to the mosque” was false.

Interestingly enough, it also turned out that someone in the mosque moved the faulty heater from its original place just before the investigators arrived. So apparently, it was not true that “only Jewish settlers would do this,” a sentiment that numerous media outlets reported as if it was an obvious fact. Apparently a faulty heater would do it, and a mosque staff member who wanted to avoid culpability and smear Israel was capable of trying to cover up the evidence.

Snip

http://www.jewishaz.com/opinion/commentary/the-west-bank-mosque-that-wasn-t-torched/article_8a15eca0-907f-11e4-b679-ff8f697fccc5.html


The DU thread about the incident:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/113487002

[Scootaloo]

1. Hmmm, who to believe?

On one hand, The New York Times, Washington Post, Haaretz, and others.

On the other hand, we have an editorial by

Moshe Phillips is president and Benyamin Korn is chairman of the Religious Zionists of America, Philadelphia.

That provides no sources or citation.

Hmmm. Two guys whose entire body of work is anti-Palestinian editorial screeds on Frontpagemag and The American Thinker, OR actual journalism.

[oberliner]

2. Arson Ruled Out in Fire at West Bank Mosque, Israeli Police Say (NY Times)

JERUSALEM — A fire at a West Bank mosque last month was most likely caused by an electrical fault and not the result of arson, Israel’s police said on Sunday.

At the time, Palestinian officials charged that the mosque fire, in the Palestinian village of Mughayer, near Ramallah, was the work of Jewish extremists.

The police said that a joint investigation carried out by the Israeli police, fire service and Shin Bet security agency, with the help of Palestinian Authority investigators, ruled out arson because no evidence of flammable liquids and no Hebrew hate graffiti typical of attacks by Jewish extremists were found at the scene.

Instead, it concluded that the most likely cause was an electrical fault in the area of a heater, which appeared to have been moved from its original place by the time the investigators arrived.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/15/world/middleeast/arson-ruled-out-in-fire-at-west-bank-mosque-israeli-police-say.html

[shira]

5. For every lie against Israel debunked, 3 more take its place. Rinse and Repeat. n/t

[Scootaloo]

8. Tell me what Nahum shahaf and caroline Glick have to say about this, shira.

I'm sure they "nail it," as always

[shira]

9. Aww, are you looking for some attention? n/t

[Scootaloo]

10. No, i genuinely want to know.

[shira]

11. I have no idea. n/t

[Scootaloo]

12. What a shame

How about kenneth Meshoe or Dore GOld? Maybe John Bolton? c'mon, someone at gatestone must have something to say

[shira]

14. Don't know. Do u know how Hamas feels about it? n/t

[Scootaloo]

16. I presume hamas is angry about pretty much everything. they seem like angry people

But I don't use hamas as a source, the way you use Nahum Shahaf, Caroline Glick, Dore Gold, etc. as sources.

[shira]

23. You don't use Hamas as a source.....you sure about that?

I've seen their propaganda almost everywhere within anti-zionist circles.

They may not be cited as a source, but their crap is evident in just about everything anti-zionists stand for.

[Scootaloo]

24. Quite certain, Shira

I check my sources.

Maybe you could start doing the same? here's some places to start:

https://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/SourceWatch
http://powerbase.info/index.php/Main_Page
http://rightweb.irc-online.org/

also if someone appears on the following lists:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0487116/fullcredits?ref_=tt_cl_sm#cast
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/authors/
http://townhall.com/columnists/

They're probably not worth your time to source or cite.

[Scootaloo]

6. Ah, alright

A citation in the froth would have been nice. But I guess that would have derailed the central whine of "the media is silent! Bwa-waaaawaaaah!"

[shaayecanaan]

3. hmm...

Remember how it showed that “both sides” – not just the Arabs – are guilty of violence, and “both sides” – not only Israelis – are suffering?

Is it your contention that this is not, in fact, the case?

[Mosby]

4. I don't agree with that statement.

There are people suffering on both sides of the green line.

I think there is a very large difference in the type of criminal behavior seen on both sides however, the settlers have been known to destroy olive trees, vandalize buildings with graffiti, yell at Palestinians. The Palestinians on the other hand have seen some individuals kill Rabbis while they are praying in shul, run over and kill people at bus stops, murder entire families while they were sleeping etc etc etc.

Don't see much symmetry there.

[Scootaloo]

7. According to Yesh Din, 97% of thise arsons go without indictments

Assaults, arson, vandalism, intimidation, plenty of murder during the forty-year reign of the Cossack Horde that Israel has unleashed on the Palestinians. Such as when four settlers snuck up to the house of the Khalil family in Sinjil, poured gasoline all over the front and threw molotovs to set it off, while the family of seven slept. So far as i can find, no arrests have been made in the case. Then we have the live burning of Mohammed Abu Khdeir, the threats against his surviving family, the savage beating of his american cousin... There's the cave of the patriarchs massacre...

But keep telling yourself that the settlers you support, the project you endorse, the violence you cheer, "only" destroys the homes and livelihoods of Palestinian whose lands are begin invaded. That makes it okay; so long as the settlers aren't killing four Jews at prayer, you have nothing to criticize.

[King_David]

13. Except this wasn't arson.

You understand the difference between an accidental or negligent fire and arson ?

[Scootaloo]

17. I was explaining the overall situation to Mosby

Since he seems to believe that "only" a few olive trees are at stake.

[Israeli]

15. We however have seen one of us ...

.....murdered by one of them :

http://peacenow.org.il/eng/content/28-years-emil-grunzweig-assasination

followed by ....

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Yitzhak_Rabin

I could give you a long list of settler violence ...which I am sure you could balance with Palestinian violence .

BUT nothing compares to Yigal Amir .

Don't see much symmetry there. .......

[Scootaloo]

18. Should have seen the sort of shit he posted on PSU

it's a good thing for him that Mosby has an Aegis to hide behind here on DU

[Israeli]

19. lost me Scoot ...

....no idea what PSU stands for or what " Aegis to hide behind here on DU " means .

I get what Mosby stands for ....same thing shira stands for .

Mosby and shira and KD and the rest of the American Zionists on here dont get what we stand for.

Tribal unity trumps :

In contrast to political Zionism's goal of the Jewish state, many post-Zionists advocate the evolution of Israel into a non-ideological, secular, liberal democratic state, to be officially neither Jewish nor Arab in character.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-Zionism

[King_David]

20. Don't bundle everyone together in little boxes

I don't see all of you as being the same .

You and Scootaloo definitely are very different and come to this in very different bundles and for very different reasons.

[King_David]

21. I don't think anyone really understands what Scootsloo means there

Probably lost on all.

[Scootaloo]

22. Reference to a now-defunct site a few posters here used

[shira]

25. That quote is nice WRT what post-Zionists advocate, but it's BS

There's much more to it than that.

We know what anti- and post- Zionists stand for.

And it's very ugly.

[shira]

27. Yes, I know you hate zionists. In particular liberal ones. n/t