In several January articles, Time magazine claimed that Israel had shelled a UN school in Gaza and had killed over 40 of the civilians there seeking shelter. Israel did not shell the school and no one was killed in the school.
Israel did target and strike rocket-launching Hamas terrorists across the street from the school, and unfortunately a few bystander civilians were also killed.

CAMERA wrote to Time magazine urging that corrections be published. Below are Time magazine’s dismal “clarifications,” which do more to obfuscate than clarify.
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UPDATE: Time Magazine Published Clarifications, but they obfuscated more than they clarified.
Click here to read about the Dismal Clarifications.
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It is now clear that, even according to the UN, Israel did not attack the UN school in Gaza in January of 2009 and no one inside the school was killed. CAMERA contacted Time magazine editors, urging them to correct the January 7, 8, and 14th articles, as well as any others which made similarly inaccurate claims that Israel shelled a UN school and killed 40 civilians seeking shelter inside the school. As of February 24th, Time has failed to set the record straight.

As reported by Ha’aretz, February 3rd,

“Maxwell Gaylord, the UN humanitarian coordinator in Jerusalem, said Monday that the IDF mortar shells fell in the street near the compound, and not on the compound itself.

“Gaylord said that the UN ‘would like to clarify that the shelling and all of the fatalities took place outside and not inside the school.’ ” [ www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1061189.html ]

Israel struck back at Hamas combatants who were launching rockets at Israel from near the school. 3 Israeli shells landed in the vicinity of the school, but not inside the school compound. Not a single person inside the school was killed, although 9 Hamas terrorists were killed and unfortunately 3 (not 40) nearby civilians.

Following are Time magazine articles that need to have corrections published, particularly the online versions that people continue to read.
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Observer (UK) columnist Nick Cohen wrote a surprising essay,”Hatred Is Turning Me Into a Jew,” published in London’s Jewish newspaper, in support of Israel’s military strikes against Hamas. “Surprising,” because Cohen has long been a harsh critic of Israel. What turned him around? His disgust with the escalating anti-Semitism and the fascist behavior that comes along with it, the double standards applied to Israel and Jews, and the realization that Jews are the canary in the coalmine.

Here are some excerpts:

British Jews are living through a very dangerous period.
They are the only ethnic minority whose slaughter official society will
excuse. If a mass murderer bombed a mosque or black Pentecostal church, no
respectable person would say that the “root cause” of the crime was an
understandable repulsion at the deeds of al-Qaeda or a legitimate opposition
to mass immigration. Rightly, they would blame the criminal for the crime.

If a synagogue is attacked, I guarantee that within minutes the airwaves
will be filled with insinuating voices insisting that the “root cause” of
the crime was a rational anger at the behaviour of Israel or the Jewish
diaspora…

As the struggle between theocracy and liberalism intensifies, I can see some
being pushed into taking the same journey I have taken and finding their
views towards Judaism and Israel softening as they realise that antisemitism
helps drive the fascistic ideologies of the 21st century just as it drove
the Nazism of the 20th.

I will tell them that the opponents of totalitarianism must never be
frightened. If their enemies say they are Jews, they should shrug and say:
“All right, I am.”

For the whole column, click here or read below.
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Too many in the media fail to note Hamas’ real war crimes, yet they condemn Israel for military actions that are actually quite restrained and entirely legal. Below is a summary (from www.dailyalert.org) of an INSS report rebutting the most serious and erroneous allegations against Israel.

Israel’s Gaza Operation and International Law –
Robbie Sabel (Strategic Assessment-Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University)

* International law and the UN Charter recognize the inherent right of states to use force in self-defense against an armed attack. The right applies even if the attack is by irregular forces.

Hamas has not denied that its attacks were targeted at Israeli towns; such attacks are a violation of the laws of war. The IDF correctly saw itself as being bound by the laws of war in its conduct, notwithstanding the total disregard of these rules by its opponents.

* The IDF repeatedly warned civilians of impending attacks, using leaflets and mass telephone messages. It does not appear that any other military has ever taken such steps to minimize civilian casualties, nor is there any other similar conflict on record in a built-up area where the percentage of civilian casualties in relation to combatant casualties was lower.

* Israel uses phosphorous shells in flares and smoke shells. Such shells are standard equipment in all NATO militaries as well as the Arab states’ armed forces. They are of course dangerous to handle when burning but absolutely legal. The International Committee of the Red Cross has confirmed that there was no evidence that these shells were used in Gaza in any irregular way.

* Once an armed conflict develops, international law does not require proportionality of response. A state defending itself may indeed strive to cause disproportionate damage to its enemy’s military targets and military capabilities. Let the attacking state or organization beware.

Dr. Robbie Sabel, a former legal adviser to the Israel Foreign Ministry, teaches international law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya.

[ hat tip: www.dailyalert.org ]

Hamas turned medicine bottles into grenades. Has the mainstream media in your town reported on this sickening example of Hamas’ misuse of humanitarian aid? If not, urge them to report the story. For photos of the medicine bottle grenades and for more details, click here to read the Jerusalem Post article.

Scholars for Peace in the Middle East is working to get signatures on a petition protesting discrimination against Israeli academics and institutions.

Click here to view the SPME Statement on Discrimination Against Israeli Academics and Institutions.

To sign the petition, click here.

Please forward this petition to professors and others who work for a university or college.

This “Open Letter to a Citizen of Gaza: I am the Soldier Who Slept In Your Home”, originally published in Hebrew in the Maariv newspaper, shows the compassion and humanity of Israeli soldiers and also points the way to a solution to the conflict. Please consider copying and pasting this soldier’s letter into a new message and forwarding it to government leaders, clergy, editors, friends and family. It is very powerful.
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Israel has received widespread condemnation for purportedly causing the death of a United Nations aid worker. However, the Jerusalem Post (“IDF: Army didn’t fire on UN truck driver,” Jan. 10, 2009, by Amir Mizroch) reports that the IDF has determined that it was not Israel that fired on the U.N. truck. Moreover, the IDF points out that the U.N. sources relied upon by the foreign press later admitted that they did not know in which direction the truck was headed when it was hit, and were not certain that tank shells were responsible.

In other words, it appears that it was Hamas terrorists who were most likely responsible for the deadly attack on the U.N. aid worker, not Israeli soldiers.

The IDF further notes that the wounded Palestinians were evacuated to Israel and were treated at Ashkelon’s Barzilai Hospital. Ashkelon, it bears noting, is one of the cities that has been under attack from Hamas rocket barrages.

The media, which rushed to immediately condemn Israel for the attack, have subsequently ignored this information exonerating Israel and implicating Hamas instead. Please bring this to the immediate attention of reporters and editors so that this does not become a repeat of the infamous al-Dura blood libel.

– Stephen A. Silver

Rosa Brooks’ Los Angeles Times column “Israel can’t bomb its way to peace” (Jan. 1) charges that Israel’s military response to incessant Hamas terror was motivated by political rather than security considerations. To make her case, her column ignores several key facts.

First, the timing of the operation was dictated entirely by Hamas’ terrorist actions and Israel’s immediate security concerns. During the six-month-long (so-called) truce, Hamas fired “only” 300 rockets at Israel, an intolerable level of terror for any country to endure. However, after Hamas declared the truce over on Dec. 19, Hamas began firing as many as 80 rockets a day at Israeli civilians. No country could allow a situation like this to continue. Israel sought an extension of the cease-fire, knowing that Hamas would continue to violate it but hopeful that this would at least result in a decease in terror, but Hamas rejected Israel’s pleas and called for Israel’s destruction.
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Thumbs up to Tim Rutten for pointing out in an Oct 1, 2008 Los Angeles Times Op-Ed that “Ahmadinejad’s evil words aren’t just talk; Threats by Iran’s president are not empty rhetoric; he means what he says, and we ignore him at our peril.” Rutten also excoriated the media for ignoring Ahmadinejad’s hateful rant at the United Nations.

Comments on Rutten’s informative essay can be sent to the LA Times: [email protected]
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