John R. Houk
© July 20, 2014
While I was researching my last post – “Stand with Israel against Islamic Terrorists – Hamas” – I ran into a bothersome Google Search Engine situation. I was piecing together a very brief (and definitely not comprehensive) line of events that led Hamas to fire missiles at civilian targets in Israeli cities and the no-choice resulting Israel response of Operation Protective Edge led by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). Now this is what I found bothersome: somewhere in this long overdue Gaza invasion to get rid of (or at least cripple) Hamas, Israel does not share the smoking gun data connecting the Islamic terrorists that murdered in cold blood Eyal Yifrah - 19, Gilad Shaar - 16, and Naftali Fraenkel - a 16-year-old with dual Israeli-American citizenship. One has to be a numbskull to believe that the murderers - Arabs that call themselves Palestinians acting as terrorists - had not executed these teen kids.
The problem I am having is this: Did these Islamic Jew-haters work for Hamas, one of the terrorist organization under the PLO umbrella (now Western legitimized as the Palestinian Authority – PA) or did the Jew-haters concoct the murders on their own to gain Palestinian prestige among their family and friends which are constantly brainwashed to hate Jews? So far in my Google Search Engine research I failed to find the absolute linkage to Hamas.
I have no doubt that Google is one of the moron organizations that treat Israel as occupiers of Arab land rather than defenders of the ancient Jewish Homeland bequeathed by God Almighty as the Promised Land. So I would not be surprised if Google techs have programed their search engine for such queries to make Hamas a victim and Israel a perpetrator.
Indeed, as of yesterday the top results of searches pointed to Palestinian apologists, Leftists and incredulously Left thinking Jews that have defined a conspiracy that Prime Minister Netanyahu or the IDF or both concocted a scheme to kidnap three Jews and hold them for a while as an excuse sweep the Hamas organization out of Judea-Samaria (labeled as occupied West Bank by Arabs and the West) and then invade Gaza as an excuse to eradicate Hamas from further executions of terrorist activities against Israel.
I was not surprised a lying fabrication from Palestinian apologists and Leftists because that is what these guys do to persuade sympathy from gullible readers of media reporting. I was incredulous though to see Jewish pundits reputed as either definitely Left Wing and Center-Left that usually are supportive of Israel’s right to exist, BUT are under the delusion that providing undeserved land to Arabs that call themselves Palestinians will bring peace between the Arab world and Israel.
At this point I grew weary of finding the wording that the Google Search engine would deliver in pointing out if the Israeli government had publicly delivered the smoking gun evidence that the Islamic terrorists that murdered the three Jewish teens was specifically Hamas. So I emailed pro-Israel journalist (and a person I consider an online friend) Ari Bussel if he could point me to any specifics.
Ari gave a detailed account of the information he knew. Surprisingly the Israeli government has not made the details public, but Ari reports that Prime Minister Netanyahu made the information available to the relevant Heads of government which I presume includes the USA.
Ari’s email is good enough to post for readers to have something to think about. So this is what I am going to do. I am going to post the email exchange between Ari and I. Ari Bussel emailed a CC of my question and his own response to various others. One of those replies was CC’ed to me and I am also including that. In full disclosure I am editing the exchange to refrain from exposing the email addresses involved. And at this point includes Ari’s email even though he often includes his email address in many of his submissions to my blog.
JRH 7/20/14
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Email Exchange: John Houk & Ari Bussel
All Emails 7/18/14 (last email 7/19/14)
From John Houk to Ari Bussel
Subject: I have a question
Dear Mr. Bussel,
I am writing because I am having difficulty in pinning down a reliable answer pertaining to the murders of the three teen Israeli boys. Prime Minister Netanyahu says Hamas is responsible for the murders. This accusation is absolutely believable due to the nature of the Hamas Charter to destroy Israel and kill Jews. Unsurprisingly I have come upon numerous Palestinian apologists that claim Netanyahu and the IDF conspired to kill the three teenagers for an excuse to clear Judea-Samaria of Hamas operatives and to attack Gaza. What I am surprised about is that I am reading left leaning Jewish publications and left leaning Jews agree with the Hamas accusation.
So my question is: Has the Prime Minister made good on publicizing the definitive proof that Hamas was responsible for the heinous murders of three Israeli teens? Google isn’t cooperating for me in balanced searches.
Thanks in advance if you are able to respond.
John R. Houk
++++++++++++++++++++++++
From Ari Bussel to John Houk
Subject: RE I have a question
Dear John,
Allow to start with the following: I have not seen the evidence, and I sent a request, asking if it is possible to receive detailed information (some may be classified still, given that the two kidnappers are still in hiding and have not been caught and brought to justice yet).
I would also like to add that the details are no longer relevant. Why? Because once a lie is told, and then repeated often enough, the seeds of doubt have been planted, and even a later correction, and factual evidence will not repair the damage caused.
A classic case in point may be the Goldstone Report. Anyone remembers the correction by the Judge himself? We all remember that the Report "proved" Israel is guilty. (Guilty of what makes no difference whatsoever, nor do refutations, line by line, fact by fact, of what was contained therein.)
Richard Goldstone, of course, is a Jew.
A person with whom I swim every day at a local Jewish Community Center (that is open to all, not only "Jews" or "Whites") has confronted me at the very start of the abduction of the three youths, Eyal, Naftali and Gil-Ad, HY"D (may the Lord avenge their deaths), suggesting at first they were in hiding then that the Israeli Security Service (Shin-Bet) is responsible for the abduction of the three from the bus stop that Thursday afternoon.
He further stated they were being held at the cellars of the Shin-Bet somewhere, still alive, but did not rule out we will kill them to put the blame unto others (i.e. the "Palestinians").
All this while telling me, as I was leaving in disgust, he is saying Psalms for the three boys (a common manner of praying for Jewish people).
I turned around, shocked, and asked: Why do you bother?
Incidentally, the story changed as the days went by. The boys were in hiding. They were taken by Israel. Etc. All these horrible things, and yet the (meaningless) "prayer" continued. My friend does not understand that having such ideas cannot be reconciled with being a Jewish person, one who believes in God the Almighty.
My fellow-swimmer is a professor, specializes in demography, writes regularly and is otherwise both a respected and known member of the Jewish community in Los Angeles. His opinion, as "off the wall" as it may sound to some, reflects the prevailing thought of many of the Old Guard of the local American Jewry. He is not an extremist by any measure. He is intelligent and interesting. And he is a reflection of our worst enemies from within.
In many ways, their thinking is not much different than that of Turkey's Prime Minister.
Prime Minister Netanyahu presented evidence of the Hamas connection of the two kidnappers (still at large) to different heads of state around the world.
For many years, Hamas has been promoting the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers and Israeli citizens. It is a protocol that has worked very well for both Hamas and Hizbollah. It was in the summer of 2006 that Hizbollah went over the border to Israel proper, attacked an IDF patrol and kidnapped Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, HY"D.
[Blog Editor: I plead a learning moment. I had no idea of the meaning for ‘HY”D’. Here is the explanation for the non-Jews who love Israel:
This honorific "May Hashem avenge his/her blood" is used for a non-rabbinic general individual who perished as a result of anti-semitism, for example pogroms or the Holocaust. The Hebrew version is "Hashem yinkom damo" (m.) / "Hashem yinkom dama" (f.) and in the Hebrew: (f.) "ינקום דמה" \ (m.) "השם ינקום דמו." The English abbreviation is “HY"D” and in Hebrew "הי״ד."
(Judaism) a periphrastic way of referring to God in contexts other than prayer, scriptural reading etc. because the name itself is considered too holy for such use]
That prompted what would later be called "The Second War in Lebanon." Israel received their body parts back in exchange to more than 200 terrorists.
Not two weeks later, Hamas, promoting the very same tactic publicly and following exactly the same manner as Hizbollah, went into Israel (via a tunnel), attacked an army base and kidnapped an Israeli soldier.
That soldier was kept in a high rise building in Gaza for five years and was exchanged for more than a thousand terrorists, many who were convicted in a court of law for multiple life sentences.
There were other failed attempts to kidnap Israelis. Until last month, when three Israeli boys, standing at a bus stop on their way home for the weekend, disappeared. It took Israel several long hours until the process known as Hannibal Directive/Procedure [Wikipedia] was launched. By that time, it was too late.
Was that a red line? Kids being kidnapped?
Some excused it by saying they are "religious fanatics." Other said they are "Settlers" and should not even have been there ("there" is Judea and Samaria). Easier to blame ourselves apparently for the sickness of our enemies.
The following day, the identity of the two kidnappers was made public by Israel and the necessary evidence was presented by PM Netanyahu to his counterparts among world leaders.
For eighteen days Israel, the Jewish People and people who believe in the Bible were praying to the Almighty for the safe return of the three boys. The IDF and Israeli security services were on a search and rescue mission, leaving no stone and bush unturned.
On the eighteenth day, the bodies of 16 year olds Gil-Ad and Naftali and 19 year old Eyal were discovered.
Their only sin: Being Jewish in the Jewish Homeland.
(Well, that is a double sin.)
Celebrations erupted throughout the "Palestinian" cities and towns.
After all, the mother of one of the three kidnappers had stated before she raised her kids on the Quran and the Prophet, then she added, that if it turned out her son did kidnap (and/or murder) the Jews, he will be blessed and she could not be happier. (Incidentally, she will receive money for the rest of her life as a result of the atrocity committed by her son.)
Theirs is a culture of death. They glorify murder. Thus, it is not surprising they name kindergartens, school yards, soccer fields, city squares and public institutions after such murderers.
The discovery was followed by a very somber day of mourning in Israel, and the three were brought to their final resting place.
Israel stood in shock.
Sane and reasonable people everywhere were silenced at the horror of what took place.
Israelis stood in unity, for we are all commanded DO NOT MURDER.
It was at the same time that three Israelis did exactly that, violating the very commandment of the ten that guide our lives.
The difference could not be clearer. They were apprehended and immediately brought to justice. They likely will not be allowed back among civilized society for the rest of their lives (for Israel does not have a death penalty).
We abhor and will do everything against anyone who finds murder a reasonable and necessary course of action. Revenge is not an excuse to capture a 16 year old and set him on fire while he is still alive.
And that is exactly the difference between Israel and her enemies.
I now return to the question you posed, albeit from a slightly larger context.
Tell a lie often enough, and one starts believing in it.
Our greatest enemy is confusion, and see how easy it is to plant the seeds of doubt:
Maybe the Israelis kidnapped the three boys?
The Israelis will stop at nothing, as long as it serves their purpose.
The greater good - the ability to subjugate the local population to invasion, torture, persecution, etc. - is justified. Sacrificing three boys is a very small price to pay.
Israeli Settlers are extremist ideologists. They will follow the dictum of the Torah to sacrifice their own sons!
All that Israel wanted is an excuse to invade Gaza.
Israel is no different from the Nazis!
I must admit, it is very difficult to fight when surrounded with absolute darkness.
Nothing makes sense.
Israel does not need ruses or excuses. All that Israel tries to do is live peacefully in the only Jewish country in the world, its Biblical and eternal homeland. We are not raised to hate Arabs because they are Muslim. We want to live in peace with our neighbors. In fact, our Torah directs us time and time again to remember we were a foreign people in Egypt, thus, we must treat the foreigner, widowed and orphaned among us with extreme care.
Israel does not kidnap and torture its own citizens, be they Jewish, Muslim or otherwise. For that there are numerous human rights organizations and an Israeli Supreme Court that see that even "torture" designed to obtain information to thwart activities such as terrorist attacks is done within a certain framework.
In Israel, incidentally, there can be no secrets. Now more than ever before, everything is public knowledge. I have long advocated that even field security within the IDF needs to be strengthened, since everything is available on-line or on the radio or tv.
A secret such as this ("Israel kidnaps, tortures and murders its own youths in order to fight Hamas") is too big to hide. Surely someone, on some moral, ethical or other grounds go public with it.
Israel does not need excuses to conquer Gaza and eliminate Hamas. Hamas has vouched to destroy Israel, and has been actively pursuing this goal. Israel must fight Hamas with all her might, although for too long she did not do so.
We can go on and analyze each and every statement above (italicized), and others like it, and soon we will get to the conclusion that they are all a mirror reflection of the enemy.
It is the enemy who regularly sends its women and children and young men to act as human bombs.
It is the enemy who uses civilians as human shields.
It is Hamas that sits in bunkers underneath hospitals, kindergartens, schools and mosques. (Fatah terrorists are those who, likewise, ran into the Church of Nativity in Bethlehem, defiled and desecrated the place knowing Israel will not dare touch a holy place.)
It is Hamas that fires hundreds of rockets a day directly at civilian populations, in order to kill, maim and instill fear and terror in the hearts and minds of as many Israelis as possible.
Israel's enemies, including Hamas and Fatah and the other tribes that constitute modern day "Palestinians," regularly advocate the abduction and killing of Israelis.
In short, all these statements are an exact description of what is commonplace within our enemies.
So the question to be asked is not the minutia, rather the truth.
How does one separate truth from fiction, reality from a thousand and one Arabian fantasies?
My colleague and partner, award-winning investigative journalist and author Norma Zager and I have recently embarked on a series called "How not to be Conned." It is part of our "Conversations Eye to Eye" on Christian radio on the Crawford Broadcasting network of 23 stations across the USA.
I will send you a powerpoint of the presentation we recently gave at a local church on the same topic.
I am also including a segment on Christian TV with a friend of mine from Israel, Prof. Abraham Sion of Ariel University (in those "Occupied-Occupied Territories," otherwise known as Judea and Samaria; double-Occupied since all of Israel is "Occupied").
Fighting Israel with Hitler's Weapons:
Also, I am forwarding an e-mail from a blogger in Israel. (Appended here below.) It also discusses exactly the same matter.
You see, you raised a most important question. Not the actual proof (that exists, but it will make little difference in terms of the lies being floated around), rather how to separate truth from fiction, how to know if something is true or not.
Whether by Israeli enemies or self-haters, our job turns to be most challenging. We are thinking individuals, and we are easily confused. Likely because we hear the lies time and again. Many times the lies come from "reliable" sources ("I am a Jew" or "I am Israeli" or "I served in the IDF" or "I am a son of Holocaust survivors" or from organizations with like names "Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace," "Jews for Peace," ...).
We are not sure any more what is truth and what is a lie. What is good and what is bad.
Thus, Norma and I always start and end as follows:
What you need is a benchmark. It can be God. It can be the Bible. It can be your children. Or your spouse. It has to be something that for you is the absolute truth.
When something then does not make sense, for instance, when you are told it is dark now, yet you look and the sun is at a zenith and your watch shows 1PM, pinch yourself.
Check what you are told ("it is dark outside" or "Israel kidnapped and murdered the three kids") against that is most dear to your heart. God. The Bible. Your children. Your spouse.
And then you will know the answer. Deep in your heart. In your mind. In all your senses.
The fight is difficult, the confusion easily gaining the upper hand. Thus we must stand ready, knowing our path is right, believing with all our might and putting all our trust as we are like blind persons or a busy highway, a tiny light engulfed in dense darkness.
There is no doubt we will prevail, but the fight is not easy.
It was on July 3rd at the presentation we gave at a local church that I realized that the "Benchmark" or "One's Absolute Truth" slide was very simple: At a Church, The Truth is Jesus, a Jewish Rabbi.
So compare the doubts and the statements by Jewish-self-haters and other enemies of the People of the Bible (i.e. us, the Saturday and the Sunday People) to what Jesus has said, and you will have the answer and the proof.
You asked a seemingly "simple question" and clearly did not expect such an answer.
Yet, you managed, as you often do with your preface for every posting of ours, to raise awareness, to focus the attention to bring about truths that need to see the light of day, be read and discussed.
For that - as always - I thank you.
I took the liberty to add a few people to this e-mail, among them: my colleague, Norma Zager, Pastor Lorraine Coconato in whose Church we gave the most recent talk, Leehy Shaer, the aunt of Gil-Ad HY"D (one of the three kidnapped and murdered youths) who lives in LA, Prof. Abraham Sion of those Occupied-Occupied areas of Zion Jerusalem, Dr. Daryl Temkin, who taught me how easy it is to float a lie and how difficult it is to combat the aftermath, and my friend Danny Seaman from Jerusalem, who for ten years headed the Government Press Office in Israel. There is no better person that him among us - the soldiers on the front line, the guards on Israel's walls.
"For Zion's sake I will not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest." (Isaiah 62:1)
++++++++++++++++++++++++
John Houk to Ari Bussel
Subject: RE I have a question
Actually Mr. Bussel I did expect such a passionate email response. It is one reason I emailed you. I knew you would give me an honest answer that is also pro-Israel. I need to take some time to digest the entire email including attachments. With that in mind may I have your permission to post your email response? And I also welcome the input of anyone else you sent an email to.
Thanks for your time and love of Israel,
John
++++++++++++++++++++++
Ari Bussel to John Houk
Subject: RE I have a question
Dear John,
With thanks. Please feel free to extract segments and/or use as you see fit. There is plenty of information therein.
I do expect an answer, as the Consul General of Israel for the Western Region (USA) was blind copied on this e-mail and promised a reply.
This said, I am trying to put as little pressure on him as possible, given the current situation and his on-going responsibilities as the highest ranking Israeli representative for the West Coast.
Sunday morning we will be at a Church where he will be speaking.
Always,
Ari Bussel
+++++++++++++++++++++
Abraham Sion to Ari Bussel
CC: John Houk …….
Subject: RE I have a question
Dear Ari,
Thank you for copying me on your informative article to John, and I would like to add the following:
The Palestinian Arabs have adopted and mastered Nazi propaganda. Goebbels could have learned some tricks from them. They use the same narrative, same cartoons and same repetition of lies and falsehoods, blaming the Jews for almost all world evils. Just to give one example: When Germany decided to invade Poland on the eve of WW2, it came up with a false story that Polish guards at the border between Poland and Germany killed German soldiers. The fact was that German troops killed some fellow German soldiers and blamed the killing on the Poles as a pretext to invade Poland. See how similar Arab propaganda is.
Also, in no Arab country one can find a constitution safeguarding civil rights. In no Arab country, including areas governed by the Palestinian Authority, no Jew can live or have any rights. Yet the Palestinian Arabs blame Israel falsely for all the evils that exist in their own countries and territories. They work around the clock to discredit Israel, but unfortunately, Israel is hardly engaging in any way in refuting those allegations. The outcome is that if the Arabs repeat an allegation one thousand times and there is no one on the other side who bothers to refute them, they are then, in the minds of many people, regarded as facts. The worst of those who engage in discrediting Israel are often anti Semite Jews.
Best
Abraham
Prof. Abraham Sion, Chair
The Center for Law and Mass Media
Ariel University of Samaria
Israel
________________________
Edited by John R. Houk
Within the emails, anything enclosed by brackets is from the Editor.
I am very grateful to Ari Bussel and the later email by Abraham Sion for their input regarding Palestinian apologist and Left Wing propaganda that wrongfully implicates Israel as perpetually at fault for all acts of violence against Israel and the nation’s Jewish citizens.
Pray for Israel
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