Israel at War: Source Sheet
Rabbi Leiby Burnham – November 2, 2023
Source #1: 65% of Americans support Israel in this conflict
Overall, 65% said the U.S. should support Israel publicly. That was true of big majorities of both parties — 77% of Republicans and 69% of Democrats.
Notably, independents were less likely to believe this — 54% thought the U.S. should publicly support Israel, but a third said the U.S. shouldn’t say or do anything.
But there are huge age and racial gaps — 78% of those 45 and older think the U.S. should take a publicly pro-Israel stance, but just 48% of those under 45 said so.
Link: https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1205627092/american-support-israel-biden-middle-east-hamas-poll
Source #2: “How ‘Defund the Police’ Failed”
“As city leaders debated the fate of the Police Department, officers left the department, many walking away with medical disability payments after seeking treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder. As of early June, the Minneapolis Police Department had 585 officers, down from 912 in 2019.
As police ranks thinned out, violent crime soared. Gang violence, once a modest problem in Minneapolis, became such a challenge that federal prosecutors charged 45 people suspected of being gang members in a pair of racketeering indictments in May, a first in the city.
Many residents have given up on the local public transportation system, where some stations increasingly have become gathering points for people who openly smoke fentanyl and other drugs. The number of car thefts and carjackings skyrocketed. As of early June, more than 4,100 vehicles had been stolen in the city this year, nearly twice as many as during the same period last year.”
Link: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/06/16/us/defund-police-minneapolis.html
Source #3: “Despite ‘defunding’ claims, police funding has increased in many US cities”
The Los Angeles Police Department’s budget is up by 9.4% since 2019. San Francisco’s police budget is up by 4% and Philadelphia’s is up by 3%.
In Chicago, police spending is up 15%, representing almost a quarter billion dollars in new police spending since 2019.
In Houston, where the homicide rate nearly doubled in both 2020 and 2021 before starting to subside this year, local government officials have increased police spending by nearly 9% — almost $80 million — from 2019 to 2022.
Link: https://abcnews.go.com/US/defunding-claims-police-funding-increased-us-cities/story?id=91511971
Source #4: “Report finds incitement, antisemitism still prevalent in UNRWA classrooms”
In the West Bank city of Hebron, May 26, 2019. (AP/Nasser Nasser)
A report by an Israeli nonprofit has found that UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants, failed to remove hateful content glorifying terrorism and demonizing Israel from its school curriculum.
The report, released on Tuesday by the Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-se), written jointly with the UN Watch NGO, found 47 new instances of alleged incitement by UNRWA teachers and staff, despite the agency having previously pledged to remove such content and adopt a zero-tolerance policy for employees who incite to racism or murder.
The agency’s staff and schools, which teach Palestinian children throughout the West Bank, Gaza Strip and elsewhere, “regularly call for the murder of Jews, and create teaching materials that glorify terrorism, encourage martyrdom, demonize Israelis, and incite antisemitism,” according to a statement by IMPACT-se.
In one incident detailed in the report, an UNRWA math teacher in Syria, posting on Facebook, glorified a terrorist who carried out a shooting attack in March 2022 in the city of Bnei Brak, killing four civilians and a policeman. The teacher called the terrorist, Diaa Hamarsheh, a “martyr” whose name should “forever remain in letters of fire, might, and magnificence.”
In a separate social media incident, another UNRWA teacher, this time in Lebanon, described senior Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade fighter Ibrahim al-Nabulsi as “the noblest of souls.” Al-Nabulsi was killed during an Israeli operation in August 2022.
In one Gazan classroom, middle school boys were encouraged to pursue martyrdom. In December 2022, the class was given a reading comprehension exercise that celebrated a Palestinian firebombing attack on an Israeli bus as a “barbecue party.”
Source #5: A Quote from Golda Meir
When peace comes, we will perhaps in time be able to forgive the Arabs for killing our sons, but it will be harder for us to forgive them for having forced us to kill their sons.
Link: https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Golda_Meir
Source #6: The Wikipedia Page on the Hebron Massacres
The Hebron massacre was the killing of sixty-seven or sixty-nine Jews on 24 August 1929 in Hebron, then part of Mandatory Palestine, by Arabs incited to violence by rumors that Jews were planning to seize control of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.[1] The event also left scores seriously wounded or maimed. Jewish homes were pillaged and synagogues were ransacked.
Jewish newspaper accounts carried various claims by survivors that they had heard Arab threats to “divvy up [Jewish] women”, Arab homeowners had told their Jewish neighbors “today will be the great slaughter,” and several of the victims took tea with so-called friends who, in the afternoon, became their killers.
At about 8.30 am Saturday morning, the first attacks began to be launched against houses where Jews resided, after a crowd of Arabs armed with staves, axes and knives appeared in the streets. The first location to be attacked was a large Jewish residence on the main road. Two young boys were immediately killed, and the mob entered the house and beat or stabbed the other occupants to death. Gershon Ben-Zion, for example, the Beit Hadassah Clinic pharmacist, a cripple who had served both Jews and Arabs for 4 decades, was killed together with his family: his daughter was raped and then murdered.
After the massacre, Superintendent Raymond Cafferata of the Palestine Police Force testified:
On hearing screams in a room, I went up a sort of tunnel passage and saw an Arab in the act of cutting off a child’s head with a sword. He had already hit him and was having another cut, but on seeing me he tried to aim the stroke at me, but missed; he was practically on the muzzle of my rifle. I shot him low in the groin. Behind him was a Jewish woman smothered in blood with a man I recognized as a[n Arab] police constable named Issa Sheriff from Jaffa. He was standing over the woman with a dagger in his hand. He saw me and bolted into a room close by and tried to shut me out-shouting in Arabic, “Your Honor, I am a policeman.”
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1929_Hebron_massacre
Source #7: Full Official Record- What the Mufti said to Hitler
The following is an official German record of the meeting between Adolf Hitler and the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini, on November 28, 1941, at the Reich Chancellory in Berlin. (Source: Documents on German Foreign Policy 1918-1945, Series D, Vol XIII, London, 1964.)
GRAND MUFTI:
The Grand Mufti began by thanking the Fuhrer for the great honor he had bestowed by receiving him. He wished to seize the opportunity to convey to the Fuhrer of the Greater German Reich, admired by the entire Arab world, his thanks of the sympathy which he had always shown for the Arab and especially the Palestinian cause, and to which he had given clear expression in his public speeches.
The Arab countries were firmly convinced that Germany would win the war and that the Arab cause would then prosper. The Arabs were Germany’s natural friends because they had the same enemies as had Germany, namely the English, the Jews and the Communists. Therefore they were prepared to cooperate with Germany with all their hearts and stood ready to participate in the war, not only negatively by the commission of acts of sabotage and the instigation of revolutions, but also positively by the formation of an Arab Legion.
Link: https://www.timesofisrael.com/full-official-record-what-the-mufti-said-to-hitler/
Source #8: United Nations Resolutions
Link: https://www.britannica.com/topic/United-Nations-Resolution-181
Source #9: The Arab Israeli War of 1948
Link: https://history.state.gov/milestones/1945-1952/arab-israeli-war
Source #10: Who was Yasser Arafat?
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yasser_Arafat
Source #11: The Second Intifada
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Intifada
Source #12: The Hamas Covenant
The Covenant of the Islamic Resistance Movement was issued on August 18, 1988. The Islamic Resistance Movement, also known as the HAMAS, is an extremist fundamentalist Islamic organization operating in the territories under Israeli control. Its Covenant is a comprehensive manifesto comprised of 36 separate articles, all of which promote the basic HAMAS goal of destroying the State of Israel through Jihad (Islamic Holy War). The following are excerpts of the HAMAS Covenant:
Goals of the HAMAS:
”The Islamic Resistance Movement is a distinguished Palestinian movement, whose allegiance is to Allah, and whose way of life is Islam. It strives to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine.” (Article 6)
On the destruction of Israel:
“Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” (Preamble)
The exclusive Moslem nature of the area:
“The land of Palestine is an Islamic Waqf [Holy Possession] consecrated for future Moslem generations until Judgment Day. No one can renounce it or any part, or abandon it or any part of it.” (Article 11)
“Palestine is an Islamic land… Since this is the case, the Liberation of Palestine is an individual duty for every Moslem wherever he may be.” (Article 13)
The call to jihad:
“The day the enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In the face of the Jews’ usurpation, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised.” (Article 15)
“Ranks will close, fighters joining other fighters, and masses everywhere in the Islamic world will come forward in response to the call of duty, loudly proclaiming: ‘Hail to Jihad!’. This cry will reach the heavens and will go on being resounded until liberation is achieved, the invaders vanquished and Allah’s victory comes about.” (Article 33)
Rejection of a negotiated peace settlement:
“[Peace] initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement… Those conferences are no more than a means to appoint the infidels as arbitrators in the lands of Islam… There is no solution for the Palestinian problem except by Jihad. Initiatives, proposals and international conferences are but a waste of time, an exercise in futility.” (Article 13)
Condemnation of the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty:
“Egypt was, to a great extent, removed from the circle of struggle [against Zionism] through the treacherous Camp David Agreement. The Zionists are trying to draw other Arab countries into similar agreements in order to bring them outside the circle of struggle. …Leaving the circle of struggle against Zionism is high treason, and cursed be he who perpetrates such an act.” (Article 32)
Anti-Semitic incitement:
The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them. Then, the Jews will hide behind rocks and trees, and the rocks and trees will cry out: ‘O Moslem, there is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him.” (Article 7)
Link: https://embassies.gov.il/holysee/AboutIsrael/the-middle-east/Pages/The%20Hamas-Covenant.aspx
Source #13: “Palestinians in Gaza Loot Greenhouse Equipment”
NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip:
Palestinian looters took irrigation hoses, pumps and plastic sheeting from dozens of greenhouses Tuesday, a month after Jewish American donors bought more than 3,000 of the structures from Israeli settlers and transferred them to the Palestinian Authority.
Police commanders complained that they did not have enough manpower to protect the prized equipment in several abandoned settlements. In some instances, police joined the looters, witnesses said.
Link: https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-sep-14-fg-gaza14-story.html
Source #14: The Net Worth of Hamas’ Top Brass
Source #15: 7,000 Rockets Shot at Israel Since October 7 War Began
Source #16: Time Magazine Article about Hamas Documenting their Own Savagery
Using their phones and GoPro cameras attached to their bodies, the Hamas members documented their slaughter of women, children, and the elderly; their kidnapping of revelers at a music festival; and a variety of barbaric acts that included burning families alive. In one video, released by the Israeli military, a Hamas fighter tries to decapitate one of the murdered with a shovel.
Link: https://time.com/6330005/the-oct-7-massacre-revealed-a-new-hamas-social-media-strategy/
Source #17: Thirty One Harvard Student Groups Blame Israel for Attack
Link: https://nypost.com/2023/10/09/thirty-one-harvard-organizations-blame-israel-for-hamas-attack/
Source #18: The Bombing of Dresden
Having never previously been attacked in the war, the city offered increased value for terror bombing against an inexperienced population. On the night of February 13, the British Bomber Command hit Dresden with an 800-bomber air raid, dropping some 2,700 tons of bombs, including large numbers of incendiaries. Aided by weather conditions, a firestorm developed, incinerating tens of thousands of people. The U.S. Eighth Air Force followed the next day with another 400 tons of bombs and carried out yet another raid by 210 bombers on February 15. It is thought that some 25,000–35,000 civilians died in Dresden in the air attacks, though some estimates are as high as 250,000, given the influx of undocumented refugees that had fled to Dresden from the Eastern Front. Most of the victims were women, children, and the elderly… Given the high number of civilian casualties and the relatively few strategic targets, some even called the bombing of Dresden a war crime, though both the British and the American militaries defended the bombing as necessary.
Link: https://www.britannica.com/event/bombing-of-Dresden
Source #19: The Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On 6 and 9 August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki respectively. The bombings killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki
Source #20: The Number of Civilians Killed in the War on Terror
At least 940,000 people have been killed by direct war violence in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, and Pakistan. The number of people who have been wounded or have fallen ill as a result of the conflicts is far higher, as is the number of civilians who have died indirectly as a result of the destruction of hospitals and infrastructure and environmental contamination, among other war-related problems.
Thousands of United States service members have died in combat, as have thousands of civilian contractors. Many have died later on from injuries and illnesses sustained in the war zones. Hundreds of thousands of soldiers and contractors have been wounded and are living with disabilities and war-related illnesses. Allied security forces have also suffered significant casualties, as have opposition forces.
Far more of the people killed have been civilians. More than 432,000 civilians have been killed in the fighting since 2001.
Link: https://watson.brown.edu/costsofwar/costs/human
Source #21: Hamas official says they will repeat October 7
Top Hamas Official Ghazi Hamad said during a recent interview that the terrorist organization was ready to launch as many repeats of their October 7 terrorist attack, dubbed the “Al-Aqsa Flood,” as needed until everyone is Israel is murdered.
Hamad made the remarks during an interview late last month on LBC TV, a Lebanese news channel, after Hamas terrorists murdered 1,400 Israelis, wounded 5,300+, and kidnapped approximately 240.
“Israel is a country that has no place on our land,” he declared. “We must remove that country, because it constitutes a security, military, and political catastrophe to the Arab and Islamic nation, and must be finished. We are not ashamed to say this, with full force.”
“We must teach Israel a lesson, and we will do this again and again,” he said. “The Al-Aqsa Flood is just the first time, and there will be a second, a third, a fourth, because we have the determination, the resolve, and the capabilities to fight. Will we have to pay a price? Yes, and we are ready to pay it. We are called a nation of martyrs, and we are proud to sacrifice martyrs.”
Later in the interview, he said that “the occupation must come to an end,” adding that he was not just talking about Gaza, but all of what he claimed were “the Palestinian lands.”
“Does that mean the annihilation of Israel?” the news anchor asked.
He responded, “Yes, of course.”
“The existence of Israel is illogical,” he concluded. “The existence of Israel is what causes all that pain, blood, and tears. It is Israel, not us. We are the victims of the occupation. Period. Therefore, nobody should blame us for the things we do. On October 7, October 10, October 1,000,000 – everything we do is justified.”
Source #22: Syria Killing their Own Civilians
The Syrian regime under President Bashar Al-Assad and its allies Iran and Russia are responsible for around 91 percent of civilian deaths during the country’s decade-long civil war, a rights group reported.
The UK-based Syrian Network for Human Rights (SNHR) compiled statistics for March 2011 to June 2022 and found that out of 228,893 civilians killed in the conflict, 200,391 were killed by the Syrian regime and Iranian militias and 6,928 were killed by Russian forces.
Source #23: The Tens of Thousands that Die from Muslim Extremism in Africa Each Year
- ● The estimated 19,109 death toll passes the previous peak of 18,850 fatalities linked to militant Islamists set in 2015 when Boko Haram was at its height. It also marks a sharp reversal from 2021, which saw a slight drop in fatalities—to 12,920.
- The escalation in fatalities is entirely a result of the increased violence in the Sahel and Somalia (accounting for 74 percent of total reported fatalities in Africa) as extremist-linked deaths in the Lake Chad Basin, Mozambique, and North Africa all plateaued or declined over the past year.
- This spike in militant Islamist-linked fatalities was marked by a 68-percent increase in fatalities involving civilians and remote violence (which often targets civilians), underscoring the heavy costs being borne by noncombatants.
“And a wolf shall live with a lamb, and a leopard shall lie with a kid; and a calf and a lion cub and a fatling [shall lie] together, and a small child shall lead them. And a cow and a bear shall graze together, their children shall lie; and a lion, like cattle, shall eat straw. And an infant shall play over the hole of an old snake and over the eyeball of an adder, a weaned child shall stretch forth his hand. They shall neither harm nor destroy on all My holy mount, for the land shall be full of knowledge of the Lord as water covers the seabed. And it shall come to pass on that day, that the root of Jesse, which stands as a banner for peoples, to him shall the nations inquire, and his peace shall be [with] honor.”
Other Resources
Websites:
- Standwithus.com
- Honestreporting.com
- Kenspiro.com
Podcasts:
- Remember What’s Next by Ken Spiro
- Inspiration for the Nation by Yaakov Langer
- Jewish Living with Burnham by Rabbi Leiby Burnham
