Attacker in Israel said to be "Arab terrorist" until he was found to be Jewish

Two Israel Defence Force(IDF) soldiers shot and killed a man who they claim was acting erratically and attempted to grab one of their guns. They shot and killed the man because they believed he was an Arab terrorist.

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Yehuda Zahav of the ZAKA rescue team told the Jerusalem Post:“When I arrived with the ZAKA team at the site of the supposed terrorist attack, it seemed to be a ‘standard’ current terrorist attack, a stabbing attempt, and the terrorist was apprehended..I wanted to cover the body in a black bag [reserved for terrorists]. After I was asked to take care of the body I saw that he was a Jew, and that it was mistake to speak of a terrorist. I immediately notified the police and we switched to a white ZAKA body bag.”

Remi Brulin, from the New York University, has often written on the "discourse of terrorism." He tweeted that the incident proves what he has long argued that the term "terrorism" is basically meaningless except for its propagandistic function. When the attacker was thought to be a Palestinian Arab he was a "terrorist" and was to be put in a black bag. When he turned out to be a Jew the label vanished along with the black bag. The action was exactly the same whether he was an Arab terrorist or a Jew. Brulin compared the use of "terrorism" to that of "torture" as a description of water-boarding. In 2007 the New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani when asked whether water-boarding was torture said that it depended upon who does it.

Micky Rosenfeld, spokesperson for the Israeli police, claimed the victim of the killing refused to provide the soldiers with his identity card. He then started to punch them and attempted to seize one of their weapons. In response, the soldiers shot him dead.

This attack and death occurs just a week after an Eritrean refugee was mistaken for a Palestinian attacker and murdered. Not long ago as well a Jewish man was stabbed in a parking lot in a Haifa suburb by another Jewish man who took him to be an Arab. Fortunately, the stab wounds were not fatal. He wanted to revenge a series of Arab stabbings of Jews. Recent violence has resulted in at least 52 Palestinians being killed by Israeli security forces and 8 Israelis have died in Palestinian attacks.

Greece and Israel sign status of forces agreement

Greece and Israel signed a status of forces agreement in Tel Aviv that offers legal defense to the forces of each country while training in the other's country.

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The accord was signed by Greek Defense Minister Panos Kammenos and Moshe Ya'alon, his Israeli counterpart. The only other country with which Israel has signed such an accord is the U.S. The two also discussed continuing defense ties between Israel and Greece. Ya'alon said:“We very much appreciate your visit here during a difficult period for Greece. This underlines the importance of relations between the countries. We wish the Greek people and Greece itself success in its effort to overcome the economic challenge. We pray for that since we believe Greece is a very important country, with a history and a contribution to the history of humanity.”

Ya'alon also praised the joint training exercises between the Israel Defennse Force(IDF) and the Greek armed forces within Greece. The Israeli air force held joint military exercises with the Greek air force last April. The exercises took place in Greek airspace and lasted for several days.

Ya'alon also brought up the topic of the nuclear agreement with Iran: “We perceive Iran as a generator and central catalyst to regional insecurity through its support to terrorist elements in the Middle East, particularly Shi’ite terrorism, though not only Shi’ite. And of course, the Iranian ambition for regional hegemony leads the regime in Tehran to undermine the stability of [other] regimes, which creates a challenge for all of us."

Kammenos, a member of the Independent Greeks a right-wing nationalist party that is part of the Syrza-led coalition, said the “Greek people are very close to the people in Israel” and that military relations between the two countries are good. He also mentioned Iran as a threat: “If one Iranian missile makes its way to the Mediterranean, this could be the end of states in this region.". I am not aware that Iran has ever threatened Greece. That Syriza would appoint Kammenos rather than a leftist from Syriza as defense minister is rather surprising.

This close cooperation with Israel is not in keeping with parts of the Syriza platform which supports leaving NATO and not having any military relations with Israel:Disengagement from NATO, closure of NATO military bases, prevention of military cooperation with Israel, no Greek soldier in war fronts outside the country. SYRIZA Party Program Resolution, 2012.In 2012 part of Syriza's election program said the disengagement of Greece from NATO was a stable and unchanging position of the party. Yet Prime minister Tsipras said on May 15 2014: "I say, with all the strength of my voice, Greece is a country that belongs to the West, to the EU and to NATO. This is not under question."

Given actions such as these, it should not be surprising that Syriza signed a deal that went against everything that Syriza had ever stood for. There were other signs that Syriza was hardly the leftist party that it was portrayed as in the mass media, for example Syriza's attitude towards cuts in military spending: "One of the oddities of Greece’s bailout programme has been that, despite five years of punishing austerity, its military budget remains amongst the highest in the EU." Greek proposals to creditors suggested a military budget cut of 200 million euros. The creditors demanded a cut of double that but Syriza refused. What type of strange behaviour is this for a leftist party to be less willing to cut the military budget than its conservative creditors? Perhaps, Syriza wanted to defend Greece against Germany!

Israel permanently bans Norwegian doctor from Gaza Strip

Israel has banned Norwegian doctor Mads Gilbert from entering Gaza permanently. Israeli authorities say the ban was imposed on Gilbert for security reasons.

Dr. Gilbert is an activist as well as a doctor. He has been working in the medical system of the Gaza Strip for decades. The 67-year-old activist has repeatedly condemned the actions of the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in Gaza. During the latest round of fighting he worked in the Shifa Medical Center. When he was returning to Gaza in October, he was not allowed to cross into Gaza even though he had a visa with multiple entries as well as documents from the Israeli army.
 There has been no explanation of what the supposed security issue is that resulted in the ban. When Gilbert debated with the number two official at the Israeli embassy on TV in Oslo, the official said: “We cannot explain, we cannot detail that but we have got the information from our security authorities that there is a security issue.” Gilbert claims that the security claim is nonsense: I am a medical doctor. I have never done anything illegal. I’ve got a stethoscope, a pen, and a camera, and I document what I see. But I‘ve never been a security threat to Israel, of course. Gilbert thinks that Israel simply regards his reports on the situation during attacks in 2006, 2009, 2012, and 2014 as damaging to Israel's image simply by graphically illustrating the results of those attacks.
 Gilbert points out that during the last siege there were more than 2,100 Palestinians killed including 521 children and civilians being 70 to 80 per cent of the casualties. On the Israeli side there 71 killed of whom 66 were soldiers. Gilbert found out from the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the ban on security grounds dated from the 28th of July and was permanent. That was the day Gilbert left Gaza during the bombing. His permit to enter was canceled. This was all done without notifying Gilbert and while he had the visa mentioned earlier that was valid until November 11.
 As indicated in the Wikipedia entry about Gilbert, he believes that doctors should not be neutral about the conflict situation within which they work. As well as his medical work in conflict zones, Gilbert has contributed to treatment of extreme hypothermia. Gilbert was able to save a Norwegian skier whose body temperature was 13.7 degrees C. the lowest body temperature ever survived.
 Naturally, Israeli authorities are not appreciative of Gilbert. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesperson Yigal Palmor responded to a report by Gilbert in Lancet as follows: "Dr. Gilbert is notorious for his radical far left opinions and his systematic demonizaton of Israel. He has already accused Israel of almost every nightmarish crime in the book only to ignore the refutation of every one of his allegations. His stories are worthy of Dante's imagination but have been proved time and again to be far removed from reality. It is a pity that serious members of the medical profession should allow themselves to be dragged into an excessive of mad Mads". Compared to that flowery outburst Gilbert's reply is a model of restraint:"This is a part of the propaganda war. We are not surprised and take this very calmly. We tell the truth and do not need to lie. If Israel think we are lying, they can just open the borders and let the world's press into Gaza. Then one will soon find out who is lying." Gilbert describes his religious orientation as a "practicing agnostic, with a recurring need for prayer".