Israel-Bashing Progressives Paint Iran/Syrian-Backed Border Incursion as 'Martin Luther King-Style Non-Violence'

I write about Israel a lot, but once again I'm blown away by the left's complete disconnect from objective reality. Charli Carpenter, at Lawyers, Guns and Murder, posts an entry, citing The Economist, making the case that the Nakba Day uprising was a "Martin Luther King-style" example of non-violent resistance. The videos tell another story, naturally.

But there's a number of reports as well that indicate a much more complicated picture than political scientist Charli Carpenter lets on, much less the dolts at The Economist. There's major concern, for example, that outside powers, Iran and Syria, played a major role in fomenting violence among what for many may have indeed been a planned day of peaceful protest. See, Allison Kaplan Sommer, "‘Nakba Day’ Incidents Worry Israelis and Embarrass the IDF":"

For days, the military — and, to be fair, also the Israeli and the international press — had been focusing on expected violent protests and provocation in Jerusalem and the West Bank, when it should have been looking northwards, where the worst “Bloody Sunday” clashes took place in the Druze village of Majdal Shams and on the Lebanese border.

It was the infiltration of the Syrian border by hundreds of unarmed civilians, who successfully trampled the border fence and crossed into Israeli territory near Majdal Shams, that was the real shock of the day. Protests in that area were a matter of routine on Nakba Day and were expected: for nearly 1000 Syrians to gather at the border and for hundreds to rush across the fence into Israeli-controlled territory was not a scenario that was forseen or prepared for.

Israeli politicians and pundits quickly theorized that the infiltration was a Bashar Assad production. Israel was clearly being used in a public relations exercise, they said, deliberately orchestrated by the Assad regime in an effort to take the spotlight off of their brutal suppression of protest movements in Syria and draw attention instead to the border with Israel. The infiltrators reportedly were Palestinians from refugee camps in Syria. Presumably, for the operation to succeed, it had to have been tolerated, if not actively assisted, by the strong Syrian government. The IDF intelligence failure appeared even more embarrassing when it was reported that the operation was planned carefully over the past several months — and that participants were recruited and logistics organized on Facebook. (As of this writing, Israeli journalists poring over Facebook have not yet found evidence to back up the claim.)

If Syria was indeed an active player, it was successful: international headlines emphasized the events on the Israeli border and downplayed a continuing crackdown in a Syrian city on the Lebanese border on the very same day that claimed more Syrian lives than the IDF incident.

Also mentioned are the border incursions from Lebanon, at Maroun al-Ras, from Gaza, and from the West Bank and Jerusalem.

Omri Ceren, at Commentary, has more on this, "Naturally, the UN Condemns Israel for Nakba Day Violence":

To distract the world from how he’s been massacring his own people, Bashar al-Assad opened up the Israeli-Syrian border to rioters on Sunday, hundreds of whom infiltrated Israel. In Lebanon, Hezbollah—a recognized terrorist organization and a proxy for the Iranian government—organized protesters, ensuring that enough Palestinian flags were distributed. Israeli soldiers watched as Syrian, Lebanese, and United Nations soldiers stepped aside to let hostile mobs rush their border, and only when rioters were at the fences—or had climbed over them—did they react.

Naturally, then, the UN is condemning Israel.

“I am shocked by the number of the deaths and the use of disproportionate, deadly force by the Israeli Defense Forces against apparently unarmed demonstrators, which I condemn,” said Michael Williams, UN’s Special Coordinator for Lebanon.

Amnesty International is also calling for an investigation into Israel’s actions, although for some unknown reason they are not calling for a similar investigation of the Lebanese Armed Forces, which also opened fire on protesters. No surprise here. A little chagrin on the part of the UN, though—perhaps even some reticence to condemn Israel—might have been expected, given how UN forces’ severe dereliction of duty enabled the rioters to rush the Israeli border. Apparently not.

And more on the Lebanese Armed Forces. It turns out that Israel has decided NOT to release video that captured Lebanese troops killing protesters. See, "IDF withholds video of Lebanese firing on protesters." Also, on the terrorist truck rampage that killed one on Nakba Day: "Police increasingly sure TA truck rampage deliberate."

I'll have more later. Meanwhile, check the comments at Lawyers, Guns and Murder. It's like a bloodthirsty mob that's mainlined a toxic zombie cocktail of Noam Chomsky and the Hamas Charter's genocidal jihad. Seriously. It's Western Jew hatred condensed in netroots fever-swamp form, available on an ostensibly responsible academic political science blog. A frenzied, deranged malice, directed solely at Israel, which unleashed would bring about a bloodbath of world historical significance.

Say your prayers.