Two activists have exposed a disturbing phenomenon that they say is an open secret within the “peace camp”: female “peace” activists are routinely harassed and raped by the Arabs of Judea and Samaria with whom they have come to identify. They say the phenomenon has gotten worse lately and that many foreign women end up as wives of local Arabs against their will, but cannot escape their new homes. Roni Aloni Sedovnik, a feminist activist, penned an article in News1 – an independent website run by respected investigative reporter Yoav Yitzchak – under the heading “The Left's Betrayal of Female Peace Activists Who were Sexually Assaulted.” “A nauseous atrocity has been going on for a long time behind the scenes at the leftists' demonstration at Bil'in, Naalin and Sheikh Jarrah ,” she writes. “A dark secret that threatens to smash the basic ideological values upon which the demand to end the occupation of the Territories rests.” It turns out, she explains, that when female peace activists from Israel and abroad come out to Judea and Samaria and demonstrate against the Israeli “occupation,” they are assaulted sexually by the Arab men whom they have come to help. These are not isolated incidents, Aloni-Sedovnik stresses. Rather, this is an “ongoing and widespread” phenomenon that includes verbal and physical abuse. She accuses the 'peace' camp of purposely covering up the trend so as not to offend “the Palestinians and their heritage, which sees women as sexual objects.” Media cover-up Aloni-Sedovnik cites two specific cases which she has knowledge of – one is a case of rape and another is “severe sexual harassment.” The attackers in both cases, she stresses, were familiar with the victims and knew that they were “peace activists.” The rape occurred several months ago in the village of Umm Salmona, near Bethlehem. The victim, an American activist, wanted to press charges but leftist activists put pressure on her not to do so, so as not to damage the struggle against the 'occupation.' The second case involved an Israeli activist who took part in the demonstrations at Shimon HaTzaddik neighborhood in eastern Jerusalem, where the High Court ruled that Jewish families may move into homes that they have owned for generations. This woman filed a complaint with the police but retracted it after “severe and unfair pressure” from the demonstrations' organizers, according to Aloni-Sedovnik. Furthermore, the organizers appealed to demonstrators to dress modestly when they come to the Arab neighborhoods and suggested that they wear head scarves. Aloni-Sedovnik accuses the Israeli media of complicity in the cover-up. The Umm Salmona case was reported in Haaretz as an attempted rape but does not seem to have made it beyond the blog pages. Foreign women raped and subjugated Earlier this year, a blogger and literature buff named Yehudah Bello, who writes in various venues about history and the theory of evolution, wrote a blog post with the striking title: “The Female Leftist Activists are Raped Day after Day, Night after Night.” Bello is no ultra-nationalist, and he supports the creation of a PA state – a fact which makes his claims all the more believable. Most female leftist European activists, writes Bello, are brainwashed in their youth into hating Israel, and then sent directly into Judea and Samaria, without spending a single night in Tel Aviv, lest they see civilian Israeli society for themselves and find that they like it. They are whisked off to Shechem, Jenin and other PA towns and housed in Arab educational or cultural facilities, or private homes. Local Arab girls are sent to befriend them and they have no choice but to trust them. It is is easy, explains Bello, “to carry out a sexual crime against a foreign girl, in her first days away from her family, in a place where no police have ever visited. And this is what happens, and has happened.” "I was told of such rape cases by women who are not Jewish: a female European leftist activist, a female Red Cross volunteer and a young Arab woman from Yafo,” he says. He says that he met these women when he carried out IDF reserve duty, and met them afterward as well. “They told me what goes on there, in the Palestinian villages, far from any prying eye.” "These are not just cases of rape carried out to satisfy lust,” he writes. “Usually, they are carried out systematically in order to make the girl pregnant and then take her as a wife – after she converts to Islam, of course. We know about this system from the stories of women who underwent a similar process within Israel and escaped to Europe. But it is hard to escape from the Palestinian territories. Sometimes these women – some of whom are no longer young – are never allowed to leave their homes unaccompanied, in order to forestall their escape.” If someone were to compare the list of foreign female activists who enter Judea and Samaria to the list of those who leave, Bello claims, the magnitude of the phenomenon would be proven. “Everyone knows about it, but no one dares talk about it. The Palestinians have been turned into martyrs. In the Middle Eastern television channels, IDF soldiers are represented as the brutal rapists, who rape Palestinian women.” New Israel Fund involvement The reports by Aloni-Sedovnik and Bello are of particular interest because feminist groups have been spearheading leftist activism in Israel for many years. According to Gila Svirsky, the former director of the New Israel Fund in Israel and founder of NIF-sponsored Women's Coalition for Peace, “women’s peace organizations, known collectively as the Israeli women’s peace movement, became the most vibrant and persistent part of the peace camp in Israel.” These groups espouse an ideology which equates militarism (by Israelis) with male domination of women. Far from being a fringe element, leftist-feminists of this ilk are a dominant force in the Israeli academic world, the press, the Knesset and the judicial system.

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Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas is furious at Israel for killing a Hamas terrorist  in the city of Tulkarm, where the PA is responsible for security Abbas told the Bethlehem-based Ma'an news agency in an interview that he demanded that Israel stop operating in PA cities where the PA is supposed to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure. He did not say whether the PA knew of the location of the terrorist, who was identified as Iyad Abu-Shalabiya, 38, a Hamas member and former senior commander. He had served time in prison in Israel for security offenses, and was on the IDF's “wanted” list. American-trained PA troops, who officially are called “policemen” but underwent army training under the supervision of American army officers, generally have dealt with crime, traffic violations and misdemeanors. They have entered the field of security more frequently in the past several weeks to arrest Arabs who are active in Hamas and are against the rival Fatah party, headed by Abbas. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israeli forces be present in the Jordan Valley if an agreement is reached for the establishment of a new Arab state headed by the PA.  PA spokesman Husam Zomlot said that "not one Israeli soldier" will be permitted to remain in a future Palestinian state, the Bloomberg news site reported. (IsraelNationalNews.com)

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Arabs threw a fire bomb (“Molotov cocktail”) at the porch of an apartment in a building that houses Jewish families in the Abu Tor neighborhood of southern Jerusalem. The bomb did not ignite and no one was hurt. A woman who lives next to the building told Arutz Sheva's Hebrew-language service that the firebomb was thrown from a nearby Arab building. This structure was built illegally but nothing has been done to demolish it, she said. The neighbor said the phenomenon is not new. “About a month and a half ago, three firebombs were thrown into the building's yard. The bottles ignited and burned a very tall cypress tree. Another firebomb that did not ignite was thrown subsequently and this is the third time in a month and a half.” "My husband called the police but instead of arriving immediately they started to question him and inquire about all sorts of irrelevant things,” she said. "This week,” she went on, “Major General Franco, the District Commander, visited here, and my husband told me that he intends to sleep in his wooden sukkah during the Sukkot holiday. Major General Franco promised to secure the place and make it possible to sleep in the sukkahs.”  Part of Abu Tor was liberated in the 1967 Six Day War, and is inhabited by Arabs. The other part was liberated in 1948, and is inhabited by Jews. The neighborhood was quiet until the general deterioration in security in Israel which has taken place in the past two decades.

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IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi warned the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Tuesday there may be more clashes and casualties if a new flotilla tries to break Israel’s maritime blockade of Gaza. Libya allegedly plans to send at least one ship – and possibly more – to the region in just such an attempt next month, according to the Palestine Telegraph. A Tripoli-based group calling itself the Libyan Civil Mission to Support the Palestinian People released a statement Tuesday saying it would coordinate the launch of the flotilla – to be dubbed “Jerusalem 5” – together with one to be led by British ex-parliamentarian George Galloway. The British convoy “Lifeline” will allegedly launch from Britain and sail to Gaza through Latakia and Tripoli, arriving in the Libyan port beginning October 10. Ships will continue to gather in the port until October 15, and are then scheduled to set sail for Gaza on October 17. The European flotilla allegedly will include dozens of ships carrying passengers from numerous countries, including the United States.  “This is a challenge for the IDF and for Israel,” Ashkenazi told the MKs. “If we see large ships bound for Gaza, and force is used, then we cannot dismiss the possibility of casualties.” According to the IDF Chief of Staff, at least four flotillas are being planned, including an all-female effort from Beirut that has run into obstacles in Cyprus. Others include a flotilla allegedly expected to set sail from Syria, and another being planned by Yemen, according to the IDF.  Ashkenazi also said it is important for the Jewish State to carry out the diplomatic groundwork before the flotillas reach Israel’s sovereign waters. “Diplomatic work is being undertaken by the foreign ministry in order to stop the flotillas before they leave port,” he said. “This is better for Israel, so as not to repeat the images of the Turkish flotilla.” Enough Probes - Let Troops Do Their Jobs He also criticized the numerous probes being conducted into the single incident that took place aboard the Turkish-sponsored Mavi Marmara, in which nine armed terror activists were killed after they attacked Israeli navy commandos who boarded the vessel to direct it towards the Ashdod port. The ship was one of six in a flotilla heading to Gaza in an effort to break Israel's blockade of the Hamas terrorist-ruled region on May 31. “I don’t object to debriefings,” he said, “but we have five inquiries. A negative pattern has been created in which every time our troops return, a commission of inquiry awaits them at the docks or at the border crossings." “In this profession, which is about managing risks, I would like to see people daring, and taking risks” rather than constantly facing probes for doing their jobs, Ashkenazi said. (IsraelNationalNews.com)

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