Showing posts with label IfNotNow. Show all posts

Monday, June 03, 2019

@IfNotNowOrg leader @RafaelShimunov outs himself as a hateful, lying, disgusting bigot (update)

Vice News had this story about an Israeli emigrant who opened a trendy restaurant in Toronto that uses a 150-year old stone mill from Israel to grind tahini using sesame seeds from Ethiopia.

This restaurant makes their tahini in-house using a stone mill they found in Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/JU1cKvRSIh
— VICE Canada (@vicecanada) May 30, 2019

This was apparently a trigger for Rafael Shimunov, an early founding member of IfNotNow, who responded with a bigoted, hateful tweet that shows what a jerk he is:

The owner of the restaurant is a Yemenite Jew who used to live in Israel. Shimunov sees that he is Israeli and therefore blames him for imagined Israeli crimes.

The definition of a bigot is someone who generalizes that all people in a group are guilty for the alleged actions of a few.

So from this tweet we know straight off that Shimunov, a card carrying leftist, is a bigot.

But there is more.

Israel never sterilized Ethiopian women. This is simply a lie. Haaretz once made it look like Israeli organizations were giving Ethiopian women birth control without their consent, and even that charge was found to be utterly wrong- back in 2013.

Shimunov is a liar.

But there is more.

Palestinians actually have been found to sterilize women for "honor" reasons. Someone like Shimunov who pretends to care so much about fictional Israeli victims of sterilization never say a word about when their pet Palestinians are proven to have done it for real.

Shimunov is a hypocrite.

But there is more.

Shimunov seems to be upset that an Israeli would import sesame seeds from Ethiopia. This is bizarre, to say the least. What is wrong with helping the economy in Ethiopia? Anyone else who would do it would be considered someone who supports poor farmers in north Africa. Only when a Jew does this it is somehow a problem.

But there is more.

This "woke" person saw a Vice story that made an Israeli look like a nice guy and went ballistic. This one tweet proves that his hate for Israel isn't because of "occupation" or "settlements" or whatever. It is hate for people - even people of color, even immigrants. It is hate for Vice for making a video about an Israeli that is positive.

The hate that he shows in this one tweet proves that for him (and we see this with other anti-Israel activists) it isn't about justice or loving Palestinians. It is pure hate that animates him, and so many others.

This hate is indistinguishable from the hate of racists, or bigots, of antisemites.

But this hate is still allowed and celebrated in certain circles.

UPDATE: Now the haters are posting bad reviews in Yelp by claiming that the stone mill, which they say same from the Golan, is "stolen Palestinian property."

Since when was the Golan Palestinian?

(h/t Tess)

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ElderToon, poster and a tweet for @IfNotNowOrg

I made this cartoon for IfNotNow on Twitter after they showed how proud they were to stop traffic on Friday to the block where Taglit Birthright has its offices in New York.

Since the group has such a finely tuned sense of justice, I asked them this question in a meme I created:

Finally, I asked them a question about their purported "Jewish values":

Hey @IfNotNowOrg , when King David conquered Jerusalem and declared it the capital of his kingdom, was he acting in accordance to Jewish values?

If not, please give me the sources you use for the "Jewish" values you were raised on.

Thanks! https://t.co/UvUA2LKtK3
— Elder Of Ziyon ҉ (@elderofziyon) April 9, 2019

Of course, IfNotNow - which falsely claims that Birthright does not answer any questions about Palestinians on its trips - doesn't respond to any questions asked about it.

Transparency is only for one side, it appears.

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IfNotNow co-founder claims Birthright forces participants to create faux checkpoints, IDF pushes pins into their chests

Max Berger, co-founder of IfNotNow, made some very bizarre and almost certainly false claims about Birthright on Twitter last night:

Every birthright trip includes a heavy dose of right wing propaganda.

My trip leader was a settler who told us all Arabs were terrorists and threatened to throw me off the trip for my "Arab beliefs." American Jews were hazed by Israeli soldiers who pushed pins into their chests.
On my trip, one of our evening activities was a simulation of a checkpoint, in which we had to pretend to be IDF soldiers denying entry to pleading Palestinian women.

Even if they told us their children were sick, we were to deny everyone entry. It was horrifying.

He was immediately challenged:

David Sebs @dsebs

I went on a trip in 2012 and this couldn't be further from the truth.

If anything our guide was extremely sympathetic to the Palestinians... Even organizing Ultimate Frisbee tournaments with those on the other side of the 'wall'.

Gritty 2020🔥 @maxberger

It totally depends on your trip leader. They are discouraged from talking about the conflict, but some bend the rules.

David Sebs @dsebs

I mean you mentioned 'every Birthright trip' and then conceded that it 'depends on your trip leader.'

You understand the hypocrisy in that right?

I'm not even trolling, but it c'mon....

And:

Melissa Weiss
@melissaeweiss
I don’t often call people liars, but I went on Birthright as a student. Dozens of my friends have staffed and guided trips. Hundreds of my friends and colleagues have been participants over the years. Not a single one has had the experience Max describes. Not a single one.

Berger backtracks big time:

Gritty 2020🔥 @maxberger
Replying to @melissaeweiss
I don't think this was the least bit typical! Lots of stuff happened on my trip that wasn't according to protocol. But the larger point still holds.

The "larger point," apparently, that Birthright is still right wing propaganda even if his own supposed case was an outlier. And if that really happened, there would be lots of people talking about it.I

Berger was asked repeatedly the name of the leader of his trip. Obviously, if his claims were true, everyone from the left to the far right would condemn it. But he won't say.

His "bravery" at "exposing" Birthright apparently doesn't extend to allowing himself to be fact-checked.

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IfNotNow's fabulous self-own

If Not Now tweeted this graphic:

So the original name for the areas is meant to erase the history of the one that came thousands of years afterwards.

Beyond the stupidity of that assertion, the West Bank is a Jordanian name, not a Palestinian name. (The term was not consistently capitalized until after the Six Day War.)

Even the UN referred to Judea and Samaria when talking about the area, e.g., the UN partition plan of 1947 saying "The boundary of the hill country of Samaria and Judea starts on the Jordan River at the Wadi Malih south-east of Beisan..."

The format of this infographic indicates that IfNotNow has an entire series of them that they were planning to tweet daily. But the derision they have received for this one may make them bury the rest of them. Too bad! Debunking them is one of my new favorite hobbies.

I'm still hoping against hope that they say that the name you should use is Al Quds instead of Jerusalem.

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EoZTV: Answering IfNotNow

A longish podcast but it really gets going in the second half.

I'll try to summarize:

IfNotNow's example questions are:

The first question presupposes that there is a capital O "Occupation." From the perspective of international law, this is not true.

The definition of “occupation” comes from Hague Convention of 1907:

Territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army. The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established and can be exercised.

The Fourth Geneva Conventions do not define “occupation” but set up rules to protect civilians under occupation.

Israel's position is that the land isn’t “occupied” but “disputed." The reason it isn’t occupied is that it had no recognized sovereign before 1967, as Jordan’s annexation of Judea and Samaria was not recognized by most nations.

The Hague definition only applies to parties of the Convention, meaning states.

Hans Kelsen wrote in Principles of International Law in 1952 (before international law was twisted specifically to attack Israel:)

If the territory is not to be considered a stateless territory, it must be considered to be under the sovereignty of the occupant belligerent, which—in such a case—ceases to be restricted by the rules concerning belligerent occupation.

Moreover, Israel has the best legal claim to Judea and Samaria, based on the terms of the British Mandate approved by the League of Nations of the Jewish people’s right to settle in Palestine:

“The Mandatory shall be responsible for placing the country under such political, administrative and economic conditions as will secure the establishment of the Jewish national home….”

The League of Nations decisions remain legal under the UN. Since Jordan’s claim from 1949-1967 was illegal, the only valid claim on the land is that of the Jews under the terms of the League of Nations.

Now, this might seem like a cop-out. The Geneva Conventions describes how to treat civilians humanely under occupation, and saying that the areas aren't occupied in a strictly legal sense should not give Israel carte blanche to treat Palestinian Arabs badly.

But Israel has voluntarily enforced the Geneva Convention humanitarian rules in the territories, but never accepted the idea that they are legally occupied – it always maintained they were disputed. This is why Israel feels that building Jewish communities in the territories is legal - with the exception of Hebron, where Jews lived continuously before 1929, all Jewish settlements are in areas that Arabs didn't live, on public lands (sometimes mistakes are made and either those buildings are demolished or the Arabs are compensated, based on Israeli Supreme Court rulings.)

By the way, no one who is serious accuses Israel's Supreme Court of ignoring international law. Their opinions are sober, detailed and publicly available. I have yet to see anyone show how their opinions that allow Israel to act in the territories are in violation of international law.

Beyond these points, parts of the territories aren't occupied for a completely different reason.

In an occupation, the hostile army has complete control over the territory - it is required to set up court systems and enforce existing laws.

By Geneva’s definition: [T]he Occupying Power shall be bound, for the duration of the occupation, to the extent that such Power exercises the functions of government in such territory

By the Hague’s definition, it requires “boots on the ground”

A good definition of whether territory is occupied is whether the “occupier” can replace the mayors of the cities. Or fire the sanitation workers.

Gaza is certainly not occupied now since there is not a single Israeli soldier there. Neither is Area A, since the PA has military control over those areas. Israel is not acting and cannot act as the government in those areas.

(People who say that controlling the borders is “occupation” have zero legal basis for their opinion.)

IfNotNow asks about the effect of the Israeli presence in the territories on Palestinian (and Israeli) lives. They only care about Palestinian human rights - but they ignore Israeli human rights.

Before the first intifada, there were no (or few?) checkpoints. Palestinian Arabs and Israeli Jews were able to simply drive all over Israel and the territories with few restrictions. I once spoke to someone who used to Israeli kosher challah bread in Ramallah, imported Friday mornings to allow settlers to not have to drive to Jerusalem.

All of that changed because of the first and second intifadas, the waves of Arab terror and suicide bombings and bus bombings from 1988, through the 1990s when there were many terror attacks during the Oslo peace process, and then the major wave of terror that happened after the Palestinians rejected two serious peace offers in 2000 and 2001, pushed by Bill Clinton.

All restrictions on Palestinian mobility is a direct result of terror. Israel isn't trying to restrict anyone's human rights, but Israel's main job as a sovereign nation is to protect its citizens. The rights of Israelis to live without being blown up are certainly more important than the rights of Palestinian Arabs not to wait for minutes at checkpoints to ensure they aren't bringing bombs or guns.

No one talks about Israeli human rights. But human rights are human rights to all, and Israel has to find a balance that allows the maximum of human rights for Palestinians without compromising in the security of Israelis. The line is fine, and it moves, based on Palestinian Arab actions.

The Oslo peace process is now 25 years old. Palestinian Arabs have had 25 years to teach an entire generation to live in peace with Israel, and they have done the opposite. Terrorists are heroes, and they and their families are paid salaries by the PLO. Not all Palestinians are terrorists, but polls show that after major terror attacks on Israeli civilians, a vast majority support those attacks. And polls have also consistently shown that even the Palestinians who say they support a two state solution only look at that as a stage before taking over all of Israel. This is the major reason there is no peace today.

Every Israeli government, including the current one, wants to live side by side in peace and security with a Palestinian state (or entity, if you will) that doesn't threaten Israel. No one wants to control millions of potentially hostile people. But right now that is impossible - a hostile independent Palestine in the territories could easily acquire shoulder mounted missiles to threaten all Israeli air traffic, for example. This is not acceptable to any nation.

So the current situation, as bad as it is for Palestinian Arabs, is the least bad situation if you value Israeli lives as well. And when the PA does take security seriously, restrictions on Palestinians are lifted (there used to be far more checkpoints than today.)

IfNotNow hates it when Zionists say "it's complicated." That's because they are invested in a simplistic viewpoint where Israelis are evil and Palestinians are good. That is highly inaccurate, borderline racist and betrays an agenda where Israeli lives are worthless. If Birthright participants want to know the facts, they need to invest the time into understanding both sides of the story.

And Birthright guides must be more than tour guides. Understanding Israeli and Jewish history is not enough preparation to handle loaded questions that presuppose the answers. They need to understand the talking points of Israel's enemies like IfNotNow and know how to counter those arguments.

I'm willing to help.

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Kweansmom on Twitter takes down "proud" sabotagers of Birthright

A thread from "kweansmom," a great Tweeter:

(((kweansmom)))
@kweansmom

12 hours ago, 12 tweets, 5 min read Read on Twitter

You're proud of the young Jews who are bashing Birthright, the organization which your family personally benefited from for years? Wow, what an ingrate. #BiteTheHandThatFeedsYou.
(This may be a long thread.)

Barat Ellman@BaratEllman

I am so proud of these young Jews for their courage, integrity, and ingenuity. What a brilliant idea.

IfNotNow@IfNotNowOrg

3:47

NowThisVerified account @nowthisnews

These young Jewish people are talking to Birthright participants before they travel to Israel to make sure they know the full truth about the trip 

12:09 AM - 20 Dec 2018

39

12:37 PM - Dec 20, 2018

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30 people are talking about this

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Your husband, Jay Golan was named CEO and President of Birthright Israel Foundation in 2005 and he remained in that position until 2012, meaning that for about seven years your family enjoyed his salary, paid for by the government of Israel and benefactors such as Sheldon Adelson

Jay's successor's salary was about $500K, according to @jdforward (Thank you, Forward, for digging into the financials of Jewish institutions!). I imagine your husband was also well-compensated. Did he "return the birthright"? Or did it help pay for Sophie's college tuition?

Sheldon Adelson has donated tens of millions, if not billions of dollars to Birthright over the years. Yet Sophie derides him as having a "twisted vision" of Jewish safety. And you posted an article comparing him to Farrakhan. Did you return his "despicable" money?

Yes, your husband spent years helping to raise money for a program which strengthens Jewish youth's connection to Israel. In 2007, he described how participants meet Israeli Arabs and Bedouin "to learn about Israel's cultural complexity." IfNotNow lies.

For Young Jews, a Chance to Reconnect With FaithAbout 145,000 young Jews from 52 countries have traveled to Israel as part of a program meant to strengthen meaningful religious connections.https://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/08/nyregion/08birthright.html

More recently, your daughter Sophie participated in Birthright Israel herself, in June of 2014. She had a great time, by the looks of it. Now she says "Israel is wrong" and shouldn't be defended.

Yes, Sophie Ellman-Golan, media person for Women's March and staunch ally of anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour, was a Birthright participant. She didn't walk out. She didn't protest. She rode donkeys and camels, went swimming, and danced at the kotel. And befriended IDF soldiers

A few weeks after her trip ended, the three Israeli teenagers were kidnapped. She reached out to the soldiers who had been on her trip, saying she was thinking of them and hoping they were safe. I guess she used to think Israel was worth defending.

These are the soldiers tagged in that post.

Looks like she had fun sharing Sheldon Adelson's "twisted vision" of the Jewish future.

She even turned to her fellow Birthright participants, those terribly misguided and brainwashed tools of the evil Israeli government, to join her social activism.

So, in summary, you and your family happily benefited from the generosity of the Israeli government, wealthy Jewish donors, and "the Jewish establishment", and now you shit all over them. Well done, rabbi. I hope you're proud of that, too. (rant over)

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Surprise! IfNotNow Birthright disrupters lied to the media

This important Haaretz article is behind a paywall, so here are the important excerpts (update: Jerusalem Post has it for free).

IfNotNow Hijacked Our Birthright Trip

Our trip was shattered by premeditated walk-out in which we, unwillingly, became part of the media spectacle that their activists had sought from the start. This is our side of the story.

The activists said that their questions about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had not been answered during the first few days of the trip, and they were appalled at the way Birthright had hidden the truth from them and presented a biased, right-wing agenda.

This is not an accurate portrayal of our trip. Their speech gave them the media attention they were seeking, but it was filled with misrepresentation and distortion. We, the remaining participants of Taglit Israel Outdoors Bus 428, are here to set the record straight.

Throughout their abbreviated participation, these protesters used every opportunity to vocalize their viewpoints, using group discussions, evening relaxation time, bus rides, and hiking rest stops to share their emotionally-charged rhetoric about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict with the group.

At first, most of us were receptive to their questions – we considered them an important dialogue to include in a trip well-known to be heavily funded by right-wing American donors and the Israeli government.

When one activist stressed the need to include conversations about the conflict in our trip, our group leaders generously allowed her to lead a dialogue on the evening of our first full day, during which we discussed and debated the topic for hours. From the first day, the trip schedule had been altered to make space for their ideas.

Many of us, like the activists, had come to Israel intending to ask difficult questions as a meaningful and integral part of our experience. After the first night, one of us even volunteered to lead an effort to pen a group letter to Birthright expressing our disappointment at the lack of importance given to the Palestinian crisis on the trip.

The rhetoric flowing from select group members, however, quickly became unreasonably aggressive and directed at our tour guide, who never avoided the topic, silenced their speech, or seemed to take offense at their disregard for his perspective. He answered each question calmly, patiently, and to the best of his ability, providing an extraordinarily neutral view of the conflict and acknowledging his bias as a former IDF soldier when necessary.

When questions became incessant and repetitive, our guide repeatedly reminded the group that our schedule included a geopolitical discussion with a professor of Middle Eastern history later in the week, and that the professor would be better equipped to answer some of their specific questions. In fact, during that lecture, the professor answered questions in an open and honest way and encouraged us to do our own research and fact-checking on the information he presented us with.

However, the activists did not stick around long enough to attend that discussion. Nor did they make any effort to connect with or ask questions of the seven Israelis who accompanied our trip, having lived in the midst of the conflict throughout their entire lives.

The narrative being portrayed in the media, and the carefully selected scenes from a particularly frustrating bus ride, do not fully capture our group’s willingness, even eagerness, to discuss the conflict.

It became apparent only after the walk-off that everything had been premeditated. Four of the six protesters had already been working prior to the trip with IfNotNow, an activist group with the goal of changing how Birthright presents the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

These activists took advantage of the trip and took spots away from others in order to stage a political stunt, and then pretended that the structure of the trip surprised them.

The activists had many options to see the other side of the conflict and to promote change. They could have, as our own tour guide encouraged them to do, extended their trip to visit the West Bank and hear from Palestinians. This would have allowed them to remain on the trip for its entire duration and calmly encourage further dialogue and education about the conflict within our group. They could have written a letter to Birthright, as our group had planned, to express their discomfort with the program’s omission of the Palestinian perspective.

They were not interested in seeing both sides of the conflict, as they claimed. They came on the trip with clear "right and wrong" sides in their heads and refused to hear anything that might contradict their ironclad opinions. Instead of responsibly hearing from both sides, they chose to hear a one-sided narrative from the Palestinian perspective.

(The article is signed by 20 people who were in the group.)

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