Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Search results for chile

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Monday, September 12, 2016

Far more Christians of Palestinian origin in Chile than in the Middle East (update)

Last week, Hanan Ashrawi held a meeting with Chilean citizens of Palestinian Arab origin. Official PA news agency Wafa issued a press release which was published, nearly verbatim, by other outlets:

Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, Thursday called on a visiting delegation of Palestinian business and civil society leaders from Chile to maintain a link to Palestine and to engage in a joint discourse and projects with Palestine.

“In light of Israeli efforts to eradicate the Palestinian identity and erase our strong connection to the land, history and culture, I am extremely encouraged by Palestinian expatriates, exiles and refugees who return to their homeland and are ready to invest in Palestine in a variety of ways,” Ashrawi told the delegation at her PLO office in Ramallah.

“We are not ready to disappear or abandon our rights,” she said. “By returning to Palestine and maintaining your links to the homeland, you are reaffirming the Palestinian connection to the land and our right to exist in freedom and in dignity.”

Ashrawi led a candid discussion on Israel’s unilateral violations of international law and Palestinian rights and its systematic efforts to destroy the chances for peace and stability.

I think when they say "candid" they really mean "canned."

Chile has a large number of people of Palestinian origin. The vast majority are Christian. Many of them arrived before anyone ever referred to them as "Palestinian" in the 19th century; the Chileans referred to them as "turcos" (Turks) because they came from the Ottoman empire. The 19th century immigrants didn't refer to themselves as Palestinian either; they identified as coming from their hometowns (Beit Jala, Bei Sahour, Bethlehem) or as Syrians or simply Arabs.

Because they are full citizens of Chile, and happy to be there, no one wants to talk about them because they obscure the narrative of a stateless diaspora Palestinian Arab community. Articles about them might encourage Palestinians to move to Chile, lose their stateless status and become no longer available as pawns and cannon fodder, which seems to be the preferred type of Palestinian to the Arab world and to their own leaders.

What is striking is that there are ten times as many Christians of Palestinian origin in Chile than there are under PA rule. There are only 50,000 Christians in the PA compared to nearly 500,000 Christians of Palestinian origin in Chile.

Israel's Christian population also dwarfs that of the Palestinian Authority, with about 150,000 Christians there, most Arab.

Most of the Christians under Arab rule have fled over the decades - from Palestinian Arab rule, from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.

The numbers show to a remarkable degree how Christians have been forced to leave Arab areas of Palestine because of Muslim persecution, a story that is also swept under the rug in favor of the "blame Israel for everything" narrative that the Palestinian leadership has so successfully and single-mindedly pushed.

No one wants to move from Chile to "Palestine." But Chile would be an obvious destination for Palestinians, especially Palestinian Christians, who want to start new lives outside the influence of the corrupt Arab leaders who want to keep them miserable - ostensibly for their own good.

If UNRWA was a real refugee agency, Chile would be a top choice for resettling stateless Palestinians.

UPDATE: Mike Conrad tells me that the Palestinian Christians of Chile indeed referred to themselves as "Palestinos" since at least 1920, based on the names of their soccer clubs and social organizations, and distinguished themselves from Lebanese and Syrian immigrants who arrived at the same time.

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PA whines about Chilean miner trip to Israel

From Ha'aretz:

Newspapers in Chile are carrying extensive coverage of the visit to Israel of the 33 miners who were trapped in the earth for 69 days before being rescued last October in a story that captured worldwide attention

The trip to Israel has been described by Chile's media as "a fitting way to salute to dramatic rescue of the miners."

But some newspapers are reporting that the visit is causing friction with the Palestinian Authority, which would like to be more actively involved.

PA diplomats in Santiago have complained to the Chilean foreign ministry that although the miners are scheduled to visit Bethlehem and Ramallah, in PA territory, the visit that has been described solely as a "trip to Israel." Dr. Mai al-Kaila, the PA ambassador to Chile said that the Palestinians would be happy to host the miners and their entourage during their visits to Bethlehem and Ramallah.

Chile is home to the largest Palestinian community outside of the Middle East, roughly 300,000-strong, with two-thirds of its members Christians. It is a relatively well-established community, politically active and vocal about events in the Middle East.

When tensions rise between Israel and Palestinians on the West Bank or the Gaza Strip, demonstrations are held in Chile's capital city, Santiago. Recently, tensions with the country's Jewish population (roughly 15,000-strong ) flared over Chile's recognition of Palestinian independence. Eugenio Toma, a senator of Palestinian origins, accused Chilean Jews of being "agents of Israel's government," and of "defrauding the public regarding the piratical occupation of Palestinian lands."

I had missed where a Palestinian Christian Chilean, tirelessly working to advance the cause of the PLO in Chile, accused Chile's Jews of being Israeli agents.

Of course, Israel is paying for this trip, so the PA's pique is simply whining.

But perhaps the funniest part of this episode was this comment by "Historian" in Ha'aretz:

Israel is Jewish - Christian sites certainly don't belong to Israel - Joshua even destroyed a lot of them

I knew Joshua was a great military leader and had conversations with God, but I had no idea he could also time-travel!

Chile welcomes the Arabs that Arabs hate

AFP reports:

Chile on Sunday greeted 39 Palestinians from a refugee camp in Syria for permanent resettlement, and local residents turned out to give them a rousing welcome.
"Leave your suffering in the past and let Chile be the fountain of your newfound happiness," deputy Interior Secretary Felipe Harboe told the tired newcomers, who spent 40 hours traveling to this farming community north of Santiago.
The Palestinians, 23 of them children, were greeted by an official welcoming committee and many cheering locals who waved Palestinian flags and signs recalling their own Middle Eastern descent from immigrants who arrived when La Calera was founded in the late 19th century.
"Through you we relive the adventure of being an immigrant," La Calera Mayor Roberto Chahuan, the grandchild of Palestinians, told the exhausted refugees who were to be settled in apartment buildings in the town.
After the ceremony, the Palestinian families were escorted to their apartments. Local authorities will provide education, health care and Spanish classes.
The 39 Palestinians are the first of a group of 117 Chile has accepted to resettle under a 2007 program it agreed to with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The remaining refugees accepted in Chile will arrive in two groups in the coming weeks for resettlement in San Felipe, north of Santiago, and two neighborhoods in the capital.

We discussed a couple of weeks ago how despised the Palestinian Iraqis are in the Arab world and how every Arab nation refuses to let them in.

But one of the details in this story also explains why even Palestinian Arabs are less than thrilled with countries like Chile, Canada and Brazil taking them in.

Notice how the mayor is described as a "grandchild of Palestinians," not as a "Palestinian." He may be proud of his heritage but he has no intention of "returning" to the Middle East because his family has built up a real life and identity outside of the "Palestinian" construct.

The entire cornerstone of Palestinian identity is the idea of statelessness and oppression. Take that away, and Palestinian identity will fade - as will the utility of using a large group of Arabs as political pawns to pressure the existence of Israel.

So we see the anomaly of an article that refers to the mayor of La Calera is a "grandchild of Palestinians" yet the Arabs who immigrated, who have not been in Palestine for two generations either, are still called "Palestinian." When they are stuck in the Arab world they are forced to be considered victims - but useful victims. When they move elsewhere and build real lives, their usefulness disappears.

This is why Arab nations will never allow Palestinian Arabs to become citizens. Suffering PalArabs are much more useful.

Chile's recognition of "Palestine": A partial victory for Israel?

Chile has joined other South American countries in recognizing "Palestine" - but this recognition is different than that of Brazil, Argentina, Ecuador and Uruguay. While those other countries mentioned the imaginary "1967 borders" as the boundaries of the state, Chile specifically didn't:

The State of Chile has always and consistently supported the right of the Palestinian people to establish itself as an independent state coexisting in peace with the State of Israel. It has also fully endorsed the right of Israel to exist within secure and internationally recognized borders.

It says nothing about the borders of the state.

Chile was heavily lobbied by its large Palestinian Christian community to recognize "Palestine" on the other side of the Green Line - and it evidently refused, instead echoing the wording of UN Security Council Resolution 242 which imply that the 1949 armistice lines are not going to be the final borders of Israel.

The Arab world's nightmare

As we have seen in the past, the Iraqi refugees of Palestinian Arab origin are symbolic of the hatred that the Arab world has for Palestinian Arabs. The UNHCR has tried mightily for years to find permanent homes for these people, kicked out of Iraq, but no Arab country (save for a cynical Sudan) has offered to help.

The only countries that do help - Canada, Iceland, Chile and a few others - are vilified by Arabs who pretend to care about their Palestinian brethren, and the reason is clear: to them, "resettlement" means that the refugees will no longer be pawns in the gigantic game of pressuring Israel. Every Palestinian Arab who no longer sits in stateless misery is one less bullet against Israel. The very idea of Palestinian Arabs becoming full citizens of Arab countries is treated as blasphemy, an idea that the UNRWA tried to push in the 1950s but was so violently rebuffed that it became the largest perpetuator of PalArab pain in the guise of gigantic, ever growing "refugee camps."

And the only people that get hurt are Palestinian Arabs themselves. The Arab world congratulates itself on maintaining "Palestinian unity" but it is just a code word for Palestinian Arab misery.

The very few that manage to escape are the proof.

An article in the "Women's International Perspective" about a handful of these Iraqi refugees that made it to Chile includes the words that no Arab leader, and especially no Palestinian Arab leader, wants to see:

Five months into their time in Chile, a strong sense of community is already apparent within Villa La Pina; the refugee children sit playing in the courtyard with their Chilean counterparts and make valiant efforts at playing the traditional game of trompos. As we talk to Basem, his front door is left open and the daughter of the Chilean family next door wanders in and out, enchanted by the newest addition to the Hamlawis – baby Tabarak. At just six days old, Tabarak is the first of the new immigrants to receive full Chilean nationality, although she will be brought up reminded of her heritage. When we ask for a photo of the new baby with her mother, 18 year old Isra, Basem disappears and returns with two Palestinians scarves which he drapes proudly around his young family.

The Chilean based campaign Transforma el dolor en amor (Transform the pain into love) works to promote the refugees’ right to return to the Palestinian homeland. Despite the refugees’ obvious attachment to their nation, however, the relocation to Chile seems to be considered as a permanent move. “I have no intention of going back,” Thamer tells me, “I live in Chile now.”

These are the words that send chills up the spines of Abbas, Assad and other Arab leaders whose positions are based on the existence of an oppressed Palestinian Arab population.

Because if the "refugees" can be resettled and become happy and productive parts of other nations, their so-called "leaders" lose one of their biggest weapons that keep them in power.

03/15 Links Pt1: Murderers are needed, says Fatah, glorifying killer of 10; Dermer: Trump’s Jerusalem move is ‘shock therapy’ for Palestinians; Gaza - let their people go!

From Ian:

PMW: Murderers are needed, says Fatah, glorifying killer of 10

Murderer of 10 is "heroic prisoner" "We are proud of you... our people needs men like you"
In letter from prison, murderer called for "resistance" - A Palestinian euphemism for violence and terror

A branch of Abbas' Fatah Movement has announced that the Palestinian people needs murderers. In a post on Facebook glorifying murderer Thaer Hammad who killed 10 Israelis in 2002, Fatah in Bethlehem stated that the people "needs men like you":
"Heroic prisoner Thaer Hammad, we are proud of you. Allah willing you will soon be among us, our people needs men like you."
[Facebook page of the Fatah Movement - Bethlehem Branch, March 2, 2018]

Palestinian Media Watch exposed a video by Fatah, which visually presented murderer Hammad as a successful agent on a military mission. The video glorified the murder of the 10 Israelis as "one of the most famous operations."

Thaer Hammad is serving 11 life sentences for murdering 3 Israeli civilians and 7 soldiers by shooting them with a sniper rifle from a hilltop in Wadi Al-Haramiya between Ramallah and Nablus on March 3, 2002.

In a letter he sent from prison, murderer Hammad called for a return of the "resistance" - a Palestinian euphemism for violence and terror attacks against Israelis:

"Hammad demanded to resume and revive the spirit of the revolutionary movement, from which the Fatah Movement arose, and the idea of resistance, given that it is the ideal way to protect our cause and our existence in the shadow of the great challenges and dangers that surround us." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 7, 2018]

In another Fatah post, terrorist Hammad was praised as a "prince" and "the sniper from Wadi Al-Haramiya":

Dr. Martin Sherman: Gaza - let their people go!

The crisis in Gaza is not one that funding can solve.

The recent spate of reports warning of the looming humanitarian crisis in Gaza shows the magnitude of the failed attempt to give Palestinian Arabs self rule over a quarter of a century.

The US has given over 5 billion dollars to the Gazans in aid, making them one of the countries which receives the most foreign aid funding per capita in the world.

Three major US priorities of interest have not been met. They are:
1. Promoting the mitigation of terrorism towards Israel
2. Self government, stability and prosperity that might make Gazans more amenable to peace with Israel.
3. Meeting humanitarian needs.

None of these priorities have been achieved. The Gazans are governed by a corrupt and uncaring leadership.

The entire civilian infrastructure is on the verge of collapse,with perennial power outages, failing sanitation services, untreated sewage, polluted water, all due to a dysfunctional government - and all of this has nothing to do with Israel.

What is Gaza manufacturing? Missiles. What is it constructing? Terror tunnels.

Quo Vadis, Palestinians?

Palestinian Arabs are constantly urged by their leaders to engage in rage. Indeed, Abbas walked out of the UNSC meeting, not bothering to hear Ambassador Haley’s speech. As the clock ticks with time seemingly not on their side, changing political landscapes in the USA and Europe, frustration by traditional Arab allies nervously watching Iran and with UNRWA being reassessed and seen as part of the problem, Palestinians can only be dismayed as their lives seem to be going nowhere.

The less charitable might say they are going down. Unfortunately rage, greed, misappropriation of international aid and ongoing victimization are not policies, let alone providing a promising future for talented Palestinian Arabs dreaming of a prosperous and peaceful life.

While experts consider various solutions to the Palestinian Arab problem, ranging from a 2-state solution, land swaps, a single state, a Jordan solution, a Gaza- Sinai solution, population transfer with compensation, and other variants,- none of which have satisfied the PA - Chile is an example of what could be possible.

Chile reportedly has the largest Palestinian Arab community outside the Middle East, estimated at 500,000 in a total population of nearly 18 million dwarfing the Jewish community of 25,000. Palestinian Arabs therefore are a much higher proportion of Chile’s population than Jews anywhere in Europe. In France, there are also about 500,000 Jews, but in a population of almost 67 million.

In addition to the despairing educated PA millennials in Judea/Samaria, all but forgotten Palestinian Arabs in Lebanon and Syria have been impoverished and massacred. On the other hand, Palestinian Arabs in Chile continue to enjoy significant success, by any standards.

Palestinian Arabs arrived in Chile in the second half of the nineteenth century, mostly poor and illiterate, having embarked on ships from Haifa, Beirut and Alexandria. This occurred during Turkish Ottoman rule, long before Israel’s establishment in 1948.

PLO ambassador claims "Protocols" are real, says no such thing as Jewish people

This is PLO Ambassador to Chile, Mr. Imad Nabil Jada'a, speaking on May 15 in Santiago to the "Conference for Peace in Palestine and Israel."

"The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" PLO Ambassador to Chile, Mr. Imad Nabil Jada'a, June 2015 from ISGAP on Vimeo.

Until 1896 when a group of academic intellectuals, financial advisers, majority being non-Jewish Europeans, decided to create the Zionist movement with one pretext/excuse; the creation of a homeland for the Jewish people. Although the truth is that this (the goal) is to protect their plans of dominating life in the entire planet. According to the book “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” published in 1923, discovered by Lenin after the triumph of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia was over. In that book they mention the destruction of the moralities of other religions. In that book they put plans of the manipulation of all the apparatus of the financial, economic and industrial of the entire world. They discuss about the manipulation of the local political forces from all different countries.

Apparently his use of the term "non-Jewish Europeans" is invoking the Khazar myth.

More:

"Denial of Jewish Existence" PLO Ambassador to Chile, Mr. Imad Nabil Jada'a, June 2015 from ISGAP on Vimeo.

About the hatred we have against the Jewish people. As Palestinians, first, we don’t have hatred. Second we don’t recognize the existence of the Jewish people-there is no Jewish people. This is not my personal analysis. Here we can refer to the Jewish Israeli professor from the University of Tel Aviv, Dr. Shlomo Sand, in his book “The Invention of the Jewish people.” A Jew with Israeli passport announces that, the so-called Jewish nation is a made up invention. Because a religion cannot be a people.

I have previously documented that denial of Jewish peoplehood is official PLO policy.

I've also proven Shlomo Sand to be a liar.

So there you have it: "Palestine"'s ambassador to Chile is an antisemite who believes that the Protocosl of the Elders of Zion was a blueprint for Khazars to take over the world and that Israel is following that blueprint.

Note that this happened in May, and no one in the audience thought the ambassador's Jew-hatred was a problem.

(h/t Josh K)

01/21 Links Pt2: Lies, bigotry and silence: Britain’s Stain, MLK: Israel a great outpost of democracy

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Lies, bigotry and silence: Britain’s permanent stain

British Jews who care about this sort of thing have had the disturbing experience of observing not one but three examples of public, home-grown anti-Jewish bigotry over the past few days.
First off the block was the former Labour Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who in an article in the Independent repeated not only his inexplicable belief that his idol, Iran’s President Rouhani, was ushering in a new world order of peace and harmony, but also that the benighted Israelis were buying up Washington in order to frustrate this nirvana (I paraphrase, but you get the general idea).

Britain’s Anti-Jewish Parliamentarians

Yet, this deep dislike of Israel stems not only from Israel’s alliance with America and the West, but also from the fact that it is a Jewish state. For the decidedly post-nationalist British left, Zionism is an anathema–the idea that a people as cosmopolitan as the Jews would have set themselves on the wrong side of history by establishing a nation of their own. The Jews were once favored by the left, when they were poor and widely discriminated against. But as Britain’s Minister for Education Michael Gove has explained of the left’s mentality, “when Jews are successful, assertive, self-confident or, worst of all, conservative, then they move, metaphorically, beyond the pale.”
Given the way in which those such as MP Grahame Morris would so casually associate the Israeli flag with Nazis, it would appear that there is a sense of growing confidence among the anti-Israel and anti-Jewish fringe in Britain’s parliament. But with such views flying around among lawmakers, there must be concerns about the future diplomatic relations between the two countries. And more than that, the questions about the future of the British Jewish community become ever more troubling.

Labour and Hamas UK

The Labour Party’s public position is that it has no truck with Hamas, or with those who seek the destruction of the State of Israel. As Ed The reality is somewhat different. Prominent Labour MPs continue to support high profile Hamas activists in the United Kingdom, and are happy to speak at the same rallies as Jenny Tonge.
This weekend, you could have attended a demonstration in support of Gaza which was addressed by Jenny Tonge and Labour’s shadow Justice Minister, Andy Slaughter MP.

Palestinians Divided Over Boycott of Israeli Universities

A professor in the College of Pharmacy at Al-Quds, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue, said more than 50 Palestinian professors were engaged in joint research projects with Israeli universities, funded by international agencies like the U.S. Agency for International Development. He said that, without those grants, Palestinian academic research would collapse because “not a single dollar” was available from other places. He rejected the call for a boycott as having no practical value.

As for travel restrictions on foreign academics seeking to enter the Palestinian territories, which include the West Bank and Gaza, Mr. Palmor acknowledged that access to and from “Hamas-controlled Gaza” is now rarely possible via Israel, but he said Israel had played no part in the tight control of Gaza’s other border crossing, via Egypt.
For the West Bank, he said, academics are not routinely denied entry. “There is no ban on the entry to the West Bank of any lecturer, professor, or researcher. There never was.”

12/01 Links Pt1: Will Abbas pay salaries to the arsonists?; Keith Ellison - The Wrong Man at the Wrong Time

From Ian:

PMW: Will Mahmoud Abbas pay salaries to the arsonists?

While Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas was accepting praise for sending Palestinian firefighters to help put out fires in Israel, the PA Finance Ministry was busy doing the paper work to start paying salaries to the Palestinian arsonists who were arrested for setting many of those same fires. So far Israel has arrested 23 suspected arsonists connected to the hundreds of fires that raged across Israel last week burning more than 500 homes and 32,000 acres of forests and national parks. According to Palestinian law documented by PMW, anyone imprisoned for "resisting the occupation" receives a high monthly salary. Therefore, all of those convicted and imprisoned for arson will receive PA salaries "from the day of arrest until the day of release."
Of course, it is not only arson-terrorists who receive a PA salary. All Palestinian, Israeli Arab and Arab terrorists from any country who are imprisoned are rewarded with high salaries from the PA. (See PMW Special Report) According to PA law and practice, "resisting the occupation" includes any Arab imprisoned for attacking Israelis by any means, including throwing a stone at a car, driving a car into people at bus stops, building bombs for suicide bombers to blow up at cafes, or shooting and stabbing civilians to death in their sleep. Since the PA automatically includes anyone who attacked Israelis or their possessions as "fighters" who are "resisting the occupation," there is no justification under Palestinian law and practice not to include last week's arsonists among the Palestinian "heroes" who receive monthly salaries.
Significantly, these salaries for terrorists rise the longer terrorists are in jail. Terrorists convicted of murder and serving life sentences will reach a high salary of NIS 12,000 a month - more than four times the average Palestinian salary.
The PA has already paid the five Hamas terrorists who murdered Eitam and Naama Henkin in front of their four children last October in total NIS 91,000 as reward for their murders. And terrorist Abdallah Barghouti has already received NIS 645,000 for building the bombs that murdered 67 Israelis at the Sbarro pizza shop, Sheffield Club, Moment Café, the triple bombing at the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall, Hebrew University and No. 4 bus in Tel Aviv.
Today there are approximately 7,000 Palestinian prisoners on the PA payroll. The PA rewards them every month for terrorism, and this generous arrangement will cost the PA NIS 488 million in 2016 alone, according to the PA's publicized budget.

Alan M. Dershowitz: Keith Ellison - The Wrong Man at the Wrong Time

Ellison has struggled to explain his association with Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam. He has acknowledged working with the Nation of Islam for about 18 months to organize the Minnesota delegation to Farrakhan's 1995 Million Man March in Washington. However, Ellison insists that he never joined the Nation of Islam and more recently, he has held himself out as a friend of the Jewish people and of Israel. This late conversion coincided with Ellison's decision to pursue elected office in Minnesota, and an apparent realization that his association with the Nation of Islam might hurt his political fortunes. In 2006, he wrote a letter to the Jewish Community Relations Council in Minneapolis, in which he apologized for failing to "adequately scrutinize the positions" of Farrakhan and other Nation of Islam leaders. "They were and are anti-Semitic, and I should have come to that conclusion earlier than I did." In his recently released memoir "My Country, 'Tis of Thee: My Faith, My Family, Our Future," Ellison writes of Farrakhan:
"He could only wax eloquent while scapegoating other groups" and of the Nation of Islam "if you're not angry in opposition to some group of people (whites, Jews, so-called 'sellout' blacks), you don't have religion."
Ellison's voting record also does not support his claim that he has become a "friend" of Israel. He was one of only 8 Congressmen who voted against funding the Iron Dome program, developed jointly by the U.S. and Israel, which helps protect Israeli civilians from Hamas rockets. In 2009, Ellison was one of only two dozen Congressmen to vote "present" rather than vote for a non-binding resolution "recognizing Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from, reaffirming the United States' strong support for Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process." And in 2010, Ellison co‐authored a letter to President Obama, calling on him to pressure Israel into opening the border with Gaza. The letter describes the blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip as "de facto collective punishment of the Palestinian residents."
Even beyond Ellison's past associations with anti-American and anti-Semitic bigotry and his troubling current voting record with regard to Israel, his appointment as head of the DNC would be a self-inflicted wound on the Democratic Party at this critical time in its history. It would move the party in the direction of left-wing extremism at a time when centrist stability is required. The world at large is experiencing a movement toward extremes, both right and left. The Democratic Party must buck that dangerous trend and move back to the center where the votes are, and where America should be.

2 Iranians charged with plan to attack Israeli embassy in Kenya

A Kenyan prosecutor has charged two Iranian men with collecting information to carry out a terrorist attack after they were allegedly found with video footage of the Israeli embassy.
State Prosecutor Duncan Ondimu said in court on Thursday that Sayed Nasrollah Ebrahim and Abdolhosein Gholi Safaee were arrested Tuesday in an Iranian diplomatic car while taking the pictures of the Israeli mission using a mobile phone, including when they were intercepted.
They were detained in the capital, Nairobi after they had come from visiting Kamiti Prison where they saw two other Iranians who have been jailed for 15 years on terrorism charges.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem had no comment on the incident.
A Kenyan driver, Moses Keyah Mmboga, who was chauffeuring the vehicle belonging to the Iranian embassy has been charged along with the suspects and also faces a separate charge of “abetting terrorism,” Ondimu said.

01/29 Links Pt2: Confronting European funding for BDS; Man charged over Toulouse school 'quenelle'

From Ian:

NGO Monitor: Confronting European funding for BDS

The first step in confronting European governments that provide most of the funds for these organizations is to demand the implementation of democratic transparency principles in Europe. This would expose the sources of influence behind this NGO funding to independent analysis, and highlight the systematic abuse of European “soft power” for boycotts and demonization against Israeli democracy. On this basis, Israeli and European officials can negotiate mutually acceptable guidelines for funding political advocacy NGOs, which would prevent grants to groups that promote double standards, the discriminatory singling out of Israel, lawfare based on “war crimes” and similar false allegations, and the denial of the right of the Jewish people to sovereign equality.
While these measures will not bring an immediate end to BDS and political warfare, they constitute the essential first steps towards a viable counter-strategy.

Scarlett Johansson Applauded for Standing Up to BDS Movement, Invited to Visit Israel

Hollywood actress Scarlett Johansson was lauded by Jewish groups for her support of SodaStream, an Israeli company that has come under fire from anti-Israel BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) groups that aim to harm Israeli companies.
“We salute Scarlett Johansson’s statement explaining clearly and directly the reasons for her association with SodaStream, and commend her principled opposition to those who have sought to use her relationship as a celebrity spokesperson for SodaStream to promote a divisive and highly politicized campaign designed to cause economic harm to the company and its hundreds of employees,” said Anti-Defamation League National Director, Abraham Foxman, in a statement.

SodaStream wins boycott case in France

Israeli drink manufacturer SodaStream won a legal battle in France against an organization seeking to impose a boycott on its products. The court's verdict ruled that the "origin of the product," in this case an Israeli settlement, does not justify the call to boycott.
The group calling for the boycott, the Association France Palestine Solidarité, was told to cease and desist its activities against SodaStream and take down its digital media equating SodaStream with fraud. (h/t Herb Glatter)

03/13 Links Pt2: The Dirty Little Secret of Palestinian Journalism; Intel buying Mobileye for $15 billion

From Ian:

The Dirty Little Secret of Palestinian Journalism - with Agence France-Presse Collusion

Nasser Abu Baker, Chairman of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS), who also works as a correspondent for Agence France-Press (AFP), also lashed out at Al-Quds for publishing the Israeli advertisement. "We are determined to combat normalization and those who promote it," he vowed.
Abu Baker, who recently ran in the election for the Fatah Revolutionary Council, is the architect of the PJS campaign to boycott Israeli journalists and media outlets. His political activism constitutes a flagrant violation of the regulations and principles of AFP, and a conflict of interest. However, this does not seem to bother his employers at the French news agency, who apparently do not see a problem with one of their employees running in the election for Fatah's Revolutionary Council.
Abu Baker and his colleagues have one mission: to "combat normalization" with Israel. For them, this task far exceeds in importance exposing financial corruption in the Palestinian Authority (PA) or reporting about assaults on freedom of expression. It is also evidently more important than protesting the arbitrary arrest and torture of their colleagues at the hands of the PA and Hamas.
One can only imagine the response of the Western mainstream media if the chairman of the Israeli Journalists Union or the Government Press Office called for a boycott of Palestinian journalists.

Arab-Israeli teen rounds on ‘hypocritical’ BDS campaign in UK address

An prominent Israeli Arab teenager has rounded on the “hypocritical” campaign to boycott Israel as he outlined his journey to becoming a high-profile supporter of the Jewish state during an address at University College London.
Mohammed Zoabi, who is preparing for his IDF service, said he was determined to ensure there was dialogue after another talk by an Israeli speaker at the campus was shut down last year.
The 19-year-old from Nazarath Illit previously had to flee Israel after receiving death threats over videos he posted online calling for the return of three kidnapped Israeli teenagers.
He said: “I’m sick of conflict, I’m sick of hatred, I’m sick of fearing for my life. I’m sick of so many things, but I think when you’re tired of something and not optimistic about the future, you don’t give up.”
At the talk, organised by UCL Friends of Israel and StandWithUS, he recalled the experiences that led him to his current views, starting with the rocket attacks during the 2006 conflict with Lebanon.
“I remember hearing a siren and hearing my mum yelling, grabbing me to the bomb shelter. She was screaming there was a rocket coming at us”, he says.
Their Christian neighbours were yelling for their children and upstairs a Jewish neighbour was calling to their kids in Hebrew. He recalls being struck by the way violence didn’t discriminate, how in that moment all fled the same threat.

Vic Rosenthal: The transformative power of the Palestinian narrative

The hundred-year war between the Jewish people and the Arabs that hate them will not be over any time soon.
There are a million stories that prove it. This is just one.
Most Israelis remember the heartbreaking tragedy that took place twenty years ago tomorrow, at the Island of Peace at Naharayim on the Israel-Jordan border. This lovely spot was owned by Jews before the War of Independence, and in 1921 an electric power plant was built there by Pinchas Rutenberg, “the man who brought electricity to Palestine.”
The area was cultivated by Israeli farmers. In 1969 the IDF blew up Rutenberg’s villa, which was used as a staging point for terrorist attacks into Israel. But in 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty. The Jordanians got the island, but agreed to lease the land back to Israel so that the farmers could continue to use it. It is a beautiful place, and Israelis often visited it, including school groups. It was used as an example of what peace would be like.
A group of schoolgirl from Beit Shemesh was there on March 13, 1997. Jordanian Corporal Ahmed Daqamseh was insulted by their behavior, saying that they were making noise while he was praying. A driver, he took an M16 from another soldier and opened fire at them, killing seven 13- and 14-year old girls and injuring 6 others. Had the rifle not jammed, these numbers would have been higher.

07/09 Links Pt2: French Jewish Community: Is It Time to Leave?; Say "Good-Bye" to the Democrats

From Ian:

The Troubling Question in the French Jewish Community: Is It Time to Leave?

The most troubling question in the French Jewish community is also the most obvious one: “Is it time to leave?”
I asked Roger Cukierman, the head of the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions Juives de France, or CRIF, the umbrella group for secular Jewish organizations in France. I expected him to equivocate, but, by way of an answer, he quickly reeled off some of the horrors that have plagued the Jews of Europe during the last decade: the case of Ilan Halimi, a cell-phone salesman kidnapped, brutally tortured, and killed in the Paris suburbs by a gang in 2006 for being Jewish; the 2012 murders of three small children and one adult at point-blank range at the Ozar Hatorah school, in Toulouse, by Mohamed Merah; the 2014 slaughter at the Brussels Jewish Museum; the deadly attack at the synagogue in Copenhagen in February of this year. This March, Merah’s stepbrother was pictured in the New York Post in his camouflage ISIS togs pronouncing a death sentence, as a pre-pubescent boy beside him pulled the trigger in the videotaped execution of the 19-year-old Israeli Arab Muhamed Musalam. Then there are the riots. As Cukierman told The Telegraph last summer, “They are not screaming ‘Death to the Israelis’ on the streets of Paris. They are screaming ‘Death to the Jews.’ ”
To get a better idea of why Ghozlan decided to leave, I went to visit his friend and colleague Yossi Malka, a retired businessman who works for the B.N.V.C.A. Malka met me at the commuter rail station at Stains, a suburb in Le Neuf Trois. If you didn’t know better, you could be in parts of Queens or the Bronx. Here are the same gray projects, laundry flung over the balconies.
Malka wore a worn brown leather jacket, a natty tie, and a fedora—what I think of as the uniform of the banlieues—and drove me to Sarcelles, 20 minutes away and part of what is called the Red Belt, a string of suburban towns, many with Communist or Socialist mayors historically but, now, an expanding National Front. “This is not the Paris of Woody Allen,” Malka told me as we approached a small synagogue ringed by low apartment buildings topped with satellite dishes. “That Paris no longer exists.”

13-year-old Jewish boy wearing kippah attacked in Paris

The National Bureau of Vigilance against Anti-Semitism (BNVCA) condemned Monday's anti-Semitic aggression against a 13-year-old boy wearing a kippah in the 19th district of Paris.
The boy was beaten by a band of six youths described as being of ‘’African origin’’ who attacked him as he left his Jewish school.
One of the attackers shouted: ‘’Beat that dirty Jew’’. Before fleeing, they stole the victim’s phone.
The Jewish boy was taken to hospital with wounds on his head.
The BNCVA, which monitors anti-Semitic incidents across the country, recommended the victim’s parents to file a formal complaint and urged police authorities to find and arrest the aggressors.

Michael Lumish: Say "Good-Bye" to the Democrats

Can one be considered supportive of the Jewish people if one is hostile to the Jewish state?
I certainly would not think so, but I would bet that more and more Democrats think that way.
Israel is the only country on the entire planet that cannot coax the United States into recognizing its capital, yet somehow Israel is said to have too much influence on US foreign policy.
I have been arguing for years that the Progressive-Left and the Democratic Party have betrayed their Jewish constituency through accepting the BDS movement as part of the larger coalition. It would be something akin to telling black people that if they wish to remain Democrats than they will just simply have to get used to the fact that the Ku Klux Klan has a seat at the Democratic Party table.
The movement to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel has nothing to do with peace. BDS has nothing to do with social justice or universal human rights and everything to do with the Palestinian-Arab determination to weaken, undermine, and eventually eliminate Israel as the national homeland of the Jewish people.

Abbas recalls envoy to Chile after anti-Semitic remark

The Palestinian Authority on Thursday recalled its ambassador to Chile over a speech in which the diplomat cited from a notorious anti-Semitic text.
In a video of the speech, which was delivered in May, Imad Nabil Jadaa can be seen quoting from “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,” and claiming that the creation of the State of Israel was a pretext to protect Jewish plans for “world domination.”
Jadaa also told the Conference for Peace in Palestine and Israel, held in Santiago, Chile, on May 15, that there is “no Jewish People” and that Palestinians don’t recognize the existence of such a people. An English translation of his comments was only recently made public.
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told reporters that Jadaa’s statements were in “contradiction to the official Palestinian position.”

02/27 Links Pt2: Disdain For Jews Is The Sinew Of Identity Politics; Melanie Phillips: Poland v Israel round two, Labour party antisemitism; Run4Ari to Commemorate Ari Fuld HY’D in 2019 Jerusalem Marathon

From Ian:

Disdain For Jews Is The Sinew Of Identity Politics

Omar’s anti-Semitism drew endorsements from white supremacist David Duke and Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. If there is one thing white supremacists and black nationalists share, it is hatred of Jews.

Women's March co-president Tamika Mallory, a vocal supporter of Farrakhan's, naturally added to Omar's defense, parroting Farrakhan's specious indictment of Jews as being responsible for the slave trade.

Jews provide a convenient focal point for the American Left's hate. And progressive Jews, given a choice between their leftist politics and their fading Jewish identity, have joined the Hamas chorus, lending a twisted credibility to hackneyed tropes that have resulted in inquisitions, crusader massacres, pogroms, and the Holocaust.

Max Berger, co-founder of the anti-Zionist IfNotNow, calls on his fellow Jews to stand with Omar against AIPAC, which Omar alleges buys votes from her fellow members of Congress.

Berger and Omar are obsessed with AIPAC, using old tropes of Jews and money. But somehow the various Arab lobbies, including the powerful Saudi and Emirates lobbies, escape their concern.

For all of Omar’s trafficking in allegations of Israeli apartheid, there is actually an empirical measurement of racism among states. Muslim states tend to be racist and xenophobic.

But Omar's accusations bear no relation to facts — as fellow traveler Ocasio-Cortez has said, if you are morally correct, the facts don't matter.

Neither do they matter to those who seek to mobilize a mass movement built on hatred as the sinew that ties it all together. In this pursuit, both Omar and her progressive accomplices are of one mind. Jews should take note, for those who do not pay attention to history are known to repeat it.

Douglas Murray: Must We Really Be Careful What We Do Lest We Offend Extremists?

What is striking and controversial are the repeated interventions into the debate made by the government's own 'extremism commissioner', Sara Khan. Over recent years Khan has been a hugely admirable figure. The founder and leader of the women's group 'Inspire', Khan has shown a generation of British people – including, most importantly, young Muslim women – that it is possible to be resilient against the fanatics in their faith and also to argue for the rights of women. She has been an unarguable force for good, and has had to withstand appalling pressure from Islamist groups in the UK.

"It is, I think, completely misconceived to suggest that we should change our foreign policy because it might cause some people to take up arms against us. That's a form of blackmail...." — Michael Howard, former Conservative party leader

In 2006 a small group of peers, MPs and Islamist groups sent an open letter to the then-Labour government. The signatories included the subsequently jailed Lord Ahmed of Rotherham, the subsequently disgraced (over expenses fraud) Baroness Uddin and the then-MP, now Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. This letter suggested to the UK government of the day that British foreign policy "risks putting civilians at increased risk both in the UK and abroad." This is a commonly heard argument of course, and is especially commonly heard from various extremist groups.

Melanie Phillips: Poland v Israel round two, Labour party antisemitism

Please join me here as I discuss with Avi Abelow of Israel Unwired the latest developments in our crazy world. On our agenda this week: well, afraid it’s pretty much wall-to-wall antisemitism. There’s a lot of it about, alas.

We first of all discuss the row that blew up between Israel and Poland over remarks, made first by Israel’s prime minister Netanyahu and then by its new foreign minister Israel Katz, drawing attention to the complicity of Polish people with the Nazi persecution of the Jews.

As I wrote here, the Polish government tries reprehensibly to conceal the fact that there were Polish anti-Jewish programs before, during and after the Holocaust. But Poland today is warmly disposed towards Israel and its friendship is valuable.

As I say in this discussion, the way for Israel to handle this delicate situation (the second time this row has erupted) is surely to be both fair and unsparing: to insist that the Polish government is wrong to try to sanitise its country’s history of anti-Jewish hatred, while acknowledging that the Nazis slaughtered thousands of Poles too and that many Poles risked their lives to save Jews from the Nazis.

Avi and I then go on to discuss the crisis over antisemitism in Britain’s Labour party from which nine MPs have now departed, either partly or wholly in revulsion at the leadership’s continued refusal to deal with this scourge.

04/20 Links Pt2: Scientists Take a Stand Against BDS; Rabbi Sacks: The Mutation of Antisemitism

From Ian:

Scientists Take a Stand Against Academic Boycotts of Israel

More than 100 Boston-area researchers in health care and life sciences released a statement April 13 in defense of “the liberal ideals which have shaped our democracy” and in support of “the free flow of ideas and information” that is central to their work. Why affirm something so obvious? To stop academic blacklisting by the Boycott, Sanctions and Divestment movement, which targets Israeli universities and scholars.
Attempts to isolate Israel and its educational institutions aren’t new. In 1945 the Arab League declared that all Arab institutions and individuals must “refuse to deal in, distribute, or consume Zionist products of manufactured goods.” The original boycott soon extended to entities that traded with Israel. This did great economic and political damage until the U.S. Congress in 1977 prohibited American companies from cooperating with it, as some were doing. Only U.S. prohibition of the prohibition had the force to guarantee free international trade.
In 2002, a group of professors from Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology were among the first academics to advocate divesting from Israel. Two years later the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel was founded with the explicit purpose of isolating Israeli academics and institutions. Its goal was to deny Israeli scholars access to scholarly conferences, journals and employment opportunities. The boycott also includes keeping unwelcome speakers and information from campus to maintain Israel as the permanent object of blame.
The campaign’s efforts paid off in the U.S., where the American Studies Association and the National Women’s Studies Association approved boycotts in 2013 and 2015, respectively. Academic associations that have so far voted such resolutions down—the American Anthropological Association, Modern Language Association and American Historical Association—introduce new ones every year. Only through a concerted effort by school administration can universities remain free spaces. Jewish students should not be expected to bear the full brunt of attack by those who import the Arab-Muslim war against Israel into the American campus.

Nikki Haley urges UN to shift its criticism from Israel to Iran

It’s high time the United Nations Security Council set its sights on Iran, rather than Israel, United States Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley said Thursday during the Security Council’s monthly meeting on “the Situation in the Middle East, including the Palestinian question.”
“Every month the Security Council convenes a meeting on the Middle East. We have lots of meetings on specific countries and conflicts in this region but this debate is our opportunity to talk about the Middle East as a whole. Regrettably, these monthly meetings routinely turn into Israel-bashing sessions. That’s the way the Security Council has operated for years. It’s a formula that is absurdly biased against one country. It’s a formula that is painfully narrow in its description of the conflicts in the region,” said Haley, who is this month’s president of the Security Council.
In her remarks before the 15-member council, Haley condemned Iran, which she said is responsible for regional tumult, from meddling in Yemen and Syria, to its support of Hezbollah.
“Iran is using Hezbollah to expand its regional aspirations. That is a threat that should be dominating our discussions at the Security Council,” she said.
Since Haley assumed her post in January with the promise that there “is a new sheriff in town,” she has repeatedly chastised the UN for what she says is its Israel obsession and anti-Israel bias.

Rabbi Sacks on The Mutation of Antisemitism

In recent months and years we have seen the return and rise of antisemitism across Europe and around the world. But how has antisemitism mutated over time? And why does its return today present a danger not just for Jews, but for all who care about our common humanity? Please watch and share my new whiteboard animation and this important message.

Who, exactly, does Israel sell arms to?

After my story on Friday showing that despite worldwide headlines, Israel sells practically no weapons to Myanmar, I looked at the SIPRI database to learn more about who Israel does sell weapons to.

Here are the top countries to receive Israeli arms since 2000:

Two of the top ten recipients of Israeli arms are Muslim nations.

The full list:

Country	Israeli arms imports, in millions, 2000-2016
India	2800
Turkey	854
United States	840
Singapore	528
Azerbaijan	453
Colombia	362
Sri Lanka	312
South Korea	304
United Kingdom	241
Mexico	235
Brazil	229
Italy	196
Romania	168
Germany (FRG)	154
Chile	153
Australia	152
Spain	143
Viet Nam	134
Greece	120
Netherlands	119
Equatorial Guinea	82
Poland	80
Myanmar	73
Unknown recipient(s)	72
China	55
Finland	51
Jordan	48
Venezuela	44
Kazakhstan	40
Morocco	40
Portugal	34
Dominican Republic	33
Ecuador	33
Belgium	32
Uganda	29
Nigeria	25
Thailand	23
Rwanda	18
France	17
Peru	16
South Africa	16
Czech Republic	15
New Zealand	15
Sweden	14
Georgia	13
Honduras	13
Angola	12
Paraguay	12
Cameroon	11
Denmark	11
Philippines	11
Canada	9
Ethiopia	9
United Nations**	9
Austria	8
Taiwan (ROC)	8
Senegal	7
Argentina	5
Hungary	5
Mauritius	5
Bulgaria	4
Chad	4
Croatia	4
El Salvador	4
Russia	4
Seychelles	3
Switzerland	3
Cyprus	1
Guinea	1
Indonesia	1
Lesotho	1
Cote d'Ivoire	0
Lithuania	0
Turkmenistan	0

Here is more detailed data on who Israel has sold arms to over the past 6 years:

TIV of arms exports from Israel, 2011-2016
Figures are SIPRI Trend Indicator Values (TIVs) expressed in millions.
Figures may not add up due to the conventions of rounding.
A '0' indicates that the value of deliveries is less than 0.5m
For more information, see http://www.sipri.org/databases/armstransfers/sources-and-methods/


Source: SIPRI Arms Transfers Database
Generated: 18 September 2017

	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	Total
Austria	2	2	2				6
Azerbaijan	5	9	25	21	121	248	428
Belgium	4	4	4	1	7		19
Brazil	19	18	21	27	17	16	118
Cameroon				1	2		3
Chile	18	3	9				30
Colombia	55		8	19	24		106
Czech Republic		8	8				15
Denmark			10				10
Dominican Republic	12						12
Equatorial Guinea	70						70
Ethiopia			1	3	3	3	9
Germany (FRG)	6	15	15	15	15	24	90
Honduras				13			13
India	156	161	119	157	276	599	1466
Indonesia		1					1
Italy	21	16	10	20	20	37	122
Jordan					48		48
Lithuania					0		0
Mauritius						3	3
Mexico					4	25	29
Myanmar	1						1
Netherlands	12						12
New Zealand	3	5	5	3			15
Nigeria	6		12				18
Paraguay	6	6					12
Peru						1	1
Philippines					6	4	10
Poland	11	11	9				30
Portugal	9	3					11
Russia			2	1			3
Rwanda			13				13
Senegal				1	4	3	7
Seychelles			3				3
Singapore	74	57	15		13	43	201
South Africa	3	5					8
South Korea		35	28	24	40	58	185
Spain	18	27	23	4			71
Sri Lanka	11						11
Thailand	0			3	5		8
Turkey	22	9		17	15		63
Turkmenistan						0	0
United Kingdom	11	31	20	20	24	34	141
United Nations**						9	9
United States	15	25	35	35	40	55	205
Unknown recipient(s)	5		13	3	3	31	54
Viet Nam			26	14	7	68	116

Total	572	449	432	399	694	1260	3805

You can even find out specifically what weapons were sold to whom. The UN leased a drone from Israel for use in Mali; Israel gave Jordan 16 second-hand AH-1F Cobra combat helicopters as a gift in 2015 to help fight ISIS.

Oh, and the weapons Israel did sell to Myanmar? A patrol boat and a second-hand naval gun. Not exactly weapons that are useful to kill the local Muslim population. But that doesn't stop the Independent and Haaretz from pretending that Israel is the major supplier of weapons to enable genocide.

Here is yet another example of how the media simply ignores real facts.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.