Those cotton-pickin' Zionists

The latest Zionist crime comes courtesy of Egypt, which is accusing Israel of stealing its cotton strains.

According to Palestine Today:

While the cultivation of world-famous Egyptian cotton has deteriorated because of the reluctance of farmers from planting a result of lack of revenue, and the increase of cheaper imports, an Egyptian study revealed that Tel Aviv has been seeking for decades to steal Egyptian cotton strains, and it was about to announce new types of colored cotton (taken from Egyptian strains.)

The Egyptian cotton industry has been battered for decades, so it is always convenient to blame the Jews.

Meanwhile, Israel's cotton industry is doing quite well, as this fact sheet from the Israel Cotton Board shows. Israel exports cotton worldwide and is innovating in creating strains that require little water yet are high-quality.

Even if Egypt's claims are true, I have no idea if it is illegal to take a cotton seed between countries. Certainly other agricultural products are always being moved and hybridized worldwide; I'm not sure why cotton would be any different. (And were there any cotton fields in the Sinai in 1967?)

Based on what I am reading, though, Israel doesn't need any help in its cotton research and innovations.

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The Cotton Market

As we mentioned last month, Palestinian Arabs are protesting a synagogue that is apparently being built on the site of the Cotton Market in the Old City.

I have not found any mention of this being built in any Jewish or Israeli sources, but it would be between the Kotel and the Kotel HaKatan and 50-100 meters away from the Western Wall of the Temple Mount.

The Cotton Market was originally built in the 14th century and was for a time an important commercial center. But it fell into disuse and was abandoned for centuries, through Ottoman rule and through Jordanian rule.

Here's a picture of the market from National Geographic in 1917:

It was rebuilt only after Israel ruled the area, possibly as late as 1995, by the Waqf and paid for by the UN.

The Cotton Market mirrors the history of Jerusalem as a whole: when no Jews were there, no one cared about it or its historic value. Even when Jordan ruled Jerusalem nothing was done to rebuild this area. Only under Jewish rule was Arab interest rekindled in the Cotton Market and Jerusalem as a whole.

Remember this whenever you read an article about how sacred every stone of Jerusalem is to Muslims. The Cotton Market is undeniably a beautiful piece of architecture, ending in an impressive gate to the Temple Mount - but even so, it was abandoned and ignored by the very people who claim to love it the most today.

As with Palestine altogether, Arab and Muslim interest has traditionally been not so much in a homeland for Palestinian Arabs as in a place where infidels and dhimmis must not have any influence.

Here's a small experiment. Right now, the number of Palestinian websites that mention the Cotton Market (al-Qattanin) is relatively small. If in fact a synagogue will be built there, Google it in a few years and see how many websites will extol the supreme importance the Cotton Market has to Islamic history, all the while complaining about how the wicked "Zionists" have been working overtime to "Judaize" the city and threaten the mosques there.

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07/30 Links Pt1: FM: Sunni Arab nations are our ‘allies’; Iran has months to hide illicit activity

From Ian:

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Israel’s Foreign Ministry chief: Sunni Arab nations are our ‘allies’

The director general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, Dore Gold, called the Middle East’s Sunni Arab nations “Israel’s allies.”
Gold used the term twice in a presentation Wednesday in New York focused on the shortcomings of the Iran nuclear deal.
“What we have is a regime on a roll that is trying to conquer the Middle East,” Gold said of Iran, “and it’s not Israel talking, that is our Sunni Arab neighbors — and you know what? I’ll use another expression – that is our Sunni Arab allies talking.”
Gold, a former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations and a longtime adviser to Israeli prime ministers from the right-wing Likud Party, is also the author of a 2003 book on Saudi Arabia called “Hatred’s Kingdom: How Saudi Arabia Supports the New Global Terrorism.” Saudi Arabia has been one of the most vocal Arab opponents of US-Iran rapprochement and the Iran nuclear agreement.
The presentation, which was organized by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, also featured Amos Yadlin, a former chief of Israeli military intelligence who now heads Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Security Studies. Yadlin ran unsuccessfully for the Knesset in March on the center-left Zionist Union list.

Infamous Terrorist Samir Kuntar Not Killed in Syria Airstrikes Attributed to Israel, Brother Claims

The brother of infamous Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar was quick to deny Samir’s death on Wednesday after air strikes attributed to Israel were reported in Lebanon and Syria, Israeli news site NRG reported.
According to the reports, two Hezbollah operatives and three loyalists to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad were killed in the strikes.
On Twitter, Bassem Kuntar claimed, “Samir is fine” and added his condolences to the “martyrs of the Syrian Arab resistance to the Israeli occupation in the Golan who were killed during the Israeli strike in the afternoon.”

Syrian State TV Reports Second Israeli Airstrike on Terror Targets in a Day

An Israeli warplane on Wednesday attacked a terrorist base belonging to a pro-Syrian government Palestinian terror group, Syrian state television claimed.
The Israeli plane purportedly attacked a military base along the Lebanon-Syria border belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a group that supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Reuters reported, citing the television report.
An Israeli military spokesman declined to comment on the reported strike.
Earlier on Wednesday, Arab media outlets reported that the Israeli Air Force struck a vehicle in the Quneitra region of southern Syria, killing at least two people and as many as five, who were possibly members of the Hezbollah terror group and the People’s Committees, a pro-Assad militia led by the Lebanese terrorist Samir Kuntar.

Netanyahu: Under nuke deal, Iran has months to hide illicit activity

If Iran honors the agreement, it will be able to build numerous nuclear weapons with the blessing of the international community, he lamented during a briefing for Israeli diplomatic correspondents in his Jerusalem office.
“The inspections regime is full of holes,” Netanyahu said. “This deal is terrible. It’s preferable to have no deal than this deal.”
Under the Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action that the world powers signed with Iran earlier this month, Iran has 24 days before it needs to grant international inspectors access to hitherto undeclared sites they suspect host nuclear activity.
But, Netanyahu said, if no agreement has been reached after that time elapses, the deal says that the complaint is to go to another committee trying to bridge the dispute, which will deal with the issue for another 30 days. If Iran still refuses to let inspectors into the site and the United Nations Security Council is involved, it will take another 30 days before any action is taken, the prime minister said.
“It could take a total of three months,” Netanyahu said.

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06/20 Links Pt1: There is no Gaza famine, so why is the pro-Hamas media silent about this great news?; Blinken Keeps On Rocking As The World Burns

From Ian:

NYPost Editorial: There is no Gaza famine, so why is the pro-Hamas media silent about this great news?

Of course, President Biden (and his minions) also echoed the lie as he sought to show he “cares” in order to appease the “When Jews defend themselves it’s genocide” crowd.

Which raises the question of why the USAID-backed network cooked the books to suggest famine was coming.

And of why so many “news” organizations swallowed it hook, line and sinker.

It’s rank media bias: An “honest mistake” by reporters and editors eager to paint the Jewish state as monstrous, to buy propaganda slamming Israel’s allegedly cruel restriction of food-aid entry into Gaza.

Again, any such blockage of food aid was thanks to theft by Hamas.

The Biden team’s unseriosness and incompetence here is summed up by the emergency pier the prez demanded in his State of the Union speech, which took months to construct, almost instantly began to fall apart and is about to be decommissioned after managing to unload only a bare pittance of aid — all of it apparently seized by the terrorists.

So when the media’s terror-lovers next begin to scream about some supposed Israeli atrocity — don’t worry, it won’t be long — remember their utter silence about this tremendous piece of good news.

And understand that the shouters don’t love Palestinians, they simply hate Jews.

Melanie Phillips: The ‘Gaza famine’ myth

It’s worth remembering that USAID, the parent body of FEWS NET, is run by Samantha Power, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Obama administration.

In 2002, Power suggested in a “thought experiment” that America might have to invade Israel to prevent an Israeli genocide against the Palestinians. She also suggested that the only people who might be alienated by this would be American Jews, who she said exercised tremendous political and financial power over America.

Other research has also exploded the “Gaza famine” claims. At Columbia University, two professors have said the evidence shows that sufficient amounts of food are being supplied to Gaza.

They told The Jerusalem Post that it was “a myth that Israel is responsible for famine in Gaza” and suggested that the International Criminal Court and U.N. had joined Hamas in blaming Israel for a “famine that never was, hoping to stop the war.”

Yet there are no signs that these rebuttals of the “Gaza famine” claim are having any effect on the Israel-bashing crowd. A few days ago, The New York Times was still referring to “starving civilians” and blaming deaths from malnutrition on “restrictions on aid and commercial goods entering Gaza.”

BBC News reported this week that “warnings of famine are looming once again in northern Gaza,” broadcasting distressing footage of infants said to be suffering from dehydration and malnutrition caused by restrictions on aid at the Rafah and Kerem Shalom border crossings.

Other than Fox News, it seems that no mainstream media outlet has reported the Famine Review Committee’s findings that the claim of famine in Gaza cannot be justified. Nor have the anti-Israel humanitarian organizations, although the World Health Organization’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has now subtly adjusted his rhetoric by talking about “famine-like conditions.”

Famine is not the only anti-Israel falsehood whose debunking has been ignored. The mainstream media and humanitarian crowd are still using the Hamas figure of 37,000-plus civilians killed in Gaza, despite the fact that the U.N. itself revised its own casualty totals sharply downwards after it emerged that some of the claimed deaths had been drawn from media sources and were fabricated.

Jonathan Tobin: The Gaza famine that wasn’t is being used against Israel

Yet the egregious nature of the Oct. 7 assault and atrocities, as well as the clear justification for Israel’s counter-offensive to eliminate the genocidal terrorist movement that carried out those crimes, seems to have impelled those who hate Israel and Jews to new depths of mendacious reporting. The intersectional left-wingers who are convinced that Israel is a nation of “white” villains victimizing Palestinian “people of color” who are inaccurately analogized to American victims of racial discrimination have no compunction about spreading these smears. The worse the actual behavior of the Palestinians, who are bent on the destruction of Israel and its people, the more it becomes imperative to flip the narrative and accuse Israel of genocide.

Every death and all of the privations suffered by Palestinian Arabs since Oct. 7 is the responsibility of the Hamas terrorists who started this war and who take every opportunity to maximize the suffering of their own people to besmirch Israel’s image. That is not only the case for Gazans hurt or killed during the fighting but true for anyone prevented from receiving aid shipped into the Strip with Israel’s permission.

The mythical Gaza famine is just the latest instance of how the Palestinians are gaslighting the world as they deliberately spiral further into an abyss of unending conflict in which they themselves are the primary victims. Sober-minded Americans who by now ought to have learned better than to trust the corporate media on this and many other issues should not be influenced by this propaganda campaign, rooted in the age-old tropes of antisemitism in which the Jews are always accused of conspiring to harm others. Stripped of the emotionalism and partisan activism that colors so much of contemporary journalism, and especially the coverage of the Middle East, the claim that Israel is starving the Palestinians should be seen for what it is: a 21st-century blood libel.

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Supporters of Israel have seen the current NYT disaster for years (Daled Amos)

 

Journalism ain't what it used to be.

Journalists: From Servants Of Democracy To Servants of Truth...

Writing for the Washington Post in 1990, E.J. Dionne Jr. quoted Ted Smith, associate professor of mass communications at Virginia Commonwealth University. Smith described how journalists reimagined their role in reporting the news, following the Vietnam War era:

"They now see themselves as autonomous, neutral critics (who are) not of the culture but somehow outside the culture and above it," he said. "They now see themselves not as servants of American democracy, but as servants of the truth in some wider sense."

These days, journalists no longer see themselves as mere 'servants of American democracy.' Then, again, they don't necessarily see themselves as 'servants of the truth' either.

...To Activists For A Cause

In 2013, former New York Times editor Bill Keller published a "conversation" with Glenn Greenwald, whom he described as "an advocate of a more activist, more partisan kind of journalism." In explaining how he does journalism differently, Greenwald complained that

this suffocating constraint on how reporters are permitted to express themselves produces a self-neutering form of journalism that becomes as ineffectual as it is boring...all journalism is a form of activism. Every journalistic choice necessarily embraces highly subjective assumptions — cultural, political or nationalistic — and serves the interests of one faction or another. [emphasis added]

As activists, there are an awful lot of journalists out there who see themselves as members of a cause. The problem is that at least when you see yourself as serving Truth, you are inclined to accept criticism of error and make corrections. But if you see yourself as an activist to a cause -- are you really as likely to accept criticism and correct a mistake? For that matter, how far will you be willing to go to stretch a point (or two)? After all, it's for the cause. Another consideration is that, as an activist dedicated to a cause, journalists are susceptible to the pressures of other members of the cause, who now feel free to criticize your statements, and expect you to toe the line. That would explain how newspapers publish headlines that do not just give an idea of the story, but actually tilt the story.

If You Thought The Headlines of Reports on Palestinian Terrorists Were Bad...

In a recent post, I reviewed biased headlines that twist stories of attacks by Palestinian terrorists. I gave 2 examples where it took not one but 3 headlines in order to get the story straight. CBS online news went from -- 3 Palestinians Killed as Daily Violence Grinds On to: Israeli Police Kill 3 Alleged Palestinian Attackers to: Palestinians Kill Israeli Officer, Wound Another Before Being Killed The Associated Press went from -- Israeli Police Shoot Man in East Jerusalem to: Car Slams Into East Jerusalem Train Station to: Palestinian Kills Baby at Jerusalem Station But now, in the course of the past year, we have seen news stories in the US where The New York Times has felt obliged to rewrite its headlines multiple times -- by public, or political, demand. Last year, Trump spoke after mass shootings in El Paso and Dayton. The New York Times dutifully reported on his comments and used the headline: Trump Urges Unity vs. Racism. The headline was obviously not nearly anti-Trump enough. So following critical tweets from politicians, presidential candidates and others, the New York Times dutifully changed the headline to: Assailing Hate But Not Guns But this is not a one-time occurrence. Just last week, The New York Times again changed its headline after pressure from Democrats. When Trump threatened that he was ready to bring out the military as riots spread throughout the country in reaction to the police killing of George Floyd -- The New York Times reported with the headline: As Chaos Spreads, Trump Vows to ‘End It Now' Opposing the neutrality of the headline, Democrats condemned it as not sufficiently anti-Trump. So The New York Times obliged: Trump Threatens to Send Troops into States However, a personal best was probably achieved earlier this year, in March. Within the space of an hour, The New York Times produced 4 different headlines as it desperately tried to satisfy Democrats. The story was about the stalled coronavirus relief bill. The problem was how to write the headline so as not to be too harsh on the Democrats. Democrats Block Action on $1.8 Trillion Stimulus  (that of course would never do) Democrats Block Action on Stimulus Plan, Seeking Worker Protections (toned down; they're doing it for the workers!) Partisan Divide Threatens Deal on Rescue Bill (it's not the Democrats! No, it's that darned 'cycle of partisanship' we hear so much about...) As State Pleas Mount, Trump Outlines Some Federal Action; Senate Democrats Block Stimulus Package (reflecting complaints from conservative leaders who were tired of The New York Times game)

The New York Times Outdoes Itself

But the latest headline gaffe, also last week, is having major reverberations. Last Wednesday, The New York Times published an op-ed by Republican Senator Tom Cotton:

Since then, there have been multiple explanations, excuses, denials and James Bennet resigned as The New York Times Opinion Editor. As the paper itself admits in the 'contextual' comments that now introduce the op-ed (sort of a warning label) it was The New York Times itself that created the headline -- not Senator Cotton. And the paper admits that the headline they chose is "incendiary". But that admission hasn't stopped The New York Times from continuing to mischaracterize what Cotton wrote:

The point is that contrary to the headline and what The New York Times claims in the above tweet, Senator Cotton did not "call for military force against protesters in American cities." What he did write is advise the use of the military to either back up and support the outnumbered police and National Guard or help out where elected officials have refused to take any action where violent riots have broken out. This would be accomplished by invoking the Insurrection Act, which in the past has been used by both Republican presidents as well as by presidents Kennedy and Johnson. Whether one agrees or disagrees with this opinion piece, the headline chosen was neither neutral nor accurate, and apparently was intended to provoke a reaction. And it did:

You would have to stop reading at New York Times headline, without reading what Senator Cotton actually wrote, in order to claim that Blacks -- or anyone for that matter -- would be put in danger. Yet among New York Times reporters there were 800 staff members who signed a letter condemning the op-ed. Then, of course, there are other members of the media and social media, and politicians who have joined in to help spin this out of control. After all, how many people actually read beyond the headlines?

Spinning The Narrative

But it is important to keep in mind that the headline manipulation in this case is different from the others mentioned above. The other headline manipulations, as shown by the subsequent changes, are meant to soften the blow and play down what is reported in the article itself. But in the case of the Cotton op-ed, the headline was meant to deliberately provoke. It was inaccurate and designed to influence in advance how the reader would understand the op-ed itself. Previous posts have looked at examples of New York Times bias when it comes to Israel as well as bias against Jews.

 

The manipulation of headlines and the distortions in dealing with the Senator Cottom op-ed are problems we are familiar with from The New York Times reporting on Israel. And to tell you the truth, when James Bennet tweeted proudly, if not boastfully about the "patriotic protests"...

...we also remember the insistence of The New York Times on reporting on violent Gazan riots on the border with Israel as "peaceful protests," even as attempts were made (and some, successfully)  to infiltrate into Israel. In the current situation, you don't have to minimize the tragedy of the killing of George Floyd or deny the validity of the protests in order to take note of the cases of violence and the need to deal with them and report on them accurately.

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09/10 Links Pt1: South Africa trying to delay ICJ genocide case for lack of evidence; IDF video shows ‘horrific conditions’ in hostage tunnel

From Ian:

South Africa trying to delay ICJ genocide case for lack of evidence

South Africa is attempting to extend the deadline for presenting evidence against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague because it is unable to prove its allegations of genocide, Kan News reported on Tuesday.

The move comes some nine months after the country submitted a suit against the Jewish state over the Israel Defense Forces’ conduct in the war against the Hamas terror group in Gaza, claiming that the IDF is committing genocide.

South Africa is required to submit its evidence on Oct. 28, but is trying to extend the deadline by several months in the hope that evidence proving their genocide accusations will come from other places.

Kan noted how unusual the tactic is, as plaintiffs generally want to expedite the proceedings, and the defendant, in this case Israel, wants to slow it down.

Axios reported on Monday about an Israeli campaign to exact a heavy price in the diplomatic arena for South Africa’s ICJ suit, with the Israeli Foreign Ministry in recent weeks engaged in a diplomatic effort to prevent South Africa from moving forward with the case, including sending a classified cable to the Israeli embassy in Washington and all Israeli consulates in the United States.

“We are asking you to immediately work with lawmakers on the federal and state level, with governors and Jewish organizations to put pressure on South Africa to change its policy towards Israel and to make clear that continuing their current actions like supporting Hamas and pushing anti-Israeli moves in international courts will come with a heavy price,” the cable read.

Netanyahu: ICC prosecutor pushes ‘pure antisemitism’ by again asking court to arrest Israelis

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu immediately criticized the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court after he urged justices on Tuesday to issue a swift ruling on arrest warrants for the Israeli premier, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and two top Hamas terrorist leaders.

Karim Khan’s comparison between Israel, “which is fighting murderous Hamas terrorism in accordance with the laws of war, and war criminal [Yahya] Sinwar, who executed Israeli hostages in cold blood, is pure antisemitism and a moral disgrace of the highest order,” he stated.

“Unfortunately, we have seen from the beginning that the proceedings in The Hague are politically biased and have no professional legal basis whatsoever,” the premier added in a statement published by his office.

In a filing to the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber on Monday, Khan expressed frustration with the court’s delay in issuing the arrest warrants, urging action ahead of Netanyahu’s scheduled address to the United Nations General Assembly later this month, Israel’s Ynet outlet reported.

“The prosecution respectfully requests that the Chamber issue its decision on the applications for the warrants of arrest against Yahya Sinwar, [Mohammed] Deif, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Yoav Gallant with utmost urgency,” Khan wrote in a six-page letter to the ICC justices.

The arrest of the four, the prosecutor insisted, “is necessary to, inter alia, ensure that they do not obstruct or endanger the investigation or court proceedings, prevent the continuing commission of the crimes alleged and/or the commission of other Rome Statute crimes. “

In May, Khan demanded the arrest of Netanyahu and Gallant for alleged war crimes. He lumped the two Israelis together with then-Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar, Hamas “military” leader Mohammed Deif and Hamas “political” head Ismail Haniyeh. (Deif was reportedly killed in Gaza and Haniyeh in Iran, both in July, by Israeli forces as part of Swords of Iron.)

The ICC has no jurisdiction as Jerusalem is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the court. But in a legalistic sleight of hand, the court claimed jurisdiction by accepting “Palestine” as a signatory in 2015, even though no such state exists under international law.

'Shocking Failure': Cotton Blasts UN Human Rights Council for Refusing To Call Hamas a Terrorist Org

Sen. Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) is pressing the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to explain its "shocking failure to condemn the terrorists of Hamas," blasting the international organization for its "moral blindness" and "obscene penchant for targeting and smearing Israel."

Cotton, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, instructed the council to explain why it continues to call Hamas terrorists "Palestinian armed groups," a term the senator says is meant to whitewash its ongoing crimes.

"While you preen as the moral voice of the world, you’ve refused to call Hamas a terrorist organization and repeatedly drawn a false equivalence between Hamas and Israel," Cotton wrote to UNHRC high commissioner Volker Türk in a Tuesday letter, according to a copy obtained by the Washington Free Beacon. "You and your United Nations colleagues should immediately and unequivocally call Hamas what it is: a terrorist organization."

The letter comes after Hamas claimed responsibility for the torture and murder last week of six hostages, including one American citizen, who were held in the intricate tunnel system running underneath the Gaza Strip. Shortly after the mass killing, the UNHRC issued a statement attributing the slaughter to "Palestinian armed groups," even though Hamas had already claimed responsibility.

"Although you professed that you were ‘horrified’ by the executions, you failed even to mention Hamas as the murderer and called for an ‘independent’ investigation into the killing," Cotton wrote. "Hamas had already admitted to these barbaric murders, so I’m not sure what such an investigation would prove."

"Moral blindness," he added, "unfortunately seems to be your modus operandi—never more evident than in your statement earlier this month after Hamas executed six hostages."

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03/12 Links Pt2: On Purim, celebrate Jewish self-defense, not self-loathing; The Antisemitic Influencer Problem; Mahmoud Khalil had security clearance from British Government

From Ian:

What Has Israel To Do With Civilization?

Josh Hammer’s new book, “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West” will be available on March 18, 2025. Preorder it: HERE.

The question, “What has Athens to do with Jerusalem?” has never been more poignant than at a time when both Europe and Israel are the canaries in the coal mines of a civilizational war.

That war, cultural, spiritual and material, and its antithesis in Athens and Jerusalem, are at the center of Josh Hammer’s new book, ‘Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West’. Hammer, a writer, lawyer and thinker whose world spans everything from the First Liberty Institute to Jews Against Soros, evocatively captures that crisis.

Beginning with Oct 7 and the western response which ran the gamut from horror to enthusiasm, on both the left and the alt-right, Hammer turns to the roots of the biblical truths of the Judeo-Christian consensus that is now under attack from all sides to rebuild a new unity.

The Left rejects both Athens and Jerusalem, choosing a crude pantheistic paganism, devoid of both reason and faith, in which hedonistic cults, exotic sexualties, and public manias are to liberate us from the confines of a civilization created by ‘dead cishet white male slave owners.’ The ‘altists’ on the Right reject not only the idea that Athens has anything to do with Jerusalem, but seek to tear out Jewish influences on the West which, depending on their varied credos can include anything from Christianity itself to the Enlightenment or even the very idea of monotheism, They long to return to an old paganism, a bronze age of barbarism devoid of divine morality and religious consciousness making way for bloodshed, slavery and eugenics.

Neither idea is new. Europe flirted with both beginning with the French Revolution and climaxing catastrophically with Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. But many of the influencers of a new generation are returning to the same old follies and that is why ‘Israel and Civilization’ is so vital.

Hammer not only rebuts many of the antisemitic obsessions of the influencer caste by delving into the actual history of Judaism, but he asserts the centrality of the Bible and its teachings within the West and more specifically in the founding of the United States of America, tracing the origins of the Mayflower Compact, Thanksgiving and the debates over the Constitution to religious ideas and values emerging out of Judaism.

While the idea of a Judeo-Christian code came to be mentioned much more frequently after the rebirth of Israel, Hammer shows that even Founding Fathers like John Adams anticipated a return of Israel alongside that of the newborn United States. To them, Washington D.C. needed both an ‘Athens’ and a ‘Jerusalem’ to thrive and take root in the mind and heart of a new nation.

“I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize Men than any other Nation. If I were an Atheist and believed in blind eternal Fate, I should Still believe that Fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential Instrument for civilizing the Nations,” John Adams wrote.

Jake Wallis Simons: Trump is right about Hamas-supporting activists. Britain should emulate him

Yesterday, all hell broke loose in the United States when the Trump administration took into custody a former employee at the British embassy in Beirut by the name of Mahmoud Khalil. They intend to deport him. Syrian-born Khalil had spearheaded virulent anti-Israel rallies at Columbia University – which last week lost $400 million in federal funding on account of the antisemitism endemic at the college – and, according to the White House, had distributed leaflets bearing the Hamas logo.

The group to which Khalil apparently belonged, Columbia University Apartheid Divest, had made its ideology clear in a post on Instagram last August. “We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of Western civilisation,” it said, adding that members “seek community and instruction from militants” as part of “our Intifada”. There was much interest in this online in the wake of Khalil’s arrest.

Despite details such as these, the episode inevitably drew outrage from the Democrats, civil rights groups and free speech advocates, who accused the administration of using its immigration enforcement powers to silence freedom of speech. This neatly summarised the problem: these people seem to think that supporting jihadism equates to reasonable criticism of Israel. What will it take for the penny to drop?

The British link has brought many in this country up short. The United States may have a problem with Hamas sympathisers, especially on its most prestigious campuses, but this one had worked as an officer of His Majesty. What does this say about our vetting?

Or – even more worryingly – the culture prevalent in certain pockets of our Arabist foreign office, which allows men like Khalil to take plum positions at our embassies? I’m reminded of the time, for instance, when our Deputy Consul General in Jerusalem led a British team at a “Palestine Marathon” event that was held in protest against the “apartheid” security barrier that protects Israeli civilians from potential suicide bombers in the West Bank. The plucky British diplomats wore T-shirts showing a map of the region that did not contain Israel. Because of course they did.

It’s time to get Trumpy on these people. For years, British society has been riddled with Hamas activists, sympathisers and attendant useful idiots who have been subverting our values from within. For years, Whitehall looked the other way while charities allegedly linked to Hamas raised millions of pounds a year, which — according to Israeli intelligence — was funnelled into the terror group’s coffers, funding their terror tunnels and armaments.

Cotton introduces two bills targeting ‘rotten culture on university campuses’

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) took aim on Tuesday at colleges that have housed anti-Israel and antisemitic protests—and some of the students that participated in them.

Cotton reintroduced legislation, the Woke Endowment Security Tax (WEST) Act, to impose a one-time, 6% tax on the endowments of 11 leading U.S. universities, including Columbia University, Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.

A separate bill, the No Student Loans for Campus Criminals Act, would prevent students convicted of crimes in connection with protests from receiving federal student loans or loan forgiveness.

In introducing both measures, Cotton referred to the protests, some of which backed an independent Palestinian state but others that called for the destruction of Israel, glorified the terrorist group Hamas or attacked Jewish students on campuses.

“Many of America’s so-called ‘top’ universities continue to grow massive endowments almost entirely tax-free while failing to condemn antisemitism and violence against Jewish students on their campuses,” Cotton said.

The senator said that the excise tax—which also would apply to endowments at Cornell University, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Princeton University, Stanford University, Washington University and Yale University—would help boost security along the U.S. southern border and reduce the federal debt.

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12/08 Links Pt1: 34 years after First Intifada, terror attacks still a daily threat in Israel; 58% of Israeli Jews back striking Iran’s nuke program without US consent

From Ian:

New GOP Taylor Force Bill Targets Palestinian ‘Martyr Payments’ Routed Through US Financial System

A group of Republican senators led by Tom Cotton on Monday introduced a bill that would allow the US government to sanction foreign banks using the American financial system to facilitate so-called “martyr payments” to families of Palestinian terrorists.

“Radical Islamic terrorists shouldn’t be rewarded for killing innocent people, and banks should be held responsible for processing any sort of ‘martyr payments,’ Cotton stated at a press conference Monday introducing the new bill.

The bill, named the “Taylor Force Martyr Payment Prevention Act of 2021,” seeks to ensure “Palestinian terrorists don’t benefit financially for committing these senseless murders,” Cotton added.

The legislation builds on the Taylor Force Act, which was passed with bipartisan support in 2018 to restrict non-humanitarian US aid to the Palestinian Authority if it continues to make payments to security prisoners and their families.

The Act was named in memory of a former American army officer stabbed to death in 2016 by a Palestinian terrorist in Tel Aviv.

“The legislation has made a difference, but our work is not yet finished. Reporting has revealed that foreign banks in the Middle East in the Mediterranean, continue to process the so-called martyr payments, sometimes in US dollar-denominated transactions,” Cotton said. “They have escaped sanctions by avoiding an official US presence, while maintaining correspondent accounts in the United States.”

34 years after First Intifada, terror attacks still a daily threat in Israel - analysis

There is no set date or event for when the Second Intifada ended, with some saying the unilateral disengagement from the Gaza Strip was the ‘end date’ while others say that the death of Yasser Arafat led Palestinians to stop the violence.

Ten years later, the 2015 “stabbing intifada” began with Palestinians – mainly youth – stabbing, running over and shooting Israeli soldiers, civilians and even tourists in a wave of violence in the West Bank and Israel. There were almost daily attacks in the winter of 2015-16 before the violence decreased.

There have been sporadic waves of violence since and all, if not most of them, were carried out by lone-wolf Palestinian youths.

Unlike during the first two intifadas, the challenges that the army faces during the current wave of violence in the West Bank and Israel are completely different.

The Palestinians who were involved in the violence during the first and second intifadas were much older than the average attacker that the army currently faces. The IDF’s intelligence-gathering capabilities have also increased dramatically since the prior two intifadas.

Another change that’s less apparent but just as important is the increased communications between the two sides which did not exist before. But while the IDF does not consider the recent attacks as a significant rise in violence, or another “wave” of attacks, the military must admit that the lone-wolf attacker is a threat that they have yet to control.

Jonathan Schanzer: US Media Coverage on Israel is 'insane'

Author and Middle East analyst Jonathan Schanzer joins JNS editor-in-chief Jonathan Tobin to discuss his new book "Gaza Conflict 2021: Hamas, Israel and Eleven Days of War."

The two discuss how the myths about the conflict spread by Palestinian terror groups and picked up by the media have impacted opinion about Israel and how the conflict between Fatah and Hamas and their opposition to peace with the Jewish state is ignored by the Jewish state’s critics.

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03/06 Links Pt1: Netanyahu at AIPAC: We must stop Iran. We will stop Iran; Palestinians increase payments to terrorists to $403 million

From Ian:

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Netanyahu at AIPAC: We must stop Iran. We will stop Iran.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was welcomed with a resounding ovation Tuesday morning at AIPAC, where he gave a 30 minute speech on the “good, bad and beautiful” in Israel and the region.

Netanyahu steered completely clear of his legal woes piling up at home.

The prime minister, showing no outward signs of the impact of his domestic situation, strolled away from the podium and used slides broadcast on large screens to talk about Israel’s contributions in the spheres of agriculture, water preservation and security, as well as its growing diplomatic standing in the world.

Pointing to the slide which was painted in blue representing all the countries with whom Israel has diplomatic ties, Netanyahu said to a resounding ovation, “There are those who talk about boycotting Israel, we will boycott them.”

While the good news coming out of Israel – regarding its technology and security expertise – is very good and getting better, the bad news, he said, “is that bad things are getting worse and are very bad.”

The overwhelmingly bad thing, he said, is Iran. “We have to deal with this challenge,” he said. “If I have a message today it is simple: We must stop Iran.”

Netanyahu in the Oval Office: U.S.-Israel Alliance Has Never Been Stronger

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday during an Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump that the U.S.-Israeli relationship has never been stronger.

"Mr. President, I've been here for nearly four decades seeking to build the American-Israel alliance. Under your leadership, it's never been stronger," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu praised Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital and to move the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

"It's always a pleasure to see you both, but this is the first time we meet in Washington, America's capital, after you declared, Mr. President, Jerusalem as Israel's capital. And this was a historic proclamation followed by your bold decision to move the embassy by our upcoming national independence day," Netanyahu said.

He continued his praise of Trump by saying the Jewish people have long memories and they won't forget Trump's decision.

"We remember the proclamation of the great King, Cyrus the Great, 2,500 years ago. He proclaimed that the Jewish exiles in Babylon can come back and rebuild our temple in Jerusalem. We remember 100 years ago Lord Balfour, who issued the Balfour proclamation that recognized the rights of the Jewish people in our an ancestral homeland," he said.

"We remember 70 years ago, President Harry S. Truman was the first leader to recognize the Jewish state. And we remember how a few weeks ago that President Donald J. Trump recognized Jerusalem as Israel's capital. Mr. President, this will be remembered by our people throughout ages. Others talked about it. You did it. I want to thank you on behalf of the people of Israel," Netanyahu said.

US Ambassador to Israel Friedman decries J Street’s motto as ‘blasphemous’

The U.S. ambassador to Israel, David Friedman, decried the phrase “pro-Israel, pro-peace” — a motto closely associated with J Street — as “blasphemous.”

“Pro-Israel and pro-peace sounds like a completely reasonable position,” Friedman said Tuesday addressing the annual policy conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. “My friends, it is not. Using that praise plainly implies that there are people who are pro-Israel and anti-peace.”

Friedman, formerly a lawyer for President Donald Trump, came under fire during his nomination process for having attacked liberal Jews, including his claim that J Street, the liberal Jewish Middle East lobby, was “worse than kapos.” He apologized during his testimony, although he ignored J Street requests for a personal apology.

“If you support Israel, then you must by definition support peace with its neighbors,” Friedman said. “It is no less than blasphemous to suggest that any Jew or any Christian is against peace.”

If a state of war persists, Friedman said, “I strongly suggest that we blame someone other than Israel for this predicament.”

J Street’s president, Jeremy Ben-Ami, said in response that commitments to peace involved taking action.

“Contra David Friedman, it’s not blasphemous to suggest that the settlement movement and its allies in the Netanyahu and Trump governments are not committed to peace. They have spent years helping to expand and entrench the occupation — undermining the two-state solution and endangering Israel’s future,” Ben-Ami said.

“If Ambassador Friedman wants to defend settlements, demonize Palestinians, oppose the two state-solution and still claim to support peace, that’s his right,” he said. “Meanwhile, the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement will oppose his policies and continue to work to actually promote peace and secure Israel’s future.”

The bulk of Friedman’s speech was devoted to attacking those who use the phrase, which was notable considering how substantially Trump has moved U.S. policy to be more aligned with the policies of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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03/12 Links Pt1: Fatah: ‎“Collect your body parts and leave!”‎; The Fatal Myth of Appeasement

From Ian:

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PMW: Fatah to Israelis: ‎“Collect your body parts and leave!”‎

Fatah took pride in the terror attack, calling the terrorists “heroes,” and posting a photo of the destroyed bus in which terrorist Dalal Mughrabi and other terrorists killed 37 civilians and wounded over 70 in 1978. As in another post glorifying the attack yesterday, exposed by Palestinian Media Watch, Fatah exaggerated the number of Israelis they murdered as “exceeding 80 casualties” in order to make the attack seem more lethal:
“Collect your body parts and leave!
On this day, March 11, in 1978, Dalal Mughrabi and her companions declared the birth of the Palestinian Republic in the heart of the occupied territories (i.e., Israel). The enemy admitted the death of 30 Zionists in the operation, yet according to the reports the number exceeded 80 casualties. Through this, Fatah heroes retaliated against the Verdun Operation (i.e., Israeli operation against PLO leaders, see below), following the retaliation by the Savoy [Hotel operation] members. Retaliation after retaliation and the windstorms will not subside.” [Fatah’s Facebook page, “Fatah - The Main Page,” March 11, 2015]
The Palestinian Authority and Fatah have turned Dalal Mughrabi into a role model for Palestinians.

Fatah Central Committee Member to PA TV: Dalal Mughrabi, Female Suicide Bombers, Are Our Role Models

In an interview on the official Palestinian Authority TV channel to mark International Women's Day, Fatah Central Committee member Amal Hamad said that Dalal Mughrabi, who led the 1978 Coastal Road terrorist attack in Israel, and female suicide bombers Wafa Idris and Rim Al-Riyashi were "role models." The interview aired on March 8, 2015.

Jake Lynch: A study in ‘Peace and Conflict’

Professor Jake Lynch, the director of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPACS) and an ardent opponent of Israel, shouted in the faces of students, including at a senior officer of the Jewish student union. He then proceeded to stand on chairs and film attendees. Lynch screamed that attempts to remove the protestors was a violent attack on freedom of speech by security guards. When another academic suggested that he ask a question, Lynch responded that was not what this is about, only later opting to ask a question when invited by the Colonel.
One student commented that Kemp “hadn’t even mentioned Israel or Palestine” in the time he had to talk. Another student mentioned that she did not have strong views on either side of this issue, was studying international relations and had come expecting a talk, not an ambush.
After about 20 minutes of shouting, the protestors were finally removed from the hall, having objected loudly to their treatment by the security guards and some others present. Kemp, resuming as if nothing had happened, continued to speak on engagement with non-civilian groups in armed conflict. Concluding his talk, Kemp briefly addressed what he termed a “commercial break.”
“This protest was about my perspective on the IDF… I was in Israel during the 2014 summer conflict and I do believe that the IDF in their attack on Hamas in Gaza… were doing everything they could to protect civilians… People have told me I am wrong, but no one has told me what more steps Israel could take to minimize civilian casualties.”
Students, academics and other interested people had come from all over to hear an expert speak on a topical and important subject. 

Anti-Zionist-Not-Antisemite Jake Lynch Needs To Explain This

You may recall last year Shurat HaDin Israel Law Centre sued Australian academic Jake Lynch for racial discrimination for his BDS activities. My friend Andrew Hamilton was the lawyer involved. Unfortunately, Shurat HaDin dropped the case and Lynch walked away.
At the time, Lynch denied his BDSholing was racially ­motivated against Jews.
So let him explain this.
That’s Lynch at a disruptive protest against Colonel Richard Kemp at the University of Sydney, holding money to the face of a Jewish student.
So Mr Lynch, I invited you to explain yourself. I mean, surely this was not an antisemitic gesture, right? Perhaps you just wanted change. Because your actions against Israelis are not racially motivated. I mean, you said so.

BDS PROTEST AT UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY 11/3/15

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03/16 Links Pt1: The anti-Israel network behind UN's Gaza investigation; Hillary’s Hezbollah Donor

From Ian:

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Gerald Steinberg: Revealed: the anti-Israel network behind UN's Gaza investigation

The UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is one of many organisations that use moral-sounding language as a façade for the opposite. Its officials and activities are controlled by regimes with abysmal human rights records - including Russia, China, and Middle Eastern dictatorships. It is not surprising that Israel is the main focus of "investigations" and condemnations.
Among its other faults, the UNHRC is very secretive - its reports are characterised by a lack of transparency, often written by unidentified persons with a worrying lack of political impartiality. For years, the secret authors of the 500-page document condemning Israel for "war crimes", published as the Goldstone Investigation in 2009, were hidden. (Judge Richard Goldstone showed little grasp of the content, and later acknowledged that the allegations were baseless.)
Recently, however, Hillel Neuer, the head of UN Watch, published the results of detailed research showing that it was Grietje Baars who assembled the text of the Goldstone report (primarily from questionable NGO claims). Ms Baars, who teaches human rights at City University in London, is a radical Marxist and an important figure in a network that seeks to exploit international law to target Israel.
Like others in this network, Ms Baars is closely linked to powerful anti-Israel NGOs, such as the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights and Swedish development charity Diakonia, helping them in campaigns to prosecute Israeli soldiers and officials.
Diakonia is mainly funded by the Swedish government (about £30m annually), implicating them in this moral corruption. The charity submitted a lengthy "report" to the Goldstone Commission, thereby suggesting that the appointment of Ms Baars gave rise to a conflict of interest.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Israelis prepare to vote; Palestinians prepare to fight

For some Palestinians, the election is not about removing Netanyahu from power. Rather, it is about removing Israel from the face of the earth and replacing it with an Islamist empire.
Kerry's statement about the revival of the peace process shows that he remains oblivious to the reality in the Middle East, particularly with regards to the Palestinians.
Kerry is ignoring the fact that the Palestinians are today divided into two camps; one that wants to destroy Israel through terrorism and jihad and another that is working hard to delegitimize and isolate Israel with the hope of forcing it to its knees.
As Kerry was talking about the revival of the peace process, Hamas announced that it has completed preparations for the next confrontation with Israel.
Abbas will come to the talks with the same demands he and his predecessor have made over the past two decades, namely a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 lines. And when Israel does not accept all his demands, he will again walk out and demand international intervention to impose a solution on Israel.
Talk about the resumption of the peace process is nothing but a silly joke.

Hillary’s Hezbollah-Friendly Donor

The Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation accepted millions of dollars from a former deputy prime minister of Lebanon known for defending Hezbollah, according to a Washington Free Beacon analysis.
Issam Fares, a Lebanese billionaire who has established himself in the United States as a prominent philanthropist, has given between $1 and $5 million in donations to the Clintons’ foundation with donations coming as recently as last year, according to a public donor disclosure list on the foundation’s website.
Fares was a part of the pro-Syria government of Prime Minister Omar Karami during his tenure as deputy prime minister between 2000 and 2005.
“It seems the Zionist lobby in the United States and its agents in the region were displeased and worried that certain Lebanese and Arab personalities have a friendly relationship with some senior officials of the new American administration,” Fares was quoted as saying in a 2001 statement after questions were raised about his relationship with incoming U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell.
Fares decried comparisons drawn between the terrorist organization al Qaeda and Hezbollah after the September 11 terror attacks.
“It is a mistake to make a comparison between the [Al Qaeda] network … which Lebanon has condemned, and Hezbollah, which Lebanon considers a resistance party fighting the Israeli occupation,” Fares told Agence France-Presse. “Hezbollah did not carry out any resistance operation against American interests in Lebanon or abroad and did not target civilians in its resistance activities as happened on Sept. 11 at the World Trade Center.”

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08/05 Links Pt1: Behind Netanyahu's Gaza strategy: Iran interference and Trump's conditional support; Sa’ar at UN: Plans to recognize Palestinian state ‘assassinated the hostage deal’

From Ian:

Trump Is Right to Point the Finger at Hamas for Gaza Woes

From the start of Israel’s war against Hamas, there have been dire warnings of imminent famine in Gaza that have proven false.

In November 2023, just over a month after the October 7 massacres, United Nations World Food Programme director Cindy McCain told CBS that Israel’s effort to destroy Hamas had already put Gaza “on the brink of famine.” By February 2024, no famine had occurred, but the United Nations put out a statement claiming that “at least” 576,000 Gazans, or about a quarter of the population of the strip, were “one step away from famine.” A few months later, two U.N. agencies warned that “over one million people — half the population of Gaza — are expected to face death and starvation (IPC Phase 5) by mid-July [of 2024].”

Israel’s many enemies have a huge incentive to promote the idea that Israel is using starvation as a tool of warfare. The New York Times, along with most major media outlets throughout the world, turned a photo of a skeletal toddler in Gaza, Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, into a rallying cry against the supposed Israeli policy of starvation. But the outlets did not report that the boy was born with a muscular disorder, which helped explain his sickly appearance, and they did not print part of a photo that showed his healthy-looking brother beside him. Days after the deception was exposed, the New York Times, which ran the photo on the front page, quietly updated the story, but only after the original photo had been spread around the world.

All that said, it does appear the humanitarian situation has now become more serious. Amit Segal, an Israeli journalist who has been skeptical of prior claims of mass starvation, has pointed to research showing the rising price of flour in Gaza and concluded that this time, “Gaza may well be approaching a real hunger crisis.” Other credible sources have concluded the same.

Even facing a hostile population, Israel has gone to incredible lengths to try and help feed Gaza. In terms of sheer amount of supplies, it’s an effort on par with the Berlin airlift. The current operation, though, has faced barriers created by the United Nations and Hamas. When the U.N. and its affiliated groups were in charge of food distribution, its supplies routinely ended up in control of Hamas, which hoarded aid for its own fighters and also sold it on the black market to raise money for its war against Israel.

Michael Oren: The Wisdom of Yahya Sinwar

If the Palestinians had the misfortune of facing a different enemy—Turkey, for example, or Chinese—the West might care as much about them as it does about the Kurds or the Uyghurs or worse, the Syrian Druze. But Sinwar and other Palestinian leaders understood antisemitism. They understood the Jew-hatred long hardwired into the West as well as its desire to purge the original genocidal sin of the Holocaust by accusing the Jews of a similar crime.

This does not remotely mean that Israel is blameless or hasn’t enhanced the Palestinians’ ability to tap into Western prejudice. Undoubtedly, there are many hungry people in Gaza and numbers of them may have starved during this war. Israel’s erratic policy of supplying, then denying, then again supplying humanitarian aid to Gaza, often in woefully insufficient amounts and by inefficient means, surely exacerbated the food shortage. And Israel’s failure to explain and defend its policies has been nothing short of monumental. All that, combined with settler violence, the racist remarks of prominent government ministers, and the selfie videos of soldiers rejoicing over Gaza’s demolition, heighten the odds that Sinwar’s bet paid off.

Still, nobody knows exactly how many Palestinians have actually died of starvation or can prove Israel’s culpability. The accusations persist despite the achievements of the American-run and Israeli-supported Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF). Since May, the GHF has distributed more than 100 million meals in Gaza, a record that America’s ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, called “a great feat.” Israel’s Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) says hundreds of food trucks are waiting to enter the Strip daily. The delays, Israel maintains, are caused by the refusal of the UN and other aid agencies to distribute the food and the relentless attacks on GHF workers and civilian aid recipients by Hamas.

Not surprisingly, the media has rejected these facts virtually out-of-hand while uncritically accepting Hamas’s. Little credence is given to Israel’s assertion that Hamas stole much of the UN aid and sold it back to the Palestinian population at exorbitant prices. Scant importance is given to the fact that, in the ceasefire talks, one of the terrorists’ top demands is for the return of the UN’s responsibility for aid—a return, that is, of the terror group’s major source of political control and income. Such details are irrelevant to a West insistent on finding Israel guilty of genocide by deliberate deprivation.

Any lingering doubts about the wisdom of Sinwar’s wager would be dispelled by the publication, again on the front page of the Times and other influential papers, of the photograph of a Palestinian woman holding her emaciated infant whom the captions claimed was starved by Israel. As is now well-known, the child, Muhammad Zakariya al-Matouq, suffered from a genetic condition, perhaps exacerbated by malnutrition, though his brother standing nearby did not appear visibly starved. Still, the Times did not apologize for the distortion, issuing only an editorial clarification, but other outlets—The Guardian, Sky News, the Daily Mail—did not even do that. The reason is obvious. What subtler way to defame the Jewish State than the image of a mother cradling the infant it killed, a modern-day Pietà?

By contrast, the video Hamas posted on Saturday of hostage Evyatar David, Auschwitz-emaciated and forced to dig his own grave, merited only minor Western headlines. The Times’ print edition buried the story on page 10. CNN similarly buried the story in a report on the anti-war movement in Israel, and concluded the piece with a long description of “the worst-case scenario of famine” in Gaza, and rising casualty reports from the Gaza Health Ministry.

The supposed Israeli genocide of the Palestinians is now widely accepted as truth. A June 2025 Leger poll found that more than half of Democratic voters and all Americans under the age of 35 believe Israel is guilty of committing genocide in Gaza, as do a shocking 78 percent of Democratic primary voters in New York.

Typically, the charge has united both radical left and right—Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene with academics like Brown University’s Omer Bartov and lunatics like Candace Owens. Added to the brands of antisemitism I’ve experienced in life, along with deicide, pedocide, and conspiring to destroy civilization, Jews now stand accused of annihilating an entire people. And each day, it seems, more people co-sign this lie.

Yahya Sinwar died last October 16, felled by an Israeli bullet, but indeed his gamble on Jew-hatred continues to pay off. The impending recognition of a Palestinian state by Britain, France, and Canada not only punishes Israel for imperfectly defending itself, but incentivizes terror and strengthens Hamas’s hand in the ceasefire talks. Sinwar’s successors can now walk away from the negotiating table, perpetuate the war with yet more civilian casualties, and further immiserate both Palestinians and Israelis.

What better bet could have assisted the terrorists to obscure their atrocities of October 7? What wager would enable the West to finally cleanse its own genocide guilt by imputing that sin to the Jews? In his grave, Sinwar is still counting his earnings.

Seth Mandel: Free, Free Lebanon

You know who hasn’t removed Hezbollah’s weapons from the south, or even made a token effort to prevent the weapons buildup in the first place? Right, UNIFIL. So peace in Lebanon is possible, but it requires the work of the U.S., Lebanese army, and Israel. The UN and Hezbollah can both pack up and be roomies somewhere else.

The Times reports: “The Lebanese Army is gradually raising the number of troops in the south. Once the military there is up to full strength, President Aoun said, an armed Hezbollah will be unnecessary.”

That’s putting it generously, although we can understand why President Aoun is careful and diplomatic with his words. It was never “necessary” for there to be an Iranian satrapy in South Lebanon. But yes, even by the region’s default anti-Israel stance, there is no justification anymore for Hezbollah’s gun-toting thugs roaming the border.

Last, and crucially, we are reminded that Hezbollah not only isn’t a boon for the state but is bleeding it dry: “The Lebanese government must defang the group to secure Western funds without provoking an internal conflict. Hezbollah has long been under Western sanctions due its designation as a terrorist organization.”

Now would be as good a time as any to do so, especially since morale within and around Hezbollah is at low tide. A Hezbollah fighter’s father-in-law tells the Times that all he has to show for Hezbollah’s “resistance” is a hole in the ground that used to be his house. “They promised us a victory, but instead they destroyed our villages, destroyed our houses,” he said.

Western powers have been hesitant to deliver knockout punches to dwindling terrorist groups and other nonstate actors. But they now face that opportunity in two places: Gaza and Lebanon. Allowing remnants of terrorist armies with lots of Arab, Israeli, and American blood on their hands to stew in their own Petrie dishes of resentment is a fool’s play. When the chance to disarm them appears, take it. Where terrorism is concerned, victory is the only path to peace.

Ruthie Blum: ‘Hasbara’ and the traitors among us

Examples abound, but let’s begin with Channel 12 anchorwoman Yonit Levi, who concluded her nightly news show on July 27 by saying with a sigh, “Maybe it’s time to acknowledge that this isn’t a public-diplomacy failure, but a moral failure, and to start from there.”

Three days later, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the German outlet Spiegel International, “There are a number of events that could be seen as war crimes. More than I can list. More than anything, though, it is the illegitimate war that is being waged out of the personal, political interests of [Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu]. As a consequence, Israeli soldiers are dying, additional hostages may be losing their lives and many innocent Palestinians are being killed. That is a crime.”

Then came award-winning novelist David Grossman’s Aug. 1 interview in the Italian daily La Repubblica. Expressing “immense pain and a broken heart,” he said, “For many years, I refused to use that term, ‘genocide.’ But now, after the images I have seen and after talking to people who were there [in Gaza], I can’t help but use it.”

This echoed the words of expat Israeli historian Omer Bartov, whose guest essay in The New York Times on July 15 was titled: “I’m a Genocide Scholar. I Know It When I See It.”

More recently, on Sunday, some 1,000 prominent Israeli performers signed a petition reading: “We, the people of culture and art in Israel, find ourselves—against our will and against our values—complicit, as Israeli citizens, in the horrifying events in the Gaza Strip, particularly the killing of children and uninvolved civilians, starvation, displacement of the population and the senseless destruction of Gaza’s cities. We call on all those involved in shaping and implementing this policy—stop! Do not issue illegal orders and do not follow them! Do not, God forbid, commit war crimes! Do not abandon the principles of human morality and the values of Judaism! End the war. Free the hostages.”

Meanwhile, a separate petition, signed by more than 1,400 designers, architects and visual artists states: “Before our eyes, a horror of historic proportions is taking place. We bear responsibility as human beings and as Israelis for the atrocities currently being committed in our name against a population located just a few kilometers away from us—living in an impossible reality and under immense suffering. We are deeply concerned for the fate of Gaza’s residents, the hostages, our sons and daughters and for the future of our society—both present and future.”

The icing on the cake appeared on Monday, with a short video of former chiefs of the Shin Bet, Mossad, Israel Defense Forces and Israel Police denigrating their country. “We’re hiding behind a lie,” asserted one participant. “We’re on the eve of defeat,” declared another. The rest proffered similarly inane—albeit dangerous—remarks.

Israeli hasbara may leave a lot to be desired. But what good is public diplomacy when the traitors among us parrot, if not craft, the enemies’ talking points? As Evyatar David’s father, Avishai, put it simply: “Whose side are they on?”

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03/04 Links: Gil Troy: The Huwara Riot Was No ‘Pogrom’; Thirty years on, Schindler’s List should never have been made; When is journalism antisemitic?

From Ian:

Gil Troy: The Huwara Riot Was No ‘Pogrom’

Anti-Palestinian violence comes from the margins of Israeli society. Anti-Jewish violence comes from the Palestinian mainstream.

As a Russian correspondent for the Times of London explained on Dec. 7, 1903, pogrom ”is a national institution” and is “not a massacre in the ordinary sense of the term.” Rather, pogroms are “directed against Jews.” Local and national authorities “encouraged” the thunderous destruction. The Times emphasized: “from the very first pebble thrown by a small boy to the last murder committed, all is absolutely under the control of the Government.”

By contrast, pictures from Huwara showed Israeli soldiers saving Palestinians from the flames. Mainstream Israeli leaders condemned the violence. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Don’t take the law into your own hands.” Israel’s army is trying to find the rioters, with 14 suspects already arrested.

Pogroms came from the center of Eastern European society, while the anti-Palestinian violence came from the margins of Israeli society. Meanwhile, anti-Jewish violence comes from the Palestinian mainstream. Palestinian leaders openly call for the destruction of the Jewish state and sponsor “martyr’s funds” to pay the families of those that carry out attacks against Israel. Palestinians celebrated the murder of the Yaniv brothers, Hillel, 21, and Yagel, 19, by joyously distributing sweets. By contrast, the Hurawa riots outraged most Israelis. Yair Fink, a liberal and Orthodox Israeli politician, raised more than $300,000 for Hurawa’s victims overnight. No Cossacks ran post-pogrom charity drives for Jews.

Words matter. Calling this despicable revenge attack by Jews against Palestinians a pogrom is like calling any black-on-white violence in the George Floyd riots a “lynching.” Misappropriating words fraught with historical and emotional significance wrenches them from their context. It cruelly alleges that the once-innocent victims of bigotry have themselves become bullying bigots. Scavenging a people’s past pain to weaponize it against them today is no way to work through conflict toward a healthy future.

Jonathan Tobin: Biden isn’t serious about opposing Palestinian terrorism

Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) knows that even if Biden were trying to stop the Palestinians rather than covering for them, Abbas and his Fatah Party will continue to use foreign aid to pay those who murder Israelis and Americans. So he is planning to introduce a bill that will put more teeth in the legislation. His bill would prevent any bank that processes or facilitates payments to terrorists from doing business in the United States or using dollars in any transaction. It would also restrict any financial institution that did or does business with Hamas.

Given the global commercial network that connects most fiscal institutions large and small throughout most of the world, this would inflict considerable hardship on the P.A. That’s because it needs its banks to have connections to the West in order for it to receive the massive payments it gets from international bodies and European governments, much of which is lost due to the rampant corruption in the P.A. that extends all the way up to Abbas and his family.

Cotton first tried to pass this bill back in 2021, but it failed in the Senate due to opposition from Democrats and indifference from some establishment Republicans. The latter may still be an obstacle. According to Jewish Insider, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who was the original principal sponsor of the Taylor Force Act, thinks it isn’t necessary. Graham actually thinks the act is working well.

That is a typical congressional reaction. Having passed a law that was supposed to deal with a challenging issue, Graham, who spends most of his time lately promoting more U.S. involvement in Ukraine’s war with Russia, considered the problem solved once his bill was passed. That’s true even if, as with Palestinian terrorism, the law isn’t doing what it’s supposed to do because of loopholes and the executive branch’s unwillingness to enforce it.

Though the odds are still against him given the lack of Democratic interest in stopping Palestinian terrorism, Cotton is still to be commended for trying. But as long as Biden is committed to evading the Taylor Force Act, Washington will still be part of the problem rather than the solution.

With the intersectional left largely calling the tune in a Biden administration that has been in thrall to so-called “progressives” and their even more radical allies in the congressional “Squad” since it took office on a host of issues, the issue goes deeper than mere indifference. In a party and administration where adherence to toxic left-wing myths like critical race theory is pervasive, the labeling of Israel as a state benefiting from “white privilege” and oppressing “people of color” is routine. Among such people, genuine concern about terrorist murders of Israelis isn’t terribly likely. That’s why despite lip service being paid to the memory of Elan Ganeles, the Biden administration has become a principal obstacle to efforts to end Palestinian terrorism.

Biden Admin Awards Grant to Palestinian Activist Group Whose Leaders Hailed Terrorist as 'Hero Fighter'

The Biden administration gave a $78,000 grant to a Palestinian activist group whose leaders attended an anniversary event celebrating the founding of a terrorist group and praised the murderer of a U.S. military attaché as a "hero fighter," according to a funding announcement.

The Community Development and Continuing Education Institute (CDCEI), an activist group based in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories, received the grant to promote "youth participation and accountability in local governance," the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced in November.

But an anti-terrorism watchdog group is raising concerns about the funding, after finding that the activist group's board chairman participated in a celebration for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine terrorist group, while other board members lauded convicted terrorists as "heroes" and applauded Hamas missile attacks on Israel.

NGO Monitor, a watchdog group that investigated the CDCEI funding, questioned the federal government's vetting process for grantees. The news of the USAID grant comes as the Biden State Department has faced criticism from lawmakers for funding a Gaza-based journalist training program run by another charity, Fares Al-Arab, that has worked with terrorists and has promoted anti-Israel views.

"These findings reinforce the need for USAID to consult a wide array of publicly available sources when vetting potential grantees, to ensure that taxpayer funds are not provided to organizations led by individuals that glorify violence, espouse anti-Semitic rhetoric, or embrace anti-normalization," NGO Monitor said. "USAID grantees should align with U.S. goals and values."

USAID did not respond to a request for comment. CDCEI did not respond to a request for comment.

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01/26 Links: Former Israeli War Colleges Commander: ‘Without Judea and Samaria, Israel Cannot Defend Tel Aviv’; Democrats Ducking Vote on Rejecting Anti-Semitism

From Ian:

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Caroline Glick: EXCLUSIVE - Former Israeli War Colleges Commander: ‘Without Judea and Samaria, Israel Cannot Defend Tel Aviv’

President Donald Trump’s negotiating team may unveil its “deal of the century” peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians soon after Israel’s April 9 elections.

Gershon Hacohen, a recently retired Israeli major general and former commander of Israel’s war colleges, now serves as a senior researcher at Bar Ilan University’s Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Affairs, where he writes prolifically on the military significance of Israel’s relations with the Palestinians.

Hacohen is considered one of Israel’s most brilliant strategists. He is also something of a voice in the wilderness among his fellow generals, who almost unanimously identify with the left side of the political and ideological spectrum.

In light of the various media reports that have surfaced over the past year about the contours of the Trump plan, Hacohen has deep reservations about the plausibility of the American efforts.

This week, Hacohen published a major study in Hebrew, which received frontpage coverage in the Hebrew media in Israel. In it, Hacohen analyzed the military implications for Israel of a possible Israeli withdrawal from Judea and Samaria – otherwise known as the West Bank – in any deal with the Palestinians.

In his report, titled, “A Withdrawal from Area C of Judea and Samaria is an Existential Threat,” Hacohen argued that Israel cannot afford to withdraw from any territory in Judea and Samaria.

Breitbart News spoke with Hacohen to discuss his paper and what its implications are for the Trump administration as it prepares to unveil its peace plan.

Cotton Praises Judge in Israel Boycott Case: He ‘Acknowledged the Obvious’

Senator Tom Cotton (R., Ark.) praised a federal district judge's ruling Friday, after the judge upheld an anti-discrimination law as consistent with the First Amendment.

The Arkansas Times, a weekly paper based in Little Rock, argued that it could sell advertising space to public entities without certifying the Times was not boycotting Israel. It claimed mandating a certification abrogated its First and Fourteenth Amendment rights.

Arkansas' general assembly passed Act 710 in 2017, which allows the state government to contract only with companies that do not boycott Israel. It prohibits the government to work with companies "engaging in refusals to deal, terminating business activities, or other actions that are intended to limit commercial relations with Israel, or persons or entities doing business in Israel or in Israeli-controlled territories, in a discriminatory manner."

The bill follows several years of increasing pressure from anti-Israel activists for companies to support the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. Political efforts, including BDS, target Israeli organizations and companies doing business in Israel in an effort to erode support for the state of Israel and pressure the Israeli government to change its policies.

Cotton described Act 710 as a bulwark against efforts by "Israel's foes." He explained that, pursuant to the law, "Government contractors in Arkansas are required to certify they will not participate in the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement designed by Israel’s foes, or else face consequences." More than half of American states have passed laws opposing anti-Israel boycotts.

Democrats Ducking Vote on Rejecting Anti-Semitism

Democratic leaders are remaining quiet about a new congressional measure that rejects anti-Semitism and chides a new class of Democratic congressional members for the open embrace of notorious anti-Semites and anti-Israel causes, according to the leading Republican author of that new measure.

Rep. Lee Zeldin (R., N.Y.), one of just two Jewish Republicans in Congress, has introduced a new congressional resolution in the House that categorically rejects anti-Semitism in all its forms and calls out some newly elected Democratic members who have ridden a popular wave into Congress on the backs of anti-Semitic leaders and causes, Zeldin told the Washington Free Beacon in a wide-ranging interview.

While a similar House resolution condemning white supremacy sailed to a nearly unanimous vote several weeks ago, Zeldin's amendment, focused directly on anti-Semitism, has put Democratic leaders in a precarious position as they are forced to reject the views of popular new freshman colleagues.

"It's up to the Democrats to decide whether or not they are actually going to confront this head on," Zeldin told the Free Beacon. "I'm wiling to work with any Democratic colleague on any idea he or she has to crush anti-Semitism in any form. But I can't do that for them."

To that end, Zeldin's measure—which is expected to be brought for a vote in the coming weeks—is shaping up to be a sort of litmus test for the Democratic leadership as it figures out how to deal with a class of freshmen who are open about their distaste for Israel and support causes like the Boycott, Sanction, and Divestment movement, or BDS, which wages economic warfare on the Jewish state.

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Abbas warns against Jews entering Temple Mount through a second gate

Arabic media is upset over a reported plan to allow Jews to enter the Temple Mount through the Cotton Market Gate, in addition to the Rambam (Mughrabi/Morrocan) Gate that currently is the only way for non-Muslims to enter the holy site.

Jews who enter the Temple Mount generally walk counter-clockwise and exit through the Chain Gate, the gate which is immediately north of the Mughrabi gate. The Cotton Market Gate is further north still.

Arutz-7 posted the story as I was writing it:

A document published by Galei Tzahal (IDF Radio) on Monday morning reveals that the Tourism Ministry is considering opening the Cotton Merchant's Gate to the Temple Mount for Jewish visitors and tourists.

As the status quo stands, the Mughrabi Gate is the only point of entrance for Jews in visiting the holiest site in Judaism, and that point of access has repeatedly been targeted by Arab rioters for attacks as a means to force the closure of the site to Jews.

The large number of Jews and tourists trying to visit the holy site has led to long lines at the lone non-Muslim gate to the Temple Mount, which is located by the Kotel (Western Wall). Due to the backlog, the Tourism Ministry is apparently considering measures such as opening an additional gate.

Yehuda Glick, head of the LIBA Movement for Freedom of Movement on the Temple Mount, told Galei Tzahal that the status quo must be changed urgently.

"There are 11 entrances to the Temple Mount, ten of them open to Muslims, but only one open to tens of thousands of tourists and Jews who want to enter the Temple Mount," said Glick. "Each day the numbers waiting on line increase...this gate doesn't meet the needs."

The document was drafted in January, but the Tourism Ministry says it was not advanced mainly due to opposition by security sources to the move, given that it would require a heavy increase in security and likely spark further rioting and violence by Arab visitors to the Temple Mount.

Mahmoud Abbas reacted immediately to the report:

[Mahmoud Abbas] warned of the danger of statements and the Israeli Tourism Minister, who spoke about opening doors gate, especially for the Jews to enter the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The presidency said in a statement on Monday that such statements are unacceptable and condemnable and unacceptable, because Jerusalem and its holy sites are a red line that may not be not allowed to be touched. He considers this step a unilateral move that destroy any chance for the return of the peace process.

Jews wanting to enter their holy spots are of course antithetical to peace. Barring Jews from worshiping in their sacred sites promotes peace. But banning Muslims from worshiping anywhere they want is against peace, and allowing them to usurp ancient Jewish holy spots is supremely supportive of peace.

No "human rights" groups have a problem with this double standard. Because the real rule is that whatever Jews want is to be opposed, and whatever Muslims want must be accommodated.

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