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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02/15 Links Pt1: Senator Cotton: “Jews Are Called Jews, Because They’re From Judea”; Trump officials: Two-state solution not the only path to peace

From Ian:

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IsraellyCool: Senator Tom Cotton: “Jews Are Called Jews, Because They’re From Judea”

effrey Goldberg of The Atlantic recently interviewed Tom Cotton, the junior senator from Arkansas, who he describes as “the future Republican candidate for president.”
And at least when it comes to Israel, Cotton really seems to get it.
Goldberg: A semi-related question. How would you organize the West Bank in such a way as to give the Palestinians something of what they want without endangering Israel?
Cotton: Ultimately, that would be a question for Israelis and Palestinians, if the Palestinians can get non-terror supporting leaders. The United States over the last eight years has made that harder. For instance, in 2009, demanding a freeze on construction in Judea and Samaria, something that Mahmoud Abbas had never even demanded. As soon as Barack Obama demanded it, Abbas had to demand it because if you’re the Palestinian leader you can’t allow the American President to be more Palestinian than you are.
Goldberg: Do you always refer to them as a Judea and Samaria?
Cotton: I do.
Goldberg: Why?
Cotton: That’s why the Jews are called Jews, because they’re from Judea.

Agents of Their Own Destruction

Psychologically, it is easier to embrace a good cause (or, for that matter, even a bad one) in simplistic, "black and white" terms. For many people a "good" cause is made up of people who suffer from "imperialism" and "colonialism", plucky minorities, third-world victims of first-world oppression, revolutionary vanguards, and anyone put upon by the United States, Great Britain, France or any former "imperialist" power. Other "imperialist" powers, such as Russia, China or Iran, are conveniently overlooked or forgotten -- not to mention the centuries of Islamist imperialism that covered Iran, Turkey, Greece, all of North Africa, Hungary, Serbia, the Balkans, virtually all of Eastern Europe and which we see still continuing.
The Palestinians, in this narrative of "good" and "bad" have purportedly been permanently "dispossessed" by, of all people, the Jews -- whom they had the misfortune to attack in 1948, 1956, 1967 and 1973 -- and lose to.
If members of the new U.S. administration seek to advance the moribund "peace process", they could find no better place to start than direct confrontation with Palestinian rejectionism. This means that those leaders must be pressed as hard as possible to end their persecution of their own populations.
There must be carrots, but there must also be sticks. The UN, the EU, and the OIC will offer only carrots. Will the U.S. now add the threat of real consequences to that mix?

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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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04/03 Link Pt1: 40 victims of coronavirus, more than 7,000 Israelis are infected; Tom Cotton Says China Is Due for a ‘Reckoning’

From Ian:

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40 victims of coronavirus, more than 7,000 Israelis are infected

The Israel Defense Forces will provide the civilians of Bnei Brak with assistance, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu affirmed Friday, as preparations for traffic restrictions in and around the ultra-Orthodox city were put into place and the Health Ministry announced that more than 7,000 people were diagnosed with coronavirus.

By evening, the National Emergency Authority published a procedure for approving entry and exit from the restricted area on Friday.

Four more people died on Friday, victims 37, 38, 39 and 40 were all elderly people.

The ministry's report showed that some 115 people were in serious condition, including 95 are on respirators.

The government officially decided to crack down on Bnei Brak on Thursday, approving a full military-enforced closure on the city. Armed troops from the IDF’s Paratrooper Brigade began being deployed early Friday to work with the Homefront Command and Netanyahu stressed that the responsibility for enforcing these new restrictions, including enclosing the city, rests with the Public Security Ministry and the Israel Police.

Bnei Brak has more coronavirus per capita than any other city in Israel, the Health Ministry showed. On Friday, 1,061 people were diagnosed with the virus there - up 513 people in the last three days.

Israeli coronavirus fatalities are mostly elderly men, average age 79.8

Most of Israel’s coronavirus fatalities have been elderly men with underlying medical conditions, in line with global averages.

The average age of Israel’s dead was 79.8 years old as of Thursday afternoon. Of the 34 dead, 21, or 64 percent, were men, and 13 were women.

Ninety-four percent of Israel’s fatalities — all but two — are over the age of 60, in line with the average in Europe of 95%.

The vast majority of Israel’s dead had underlying medical conditions, as do most senior citizens. Israeli medical authorities rarely specify which preexisting conditions the fatalities had.

The World Health Organization said Thursday that 10% to 15% of people under 50 with the disease have moderate or severe cases.

Dr. Hans Kluge, head of the organization’s office in Europe, said recent statistics showed 30,098 people had died in Europe, mostly in Italy, France and Spain. More than half of Europe’s dead were over the age of 80.

Kluge said more than 80% of those who died had at least one other chronic underlying condition like cardiovascular disease, hypertension or diabetes.

There are more than 980,000 confirmed cases worldwide, led by the United States with more than 226,000, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. The US has recorded over 5,100 deaths, with New York City, the US epicenter, recording 1,374 fatalities.

The number of deaths worldwide passed 50,000 on Thursday. Over 204,000 have recovered from the illness.

Netanyahu urges wearing masks outside; announces stipends for kids, elderly

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday evening said all Israelis should wear masks when out in public, and promised stipends for Passover for Israeli children and pensioners.

He also introduced strict limitations to travel in and out of Bnei Brak, the ultra-Orthodox city with one of the highest coronavirus infection rates in the country, as part of new directives to stop the spread of the pandemic.

Netanyahu, emerging from voluntary quarantine at his official residence in Jerusalem after an aide tested positive for the coronavirus, said that people who don’t have masks can use an improvised facial covering such as a scarf.

Health Ministry Director-General Moshe Bar Siman-Tov reiterated that Israelis should not rush out to buy masks as they should be left for medical professionals, but can improvise with material and rubber bands.

The most important thing, Bar Siman-Tov said, was that the nose and mouth were covered.

Netanyahu also announced that families will receive a one-off payment of NIS 500 per child (approximately $140), up to the fourth child, ahead of the upcoming Passover holiday. There will also be stipends for the elderly, he said, without specifying the minimum age. He said these payments will be approved via emergency legislation, and that payments will be made directly into bank accounts, with no bureaucratic red tape.

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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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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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07/08 Links Pt2: Jewish Identity excluded from Identity Politics; Hate and poison wrapped in cotton candy at the PalExpo; How Anti-Semitism in Britain’s Labour party made me feel Jewish again

From Ian:

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Jewish Identity excluded from Identity Politics

Unlike their Israeli counterparts, US Jews seem to suffer from identity erosion influenced by declining observance, substandard Jewish education, and the sacralization of liberal politics. Though many claim their Jewishness requires them to reject Trump, they conflate identity with secular ideals that defy Jewish tradition. Liberals can dislike Trump for any reason or none at all, but they cannot claim their disdain is Judaically-mandated. Nor can they ignore how Trump has reversed his predecessor’s course of demeaning Israel, enabling Islamic radicalism, empowering Iran, and whitewashing leftist anti-Semitism.

Jewish history is replete with examples of those who rejected heritage and community. During the Hellenistic period, many emulated Greek culture and repudiated their ancestors, while during medieval times some accepted baptism and sought to lead others astray. The apostate Nicholas Donin in 1240 denounced the Talmud to Pope Gregory IX, inflamed Dominican ire, and instigated public disputations and Talmud burnings. Similarly, Johannes Pfefferkorn in 1509 advocated expelling Jews from German lands, kidnapping and baptizing their children, and burning Hebrew texts. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, many joined European radical movements, abandoned Judaism, and discouraged education and observance.

Whereas yesterday’s apostates renounced religion and culture, today’s progressives claim fealty to tradition while falsely equating Jewish identity with non-Jewish priorities. They misuse terms like “tikkun olam” and “Mussar” to imply Judaic authenticity, though doing so only illustrates their distance from tradition. True tikkun olam involves the promotion of societal harmony through Halakhic observance, while authentic Mussar calls for ethical character development through Torah study, mitzvah observance, and personal introspection. Neither promotes ideals that are alien to Judaism.

Many American Jews today know little of their heritage and attempt to fill the gaps with agendas that bear no resemblance to the Judaism of their ancestors. Though Jewish voters can certainly support any policies their consciences may dictate, tradition does not require them to be liberal Democrats – or conservative Republicans.

As for President Trump, they can support or oppose him for any reason. But they cannot claim that hatred for the man reflects Jewish virtue – and certainly not in light of his support for Israel and condemnation of global anti-Semitism. Nor can they oppose him based on dubious claims of prejudice, especially when they ignore or excuse flagrant anti-Semitism within the Democratic Party. Whatever moral authority they claim to possess is only diluted when they condemn Jew-hatred where it doesn’t exist but grant a pass where it does. (h/t Yerushalimey)

Caroline Glick: Associated Press Targets Jewish Americans Who Support Israel

Last week, the Associated Press ran a hit job on a successful American businessman. Simon Falic and his two brothers own the Duty Free Americas chain, a private company that runs duty free stores in airports throughout the United States and Latin America.

They also happen to be Jewish. Simon Falic in particular is a powerful advocate for Jewish causes worldwide and for the State of Israel.

Through their family foundation, Simon Falic and his wife donate to dozens of organizations in Israel. The causes they support run the gamut from medical research to Jewish education. They support synagogue construction and refurbishment; archaeological excavations and preservation of archaeological sites; battered women’s shelters and day care centers; and the construction of new Jewish communities in Israel.

AP’s hit piece centers on Falic’s charitable work.

The title of the article gave the game away. It read, “U.S. duty free owners give millions to settlements.”

The obvious question is: so what? There is nothing even vaguely illegal about Falic’s charitable undertakings. And indeed, the article doesn’t accuse him of committing or facilitating any crime.

Instead, the article’s immediate purpose is to “out” Falic as a Zionist Jew and make his support for Jewish national rights and national self-determination in the Jewish homeland stink of fascism and zealotry.

David Collier: Hate and poison wrapped in cotton candy at the PalExpo

The ‘PalExpo’ came back to London for 2019. A large, two day ‘celebration’ of Palestinian culture, history and arts. It is extremely clever marketing. In theory there is nothing wrong with Palestinians holding an exhibition of culture, but the show was built for a far more sinister purpose than teaching dabke. There are two parts to the PalExpo and whilst the main exhibition hall had a range of activities from vase painting to date picking, a chain of political talks delivered the lies and the constant drumbeat of delegitimisation. Even the children’s games they had spread out pushed little but decontextualised propaganda. For example a ‘bowling alley’, where the skittles represent the wall, and they carried logos of companies that people are meant to boycott. A real game for kids:

And this is not to mention the exhibits on the settlements, checkpoints and so on. They even had a UN tent from 1949. It is an exercise in how to use cotton candy as a means of delivering poison.

The deception works well. Many of those I spoke to outside could not understand what there was to protest. It is just a ‘cultural exhibition’, they said. And asked ‘why are you protesting against it’? Did they not see who was speaking inside and what they were telling the audience? The reality is that many of these people do not realise how lost they are to the propaganda. When they hear the Palestinian narrative, when they look at the maps and listen to their ‘history’, they have so completely lost themselves inside it all, they see all opposition as nothing more than those ‘few’ in power trying to shut down the ‘truth’. It is all about the dead children and the hateful army that deliberately kills them. There is nothing beyond that.

This was not my first PalExpo. In 2017, they unceremoniously threw me, my wife and my son out following complaints about my presence from some attendees. We were mid-meal when we were told to leave. It is perhaps worth mentioning that since then, two of those involved have been expelled from the Labour party. In 2017 it was at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference centre. This year, the PalExpo was in Olympia London. The main organisers, Friends of Al Aqsa, had only taken part of Olympia for PalExpo and even then, the venue was far too large for the crowd. I am sure they will spin the numbers, but they were certainly well down on 2017. On Saturday they claimed it was over 10,000 which is absolute poppycock:

Apart from inside the main auditorium during the more important sessions, the place seemed sparsely populated. Many of the exhibits had no queue at all:

The cotton candy was for the families, almost exclusively Muslim, who had come to experience a ‘day out’ with their children. But the more serious stuff was taking place in one of the four rooms they were using for the talks. Inside these, the demographic was different, it was far more mixed with a majority of ‘white’ Corbynista types taking up the seats. It was almost as if two separate events were taking place. And whilst the anti-Israel media outlets are distributing images of the central hall during the final event because it was full, the truth is that the sparse numbers were visible almost everywhere:

Arab Knesset member calls for Israel boycott at Palestine Expo

Arab-Israeli Member of Knesset Yousef Jabareen called for a boycott of Israel while speaking at the Palestine Expo conference over the weekend.

The London-based conference that took place over Saturday and Sunday was the largest of its kind in Europe, focusing on Palestinian culture, history and arts, according to its website.

"The international community has all the tools to deal with war crimes – to boycott settlers, to boycott settlement products, to boycott international companies," said Jabareen at the conference, which was recorded by Kan.

"There needs to a more mass mobilization of our people on the ground, in Gaza but also in the West Bank," continued Jabareen. "[Israel] is exactly like the South African Bantustan. And it's a combination of apartheid and occupation."

Minister of Public Security Gilad Erdan (Likud) tried to prevent Jabareen from participating in the conference, because his funding came from an organization with ties to BDS, the Middle East Monitor. Ultimately, Erdan was unsuccessful.

Friends of Al Aqsa, the organizer of the event, is also a supporter of boycotting Israel.

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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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06/14 Links: Anti-racism protesters in Paris yell 'dirty Jews' at counter-protesters; Jason Greenblatt: Applying Israeli law in West Bank is not illegal

From Ian:

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Anti-racism protesters in Paris yell 'dirty Jews' at counter-protesters

French anti-racism protesters shouted antisemitic slogans including "dirty Jews" and waved placards reading "Israel, laboratory of police violence" at a rally in Paris's Place de la République on Saturday.

In light of the Black Lives Matter rallies that have been taking place in protest against police brutality in the US, French protesters gathered in the city to protest the death of Adama Traoré, a Malian French man who died in police custody in 2016. According to Valeurs, tensions were running high as police first blocked the march from taking place, holding protesters in the square, and then a counter protest group dropped a banner from a nearby building reading "Justice for the victims of anti-white terrorism."

In response, protesters were heard yelling "dirty Jews," at the counter-protesters. The police prefect has reported these remarks to the magistrates, they said on their Twitter account.

In addition to the chants, to which the protesters raised their fists, i24 reported that protesters were seen wearing t-shirts reading "Justice for Palestine," and waving Palestinian flags at the event. Placards being held aloft included the phrase "Israel, laboratory of police violence," and another banner read "Stop the massacres by Israel. Liberty and justice for Palestine."

Last week an American organization, the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, likewise blamed the deaths of a number of African-Americans on Israel, claiming that the IDF trains American police offers in tactics that lead to human rights violations. The group tweeted: "The Israeli military trains US police in racist and repressive policing tactics, which systematically targets Black and Brown bodies," with a link to a 2016 Amnesty International report making the same claim.

Crif, the umbrella organization for French Jewry, denounced the incident, saying “there cannot be a fight against racism which directly or indirectly tolerates antisemitism in its ranks.”

Anti-racism protesters in Paris today shout "Dirty Jews!" pic.twitter.com/APQCep0da0

— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) June 13, 2020

Israel Advocacy Movement: Europe descend into antisemitic chaos!

Anti-racists in Paris screamed “dirty Jews” at white supremacists
Google removed Churchill’s image, but not Hitler’s
‘Patriots’ in London defended Churchill’s statue by Nazi saluting it
A Jew was stabbed 2 miles from Corbyn’s house… he said nothing
Can someone cancel 2020?

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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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"Israeli bride performs Talmudic rituals" near Cotton Gate of Temple Mount

A Jewish bride, apparently on her wedding day, decided to go as close as possible to the Temple Mount to say Psalms.

Along with some friends, she walked down the Cotton Market in Jerusalem during a Muslim prayer time when the market is nearly empty. She was stopped, and protected, at the entrance to the Cotton Gate by Israeli police.

Arabic media is reporting that she performed "Talmudic rituals" and that this was an "extreme provocation." (They also called the bride and her small entourage "settlers.")

Apparently, Muslims can whip out their prayer rugs and worship wherever they want, but Jews don't share that right.

A Christian-Jewish group condemned the peaceful event as well.

In fact, according to Sheikh Nageh Pkarat, any prayers in the area of the holiest spot in Judaism is a "violation of international law" since it is a place for Muslim prayers only.

Pkarat also said that Jewish prayers in the area are against the Jewish religion as well.

It is always nice to have an expert on Judaism around to be authoritatively quoted in the Arab media.

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10/10 Links Pt1: Fatah: Dying for Allah “will create the State of Palestine”; The united Jerusalem delusion

From Ian:

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PMW: Fatah: Dying for Allah “will create the State of Palestine”

In a post on Facebook, Abbas' Fatah Movement encourages Palestinians to die for Allah. It is Palestinians dying for Allah, the spilling of "the blood of the Martyrs," Fatah says, that "will create the State of Palestine."

Fatah posted the following text together with a collage of photos of terrorists:
"#Palestine"
"From the sea of the blood of the Martyrs (Shahids)
we will create the State of Palestine"
"Fatah Movement - The official page" [Official Fatah Facebook page, Oct. 3, 2017]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Fatah's student movement Shabiba at two different universities uses the same slogan, encouraging youth to adopt a path of violence and to become "Martyrs."

When Israel placed metal detectors at the Temple Mount entrances following an attack there in which 2 Israelis were murdered in July 2017, and Palestinians responded with violence and riots, Fatah encouraged Palestinians to "escalate" the riots and stated that "with our blood we will thwart the Zionists' plans."

How Palestine “Occupies” Itself

Of course, declaring a de facto state does not make it a reality. Nor will declaring that state to be “under occupation.” The reality is that both the essential non-existence and the victimized character of the Palestinian state represent a conscious decision to embrace failure. This will not change unless there are direct negotiations, a choice the PA has consistently refused.

While a functioning Palestinian state remains desirable, it is telling that the Palestinian leadership has refused to directly negotiate with Israel and uses bodies like the UN to endorse a “virtual” state with no viable institutions. Is the Palestinian goal a state of their own, or just the erasure of Israel? If the latter, it is to be followed by what? Insisting upon a Palestinian state must go hand in hand with reviving the moribund Palestinian political system and institutions that would support it, like a free press. But these are demands that should come first from Palestinians. When such demands come from Israel or Western countries, they collide with the narrative of “occupation.”

Palestinian nationalism has never seen the conflict as one between two national groups with legitimate claims and aspirations. Israel’s existence – indeed, Zionism itself, the very idea of Jewish nationalism – is regarded as wholly illegitimate. Palestinian acceptance of the two-state solution was a means of appeasing the West and its stated desire for all parties to live in peace according to democratic, national ideals. But for Arafat in his day and now for Mahmoud Abbas, the two-state solution was a mechanism with which to buy time until the Palestinians can finally overcome and defeat Israel. The language of “occupation” plays a key role.

Whether Palestinians think they are an “occupied state” or “Palestinian territories under occupation,” as long as Palestinians cling to the notion of being “occupied” and Israel remains the “occupier” we are destined to see more of the dynamics of the past and fewer possibilities in the future. Until we see more self-awareness, self-criticism, and a sense of accountability, Palestinian identity and statehood will remain occupied in perpetuity. Palestine is indeed “occupied” by shadows of its own making.

Barry Shaw: The united Jerusalem delusion

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last week pledged to support a Greater Jerusalem bill that would annex places like Ma’aleh Adumim, Givat Ze’ev and villages in the Etzion Bloc and would allow their residents to vote in Jerusalem mayoral elections.

This bill would also create independent municipalities for Israeli-Arabs living within Jerusalem’s municipal boundaries, but outside the security barrier.

Members of Knesset and mayors acclaim this move.

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely said that “applying Israeli law is the most important thing to make sure that everyone realizes that Jerusalem will remain united.”

Is Jerusalem united? Let me throw a bucket of icy water over those of our politicians who are in denial.

If Jerusalem were truly the undivided capital of Israel, how is it that at least 14 soccer clubs based in Jerusalem play under the auspices of the Palestinian Football Association, headed by Jibril Rajoub of the Palestinian Authority? As these clubs come under the PFA, which is a member of FIFA, the world governing body for soccer, these Jerusalem-based clubs are globally recognized as Palestinian, not Israeli. The Israel Football Association lost control of them decades ago.

Worse still, some of these clubs promote terrorism against Israelis as part of their footballing activities, with the full knowledge and approval of Rajoub. Some of these activities are supervised and funded by the PFA.

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01/03 Links Pt2: Regime Change Is the West’s Best Hope for Iran; Heroic Women Fighting for Freedom; Germany's dangerous foreign minister

From Ian:

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Noah Rothman: Regime Change Is the West’s Best Hope for Iran

If the regime in Iran collapsed, there’s every reason to believe that Tehran would reassess its options. If the demonstrators have their way and compel a provisional Iranian government to abandon its support for terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and rogue states like Syria, the threat posed by Israel’s nuclear arsenal (which it has possessed since at least 1968) diminishes significantly. Likewise, Iran’s regional non-nuclear competitors in the Arab World—chiefly Saudi Arabia and its allies—can be checked as effectively by conventional forces as they would be with a nuclear arsenal. Incentives provided to Tehran in the form of aid to induce verifiable nuclear disarmament and to transition toward a republican government would also facilitate this process.

To the self-described foreign-policy rationalists who engineered the Iran nuclear deal and now brood in exile, this all sounds like so much fancy. “Realistically, the best-case scenario is not that Iran becomes a Western-style liberal democracy, but rather that it follows the China model,” wrote current New York Times foreign affairs columnist Max Fisher, “of gradual economic and diplomatic opening, along with loosening some social freedoms.” Indeed, we have seen some social freedoms restored in the Islamic Republic—the abolition of the penalty of arrest for women who decline to wear the hijab, for example—but only as a result of protesters setting fire to government offices. Fisher’s isn’t just a failure of imagination disguised as sober calculation; it’s bet-hedging. No one will fault you if the government in Tehran collapses and you didn’t see it coming. Who could have? But if you were to advocate, much less hasten, the regime’s collapse and it survives anyway, your reputation as a policymaker or analyst might not.

Cracks are beginning to show as enraged demonstrators beat at the Islamic Republic’s foundations. Like the Soviet Union, Iran’s is a repressive regime that sacrificed its legitimacy long before its citizens took to the streets in revolt.The Iran deal has provided Iran with lucrative new trade arrangements and access to assets lost to it in 1979, but it has not induced a change in its confrontational posture toward the West. Nothing will. There will need to be new management in Tehran.

Eli Lake: The West Can Help Iranians Take Back Their Country

There is currently a Change.org petition urging Obama to speak out in favor of the demonstrations. That is a good start. But the former president should do more. He should devote his good offices to publicizing the cause of Iranian freedom. No American can lead Iran’s opposition, but Obama’s unique understanding of grassroots activism puts him in an ideal position to lead the Western cause of solidarity. He could organize lawyers, newspaper editors, teachers, librarians and human rights groups to partner Iranians under siege, following the Jewish-American movement to allow Soviet refuseniks to emigrate.

With all of this in mind, it’s also important to avoid past mistakes. Let’s start with hubris. Iranians will be the authors of their liberation. No State Department or CIA program will bring freedom to Iran. The expert class that has gotten so much of Iran wrong in recent years should step aside and listen to those Iranians driven out of their home country who live today in the West.

So far, the movement in Iran appears to have the advantage of being leaderless. Unlike the Greens of 2009, there are no Iranian leaders who have emerged as the personality or face of this new opposition. Let’s leave it that way. People’s Mujahedin leader Maryam Rajavi, or supporters of the Pahlavi dynasty that fell in 1979, should not be treated as leaders or spokesmen for this organic uprising. They seek to impose an agenda on a movement they did not create. Don’t let them do it.

The same goes for those who have emerged as a de facto lobby for President Rouhani and his faction within the Iranian regime. This network, based primarily in Washington, includes the National Iranian American Council, the Ploughshares Network and the many journalists and experts titillated by U.S.-Iranian diplomacy. For years they told us Rouhani was a reformer. Today they whisper that these demonstrators are really a ploy of Rouhani’s “hardline” opposition. They celebrate “elections” that have the legitimacy as those for student government. They want Trump to be silent today.

Finally, it’s important to not be discouraged. I hope the unrest in Iran spreads and the fanatics, thieves and terrorists who have infantilized Iranians for 38 years are toppled. But it’s likely the unrest today is the beginning of a longer process. This regime has survived mass demonstrations and riots before and restored the fear necessary to continue its misrule. It’s the West’s job in these coming weeks to support our real allies, the Iranian people demanding freedom.

Obama Betrayed Iranian People; Trump Stands with Them

As a long-time Iranian, I can tell you that the support of the US and President Trump is invaluable to the ordinary Iranians: they feel helpless and alone in the face of the monsters who have been oppressing them for so long.

On Persian social media outlets and apps such as Telegram, which is extremely popular among Iranians, people are cheering the US support. People are asking the US to support them in other ways as well, in addition to helping them bypass the internet-blocks and shut-downs that the Iranian regime recently implemented.

If the Iranians succeed in changing this Islamist regime, it will bring down the highest state sponsor of terrorism, the leading regime in human rights violations, the top state sponsor of anti-Americanism and anti-Semitic propaganda. Iran, with its current regime, is a danger not just to its long-suffering people, but to everyone. These protesters, who are flooding the streets and demanding that their voices be heard, are committing acts of heroism that will be felt throughout the world and throughout history.

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06/04 Links Pt2: Yehudah Glick beaten while leaving home of killed Palestinian's family; Norway Withholds Funding to PA Over Antisemitic and Jihadist Textbooks

From Ian:

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Yehudah Glick beaten while leaving home of killed Palestinian's family

Former MK Yehudah Glick was severely beaten on Thursday when he visited the bereaved family of Iyad al-Halak, a Palestinian man who was shot by Border Police last Friday.

Halak was autistic and, according to his family, had the mental capacity of a child.

Glick was beaten when he left the bereaved family, who lives in east Jerusalem, and taken to Shaarei Zedek Medical Center, N12 reported.
The Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem Rabbi Aryeh Stern visited the mourning tent on Tuesday.

The shooting of an autistic man, leading to his death, led to wide condemnation across the country.

Norway Withholds Funding to Palestinian Authority Over Antisemitic and Jihadist Content in School Textbooks

Norway’s foreign minister on Thursday announced that funds earmarked for the Palestinian Authority’s education sector would be withheld until changes were made to schoolbooks that promoted antisemitism and terrorist violence against Israelis.

The decision followed a vote last December in the Norwegian parliament to demand such changes after the publication of a report by IMPACT-se — an NGO that analyzes school textbooks around the world for signs of intolerance — that demonstrated systematic insertions of violence, martyrdom and jihad across all grades and subjects in the textbooks used by the PA.

Foreign Minister Ine Eriksen Søreide said that when she met with PA Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh in Ramallah in February, she had “communicated the government’s views on the matter, stressing that lack of improvements in the school curriculum could have budgetary implications for future Norwegian aid.”

Søreide expressed optimism that changes to the textbooks would be implemented. “We feel that there is a good and close dialogue with the Palestinian education authorities on the issue,” she said. “Some of the curriculum changes have already been made by Palestine’s own textbook quality control committee.”

A statement from IMPACT-se praised Søreide for her “unprecedented decision.”

“This remarkable pronouncement is a clear message that Norway’s elected leaders will not allow their generosity to be abused, to deliver a daily diet of violence, bigotry and incitement against Jews and Israel in Palestinian schools,” the NGO declared.

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04/30 Links Pt1: IDF field hospital in Nepal treats nearly 100, delivers baby, Treats 'Miracle' Survivor

From Ian:

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On first day, IDF field hospital in Nepal treats nearly 100, delivers baby

Israel’s field hospital in earthquake-hit Nepal began operating Wednesday morning, with staff treating nearly 100 patients and delivering their first baby — a boy — on the first day, according to an IDF spokesperson
Among the patients were some 30 Israeli nationals. Most were suffering from dehydration and were soon released to their hotels.
Over 250 doctors and rescue personnel were part of an IDF delegation that landed Tuesday in the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, in the wake of Saturday’s magnitude-7.8 earthquake that devastated large swaths of the mountainous country, killing at least 5,000 and leaving some 8,000 wounded and tens of thousands seeking shelter and food.
The Israeli group set up the field hospital with 60 beds, including an obstetrics department, and was operating in coordination with the local army hospital.

Ethiopian Doctor Who Lit Yom Ha’Atzmaut Torch Heads IDF Team in Nepal

Israel’s first Ethiopian doctor, who lit one of the traditional torches on Yom Ha’Atzmaut give years ago, is leading the IDF medical team in Nepal.
Dr. Avi Yitzchak made Aliyah in the early 1990s in the Operation Shlomo airlift and has become a symbol of success for the Ethiopian community.
He arrived in Nepal five days ago, when he said there was absolutely nothing in the realm of first aid, and decided where to set up a field hospital, which went into operation immediately.
“We began accepting patients from the Nepalese army hospital that was not able to function well, especially in the field of surgery,” said Yitzchak, who specialized in surgery when he studied medicine at Soroka Hospital at Ben Gurion University.
“We are receiving citizens of Nepal with medical problems that the Nepalese army hospital cannot treat beaus they accept only soldiers and their families,” Dr. Yitzchak said from Katmandu.
When not in the army, Dr. Yitzhak works as a surgeon at Soroka.

Israel doesn’t care what you think

To Whom It May Concern,
If I hear one more time on Facebook, Twitter, et al that Israel’s field hospital in Nepal is somehow connected to the conflict with the Palestinians, I’m going to permanently block the person saying so on the grounds that they’re stupid.
Here’s the thing: Israel is an entire country, with all the complicated impulses and competing agendas of any human society. It is perfectly capable of being involved in two completely different things at once, of being angelic in one arena and terrible in another, just like every other country. The IDF doesn’t go to Nepal to avoid the Palestinian issue. It goes because Israelis have honed emergency medicine into an art form, and because the IDF has never quite shed its founding culture of adventurousness, and, above all, because there are people out there who desperately need help.
Those who see in every good news from Israel “hasbara” (propaganda) are missing the single most important fact you can know about Israel — that it isn’t a political campaign begging for your vote. It is a nation. With two million schoolchildren, dozens of cities, its own cinema scene and a language spoken nowhere else in the world. It doesn’t go away if it loses some imaginary popularity contest. And as with any human society, it offers an endless stream of failures and successes that will let you “prove” any narrative you want. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

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03/10 Links Pt1: UN Gaza Commissioners defer report to June; NIF given $1 Mil from US State Dept

From Ian:

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Edwin Black: New Israel Fund Received More Than $1 Million From U.S. State Department

The controversial New Israel Fund and its social change and political lobbying organization known as SHATIL, have received more than $1 million from the State Department under a program designed to create political change, reform, and activism in the Middle East. The government program, Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI), has extended more than $600 million in grants to political and social activists and reformers in 18 Middle East countries, mainly with unstable or challenged political environments in need of democratic improvement. “MEPI supports organizations and individuals in their efforts to promote political, economic, and social reform in the Middle East and North Africa,” according to the agency’s official self-description.
The list of nations in which MEPI operates includes such countries as Algeria, Libya, Lebanon, and Yemen.
However, MEPI’s sphere of engagement includes Israel — ironically the only pluralistic, stable, and democratic nation in the Mideast. Among the leading recipients for MEPI grants in Israel is the New Israel Fund and its SHATIL organization. The NIF is an international, US-based 501(c)(3) charitable organization which has generated intense acrimony within the Jewish community and Israeli establishment for its highly politicized activities.

EXCLUSIVE EXPOSE: Husband Of New Israel Fund Director Supports Boycotts Against Israel

This weekend, Rachel Liel, Israel director of the NIF was featured in an article in YNET, the online version of Yediot Achronot. Using convenient half-truths, Liel discussed the importance of NIF projects which benefit minorities, benefits ultra-Orthodox women, and other fairly mainstream projects which few Israelis take offense at.
What was conveniently ignored was the fact that a significant portion of NIF’s $30 Million budget is spent on projects which directly harm the State of Israel. The New Israel Fund is a dangerous, radical organization which wraps their programs in a “respectable” package. They are rejected by the majority of Israelis across the political spectrum.
What has not yet been exposed is the fact that Rachel Liel’s husband, Alon is one of the world’s leading organizers of world boycotts against Israel. He is also a co-organizer of the campaign to call on European countries to undermine Israeli sovereignty by “recognizing” the “State of Palestine.” Alon Liel, Israel’s former ambassador to South Africa is a member of two organizations which receive large funding by NIF. He is on the management team of Ir Amin, which works against Jewish interests in Jerusalem, and is also a member of the B’Tselem Public Council.

UN Gaza Commissioners seek deferral of report to June

UN Watch welcomes the news that the United Nations commission of inquiry on Gaza is seeking to defer its report to June.
“This is what I proposed to the commissioners when I met them in September,” said UN Watch executive director Hillel Neuer. “A serious report needs more time and must reflect material that has come to light from all parties.”
“Moreover,” said Neuer, “the resignation of William Schabas under a cloud of bias accusations requires a complete rewriting of the report.”
“Finally, UN Watch’s recent revelation that the Goldstone Report was drafted with the help of an anarchist law professor who devoted her life to prosecuting Israelis for war crimes requires a careful review of the staffers now drafting this report, who were hired by the same UN agency.”

Pierre Rehov - War crimes- Official Trailer

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Talmudic rituals captured on video!

Yehuda Glick visited the Cotton Market adjacent to the Temple Mount on Monday - and broadcast himself live on his Facebook page.



The entrance to the Temple Mount (the Cotton Gate) is there, but is off-limits to Jews.

However, the rule that the police had created to forbid Jews from praying in the Muslim quarter has been rescinded, so Glick said a couple of prayers.

As he is leaving, he wishes a "shana tova" (Happy New Year) to all, and he says specifically to Muslims in the market, "Inshallah, there should be peace here, for us and for you."

Naturally, Arabs freaked out over these "Talmudic rituals" by the "far-right" Glick.

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