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Thursday, November 02, 2017

From Ian:

David Collier: Gilad Atzmon, solidarity in Reading and RISC – the anti-Israel hosts
Last week, Gilad Atzmon gave a talk at the Reading International Solidarity Centre (RISC).

This blog isn’t about free speech. You want a racist book? You want to subscribe to a white supremacist magazine that hates Jews, blacks and gays? Then go ahead, nobody is stopping you. But you shouldn’t expect the National Lottery fund to subsidise the product. The public purse can be legitimately discerning about where it provides funding. That is not an argument over free speech.

Which is why publicly funded Reading International Solidarity Centre were so outrageously ‘off the mark’ when they allowed this event to go ahead.

Gilad Atzmon the idiot
Gilad Atzmon is an idiot with a highly exaggerated sense of his own intelligence. Just as any functioning computer, Gilad Atzmon operates with the data he has to play with. If some founding pieces, have been contaminated, then the final output is likely to be an incoherent mess. Thus, Gilad Atzmon remains oblivious to the fact that his basic reasoning is badly flawed and his conclusions are askew. A consensus opinion held even by many of those who ‘hate’ Israel. Gilad Atzmon has been outed as an antisemite by many in the anti-Israel camp.

The event in Reading highlighted all this perfectly. In effect, you have to be unbelievably stupid or an antisemite yourself, not to see the antisemite in Gilad Atzmon. There is a working processor churning away behind Gilad Atzmon’s ideology. He correctly identifies some serious problems in society – discussing identity politics, political correctness, automation, and the related scary cliff we face over the possibility of a growing disenfranchised ‘underclass’. Gilad Atzmon’s problem is an infected operating system. Gilad Atzmon has a virus called antisemitism.
Grilli: Antisemitism is always cruel
Whether it’s the “blood libels” of early modern Europe, Germany in the 1930s, Charlottesville, Virginia in 2017, or even Occupy Wall Street, any person of good will should be able to detect the pattern: Jews are the canary in the coal mine. In a society with a large population of Jews, when things start to go wrong, that’s where we unfortunately point fingers. In American culture, it is certainly a disgrace on the right.

The work William F. Buckley Jr. did to rid the conservative movement of the John Birchers seems to have lost some of its power as the tiki-torch wielding Jacobins of Charlottesville rose together as to speak with one voice, chanting, “Jews will not replace us.” This would be enough of an embarrassment but it only gained steam when President Trump gave one of the more mealy mouthed denunciations when addressing the horror that took place in Charlottesville, which resulted in the death of an innocent woman. It seems, however, that this issue has gone under reported on the left, for it is certainly a problem on the political left as well.

When Harvard Law professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz went to the University of California, Berkeley recently to discuss the liberal case for Israel, the student newspaper, the Daily Californian, ran a cartoon that could have easily sprung from the mind of Joseph Goebbels. The cartoon depicted Dershowitz as all anti-Semites depict Jews: ugly, exaggerated features, while he propped up the murder of Palestinians by an IDF soldier.

This blatant anti-Semitism would no doubt be explained away in terms of anti-Zionism, not anti-Semitism. It is convenient how often the two intersect. The same conspiratorial language is often used and, as one can see here, the same horrifying stereotypes are often employed. In Charlottesville, hundreds of people felt comfortable enough in their anti-Semitism to march in one of the nation’s most prominent college towns. In Berkeley, the editorial board at the newspaper of one of the better respected universities in the country, felt comfortable enough to print an anti-Semitic cartoon. The comfort of both of these groups of people is quite disturbing.
The Plame Truth About Anti-Semitism in America
Having encountered only scattered social media reaction to like-minded tweets in the past, Plame’s initial reaction to angry responses on Twitter was to double down, insisting that “many neocon hawks ARE Jewish” and admonishing her followers to “read the entire article,” which she called “provocative, but thoughtful.”

Only when the backlash began to draw mainstream media inquiries did Plame begin to backtrack, first by implausibly feigning ignorance of both the article (claiming only to have skimmed it) and of UNZ.com, then with a more full-throated apology and letter of resignation from the board of Ploughshares Fund.

What’s astonishing about this affair is that Plame wasn’t drunk or distressed in any way (unless she found the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah distressing), nor was she caught unawares on a hot mic. Her grotesque expressions of bigotry were premeditated, public and purposed, however clumsily, to advance a political agenda. And they were largely ignored until they reached the threshold of Zyklon B metaphors and forcing Jews to display outward identification.

Even then the reaction among liberal commentators was apologetic and circumspect.

The Washington Post columnist Molly Roberts bemoaned Plame’s “casual, careless anti-Semitism” not because it is deeply unsettling to Jews or encourages the worst instincts in the rest of us, but because it undermines critiques of Israel “that might otherwise hold merit” and does a “disservice to those who want to have a wider discussion about Israel’s influence” in Washington. Liberals tend to view rampant anti-Semitism in universities and other bastions of the far left in much the same way — if they acknowledge it at all.

The truth about anti-Semitism in America is that we are further away from dispelling it than we are other forms of bigotry. Those who peddle overtly racist dogma do not sit on the boards of reputable NGOs, do not land lucrative speaking gigs and certainly do not get admonished in The Washington Post for carelessly undermining more legitimate criticism of African-Americans. Liberals for whom Plame was, and will likely remain, a cause célèbre should ponder why the equivalent cannot be said of anti-Semites.

Saturday, October 14, 2017

From Ian:

Why There Is No Peace in the Middle East
Peace is not possible in the Middle East because values and goals other than peace are more important to Middle Easterners. Most important to Middle Easterners are loyalty to kin, clan, and cult, and the honour that is won by such loyalty.

There was no group and no loyalty above the tribe or tribal confederation until the rise of Islam. With Islam, a new, higher, more encompassing level of loyalty was defined. All people were divided between Muslims and infidels, and the world was divided between the Dar al-Islam, the land of believers and peace, and Dar al-harb, the land of unbelievers and war. Following the tribal ideology of loyalty, Muslims should unite against infidels, and would receive not only honour, but heavenly rewards.

Honour is gained in victory. Losing is regarded as deeply humiliating. Only the prospects of a future victory and the regaining of honour drives people forward. An example is the Arab-Israel conflict, in the course of which the despised Jews repeatedly defeated the armies of Arab states. This was not so much a material disaster for the Arabs, as it was a cultural one in which honor was lost. The only way to regain honor is to defeat and destroy Israel, the explicit goal of the Palestinians: "from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea." This why no agreement over land or boundaries will bring peace: peace does not restore honor.

We in the West, unlike Middle Easterners, love "victims." But what if Middle Easterners are victims of the limitations and shortcomings of their own culture? (h/t Elder of Lobby)
Melanie Phillips: Modernity starts here, if only the world realized it
So it begins once more. In the synagogues this week, it’s Groundhog Day. Jews go back to the opening of the Five Books of Moses and start the narrative all over again.

The secular world looks on with indifference, bemusement or contempt. Among unbelievers, it is an article of faith that reason, science and modernity are in one box and religion, superstition and obscurantism in another.

Ah yes; the rational, factual, grounded secular world. The one that is currently disinviting speakers and violently attacking universities on the grounds of upholding freedom and equality. The one that is spewing unhinged lies and paranoid distortions at Israel and the Jewish people. The one that appears to be spinning off its axis into utter madness.

The reason for this is something the secular world cannot bring itself to grasp.

For in setting out to destroy the biblical basis of western civilization, the secular world is in the process of destroying reason itself. This is is how it works.

IsraellyCool: Hello, Refugees! Book Review
Tuvia’s travels reveal a number of interesting things. For a start, while Germany has perhaps allowed in the most refugees, Germany does not really have a good game plan after they have arrived. The refugees lived in squalid conditions, often with different enemy factions living right near each other. Night-time knife hilarity ensues.

Then there’s the question as to why Germany has let in the most refugees. Invariably, the answer is the same – and it rhymes with Madolf Mitler. Germany is trying to shed its past as the Dr Evil of nations, and is doing so to the extent that they are now the kindest people in the world! Or so Tuvia is told. The people telling him this also invariably add something along the lines of “unlike those inhumane Israelis who mistreat the poor palestinians.”

Yep, Tuvia encounters antisemitism among his Germans, but also among not an insignificant amount of the refugees he meets. Perhaps this is the glue that can make this marriage work!

Another interesting finding: the Right-wing Germans he meets, much reviled by the liberals, are actually not against bringing in refugees. They just want to make sure the refugees are really fleeing persecution, and not the economic refugees just wanting a better life (which often seems to include wanting to marry a beautiful blonde German girl).

Once again, Tuvia Tenenbom has delivered with an entertaining and provocative read that gets beyond mainstream media narratives.

Incidentally, I attended a Q&A with Tuvia Tenenbom earlier this week. You can view it yourself below; in it, Tuvia expands on some of the topics I have addressed in this review, in his inimitable style.
Tuvia Tenenbom: Refugees & Anti-Semitism in the US - Moderated by Melanie Phillips




Sunday, October 08, 2017

From Ian:

An insane society
Violent husband Nimr Mahmoud Ahmed Jamal, who murdered three people in Har Adar two weeks ago, was the latest in a long line of depressive, mentally ill, or "whacked out" Palestinian terrorists for whom the killing of Jews blotted out the label "crazy" that Palestinian society had previously stuck on them.

By killing, Jamal, like dozens of other troubled murderers, resituated himself in his society as normative, and even bought himself a ticket into the Palestinian hall of fame as a shahid [martyr] for the price of the three people he killed two weeks ago.

The more mentally ill Palestinians carry out lethal terrorist attacks, the more people get used to categorizing their bloodfests as a separate genre of attack, which presents a problem. Even more than this approach goes easy on the attackers from the "new" group, it goes easy on Palestinian society, which embraces them.

A healthy, sane society keeps the deranged at a distance and cares for the troubled. But in Palestinian society, murdering Jews gives even the mentally ill and those in the midst of various emotional crises a place of honor in its ethno-religious pantheon.

In Palestinian society, the murder of Jews allows even the most delusional and problematic marginalized characters under the perverted canopy of the institution of martyrdom.
PMW: Fatah glorifies murderer of 3 Israelis
Since a Palestinian terrorist murdered 3 Israelis last month, Fatah, which is headed by Mahmoud Abbas, has repeatedly emphasized his status as hero. Palestinian Media Watch reported that only a few hours after the murders, Fatah celebrated the morning scented with the fragrance of the Martyrs.

Subsequently, Fatah has issued and distributed a poster glorifying murderer Nimr Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Jamal who shot and murdered an Israeli border police officer and two security guards and wounded another Israeli at the entrance to Har Adar, northwest of Jerusalem, on Sept. 26, 2017.

In a PA TV News broadcast, the murderer's children and others were seen holding the Fatah issued poster which displays a large picture of terrorist murderer Nimr Al-Jamal, together with pictures Mahmoud Abbas and Yasser Arafat, with the text:

"With all honor and pride, The Fatah Movement, Jerusalem district, Beit Surik branch, mourns the death of its heroic Martyr Nimr Mahmoud Ahmed Al-Jamal." [Official PA TV News, Sept. 29, 2017]

The poster also featured the Fatah logo that includes a grenade, crossed rifles, and the PA map of "Palestine" that presents all of Israel as "Palestine" together with the PA areas.
David Collier: In Edinburgh they are still promoting SPSC antisemitism
This highlights the difficulty of the fight we are in. Whilst we are mainly passive, these ‘haters’ are aggressive. Single actors in a variety of settings become ‘enablers’. In unions, on councils, in schools. Intersectionality drives their strategy and in every setting where just one single member of the group has been tainted, the poison is spreading.

In this example someone who shared hard-core antisemitic material was a speaker at an event held by a group known for hard-core antisemitism. Yet such poison is still allowed to spread inside a school setting, just two months after the groups antisemitism had been laid bare.

This isn’t an exception. In February, my report into antisemitism inside the England & Wales PSC threw light onto the activities of Tapash Abu Shaim. A PSC activist who had helped run the PSC stall at the 2016 Labour Party Conference. Despite this receiving national coverage, despite complaints to the Labour party. Nothing changed. As I reported from the 2017 conference last week, Tapash was there, back at the PSC stall. Once again my own research is being shared, but if people are looking to groups like the PSC or SPSC, or even Political parties like Labour, to ‘self cleanse’, they misunderstand the depth of the problem.

On every council, in almost every school, in every community centre. Wider society is not dealing with toxic groups the way that it should because of individual sympathisers who have become activists. It takes just one member of the group to have ‘fallen into the trap’ of believing that antisemitism cannot exist where a humanitarian flag is waved. Where that happens, hard-core antisemitism is promoted and allowed to spread. When left unchallenged this turns each environment into a hostile environment that sees Jews as the problem. Because of this, society is not dealing with Jew hate in the same way it does other forms of racism. We have a real fight on our hands. We cannot stop, we cannot relax. Not for a second.

Saturday, October 07, 2017

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: In this round of reconciliation talks, Hamas is the great victor
In other words, the PA will now be responsible for keeping the lights on and picking up the garbage.

And Hamas will be free to concentrate on preparing for and initiating its next terror war against Israel. It can dig tunnels. It can build missiles. It can expand its operational ties with Hezbollah, Islamic State, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and Fatah.

In the wake of Hamas’s leadership’s meetings in Tehran, Sinwar told reporters that Hamas is now moving full speed ahead toward doing all of these things. Sinwar said that Hamas is “developing our military strength in order to liberate Palestine.” He added, “Every day we build missiles and continue military training.”

Thousands of people, he said, are working “day and night” to prepare Hamas’s next terror war against Israel. And indeed, two weeks ago, two Hamas terrorists were killed when the tunnels they were digging collapsed on them.

Tuesday’s surrender ceremonies tell us two things.

First, the notion that Fatah is even remotely interested in defeating Hamas is complete nonsense. For 10 years since its forces were humiliated and routed in Gaza, Fatah has faithfully funded and defended Hamas. Abbas’s only concern is staying in charge of his Israeli-protected fiefdom in Ramallah. To this end, he will finance – with US and EU taxpayer monies – and defend another 10 Hamas wars with Israel.

The second lesson we learn from Hamas’s victory is that we need to curb our enthusiasm for Sisi and his regime in Egypt, and for his backers in the UAE. Sisi’s decision to facilitate and mediate Hamas’s newest victory over Fatah shows that his alliance with Israel is tactical and limited in scope. His decision to side with Israel against Hamas during Operation Protective Edge three years ago may not repeat itself in the next war.

Nitsana Darshan-Leitner: Follow Israel’s example: We must wage financial warfare against terrorists
The United States and nations around the world battle ISIS and other terrorist groups with special forces and other ground combat troops, pilots of manned aircraft and drones, police, explosives experts, intelligence agents and informers. But to win the fight we also need financial experts who can deprive terrorists of money they require to wage war against us.

Israel – a favorite target of terrorists for decades – has developed a highly effective financial warfare template to hit terrorists in their wallets. The U.S. has already used this template to fight ISIS and other terrorist groups – and now European nations should follow.
Harpoon

Money is the common denominator behind everything that ISIS and other terrorist groups do and threaten to do. Without the cash to fund fighters and leaders, there would be no global jihad against the West. Islamic fundamentalism and despair might inspire terror, but money fuels it.

Israel came to terms with this reality years ago, during the last intifada from 2000 to 2005, when a seemingly endless wave of Palestinian suicide bombers attacked the country’s towns and cities. The Israeli military and security services waged relentless efforts to end the bloodshed, and elite counterterrorist units launched daring raids to kill and capture key terrorists – but the bombings continued.

Israeli leaders realized they needed a new approach – something that could provide short-term benefits and change the long-term paradigm. So Israel shifted its focus to the money that financed everything from bomb-building factories to the cash bonuses issued to the families of suicide bombers.

The Jewish state formed a multiagency task force codenamed Harpoon to wage financial warfare against its enemies. The Harpoon unit followed the terrorist money from its source – whether it was cash raised by charities in the U.S., or multimillion-dollar transfers from Iran, the Gulf States and Saudi Arabia.

Harpoon expanded its operational reach in 2002. Following the money wasn’t enough. The cash and the accounts had to be taken from the terrorists or destroyed.
Caroline Glick: Trump and Obama’s third term
The problem is that substantively, there is no real difference between the two administrations – not in the Middle East and not anywhere.

Take Iran’s nuclear program for example.

In accordance with the US Nuclear Agreement Review Act (2015), on October 15, Trump is obligated to make his quarterly report to Congress certifying or decertifying Iranian compliance with the terms of the nuclear deal it concluded with Obama two years ago.

The issue of whether or not to certify Iranian compliance has been the beginning, middle and end of all US policy discussions on Iran’s nuclear program since Trump entered office.

Despite Trump’s stated opposition to the deal, his top advisers Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have pressured him into twice certifying Iranian compliance.

On the face of it, the debate about Iranian compliance ought to be about competing interpretations of Iran’s behavior. In practice, though, facts play little role in the discourse.

The Iranians announced as soon as the deal was concluded that they would not permit UN inspectors to enter any nuclear site they define as a “military installation.”

This hollowed out the entire inspections regime.

After all, if Iran can bar inspectors from its nuclear installations, there is no way for inspectors to know if Iran’s nuclear operations accord with or breach of the restrictions it agreed to in the agreement.

In other words, neither Obama nor Trump has had any way to credibly certify Iranian compliance, because the US has no idea what Iran is doing.

And everyone knows this.

Thursday, September 28, 2017

From Ian:

Watch: 'Son of Hamas' stuns PA delegation at UNHCR
Mosab Hassan Yousef, the son of Hamas founder Sheikh Hassan Yousef, stunned the Palestinian delegation to the UN Human Rights Council when he called out the PA's human rights abuses of their own people.

The PA delegation reacts with shock as Hassan Yousef calls the PA the “greatest enemy of the Palestinian people,” in a video posted by UNWatch.

“If Israel did not exist, you would have no one to blame,” he declared.
AMBUSHED: U.N. Heads Turn in Stunned Disbelief as PLO Lies Exposed by Palestinian Hero


PMW: Fatah summer camp glorified terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi
Fatah does not cease to promote terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi as a role model for Palestinian youth. During a visit by Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki to Fatah's Al-Asifa Pioneers Summer Camp in Hebron this August, girls paraded with two flags: one, the official Palestinian flag, and the other had the image of terrorist Mughrabi. Mughrabi led the bus hijacking and murder of 37 civilians, 12 of them children, during what is known as the Coastal Road massacre, in 1978.

The picture of Mughrabi on the flag holding an automatic rifle is a well-known photo, often used by Fatah when praising her as a "role model" and "Martyr." For example, when members of Fatah's Central Committee celebrated the attack and praised the female terrorist on the anniversary of her attack, the photo was displayed on stage at the event.

Palestinian Media Watch reported last month on another Fatah summer camp which was named after Dalal Mughrabi earlier this year.

While visiting the Al-Asifa Pioneers, Zaki "reviewed the significance of the role of the male and female youth in the Palestinian revolution, since its outbreak." [Facebook page of Fatah Spokesman in the Southern Hebron District Maher Namoura, Aug. 8, 2017]
Australia, New Zealand PMs to visit Israel for Beersheba battle anniversary
The prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand will visit Israel next month to mark the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba, the Foreign Ministry said Thursday.

The 1917 attack on the Ottoman forces in the city, which was led by British general Edmund Allenby, enabled the British Empire to take control of southern Palestine after months of inconclusive fighting in Gaza and continue its advance towards Jerusalem.

Mounted units of soldiers from both Australia and New Zealand played key roles in the fight for the city.

The ceremony will be held on October 31 at the Beersheba Commonwealth War Graves Cemetery, where more than 1,000 commonwealth soldiers are buried, including the over 100 troops who died during the Battle of Beersheba.

The Foreign Ministry said Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will arrive in the country on October 28, while New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English will land in Israel a day later.

It did not say whether the two will hold meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu or any other Israeli officials while in the country.

Netanyahu last met with Turnbull in February during his trip down under.

Saturday, September 16, 2017

From Ian:

The Islamic State’s Fourth Attack in Britain in 2017
At 8:20 on 15 September 2017, a bomb detonated in a rear carriage of a tube train at Parsons Green station in London. The passengers on the packed, rush-hour train described a flash “fireball” that travelled down the train. Thirty people were injured, some horribly burned, but there were no fatalities and the main explosive clearly did not detonate.

The creation of a bomb is a more sophisticated operation than a stabbing or vehicle-ramming attack, but it is important to maintain perspective: the device used in this case was primitive. On examination, the crude device—a bucket containing the mixed chemicals and nails, left in a Lidl bag—proved to contain triacetone triperoxide (TATP) and to have been on a timer. For reasons unclear, it is likely that “only the initiator or a fraction of the main charge had exploded”, leaving the bucket intact.

TATP is sometimes said to be a “signature” of the Islamic State (IS), which is not quite right. TATP has shown up in a number of IS attacks in Europe and it is evidently a competency of theirs to handle this notoriously-volatile substance. Still, similar devices have been seen before.

The 21 July 2005 attempted follow-on attack to the 7 July massacre on the London transport system by al-Qaeda saw four TATP-based devices not unlike the Parsons Green one detonated on three tube trains and a bus with results akin to what happened yesterday. The wiring used to create the timer on the bomb appeared to include fairy lights, of the kind used on Christmas trees, and this was seen in the Boston bombing on 15 April 2013.
UK experts say London bomb didn’t detonate properly, could’ve left dozens dead
British counterterror specialists said the bomb detonated on the London Underground on Friday could have been more deadly than the explosives used in the 7/7 attack if it had detonated properly.

Despite the crude appearance of the bomb, which was placed in a bucket inside a shopping bag, a former counterterror investigator with the Metropolitan Police Service said the explosive device was in fact quite sophisticated.

“Whoever built this was not an amateur – it has many of the hallmarks of devices used by terror groups, but the use of the timer to set off the initial part of the device is something we have not seen before in the UK,” David Videcette said, adding, “Had it gone off successfully it would have caused a huge loss of life.”

In an opinion piece for The Independent, Videcette said the bomb’s failure to detonate was likely due to a lack of testing to ensure all the parts work and not a lack of expertise on the bomb maker’s part.

“This person has researched what they’re doing and possibly been taught by someone else. They have also been able to collect all the component parts of an explosive device, assemble it, and deliver it to its target without detection by police and Security services,” he said.

He also said the placement of the bomb in a shopping bag showed those behind the bomb had a clear understanding of how to handle explosives and that the use of the bag should not be viewed as primitive.
Man arrested in connection with London train bombing
British police arrested an 18-year-old man in the southern port of Dover on Saturday in a "significant" development in the hunt for the people behind a London commuter train bombing that injured 30 people a day earlier.

Prime Minister Theresa May put Britain on the highest security level of "critical" late on Friday, meaning an attack may be imminent, and soldiers and armed police deployed to secure strategic sites and hunt down the perpetrators.

The home-made bomb shot flames through a packed commuter train during the Friday morning rush hour in west London but apparently failed to detonate fully.

"We have made a significant arrest in our investigation this morning," said Neil Basu, Senior National Coordinator for Counter Terrorism Policing.

"Although we are pleased with the progress made, this investigation continues and the threat level remains at critical."

The arrest was made in the port area of Dover, where passenger ferries sail to France.

The blast on the London tube train at the Parsons Green underground station was the fifth major terrorism attack in Britain this year and was claimed by Islamic State.
On Battle of Britain Day: if German blitz on London were reported like Islamic terror attacks
Today is Battle of Britain day. With another terrorist attack in London today and the standard mainstream media and political response it is worth considering this ......

Wednesday, September 13, 2017

From Ian:

If Israel played by America's rules, Iraq and Syria would have nuclear weapons
Israel and North Korea are on opposite sides of the Asian landmass, separated by 5,000 miles. But Israelis feels close to the nuclear standoff between Washington and Pyongyang. They have faced this sort of crisis before, and may again.
In the mid-1970s, it became clear to Israel that Iraq’s Saddam Hussein was working on acquiring nuclear weapons and missiles to deliver them. Saddam had already demonstrated an uninhibited brutality in dealing with his internal enemies and his neighbours. He aspired to be the leader of the Arab world. Defeating Israel was at the top of his to-do list.
After coming to office in 1977, Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin tried to convince the U.S. and Europe that Saddam was a clear and present danger to the Jewish state, and that action had to be taken. Begin was not taken seriously.
But Begin was serious, and in 1981 he decided that Israel would have to stop the Iraqi dictator all by itself. His political opponents, led by the estimable Shimon Peres, considered this to be dangerous folly. Foreign minister Moshe Dayan, the legendary former military chief of staff, voted against unilateral action on the grounds that it would hurt Israel’s international standing. Defense minister Ezer Weizmann, the former head of the air force (and Dayan’s brother-in-law) was also against a military option. He thought the mission would be unacceptably risky.
Begin had no military expertise. But his family had been wiped out in the Holocaust. He looked at Saddam, who was openly threatening Israel, and saw Hitler. To Begin, sitting around hoping for the best was not a strategy; it was an invitation to aggression. If there was going to be a cost—political, diplomatic, military—better to pay before, not after, the Iraqis had the bomb.
It's Time to Update America's Important Anti-Boycott Law for Israel
Bipartisan legislation is making its way through Congress that would bar Americans from joining in boycotts by international organizations against companies doing business in Israel. The Israel Anti-Boycott Act has attracted criticism from free-speech advocates. These concerns are unfounded.
In 1977, the Carter administration supported and Congress passed legislation that prohibited American companies from complying with boycotts imposed by foreign governments against nations friendly to the U.S. The measure aimed squarely at the Arab League's secondary boycott of Israel. Over 40 years, the law helped to break the back of the Arab boycott.
The Israel Anti-Boycott Act would extend the 1977 law to international organizations. It couldn't come at a better time. Already, the UN Human Rights Council is creating a database of companies that operate in or have business relationships in the West Bank beyond Israel's 1949 Armistice lines, which includes all of Jerusalem, Israel's capital.
Under this legislation, companies and individuals would not be able to boycott Israel at the behest of international governmental organizations, just as they are now prohibited from doing at the behest of Arab nations. Congress has wide constitutional authority to limit such discriminatory international commercial conduct that lawmakers find contrary to U.S. national interests.
Jonathan A. Greenblatt is chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League. Stuart Eizenstat helped negotiate anti-boycott laws in 1977 as President Jimmy Carter's chief White House domestic policy adviser.
Coca-Cola, Teva on UN blacklist of settlement-friendly firms — report
A United Nations blacklist of companies operating in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights includes some of the biggest firms in Israeli industry as well as some household names in the US.
Among those on the UN Human Rights Council list are Coca-Cola, TripAdvisor, Airbnb, and Caterpillar, Channel 2 reported on Tuesday.
The US has threatened to withdraw from the international forum if the list is published.
Israeli companies on list reportedly include pharmaceutical giant Teva, the national phone company Bezeq, bus company Egged, the national water company Mekorot and the country’s two largest banks, Hapoalim and Leumi.
Some of the international companies — namely Airbnb, Caterpillar, and TripAdvisor, as well as Priceline — were previously reported by The Washington Post to be on the list.
The list was recently delivered to the Foreign Ministry, the report said.
Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely, on a working visit to US, said in a statement that “the UN is playing with fire.”

Wednesday, August 30, 2017



"Has Israel finally won the war and defeated the Palestinian dream? Read our cover story," said the tweet with a gif of an Arab child in an empty doorframe looking like Jesus on the cross, whom, after all, the Arabs claim as a native son. 

I looked to see who dared to intimate that Israel's entire reason for being is to quash Arab dreams. I thought some alt right or neo Nazi group perhaps. Someone who thinks the Rothchilds sit at some never-ending mahogany table, smoking cigars and directing the world to implode.

But no. It was Newsweek. The magazine that used to be our window on the world as we sat in the dentist's office, waiting our turn for the drill. It's the magazine a high school adviser told my sister to read with a dictionary by her side. "Look up every word you don't know. You'll ace the verbal half of the SATs," she said.

Back then, it was a reputable magazine. Now, apparently, it's dreck.

The article was long. Too long to unpack and keep you with me. But brevity is impossible when faced with so much bias and so many lies.

Let's begin with who "won the war."

All of the Mandate for Palestine was promised to the Jews to be their national home. This promise was made by both the British and the League of Nations, as set forth in the Balfour Declaration and as agreed upon during the San Remo Conference. The Arabs, however, complained bitterly. And so the British took 78% of the Mandate for Palestine, land they'd already promised the Jews, and gave it to the Arabs. That became the Arab national home in the Mandate for Palestine, Transjordan, or Jordan, for short.






So who won that war?

The Arabs.

They won that war by cajoling the Brits into giving them 78% of the land formerly promised to the Jews. Unless my math fails me, that leaves the Jews with only 22% of the land they'd originally been promised. Land they can prove is their indigenous territory.

So the Jews lost that war. And then lost another when the UN put forward the Partition Plan, which would leave the Jews even less territory—territory now indefensible—to give the Arabs yet more of the territory promised to the Jews. Land that is indigenous Jewish territory. Land we shouldn't have to beg to have. Because it's ours by inheritance, by right.

Partition

But we gave in, being graceful losers, and acceded to Partition. The Arabs, of course, knew they could get more by never giving in, so they attacked Israel. With 7 armies. (It wasn't enough to get 78% of the land. It wasn't enough to get more Jewish land from the Partition Plan. They wanted the Jews OUT. They wanted them gone.)

Jordan occupied Judea and Samaria during the fighting, in contravention of international law, vis a vis the UN vote on Partition. So who won that war? The Jews who share the name of their people with the name of the Jordanian-occupied territory known as "Judea?"

Six-Day War

Israel won some of its land back in the miraculous Six-Day War in 1967. Quashing Arab dreams was the last thing on Israel's collective mind, at the time. It was an existential battle, a fight to live, to exist.

And let us be clear: Israel has always wanted to live in peace with its Arab neighbor. Always. If you walk through an Israeli hospital you know this, by seeing Arab patients treated with equality and kindness. If you go shopping, you see Arabs examining clothing items alongside Jews. Arabs sit beside Jews on buses and Israeli trains. It is everywhere in Israel this way.

Not so in any Arab country. They don't let Jews put a toe inside their countries.

Who won this war?

Equality

The Arabs. They have equality in Israel. Israeli Arabs can travel in every part of Jerusalem.

What about the Arabs of Judea and Samaria? Aren't they under "occupation?"

Not at all. They have autonomy: their own government, their own elected officials. And their villages are completely Judenrein.

So who won that war?

The Arabs, of course.

Disengagement

In Gaza? Israel expelled 11,000 Jews to make Disengagement happen. Israel gave the Arabs yet another Arab state (in addition to Jordan and Area A of Judea and Samaria). Israel left them greenhouses worth a whole lot of money. The Arabs destroyed them.

The Arabs won big time. Quashing dreams? That would be the dreams of Israeli settlers who were expelled from their beautiful homes, who lost access to their businesses, and who were utterly betrayed by their own people. For what? Missiles raining down like Hurricane Harvey.

So much for the premise of the Newsweek piece. Jews winning? Ha! Jews wanting to quash Arab dreams? Sure. That's why we agreed to Partition. It's why we expelled 11,000 of our own people from their homes. Pshaw.

But let's look at the article itself which begins with a clip that is supposed to summarize the recent violence that erupted over the Temple Mount, but fails to note the event that was the catalyst for the added security measures and subsequent protests. Those measures that included installing metal detectors at entrances to the Temple Mount compound. As the clip begins we see Arabs rioting. There's a caption: 

"Clashes erupted in Jerusalem as Palestinians protested new Israeli security measures."

Nothing about the terror attack in which Arabs shot and murdered two Israeli policemen.

But we are told how Israeli policemen shot stun grenades into the crowd of rioting Arabs. This is supposed to sound really inhumane. Still nothing about the terrorists who shot and killed policemen, though.

The viewer is informed that metal detectors were placed at the entrance to the Al Aqsa Mosque, which is not true. The metal detectors were placed at the entrances to the Temple Mount compound, a large area which includes the mosque. The viewer is not told that the terrorists stashed weapons in the mosque, having smuggled them into the compound. This is why the metal detectors were deemed necessary: to prevent further loss of life after Arab terrorists murdered two policemen.

Next we are told how awful it is in Gaza, with no electricity. 

"This summer’s power crisis is merely the latest in a long list of shortages of everything from drinking water and cooking gas to cement and cars. But this time, one thing is different: The problem has been created by other Palestinians."

Um, no. Actually, all of these shortages and difficulties are due to their own Arab people. The world is just POURING money into Gaza, into Hamas and PA coffers, and the people see no benefit. Except for terrorists and their families, who get nice salaries. And government people with their hands in the till. NONE of this is on Israel. All this Arab woe is 100% Arab-made.

In spite of this, Newsweek obtains a juicy quote from a Gaza resident: "I never thought the one making my life difficult would be another Palestinian."

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiight.

I read the caption of a photo: 

"Though Israel’s status as a Jewish and democratic state in the very long term is still imperiled, five decades after the occupation began, the Palestinian national movement has been largely defeated."

Oh, yeah. Someone is always threatening us that if we don't "end the occupation" Israel will cease to be a democratic state. But the only occupation is the Arab occupation of Jewish land. I mean, they don't like it here, let them leave. We absorbed all the 850,000 Jews they expelled from their 22 Arab states, couldn't they absorb their own, too?

This is all a self-created problem. Democracy is not at all threatened by Arabs refusing to leave Israel, trust me. It is also not threatened by them wanting more territory and not getting it.

"The Palestinians, living under occupation or scattered across the diaspora, have long been the weaker party in the conflict with Israel."

Sure. Because when little Israel is attacked by 7 invading Arab armies, the Arabs are weaker than Israel?

When Hamas is shooting tens of thousands of missiles into Israel and Israelis are told by Obama to hold back and depend on Iron Dome, the Arabs are weaker than Israel?

When Abbas demands and Obama puts it to Israel to freeze building for ten months, the Arabs are weaker than Israel?

*shakes head*

Crock of bull pucky.

"The climax came in the late 1980s, with the start of the first intifada, a homegrown movement of mass protests. Israel responded with brute force, killing and wounding thousands of demonstrators—what then–Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin called its 'broken bones' policy."

Mass protests? Is that what you call the more than 3,600 Molotov cocktail attacks, 100 hand grenade attacks and 600 assaults with guns or explosives by Arabs against Israelis that made zero distinction between civilians and soldiers? Is that what you call the Arabs stabbed, hacked with axes, shot, clubbed and burned with acid during this time by Yasser Arafat's henchmen? (Their crime? Sometimes they were employees of the Israeli Civil Administration of Judea and Samaria. Or maybe a guy talked to a Jew and someone saw.)

"Optimism soon collided with the second intifada, a grisly campaign of suicide bombings that silenced the peace camp in Israel. From there, the Palestinian strategy diverged. Hamas fought three wars. Young Palestinians carried out hundreds of lone wolf attacks in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Israel. The PA, meanwhile, waged a diplomatic battle against Israel, joining the International Criminal Court and winning recognition from the United Nations and a number of European states.

"Yet none of these moves forced Israel to make concessions." 

Concessions

Israel made no concessions?

·         The Jews agreed to Lord Peel's proposal to divide the Mandate into a Jewish and an Arab state
·         The Jews agreed to Partition, leaving them with less than 20% of the land promised to them
·         In 1948, the Jews agreed to take in 100,000 Arab refugees in exchange for a peace agreement
·         After winning the Six-Day War, Israel agreed to return most of the land it won in exchange for a peace agreement
·         In 1979, Israel dismantled settlements and gave Sinai to Egypt, and offered autonomy to its local Arab populace
·         In 1993 and 1995, Israel signed the Oslo Accords, agreeing to withdraw from most of Gaza and Judea and Samaria in exchange for peace. Israel withdrew from some 80% of Judea and Samaria, and from 40% of Gaza, and turned over most of the civil administration and authority in these areas to the Arabs
·         In 1998, Israel agreed to withdraw from another 13% of Judea and Samaria in exchange for a promise from the Arabs to deal with terrorists, weapons smuggling, and incitement to violence
·         In 2000, Ehud Barak offered to withdraw from 97 percent of Judea and Samaria and all of Gaza. He also agreed to dismantle 63 isolated settlements. Barak agreed that Arab neighborhoods in Jerusalem would serve as the capital of a new state. The Arabs were also guaranteed the right of return to this new Arab state and a $30 billion international fund would be established to serve as reparations.
·         In 2005, 11,000 Jews were expelled from their homes in Gaza and Northern Samaria in order to cede Gaza to the Arabs unilaterally. In other words, for absolutely nothing in return.
·         Ehud Olmert offered to withdraw from 94% of Judea and Samaria
·         Israel has given up all of Gaza and half of Judea and Samaria. Israel has ceded 94% of the land it acquired during the Six-Day War
·         Israel took in 200,000 Arab refugees and has offered to take more

"Over the past decade, Palestinians have killed about 200 Israelis, less than half the number they killed in a single year, 2002, at the height of the second intifada. Lawmakers treat the violence as inevitable. Even at the peak of the last Gaza war, the largest pro-peace rally in Tel Aviv attracted a scant 5,000 protesters. Nearly half a million Israelis, by contrast, turned out in the summer of 2011 to protest the high cost of living. Meanwhile, Abbas's diplomatic efforts haven’t amounted to much: Joining the International Convention Against Doping in Sport has not, it seems, placed any meaningful pressure on Israel."

Oh, so they killed fewer of us. But that's because we're FARTHER away from Oslo. Every time Israel tries to negotiate for peace, the Arabs blow up our buses, shoot missiles into our city centers, ram us with cars, and stab us in the supposed sanctity and privacy of our homes. THAT is what peace means to us. It means Arabs murdering Jews.

We have had enough of that. And not negotiating with them is what drives down the number of our dead. Theirs, too.

Next we see a photo of the pathetic sad dad of the Halamish murderer. The caption tells us only that his son stabbed "three Israelis" in a "settlement." The caption doesn't say this occurred during what was a happy family Sabbath gathering to celebrate the birth of a new baby. The caption doesn't say the terrorist slaughtered a grandfather and two of his children, and stabbed a grandmother, too. It doesn't say how children huddled upstairs in a room with their mother while the terrorist stabbed their father over 30 times.


The article also does not mention the Fogel massacre.



Next, the article goes on to describe the hunger strike in the prisons, because jailed Arab terrorists wanted to be able to see their families more often. "At one point, the Israeli Prison Service even set up a sting, planting cookies and candy bars inside Barghouti's cell, then filming as he noshed in the bathroom."

Um, no. There was no sting. There was security footage. Barghouti got the treats all by his lonesome, and got caught on film eating the stuff. Idiot. A lokh in kop.

Of the achievements of the hunger strike, Newsweek writes:

"Even this victory was a defeat for the PA. Until the summer of 2016, prisoners were entitled to two family visits. It wasn't Israel that reduced the number. It was the Red Cross, which coordinates the trips and wanted to cut costs, mostly related to busing. The money to pay for the extra visit will come from the Palestinian Authority, which is already struggling to close an $800 million gap in its annual budget."

This is a defeat? They want something and they're paying for it. How they manage with their extensive budget is all on them, Habibi.


Moving right along.

"[Hamas] seized power in Gaza in 2007, after a lengthy period of infighting that followed its victory in legislative elections the previous year. Since then, it has fought three wars against
 Israel. The most recent one, in the summer of 2014, dragged on for 51 days, far longer than anyone expected. It was devastating for the Palestinians: Israeli bombs killed more than 2,200 people, left 100,000 homeless and destroyed the strip’s infrastructure."
Well, maybe if they had not shot tens of thousands of missiles and mortars into Israel, Israel would not have had to respond.

"But Hamas kept firing rockets until moments before the August 26 cease-fire. It counts the war as a victory, not because it achieved any of its strategic goals, but simply because it survived."

Our HERO. Brave Little Hamas with its tens of thousands of missiles. With its rocket launchers in mosques, hospitals, schools, and daycare centers.

"Despite all of the hardships, though, Hamas claims it liberated Gaza from the occupation’s daily indignities, and the group is loath to give up control."

Um, no. There is no occupation of Gaza. Israel is GONE, gone, gone from the territory. Yes, there's a maritime blockade. But again, that is the fault of a people who keep using whatever Israel gives them to wield terror against Israelis.

Next we're shown a photo of Israeli "activists" in Ofra. We're told that Israel's High Court ruled the house in the photo had been built on private (Arab) land, though there is absolutely no proof that this is so. Someone made a claim to the land. The claim cannot be proven. We're told "Many Americans now support sanctioning Israel over illegal settlements."



That caption is meant to be suasion. It's supposed to make us want to support that too. But what is an "illegal" settlement, anyway? These settlements are on land we won fair and square in a defensive war. That makes it legally ours. Not to mention the indigenous thing.

Next we're shown a photo of the Meir family at the funeral of their wife and mother, Dafna. The caption states: 

"A Jewish Israeli father with his children at the funeral for his wife, who was murdered by a Palestinian attacker. Neither violence nor diplomacy has forced Israel to make concessions."


We again fail to receive the backstory. That Dafna was cooking dinner in her home, that her daughter saw her mother struggle with the Arab intruder and watched him stab her mother to death. We're told once again that no matter how many of us they slay, Israel won't make concessions, though clearly, based on the bulleted list above, this is a huge lie. HUGE.



There is so much more to unpack in this article. But I'm at 3000 words. Not as long as the Newsweek article, alas. But hopefully long enough to show the duplicity and ugly bias of Newsweek and the author of this piece, Gregg Carlstrom.

Defeating the "Palestinian" dream? More likely Israel, by its continued existence, defeating Newsweek's dream of a Jew-free Middle East. And this apparently really gets their goat.

How else can we understand this dishonest and disreputable excuse for journalism?





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

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

From Ian:

PMW: PA tries to increase hatred regarding Jerusalem
With Palestinian-Israeli tensions over Jerusalem's Old City and the Temple Mount still simmering, the Palestinian Authority has chosen to intensify Palestinian anger and hate by repeating one of its most dangerous libels - that "senior Jews of high position" planned the arson of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969. In a documentary broadcast on PA TV, it was presented as fact that not only did Jews plan the arson of the Mosque but also that after the fire started Israel shut off the water supply, preventing fire fighters from efficiently putting out the fire.
The following is some of the narration from the documentary:
"From investigations conducted by the Islamic Council it became clear that there was more than one perpetrator [of the Al-Aqsa Mosque arson in 1969] and that the fire was planned by senior Jews of high position, especially since the roof can only be reached from a wooden spiral staircase located outside the Al-Aqsa building. This proves that careful, premeditated measures were taken to completely destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The proof is that the occupation authorities were slow to extinguish [the fire] and that the water supply to the Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) had been cut off during those hours." [Official PA TV, Aug. 21, 2017]
The 1969 fire in the Mosque was started by a Christian Australian man, who was arrested immediately afterward and found to be mentally unstable.
PA TV's decision to broadcast this Al-Aqsa libel now, follows its ongoing attempts to keep Palestinian hatred of Israel simmering over the Temple Mount issue. Last month the Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs told Palestinian viewers on television that Israel was planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque:


Trump Administration Urges UN Not to Publish Blacklist of Companies Trading With Israel
US President Donald Trump’s administration is urging the United Nations not to publish what it calls a “blacklist” of international firms that do business in Israeli settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians for a future state, diplomats and others said, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
The UN Human Rights Council voted to approve the database of companies last year, over objections from the United States and Israel, which describe the list as a prelude to anti-Israel boycotts.
American companies on the list drawn up by the Geneva-based council include Caterpillar, TripAdvisor, Priceline.com, Airbnb and others, according to people familiar with it. It is not clear whether the list has been finalized.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has told US officials he plans to publish the list by the end of the year and has asked for comments by Sept. 1 from countries where affected firms are headquartered, diplomats said.
“The United States has been adamantly opposed to this … from the start” and has fought against it before several UN bodies, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. “These types of resolutions are counterproductive and do nothing to advance Israeli-Palestinian issues.”
The United States joined Israel in unsuccessfully opposing UN funding for work related to the database, Nauert said.
Danon: UN Human Rights chief 'world’s most senior BDS activist'
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, reacted harshly to reports on the names of companies on a ‘blacklist’ of businesses being complied by the UN Human Rights Council. The full list of companies operating in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights is set to be published at the end of the year.
The UN General Assembly voted to fund the compilation of the blacklist in December, 2016.
“This shameful step is an expression of modern anti-Semitism and reminds us of dark periods in history. Instead of focusing on the terrible humanitarian problems plaguing the globe, the Human Rights Commissioner is seeking to harm Israel, and in doing so has become the world’s most senior BDS activist. I call on the UN, and the international community as a whole, to halt this dangerous policy and put an end to this anti-Israel initiative," Danon said.

Monday, August 21, 2017

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: When Suicide Attacks Are Bad
The emergence of ISIS-inspired groups in the Gaza Strip has long been an open known secret. This is the inconvenient truth that Hamas has been working hard to conceal for the past few years.
Obstinately holding on to an imaginary dream, some political analysts and journalists have misinterpreted the Hamas document as a sign of "moderation" and "pragmatism," and argued falsely that the Islamist movement is ready to join a peace process with Israel. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar could not be clearer on this point.
Hamas, as we all know, is hardly opposed to suicide bombings. Yet when the boomerang returns, suddenly the attacks become "cowardly terror" actions perpetrated by "outlaws" and "intellectually and religiously and morally deviant" terrorists. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and ISIS may disagree on many issues, but targeting Jews and "infidels" is not one of them. On that point, they are in savage agreement.
Col Kemp: What Europe can learn from Israel in its war against vehicle attacks and lone wolf terror
In Israel, you will find there is heavy presence of security, both uniformed and not, at major sites, as well as concrete reinforced barriers at key landmarks and bus stops, to prevent vehicular rammings.
As unpalatable as it may be to European sensitivities, they must begin to apply profiling risk assessment as a measure of precaution and prevention. The stark reality is that a Caucasian mother does not fit your profile of a typical terrorist in this scenario, with all terrorists in the car rammings so far being male Islamic jihadists between roughly the ages of 20 and 40.
However, for profiling to be successful, Europe would do well to again follow the lead of Israel in this case, which does not apply a blanket profiling of entire ethnic groups; instead, security personnel are trained to observe body language, physical signs and other clues to erratic behavior. The curtailing of some personal freedoms will be a small price to pay for the lives of many.
There are other steps European leaders ought to consider as part of their overall strategy to prevent lone-wolf attacks, including refusing re-entry to those who have gone to Syria, Iraq and elsewhere to fight for Isis and stripping citizenship of dual nationals caught committing acts of terror on European soil.
As difficult as it may be to accept, the dream of Schengen open borders cannot continue in its current form, with unfettered borders and lax security checks, where terrorists can freely move from one country to the other without so much as a glance from authorities.
Europe also cannot be serious about fighting terror on the one hand and embracing Iran on the other. Iran continues to be the foremost global state sponsor of terror. Their support of Assad regime is a primary cause of the Syrian refugee crisis and the spread of Isis, as well as of Hezbollah operatives roaming freely across Europe. Tehran is not a partner in the war on terror, it is one of the primary instigators of global terror.
Preventing ‘lone wolf’ attacks 100 per cent of the time is simply not feasible, but greater steps can be taken to minimise the threat.
This will require bold leadership and a recognition that whether it is in Barcelona, Nice, London, Berlin, Stockholm or Jerusalem, terror is terror and the West must stand united, in unwavering solidarity and commitment, if we are to defeat this global evil.
Combating 21st century terror: What Europe can learn from Israel
Intelligence is the first level at which terror must be fought. But the war is now also on the streets. Urban centres are the new battleground. As an Israeli counter-terrorism official (who cannot be named due to the sensitivity of his work) told me: ‘simple things, like placing bollards and barriers at strategic points in major centres can almost eliminate the possibility of vehicle rammings’.
But the most important changes must come at the level of education. A principle problem with terror is that it forces us into ever more intrusive legislation. An educated public can relieve the burden. As the counterterrorism official explains: ‘In the 21st century we have witnessed the new phenomenon of the lone wolf: Someone not part of a cell, someone who doesn’t buy guns or explosives and is therefore much harder to track.’
If someone can now be radicalised just by going on the internet, what can be done? Well, for a start, in Israel, the police have a dedicated Facebook page where people can report terrorist content they find posted on social media, and, critically, all of which is checked. It has saved lives.
Combating the threat of the lone wolf – and avoiding more draconian anti-terror legislation – comes with greater public awareness.
‘If, for example, you see your neighbour going out at 3am every night or see him or her buying a lot of knives, or carrying a suspicious backpack. Look at Anders Breivik,’ the counterterrorism official concludes, ‘all the red flags were there before and no one did anything. People need the courage to speak up. Every tip can lead the authorities to something much bigger.’

Friday, August 04, 2017

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Losing and winning the Temple Mount
As a liberal democracy, Israel has an interest, indeed a duty, to ensure that the holy site is open to all religions and that everyone has the right to freely worship on the Temple Mount. Given the fact that the Temple Mount is the holiest place in the world for Jews, Israel has a vital interest in securing its sovereign control over the area.
To secure its sovereignty and advance its clear interest in facilitating religious freedom for all, Israel’s policy goal is straightforward. The government should enable all faiths to worship freely at the site.
To secure this end, the government should announce its goal and make a good-faith effort to involve all relevant groups and governments, including the Palestinian Authority, Christian authorities, Jewish authorities, the Jordanian regime and others in achieving it. The government should also state outright that if the Palestinians opt instead to incite and commit acts of violence and terrorism from the Temple Mount, Israel will secure its goal and enable Jews and Christians to worship at the holy site unilaterally.
To date, the Temple Mount has been the Palestinians’ ace in the hole. They recycle the blood libel that Jews are endangering al-Aksa every time they feel they are losing ground in their never-ending war against Israel. And Israel inevitably capitulates.
But if Israel announces its policy is to secure religious freedom for all on the Temple Mount and makes a good-faith effort to advance it in conjunction with the Palestinians and all other relevant groups, it will set the conditions for taking that ace away.
If after it begins good-faith efforts to collectively advance the liberal, democratic goal of ensuring religious freedom for all at the holy site, the Palestinians again turn to violence, then the Islamic world, or parts of it, will be in a position to blame them when Israel unilaterally enables Jews and Christians to pray on the Temple Mount parallel to Muslim worshipers.
If Netanyahu and his ministers make this their goal then the IDF and the Shin Bet won’t be able to intimidate them into capitulation next time around. Instead, the leaders of the IDF, the Shin Bet and the Foreign Ministry will all know their jobs and know that if they fail to perform they will be replaced.
Israel ceded the Temple Mount to terrorists last week. But with a clear goal, we can get it back in short order and keep it perpetually for the good of all humanity.
Admin officials McMaster is fiercely anti-Israel, calls it 'illegitimate,' 'occupying power'
On Wednesday, American-born Israeli journalist Caroline Glick detailed explosive allegations concerning McMaster’s views on Israel. Glick is a well-known pro-Israel columnist and has established connections with the Trump administration. Many of the details in this story emerged from questions asked about Glick’s allegations.
The list of pro-Israel voices in the administration that were removed from McMaster’s National Security Council now includes: Steve Bannon, K.T. McFarland, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, Derek Harvey, Rich Higgins, Adam Lovinger, and Tera Dahl.
McMaster not only shuns Israel, he is also historically challenged on Arab-Israeli affairs, according to the sources.
“McMaster constantly refers to the existence of a Palestinian state before 1947,” a senior West Wing official tells CR (there was never an independent Palestinian state), adding that McMaster describes Israel as an “illegitimate,” “occupying power.”
The NSC chief expressed great reluctance to work with Israel on counterterror efforts, as he shut down a joint U.S.-Israel project to counter the terrorist group Hezbollah’s efforts to expand Iran’s worldwide influence. The project was led by the now-former NSC Middle East director Derek Harvey.
In July, Palestinian terrorists armed with rifles left the al-Aqsa mosque compound and assassinated two Israeli police officers. Afterward, Israeli security forces installed metal detectors outside the Jerusalem mosque for protection. McMaster, however, didn’t see it that way. He viewed the security measures as “just another excuse by the Israelis to repress the Arabs,” a senior defense official tells CR.
Senior West Wing Official Says McMaster Called Israel 'Illegitimate' 'Occupying Power'
National Security Advisor H.R. McMaster has taken it upon himself to eliminate the pro-Israel voices at the National Security Council, according to three West Wing and defense officials who spoke to Conservative Review (CR).
On Wednesday, Israeli journalist Caroline Glick, a staunch defender of Israel, born in America, detailed explosive allegations vis-à-vis McMaster and Israel:
Many of you will remember that a few days before Trump's visit to Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his advisers were blindsided when the Americans suddenly told them that no Israeli official was allowed to accompany Trump to the Western Wall. What hasn't been reported is that it was McMaster who pressured Trump to agree not to let Netanyahu accompany him to the Western Wall. At the time, I and other reporters were led to believe that this was the decision of rogue anti-Israel officers at the US consulate in Jerusalem. But it wasn't. It was McMaster.
And even that, it works out, wasn't sufficient for McMaster. He pressured Trump to cancel his visit to the Wall and only visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial — a la the Islamists who insist that the only reason Israel exists is European guilt over the Holocaust.

Since McMaster took over the NSC, seven members who were staunchly pro-Israel have been purged: Steve Bannon, K.T. McFarland, Ezra Cohen-Watnick, Derek Harvey, Rich Higgins, Adam Lovinger, and Tera Dahl.
One senior West Wing official told CR, “McMaster constantly refers to the existence of a Palestinian state before 1947,” and that McMaster describes Israel as an “illegitimate,” “occupying power.”
There was never a Palestinian state; the name “Palestine” comes from the Hebrew word “peleshet” that was used to refer to the ancient enemies of the Jews, the Philistines, an Aegean people closely related to the Greeks and with no connection ethnically, linguistically or historically with Arabia. In the second century A.D., the Romans defeated the Jews, and named the land Palaestina in an attempt to minimize Jewish identification with the land of Israel. Until 1948, when people used the term “Palestinian,” it referred to Jews in the land.

Monday, July 24, 2017

From Ian:

Challenging Violent Speech—Unless It’s About Israel
Writing in Al Jazeera, Stanley Cohen called on Israel to “accept that as an occupied people, Palestinians have a right to resist—in every way possible.” He begins by telling his readers: “long ago, it was settled that resistance and even armed struggle against a colonial occupation force is not just recognized under international law but specifically endorsed.” His entire article is predicated on a false premise in that it demands the characterization of Israel as a “colonial occupation force”— a characterization that is categorically incoherent.
Cohen cites a 1982 UN Resolution which “reaffirms the legitimacy of the struggle of peoples for independence, territorial integrity, national unity and liberation from colonial and foreign domination and foreign occupation by all available means, including armed struggle.” He does not mention which countries voted for and against this resolution.
Among the countries that voted for it: Yemen, Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Qatar, Niger, Kuwait, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq.
Among the countries who voted against it: Canada, Denmark, France, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, United Kingdom, United States.
On college campuses, the call for armed struggle has become the Cri de Coeur of leftist students who are otherwise hypersensitive to the impact that intangible words can have on corporeal beings. On Columbia’s campus, students who form the backbone of the BDS movement have successfully blurred the line between incitement and impassioned—albeit severely misguided—opinion. In 2016, the Columbia/ Barnard Socialists concluded one social media post by declaring: “long live the intifada.” As recently as Sunday—after the Halamish attack— the Students for Justice in Palestine shared the Al Jazeera article calling for armed resistance. Where are the outraged professors, administrators, and students concerned for the safety of the student body? Where are the charges of bigotry and racism, the calls to silence this speech, to stop this violence?
Nowhere does the idea that speech can constitute violence find more support than on elite liberal arts colleges. But regardless of whether they have intellectual or moral merit on their own, calls for safe spaces, trigger warnings, and micro-aggression-free environments that come from groups or individuals who not only condone, but use their words to quite literally call for violence, must be ignored, and the hypocrisy highlighted.
From the safe confines of an ivory-covered campus–or from the relative safety of this country, for that matter–it’s easy to preach justice and retribution, to portray armed struggle as the necessary means that will find justification through a righteous end. But especially those who are sensitive to the power of language should understand: euphemistic terminology does nothing to mitigate the violent nature inherent in this rhetoric. There must be no confusion. The left’s glorification of armed struggle is nothing short of approval for those Palestinians who target and kill innocent men, women, and children. Those who proclaim to speak for social justice have been damningly silent.
Amb. Danon stuns UN Security Council
Israeli Ambassador to the UN strongly criticized the Palestinian Authority's to the recent terrorist attacks in Israel ahead of a Security Council meeting on the recent violence over the Temple Mount.
Ambassador Danon presented a photograph from the scene of Friday’s terror attack in which the Salomon family was murdered.
“The Salomon family had gathered for the most joyous occasion, the birth of a new grandson. Instead, the night ended in a massacre. They sat down to eat the Sabbath meal when the terrorist entered their home. He stabbed his victims to death, murdering Yosef, the seventy-year-old grandfather, his daughter Haya, and his son Elad, all while the children were hidden in a room,” said Ambassador Danon.
“Instead of condemning this act of terror and calming the situation, the Palestinians are trying to spread the lie that this unspeakable act of violence is Israel’s fault. Do not believe these lies. The terrorist who murdered this family did so knowing that the PA will pay him thousands of dollars a month,” the Ambassador continued.


IsraellyCool: The Narrative of Palestine
In our little game of scoring, that makes the score 3-0. But this isn’t a game, is it? People are dying because the Palestinians refuse to look forward or backwards. Backwards tells them that we are the legitimate heirs to our homeland and though we have made it clear that we are prepared to live with them, despite very clear historical evidence that if you dig in the ground, it is our history you will find, not theirs (except for old Coca-Cola and Pepsi bottles circa 2010 left to rot).
The Palestinian narrative dating back anything more than 100 years is, without question fabricated. Even in the last 100 years, much of it is established by using other people’s images. That they live here now is something we all have to accept. When the Jews first moved into the land of Canaan, there were others who lived here. Those that were prepared to live with us nearly 4,000 years ago, remained. Those who were not, were defeated. It was the way of the world then and not something we have to answer for now. We were exiled 2,000 years ago and we have come home. The land offers its testimony on a regular basis that this land is our home.
Stealing images of the Holocaust just makes you look pathetic. Borrowing images from war-torn Syria, as they often do, just makes them look desperate. In days filled with violence, it is clear that the Palestinians have yet to learn that the way to a peaceful solution will not be found through violence or forgery.
We grow tired of your violence and your childish attempts to maintain the status quo when it suits you and demand it change when it doesn’t.
No, you will never rule this land – but then again, history shows that you never did. You rule in something like 40 other lands in this world. It won’t happen here. Accept it…or leave. Deal with it…or lose.

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Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 14 years and 30,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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