Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, October 19, 2018

J-Street takes credit for what the Israeli Supreme Court did

On Tuesday, J Street joined with a broad coalition of Jewish organizations to oppose the detention and possible expulsion of American student Lara Alqasem by telling the Israeli government to #LetHerStay.

Today, we have some good news to report. Lara Alqasem has won her appeal and will be allowed to study human rights at Hebrew University.

By making calls to Israeli diplomatic missions, tweeting to diplomats and showing your support online and in the streets, YOU stood up for Israel’s democracy and helped to protect the education of a future human rights advocate in the region.

Does J-Street think that Israel's Supreme Court was swayed by a bunch of left-wing American Jews?

Perhaps J-Street doesn't want to give any credit to Israel's Supreme Court as looking at the case with an unbiased view based on only the facts and the law.

Because if J-Street would admit that Israel's Supreme Court actually cares about the law and human rights, it wouldn't be able to write things like this:

Recently, in a very controversial move, the Israeli Supreme Court gave the Netanyahu government the green light to demolish the Palestinian village of Khan al-Ahmar. The move would displace 180 Palestinians and clear the way for Israel to expand settlements into the contentious E1 Area, thereby forming a block that would separate East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank.

If J-Street would admit that Israel's Supreme Court makes decisions based on the law, including human rights law, then it cannot complain that Israeli policies that are upheld by the court are wrong, as it likes to do.

When Jews are forcibly removed from their homes based on High Court decisions, J-Street applauds and agrees that the homes were built illegally. When Arabs are to be removed from homes that Israel's High Court say were built illegally (with compensation and with new towns built for them!) J-Street complains that it is immoral.

J-Street doesn't care about the law or morality or consistency. It wants to push its far-left agenda under the pretense of caring about "justice."

Justice is the least concern of J-Street.

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.

PLO intends to hijack Islamophobia conference in Istanbul

There is a conference on Islamophobia in Istanbul this weekend sponsored by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. (and a separate scholarly conference on the same topic next week.)

The aim of the conference is to "establish a dialogue among those interested in analyzing the phenomenon of Islamophobia objectively by tracing the roots and practices of discriminatory policies against Muslim societies in order to understand the context in which racism against Islam has developed and the role it plays today in undermining Muslim human rights."

The PLO was invited to the conference, and - as it does when it joins any international initiative - it will attempt to hijack the conference to make it into an anti-Israel hatefest.

The Palestinian representative has stated that he will demand that the final communique of the conference include "a clear condemnation of Israel for its role in supporting a campaign of Islamophobia, and it should stress that confronting Islamophobia in the world requires solving the Palestinian issue in a just solution that guarantees the rights of the Palestinian people in an independent state according to international resolutions with Jerusalem as its capital."

Keep in mind that by any reasonable metric, Israel gives Muslims more rights and freedoms than most Western countries do - no limits on minarets, no limits on women wearing Islamic dress, and a higher percentage of Muslims in official roles than probably any other Western country. (Even Algeria just passed a law limiting women wearing burqas.)

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A new video by Hamas threatens Israel with more rockets, warning Israel not to make any "mistakes":

Meanwhile, apparently some Hamas official said that the Palestinian Authority might have shot the rockets in order to force Israel to start a war with Gaza. Fatah responded by pointing out Hamas' hypocrisy; when the PA controlled Gaza and asked Hamas not to fire rockets it responded then by insisting on its rights to fire them and calling those who opposed them "traitors" - eventually expelling them from Gaza. Now it is coming out against rocket fire.

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10/18 Links Pt2: Phillips: Corbyn is not the cause of left-wing Jew hate, he's the result of it; Even after 46 years, Fatah still lauds its Olympics massacre

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Jeremy Corbyn is not the cause of left-wing Jew hate, he's the result of it

There are two two principal reasons why the left is institutionally antisemitic.

The first is that “Palestine” is its signature cause of causes. And the “Palestine” cause inescapably rests upon the extermination of Israel and the obliteration of the Jewish people from their own national story in their ancient homeland — the triple connection which constitutes Judaism itself.

The second is that, for the left, the world is divided into the powerful and the powerless. Those with power can never be good; those without power can never be bad. So every group deemed to be powerless claims victim status.

But grotesquely, Jews aren’t seen as victims because, as everyone “knows”, they emerged from the Holocaust to run the financial world, the media, the law, the arts, American foreign policy.

What’s more, since Israel is highly armed (solely for its defence) the Jews are seen as an all-powerful global force.

And so ancient anti-Jewish paranoia has been given loathsome legs on the left. And hence also the left’s extreme reluctance to acknowledge the disproportionate involvement of Muslims in antisemitic incidents in Britain and Europe.

The frequency of overt antisemitism on the left is not the key issue. It’s rather the collusion by Jeremy Corbyn with this bigotry — not only his refusal to deal with it in his party, but the fact that he himself is associated with these attitudes.

This is a cultural poison of long standing of which Corbyn is not the cause but the extremely problematic result.

Caroline Glick: Jewish Democrats Increasingly Anti-Israel

The current election cycle makes this point very clearly. As JTA reported this week, there are 36 Jewish candidates running as Democrats in House races. Half are incumbents, and half are challengers.

Over two-thirds of the Jewish Democratic incumbents (13 of 18) supported President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was the most outspoken critic of the deal, arguing that it posed an existential danger to Israel by giving Iran an open path to a nuclear arsenal. Three-quarters of Israeli Jews agreed with him.

Nearly half of the Jewish Democratic incumbents (7 of 18) have received contributions from J Street, the anti-Israel Jewish political group founded with help from George Soros. Throughout Obama’s years in office, J Street served as the administration’s Jewish fig leaf.

J Street was a central actor in the campaign to block a Senate veto of the Iran deal. It has placed the blame for the failure of the Israel-Palestinian peace process squarely on Israel’s shoulders, and campus chapters of J Street have reportedly aided anti-Israel activists in attempts to support the antisemitic “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) campaign against Israel. The organization is considered so hostile to Israel that Israel’s ambassador to the U.S., Ron Dermer, refuses to meet with its representatives.

Among the Democratic challengers, five of 18 have received funding from J Street, according to JTA’s report. Ten have received money from other far-left PACs or were endorsed by Obama.

One of the Democratic candidates, Dan Kohl, who is running in Wisconsin’s 6th District against two-term Republican incumbent Glenn Grothman, is one of J Street’s founders, and its first political director. His uncle, Herb Kohl, served as a Senator from Wisconsin for four terms and was staunchly supportive of Israel.

The Story Of David And Goliath Gets Archaeological Evidence Backing It Up

Scoffers beware: the Biblical tale of David and Goliath just got more real than ever, thanks to an archaeological discovery that fits the Biblical description of Goliath’s armor.

In the Biblical tale, roughly 3,000 years ago, David, when he was still a young shepherd and not yet the immortal king, engaged in single combat on behalf of the Jews against Goliath, the huge champion of the Jews’ arch-enemies: the Philistines. The story read like this:

A champion named Goliath, who was from Gath, came out of the Philistine camp. His height was six cubits and a span. He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze weighing five thousand shekels; on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back. His spear shaft was like a weaver’s rod, and its iron point weighed six hundred shekels. His shield bearer went ahead of him.

Goliath stood and shouted to the ranks of Israel, “Why do you come out and line up for battle? Am I not a Philistine, and are you not the servants of Saul? Choose a man and have him come down to me. If he is able to fight and kill me, we will become your subjects; but if I overcome him and kill him, you will become our subjects and serve us.”

After David volunteered to fight Goliath, David confronted him: “As the Philistine moved closer to attack him, David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet him. Reaching into his bag and taking out a stone, he slung it and struck the Philistine on the forehead. The stone sank into his forehead, and he fell facedown on the ground. So David triumphed over the Philistine with a sling and a stone; without a sword in his hand he struck down the Philistine and killed him. David ran and stood over him. He took hold of the Philistine’s sword and drew it from the sheath. After he killed him, he cut off his head with the sword.”

As Haaretz reports, in 2017 archaeologists found shards of pottery in Philistine Gath that were inscribed with names similar to Goliath’s. In the first book of Samuel, it states, “He had a bronze helmet on his head and wore a coat of scale armor of bronze ... on his legs he wore bronze greaves, and a bronze javelin was slung on his back.”

More about the mother who saved her kids from the Gaza rocket

A short Twitter thread from Lenny Ben David, slightly edited:

________________

Beer Sheva mother's called national hero.

She woke to sirens in middle of night, ran upstairs to grab 3 sleeping kids from 3 bedrooms, ran downstairs; got all into bomb shelter and shut the blast door just as the rocket hit.

Commentators say that had there been casualties, #Israel would be at war.

Her house was totaled. The woman, Miri Tamano, raising her 3 kids, is a divorcee who was laid off 6 months ago. With a BA and writing skills.
BTW, she's a Ethiopian Jew.

Here is picture of Miri Tamano who was interviewed on Israeli TV. She detailed her rescue of her 3 boys, the terror of the rocket hitting her house, telling her boys to hold their crying in to say from Psalms "Give thanks to God for He is good, for His goodness endured forever"

"The bomb shelter's door was blocked, gas leaking, water, then the rescue team got us out. It was a miracle.

"Maybe I am God's messenger to tell people to take the sirens seriously and get into the shelters."

JPost adds:

“I heard the alarm,” she told the media. “I thought it was dream. When I came to my senses, I hurried to take the children to the security room. I was trembling and I was afraid.”

Her sister Ora said that Tamano was sleeping on the first floor, ran up the stairs, and woke her three sons, ages eight, 10 and 12, who all slept in different rooms.

“Two of them didn’t want to wake up and she had to drag them out of bed,” Ora said.

The two-story home, located on a small cul-de-sac off a main road, was completely destroyed.

“I no longer have a home,” she said. “The memories are gone. Inside the house, the closets were stuffed with all kinds of things – and now there’s nothing left.”

Those asking about sending funds, Miri and family received a few thousand dollars for immediate needs from the Jewish Agency for Israel and from the Jewish community of Montreal, Beer Sheva's sister city.

Israeli government agencies have lots of experience in such cases, unfortunately.

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.

Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism in the US recently published an op-ed in Ha’aretz entitled “The One Speech Netanyahu Will Never Make to Diaspora Jews,” a not-too-clever attempt to imagine what it would be like for our PM to agree with him. He is quite right that Netanyahu would never say the things he has put in his mouth.

Jacobs seems to believe that he knows what’s best for Israel better than those who live here, send their children to the army, and duck when rockets are launched at them. His movement has taken up the cause of transforming Israeli society into a replica of liberal America, whether Israelis like it or not.

In the spirit of providing free speechwriting services to important people, I have generously written a similar speech for Rabbi Jacobs to deliver to Israeli Jews. I hope he will use it someday, although the likelihood of that approaches zero. Much of what he wrote for our PM to say can be reused with minor changes, so that’s what I did. The portions in italics are direct quotations from Rabbi Jacobs’ proposed speech for PM Netanyahu. My additions and changes are in boldface.

***

Dear Israeli Jews,

It’s truly a gift to see so many of you here for this dialogue between our two Jewish communities, North American and Israeli Jewry. I realize that things have been tense recently between our communities. In the spirit of Yom Kippur, lingering after the gates have closed, I want to acknowledge my responsibility here.

Let’s start with the Kotel, a place that should unite – not divide – all Jews. American Reform and Conservative Jews practice mixed-gender prayer, and we would like to be able to pray our way when we visit the Kotel in Israel. We would like the members of our Israeli movements to be able to do so as well. But the 40% of Israelis that see themselves as religious or traditional – ranging from the 12% who are Haredi (“ultra-Orthodox”) to those for whom “the synagogue they don’t go to is Orthodox” – do not pray that way. Indeed, Haredim and some others on the observant side of the spectrum find mixed-gender prayer highly offensive, especially at the Kotel, which they treat as an Orthodox synagogue. And fewer than one-half of one percent of Israeli Jews are affiliated with the Reform and Conservative movements (no, the figure is not as high as 12%. Read the linked article).

Now, I strongly disagree with those who find offensive what I find beautiful. But because I care about Jewish unity and shalom bayit, I believe it would be wrong to impose my American-oriented views and those of a handful of Israelis on a much larger number of more traditional ones. And so I am withdrawing my demand to allow mixed-gender prayer at the Kotel.

I have accused you of “disenfranchising the largest segment of practicing Jewry in the world.” But perhaps I engaged in a bit of hyperbole. What you do in Israel doesn’t “disenfranchise” anyone in the Diaspora, where Jews are free to practice Judaism however they want. And while I strongly disapprove of the way conversion and marriage are handled in Israel (and on this, many Israelis agree with me!), I realize that this is up to Israelis to decide. After all, Israel is a sovereign state!

I believe [the recently-passed Nation-State Law] is an important one that expresses the recognition by all of us that Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people. I also know, however, that there are many concerns among Israelis, North American Jews, and other friends and allies. Let me set everyone’s minds at rest. The Nation-State Law does not damage the rights of minorities of any kind. And those rights are enshrined in other Basic Laws, so there is no need to repeat them here. In particular, there is no need for a “principle of equality,” which could be interpreted to grant national rights in addition to the civil and political rights that your minorities enjoy. And while my country, the US, is a “state of all of its citizens,” I understand that Israel is not. Didn’t I just say that at the beginning of this paragraph?

And, let me say something about BDS. You are a strong enough people to handle criticism from those who object to your self-defense. In this spirit, you ought to prevent entrance to Israel of those who would exploit open borders for the purpose of delegitimizing and demonizing your state. Entry to Israel for non-Israelis is a privilege, not a right.

Meanwhile, I am awaiting the Trump peace plan. I have no confidence in President Trump, perhaps, even lessthan many of you. What can I say? I hate the guy. I see myself as part of the “resistance.” [Scattered nervous laughter.]

But, I am not myopic. I know that you cannot have a secure Israel with a terrorist Palestinian state by your side. There, I said it. [Some light applause.]

My friends, your country’s security is intimately tied to the friendship of the United States of America. I pledge that I will do everything possible to rebuild bipartisan consensus in Washington, so vital to Israel that I, following the lead of President Obama, tried so hard to wreck.

I will never sacrifice the deep bonds that exist between Israel and North American Jewry, including among progressive Jews who love Israel as dearly as I do. Yes, you [pointing to someone on stage who looks confused] heard me correctly.

In closing, I want to say you are welcome … as our dear partners and that I will try to work on my boundary issues and act as though Israel is a sovereign state, hard as that may be for me.

Thank you.

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10/18 Links Pt1: In blow to Palestinians, US places Jerusalem consulate under embassy; PA arrests Palestinian-American for property sale to Jews; Australia: Promoting peace, not preventing it

From Ian:

In blow to Palestinians, US places Jerusalem consulate under embassy

The State Department announced Thursday that it would bring its main diplomatic mission to the Palestinians under the auspices of the US Embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, marking an implicit downgrading of the facility’s status and a fresh blow to its already strained ties with the Palestinians.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the move was meant to “achieve significant efficiencies and increase our effectiveness” following the opening of the embassy in May. He insisted the merger of the two missions did not signal a change in US policy on the status of Jerusalem, the West Bank, or Gaza Strip.

“The United States continues to take no position on final status issues, including boundaries or borders,” Pompeo said in a statement. “The specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem are subject to final status negotiations between the parties.”

He added that US President Donald Trump was commitment to a “lasting and comprehensive peace” between Israel and the Palestinians. “We look forward to continued partnership and dialogue with the Palestinian people and, we hope in the future, with the Palestinian leadership,” he said.

Pompeo said US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman would be in charge of the tie-up and that the new Palestinian Affairs Unit inside the embassy would remain, as before, at the consulate general building on Agron Street in the western part of Jerusalem.

PA arrests Palestinian-American for property sale to Jews

Palestinian Authority security forces have arrested a Palestinian-American citizen on suspicion of involvement in a real estate transaction with Jews in east Jerusalem, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The man’s family has notified the US State Department of his arrest.

Palestinian sources said that the man, a resident of Bethlehem, had worked for the PA Ministry for Local Government.

“The 55-year-old man, who is a US citizen, is being interrogated by the Palestinians security agencies in Ramallah for his role in the sale of an Arab-owned house in the Old City of Jerusalem to a Jewish organization,” the sources told The Jerusalem Post.

They said the man was suspected of acting as a “solicitor” between the owner of the house and the Jewish organization that bought the house.

A senior PA security official in Ramallah refused to comment on the arrest of the US citizen.

The Post has obtained a copy of the man’s US passport, but due to the sensitivity of the case has chosen not to publish his name.

US government officials said they were aware of the arrest and expressed concern that he would be treated fairly. They said the State Department was in touch with the PA regarding the arrest.

David Singer: Jordan Jumps on Trump Bandwagon Leaving PLO Way Behind

Any lingering thought that the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) would have any role to play in President Trump’s soon-to-be-released peace plan has vanished – after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that $165 million had been deducted from funding to the PLO because of its continuing “pay for slay” policy in breach of the Taylor Force Act.

Jordan has now signalled its preparedness to replace the PLO by publically supporting Trump in an article written in the Jordan Times by Walid Sadi – a retired Jordanian diplomat with over 35 years’ experience and himself a former editor of the Jordan Times.

Sadi’s CV is impressive – having headed the Jordanian Delegation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) Conference in Rome and been the Chairperson of the ICC’s Working Group on Crimes against Humanity. He also represented the Jordanian government in Washington, Moscow, Ankara and London.

The Jordan Times is published by the Jordan Press Foundation – in which the government-owned Social Security Investment Fund has a majority stake. Sadi’s endorsement of Trump could only have been published with the knowledge and approval of Jordan’s King Abdullah.

Sadi makes no bones in airing his reasons for Trump’s success on the world stage:

“World leaders fear him because they know he is capable of anything and his finger is so close to nuclear weapons capable of blowing hostile capitals to smithereens with no qualms or hesitations. And above all, he seems to get away with anything as if he is immune to any mischief from within or outside his country.”

HaShomer HaChadash: A love story (Forest Rain)

HaShomer HaChadash:
This is a love story between a land and her people, a people and their land

There are some people who don’t hear when others speak the word, “impossible.” Instead they hear, “it’s possible” or “I am possible.” Their minds begin to race in search for solutions and when there is no logical reason to succeed, faith moves them forward.

Who could look at the barren hills of Eretz Yisrael and imagine that dead land awakened, brought back to life? What kind of people could look at rocky crags and see rolling vineyards, empty plains and see cosmopolitan cities bursting with Jews? How is it possible for people who never did a day of physical labor in their life to see themselves as farmers and know that one day their children would speak a language 3000 years old, as if it was the most natural thing in the world?

Dreamers. Crazy people. Our grandparents.

And today, the children of Israel grow up like children in any other first world country. With few of the discomforts of life, all the modern amenities and their faces buried in their phones, computers and tv screens.

What kind of modern child would willing put down their phone, turn off the tv and go outside to sweat in the sun? What for? They don’t know what hard work is and why in the world would they want to do any kind of physical labor? There is no necessity that could drive them, no demand.

And certainly, no teenager would dedicate a year of their life to creating a youth movement designed to connect the children of Israel to the land of Israel. Who would join a movement that doesn’t exist?

It could never happen. Or at least that’s what the founders of the Shomer HaChadash Youth Movement were told.

But it did. And today, after just one year, it’s the fastest growing youth movement in Israel, a country with well established youth movements existing for every sector of the population. Their signature shirt has become the most desirable branded piece of clothing among Israeli school children – a shirt emblazoned with the words: “I am my brother’s keeper” and a symbol of Alexander Zaid, one of the great original Zionist leaders, a man the children of today no longer learn about in school.

How can this be? What is going on here?

The malaise of screens, passivity, low interest and little knowledge seems to be an epidemic of the advanced world (and some of the developing world as well). Where once people were independent at a very young age, today young people remain “children” for a very long time, dependent on their parents, expecting guidance from someone else – a parent, an authority, the State.

In Israel, just two generations ago it was impossible to know whether the State would continue to exist. Three generations ago, the State was just a dream. Today, many take it for granted. Schools teach very little (if anything) about the visionaries who created what we have today. Children know the names of those who shaped our existence as the names of streets and institutions rather than the content of their works or the stories of their endeavors.

It was this gap that the founders of the Shomer HaChadash recognized. Originally founded as a revival of the original Shomer, the organization was designed to assist Israeli farmers in protecting their land from agricultural crime – through knowledge of history and understanding that the solutions that worked for our grandparents would work today, that while the State has difficulty to address all the challenges at hand, many can be solved and even prevented by friends and neighbors stepping up and declaring: “I am my brother’s keeper.”

The demand was so large, the Shomer HaChadash grew at an incredible pace and yet, as the fight to protect the connection of farmers to the land grew, it became more and more obvious how disconnected the younger generations already are.

Here too, the founders of the Shomer believed, the solution from the past would work. Just as the generations who came before us managed to breathe vitality into the land through reigniting the love story between our people and this land, now it has become time to ask the land to give purpose and direction to the children who need to deepen their roots.

While the malaise of screens is a global issue, our story is deeper than the challenges of city-dwellers who don’t know where their food comes from and the entitlement of millennials. Ours is a relationship with the land, a centuries old love story – the connection of an indigenous people returned to the land that gave birth to our nation. A Jew is a Jew anywhere in the world but there is a special kind of fulfillment, a completeness that comes from connecting to the land of our ancestors.

As I watched the ceremony concluding the first year of the Shomer HaChadash Youth Movement I found myself thinking: “How many people does it take to create a revolution? To change an entire society?”

There stood before me a group of some 30 people: the managers of the program and high-school graduates, boys and girls, who had volunteered to postpone their army service for one year in order to give an additional year of service to the country via the Shomer HaChadash program. This year does not count as part of their army service and the only thing they get for the year is the experience they gained.

They had split into communal living groups in different communities in Israel. Each group had built their own teaching farm, along with the children of that community and together they grew vegetables and spices. Very deliberately they chose to work with grade-school children (1st – 9th grade) rather than high-schoolers, to influence the new generation as they grow up, with an unadulterated connection to the land.

During the year, the volunteers (called in Hebrew Shin Shinim, an abbreviation of the term for year of service) were given lessons in agriculture, history and Zionism. No one told them how to manage their agricultural farm or how to teach the children. It was they who managed themselves - their schedule and budget, building lesson plans for the children and taking care of them every day, after school.

Everything they built, they built with their own hands.

Everything they grew was fruits of their planning, planting and nurturing.

Small children planted cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, watermelon, squash and more. They worked in the hot sun, patiently cared for the vegetables as they grew, learned to pick them at the right time and then sold them to members of their community. After school, instead of going home and turning on the tv, they stayed together and worked, creating new life.

In addition to working with the children of the community in which they lived, each group of volunteers spent time in schools, creating within the school a smaller version of their larger farms. The program was so phenomenally successful that for the next year additional communities are competing to see who will be able to have their own volunteers to create a farm with their children.

So few can create so much, for so many.

While elsewhere young people are being told that they can’t, that they are weak, that they need protection (not from physical threats but from having their feelings hurt, here are young people being told that they can do whatever they put their minds to – and they are being given the proof of experience to back up that statement.

The volunteers had spent a year studying the history of our people, the movement that led to the revival of our nation in our ancestral homeland and learning to care for the land. They were taught not what to think, but to make up their own minds after gaining their own personal understanding of the issue. Most of all, they were taught not to be afraid of standing in the gap, even if everyone is walking in one direction, if they are sure it is right – to walk in their own direction.

They are the embodiment of the great Jewish educator Janusz Korczak: “He who worries about days plants wheat. He who worries about years plants trees. He who worries about generations, teaches people.”

How many people does it take to create a revolution? To change a society? I don’t know.

What I do know is that those who don’t hear the word “impossible,” the dreamers, those who are crazy enough to believe they can change the world, usually do.

YOU can be part of this success!

Donate: https://bit.ly/2PGCiXW

Send your kids to a Shomer HaChadash pioneering program for overseas participants: https://bit.ly/2ASoVjV

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.

Abbas won't meet with Israelis or Zionists or American officials - but he honors J-Street

PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas met with J-Street leader Jeremy Ben-Ami and a J-Street delegation today at Abbas' presidential palace in Ramallah.

Abbas refuses to meet with the Israeli president or with US peace negotiators or even with Democratic members of the US Congress.

But he is eager to meet with those American Jews who he knows are solidly on his side in every single issue that real Zionists cannot possibly ever accept, like Jerusalem and "return."

Abbas treated Ben-Ami like a head of state.

Among the Palestinian delegation was a member of the Fatah central committee, Hussein Sheikh, who is not even in the government. Fatah's official platform supports terrorism. Sheikh supports terror explicitly:

The gun is the way to get rid of this occupation, the shortest way to get rid of this occupation. This is Abu Ammar's promise and this is his will and we will continue to be true to them, Allah willing.

The "pro-peace" J-Street happily met with terror supporters who say that "armed resistance" is their right.

Ben-Ami stressed how he is working to restore funding to UNRWA and to defeat the Republicans in the mid-term elections.

J-Street bitterly complains when Israeli officials won't meet with them. Here's one very good reason why they won't - J-Street identifies fully with, and openly cooperates with, Israel's enemies.

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.

A very incomplete list of people banned from entering UK, US, Canada, France, Australia...

This Twitter thread by Shlomi Ben Meir last week, slightly edited, remains relevant as the Lara Alqasem case drags on.

Britain, the mother of parliamentary democracy, has published in 2009 a list of 16 people who are barred from the country "for stirring-up hatred". 22 additional barred folks' names weren't published. And 101 more had been banned in the previous five years.

web.archive.org/web/2009050718…

In the period from August 2005 to 31 March 2009, a total of 101 individuals have been excluded from the UK for having engaged in unacceptable behaviour. Of these 101 individuals, a total of 22 were excluded by the Home Secretary in the period from 28 October 2008 to 31 March 2009.This figure comprises 72 individuals excluded for fomenting, justifying or glorifying terrorist violence in furtherance of particular beliefs; two individuals excluded for seeking to provoke others to terrorist acts; 18 individuals excluded for fomenting other serious criminal activity or seeking to provoke others to serious criminal acts; and nine individuals excluded for fostering hatred which might lead to inter-community violence in the UK.The individuals concerned include animal rights extremists, right to life extremists, homophobe extremists, far-right extremists, as well as advocates of hatred and violence in support of their religious beliefs.

More people whose entry to the UK was denied: Israeli politician Moshe Feiglin,Dutch MP Geert Wilders, Louis Farrakhan edition.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/eur… and the antisemite French comedian Dieudonné.

More recently, the UK banned anti-Islamic activist Pamela Geller as well as some far right activists.

Three far-right activists and YouTubers denied entry to the UKBritain has detained and deported three far-right personalities after they attempted to enter the country, saying they were "not conducive to the public good."https://edition.cnn.com/2018/03/13/europe/activists-denied-entry-uk-intl/index.html

There are many more examples.

Banning entry is the British National sport. The UK banned a rapper

Tyler, the Creator Banned From United Kingdom Over LyricsMusic, Film, TV and Political News Coveragehttps://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/tyler-the-creator-banned-from-united-kingdom-over-lyrics-71119/

because of the lyrics of his songs; a martial arts instructor

Human rights bid to lift ban on U.S. martial arts expert barred from entering Britain over his 'kill or be killed' teachingsEx-military intelligence officer Tim Larkin is known for his 'kill or be killed' training philosophy and teaches people how to inflict 'crippling pain' on burglars.https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2193722/U-S-martial-arts-expert-banned-entering-Britain--kill-killed-teachings-incite-vigilante-violence.html

because of his dangerous methods; and a pick-up artist

Julien Blanc banned from Britain'Pick-up artist' who attracted widespread criticism for encouraging allegedly abusive behaviour towards women is barred by the Home Officehttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/immigration/11240765/Julien-Blanc-banned-from-Britain.html

for encouraging sexism.

Let's move to other dark places. The USA has banned an Irish republican activist,

Ireland’s Bernadette Devlin McAliskey deported from the USProminent Irish republican and civil rights activist Bernadette Devlin McAliskey was deported from the United States on February 21.https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2003/03/devl-m05.html

Swiss Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan (during 2004-2010)

Once-Banned Muslim Scholar Tariq Ramadan on His First Visit to US in Six Years, President Obama and Why Muslims Should Make Their Voices HeardWe speak with leading Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan, who was banned from entering the United States for six years. In 2004, Ramadan had accepted a job to become a tenured professor at the University o…https://www.democracynow.org/2010/4/9/once_banned_muslim_scholar_tariq_ramadan

, a South African professor , and a Welsh activist.

More people who are banned from the USA: a British teenager who wrote a rude letter to Obama,

Obama e-mail teenager gets US banA 17-year-old from Bedfordshire is banned from entering the United States for sending a "threatening e-mail to the White House".https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-11296303

a Canadian white supremacist,

Canadian White Supremacist Paul Fromm Denied Entry Into U.S.Paul Fromm, a Canadian white supremacist who masquerades under the banner of free speech, is claiming that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) recently denied him entry from Canada.https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2015/08/12/canadian-white-supremacist-paul-fromm-denied-entry-us

and a Philippine MP who dared to level criticism at the USA.

US gov’t bars woman leader - Bulatlat“The curtailment of the right to travel and liberty of movement of former House representative Liza Maza shows how the US government transgresses on the basic rights and freedoms of individuals and g…http://bulatlat.com/main/2015/07/16/us-govt-bars-woman-leader/

In 2010, Canada barred an anti-Olympic reporter

Anti-Olympic reporter denied entry into CanadaA Chicago-based independent journalist says he was detained and questioned at the Vancouver airport on Saturday afternoon, denied a phone call or legal counsel and sent unceremoniously back to the U.…https://bc.ctvnews.ca/anti-olympic-reporter-denied-entry-into-canada-1.481618

. It also regularly bans American environmental activists from coming

Environmental Activists Continue to Face Interrogations at US-Canada BorderMembers of Deep Green Resistance denied entry to Canada on the way to a Chris Hedges’ lecturehttp://www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/articles/entry/environmental_activists_continue_to_face_interrogations_at_us-canada_border/

and also an American pastor who preaches against Islam

US pastor Terry Jones denied entry into CanadaCanada has denied entry to US pastor Terry Jones, whose congregation held a Quran burning ceremony in March 2011 that triggered deadly protests in Afghanistan, a spokeswoman said.http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/287746/us-pastor-terry-jones-denied-entry-into-canada

Australia banned the 'world's number one anti-vaxxer'

'World's number one anti-vaxxer' BANNED from entering AustraliaThe self-proclaimed 'world's number one anti-vaxxer', Kent Heckenlively, has been denied entry to Australia.https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4838902/World-s-number-one-anti-vaxxer-BANNED-entering-Australia.html

and other anti-vaccine activists

Australia blocked anti-vaccine radicals from re-entering the countryLucky for the citizens of the fine country, Australia blocked anti-vaccine radicals from returning to that country for a significant period of time.https://www.skepticalraptor.com/skepticalraptorblog.php/australia-blocked-anti-vaccine-radicals/

In France, an aid convoy was denied entry to Calais over fears they will ‘facilitate’ migrants.

Aid convoy denied entry to Calais over fears they will ‘facilitate’ migrantsPolitical campaigners have been protesting at Dover after hundreds of their cars carrying aid donations weren't allowed to cross to Calais over fears they would "facilitate the intrusion of migrants"…https://inews.co.uk/news/aid-convoy-denied-entry-calais-fears-will-facilitate-migrants/

This was a very partial list of democratic countries, and for each one, a very partial list of cases. It happens literally all the time everywhere. For any other country, it is barely an issue,

Only for Israel, both her haters and lovers expect her to let everyone in.

Only when Israel does this is it front page news for over a week.

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.