Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, February 14, 2019

Detroit imam says Jews prostitute their women to gain power. Media ignores.

On Tuesday, MEMRI released a video showing Detroit imam Bassem Al-Sheraa spouting the most vile antisemitism imaginable.

Al-Sheraa, a Shiite, said (among other things) that Jewish women have historically established and managed “dens of female iniquity” and headed the brothels of Europe. He added that the Jews allow their faith to be passed down maternally so that their women could increase the Jewish population through prostitution.

I tweeted this to the Detroit News and the Detroit Fox channel, assuming that local media might be interested in a thoroughly antisemitic imam in their city. Yet there are no stories today about Al Sheraa in Detroit media. The only places I see coverage are the Cleveland Jewish News (via JNS) and FrontPage, plus Mexico's Diario Judio.

One would think that an antisemitic imam publicly spouting hate would be a little newsworthy. Perhaps the Detroit media is too cowed by the large Muslim population to want to touch the story.

Here is the video and transcript from MEMRI:

"[The Jews] Employ Tricks And Fraud In Matters Of Religion And Moral Values"
Bassem Al-Sheraa: "Yahya [John the Baptist], with all his greatness and his glory, was a prophet, as was his father... [The Jews] excommunicated him and then sanctioned his killing. He wasn't just killed – he was declared a heretic and his head was chopped off. Jesus, son of Mary, was also declared a heretic by them. They excommunicated him. They said that he was not a Jew. Then the Romans killed him. They arrested him in order to crucify him. But it was the Jews who issued the religious ruling about it. The Roman ruler... When the Romans wanted to arrest Jesus, they got a religious ruling from the Jews that said that he did not represent them and that he had been excommunicated. The Jews sanctioned his killing.
[...]
"[The Jews] employ tricks and fraud in matters of religion and moral values. They distort [sacred texts], and therefore it is said that the Jews would often kill their own prophets. They would sanction the killing of one another. In addition, they allowed their women to engage in prostitution, God forbid. Following the [Babylonian] captivity, when Nebuchadnezzar exiled them and destroyed the Temple, the Jews said: 'Money and women are our most powerful weapons.'

"So they would amass gold and money, and they would spread usury. Usury constitutes a peculiar Jewish philosophy... Even in the modern world, global banks are based on the culture of usury, which is a Jewish concept. Since a long time ago, the Jews have been lending people money and collecting interest, even though it is forbidden according to their religious law. Allowing usury is one of the things they did to circumvent their [scriptures]. The Jews permitted usury and have been usurers. They are still proud of this. Look at the global banks, the billionaires... All those are from among [the Jews]. Their culture is a culture of usury.

"The financial culture of the world was founded according to their instructions and their vision. Why? Because they consider [usury] to be an instrument of control."

[...]
"The Brothels Of Europe Were Established By [Jews], Their Women Would Manage Those Dens Of Female Iniquity – Most Dens Of Gambling, Usury, And So On Were Run By Them"
"In addition, they allowed their women to engage in [prostitution]. Pardon my language, but the brothels of Europe were established by them. Their women would manage those dens of female iniquity. Most dens of gambling, usury, and so on were run by them. They are always like that. They control people's resources through such tricks and deception. They consider it to be a reward and a way to serve their religion. They employ these means to control rather than be controlled."

"They Sent Their Women Around And Said To Them: 'Go [Fornicate], And If You Get Pregnant, Bring Us The Children And We Will Accept Them As Jews' – This Is Their Way To Increase Their Numbers"
"So they said that the son of a Jewish woman is a Jew, even if his father is not Jewish. They even issued a religious ruling to that effect. The Old Testament and the Torah say that a child belongs to his father. If the father is Jewish, then the son is Jewish as well, and if the father is not Jewish, then the child is not Jewish, either. But in the Talmud, the priests changed this. They said that the son of a Jewish woman is a Jew. Therefore, they sent their women around and said to them: 'Go [fornicate], and if you get pregnant, bring us the children and we will accept them as Jews.' This is their way to increase their numbers."

I do not see this video on the regular YouTube channel of the mosque, so they might have taken it down or they might have a separate YouTube channel.

Videos like this are published by MEMRI every day. But it is not nearly as usual to see Ilamic religious leaders in the US or Canada being publicized with the same hate that one sees all the time in the Middle East.

If the US political parties and media are as concerned about antisemitism as they all swear they are, then this should be a front page story. The fact that it isn't indicates that much of the outrage we see when stories like Ilhan Omar come up is not real.

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.

02/13 Links Pt2: Antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Performing the duck test; Who are the real racists in the Middle East?; The self-muzzling of the free world

From Ian:

David Collier: Antisemitism and anti-Zionism. Performing the duck test

Is it antisemitism or anti-Zionism? Everyday, semantics are used to deflect what is obvious. When people argue over this it protects antisemitism. It does not matter whether in theory anti-Zionism and antisemitism are the same thing or not. It is a straw man argument. When you perform the duck test on anti-Zionist activity across the board, it soon becomes clear that antisemitism overflows in every corner of the anti-Israel movement. The duck test highlights just how seamlessly, blatant antisemitism has renamed itself.

I am in the middle of writing a large report that will hopefully meet my self-imposed end-of-February deadline. This particular post is not part of that and was never planned. It came about because in preparation for a talk I gave last night to students at KCL I needed to spend some time gathering examples of the similarity between anti-Zionism and classic antisemitism. This is what I found:
The duck test

What are examples of antisemitism? What are the tropes? I needed to work from a check-list, so turned to Wiki to find one. They have a page titled ‘antisemitic canards‘. It provides a list of different types of canards used to foster and legitimise hate against Jewish people throughout the ages. There are 20 classic types listed. They added the 9/11 conspiracy, which I ignored because I believe it captured in the essence of all the others.

Below are the results from the twenty I worked with. In those cases where the accusation predates Zionism (such as the killing of Christ), I have only used posts by people who ‘coincidentally’ are also anti-Israel activists:

PreOccupiedTerritory: Near-Total Overlap Of Antisemitism And Anti-Zionism Just A Coincidence (satire)

Researchers have determined that the uncanny correlation between hatred for Jews and opposition to Israel constitutes a statistical fluke, a recent study reports, cautioning that observers ought not to draw unwarranted conclusions from the close association that means nothing.

A comparative study of the rhetoric and behavior of people who claim only to oppose the Jewish State and of the rhetoric and behavior of outspoken antisemites revealed a 98% overlap in the composition and content of the two groups, which study authors warned does not indicate any inherent relationship between them, since, as every student of elementary statistics knows, correlation does not imply causation. Instead, the researchers advise the public to note the overlap as a curiosity and then return to the everyday work of explaining how opposing the existence of the world’s only Jewish country, established as a refuge from thousands of years of persecution, does not qualify as antisemitism.

“We can understand why a facile interpretation of these numbers would lead a person to the conclusion that the two phenomena are in some way related,” the authors wrote. “But that fails to take into account all the protestations by self-proclaimed anti-Zionists that they do not in fact harbor ill will toward Jews; they just want them to remain at the mercy of the world’s often-hostile majority, with a soupçon of human rights verbiage thrown in. We therefore urge people not to misinterpret the near-perfect correlation as anything but an interesting quirk.”

Jonathan S. Tobin: Who are the real racists in the Middle East?

But the difference here is that while genuine racism exists in Israel—as it does in any other society of imperfect human beings—to claim that the government promotes hate is a bold-faced lie. To the contrary, classic anti-Semitic tropes and blood libels are a staple of the Palestinian Authority’s official press, broadcast media and education system. The same is true of the Hamas government of Gaza. Moreover, the P.A. continues, despite threats of aid cutoffs from the United States, to pay salaries and pensions to imprisoned terrorists and their families.

This reflects a consensus within Palestinian society that those who commit acts of violence against Jews and Israelis are role models and heroes to be celebrated, rather than to be shunned.

Will it be any different for the murderer of Ori Ansbacher, a teenager from the settlement of Tekoa who was doing national service for her country? The Israeli media has reported that the murderer is affiliated with Hamas and said he wanted to be a “martyr.” Unfortunately, nothing that has happened up until now gives us much hope that most Palestinians will treat the death of a Jewish teenager as anything other than a victory for their cause, no matter how egregious the crime.

Neither Israel nor its citizens are perfect. But friends of Israel can be proud of the efforts of the Israel Defense Forces to spare innocent lives even when it means that sometimes terrorists might escape. Moreover, its political system, however flawed it might be, rests on democratic principles that ensure that Israeli Arabs are equal before the law and have rights to representation unknown elsewhere in the region.

Those who wish to talk about racism should point their barbs at Palestinian leaders who bear personal responsibility for creating an environment in which “nationalist” murders like that of Ansbacher are made possible, not at Israel.

American Support for Israel Is Based on Strategic Interests, Not Just Morality

Unlike other U.S. allies, Israel has never asked for a single American soldier to deploy to Israel and give their life for the Jewish state. Israel has always been committed to defending itself. That is an invaluable strategic asset.

More specifically, the United States benefits from its alliance with Israel in very practical ways. In 2012, Michael Eisenstadt and David Pollock, both fellows at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, produced a great report that details these benefits—from intelligence sharing and counterterrorism cooperation to cyber and water security. Israel's remarkable technological innovation is critical for American businesses, and its expertise in homeland security and military tactics are critical for keeping Americans—both in and out of uniform—safe.

The number of benefits is too long to list here, but it is extensive. Even Richard Nixon, who peddled his share of anti-Semitic canards, recognized Israel's strategic importance and ordered an essential arms airlift during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. The former president also recognized the remarkable character of the Israeli people, and became the first commander in chief to visit the Jewish state on the job. Critics may say the alliance is just a relic of the Cold War, but this is a dangerously myopic view. In such an interconnected world, where security is ever more difficult to guarantee and technology is the economy of the future, Israel is a necessary ally.

In sum, Americans support Israel for both moral and strategic reasons. The two cannot be separated. And together, they create a foundation for an alliance that can resist Omar's corrosive, anti-Semitic charges, which are part of an effort to break apart an essential, mutually beneficial relationship. In defending Israel against the likes of Omar, Americans should remember that they not only have the moral high ground, but also the strategic high ground.

I could have taken a photo of Ori Ansbacher’s grieving mother. My finger hovered over the button on my phone as I contemplated the idea. A photo of that face full of pain would have shown the world what a thousand words could not. It would have said, “Look! This is what it means to have your daughter brutally raped and murdered just for being Jewish in Jerusalem, and alone.”

And there would have been value in that. After all, Noa Ansbacher’s face was probably the most wrenching sight I’ve ever seen. Shouldn’t the world see that? See what it is for a mother to lose a child to hatred? Might it not change something in the world, seeing that photo? Could it not make a positive difference?

I considered all this as I looked at Noa Ansbacher’s face, as she sat in her house of mourning. Looking at her, I saw Ori’s face some 30 years away, albeit lined with a heavy sorrow. I saw the same features. Mother. Daughter.

But Ori would not be here in 30 years. Her light has been extinguished. She is buried underground.

Which is the reason for the pain etched on Noa Ansbacher’s face. Unlike Noa, Ori would never have a daughter. She would never have a husband. She would never have any children or grandchildren at all.

She would never have a future.

This being the case, all I could do was look at Noa Ansbacher’s face, and see what Ori might have looked like, had she lived her life. Looking at the mother, I could see the promise, now stolen away. A young girl with her life ahead of her, ended with sudden and brutal finality, stamped out in a flash, like a cloud of evil darkening the world, obscuring all that is good.

The irony of a name, “Ori.” It means: “my light.”

Studying Noa Ansbacher, I knew that for her, the light had gone out. I could see it in her face, though smiles would break through the pain from time to time, as she acknowledged Ori’s friends, who surround her during this terrible time.

Ori’s friends are all she has left of Ori. That and the stack of photos of her girl, left on the low plastic mourner’s chair by her side, for visitors to peruse.

When she is not distracted by the need to be gracious, to love the sweet girls who come to comfort her, who cherished her daughter, Noa Ansbacher’s smile is washed away, overtaken by lines of pain once more. There’s a heaviness to her grief, a thick fog of unbearable pain.

I could have shown you all this. It would have taken less than a second to capture Noa Ansbacher’s face and the scene around her for perpetuity. Perhaps a “real journalist” would have snapped that picture and published it here to show it to you. It would have gotten lots of page views, gone viral.

I could have done it, taken that photo, published it here, and in some ways, it would have been a serious good. A mother’s face, a study in mourning for a daughter stolen away by evil. Blameless, unassailable as Ori was, just a young girl with her life ahead of her. She was meant to do so much.

Anyone who would have seen such a photo of Noa Ansbacher in the depths of her unfathomable sorrow would have remembered her face forever, as I will, an indelible vision of pain. And indeed, seeing her face is the only way anyone could truly understand that pain. The kind of pain a mother exchanges for a life full of light.

Imagine a daughter blotted out by cruel thunderclap after a gentle lifetime of promise. This was a crime dripping with the worst sort of hate and aggression. A crime directed at a sweet young girl, a holy people, and a way of life—a way of life that is wholly good, driven as it is by the life force—and the bringing of an ancient land alive.

But there was something private in Noa Ansbacher’s face, something I dared not attempt to capture or share. In truth, I could hardly bear look at it myself. Who was I to imagine that I could depict the pain of a mother whose child is murdered in such an obscene and brutal way, for the crime of being Jewish and alone in Jerusalem?

And so I took photos of everything else around me, with the help of my friend and neighbor, who was the impetus behind this visit. Between the two of us, we took photos of everything in and around the Ansbacher home. I took photos of the photos of Ori Ansbacher from the stack of photos resting on the low plastic mourning chair beside her grieving mother. With no need for words, Jocelyn stepped in to hold the photos up for me, one at a time.

I took photos of the rolling sand dunes of the Judean Desert, a view that Ori would have seen from the balcony of her childhood home; a home that sits on ancient land: land that belonged to her people for thousands of years. She saw that view for the 19 years she lived her life, a handful of years. An age and a number she would never surmount.

On our way out, Jocelyn stopped so I could take yet more photos. I took photos of Herodian, where Herod built a summer residence. The flattened mountaintop looms in the distance from everywhere within the town of Tekoa, where Ori grew to womanhood and where her mother yet grieves. It is impossible to forget one’s history when one lives with such a view.

And the anemones. I could not leave without getting some photos of the bright red flowers that grow in such profusion close to the Ansbacher home at this time of year. These would have been old friends to Ori. In Hebrew they’re called “kalaniyot.”

(photo credit: Jocelyn Odenheimer)

No doubt the same flowers can be found in the Ein Yael forest in Jerusalem, where Ori sought solace and met instead, a brutal end. The kalaniyot are everywhere now, the bright scarlet notes breaking through the hillsides, so red against the green of the grass and the blue of the sky.

The anemones were, perhaps, the last beautiful thing Ori Ansbacher would ever behold.

They were a harbinger of spring.

A spring she would never see.

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.

Now 40, Islamic Republic Of Iran Secretly Looking Forward To Annual Prostate Exam (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Tehran, February 13 - It maintains a conservative, prim exterior, but this Islamic country harbors an intense desire to have a physician's fingers inserted up its backside, now that it has reached the recommended age after which to undergo such a procedure every year.

The Islamic Republic of Iran this week celebrated four decades since the revolution that created it, with the festivities including the requisite braggadocio and threats. Privately, however, close acquaintances of the regime report that it most relishes the prospect of having the inside of its rectum massaged on a regular basis, in keeping with medical sensibilities to foster early detection of one of the most common types of cancer.

"Between you and me, it's not the triumph of lasting this long and extending influence throughout the region," revealed neighbor Iraq. "That's gotta be gratifying, of course, but when no one else is around, Iran is most looking forward to a little digital anal penetration. That's not going to be the public line, obviously, what with the homosexual connotations of all that. But Iran is just like the rest of us, and we all have our little quirks and kinks."

Iran's physician confirmed the country had already made a prostate exam appointment three years in advance. "It's quite the responsible approach," he remarked. "At the annual checkup Iran has asked numerous times what the procedure entails, and never hesitates to delve into every detail. I seldom encounter patients with such intense interest in what most consider an awkward, uncomfortable feature of aging. Quite the breath of fresh air."

In the months leading up to the Islamic regime's fortieth birthday, Iran approached numerous older countries with discreet questions about their experiences with the prostate exam. "It was a little weird," admitted North Korea. "Personally, I'm inclined to avoid letting anyone get too close, so I haven't bothered with it in years. But Iran kept asking. I actually went as far as to use the word 'freak' when the subject came up again in our last conversation. Here I was trying to focus on arms cooperation, nuclear development, and undermining the West, and all I get is anal this and prostate that. Gave me the willies."

"Yeah, Iran asked me about that," disclosed Pakistan with a roll of the eyes. "Repeatedly. I will say no more."

Canada observed that it had suggested Iran avail itself of Israeli technology that has made the procedure less invasive and shorter, but the regime demurred, stammering something about not using "Zionist" things, yeah, that's why.

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.

Apparently, it ISN'T all about the Benjamins

I wrote this yesterday on Twitter, and it might as well be posted here too:

_________________________________________________

Aren't you sick and tired of all those articles about the South Korean lobby and their control over the US?

No?

That's funny, because they've spent about 60% more than the Israel lobby since 2017.

Japan spends more too.

I'm sure there's a good reason we ONLY hear about #3.

So all of you who are defending Omar by saying, well, yes, AIPAC's influence is something that is of major importance, why shouldn't we talk about it? - OK, please answer why we don't talk about Japan and South Korea's influence?

The hypocrisy from this event is off the charts.

The answer is always "Why SHOULDN'T we talk about Israel?'" That's fine, but when Israel is consistently the #1 topic for criticism in areas where it is not objectively #1 in reality, then there must be some other reason Israel is singled out, right?

What could it be?

Is Israel the one country in the world that should be boycotted, and not the scores of countries whose human rights records are abysmal?

Is Israel the one country that should be regularly tagged as "apartheid" even though so many countries discriminate in much worse ways?

Everyone is so keen on insisting that criticism of Israel isn't antisemitic, but what other reason can explain why the Jewish state is consistently singled out as the worst example of everything when it is not even close by any objective measure?

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.

02/13 Links Pt1: As Israel grieves a brutal murder, PA TV sings: “We have given them a taste of grief”; Senior Fatah official condemns Warsaw Conference: "There is an Israeli Auschwitz to massacre Palestinians"

From Ian:

PMW: As Israel grieves a brutal murder, PA TV sings: “We have given them a taste of grief”

Two days after the brutal murder of the 19-year-old Israeli woman Ori Ansbacher, official Palestinian Authority TV broadcast a song celebrating that Palestinians cause Israelis grief:
"A bone in the throat of the Zionists... We have given them a taste of grief"
[Official PA TV, Feb. 9, 2019]

The song tacitly promises 10 times more terror than Israel has suffered until now by promising there will be 10 times more Palestinian prisoners:
"We swear in the name of the prisoners In place of one [prisoner], here are ten"

While singing the words promising more prisoners, the singer points to a young child he is holding as if to say: This child is the future terrorist; this child is the future prisoner. The song's message is that today's children are the future terrorists and prisoners - those who will grow up to give "a taste of grief" and be "a bone in the throat of the Zionists."

"We are not afraid of the enemy - a bone in the throat of the Zionists
Palestinians - We are! We are!
The people of Jerusalem - We are! We are!
The people of Jenin - We are! We are! ...
O Al-Aqsa [Mosque], your wounds will heal
Victory is certain, it's inevitable
A rock thrown with expertise...
The people of Jaffa - We are! We are!
The people of Haifa - We are! We are!
The people of Lod - We are! We are!
The people of Ramle
The people of Acre - We are! We are!
The people of Nazareth - We are! We are! ...
We swear in the name of the prisoners
In place of one [prisoner], here are ten
We have given them [the Israelis] a taste of grief
We have given them a taste of grief - a bone in the throat of the Zionists"
[Official PA TV, Feb. 9, 2019; July 30 and Aug. 6, 2016]

The Palestinians incite to rape, too

In response to the horrifying rape and murder of Ori Ansbacher by a Palestinian terrorist, MK Aida Touma-Sliman, chairwoman of the Knesset Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, claimed that "the crime should be called what it is: The rape and murder of Ori Ansbacher is a gender-based crime. The criminal being Palestinian doesn't make the crime less horrifying and it cannot be part of the struggle for [Palestinian] national liberation."

The Palestinians Knesset member and Israeli citizens, like her friends in the various Palestinian terrorist organizations, were prepared for a public relations battle to characterize the rape and murder of Ori as another woman being murdered. In other words, some nameless killer with a knife just raped her for the heck of it on a chilly morning, just because she was a woman – not because she was Jewish. Why did the Palestinian criminal arm himself with a knife, cross the security barrier, rape and fatally stab Ori, rather than some random Palestinian woman?

The reason is simple: Every Palestinian who is exposed to incitement in some mosque, on social media, or in speeches by Palestinian leaders, knows that the enemy's blood can be shed. But if he rapes a Palestinian woman (a gender crime) or even secretly has his way with her in private, he'll be slaughtered and his immediate family members will follow him to hell.

After all, Muslims have honor and they are permitted to commit murder to uphold it. So whom are they allowed to rape and murder on the basis of their gender? Jews and Christians, who are defined as weak and out of bounds of the Arab code of vengeance.

Ori's blood cries out to deaf ears

If I didn’t know any better, I’d say the lack of coverage was purposeful…a blanket wall-to-wall blackout.

But I do know better and I still call it a confederacy of silence, beginning at The New York Times.

They are all in it together. I cannot prove it; rather it’s for them to prove that they are not carriers of journalistic malpractice. I know that scoffers’ smell of theirs from my own years in the newsroom and travelling with them to Israel where they went, and came back, like the Spies, to curse the land.

I saw it firsthand, their scandals of playing hide and seek with the truth. It’s in this and this book. They won’t tell it; I did.

Yes, the topic is Ori Ansbacher, a beautiful 19-year-old daughter of Israel who was found in the Ein Yael forest in south Jerusalem, dead from a particularly horrific act of rape and murder.

Did you read about it in the Times, in the Post, or in any other major (even minor) newspaper? Neither did I? Zero.

Did you watch any of it from CNN, the BBC, ABC, NBC, CBS or any other network? Same here. Nada. Zilch.

Ori’s blood cries out to deaf ears. A nation is in distress, the world shrugs, the media yawns.

The Free Palestine Movement was behind the 2011 flotilla to Israel and styles itself as a progressive peace movement that is pro-Palestinian.

They said in a November newsletter that they will offer new members of Congress a trip to "Palestine" as a rebuttal to the AIPAC-sponsored trip most take, and it is possible that Rashida Tlaib, who announced in December that she wants to partner with pro-Palestinian groups on a similar trip, may be working with FPM on this initiative.

FPM just sent out an email urging members to visit and support a "Call for a Palestine Liberation Movement" webpage, that describes what they want to see as a solution to the Israel/Palestinian conflict.

Their solution, as the map here show - no Israel. It would be replaced with the "One Democratic State of Palestine."

The description of that state makes it pretty clear that most Jews would be forced to leave.

This can only be achieved by establishing One Democratic State of Palestine for its indigenous people, the refugees who we were forced out of the country and its current citizens. This is the key to a ‘fair and permanent solution of conflict’ in the region, and to a ‘just solution’ for the Palestinian cause. Failing this, war and mutual destruction will continue.

They say they have no problems with Jews, which means they would allow any Jews who were there in 1917 or 1880 or something like that to stay, but anyone else who arrived after the Zionist movement began would not be welcome.

In other words - ethnic cleansing of Jews.

Someone may want to ask Tlaib if she supports the goals of the Free Palestine Movement and the Palestine Liberation Movement, and if her vision of a one-state solution looks like this one.

As of this writing, only eight people signed up for this vision, but it is in fact very close to what Palestinian Arabs say they want their own final solution to be, and "two states" are just a stage in the way to a single Palestinian state where Jews are only tolerated as a tiny minority with no political rights.

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.

Barak Ravid has a phenomenal scoop, published in Axios:

On the last day of the 2014 Gaza War, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a secret meeting with a special envoy from the Saudi king. In the meeting, Saudi Arabia proposed a joint diplomatic initiative on re-launching Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, rebuilding Gaza and confronting Iran, three sources briefed on the effort told me.

Why it matters: This was an unprecedented move by the Saudis — who do not have diplomatic relations with Israel — that could have profoundly shifted the regional dynamic. More surprisingly still, the Saudis planned to present it in public with the Israelis.

The details of the Saudi proposal, according to the sources:

-Israel and Saudi Arabia would draft an updated version of the 2002 Arab peace initiative.
-Netanyahu and the Saudi foreign minister would then present the initiative together during the UN General Assembly.
-Israel and Saudi Arabia would announce a process to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians would be re-launched.
-Saudi Arabia would lead a regional push for the reconstruction of Gaza.

The backstory, according to the three sources:

In early September 2014, Netanyahu held a secret meeting with Saudi national security adviser, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan. The meeting took place in a third country.
Bandar told Netanyahu at the meeting that Saudi Arabia wanted to re-launch the peace process in order to be able to unite the region against Iran.
Netanyahu was enthusiastic, and after 10 hours of talks he and Prince Bandar agreed to start preparing for a summit at the UN.
In the next few weeks, meetings were held between Netanyahu's advisers and Bandar's aides to draft a joint document.
Israel presented a draft, and while the Saudis agreed to many of the points, they asked Israel to show flexibility. Netanyahu refused to go further and the talks collapsed, the sources told me.

Between the lines: The sources told me the Saudis felt they went out of their way towards Israel. They said the Saudis felt angry and humiliated, and held Netanyahu responsible.

The sources told me that Prince Bandar conveyed a message to Netanyahu two months later, with the bottom line being that he believed Netanyahu lied to him.

The big picture: The affair created a deep crisis between Israel and Saudi Arabia and communications between the parties almost stopped — even on the Iranian issue. The crisis ended only a year later, several months after the death of King Abdullah and the inauguration of King Salman.

Notice that Ravid is doing everything he can to make Netanyahu look like the bad guy here. His headline is "Israel rejected 2014 Saudi proposal on Palestinian peace talks." All Israeli media followed that headline, saying it was Netanyahu who rejected a Saudi peace proposal.

But the story shows that it was Israel that presented a detailed plan, and the Saudis are the ones who rejected it.

Without knowing the details we can't know whether it was Netanyahu's red lines or the Saudi red lines that are unreasonable, but the plain reading of the story is that the only rejection was from the Saudis.

The other thing this story - which provides no details on the plan itself - proves is that, unlike how he is portrayed in the media and by Israel haters or so-called "moderates" like J-Street, Netanyahu was enthusiastic to come up with a peace plan with Saudi Arabia, speaking to their foreign minister for ten hours about it. This is completely opposite to how Netanyahu is treated in the media, even in this article itself.

One is reminded of the other peace proposal that no one wants to talk about, from 2013 and 2014, that the US drafted, Israel accepted and Palestinians rejected. It is never listed as one of the failed peace initiatives that Palestinians rejected, unlike the ones from Israel's non-Likud prime ministers.

If it doesn't fit with the meme of Bibi being a right-wing warmonger, the story must not be told - or, like here, it must be spun to fit the meme.

This has consequences. The truth is that Israel is the party that wants real peace, and the rejectionists are always the Arabs. The refusal of the media to give Bibi any credit for wanting peace is a factor in the pressure Israel gets to always concede more, give more, compromise more - and the Arabs get a free pass.

In other words, if the media would treat Bibi with the deference they treat the late Yitzchak Rabin - who not once said that he supported a Palestinian state - then there would be a much greater chance of peace.

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.

The hypocrisy over Ilhan Omar continues (update)

The way that so many people continue to defend Ilhan Omar is stunningly hypocritical.

The most-often seen defense is that Omar wants to simply open up a conversation about how money can corrupt politics, and that there is nothing antisemitic about bringing it up.

Typical is a tweet from Omar's fellow member of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez where she says "I’m proud @IlhanMN raised the issue of lobbyist 💰 in politics & equally proud of her sensitivity to communities. Both are possible."

But lobbyist dollars are equally given out on the Left and the Right. Ocasio-Cortez accepted money from many left-wing PACs. Omar received some $60,000 from PACs, including from the Council of American Islamic Relations.

Singling out AIPAC - which isn't even a PAC! - when every single member of Congress receives PAC money is hypocritical.

But this is far worse.

The word "AIPAC" is a dog whistle for the "Jewish lobby." In left-wing and Muslim circles, it means Jewish control of Congress and of the US government.

Looking the actual numbers shows what a lie this is.

In terms of lobbying causes to Congress, the pro-Israel lobby comes in at number 50, with $15 million spent in 2018, a tiny percentage of what the top lobby spent - $400 million from the securities and investment industry.

(UPDATE): Even that number is deceptive, because for the purposes of these statistics, J-Street is considered part of the "pro-Israel" lobby - and their policies are against what the Israeli government wants in virtually every case. J-Street account for half of the "pro-Israel lobby" dollars listed!

Even if for some reason you believe that money to lobby for other countries is more insidious than the billions spent scores of domestic lobbies with their own agendas, the Israel lobby is still not the largest.

Those would be South Korea and Japan, whose foreign lobbies spent many millions more than Israeli lobbies registered under FARA.

Arab countries also outspend the Israel lobby.

AIPAC is influential, no doubt. However, the emphasis on AIPAC plays on antisemitic stereotypes of Jewish money, Jewish influence and a Jewish agenda that is at odds with what is best for America.

It doesn't get more antisemitic than that.

The people who are trying to excuse Omar as somehow ignorant of this, as well as those who are pretending that she somehow is only exposing the general influence of money in politics, are being disingenuous. The Israel lobby is not at or near the top of any metric in spending or influence among all the lobbies in Washington.

Choosing to only highlight AIPAC as the source of all Washington corruption is antisemitic. Ignoring that this is what Omar did, or pretending that she understands this now when she tries to pretend that she just randomly chose AIPAC as her example, is enabling and excusing antisemitism.

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.

Ori Ansbacher: light, freedom and Jewish sovereignty (Forest Rain)

Inspiration from Zion - by Forest Rain

My Facebook feed is full of Ori’s photo. She looks different in the different images but in each her radiant smile is the same.

Ori, “my light” in Hebrew, was obviously a fitting name for this sunny girl. The more we hear about Ori from friends, family and the people she volunteered with helping underprivileged youth, we learn about the light that was stolen from us - Ori was a role model, an inspiration, a light that pointed the way for many to a better and happier world.

Israel and the Jewish community around the world have paused in horror at the discovery of Ori’s brutal murder on February 7th.

The rest of the world, not so much.

Who cares about a dead Jewish girl? Women are raped and murdered all over the world. It’s nothing unusual. Sad, but not newsworthy. Certainly not on an international level.

From a distance, it is probably difficult to understand why this case is different.

It is not just that our nation is so small and every life is precious.

It is not just that Ori was lovely and innocent. It is not just the stark contrast between her sunniness and the viciousness with which her life was ripped from her, the darkness rising up to stomp out the light because it knows that even a small light can banish great darkness.

It is not just that cases of rape that ends in murder are rare in Israel. In Israel women in general don’t have to fear the random stranger but we too have our share of crime, even violent crime.
Rape tends to be date rape or cases of pedophilia (neither of which could be considered common but even a single case is too many). Murder of women has become an issue of concern in the country. At the same time, those are not random murders. They tend to be “honor killings” (which occur among the Arab population) or cases of deranged spurned husbands or boyfriends who in helpless rage somehow decide that murder (usually followed by their own suicide) is the only way out. No rape is acceptable. No murder is acceptable. At the same time, it is important to understand that this murder is different.

Arafat is a name with a legacy. Ori’s murderer is named after the terrorist-extraordinaire, visionary and possibly the greatest marketer of all time, who solidified the imaginary Palestinian “brand” into the mind of people worldwide as a nation with rights to the land of Israel. To the Western world he said that the “Palestinian people” would exist side by side with Israel. To the Arab world he explained that they would exist instead of Israel but needed to proceed in a step by step method. Arafat Irfayia, 29, a resident of Hebron didn’t wake up in the morning that day deciding he wanted to rape a girl. He didn’t believe he could destroy Israel or “Free Palestine” either. He chose a knife before he left his home and went for a walk in the Jerusalem woods, to see which unfortunate Jewish soul would come his way. He knew he could stomp out one Jewish life.

Ori's murderer smirks during his arraignment

Animals kill for food or self-defense. This man saw light walking freely in the land where she belonged and he wanted to erase her existence. In his culture rape steals a woman’s value. The brutality of the murder is testament to a desire to exterminate, not simply end a life.

Ori’s murder is different because it wasn’t just a horrific attack on her, it was an attack against our nation. It wasn’t an attack on a woman who happened to be a Jew, it was an attack on a Jew who happened to be a woman. It was an attempt to erase the Jew from Israel.

THIS is the hate directed at the Nation of Israel.

The darkness hates the light because even the smallest light can banish the darkness. The darkness attempts to smother the light but does not truly understand just how powerful the light is.

Ori is dead but her light is not. In fact, her light is growing at an exponential rate.

Ori’s friends are putting her poetry of hope to music, so that it will spread and inspire more people.

Ori loved Israel and nature. Her murder was designed to make us afraid to walk free in our land as she did. That’s why her friends and many others are responding by walking the land MORE, not less. Particularly on the hills of Jerusalem.

Instinctively Ori’s friends requested everyone go outside, experience Israel and post photos with the hashtag #להיות_עם_חופשי_בארצנו #AFreeNationInOurLand.

For 2000 years we dreamt of return to our land, to be a free nation in our land. No Arafat, will succeed in taking that away from us.

Jewish sovereignty and freedom are more than the legal and self-sufficient Nation State. They are dependent on the determination of the Jewish spirit. We are small in number but ours is a light that will not go out – and when the darkness threatens to overwhelm us, we respond by growing even brighter.

We are Ori.

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.

02/12 Links Pt2: We already know Ilhan Omar is an anti-Semite. The question is, do Democrats care?; Pres. Trump calls for Omar's Resignation; Bar Kochba-era coin hailing ‘freedom of Israel’ unearthed

From Ian:

The Democratic Double Standard for Anti-Semitism

The problem for Democrats here is not only moral but political. Calling for Northam’s resignation was a low-cost engagement—at least, it was before it was learned that his potential successors have blackface and sexual assault controversies of their own. No one is calling for Omar’s resignation or even relieving her of her influential committee assignments so the people of Minnesota’s 5th Congressional district can “heal and move forward,” in part, because it wouldn’t end with Omar.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib invoked the noxious “dual loyalty” canard when she expressed her opposition to an anti-BDS bill before Congress by accusing Republicans of forgetting “what country they represent.”

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has never had to revisit her claim that the organizers of the Women’s March are the “suffragists of our time,” even though its organizers have since embraced the anti-Semitic Minister Louis Farrakhan and were accused of discriminating against its Jewish members. Indeed, when asked if she would condemn these formerly feted Democratic organizers, she declined to comment with any specifics. She did, however, offer a blanket denunciation of anti-Semitism.

The party has been unable to explain why some of its members vehemently denounce Farrakhan while others, including Reps. Andre Carson, Al Green, Danny Davis, and Maxine Waters, seem keen not only to embrace him but defend their association with the Nation of Islam.

To apply the Northam standard to casual acts of anti-Semitism would purge the Democratic caucus of many of its most valuable members. As such, it’s not really a standard at all. It’s more like a talking point.

Jonah Goldberg: Ilhan Omar’s Lazy and Anti-Semitic Tweets

Of course, it’s no surprise that Omar believes this garbage. It’s one of the lazier and most timeless talking points of a rogue’s gallery of cranks, Islamists, and, of course, anti-Semites of the Left and Right, as well as conspiracy theorists generally. Congress is “Israeli Occupied Territory” according to all the worst people.

Now a few points seem worth making. AIPAC isn’t a foreign lobby. It’s an American organization run by Americans. It spends remarkably little on lobbying and Israel spends virtually nothing on lobbying Congress. According to Open Secrets, the biggest political contributor of the “Pro-Israel” lobby in the 2018 cycle was . . . J Street, which spent nearly four times as much ($4,057,820) as the next biggest contributor NORPAC ($1,126,063). Planned Parenthood gave $5,734,048. In 2018, AIPAC did spend the most on lobbying — which is different than contributing. But again, its expenditures were relatively miniscule at 3.5 million. Lawyers spent nearly three times as much on lobbying ($15.4 million) and their contributions totaled over 217 million. The financial, insurance, and real-estate industries contributed nearly $883 million and another half-billion on lobbying.

Now, I’m not naïve. Of course, pro-Israel groups and individuals spend money on politics in other ways, direct and indirect. One need only look at Sheldon Adelson’s political giving to understand that.

But sometimes when people say “It’s not about the money” it’s actually not about the money. The best analogy is to the NRA. For many on the Left and in the media, it’s an article of faith that Republicans don’t cross the NRA because of all of the “blood money” the group lavishes on Congress. They find gun-rights arguments to be so outlandish on their face — in part because they live in gun-free blue bubbles — they immediately assume that bribery is at play. But, as I wrote here, the NRA gives remarkably little in terms of donations. The NRA’s — and the broader gun lobby’s — real power lies in the fact that it can mobilize voters.

Israel is popular with a number of important constituencies including many Jews (imagine that). But its real popularity resides among evangelical Christians and voters generally. And, despite its perfectly debatable flaws, real and alleged, it should be popular. It’s an ally. It’s democratic. It’s Western. And its enemies are largely our enemies. It’s no coincidence it’s listed as the “Little Satan” alongside the “Great Satan” that is America, by some of the most evil and backward regimes in the world.

Ben Shapiro: The Democratic Party Has Become The Party Of Anti-Semitism. Here's Why.

Anti-Semitism now thrives inside the Democratic Party. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) wrote a piece for Louis Farrakhan in 2006; she’s welcome in the party. Linda Sarsour continues to be an ally to the new Democratic Fresh Faces™ as well as more established names like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) (in November, Sarsour slammed “folks who masquerade as progressives but always choose their allegiance to Israel over their commitment to democracy and free speech”). Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) holds conference calls with vicious British anti-Semite Jeremy Corbyn, to no serious blowback from the Democratic Party. Keith Ellison, now attorney general of Minnesota, was nearly made the head of the Democratic National Committee after engaging in blatant anti-Semitism for years.

How has the Democratic Party morphed into the party of anti-Semitism? By embracing the philosophy of intersectionality on the one hand, and by embracing the myth that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are completely separable on the other. The former provides the emotional impetus for nodding at Jew-hatred; the latter provides the intellectual framework for doing so.

The philosophy of intersectionality has othered Jews from the intersectional coalition. Because intersectionality is built on the premise that the prevailing Western system of thought has victimized various groups, and that those groups must band together in order to destroy that system, those who have thrived under the West must be excised from the intersectional agglomeration – being, as they are, representatives of the fact that Western thought is not, in fact, rooted in evil. The Jews are simply too financially, educationally, and politically successful to be seen as anything other than members of the power structure. Thus, slurs against them must be countenanced from more victimized groups.

This is only 7 minutes long. You will not forget it.

In 1939, 20,000 Americans rallied in New York’s Madison Square Garden to celebrate the rise of Nazism – an event largely forgotten from American history. A NIGHT AT THE GARDEN, made entirely from archival footage filmed that night, transports audiences to this chilling gathering and shines a light on the power of demagoguery and anti-Semitism in the United States.

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.