Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, March 16, 2019

03/16 Links: Nothing happened at Gaza border today, proving Hamas completely controls the ‘Great March of Return’; Germany to deport terrorist Rasmea Odeh at urging of Amb. Grenell; Pro-Israel Lawyers Question Jurisdiction Of ICC

From Ian:

Nothing happened at Gaza border today, proving Hamas completely controls the ‘Great March of Return’

The supposedly civilian and spontaneous border ‘protests’ are a charade, a propaganda event, turned on and off by Hamas like a spigot. It’s deadly Pallywood.

The so-called ‘Great March of Return’ was launched in late March 2018.

Palestinian propagandists and western anti-Israel activists, amplified by the international media, routinely depict the ‘protests’ as a spontaneous civilian uprising caused by Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

But as we have shown in dozens of posts, the protests are violent riots, often under cover of huge clouds of burning tires.

The participants are led by Hamas and Islamic Jihad military operatives. It is no coincidence that at least 80% of the Palestinians killed were terrorist group members.

Joe Truzman has extensively documented both the violence and involvement of terror groups.

Even many of the “children” involved and sometimes killed are teenage terror group members.

So what didn’t happen today that proves our point?

The best proof that the riots are not spontaneous or civilian is that nothing happened today, for the first Friday in almost a year.

Germany to deport Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh at urging of U.S. Ambassador Richard Grenell

When Rasmea Odeh was deported to Jordan by the U.S. government for immigration fraud in September 2017, it was uncertain whether we would hear from her again.

Who is Rasmea Odeh?

Odeh was the military member of the terrorist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine who masterminded and carried out the bombing of the SuperSol Supermarket in Jerusalem in 1969, killing two Hebrew University students. We recently marked the 50th Anniversary of the bombing, In Memory of Edward Joffe and Leon Kanner, murdered 50 years ago in a Jerusalem supermarket bombing.

Odeh was convicted of the bombing after a lengthy trial which even an observer from the International Red Cross said was fair. Odeh served 10 years of her life sentence before being released in a prisoner exchange for an Israeli soldier captured in Lebanon. Odeh then made her way to the U.S. where she lied on her visa and naturalization forms. When her fraud was discovered, she was prosecuted, and then deported in a plea deal by which she escaped a prison term.

Odeh and her supporters concocted a demonstrably false story that she only was convicted in Israel after she falsely confessed after 25 days of sexual torture. In fact, the evidence showed that she confessed after one day, and the additional evidence against her was overwhelming. For a full discussion, see this post, The Lies of Rasmea Odeh and Her Supporters Exposed.

Rasmea became a hero to the anti-Israel movement in the U.S., including now-Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib.

Sbarro terrorist wanted in the US

Ahlam al-Tamimi, a Jordanian terrorist who assisted in the 2001 suicide bombing in the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, responded to a tweet by US Middle East envoy Jason Greenblatt, who linked to the State Department’s Rewards for Justice program which offers financial rewards for information on the whereabouts of terrorists, including Tamimi.

Tamimi, who served a prison term for her part in the attack at the Sbarro restaurant and was released as part of an exchange deal with Hamas, said that Greenblatt's remarks showed that he is a "racist figure working for the occupation."

Tamimi, the first woman to join Hamas, was the person who drove the suicide bomber who carried out the Sbarro attack.

In 2017, the FBI placed her on its "Most Wanted Terrorist" list, charging her with "conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against US nationals outside the US, resulting in death."

15 people, including two American citizens, were killed in the attack. Over 120 others were injured, including four Americans.

03/15 Links Pt2: Judea Pearl: An Open Letter to Nancy Pelosi on Ilhan Omar; J Street’s ‘Birthwrong’ project; Journalism’s Longest War: The New York Times Versus Zionism and Israel

From Ian:

Judea Pearl: An Open Letter to Nancy Pelosi on Ilhan Omar

The following letter is an adaptation of remarks made at the sit-in protest in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office in Washington, DC, on March 14, 2019.

As president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation, and a lifelong Democrat, I urge House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to act boldly and decisively on Rep. Ilhan Omar’s antisemitic bigotry.

Our late son, Daniel Pearl, was not an Islamophobe, nor a foreign agent or a trader in “Benjamins.” He was a principled American journalist, a champion of truth, and a relentless peace-seeker, who was murdered for being a Jew and a lover of Israel. I plead with Speaker Pelosi to rid the House of Representative of a new form of bigotry — directed again at Jews and lovers of Israel.

Words matter. And the hateful words pronounced by Rep. Ilhan Omar will continue to haunt and poison the future of American Jewry. However, we are concerned not merely with the harsh consequences of those words, but with the obsessive hatred that produced them, and the ultimate purpose for which they were enunciated — to erode American support for the State of Israel, the miracle that symbolizes Jewish history and Jewish aspirations.

We stand here to remind Speaker Pelosi of words that she has spoken many times in the past — that US support for Israel is not only a matter of mutual interest and shared values, but that American support of a homeland for the Jewish people is a moral imperative — a historical calling that should not be polluted with accusations of dual loyalty or greed.

The resolution passed by the House on March 9 condemns almost every form of hate on earth, except one — the anti-Zionist hatred waged against our brothers and
sisters in Israel. They are six and a half million refugees or descendants of refugees who have been denied normalcy for the past 70 years, besieged by hostile neighbors and confronted by daily existential threats from Hamas, Hezbollah, and Iran.

The anti-Zionist obsession that Rep. Omar now brings to the halls of Congress aims to strip these six and a half million people from sovereignty and abandon them, stateless, to the mercy of genocidal neighbors. Americans cannot allow such moral deformity to stain the halls of their representative government.

‘Stand with Israel’ and ‘Stand with Ilhan' Chants Compete in Nancy Pelosi's Office

Pro-Israel demonstrators poured into Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office Thursday, calling on her to condemn Rep. Ilhan Omar and antisemitism. They were interrupted by two pink-clad “Stand with Ilhan” counter-protesters.
Rabbi Aryeh Spero of the National Conference of Jewish Affairs organized the sit-in and from outside Pelosi’s office, went after the speaker’s failure to condemn Rep. Omar’s most recent antisemitic comments or even antisemitism itself.

“She failed us. She had a chance to condemn Omar. She didn’t. She had a chance to condemn standalone, by itself, antisemitism. She didn’t,” said Rabbi Spero. “This was a turning point to stand up and do what was right, what was just, what was fair, and she didn’t.”

After the Rabbi’s comments outside of the office, protesters streamed into Pelosi’s front office.

The group began chanting, “Stand with Israel.”

A pink-clad counter-protester responded with shouts of “Stand with Ilhan” while brandishing a “Stop Islamophobia” sign.

Melanie Phillips: Jewish Book Week, Corbynised Democrats

Please join me here as I discuss with Avi Abelow of Israel Unwired the latest developments to roil our crazy world. On our agenda this week are what happened when I appeared at Jewish Book Week in London, and the “Corbynisation” of the US Democrats.

I talk about the discussion in which I took part at Jewish Book Week on Brexit, the rough reception given to myself and my fellow Brexiteer Maurice Glasman, and why I think that the majority support by bBritish Jews for remaining in the EU is profoundly and self-destructively wrong.

We go on to discuss the growing feeling among sections of the British Jewish community that it’s “time to leave”. Then we talk about the similarities between the Labour party’s crisis and the growing difficulties of the US Democrats, whose leadership has conspicuously failed to deal with the antisemitism displayed by certain new members of Congress. I make the point that, as has been observed from the French Revolution onwards and as I observed in my Times column, the Democrats are once again proving the truth of the old adage that “the revolution consumes its own”.

The Libertarian PodCast: Anti-Semitism on the Left

Richard Epstein grapples with a new wave of anti-semitism on the left, and explains why progressive notions of ‘tolerance’ often undermine pluralism.

03/15 Links Pt1: After rockets fired at Tel Aviv, IDF hits more than 100 Hamas targets; Palestinian Red Crescent to host BDS conference; Israel condemns ‘depraved and despicable’ mosque massacre in New Zealand

From Ian:

Two rockets fired at Tel Aviv from Gaza for first time since 2014 war

Rocket sirens were triggered Thursday evening in the Tel Aviv area in central Israel, as two rockets from the Gaza Strip were fired at the heart of the country for the first time since the war of 2014, signalling a possible dramatic escalation of violence by terror groups in the Strip just weeks before the Knesset elections.

Residents of Israel’s second-largest city and the surrounding metropolis of Gush Dan rushed to bomb shelters and reported hearing explosions. The rockets both hit open areas, and did not cause casualties. However, five people were treated for shock by paramedics.

Initial reports indicated that the Iron Dome missile defense system was launched to intercept an oncoming rocket. However, the Israel Defense Force said no interception had taken place, and it was not clear whether an interceptor had been launched.

“Two rockets were launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli territory. The alert and warning systems operated as required,” the army said. “No interceptions were made by aerial defense systems. No damage or injuries were reported. There are no special instructions for the civilian home front.”

Rockets fired from Gaza to Tel Aviv

IDF hits more than 100 Hamas targets in Gaza after rockets fired at Tel Aviv

Israeli war planes hit over 100 Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip in a night of strikes after two rockets were fired at Tel Aviv for the first time since the 2014 war, the Israel Defense Forces said.

The strikes came after an urgent late night consultation between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense chiefs in Tel Aviv. “Decisions were taken,” an Israeli official said without elaborating.

Shortly after the strikes began, the IDF issued a statement saying the “Hamas terror group carried out the rocket fire.” Hamas has denied it was behind the move.

On Friday morning, IDF spokesman Ronen Manelis said that over 100 Hamas targets were hit in response to the fire on Tel Aviv; air strikes went on throughout the night.

We hit 100 Hamas military targets in Gaza in response to the rockets they fired at Israeli civilians. Among them:
• Underground rocket manufacturing site
• HQ responsible for orchestrating Hamas terrorism in Judea & Samaria
• Hamas center of unmanned aerial aircraft#StopHamas pic.twitter.com/Iy3DwpNpTU
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) March 15, 2019

Iranian fingerprints in Gaza

Palestinian Islamic Jihad fired the missiles at central Israel from Gaza on Thursday night. But Iran, which controls the terrorist group and its leaders and which gives it money and provides it with the type of missiles used in Thursday's attack, is directly responsible. Iran doesn't hide its desire to spark a conflagration in Gaza with the aim of sabotaging and even halting Israel's efforts to dislodge the Islamic republic from Syria. The Iranians also want to embarrass Israel and harm it, by exploiting the fact that this is a sensitive period, ahead of the upcoming April 9 general election.

Hamas, however, is also responsible for the missile attack, because it hasn't taken action against Islamic Jihad and other recalcitrant groups in Gaza, which continue targeting Israel. Hamas lends a hand to the escalation along the border as a matter of routine, hoping to improve its negotiating position with Israel and receive aid dollars from Qatar.

In this regard, the missile attack on Gush Dan indicates the collapse of this conception and essentially the illusion – created by Hamas and Israel alike – that it's possible to control the flames Hamas is fanning along the Gaza border and prevent them from spreading. At the end of the day, those who shoot at Israeli communities near Gaza will also shoot at Tel Aviv.

It is also evident that Hamas isn't omnipotent in Gaza. Just yesterday, even before the missile attack, demonstrations erupted in Gaza against the organization over the grim economic situation there. In light of these protests, Hamas has no interest in even trying to control the rioters on the border with Israel or restraining Islamic Jihad and other like-minded groups.

Issa Amro politicizes today's massacre to make it all about Palestinians

Issa Amro calls himself the "Palestinian Gandhi" even though he has been arrested for violent crimes.

As a notable Palactivist, Amro never misses an opportunity to take any news story and try to make it about Palestinians.

Seriously, this guy is pretending that Boruch Goldstein is the best example of a person killing people in a house of worship.

Of course, there are many examples of Arabs killing Jews in synagogues.

In April 1956, Arab terrorists opened fire on a synagogue full of children and teenagers, in the farming community of Shafrir. Three children and a youth worker were killed on the spot, and five were wounded.

In 2014 was the Har Nof Massacre, where two Arabs killed four worshipers and a Druze man at a synagogue. This attack mirrors much more closely the coordinated plot in today's massacre of Muslim worshipers.

There were others in Israel like the Mercaz Harav attack, but Issa's fellow Palestinians also have targeted synagogues worldwide.

The attack on the Great Synagogue of Rome in 1982 by five Palestinians killed a three year old.

In 1986 two Palestinians mowed down 22 worshipers in an Istanbul synagogue.

There were other attacks on synagogues that killed non Jews, like in Ghriba and another in Istanbul, by Islamists who were incited by Palestinian propaganda. Also a number of plots to blow up synagogues in the US by Islamists were foiled by the FBI.

If you want an analogy to today's coordinated massacre, apparently fueled by incitement and hate, there are plenty of better examples than Hebron - incidentally a city whose synagogues were ransacked in 1929 by Amro's heroes.

Amro's glee in trying to make the horrific New Zealand massaacres about Palestinians shows that he really diesdoe give a damn about the victims. They are just pawns in his anti Israel crusade.

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Zionist Jewish rapper Young Gravy sings "Diaspora," live, plus an interview (videos)

Recently, a video called "Diaspora" by a young rap artist named Young Gravy took the Zionist world by storm.

The #Digitell19 attendees had the opportunity to hear him sing it live, along with some new songs with Jewish themes, last night in an overcrowded Tel Aviv bar.

Here are the lyrics, some of them poignant in light of the rockets that were fired at Tel Aviv only a couple of hours later:

[Verse 1]
I’m a proud part of the diaspora
We ain’t gon play the victim they get mad every time we’re standing up
I’m proud of my people, what we accomplished
You’re crazy if you think some rockets barrages will stop us
Look through our history and we’ve been through it all
Made it through slavery and a holocaust and still standing tall
At the kotel western wall saying the sh’ma meditating
On all the populations, to whom this song is dedicated
Six Jewish families that resided in Khartoum
My Iraqi brothers and sister survived the Farhud
The ones who came in 56 from Mizrayim
Now we’re thriving, garim, B’Yerushalayim
V’gam B’Haifa, HaGolan v’Tel Aviv
Be’er Sheva b’hanegev, V’Eilat by the sea
Atah yodeah she’lo shachachti Ha’Etiopim
She’assu et hakol ma etem omrim she’hem lo yacholim
[Hook]
I’m a proud part of the diaspora
In my heart I hold Jerusalem and Africa
Kicked us out of our land and started gassin us
‘Til we put our foot down cuz we had enough
Check out the flag that I’m waving
Two blue stripes and a huge Star of David
Check out the flag that I’m waving
Keep shooting rockets but you never gon’ take it
[Verse 2]
I hear em talking about the Jews will not replace us
On college campuses they’ve been tryna erase us
And all that BDS campaignin?
We’ve dealt with worse problem than racist associations
Of students all acting stupid
And thinking they're making differences
Picking and choosing truths
And not knowing what real resistance is
You say you value social justice, are you kidding us?
What the hell gives you the right to tell me who’s indigenous?
You don’t have it, you just assume the privilege
Of looking at other people and telling ‘em what their image is
You want the image to fit your twisted narrative
But your divide and conquer tactics ain’t scaring this
Diaspora, of which I’m a proud part
I got blue and white in my veins running through my heart
And they get mad when we’re surviving
The truth is the only way they like a Jew is if they’re dying
So iIma say this by the candlelight
Take moment and remember the fallen for their sacrifice
Never again, we shall never forget
They wanted us dead, we rose from the ashes instead
Melamdim ha’historia m’dor l’dor
Lo yihiye lanu atid, im lo nizcor
We wouldn't have a future, if we didn’t have a past
Everyday we gotta take a minute and honor those who passed
Then wake up determined cuz we returning
To the ways they tried to erase that we’re preserving
Scattered in the wind, in diasporic conditions
But still maintained a connection to our traditions
From Morocco to Havana to Yemen, living in Aden
Ciudad de Mexico, Buenos Aires, we’re all one nation
Through all of the oppression that they threatened tryna shatter us
I’m still a proud part of the diaspora
[Hook]
I’m a proud part of the diaspora
In my heart I hold Jerusalem and Africa
Kicked us out of our land and started gassin us
‘Til we put our foot down cuz we had enough
Check out the flag that I’m waving
Two blue stripes and a huge Star of David
Check out the flag that I’m waving
Keep shooting rockets but you never gon take it

I spoke with him afterwards in a slightly quieter part of the bar. He is only 19, but handsome and charismatic and very proudly Jewish.

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Screenshot from TOI video of sirens in Tel Aviv

Last night, as Mrs. Elder and I were eating at a Tel Aviv hotel restaurant after a couple of hours hanging out with Israel advocates at a nearby bar, we heard the Red Alert sirens.

We asked two waitresses whether this was Red Alert - and one said she thought it was just a burglar alarm from a nearby store. From inside the hotel, the alarms were not loud. No one told guests to seek shelter. (Later, the other waitress admitted that it didn't occur to her that this was a Red Alert since it has been so long since there was such an alert in Tel Aviv. She herself was an Iron Dome operator and wondered if she would be called up for duty this weekend.)

I immediately opened Twitter and saw that it was indeed a Red Alert, and a minute later read that people heard a "Boom" - from Iron Dome. We didn't hear the boom. And we kept eating.

Now we know that the two rockets fell in open areas and that the "boom" was from Iron Dome rockets self-destructing. We know the rockets came from Gaza and that the IDF spent the night bombing empty terror sites in Gaza, and that a few more rockets were shot towards Israeli towns closer to Gaza overnight.

Soon, Islamic Jihad denied shooting the rockets, and this was followed by Hamas not only denying the rocket fire but condemning whoever did it.

The IDF blamed Hamas, but this is one of the rare times that I don't believe them. They hold Hamas responsible for all rocket fire from Gaza and want to create a situation where Hamas has incentive to stop rocket fire from other terror groups - a strategy that has been very effective since the last Gaza war in 2014.

I also believe Islamic Jihad's denial. They may be murderers, but they are proud murderers and are not prone to lie.

Which brings up the question: If it wasn't one of those two groups that fired the rockets, who else could it have been?

While there is no shortage of other terror groups in Gaza - Fatah splinter groups, Salafist groups, PFLP, PFLP-GC, DFLP - none of them are taking responsibility as far as I can tell, and I do not think most of them have rockets with that range.

Who would have incentive to fire rockets at this time? Hamas didn't, as they were hosting an Egyptian security delegation, which hurried out of Gaza before Israel's retaliation.

It is possible that rogue elements within Hamas or Islamic Jihad fired the rockets.

My concern, and I don't have any evidence yet for it, is that Iran has been setting up a new terror group in Gaza to disrupt the detente that exists between Israel and the other terror groups. So far, this is the only thing that makes sense to me, because Iran can help a group get longer range missiles in a relatively short time. There are still tunnels under the Rafah border that allow weapons smuggling. Plus, Iranian and Hezbollah media are celebrating the rockets, although that is weak evidence as they would celebrate no matter who shot them, there does seem to be a little more glee with this attack.

Iran is the only entity that would gain from this attack.

As I said, I have very little evidence that there is a new stealth Iranian funded terror group in Gaza. But there has been noise about Iran and Hezbollah plans to help either fund existing smaller groups or to set up new ones in the past in Gaza. Iran would love to surround Israel with rockets under their control, as they already have rockets aimed at Israel from Lebanon and likely Syria.

This doesn't feel like a one-off. There is a change in the status quo, and it might have consequences down the line.

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03/14 Links Pt2: J Street launches Birthright-style trip to Israel that will include Palestinians; Amnesty Warns Top UK Companies Over Doing Business With Israeli Settlements

From Ian:

J Street launches Birthright-style trip to Israel that will include Palestinians

After months of chastising Birthright Israel for what it calls one-sided trips, J Street U is launching its first-ever free trip to Israel and the West Bank.

Come July, 40 American college students will participate on a 10-day trip courtesy of the progressive group. Billed as an alternative to Birthright, the trip, which will be funded by J Street donors, is part of its “Let Our People Know” campaign. Group leaders hope the trip will give American Jewish youth a more complete and nuanced picture of life in Israel.

“We hope this trip will provide a model for the kind of Israel education young Jews want and need — one that engages fully with Israel’s reality, including perspectives from Palestinians living under its 52-year military occupation,” said Eva Borgwardt, president of the J Street U National Board and Stanford University senior.

“It will prove that American Jews can engage with Israel as a complex place, one that is meaningful, important and challenging. In doing so, they will meet Israelis and Palestinians who are working toward a better future, and think critically about their own role as Americans in that conversation and the push for the just, peaceful, democratic future for the country outlined in its Declaration of Independence,” she said.

The announcement for the trip comes months after J Street U circulated a petition on campuses nationwide demanding Palestinian speakers of its own choosing be included on Birthright Israel trips. More than 2,000 students signed the petition. At the time neither J Street U nor other left-leaning groups considered funding their own trips.

Additionally, those opposing Birthright also staged several civil disobedience events in the past year. In early December 2018 three students with ties to the self-described anti- occupation group IfNotNow said Birthright forced them off their trip for inquiring about the Israel-Palestinian conflict. During the summer of 2018 activists also staged several walk-offs in in protest of what they said was Birthright’s steadfast refusal to address the ongoing conflict. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

Leading African Historian Urges President Macron to ‘Save France’ From Revival of ‘Colonial and Antisemitic’ Past

One of Africa’s leading historians has urged President Emmanuel Macron to “save France from itself” by confronting the rising antisemitism in the country head-on.

In an open letter to Macron published in the Malian news outlet Mali Actu on Monday, Ismaël Diadié Haïdara — a Malian scholar recognized for establishing a library that houses thousands of rare Muslim, Jewish and Christian manuscripts — told the French leader that the diverse, cosmopolitan France “which I have learned to love from my childhood is dying.”

Many intellectuals in Mali — a West African nation that won independence from France in 1960 — retain a strong affinity for French culture and history, while also being deeply critical of its colonial aspects. Citing some of France’s finest philosophers and writers — including the poet Victor Hugo, the Renaissance essayist Michel de Montaigne, and the great twentieth century writer Albert Camus — Haïdara contrasted them dramatically with what he called “the colonial and antisemitic France” that, he feared, was again in the ascendant.

“We are in a world that is sinking into an economic abyss with serious ecological consequences, seeking solutions to political issues that already showed their limits in Vichy [the location of the capital of the collaborationist regime in France during the Nazi occupation of 1940-44] and in Auschwitz,” Haïdara wrote.

“Mr. President, save France from itself,” he urged Macron.

Haïdara asserted that the “desperate cry” of “J’accuse” (“I accuse”) — the title of the famous 1898 letter penned by the writer Emile Zola in defense of the falsely convicted French Jewish Army officer, Capt. Alfred Dreyfus — was still relevant today. Referring to the brutal antisemitic murder in 2018 of French Jewish Holocaust survivor Mireille Knoll, as well as more recent acts of vandalism and desecration of Jewish cemeteries, Haïdara argued that “to march in the streets of Paris…is no longer enough.”

Polish newspaper’s front page teaches ‘how to recognize a Jew’

A right-wing newspaper with national distribution in Poland ran on its front page an article that instructs readers on “how to recognize a Jew.”

The Polish-language weekly, Tylko Polska, or “Only Poland,” lists on its front page “Names, anthropological features, expressions, appearances, character traits, methods of operation” and “disinformation activities.”

The text also reads: “How to defeat them? This cannot go on!”

The page also features a headline reading, “Attack on Poland at a conference in Paris.” The reference is to a Holocaust studies conference last month during which Polish nationalists complained that speakers were anti-Polish. That article features a picture of Jan Gross, a Polish-Jewish Princeton University scholar of Polish complicity in the Holocaust and a frequent target of nationalist attacks.

Cartoon of the Day: Job-hunting

Continuing my re-captioning of single-panel cartoons....

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

Thanks to Rotem Sela, an Israeli actress, model, and TV personality, we can learn a lesson about Zionism, nationalism, racism, and the Israeli and American Jewish Left.

Here is what happened: Miri Regev, Likud loyalist and Minister of Culture and Sport, noted that if Netanyahu’s main opponent, Benny Gantz, were to form a government, he would have to include anti-Zionist Arab parties in his coalition. Sela, on her Instagram page (because that is how actresses, models, and TV personalities communicate), said, in part (Hebrew link, my translation):

My God, there are also Arab citizens in this country! When the hell will someone in this government broadcast to the public that Israel is a state of all of its citizens? Every person was born equal. Even Arabs, God save us, are people.

PM Netanyahu responded as follows (also my translation):

Rotem my dear, an important correction: Israel is not a state of all its citizens. According to the Nation-State Law that we passed, Israel is the nation-state of the Jewish people – and only them. As you wrote, there is no problem with Arab citizens of Israel – they have equal rights with everyone…

In Israel, the reaction to Sela’s comment was predictable – anger on the Right and agreement on the Left (and yes, Gal Gadot expressed her support for her friend Sela in a relatively non-political way).

The usual suspects in America, J Street, If Not Now, the New Israel Fund, the Israel Policy Forum, and others, were on it like one of those Israeli hopping spiders on a cockroach. “Racist,” “undemocratic,” “cynical,” “morally repugnant,” and on and on. If Not Now referred to “racism” not once but twice in their statement.

I wouldn’t have called Sela “my dear,” but Netanyahu’s response was otherwise entirely correct. Even without the Nation-State Law, Israel has never been a “state of all its citizens” as Sela, who is supposed to be well-educated, asserted. Like Japan and numerous other countries, but unlike the US, Israel is a nation-state, a state in which – or by which – a particular people or culture expresses its right of self-determination.

The USA was defined by its founding fathers to be a state of all its citizens (although it took some time before it was ready to accept all of its legal inhabitants as citizens with full rights). Israel, on the other hand, was created to be “the state of the Jewish people,” while at the same time it endeavored to provide equal rights to all of its citizens. One way to understand this is to say that there are “civil rights” – the right to vote and hold office, education and employment, and so on, and “national rights,” which include the symbols, languages, and religions of the state, and – particularly important in the case of Israel – the objectives of encouraging immigration from the national diaspora and maintaining a national majority.

The nation-state law explicitly affirms the intention of the founders that national rights in the State of Israel belong to the Jewish people, and to nobody else. It does not limit the civil rights of national minorities. Rotem Sela doesn’t seem to understand this distinction. Netanyahu does, which may be one of the reasons he is PM and she is a fashion model.

This is nothing new, and it is neither racist, undemocratic, fascist, or morally repugnant. Nationalism and nation-states are out of fashion today, particularly in Europe, whose European Union is a (failing) attempt to replace those things with a universal government, and among the American Left, which is in the grip of the pathological ideology of “intersectionalism” (this will require a dedicated post).

There is a reason that Israel’s founding fathers defined it as the nation-state of the Jewish people and not something else, and that is the Zionist understanding that only in a majority Jewish state with Jewish symbols, culture, institutions, government, police, military, and so on can Jews be guaranteed a normal life and freedom from oppression without giving up their Jewishness.

This was the conclusion drawn by the early Zionists, from on the historical experiences of their people. It was further confirmed by the Holocaust, and the mass expulsions of Jews from Muslim countries following 1948. Today it is being confirmed yet again by the worldwide resurgence of antisemitism, even in places like the US and the UK where it had been thought to be dead. And it should also be clear that even without anti-Jewish violence, in places where Jews are a minority, they will be silently swallowed up by assimilation.

The definition of Israel as the state of the Jewish people has both symbolic and highly practical consequences. It justifies the use of Jewish symbolism in the flag, the national anthem, the symbol of the state, and so forth. It justifies the decision to observe Jewish holidays as national holidays, and to use the Hebrew language. But most important, the Law of Return for Jews (and no one else) is grounded in the understanding that Israel is the state of the Jewish people. It is the most concrete expression of national rights possible.

This isn’t “racism” (although by current American standards, who knows what that means?). It is nationalism, in particular Jewish nationalism, or in short, Zionism.

If Israel were to be redefined as a state of all its citizens, as the extreme Left and many Arab citizens want (and Rotem Sela appears to believe has already happened), what would be the justification for a Law of Return for Jews? Why shouldn’t there be one for Arabs? Why should Israel act as a place of refuge for persecuted Jews such as the Jews of Ethiopia, or even European Jews fleeing antisemitism? Why would it be important to have our capital in Jerusalem?

Israeli critics of the Nation-State Law (including Benny Gantz) have said that they would like to add a statement to it guaranteeing “equality” to all citizens of Israel. This is a bad idea. Equal civil rights for all are guaranteed by other basic laws. The Nation-State Law is the only one that specifically deals with national rights, and adding a statement about equality to it could be interpreted as diluting its force. It would be like the recent action of the American Congress, which diluted-to-death a resolution about antisemitism by making it a catch-all statement against every kind of bigotry. Even the antisemites were then able to vote for it.

The reactions of J Street, et al., illustrate that they are not only critical of Israel’s actions, but that they are critical of the most basic foundation of the Jewish state, the Zionist idea itself.

Thank you for helping clarify that, Rotem.

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03/14 Links Pt1: Amb. Friedman: The Palestinians Don't Have "a Veto on Progress"; The sick stupidity of comparing Nazi-era Jews to ISIS fighters; Israel’s ambassador shocked over PFLP terrorist speech in Berlin

From Ian:

The Palestinians Don't Have "a Veto on Progress"

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman interviewed by Washington Examiner

Referring to the Trump administration's peace plan, U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman explained, "There ought to be a means to get at least closer to a point where the Palestinians have more control over their lives in a way that doesn't jeopardize Israel's security." The plan "will hopefully, if nothing else, provoke a serious discussion that hasn't taken place in a long time."

Friedman has sought out business leaders and other nonpolitical figures in the West Bank to understand ways to improve Palestinians' quality of life. "I'm happy to meet with Palestinians, even if they don't agree with me or like me. Their thoughts and perspectives make me smarter, thoughtful, and more creative."

He views the U.S. embassy move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem last year as a shift in the U.S. message, that "this is not a conflict where the Palestinians have a veto on progress. At some point...things will move forward with or without them. The U.S. is not going to ignore reality. We are not going to indulge the Palestinians in the fantasy that somehow Jerusalem can be disconnected from Israel or the Jewish people....The idea that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel is a fact...a reality, not a negotiation point," though its boundaries are negotiable.

"The idea that one could approach this conflict with a sense of neutrality...is pretty insulting to Israel. The reason Israel holds the territory it holds today, in simple terms, is because it kept getting attacked, wars kept getting fought, and Israel kept winning. The reason Israel hasn't given back all of it, and they gave back a lot, is because to give it away would be an existential risk to the country." Friedman said any other way of looking at the conflict is trying to make peace based on an "alternative reality."

"The biggest danger in this part of the world is to be consumed with wishful thinking. You should see a better future down the road, but you can't wish your way to that. You have to protect yourself along the way."

Why Israel Is Not to Blame for the Lack of Peace

As humans, one of the hardest things to do is give up something we love. When something is held so close to the heart, our strongest instinct tells us to guard it with all of our might.

The State of Israel may be relatively young, but Zionism is not nearly as new. The yearning to live in our ancestral homeland has existed for thousands of years. We’ve known, since the beginning of time, that this land was something we had to protect for eternity.

Today, despite our love for Israel, we understand that others will stop at nothing to cause it harm. This is why, on Israel’s end, there have been countless attempts to ease tensions with the Palestinians through land partitions and peace offers, all of which were rejected by the Palestinian leadership.

In 2005, in an attempt at making peace with the Palestinians, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza. This decision divided the country; many believed that this was a huge mistake, while others argued that it was worth the risk.

Gush Katif was a Jewish neighborhood established in the Gaza Strip in 1970. Unfortunately, the situation there intensified during the year 2000, when the Second Intifada broke out. During this time, attacks on Israelis escalated dramatically.

Five years later, residents were notified that Israel would be withdrawing from Gaza in order to achieve peace, and to empower the Palestinian people. If this plan proved to be successful, it would have served as confirmation that the Palestinians were ready for their own state.

As part of the disengagement, the Israeli Army forcibly removed around 8,000 Jewish residents from Gush Katif, displacing hundreds of families. All of the private property within the settlement was completely destroyed, the settlement was dismantled, and the entire Gaza Strip was handed over to the Palestinians.

Ruthie Blum: Israel vs. its Enemies in Europe

What Abbas's Fatah faction and Hamas -- both of which glorify terrorism against innocent Israelis and call for international sanctions against the state of Israel -- keep neatly under wraps, however, is the frequency with which they themselves have turned to Israel for medical care, often for cancer treatments.

In 2016, for instance, Abbas' Qatar-based brother, Abu Lawi, was treated for cancer at the Assuta Medical Center in Tel Aviv, and not for the first time.

In 2015, Abbas' brother-in-law received life-saving heart surgery at that same hospital. Abbas' wife, Amina, underwent surgery there in 2014.

In 2014, as well, Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's mother-in-law was treated for cancer at Jerusalem's Augusta Victoria Hospital. That same year, Haniyeh's daughter was treated at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv. She was among the more than 1,000 residents of Gaza and the Palestinian Authority treated at Ichilov every year.

Also in 2014, Hamas spokesman Moussa Abu Marzouk's sister was treated for cancer at an Israeli hospital.

In 2013, Haniyeh's baby granddaughter was treated at the Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petah Tikvah.

Most recently, in May 2018, Abbas himself was treated by an Israeli specialist, who joined a foreign team of doctors caring for him in the intensive care unit at a hospital in Ramallah, in the Palestinian Authority.

Israel proudly joined its counterparts around the globe on February 4 to mark World Cancer Day, initiated by the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC). It is time for the world to cease and desist in its efforts to demonize Israel, and to admit to its use of and reliance on the innovation and technology for healing that Israel -- turning no one away -- always graciously provides. It would be a welcome change if its adversaries were half as ethical.

Why do only Israelis care to mark 40th anniversary of Egypt-Israel peace treaty?

If you want to learn what a "peaceful" Middle East will look like, it makes sense to look at the 40th anniversary of Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty being marked this month.

If peace is the absence of war, then the treaty is an unqualified success. From four major wars in 30 years to zero wars in 40 years is an impressive achievement.

But if peace means friendship and normal relations, this has been a failure. Anti-Israel and antisemitic articles are still commonplace in Egypt/

To see which side really wants peace, look at how each country is marking the occasion.

In Israel this week, there was a major conference at Hebrew University to mark the event:

There were many major speakers, including Israel's President Rivlin.

No Egyptians spoke..

Today, there is another major conference by INSS marking the anniversary, with many well-known speakers as well.

In this case, there are two Egyptians speaking: One is the head of the Egyptian-American Business Association and the other is an Egyptian doctoral student who studies in Tel Aviv.

No Egyptian government officials are attending.

On the Egyptian side, I cannot find any official or unofficial commemoration of the event. To Egyptians, 40 years of peace is not something to celebrate.

In fact, the Cairo24 news site is covering today's INSS conference - and the article is meant to shame the two Egyptian citizens who are speaking.

It is obvious which side actually embraces and celebrates peace and which side looked upon it as a tactical move, but not something that should actually be used to improve relations between the two countries

This is probably the best that Israel can ever hope to achieve with other Arab countries. Peace is wonderful, but realize that the Arabs will never truly accept Jews as equals in the Middle East.

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This is a wonderful and surprising story, showing that even the most liberal, seemingly anti-Israel countries have been undergoing changes.

From Mida:

An Israeli who thinks about Israel's friends in Europe would probably not rank Sweden high on the list. For many years, Sweden has been making headlines here mainly following harsh anti-Israel statements by members of its government, especially Foreign Minister Margot Wallström.

But they do not tell the whole story.

Since January, Margot Wallström and her party have led a narrow minority government that has to rely on two central parties who are not satisfied with her anti-Israel positions. In the meantime, there are a few prominent pro-Israel politicians and others who demand fair treatment for Israel. The first step in this direction is a bill to transfer the Swedish embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Similar proposals have been made by the Swedish Democratic Party and the Christian Democratic Party, a relatively small right-wing party, but they are no longer the only ones in the picture. The latest proposal has attracted much interest in the parliament, which has become much pro-Israeli since the last elections and the passage of the proposal seems to be becoming a real possibility. With support from the extreme right and the center, it is hard to believe that the moderate party, the largest party of the Swedish Right and certainly pro-Israeli, will remain outside and align itself with the socialist left.

The four parties expected to support the resolution - the moderates, the democratic Swedes, the Christian Democrats and the Liberals - together represent 174 seats out of 349; That is exactly one less than most. The leftist parties are expected to object, but the centrist party (31 seats) has not yet been heard from.

Whether the proposal passes or not, and even if the embassy moves or not (in any case the proposal speaks of a future transfer and probably will not affect anything in the meantime, as long as Wallsterm is in the Foreign Minister), these numbers tell an important story: The Swedish parliament is becoming much more friendly to Israel.

Wow!

It looked like Western European countries would be the last surefire supporters of the automatic Palestinian veto on anything Israel deserves, as even Arab countries have been resigning themselves to living with and possibly cooperating with Israel.

To see the most obvious example of a country antipathetic to Israel changing like this is pretty remarkable.

To be sure, this is going to be a slow process. At DigiTell, I'm listening to a speaker from Sweden who showed antisemitic synagogue graffiti that the police call anti-Zionist.

(h/t Yoel)

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