Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, September 27, 2020

G'mar Chatima Tovah 5781 -- גמר חתימה טובה

This is an update my Yom Kippur message of previous years.

I unconditionally forgive anyone who may have wronged me during this year, and I ask forgiveness for anyone I may have wronged as well.

Specifically (as enumerated in previous years, based on the list from The Muqata a few years back):

-If you sent me email and I didn't reply, or didn't get back to you in a timely fashion -- I apologize.
-If you sent me a story and I decided not to publish it or worse, didn't give you a hat tip for the story -I'm sorry. I'm also sorry if I didn't acknowledge the tip. I sometimes get multiple tips for the same story and I usually credit the first one I saw, which is not always the earliest. And I cannot publish all the stories I am sent, although I try to place appropriate ones in the linkdumps, or tweet them.
-If you requested help from me and I wasn't able to provide it -- I'm sorry.
-I apologize if I posted without the proper attribution, with the wrong attribution, or without attribution at all.
-I'm sorry that I usually don't give hat tips on things I tweet.
-Subtweets are usually on purpose. Sorry.
-If I didn't thank you for a donation, I'm very, very sorry.
-I'm sorry if I didn't give the proper respect to my co-bloggers Ian, PoT, Vic, Varda, Daled Amos and the guest posters. Also to people who send me tons of tips and help like Tomer, Irene, and Ibn Boutros.
-I'm sorry if any of my posts offended you personally.
-If I forgot to send you the perks for donating at Patreon - I'm sorry. If you really care, bug me!
- For all the initiatives I started and didn't complete - I'm sorry. It's been a busy year.
- Please forgive me if I wrote disparaging things about you.
- I'm sorry for not always scrubbing spam from the comments as quickly as I would like.
- I'm sorry if things got published in the comments that violated my comments policy but that I missed. I have not been able to monitor most comments for various technical reasons.

May this be a year of life, peace, prosperity, happiness, security and especially health.

I wish all of my readers who observe Yom Kippur an easy and meaningful fast.

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09/27 Links: UAE minister: Iran’s aggression made Arab world look at Israel ‘with fresh eyes’; 'Israel had more than one 'angel' during Yom Kippur War'

From Ian:

UAE minister: Iran’s aggression made Arab world look at Israel ‘with fresh eyes’

The United Arab Emirates didn’t need peace with Israel to counter Iran, a top UAE official said Friday, but he said Iran’s aggressive policies over three decades alarmed many Arab countries and made them look at their relationship with Israel “with fresh eyes.”

Anwar Gargash, the UAE’s minister of state for foreign affairs, acknowledged at a virtual briefing on the sidelines of the equally virtual UN General Assembly’s annual meeting of world leaders that this may not have been Iran’s intention. But its actions had an impact in the region, he said, though he wouldn’t speculate on whether other Arab countries would follow the UAE and Bahrain in establishing relations with Israel.

“The only thing I want to say is the more strategic the Israelis look at these relationships, the more doors will open to them,” Gargash said. “If they look at it very `transactionally’, I think that it is not going to send a very good omen for normalizing relations with many of the Arab countries.”

Gargash said the UAE’s message to Israel is to “look at these opportunities and build strategically, and think long term rather than short term” — and prove wrong the countries who say that because of the Israeli political system its decision-makers think only tactically.

A month after the US-brokered diplomatic agreement with Israel signed at the White House, Gargash said the two countries are negotiating “what I would call normal bilateral relations.” He said the UAE has sent several agreements to the Israelis on protecting investments, double taxation, visa exemptions and air services.

“We’re waiting for them to come back to us, because it is essential for a relationship to be built on these solid bases,” Gargash said.

With spy series 'Tehran,' Israelis reach out to an enemy

Things are not as they seem in the new Apple TV+ series "Tehran" − as it should be in a spy thriller.

The series opens with a commercial flight from Jordan to India that's suddenly diverted to Iran. A few of the passengers on board have secrets. Those secrets will soon have war jets scrambling and a covert manhunt launching.

As audacious as the premise, "Tehran" is equally bold: an Israeli production that offers viewers a sympathetic view of Iran − one of Israel's greatest foes − without anyone from the production setting foot in the Islamic Republic.

"The core of the show is dealing with the question of identity, nationality, immigration and family roots," Moshe Zonder, the show's co-creator and co-writer, said from Tel Aviv. "It asks how we connect to them and our obligation to them and can we get free from them? This is relevant to everyone on the globe."

The show's eight episodes aired in Israel in June and July, to largely rave reviews. The espionage thriller, with dialogue in Hebrew, English and Farsi, debuted on Apple TV+ on Friday.

"Tehran" centers on a computer hacker-agent undertaking her very first mission in Iran's capital, which is also the place of her birth. When the mission goes wrong, the agent has to survive by her wits.

With several of the same actors and featuring a woman spy dealing with Middle Eastern and Central Asian intrigue at its center, some viewers may see similarities with the recently completed run of "Homeland."

But while that Showtime series explored how notions of good and evil can become corrupt and twisted on the international stage, "Tehran" is about making connections across ideological borders.

"There is not one clear enemy. It's not about one side against the other. It's really about people," Niv Sultan, the actress who plays the "Tehran" spy heroine, said from Tel Aviv. "For the first time, we're showing a different point of view of this conflict."

Story of unknown Egyptian officer who helped Israel avert defeat in Yom Kippur War reveleaed

On Friday, Oct, 12, 1973, at 2:30 pm, Prime Minister Golda Meir convened her so-called "Kitchen Cabinet" – the small forum that made the Israeli government's major military-political decisions. The Yom Kippur War had entered its seventh day, and the discussion centered on one fateful question: should the IDF cross the Suez Canal the next night.

After the IDF had successfully pushed the Syrian army back from the Golan Heights, breaking through the Syrian border, the war's center of gravity shifted to the south. These were the most crucial moments on the Egyptian front. The decisive meeting took place in Golda's room and included Zvi Zamir, the director of the Mossad; GOC Southern Command Maj. Gen. Haim Bar-Lev, and Air Force Commander Maj. Gen. Benny Peled.

The situation reports presented at the discussion were stark. Chief of the General Staff David (Dado) Elazar warned that with no decisive victory the forces would grow exhausted, and proposed requesting a ceasefire. Major General Benny Peled said that the Air Force had already lost a large number of planes and that it was nearing the threshold of 220 planes – which, if reached, would mean it could no longer assist the ground forces.

Israel's defense establishment had for many days been expecting Egypt's 2nd and 4th Armored Divisions, deployed west of the canal, to move eastwards; their failure to do so reduced the chances of a successful crossing. Nevertheless, Bar-Lev and Peled expressed their support for the operation. Then, before Deputy Chief of Staff Maj. Gen. Israel Tal, had a chance to sum up the discussion, Zamir was called away to answer an urgent phone call from his bureau chief Freddy Eini and Yoel Salomon, head of the Mossad's technology division.

Upon his return to the room, Zamir said that he had received a "golden piece of information," according to which the Egyptian army was preparing a paratrooper assault on the Mitla and Gidi Passes within a day or two. The operational conclusion was that the armored divisions would follow.

"I understand that Zvika has ended our discussion," said Meir, and the decision was made: the crossing of the canal was suspended; the IDF was to organize for a defensive battle, lay in wait for the Egyptian forces, contain the attack – and then begin the crossing.

While Mahmoud Abbas' speech to the UN on Friday generated very few headlines, it is worth analyzing.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The Palestinian people have been present in their homeland, Palestine, the land of their ancestors, for over 6000 years, and they will continue living on this land, steadfast in the face of occupation, aggression and the disappointments and betrayals, until the fulfilment of their rights.

It is insane that this lie continues to go unchallenged in mainstream media. No respectable historian claims that today's Palestinian Arabs have anything to do with ancient Canaanites. Yet the head of a purported state has no problem telling the world this absurd lie. (Although it is not as ludicrous as Saeb Erakat's 9000 years.)

We have always sought a just, comprehensive and lasting peace, and we have agreed to all the initiatives presented to us. I have personally dedicated my life to achieving this desired peace, notably since 1988, followed by the Madrid Conference and the Oslo Accords in 1993, and to this very day.

Well, except for rejecting all of them that involved any compromise.

Finally, it announces normalization agreements with both the UAE and Bahrain, in violation of the Arab Peace Initiative, and the terms of reference of a comprehensive, lasting and just solution in accordance with international law.

It is notable that he didn't attack Bahrain and the UAE for violating the Arab Peace Initiative - but Israel, which never agreed to it. Perhaps Abbas realized that his attacks on Gulf Arab states did not have the desired effect.

The Palestine Liberation Organization has not given a mandate to anyone to speak or negotiate on behalf of the Palestinian people ...

Actually, they have. They outsourced all negotiations to the EU, the UN, the Obama administration, while they sat back and waited for pressure to collapse Israel.

In this regard, I call on the Secretary-General of the United Nations to undertake, in cooperation with the Quartet and the Security Council, preparations to convene an international conference with full authority and with the participation of all concerned parties, early next year, to engage in a genuine peace process, based on international law, UN resolutions and the relevant terms of reference, leading to an end the occupation and the achievement by the Palestinian people of their freedom and independence within their State, with East Jerusalem as its capital, on the 1967 borders, and resolving all final status issues, notably the question of the refugees, based on resolution 194.

This is a meaningless appeal to try to look like Abbas has something new to say, while trying to get back to getting the world to pressure Israel.

Now comes the part he can't resist:

Let everyone know there will be no peace, no security, no stability and no coexistence in our region while this occupation continues and a just, comprehensive solution to the question of Palestine, the core of the conflict, remains denied.

As he has done so many times before, he is threatening terror if Palestinians don't get what they want.

Finally, some comedy:

In Palestine, ladies and gentlemen, there is a living nation, creative, civilized, peace-loving, aspiring passionately to freedom. A nation that has been able – despite the occupation that besieges our lives – to build an active and modern society, that believes in democracy and the rule of law and has been able to preserve its national existence and identity despite all the political and philosophical differences between its diverse components. Here we are, despite all the obstacles that you know too well, preparing ourselves to hold parliamentary elections, followed by presidential elections, with the participation of all factions and political parties.

Will this be the time they have elections when the last dozen times they promised elections didn't pan out? Well, since they believe in democracy, no doubt.

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On Friday, Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez changed her mind about participating in an event commemorating former prime minster Yitzhak Rabin on the 25th anniversary of his assassination.

She made her decision after backlash from "pro-Palestinian" activists, who told her that Rabin was a monster and that Palestinians are worse off after Oslo than before.

The event is sponsored by Americans for Peace Now.

In August, there was another clear split between Peace Now and the far socialist Left, when Peace Now praised the Israel/UAE agreement and the socialists were horrified by it.

There is a common thread here.

Peace Now supports Israel living in peace and security in the Middle East. While I strongly disagree that their policies would result in such an outcome, their motivation is based on ending the conflict and leaving an Israel at peace with its neighbors.

On the other hand, the socialist Left is against Israel making peace with anyone under circumstances that leave Israel existing as a secure Jewish state.

If you look at Peace Now and see a racist, apartheid-supporting group, as the Israel-haters do, then you aren't against racism or apartheid. You are against the existence of a Jewish state and using codewords to hide your hate.

These two examples show how the socialist Left, that is making increasing inroads in the Democratic Party, has an effectively antisemitic agenda - the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Jew-hating, terror supporting Palestinian Arab majority state, which they ludicrously claim will treat Jews with equal rights. Sure. The same equal rights they have under every other Arab regime.

When Peace Now is too far to the right for you, you are not interested in peace. You are against any rights for Jews in the Middle East.

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From Egypt Independent:

Egypt’s Supreme Administrative Court on Saturday upheld a ruling issued by the Administrative Court back in December 2014 suspending annual celebrations dedicated to 19th century Jewish Rabbi Yacoub Abu Hasira in the Beheira governorate.

The festival, previously scheduled for January 9-10, was held on the annual anniversary of Hasira’s death, who was born in Egypt and traveled to Morocco according to Jewish folklore.

Alexandria’s Administrative Court issued the case’s first ruling to permanently cancel the annual celebrations, as it contravenes public morals and violates the sanctity of religious rituals.

Israel had also submitted a request to UNESCO back in 2014 to transfer the mausoleum to Jerusalem.

The court said that as Jerusalem is an occupied land Israel has no sovereignty to further impose its culture. It also refused to transfer the shrine on the grounds that Islam respects religious laws and therefore rejects exhuming graves.

In its case papers, the court added that Hasira’s annual celebration included practices such as alcohol consumption which are contrary to Islamic morals.

The upheld ruling also requires the Antiquities Minister to inform the intergovernmental committee of UNESCO’s World Heritage Committee to remove this mausoleum from its records of Islamic and Coptic antiquities.

At the very same time that the court says that Jews cannot celebrate the anniversary of a famous rabbi's death, and that the burial site is not subject to protection as a heritage site, it also refuses to allow Rabbi Yaakov Abuchateira's remains to be transferred to a place where his remains will be treated with respect - because "Islam respects religious laws."

So much respect Egypt's version of Islam has to block Jews from doing their own rituals.

By the way, Abuchatzeira was not born in Egypt. He was born in Morocco and died in Egypt while en route to Israel. It would be highly appropriate to have his remains transferred to the place he hoped so much to see before his death.

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09/26 Links: Al-Jazeera Network Documentary About The Hamas Missile Industry: Iran Sends Kornet, Fajr Missiles To Gaza; AOC withdraws from Rabin memorial event after backlash

From Ian:

MEMRI: Al-Jazeera Network Documentary About The Hamas Missile Industry: Iran Sends Kornet, Fajr Missiles To Gaza; Hamas Produces Missiles From Unexploded Israeli Munitions And Shells From Wrecked WWI Ships

On September 13, 2020, Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) aired a documentary about the Hamas missile manufacturing industry. The reporter explained how Hamas' Al-Qassam Brigades have been reclaiming unexploded Israeli munitions from 2014's Operation Protective Edge, metal water pipes left behind by Israel when it withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005, and cannon shells from the wrecks of British warships that sank near Gaza during World War I. The documentary featured interviews with the commanders of the Al-Qassam Brigades' Military Production Units, Engineering Corps, Artillery Corps, and Frogmen Unit, who described the process of reclaiming these munitions and turning them into functional missiles.

The report also showed exclusive footage of this process, including footage of divers retrieving underwater shells, of metals being processed, of explosives being prepared, and of missiles being tested. Furthermore, the reporter and the interviewees explained that Iran has been shipping Kornet anti-tank missiles and Fajr missiles to Gaza by land and by sea. Abu Ibrahim, the Commander of the Military Productions Unit, said that Hamas has hundreds of warheads, dozens of tons of explosives and propellants, and enough metal water pipes to produce thousands of rockets.

"Various Types Of Weapons Have Arrived To Gaza From Iran... Other Countries, like Syria And Sudan, Have Also Played A Role In Arming The Resistance"

Narrator: "In this footage, which is being shown for the first time, members of the Al-Qassam Brigades can be seen reassembling the parts of a Fajr missile that arrived in a new shipment of long range Iranian missiles. The resistance in Gaza [received] them despite the tightening of the siege. In these exclusive images, Kornet anti-tank missiles can be seen."

Abu Ibrahim, Commander from the Military Production Unit of the Al-Qassam Brigades: "The weapons came to us, by land and by sea, from hundreds and thousands of kilometers away.

"Various types of weapons have arrived to Gaza from Iran. The resistance fighters in Gaza were in dire need of these weapons, such as the Kornet and Fajr missiles, and many other types of modern weapons, which are still very much in use on the battlefield.

"Other countries, like Syria and Sudan, have also played a role in arming the resistance."

"Under This Rubble, There Are Unexploded Israeli Missiles And Shells[;] They Have Become A New Source For The Weapons Of The Resistance"

Narrator: "Under this rubble, there are unexploded Israeli missiles and shells. They have become a new source for the weapons of the resistance. The Al-Qassam Brigades are revealing a multi-phase project to transform the remnants of the Israeli war into modern missiles."

Abu Ibrahim: "At the beginning, we decided to collect those munitions from the ruined houses and fields, because they constituted a direct threat to the lives of the inhabitants and the farmers. During the process of removing [these duds], large and diverse quantities of munitions were accumulated by our brothers in the Engineering Corps."

Abu Salman, Commander of the Engineering Corps of the Al-Qassam Brigades: "After the 2014 war, the Engineering Corps dealt with many munitions throughout the Gaza Strip: bombs, mines, explosive devices and 155mm Howitzer shells. There were also hundreds of MK 84 bombs, each of which contains 470 kilograms of tritonal, a highly explosive material that is more powerful than TNT.

"We started by surveying all the unexploded munitions. We established a committee of specialized engineers. Our strategy was to recycle these munitions and make optimal use of all their parts. Our idea was to turn this crisis into an opportunity."

"We Dug Into The Ground And Pulled Out The Pipes, So That They Could Be Used In Our Military Industries"

Shoddy rockets you say? I'd be more than happy to provide information about the extensive amount of arms and know-how Iran has given Palestinian factions for decades. https://t.co/P6hhCdO8Ol pic.twitter.com/36aBfanSIB
— Joe Truzman (@Jtruzmah) September 25, 2020

Ocasio-Cortez withdraws from Rabin memorial event after backlash

Democratic Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday withdrew her participation from an event commemorating former prime minster Yitzhak Rabin on the 25th anniversary of his assassination.

The decision, which came after backlash from pro-Palestinian activists, was confirmed to The Times of Israel by a spokeswoman for the congresswoman, a rising star in the progressive wing of the Democratic party.

The about-face came a day after Americans for Peace Now announced that Ocasio-Cortez would be joining the October 20 virtual event emceed by Mandy Patankin, the star of the Showtime series Homeland, and a vocal critic of the current Israeli government’s policies in the West Bank.

The initial announcement on Thursday indicated Ocasio-Cortez’s willingness to engage with some of the more left-leaning elements of the pro-Israel world in Washington, which had not been the case since she was elected to represent New York’s 14th Congressional District last year.

But the Americans For Peace Now post was quickly ridiculed by pro-Palestinian activists, who called the congresswoman’s decision “disgusting” and showed “total contempt for Palestinian lives” by honoring Rabin.

A reporter pointed out on Twitter earlier Friday that, while Rabin is lionized as a peacemaker in the US for his participation in the Oslo Accords with Palestinian Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat in the mid-1990s, “Palestinians remember him for his brutal rule suppressing Palestinian protest during the First Intifada, as someone who reportedly ordered the breaking of Palestinian bones.”

Ocasio-Cortez said in response to the post, “This event and my involvement was presented to my team differently from how it’s now being promoted. Thanks for pointing it out. Taking a look into this now.”

On Friday evening, following talks with organizers from Americans for Peace Now, the congresswoman’s office confirmed her withdrawal from the event altogether.

The spokeswoman for Ocasio-Cortez’s office declined to elaborate on the decision.

A source with knowledge of the talks said the Congresswoman’s office did not realize the event would be framed around commemorating Rabin, as opposed to an opportunity to offer Ocasio-Cortez’s polices for the region.

Americans for Peace Now declined to comment on the record.

Would Erakat get cancelled by woke Twitter? pic.twitter.com/vCX6Ic0SPj
— ~Legacy~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@Immort4l_Legacy) September 25, 2020

AOC Cancels Event Honoring Arafat After Learning he Visited Israel (satire)

New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has backed out of an event honoring former Palestinian Liberation Organization chairman Yasser Arafat after one of the representative’s Twitter followers pointed out that Arafat had visited and negotiated with Israel.

Ocasio-Cortez was set to attend Jewish Voice for Peace’s Yom Kippur brunch, which will be held on Monday to honor Arafat and his contribution to the peace process. But Twitter user @MelGibsonfan69 blasted her for celebrating Arafat despite his efforts to normalize relations with Israel.

“Yasser Arafat shook hands with Jews and talked about making peace with Israel,” he tweeted. “Why are you honoring someone who couldn’t even boycott Israel, AOC? What are you, some kind of Zionist?!?”

The congresswoman quickly responded that the event was “presented to my team differently from how it is now being promoted,” and that she would reconsider her commitment to attend.

“I thought that, like, [former Prime Minister Yitzhak] Rabin was good, but then people were like, no, he’s bad. And then people said, like, Arafat is good, and now they are like, no, he’s like, also bad?” Ocasio-Cortez explained. “This Middle East conflict really is complicated!”

09/25 Links Pt2: Judea Pearl: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on ‘Being Jewish’; The inevitable consequences of false history; UN Human Rights Council Ignores Real Abuses to Attack Israel

From Ian:

Judea Pearl: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on ‘Being Jewish’

In 2003, when my wife, Ruth, and I were editing the book I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl (Jewish Light Publishing, 2004), we asked more than 300 prominent Jewish personalities to contribute an essay, a note, or a paragraph on what the words “I am Jewish” meant to them.

Some responded with outright rejection, saying that in a world heading toward globalization, there is no point dwelling on ethnic distinctions. Some apologized for not being able to treat such complex question in less than two or three volumes. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg did not hesitate for a moment, and sent us a 300-word piece we knew right away will strengthen the spines of Jewish youngsters for generations to come.

We assured her that she would be remembered by that piece, especially by the millions who will forever associate Jewishness with the Biblical command “Tzedek, tzedek, tirdof” (Justice, justice, you shall pursue … — Deuteronomy 16:20).

Now that Ginsburg no longer is with us, it is time for us to fulfill our promise and make her essay available to the general public.

The following is the essay Ginsburg wrote for I Am Jewish, a book inspired by the last words of our son, Danny, before his murder by terrorists in 2002 in Pakistan:

Former Supreme Court Justice Arthur Goldberg once said, “My concern for justice, for peace, for enlightenment stems from my heritage.” Justice Stephen Breyer and I are fortunate to be linked to that heritage, and to live in the U.S.A. at a time when Jews residing here face few closed doors and do not fear letting the world know who they are.

For example, I say who I am in certain visible signs. The command from Deuteronomy appears in artworks, in Hebrew letters, on three walls and a table in my chambers. “Zedek, Zedek tirdof,” “Justice, justice shalt thou pursue,” these art works proclaim; they are ever present reminders to me of what judges must do “that they may thrive.” There is also a large silver mezuzah mounted on my doorpost. It is a gift from the super bright teenage students at the Shulamith School for Girls in Brooklyn, N.Y. the school one of my dearest law clerks attended in her growing-up years.

A question stated in various ways is indicative of what I would like to convey. What is the difference between a New York City garment district bookkeeper and a Supreme Court Justice? One generation. My life bears witness, the difference between opportunities open to my mother, a bookkeeper, and those open to me.

I am a judge, born, raised and proud of being a Jew. The demand for justice runs through the entirety of the Jewish history and Jewish tradition. I hope, in all the years I have the good fortune to serve on the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, I will have the strength and courage to remain steadfast in the service of that demand.

Jonathan Tobin: The inevitable consequences of false history

The results of a new survey of knowledge and awareness about the Holocaust in the United States were sobering. It turns out that despite a massive effort put into educating Americans about the mass murder of European Jewry by the German Nazis and their collaborators, a sizable %age of millennials (defined as those aged 18 to 39) know little or nothing about it or actually believe anti-Semitic canards about this atrocity being the fault of the Jews.

Many Jews are understandably expressing dismay about those numbers and calling for greater efforts to be made to increase and improve Holocaust education. But it's likely that many of them are the same people who are dismissing President Donald Trump's concerns about the way the teaching of American history is being distorted or trashed by those peddling false narratives about the country being irredeemably racist.

Trump's concerns, stated in a Constitution Day speech given last week in which he vowed to create a commission to combat this trend, were widely dismissed as either electioneering or racist. Anything a president says while running for re-election can be regarded as political. Yet his attempt to call attention to the importance of the ongoing fight over American history didn't seem to resonate among those who are the first to decry the implications of the lack of historical knowledge about the Holocaust.

The fact that 15% of millennials think that Jews caused the Holocaust, 41% agreed with the claim that people talk about it "too much," and 12% think that it was either a myth or exaggerated is shocking. It's all the more troubling since those polled grew up in an era when Holocaust education has proliferated and is mandatory in many states. Indeed, the study, which was sponsored by the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, showed that there was no correlation between living in states where Holocaust education is mandatory and having a firm grasp of the history.

The problem isn't just a function of requiring schools to teach about this crime, but that what is being taught isn't necessarily helping to correct the situation, let alone dealing with a rising tide of anti-Semitism. As scholar Ruth Wisse writes in National Affairs, instead of merely doubling down on curricula that may be hurting as much as they are helping, we need to rethink Holocaust-education programs that were flawed from the start.

Arsen Ostrovsky: UN Human Rights Council Ignores Real Abuses to Attack Israel

This week, while world leaders and heads of state spoke by video at an unprecedented annual United Nations General Assembly meeting, their ambassadors met at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

However, instead of focusing on China's ethnic cleansing of Uighur Muslims, Iran's merciless execution of wrester Navid Afkari or Russia's poisoning of pro-democracy opposition leader Alexei Navalny, the council will once again focus its attention on the democratic state of Israel with a series of predictable condemnations.

In 2018, when the United States announced its withdrawal from the UNHRC, citing the council's "unconscionable" and "chronic" bias against Israel, Ambassador Nikki Haley noted it had become "a protector of human rights abusers and a cesspool of political bias."

She was entirely right.

Just last year, the Council elected Nicolás Maduro's Venezuela, one of the world's most repressive and human rights abusing regimes, as a member. This is not a joke. This is inexcusable and unconscionable. It is also on par for the UN's top human rights body, which according to reports, is now set to elect China, Cuba, Russia and Saudi Arabia this October.

The Human Rights Council was formed in 2006 to tackle human rights abuses in light of the failures of its discredited predecessor, the UN Human Rights Commission.

The commission was widely criticized for its one-sided obsession with Israel and the make-up of its membership, which included some of the most atrocious regimes in the world. At one point in 2003, Libya—then still ruled by Muammar Gaddafi—even chaired the commission.

Hopes were high that the council would herald the dawn of a new era, when the persecuted would finally have a voice and their persecutors would finally be held to account for their crimes.

Instead, the council has continued its unrelenting obsession with the state of Israel, condemning it almost as often as all other countries put together. The council reserves a spot on its agenda to condemn the Jewish state—the sole country-specific item—whereas human rights issues in the entire rest of the world are shoved into one solitary agenda item.

The council of course has never passed a resolution condemning the Palestinian Authority over its repulsive "Pay to Slay" policy of paying terrorists and murderers of Israelis.

SOAS professor calls Israel a "Western virus"

There is so much in this article from TheJC that typifies the new antisemitism. Read the whole thing. Some excerpts:

An academic from London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) has labelled Israel a “Western virus”.

Dr Haim Bresheeth, Professorial Research Associate at SOAS's Centre of Global Media and Communication, also claimed the Holocaust was the “clincher argument” in Israel’s “presumed right over Palestine”.

During a debate held earlier this month on the “normalisation” of Israel, Dr Marwa Osma, a Lebanese commentator who has appeared on Iranian-backed Press TV, also called for support for “armed resistance” coupled with “international pressure” against what she said was “Zionist aggression.”

The two-hour long discussion was organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) and included a contribution from the controversial charity’s chair Massoud Shadjareh.

Yes, the "Islamic Human Rights Commission" hosted someone who advocates killing Jews in Israel. ("Armed resistance" is a nice way of saying "terror attacks.")

Anyway, Mr. Shadjareh has an interesting take:

He said there was “huge concern the way that there has been a policy of the Zionists to normalise themselves in all different arenas” – focusing particularly on inter-faith initiatives between the Jewish and Muslim community.

Condemning attempts to “normalise” Israel, Mr Shadareh said “the institution of interfaith was used as one of the tools for this and you know, you could ask yourself, you could look into it, why is it that all the Jewish organisations who are involved in interfaith are actually Zionists while we know there is a huge number of anti-Zionists, non-Zionists in the Jewish community and none of them are represented. “

Meanwhile Mick Napier, the former leader of the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, claimed Israel was the world’s number one pariah state – and the mass media, including the BBC, were involved in a cover-up of its crimes.

Dr Bresheeth, an associate member of the SOAS Centre for Palestinian Studies, suggested Zionism was "riding on the latent Islamophobia inherent in Christian society since the Crusades”.

He argued: “This form of Islamophobia has never disappeared from the West and explains the great centrality of Zionism to Western regimes”.

"Israeli presumed rights over Palestine are seen as, within Zionism, as exclusive and religious-based with the Holocaust deals at the clincher argument. This is very useful because no one seems to be able to say anything about this combination of, you know, Judeo-Christian and Holocaust arguments."

Arguing that Zionism was the creation of Western Christians at the end of the nineteenth century, who used it to exert control over the Middle East, Dr Bresheeth said: "The West had conceived of Zionism as the bulwark of Western capitalism against Islam and the Arab world and used it to open the Middle East for western interests, and this is continuing.

“In this way Israel became the Western virus in the region during the Cold War, developing its political outlook as a Western/US outpost in the near east - an agenda gradually adopted by the US, UK, Canada, Australia, apartheid South Africa, and most importantly the EU.”

Israel has a purpose even for these jokers. It is a means for them to publicly spout their hate for Jews while pretending that they are merely rabidly anti-Zionist.

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09/25 Links Pt1: Caroline Glick: Time to hold the PLO accountable for its crimes; ‘Strip Their Funding’: Congressman Says No Aid for University That Invited Terrorist to Speak

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Time to hold the PLO accountable for its crimes

Erekat's most notorious and successful effort to spread blood libels against Israel occurred in the wake of the bloody battle in Jenin during Operation Defensive Shield in April 2002. Jenin had been the terrorism capital of Judea and Samaria. In March 2002, numerous suicide bombers were deployed to Israeli population centers from the city.

In the course of the battle, IDF reservists fought terrorists everywhere. All the buildings in the area had been booby-trapped. Twenty-three IDF soldiers were killed. Some 53 Palestinians, most of whom were armed terrorists were also killed.

But just as Erekat portrayed his would-be killer cousin as a martyr so he misrepresented the battle in Jenin. In the wake of the battle he appeared on CNN three times and accused Israel of massacring more than 500 innocent Palestinian men, women and children. He likened the battle to the Warsaw Ghetto uprising, the Israelis to Nazis and the Palestinian terrorists to Jewish Holocaust victims.

A few months after President Donald Trump entered office, Erekat received a lung transplant in the US America's lifesaving hospitality didn't provoke any gratitude, or even politeness from Erekat, however. Since recuperating, Erekat has repeatedly condemned and insulted Trump and his senior advisors Jared Kushner, Ambassador David Friedman, former chief negotiator Jason Greenblatt and former Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley. He wrote an oped in the New York Times insisting that the US has no right to mediate negotiations between Israel and the PLO.

Despite his long and bloody record of lies, and incitement and facilitation of terrorism, Erekat has never been called to account for his actions, much less paid a price for them. Now, perhaps, when it is clear to all that the PLO is irrelevant to peace, the time has finally arrived when he and his PLO colleagues will be treated like the malign terrorists and liars that they are and have always been.

Sher is right. There is no reason to grant Erekat a US visa so he can come to Harvard and share his blood libels and his incitement of terrorism with American students.

And there is no reason to stop with him. America and Israel should both end the joke of PLO moderation. There is no reason for Israel to continue collecting taxes for the PA or transferring the revenues to the PA, which exists to eliminate the Jewish state. There is no reason for the Israeli government to shield the PA from law suits from terror victims. All the taxes that Israel has collected for the PA rightly belong to the 15,000 Israeli families that have been shattered by its terrorist aggression.

The PLO era officially began at the White House on Sept. 13, 1993. It officially ended at the White House on Sept. 15, 2020. It is time for Israel, the US and the rest of the world to recognize this truth and act accordingly.

Caroline Glick on witnessing the historic Abraham Accords from the White House lawn.

Speaking with Caroline Glick about witnessing the historic Abraham Accords from the White House lawn and the Attorney General's efforts to undermine government decisions and so ensure continued spread of coronavirus in Israel.

‘Strip Their Funding’: Lawmaker Says No Aid for University That Invited Terrorist to Speak

A mainstream California university that hosted an unrepentant Palestinian terrorist caught the attention of one Congressman who says San Francisco State University crossed a red line.

Ranking Member of the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Doug Lamborn of Colorado, sent a letter this week to Education Secretary Betsy Devos and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin calling on them to investigate the University “for potential breaches of material support [for terrorism] laws.”

Lamborn noted that on Wednesday SFSU held an online panel featuring Leila Khaled, who is a proud member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a designated terror group. She also brags about her role in two airplane hijackings. The PFLP has a long history of terrorist attacks and as a known terror organizations there are severe sanctions on the group and anyone with ties to it.

“The U.S. State Department has designated [the PFLP] as a terrorist group,” Lamborn wrote, adding that Khaled “is an unrepentant terrorist who continues to boast about her terrorist acts.”

“This is deeply troubling and requires immediate action, up to and including cutting all federal funding and investigating other potential violations of the law,” Lamborn wrote.

The watchdog group StopAntiSemitism.org praised Lamborn for taking a stand.

“We applaud Congressman Lamborn’s chutzpah for spotlighting San Francisco State University’s outrageous decision to host a convicted terrorist under the guise of ‘free speech,'” StopAntisemitism Director Liora Rez said.

I listened to the public comments on the curriculum in August. The Jews calling to protest were high school students, college students, members of the local Jewish community, senior citizens, etc. All of these people are dehumanized by this professor.https://t.co/4x2SHENB7B
— The Conspiracy Libel (@ConspiracyLibel) September 24, 2020

It's a law. US persons are prohibited from providing material support for terrorists, services to designated individuals, etc. Penalties include jail time & millions in fines. And it remains a law even when foreign policy writers feel it shouldn't be, because that's how laws work https://t.co/hkAtusFGDo
— Omri Ceren (@omriceren) September 25, 2020

Talk about a conspiracy theory!

Anti-Israel British MP Stephen Kinnock went on a long harangue about how bad Israel is when another MP asked him to comment on the Israel/UAE deal. His response is breathtaking.

Here is Kinnock's response to Jim Shannon's intervention. Utterly shameful pic.twitter.com/hqPmh8dPJj
— SussexFriendsofIsrael (@SussexFriends) September 24, 2020

We certainly welcome any steps towards peace and conflict resolution. But I do think we should be realistic about what the so-called "Abraham Accords" really signify. The reality is that the UAE and Israel have never been at war with each other, they have a pre-existing and long-standing relations. Indeed they have cooperated on military matters and in counter-revolutions and coups in many of the Arab League states.

Really? Israel and the UAE were behind the overthrow of governments in Libya, Tunisia, Yemen and Egypt over the past decade? They are the forces behind the Arab Spring demonstrations elsewhere?

That's some serious Protocols of the Elders of Zion-type delusions, that Jews (and their powerless minions) are behind destabilizing countries for their own nefarious purposes.

It also shows what a racist Kinnock is, thinking that Arabs couldn't possibly have any agency on their own and instead they follow the instructions of their Zionist puppet-masters.

(h/t SussexFriendsforIsrael)

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From Iran's Mehr News:

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said that the US must compensate for the damage it caused to the Iranian nation.

In an interview with Sputnik News on Thursday, Zarif noted that the US must compensate for the damage it caused to the Iranian nation, as well as for measures taken by Washington to undermine the nuclear deal, Sputnik News reported.

"The return of the United States to the nuclear deal is the first step that they should take. For this return, [the US] must compensate for the damage it caused to the Iranian nation, as well as for measures taken by the US to undermine the nuclear deal and promise to not do it again," Zarif added.

Maybe he is hoping that Biden would take him up on this generous offer.

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According to the UN's OCHA-OPT, there have been 19 Palestinians killed by the IDF in 2020 so far.

At this same time in 2019, the number was 90. In 2018, it was 222.

This is a reduction in fatalities of of over 90% since 2018.

The last date a Palestinian was killed by the IDF was August 19, over a month ago.

I'm sure COVID-19 has something to do with it since there are fewer violent demonstrations and they are smaller so don't have as much of a chance to get out of hand.

But the huge reduction of deaths altogether is a remarkable statistic. And it is a statistic that no one wants to talk about.

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