Thursday, May 01, 2014
Chloe Valdary: The J Street Paradigm:Methods, Means, & Modes of Suicide
Post Zionism and the rise of J StreetIndy publishes letter (whose signatures include Desmond Tutu) with lie about ‘maimed’ Palestinian ‘footballers’
It is within these two historical contexts–‘Enlightened’ evil and Stockholm Syndrome– that the conundrum of the so-called post-Zionist movement can perhaps be better comprehended. Post-Zionism posits that the Zionist era has passed and is at best a historical era which had its run but is no longer in session. Generally Jews who belong to this camp are of the left-wing progressive persuasion who also fail to understand what Zionism is. They usually understand Zionism to be merely a response to anti-Semitism and thus no longer necessary. They are largely ignorant of the emancipatory nature of Zionism, which, must like the civil rights movement in America, was rooted in ethnic and cultural pride. Zionism, while it was indeed reactionary, was also proactive in its advancement of an indigenous people’s rights. The Jewish right to settle in its ancient homeland is not simply due to the spread of anti-Semitism; It is a matter of fact, regardless of whatever political climate Jews find themselves in, in the Diaspora. Post-Zionists also do not grasp the scope of anti-Semitism, not in the Middle East nor its growth in Europe. Indeed, they often, through Stockholm Syndrome, contribute to it.
I realize that this is a very hard pill to swallow. Nevertheless the symptom must be properly diagnosed if the patient is to heal. Perhaps no greater example of such a festering sore on the heart of the Jewish people can be found then in that of the political organization, J Street. Claiming to be pro-Israel and pro-peace, J Street is neither and advances no such policies. Founded in 2008, its major pronouncement is that a two-state solution to the Arab-Jewish conflict is what must be advanced both for the sake of Israeli security and American stability in the region. This of course precludes a detailed analysis of the situation, and a study into all possible prognosis to the problem. This premature announcement of an end, rather then examining the complexity of the situation and then coming to an educated conclusion reflective of those same complex factors, epitomizes J Street’s creed: The end justifies the means.
However, the charges about the alleged attack on the ‘talented teenage Palestinian footballers’, which was first published in the Arab media and then by Dave Zirin at The Nation, were proven to be a lie in a superb fisking at Elder of Ziyon.A Case of Selective Holocaust Memory
First, the two Palestinians were not ‘targeted’ because they were “football players”, but because they were allegedly seen throwing bombs.
The incident, which occurred in late January near Abu Dis, east of Jerusalem, reportedly began when a group of Palestinians (including the two “footballers”) threw bombs at Israeli security forces. The security forces evidently only opened fire when the group attempted to run away and tried again to toss explosives at them.
Additionally, both of the Palestinian ‘victims’, Joher Naser and Adam Johar, are evidently supporters of the terror group, Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine. (h/t Bob Knot)
Grand Mufti: Founder of Palestinian Liberation, Nazi Collaborator
As disturbing as Abbas’s statements are, it’s what he does not say that is morally repugnant. Let’s not forget that the annihilation of Hungary’s Jews was aided by the founder of the Palestinian national liberation movement, the Mufti of Jerusalem, Haj Amin al-Husseini.
Having fled to Berlin in 1941, the Mufti got busy, actively assisting the Nazis by recruiting Bosnian Muslim soldiers into the Wafen-SS. It was these Mufti recruits who guarded the bridges across which passed the trains that carried over half a million Hungarian Jewish men, women and children to Auschwitz for extermination.
The Muslim soldiers were tasked with thwarting partisan efforts to slow the killing machine by blowing up vital arteries such as bridges.
The Mufti also helped establish the “Free Arab Legion” that operated as an adjunct to the Wehrmacht, the German army. The Nazis were most appreciative, paying al-Husseini a monthly salary that was twice the amount of a Reich Field Marshall’s.
Al-Husseini’s activities on behalf of Nazi Germany are explored in a documentary titled “The Turban and the Swastika”. (h/t Elder of Lobby)
Israel at 66 is home to 8.18 million people
Just days before Israel’s Independence Day, the country’s population stands at 8.18 million people, according to figures released by the Central Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.2,495 Israelis Killed in Terrorist Attacks Since 1948
Over the past year, the population has grown by about 157,000, a 2 percent increase. There were 178,000 births and about 42,000 deaths during this period, and the remainder of the increase was accounted for by 24,000 new immigrants, the state body said.
In advance of Memorial Day, which will take place next Monday, the National Insurance Institute (NII) announced Thursday that 2,495 Israelis had been killed in terror attacks since the establishment of the State.Three Israeli NGOs that Don´t Want Israel to Reach its 67th Birthday
Two people were killed in attacks last year. Since 2000, 996 people have been killed in terror attacks.
In addition to the victims themselves, terror attacks have turned 2,853 Israelis into orphans, with 99 of them losing both parents in the attack. There were also 978 widows, and currently there are 800 parents alive who have a least one child killed in a terror attack.
In advance of Israeli Independence Day next week, NGO Monitor has examined three Israeli NGOs (non-governmental organizations) that actively promote a "one-state" framework, which in effect, would mean the eradication of Israel as a Jewish state. This directly contradicts the "two-states for two peoples" formula backed by the international community, including European governments that allocate taxpayer funds that support the agendas of these organizations.Christy Anastas: The Emmaus Group Responds To Aspersions
"Direct and indirect European government funding for NGOs that promote a 'one-state' agenda is fundamentally immoral" said Prof. Gerald Steinberg, president of NGO Monitor. "Some funders have reviewed and severed relationships with anti-peace NGOs. These examples should be a model for others, including government-funding for radical church-based aid agencies."
Yesterday the Emmaus Group issued a statement:Following steep rise in “honor killings,” Abbas orders review of “laws that discriminate against women”
'Over the last two weeks the founders of the Emmaus Group have been subject to a considerable onslaught of accusations and criticism following a speech made by Christy Anastas in Uppsala, Sweden. To all those who have been angered or shocked by Christy’s talk we understand your reactions. For too long, violations of Palestinian human rights have taken place internally, unexposed, masked by the popular belief that Israel is the major perpetrator.
We appreciate the concerns expressed for her safety and wellbeing in the UK. To satisfy these concerns, she attended a British police station yesterday to confirm that she was not being coerced or used by anyone, that she speaks freely of her own will, and that such claims were politically motivated.
Following a steep rise in the number of "honor killings" of Palestinian women, Mahmoud Abbas has announced plans to improve protection of women's rights. The official PA daily stated that Abbas "ordered the government to establish a legal committee to comprehensively review all sections of the various laws that discriminate against women, and to prepare the necessary amendments." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, March 7, 2014]Has the 'Occupation' Caused Syrian Men to Beat Wives?
Palestinian Media Watch reported recently that the Palestinian society has seen a 100% rise in the so-called "honor killings" during the last year.
83 per cent of Syrian women reported they are victims of violence inflicted on them by their parents, while 72 per cent cited their husbands and 56 per cent their brothers.Group: May Day a Day of Mourning, Not 'Celebration'
In countless papers, including presumed studies published in the British medical journal, The Lancet, Israel has been accused of causing Arab men to beat Arab women because of the so-called Israeli “occupation.”
Books, speeches, and lectures by Jew-hating anti-Zionists have made similar charges. Arab leaders have trotted out Blood Libels such as Israelis are causing sterility among Arab men and women by infecting their drinking water, etc. (h/t Bob Knot)
Although Israel is by all definitions a fully capitalist country these days, there are many on the left who miss the good old days, when socialism reigned – and many of them will be in Rabin Square Thursday celebrating May Day, the international workers' rights day that comes out annually on May 1. Many of the protesters will take the opportunity to demand more rights for workers and higher wages, and decry the “inhumanity” of capitalism.Guardian editorial predictably embraces ‘settlement root cause theory’.
But for the third year in a row, another group will be protesting – commemorating the deaths of millions at the hands of the police and army forces of the Communist countries that created May Day. Members of the New Liberal Movement in Israel will light 1,000 candles in the Square in memory of those killed by Communist forces.
Leaving aside the fact that their editorial naturally also downplays the significance of Fatah’s announced unity with the Islamist terror group Hamas to the talks’ implosion, even the most casual observer of the 9 months of negotiations would have to acknowledge one undeniable fact which undermines the Guardian’s belief: Israel never agreed to so much as curtail the construction of homes beyond the green line (in Jerusalem or the West Bank) in the initial agreement between the two parties (brokered by the Americans) to begin talks last July.BBC’s Bowen continues to pronounce the demise of the two-state solution
So, how can Guardian editors – or anyone for that matter – now claim that the talks were “torpedoed” by activity the Palestinians tacitly agreed could continue?
The recording then cuts to a short statement by Doron Spielman, after which Bowen returns.What is the BBC’s take away message on end of Israel-PLO negotiations?
“The site [City of David] is in the midst of a scruffy, overgrown Palestinian village called Silwan which is right on the edge of the Old City. Since the peace process started Israeli settlers have moved into some of the buildings here under armed guard paid for by the Israeli government.”
Again, Bowen’s implied linkage between the peace process and the fact that people have relocated to a neighbourhood of Israel’s capital city is gratuitous. Of course Bowen does not bother to clarify to listeners that Silwan was also previously known as Kfar Shiloach, that its Jewish residents were expelled by British Mandate forces after waves of Arab rioting or that like the rest of the area conquered by Jordan in 1948, its subsequent annexation by Jordan was not recognized by the international community.
So as we see, in addition to stressing that the talks were “halted by Israel” (less than a week before their pre-set expiry date), the BBC notes two factors which it claims caused the negotiations to be “already troubled” – both of which are related to Israel – but fails to clarify to audiences that Israeli building tenders were not one of the issues included in the run-up agreement to the talks.BBC News enables Hanan Ashrawi’s defamatory PLO propaganda fest
Notably, the BBC makes no reference whatsoever to any ‘trouble’ or difficulties afflicting the negotiations caused by the actions of the Palestinian side.
No mention is made of the PA’s continued incitement and glorification of terrorism throughout the nine-month period of negotiations. Audiences are not reminded that the PA applied to join assorted UN bodies in early April in direct contravention of the agreement which preceded this round of talks or that the prisoner releases scheduled under the same agreement were linked to progress in the talks. Neither are they informed of the PA’s repeated refusal to recognize Israel as the Jewish state or its Arab League backed refusal to come to viable agreements regarding security arrangements in the Jordan Rift Valley.
Within the framework of the BBC’s generous coverage of the Hamas-Fatah unity deal, BBC television news programmes aired an interview with one of the Palestinian officials who has been doing the media rounds – Hanan Ashrawi. The interview, conducted by Zeinab Badawi, was also posted on the BBC News website on April 24th under the unambiguous title “Hanan Ashrawi: ‘Israel destroying peace talks’“.Media Minimizing Hamas Impact on Negotiations
The synopsis to the interview as it appears on the website states:
“The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, told the BBC he would never negotiate with a Palestinian authority that included Hamas, which he called a terrorist organisation committed to the destruction of Israel.” [emphasis added]
Hamas is of course recognized as a terrorist organization by numerous countries and its Charter clearly states its intentions with regard to the destruction of Israel. Neither of those issues – as this synopsis leads readers to believe – is exclusively the view of the Israeli prime minister.
Regarding Hamas itself, the media seem to have short memories over exactly what Hamas represents. In what was a relatively positive editorial in the Daily Telegraph, the paper referred to Israel’s suspension of peace talks:BDS Activist: Confront Confusion about Anti-Semitism
"This was in response to the united accord struck by Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Palestinian Authority, with the Islamist Hamas group, which Israel considers a terrorist organisation."
But it’s not just Israel that considers Hamas to be a terrorist organization. The Daily Telegraph omitted the U.S., UK, Canada, EU, Japan and even Egypt amongst others. It’s time that the media makes it clear exactly why Israel cannot and will not negotiate with a Palestinian government backed by Hamas.
BDS supporters typically recoil with horror at the suggestion that their movement is laden with anti-Semitism. They insist that their criticisms are directed not at Jews but at Zionism, an ideology not a people.‘Anti-semitic Elmo’ at it again
But what happens when members of the far right Jobbik party in Hungary justify anti-Jewish statements with the same rhetoric? How does the BDS respond to seeing its language adopted by an anti-Semitic party?
For Aviva Stahl, a journalist and BDS supporter, it was a time to question how her own movement was relating to anti-Semitism.
“This may sound counterintuitive, but we cannot prioritize the Palestinian struggle or Palestinian voices in our movement unless we confront our confusion about anti-Semitism,” she wrote.
The same “Evil Elmo” who became known for anti-Semitic rants in New York’s Central Park and spent time in jail for trying to extort the Girl Scouts, has taken his act to the West Coast, where he is now reportedly protesting near Israeli businesses in San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf district.Anne Frank Memorial Tree Planted on Capitol Hill
Dan Sandler, a panhandler who dresses up as the popular Sesame Street character, had previously said in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle that he just wanted people to leave him alone and let him do his “Elmo stuff,” but reports from locals and police indicate that he has not given up his anti-Semitic tirades.
The small, leafy chestnut planted on the Capitol's west front lawn is a sapling grown from the original tree that entranced Frank outside the Amsterdam building where the famed diarist and her family hid from the Nazis during World War II.Anti-inflammatory protein holds out hope for diabetes
"It's fitting that we plant a tree in Anne Frank's memory in the shadow of our majestic Capitol dome," the building's chief architect Stephen Ayers said at a ceremony, according to AFP.
"Years from now, visitors to the Capitol will find shade and solace in its mighty branches," he added.
Groundbreaking results of a new Israeli clinical study reveal that type 1 diabetes can be treated effectively and safely with Alpha1-Antitrypsin (AAT), an anti-inflammatory protein that our body normally generates when we’re sick.Two Israeli Companies Working to Protect 2014 World Cup in Brazil
“While looking for drugs to cure diabetes, we sought a different path from available and experimental treatments — one that tackled the problem, not merely the symptom of dangerously high glucose levels,” prominent immunology researcher Eli Lewis of Ben-Gurion University (BGU) of the Negev tells ISRAEL21c.
Israel’s Risco Group, an industry leader in global security solutions, announced Wednesday that it has completed the implementation of a command and control system for one of the 12 World Cup stadiums, the Arena Patanal, in Cuiabá, Brazil. The stadium, which will seat 44,000 fans, will be protected by the Israeli company’s advanced security systems, according to a Globes report.Jay Leno Coming to Israel To Host 'Genesis' Award Ceremony
Elbit systems is another Israeli company that is securing the FIFA World Cup. The company is providing Hermes 900 unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to carry out safety and security missions for the Brazilian Air Force such as crowd surveillance.
Jay Leno, the iconic former Tonight Show TV host comedian, will emcee the first Genesis Prize award ceremony in Israel, a $1 million prize given to outstanding individuals who "embody the character of the Jewish people and values...and the State of Israel."‘Roger Rabbit’ star Hoskins spent 6 months on kibbutz
The first recipient of the new prize will be former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg, who will come to Israel to receive the award. Bloomberg has said he will donate the $1 million prize to a charitable cause.
In his early 20s, Hoskins opted out of the accountancy career his father had planned for him and began hitchhiking around Europe. Eventually, he made it to the Middle East, where he was to spend several years.IDF Blog: National Flag Placing Ceremony Salutes Fallen Soldiers
For six months in 1967, Hoskins lived and worked on Kibbutz Zikim, in southern Israel, and was even asked to join the IDF. However, he had other plans, and moved on to Syria, where he lived for two years with Bedouin tribes, looking after their camels.
For the 12th year in a row the IDF has commemorated its fallen soldiers with a flag placing ceremony at the military cemetery in Mount Herzl, Jerusalem that will continue until Israel’s Day of Remembrance on May 4.How Many Of You Know About The American Fighter Pilots Who Saved Israel?
Israeli flags decorated with black ribbon were placed on the graves of each fallen soldier in cemeteries across the country. The ceremony at Mount Herzl, lead by IDF soldiers, was attended by Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Benjamin “Benny” Gantz and the head of the Human Resources Branch, Gen. Orna Barbivai.
During the ceremony, Chief of General Staff, Lt. Gen. Benjamin “Benny” Gantz, saluted the fallen soldiers of the IDF before he explained, “These tombstones are similar in appearance, and the ground that covers them is the same land – the land of Israel that was loved, yet each and every one of the soldiers buried here are unique and represent a range of society.”
Above and Beyond: The Birth of the Israeli Air ForceThe birth of the Israeli air force
Below is a trailer for the coming movie about American WWII fighter pilots who volunteered to fly for the new state of Israel in 1948. They were called the ‘Machal’ forces.
They cobbled together an air force using aircraft that were abandoned after WWII – largely by the Germans.
The trailer below is nearly eight minutes long but well worth watching.
