Sunday, November 23, 2014
Why do we keep saying it's not anti-Semitic?
There are wars, there are terrorist attacks and there are pogroms. What occurred this week at the Har Nof Synagogue in Israel was age-old anti-Semitism. It was not political, it was not anti-Zionist, it was not an attack against Israel's military actions, it was a religious pogrom; the type of which has been seen thousands of times through the ages - the type which are occurring again.Bashing Israel as Group Therapy
Yes, I know. It's Israel's fault, isn't it? With their military actions and settlement building, they bring it all upon themselves. And, yes, I know that the majority of Irish people consider the charge of "anti-Semitism" to be a red herring; a convenient way of deflecting attention from Israel's military and political policies in the Middle East. During the summer, some Irish politicians and media networks aired the oft-repeated view that the terrorist group Hamas were no longer anti-Semitic, and that their pre-election manifesto indicated they would remove the call for the destruction of all Jews (and the State of Israel) from their 1988 charter. But, as one of our own politicians might put it, isn't that the sort of thing you say during an election? Hamas needed to take support from the more moderate Fatah party and had no problem misleading the people of Gaza in order to do so.
But the call to kill all Jews and destroy Israel is still there in the charter and, as recently as two months, ago Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdam refused to say that they would consider removing it.
This, to put it mildly, makes Jews living in Israel, surrounded by enemies, more than a little bit nervous. (Can you imagine what would happen if Isis got in there? And we wonder why the Israeli's need to be so militarised and hard-nosed?)
Your average Israeli or Israel supporter will rightly ask themselves whether this means anything. Nu? So there are Jews who think the real Israel doesn't live up to their fantasies and are throwing a fit. We have always had people like that, on both the right and the left, religious and secular. Should I really be concerned?Michael Lumish: Abbas Calls for "Bridges of Love"
My answer is no and yes. No, because contrary to Peter Beinart and co., I don't believe the support of many of them matters all that much. There's a high correlation between lack of affinity with Israel and lack of affinity with Jewish identity, and the idea of chasing after such people who don't really care at the expense of the interests of millions of Israeli Jews strikes me as more than a little pointless, if not pathetic. If they want to go that badly, let them. The shortfall in donation money can be made up by opening the local and global markets as much as possible and cultivating other groups who won't treat us like we should be involuntarily committed.
Yes, because liberal Jews in elite positions – like those who write for, edit or own publications like the New Yorker – are capable of doing Israel a great deal of harm. The New Yorker is part of a select group of publications such as Haaretz, the Atlantic, the New York Times and the Guardian, which are read by a highly influential cross-national elite of journalists, professionals and government bureaucrats. Many people of real power – ambassadors, senior officials, parliamentary advisors or foreign office clerks – often rely almost exclusively on such ostensibly 'neutral' and 'balanced' publications for their information and to inform policy decisions. What's worse, if they arrive at the anti-Israel policy recommendations endorsed by such outlets, they can convince themselves that by doing so they are really Saving Israel From Itself™.
In a speech Friday in Ramallah, after accusing Israel of releasing wild and vicious Zionist hogs upon the innocent indigenous "Palestinian" population the Jerusalem Post tells us:
Abbas also called for establishing “bridges of love” with Israelis “instead of the racist separation fence.” He warned once again against the eruption of a religious war and called on Israelis “not to come close to our holy sites, just as we don’t come near your synagogues.”
Abbas added: “The Jews know very well that we seek peace and not war.”
So, let me get this straight.
Mahmoud Abbas, the illegitimate dictator of the corrupt terrorist organization known as "the Palestinian Authority," claims that he and his people want "bridges of love" to Jews?
He claims that they don't come near our synagogues?
He claims that we actually know that Israeli-Arabs want peace and not war?
Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!!!
IDF c'tee reimposes multiple life sentences on Schalit deal rearrested Palestinians
Two Palestinians released during the 2011 Gilad Schalit prisoner swap and rearrested this summer in the wake of the kidnap and murder of three Israeli teens have been sentenced to multiple life terms in prison, The Jerusalem Post has learned.IDF arrests 12 in West Bank, including Islamic State activist
Hamza Abu Arkoub and Ashraf Rawi were sentenced Thursday by a special IDF commission, although their sentences have yet to be publicly announced.
The rearrests and the possibility of canceling pardons and the reimposing of sentences has been almost constantly in the news since June. Coverage rose to a crescendo during and after the summer Gaza war, since Hamas has said a condition for a long-term cease-fire would be the rerelease of those Schalit deal Palestinians who were rearrested.
The IDF formed a judicial commission to handle the highly irregular situation of considering all at once whether a group of close to 50 Palestinians released in the 2011 Schalit prisoner exchange violated the terms of their conditional pardons.
IDF forces arrested 12 suspects in the West Bank, one of whom was allegedly active with the Islamic State terror group, in the overnight hours between Saturday and Sunday.Child Terrorists in Jerusalem: 'We're Ready to Die'
The suspect involved with IS was one of seven suspects who have been implicated in throwing improvised explosives and Molotov cocktails at civilians and security forces. He was picked up in Hebron along with three others, according to Israeli news outlet Ynet.
The other suspects were allegedly involved with Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
Salah, Hassan, Riyad and Ahmed of Jerusalem's Shuafat neighborhood - just a handful of the many Arab children aged eight to 13 who, instead of going to school and learning, mask their faces and assault police officers with potentially lethal rocks every single day.NGO Statements, and Silence, on Terror Attacks Since October 22
Yedioth Aharonoth interviewed Jerusalem's youngest Arab terrorists last week, providing a unique look into the minds of those who have forgone their studies and futures for the pursuit of violence. Even more Arab children join them in their attacks after the school bell rings.
"We are ready to die as martyrs, we have nothing to lose," says one Arab child terrorist. "Our heads aren't in studies at all, we are always planning what to do against the police."
Since October 22, 2014, Palestinians have carried out terror attacks in Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and the West Bank, killing over ten Israelis, including a three-month-old baby, and wounding dozens more. Perpetrators have deliberately rammed cars into Israeli civilians, engaged in a series of shooting and stabbing attacks, and massacred worshipers praying in a synagogue in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Har Nof.Human Rights Watch: Patronizingly Minimizing Palestinian Crimes
While some NGOs unequivocally condemned the attacks, others that claim a human rights mandate did not. These groups either (a) also mentioned alleged violence and violations by Israel and Israelis, often without evidence or cause, portraying a supposed “cycle” and artificial balance; (b) blamed the Israeli government; or (c) used the attacks as a pretext to discuss other elements of the conflict, such as Palestinian prisoners or Israel’s policies in East Jerusalem.
Human Rights Watch’s refusal to unequivocally condemn terror attacks on Israeli civilians without also condemning Israel again reveals an organization lacking credibility and moral integrity. Its press releases and social media activity reveal a pattern of patronizingly minimizing Palestinian crimes, while artificially inflating the alleged violations committed by the Israeli government and Israeli citizens in response.Ex-Senior Justice Official Asks Homeland Security to Ban Abbas from US
HRW was silent for weeks, as the number of victims of Palestinian terror attacks in Jerusalem and elsewhere increased. Only following the brutal synagogue massacre in Har Nof (November 18, 2014), did HRW finally make a public statement. And when it did, HRW distorted basic facts in order to downplay the Palestinian assault and maximize Israel’s supposed guilt. In its statement, HRW accuses Israel of violating the law by summarily executing terrorists. For example, HRW claims, “Israeli forces later killed several suspected attackers,” without noting that with one exception, the terrorists – who were perpetrators, not “suspects” – were killed, while carrying out their attacks (not “later”).
A former Department of Justice director who was behind the decision to bar Kurt Waldheim from entering the United States in 1987 has asked Homeland to Security to keep Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas out of the country under the Immigration and Nationality Act, which bars entry into the U.S. of aliens who incite terrorist activity or endorse or espouse terrorist activity.Fatah: We Will Turn to UN by November 29
New York Attorney Neal M. Sher, former Director of the Office of Special Investigations in the Justice Department, wrote Homeland Security Deputy Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas last week to bar Abbas on behalf of 140 victims and family members of the terror attack on Fort Hood, Texas five years ago this month.
“My clients know painfully well the deadly consequences of such incitements and endorsements” as those who radicalized the Fort Hood murderer, Nidal Hasan, Sher wrote.
Dr. Nabil Shaath, commissioner of international relations for Fatah, denied reports Sunday morning that the Palestinian Authority is rejecting the request to the United Nations regarding the recognition of a Palestinian state.Arab League to Hold 'Extraordinary Meeting' on Israel Tensions
The Palestinian news website Donia Al-Watan reported Shaath's comments, including that the Palestinian Authority will appeal to the UN by the end of the week, Israel's Channel 10 reported.
"At a meeting of the Central Committee two days, we confirmed that we will turn to the UN by the 29th of November, in timing with the Arab Summit Meeting in Cairo, which Mahmoud Abbas, will attend," Shaath told the news website.
Another Fatah official confirmed that pressure from the United States to prevent such a unilateral move has not ceased for a moment, but he said, "they will not help in the face of the danger of losing the land and Jerusalem."
The Arab League will hold an "extraordinary" meeting next week to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the presence Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, an official said Sunday.Israel Fears EU Parliament Will Recognize 'Palestine'
The meeting on November 29 comes as Jerusalem as been roiled by months of unrest, which has spread across Judea and Samaria.
Four rabbis and a policeman were killed last week when two Palestinians carrying meat cleavers and a pistol launched an attack on a synagogue, in Jerusalem's deadliest terror attack in six years.
Arab foreign ministers meeting Saturday will discuss the latest unrest as well as plans by the Palestinian Authority to seek "membership in UN agencies", Arab League deputy chief Ahmed Ben Helli told reporters.
Following Sweden's official decision and symbolic votes in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain, the European Parliament is expected to vote on a draft resolution that wold recognize a Palestinian state.Egypt would send troops to future Palestinian state if all parties agree, Sisi says
The parliaments of France and Denmark are also slated to hold a similar vote in the next few days.
Proponents of the initiative were the Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats (S&D) and the Unified European Left Party (GUE).
After Sweden decided to recognize the State of Palestine, the president of the Social Democrats declared that it was the only solution to ending the conflict in a way that would benefit both parties.
He added that the EU should be more involved in the peace process and must recognize Israel and "Palestine" as two states living side by side. He said that French faction in European Parliament was pushing for recognition of a Palestinian state as well.
Egypt would be ready to lend a hand in securing a future Palestinian state by sending in troops that could help out local police and offer Israel security guarantees, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in a newspaper interview.State charges border policeman with manslaughter in death of Palestinian minor
Sisi, who is visiting Italy and France this week, told Italian daily Corriere della Sera the creation of a Palestinian state was the best way to protect Israeli security while restoring hope for the Palestinian people.
"We are prepared to send military forces inside a Palestinian state. They would help the local police and reassure Israelis in their role as guarantors," he said.
The Jerusalem District Attorney's Office on Sunday filed an indictment with the Jerusalem District Court against a border police officer for manslaughter in the highly controversial and videotaped killing of a Palestinian minor in Beitunya in March.Islamic State graffiti found on Druze memorial
The manslaughter charge is one of the most serious in recent memory against a soldier or border policeman for the killing of a Palestinian while acting in the line of duty and could lead to serious jail time.
Typically, incidents of killing Palestinians end with no charge justified by self-defense, or at most, result in disciplinary actions for violating rules of engagement or a negligent homicide charge with little or no jail time.
In a Wednesday pretrial hearing, the court had already permitted publication of several key details of the investigation against the border policeman.
Some of the details included that the blood of one Palestinian minor was found on a live fire bullet retrieved from the deceased minor's body and that expert reports have connected the bullet with the border policeman's gun.
Graffiti in Arabic praising the Islamic State terror group was found on a memorial monument for fallen Druze IDF soldiers along the Carmel Scenic Route, located east of the predominantly Druze village of Daliyat al-Karmel.Police Stop PA Prime Minister's Convoy for Reckless Driving
Similar graffiti was found nearby on a KKL-JNF monument.
Police said six Palestinian youths were arrested in connection with the incident.
The graffiti was erased by city officials.
The convoy for Palestinian Authority (PA) "Prime Minister" Rami Hamdallah was pulled over for a traffic violation Sunday, in the second such incident on Route 60 by the convoy in a one-year period.Gazan killed by IDF fire near border, Palestinians say
The convoy allegedly drove on the lane divider on Route 60 for a continuous period between Eli and Shiloh - a dangerous move on the already-overcrowded two-lane highway.
Traffic cops of Judea and Samaria arrested the driver of Hamdallah's vehicle for questioning. Details of the other drivers in the convoy were taken, and they will be called in for questioning later Sunday to the offices of the Judea-Samaria traffic department.
Emergency services spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra identified the dead man as Fadel Mohammed Halawa, 32, saying the bullet had hit him in the back near Jabalia.Watch: Gaza's ISIS-style Propaganda 'Slaughter Jewish Soldiers'
The IDF said two Palestinians had approached the border with Israel, and had been warned to back away.
Troops fired several warning shots, but when the men did not move, one was shot in the leg and the other fled, the army said.
A new video calling for terrorist attacks with knives - entitled "Revolution of Knives" - was uploaded by Ismael Nasser Farhat of Gaza last Thursday, after two Arab terrorists murdered four Jews and a Druze police officer last Tuesday with knives, hatchets and guns.Hamas brags about Resuming Tunnel Building
The video by Farhat, who apparently lives in Turkey and works for Life Lens for Media Productions, shows high production values in its call to murder IDF soldiers every day, in a manner of recruitment and propaganda reminiscent of Islamic State's (ISIS) well-funded campaign.
Palestinian Arabs are called on in the video to prepare knives and murder Israelis, with the video showing an Arab terrorist sharpening a knife and then appearing to murder an actor dressed as an IDF soldier with it.
Our international aid dollars at work.Al-Aqsa TV Reporter Killed in Gaza War Turned Out to Be a Hamas Fighter
Winter is coming, and instead of using international aid money and resources to re-build critical infrastructure in Gaza, Hamas is back to digging terror tunnels. Its been estimated that each tunnel costs between 1-3 million dollars to construct, proving again that the worst enemy of the Palestinian people is the Palestinian leadership
Egyptian TV Host Criticizes Hamas: More Israelis Killed by Jerusalem Resistance Than by Your War
Own Goal! Spectacular Anti-Israel Propaganda Fail
This next video, which appeared in my Facebook feed, has the following description:Daphne Anson: An eloquent answer to BDS ratbags in London's Bond Street (video)
"This video is one of endless evidents which prove that Palestine was inhibted by the Palestinaians before the jewish people came from all around the world to occupy this land ,demolish the cities and villages of Palestinians slaughter the people of this land and force them to leave their homes and property."I am not sure what these propagandists were thinking at 0:31 in the video, when after the Palestine goalie makes a save, the commentator says “Wham! Saved! But then the Jews were always a saving race.”
I’m guessing they did not actually watch the video.
The video is notable for the wide berth passing pedestrians give to the little gaggle of groupies holding banners and handing out leaflets defaming Israel while vile invective against Israel is screamed by a woman with a theatrical voice (we've seen this thespian manqué before, in similar scenes, along with her grey-haired offsider who boards Tube trains to recite anti-Israel "poetry" to commuters).New York Times Broken Engagement
Do these protesters have a permit to stand outside a shop and assail shoppers' eardrums, I wonder?
The video's uploader might as well have entitled it "Watch London Pedestrians Stroll On By".
There is however, one pedestrian who demonstrates his contempt for the anti-Israel ratbags with more than a dirty look or a sudden swerve: watch what he does at about 4:29 ...
An eloquent and fitting response, sir. One worth the risk of a municipal fine.
Writing in the New York Times Sunday Magazine, author Nathan Filer describes his awkward wedding proposal to his girlfriend Emily. It was awkward because he was forced to reveal the engagement ring he had purchased when a security official at Ben Gurion Airport forced him to empty his pockets. They were detained by security and then deported because of what he claims was their “human rights work in Palestine.”BBC Radio 4 history programme misleads on Hebron massacre
We could point out some of the facts about why they were detained and deported (which he seems to have left out to make his story sound that much more sympathetic.) But we think some of the online comments on the article make all the relevant points.
“Edge” from Brooklyn, NY writes about Mr. Filer’s involvement with the International Solidarity Movement:
"Undisclosed is the fact of Mr. Filer’s known association with the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which far from being a human-rights organization as self-servingly claimed, is a rejectionist group with explicit anti-Israel animus and ideology, and several of whose members have acknowledged in interviews cooperating with militant and terrorist organizations including Islamic Jihad, while others have been convicted and sentenced to federal prison for materially aiding Hamas."
Of course “not a single Jewish person” did remain in Hebron because even those who survived the massacre were evacuated from the city by the British and later efforts to re-establish the ancient Jewish community in Hebron came to an end in 1936 when further Arab rioting again caused its evacuation.Frequent Critic Of Israel Claims No One Allowed To Criticize Israel (satire)
Those familiar with the factual background to the Hebron massacre and the Arab riots of 1929 in general will of course note that Eugene Rogan’s account completely erases one key factor: the role played by the British-appointed Mufti of Jerusalem Haj Amin al Husseini in inciting the violence. Contrary to the impression listeners receive from Rogan, Arab “hostility” was not “provoked” exclusively by the clumsiness of British policies or “tensions between Muslims and Jews over religious sites” but by a long and organized campaign of incitement headed by al Husseini. Just days before the massacre in Hebron, for example, Husseini announced in a sermon that “anyone who kills a Jew will be entitled to the next world”.
A man who earns a comfortable living disseminating criticism of Israel says supporters of Israel make it impossible to criticize Israel, the man told reporters today.Egypt closes schools in Sinai towns as area inches toward open war
Ali Abunimah, 42, lashed out at Israel both online and in the presence of media today for stifling criticism of the Jewish state, referring to the content of the hundreds of articles, video clips, tweets, reports, and other material critical of Israel he has published since 2001.
“No one can criticize Israel and hope to keep a public career,” charged Abunimah, whose anti-Israel views have garnered him ample air time and column space in almost all major media outlets. “It opens a person up to charges of antisemitism, and the conversation is basically over,” explained the founder of the flourishing online publication Electronic Intifada.
Egypt has indefinitely shut schools in two border towns in northern Sinai as the army prepares to intensify a battle with Islamist militants that turned the daily trip to lessons into a "journey of death".Iran and world powers set to miss nuclear talks deadline, seek extension, sources say
Local people say children's education has fallen victim while the military stages air strikes against jihadists, who are targeting soldiers and police, and have started beheading army informers.
"We are putting our lives at risk on a daily basis," said Mohamed, a teacher who lives in the town of Sheikh Zuweid. "Sometimes there is fire between gunmen and the armed forces and sometimes stray bullets hit some of us."
Iran, the United States and other world powers are all but certain to miss Monday's deadline for negotiations to resolve a 12-year stand-off over Tehran's atomic ambitions, forcing them to seek an extension, sources say.Cornered but unbound by nuclear pact, Israel reconsiders military action against Iran
The talks in Vienna could lead to a transformation of the Middle East, open the door to ending economic sanctions on Iran and start to bring a nation of 76 million people in from the cold after decades of hostility with the West.
But sources confirmed on Sunday what officials close to the talks have been predicting privately for weeks: that a final deal is still too far off to hammer out by the deadline.
"Considering the short time left until the deadline and number of issues that needed to be discussed and resolved, it is impossible to reach a final and comprehensive deal by Nov. 24," Iran's ISNA news agency quoted an unidentified member of the country's negotiating team in Vienna as saying.
"The issue of extension of the talks is an option on the table and we will start discussing it if no deal is reached by Sunday night," the official said.
Without an exit ramp, Israel insists its hands will not be tied by an agreement reached this week, this month or next, should it contain a clause that ultimately normalizes Iran's home-grown enrichment program.Iran Blames 'Zionists' For Negotiation Failure
On the surface, its leadership dismisses fears that Israel will be punished or delegitimized if it disrupts an historic, international deal on the nuclear program with unilateral military action against its infrastructure.
By framing the deal as fundamentally flawed, regardless of its enforcement, Israel is telling the world that it will not wait to see whether inspectors do their jobs as ordered.
According to his aides, the prime minister's preference is not war, but the continuation of a tight sanctions regime on Iran's economy coupled with a credible threat of military force. Netanyahu believes more time under duress would have led to an acceptable deal. But that opportunity, in his mind, may now be lost.
Whether Israel still has the ability to strike Iran, without American assistance, is an open question. Quoted last month in the Atlantic magazine, US officials suggested that window for Netanyahu closed over two years ago.
But responding to claims by that same official, quoted by Jeffrey Goldberg, over Netanyahu's courage and will, the Israeli official responded sternly: "The prime minister is a very serious man who knows the serious responsibility that rests on his shoulders. He wouldn't say the statements that he made if he didn't mean them."
"People have underestimated Israel many, many times in the past," he continued, "and they underestimate it now."
Iranian Army Chief of Staff, Hassan Firuzabadi said Saturday night, that even before talks began in Geneva, Switzerland, an agreement was thwarted - by Israel and United States Republicans.Four Year-Old Boy Attacked in New Zealand for Wearing Yarmulke
The senior official blamed midterm US elections, in which Republicans won a majority in both the Senate and the House of Representatives, explaining that the Jewish lobby has a greater influence on the Republican Party, than the Democratic Party.
Because of the difficulties in the negotiations, several media outlets have reported that the six world powers intend to extend the November 24 deadline. Iran, for its part, claims they have not yet received an offer for extension.
Instead, Firuzabadi looked backward to proclaim that in the previous round of talks, held in Oman, they were "very close to an agreement, but what the Americans actually said were the words of the Zionists."
A four year-old Jewish boy was attacked by an anti-Semitic thug in New Zealand - the latest such incident in a wave of anti-Semitism in the country.14 honored in the Netherlands for saving Jews during WWII
According to the New Zealand Herald, the boy, who was walking home from preschool with a friend and his brother, were approached by a man "of Middle Eastern appearance", said to be in his twenties, who slapped him - hard - in front of the boy's mother. He was apparently targeted because he was wearing a yarmulke, or Jewish skullcap.
According to New Zealand Jewish Council president Stephen Goodman, the man then left in a car with four other men - while laughing.
The title of Righteous Among the Nations — a distinction awarded by the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem which is often conferred to recipients by Israel’s foreign ministry — on Friday was given posthumously to Frederika Maria Segboer and Christina Segboer — sisters who hid Jews in southern Netherlands and helped them reach safety in Spain.Daughter of Victim Speaks: 'My Father Was a Man of Truth'
Frederika’s daughter, Marijke van de Meent-Segboer, accepted the honor at a ceremony in Gorinchem near Rotterdam for her mother and aunt, who directed Jews they hid to the Westerweel group — a ring of resistance fighters who helped smuggle at least 210 Jews out of the Netherlands, as well as hundreds of non-Jews who were wanted by the Nazi occupation forces.
Many of the Jews that the group smuggled to Spain left from there to pre-state Israel.
Earlier this month, the embassy conferred the title posthumously on another 12 recipients during a ceremony in The Hague. There, Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Haim Divon, honored also Cornelia Kloppenburg and her husband, Leenderd Mostard, who worked as a chauffeur near The Hague. During the Holocaust, the couple took in a 4-year-old Jewish child, Micha Konig.
Michal Levine's father, Rabbi Kalman Levine hy''d, was brutally murdered along with three other Jews at a synagogue in Jerusalem's Har Nof neighborhood last Tuesday by two Arab terrorists armed with hatchets, knives and guns, who went on to murder a Druze police officer as well.
Levine spoke to Arutz Sheva about her father in front of the Kehilat Bnei Torah synagogue where he was murdered, saying "my father was a man of truth, and that truth...was implemented in actions of love towards all humanity."
She learned of the attack while in Miami, Florida where she lives via a night-time call from an aunt.
"At the start I didn't understand. When I started to digest I broke out in crying and shouted, it was insufferable pain," said Levine. (h/t NormanF)
