J Street U to Push Resolution Calling for End to ‘Israeli Occupation of Palestinian Territory’
A campus activist network will push student governments and university administrations this year to pass a resolution calling for "an end to … the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory."Seth Frantzman: Calling Israel ‘white supremacist’ perpetuates Western antisemitism
J Street U, the university wing of a group that positions itself as pro-Israel and anti-boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS), has drafted a motion "for ratification by student government and implementation by [administrators]" that would "affirm their support for a two-state resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which will ensure a future of peace and dignity for both peoples."
The draft resolution, which was viewed by the Washington Free Beacon, is titled "Invest in Israel; Invest in Two States" and urges the campus community to recognize the "two-state solution as the only viable solution for the end to the occupation of the West Bank by Israel."
The bill would encourage a repudiation of BDS by university trustees and students as counterproductive to the goal of reaching a two-state settlement, while also apportioning considerable blame for the ongoing conflict to Israel's "occupation" of East Jerusalem and the West Bank—areas that include Judaism's holiest sites—since the 1967 Six-Day War.
Also in the draft is a nod to ending "violence, terror, incitement," though the text makes no mention of who it considers responsible for terror and incitement in the region.
Repeated phone calls to the J Street national office and communications officials produced no response.
The 2017 issue of the Tufts University “Disorientation Guide” describes the campus group Hillel as “an organization that supports a white supremacist state.” The guide is not an official university brochure. According to the Tufts Daily it is “distributed at the start of the semester by a group called the Tufts Anti-Authoritarian Collective and seeks to “provide a platform for many underrepresented, radical voices on campus and to present the option of an alternative community to freshmen.”Berkeley Agitators Say Orthodox Jew Ben Shapiro Is A ‘White Supremacist’
Among “radical voices” on campuses in the West, hatred of Israel has become a pillar of faith. It is one cause that most of the disparate groups can agree on. In the Disorientation Guide, a whole section is devoted to Israel Apartheid Week and attacks on Israel and Jewish organizations such as Hillel. The anonymous writers would argue they are not anti-Jewish, because if you read closely it’s clear some of them are Jewish and they simply want to create “alternative Jewish communities on campus to celebrate their Judaism while remaining critical of Zionism and Israel.”
The Tufts guide isn’t unique, it’s representative of a wider phenomenon that is well known. Israel is a toxic issue on campus and opposition to “Zionism” is de rigueur. This fashionable anti-Israel activism has been a hallmark on campuses and parts of the Left since the 1970s. Even in 1966 the General Union of Palestine Students sought to get the National Union of Israel Students expelled from the International Union of Students.
What is particular to the current depiction of Israel is that it has grown beyond just pro-Palestinian activism that used to be part of the anti-colonial struggle and graduated to a depiction of Israel as a “white supremacist” state to connect it to current struggles in the US and the West. They posit that Jews are “white” and enjoy “white privilege” and therefore Israel is “white supremacist” because it is an expression of Jewish nationalism, which for them is like white nationalism.
There is an irony here in that the anti-Israel activists in the West tend to have more white privilege than the average person from Israel has. They portray Israel as “white” primarily as a device to distract from their own insecurities about being white, and to try to distract from the crimes of Western countries, including the Holocaust, and foist “white supremacism” onto Israel.
Left-wing agitators have falsely labeled conservative commentator Ben Shapiro a “white supremacist,” in an apparent attempt to inflame tensions ahead of Shapiro’s speech at the University of California, Berkeley on Thursday.UC Berkeley Offers Assisted Suicide to Students Offended by Shapiro Talk (satire)
Shapiro, the editor in chief of The Daily Wire, is an Orthodox Jew and a vocal opponent of the alt-right and other fringe white nationalist groups. Nevertheless, Refuse Fascism, a group that has previously organized violent demonstrations in Berkeley, labeled Shapiro a “fascist thug” and “white supremacist” over the weekend.
“Fascist thug [and] white supremacist Ben Shapiro is coming to UC Berkeley — The issue is not ‘Free Speech,'” the group wrote in a Facebook post. “The Issue is Fascism.”
The post linked to a Refuse Fascism statement declaring that “Campuses must become FASCIST-FREE ZONES.”
UC Berkeley has encouraged similarly dramatic responses to Shapiro’s talk on campus. The university announced that it would be offering “counseling services” to students upset by Shapiro’s presence on campus. (RELATED: DNC Platform Member Cornel West Tied To Violent Berkeley Rioters)
“We are deeply concerned about the impact some speakers may have on individuals’ sense of safety and belonging. No one should be made to feel threatened or harassed simply because of who they are or for what they believe,” Paul Alivisatos, the university’s executive vice chancellor and provost, wrote in an open letter.
After learning that intensive counseling had failed to heal many of the deep emotional wounds caused by the event, the University of California at Berkeley is now offering assisted suicide to students threatened by conservative journalist Ben Shapiro’s scheduled talk.
“No student should ever feel threatened, harassed, or the least bit uncomfortable by being exposed to controversial or offensive ideas,” the university wrote in a letter to students. “Since such offense may be unavoidable with a Zionist Nazi like Shapiro invading our safe spaces, we understand that for many students, death may be the most merciful option, and we offer complimentary euthanasia for anyone who requires it.”
The letter stressed that these services would only be given only to students who chose to utilize them. This was not enough, however, for the radical ‘Antifa’ movement, which vowed to forcibly euthanize any students who chose to forgo the university’s treatment.
“Any students who want to live in a world in which a fascist like Shapiro can speak on their campus are themselves fascists,” one Antifa member told The Mideast Beast. “They therefore forfeit their right to live, and we are totally justified in attacking them with sticks and clubs.”
Ben Shapiro: NEVER FORGET: The 5 Lessons We Should Have Learned From 9/11
2. Money Doesn’t Buy Off Islamists. Neither Does Friendliness.
For a decade, the Clinton Administration reached out to the Palestinian government with cash, pressure on our ally Israel, and symbolic moves to legitimize the regime. The response: on 9/11, the Palestinians danced in the streets and celebrated as Americans leapt to their deaths from burning buildings.
One of the great myths purveyed by Bin Laden was that the United States had been overtly hostile toward Muslims around the world. That’s nonsense.
We used the power of America’s military to stop the invasion of Kuwait; we sided with the mujahedeen in Afghanistan against the Soviets; we activated NATO to prevent a genocide against Croatian Muslims in former Yugoslavia. Friendliness toward the Muslim world does not matter to Islamists, who seek only the domination of a religious caliphate.
Yet the Obama Administration sought friendship with the Iranian government, essentially handing them a nuclear program and control of a vast swath of the Middle East.
16 years on, US and Israel mourn 9/11 attacks, laud anti-terror alliance
Holding photos and reading names of loved ones lost 16 years ago, 9/11 victims’ relatives and others marked the anniversary of the attacks at Ground Zero on Monday with a solemn and personal ceremony.Seth Frantzman: 5,844 days later: Reflections on 9/11
In Israel, an estimated 500 people gathered at the KKL-JNF Jewish National Fund’s “Living Memorial” in the Jerusalem Hills at the US Embassy’s official memorial ceremony for the attacks of September 11, 2001, which took 2,977 lives, including those of five Israelis.
The victims died when hijacked planes slammed into the trade center, the Pentagon and a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, hurling America into a new consciousness of the threat of global terrorism.
Speaking at the 9/11 Living Memorial Plaza in the Arazim Valley outside Jerusalem, US ambassador to Israel David Friedman lauded the strong friendship between US and Israel.
“Israel and the United States will always stand together and fight for the total defeat of radical Islamic terrorism,” Friedman said.
Sixteen years, several wars, three US presidents, 6,928 US soldiers killed, one million injured, hundreds of American contractors killed, trillions of dollars spent and 41 inmates still held at Guantanamo Bay.9/11 & The Changing Face Of Islamic Terrorism
And those are just the costs associated with the US since September 11, 2001. More than 180,000 Iraqis have been killed in conflict since the US-led 2003 invasion, while an estimated 170,000 people have been killed in 73,000 terrorist attacks around the world since 2001.
When one tries to take stock of the violence that was unleashed on 9/11, the lasting effects of that date seem unbelievable.
That is also because hindsight tends to present a linear, deterministic view of history.
It was 9/11 that led to the US-led War on Terror, which led to the invasion of Afghanistan and then Iraq. That resulted in the imposition of democracy in those countries, which also led to the Palestinians electing Hamas in 2006 and influenced the Arab Spring. The 2011 revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt led to chaos in Libya. That fed conflict in the Sahel region in Africa, while a weak Iraqi state and rise of Iranian hegemony led to the rise of ISIS, which exploited the Syrian conflict.
There is also a tendency toward seeing the effects of 9/11 through an American or Western lens, as if the processes unleashed by terrorism in New York and Washington did not exist before, as if everything that happens in places such as Iraq or Afghanistan is only a reaction to US policy.
We know that 9/11 had much deeper roots stretching back to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. It was also influenced by the growth in Islamist extremism that had set hold in Pakistan and elsewhere. Al-Qaida was not only an anti-American Islamist terrorist organization; two days before 9/11, the Afghan commander Ahmad Shah Massoud was also assassinated by extremists linked to al-Qaida.
From large-scale to ‘lone-wolf’ attacks, Muslim terrorism continues to evolve even as the West remains a primary targetJohn Bolton: 16 Years Later: Lessons Put into Practice?
‘Where were you on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001?’ is to Millennials what ‘Where were you when Kennedy was shot?’ is to Baby Boomers; namely, questions representing moments that became etched into the nation’s collective consciousness and subsequently shaped the views and experiences of a generation.
On 9/11, as it would come simply to be known, Americans awoke to scenes of previously unwitnessed carnage on their home soil, as two commercial jets hijacked by Al-Qa’ida terrorists slammed into the north and south towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City. Less than two hours later, the massive buildings, a symbol of U.S. ingenuity, economic might and perhaps, until then, perceived invincibility, came crashing down in a heap of shattered humanity.
Concurrently, a third plane was flown into the Pentagon, the emblem of American military dominance in a unipolar world while a fourth hijacked airliner was, heroically, downed by passengers in a Pennsylvania field while en route to the White House, where the leader of the free world resides.
When the dust settled and the smoke cleared, 2,997 people were dead, another 6,000 were injured and the course of history was changed forever.
Prior to 9/11, terrorism, while rarely crossing the mind of the average individual, was viewed by analysts mainly as a geopolitical weapon limited primarily in scope to the Middle East. There had, of course, been various remarkable attacks outside the region such as the Munich Olympic Massacre in 1972 by the Black September Palestinian group, but that targeted Israelis. The 1988 Lockerbie Bombing, which killed 259 passengers and crew aboard Pan Am Flight 103, was attributed to then-Libyan dictator Muammar Qaddafi and was therefore viewed foremost through the prism of Mideast turmoil.
Today marks the 16th anniversary of al-Qaida's 9/11 attacks. We learned much that tragic day, at enormous human and material cost. Perilously, however, America has already forgotten many of Sept. 11's lessons.Global terrorism before and since 9/11
The radical Islamicist ideology manifested that day has neither receded nor "moderated" as many naive Westerners predicted. Neither has the ideology's hatred for America or its inclination to conduct terrorist attacks. Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution brought radical Islam to the contemporary world's attention, and it is no less malevolent today than when it seized our Tehran embassy, holding U.S. diplomats hostage for 444 days.
The Taliban, which provided al-Qaida sanctuary to prepare the 9/11 attacks, threaten to retake control in Afghanistan. Al-Qaida persists and may even be growing worldwide.
While ISIS's caliphate in Syria and Iraq will not survive much longer, countries across North Africa and the Middle East ("MENA") have destabilized or fractured entirely. Syria and Iraq have ceased to exist functionally, and Libya, Somalia and Yemen have descended into chaos. Pakistan, an unstable nuclear-weapons state, could fall to radicals under many easily predictable scenarios.
The terrorist threat is compounded by nuclear proliferation. Pakistan has scores of nuclear weapons, and Iran's program continues unhindered. North Korea has now conducted its sixth, and likely thermonuclear, nuclear test, and its ballistic missiles are near to being able to hit targets across the continental United States. Pyongyang leads the rogue's gallery of would-be nuclear powers, and is perfectly capable of selling its technologies and weapons to anyone with hard currency.
During Barack Obama's presidency, he ignored these growing threats and disparaged those who warned against them. His legacy is terrorist attacks throughout Europe and America, and a blindness to the threat that encouraged Europe to accept a huge influx of economic migrants from the MENA region, whose numbers included potentially thousands of already-committed terrorists.
The watershed terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 were not the first terrorist attack in the West. But the extent of the destruction, the attackers' daring and the precisely chosen targets, which were intended to strike at the heart of the American consciousness, were all new and demanded that the nation change its thinking on everything regarding terrorism.U.K. Teachers Too Scared To Teach About September 11th Terror Attacks
The good news is that no attack of the same scale has been perpetrated on U.S. soil or anywhere else in the West since then. In addition, the U.S. reports it has killed 60,000 to 70,000 jihadists in various countries around the world. The battle against global terrorism (against global jihad, actually) has reached new heights in the past two years in Syria and Iraq -- not necessarily under American leadership, although Washington was certainly a partner in intelligence, operational, and diplomatic efforts in those countries.
Now for the bad news, the main part of which is that terrorism is still with us, and unlikely to disappear. In recent years, it has taken on a new face that illustrates a concept or ideology and crosses national borders as well as continents. In the era of social media networks in a small global village, the Salafist-jihadi idea is making its way to Muslim communities all over the world. In recent years, it has reared its head in the form of attacks in the heart of Europe (Ankara, Brussels, Paris, London, Berlin, etc.); the tsunami of immigrants flooding Europe; "successful" attacks on symbols of the West and the desire of young people, mostly from the sidelines of society, to join Islam. All these contribute to keeping jihad alive. Where? Anywhere it is possible to commit a terrorist act against anyone whose life is by definition forfeit because he or she is an unbeliever. America itself has had a strong taste of that in the past two years in the form of the attacks in San Bernardino (December 2015) and in the gay nightclub in Orlando (June 2016).
Today, on the anniversary of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on America, parents across the country are telling their children what happened on that horrible day 16 years ago.Edgar Davidson: 9/11 Revisited (satire)
But the same isn't happening everywhere in the world. Some places are just too politically correct to say the truth: that radical Islamists attacked the world — anyone and everyone who isn't like them. (More than 60 countries had citizens who died in the attacks; see this map.)
The United Kingdom lost 67 citizens that day. But some U.K. teachers are simply too terrified to teach their students about the attacks because they fear a backlash from Muslim parents, a leading expert in counter-extremism education told The Telegraph.
Kamal Hanif OBE, who was appointed by the Government to turn around three schools at the heart of the “Trojan Horse” scandal, said that some teachers have a “misplaced” concern that they will cause offence if they raise 9/11 in the classroom.
He said that some teachers — particularly those who work in schools with a high proportion of Muslim students — see it as a contentious topic and shy away from teaching it.
“Teachers sometimes have a fear that this might be controversial,” he said.
“[They think] if we teach about this we might get Muslim parents objecting.”
The cycle of violence in America spiralled out of control today when a series of violent incidents left thousands dead, including many Arab and Muslim civilians. UN sources and Al Jazeera have confirmed that many of the Arabs killed were refugee children who had fled from oppression. American claims that they too suffered “many civilian deaths” have been strongly denied by the UN-affiliated relief workers in the Al Qaeda organisation who maintain that the only Americans killed were military personnel and illegal settlers.
The violence started when one of five unarmed Arab civilians, who boarded a 767 aircraft in Boston, was refused permission to fly the plane, despite having a valid flying licence. The American authorities have been imposing increasingly tight restrictions on the freedom of movement of Arab civilians within the US. This humiliation to their dignity has created, not unsurprisingly, deep anger and resentment among Muslims in the US. When the fully qualified pilot was denied the opportunity to work in his chosen profession, he became understandably angry. The outnumbered Arab men were then attacked by members of the crew, but what really happened next may never be known. What is certain is that all of the five Arab civilians were killed, along with the plane’s other occupants (primarily military and intelligence personnel along with some illegal American settlers) when the plane crashed into the North tower of the World Trade Center. Al Jaziera and the UN confirmed that the building (which housed a mosque) contained many Arab refugee children, who were all killed in the attack along with a number of Muslim workers. Some illegal American settlers dressed as businessmen may also have perished.
PreOccupiedTerritory: Museum Of Palestinian Culture Gifted With Original Candies Distributed On 9/11 (satire)
Curators at the Museum of Palestine just outside the territory’s de facto capital have announced the acquisition of new items, which will be displayed for the first time today, to mark the sixteenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York and Virginia: original sweets from the immediate aftermath of the attacks that were distributed in Palestinian towns and cities in celebration of the events.Barack Obama: Revised Mission Statement for the U.S. Holocaust Museum (satire)
Indigenous Palestinian Culture Department curator Aisay Mossadiddit assembled a press conference to announce the acquisition and exhibit, which will open this afternoon following a short memorial service for the hijackers. The exhibit will be on view indefinitely, explained Mossadiddit, as the museum’s collection of artifacts illustrating indigenous Palestinian history in the Holy Land currently lacks suitable alternative pieces.
“This afternoon we will unveil these artifacts of our native culture,” he boasted. “The pieces are from an anonymous collector, who has provided them to us on permanent loan.”
Among the collection’s prized possessions is an Israeli Tortit, a chocolate-covered candy bar with almond-creme-filled layers of wafer that gained prominence earlier this year when terrorist icon Marwan Barghouti was filmed sneaking it as a snack while he was leading a hunger strike of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jail. The curator noted that although he was certain Tortit bars were distributed in 2001, the specimen in the museum’s collection was bought recently, in keeping with the scholarly standards for general Palestinian evidence of indigenous status.
So apparently the U.S. Holocaust Museum has expanded its Mission Statement to include the defense of Barack Obama’s legacy on Syria.IsraellyCool: WATCH: Delicious BDS Fails
And this has like ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the fact that the Museum Board is now packed with Obama Administration alumnae to include Ben Rhodes, AKA “The Guy who sold us the Iran Deal”.
So the Museum authored a study that said “a variety of factors, which were more or less fixed, made it very difficult from the beginning for the US government to take effective action to prevent atrocities in Syria, even compared with other challenging policy contexts.” Using computational modeling and game theory methods, as well as interviews with experts and policymakers, the report asserted that greater support for the anti-Assad rebels and US strikes on the Assad regime after the August 2013 chemical weapons attack would not have reduced atrocities in the country, and might conceivably have contributed to them.
Anyway, it appears that the Museum is real busy these days burnishing a certain former President’s legacy. And we would not want to disturb them. That would be ared linerude. So we went ahead and edited the Museum’s mission statement (posted above) to reflect their new Goals. You’re Welcome.
Yesterday’s BDS fail at the TLV in LDN festival inspired me to think about some other great BDS fails of the past.
Watch: This Brit went to #TLVinLDN and encountered an anti-Israel demo outside the festival. This is what he had to say: pic.twitter.com/AyXDlJYQHS— 4IL (@4ILorg) September 9, 2017
The US must do more against European BDS
“BDS was launched as a campaign against Israel in 2005. The basic idea was promoted at the 2001 NGO antiracism conference in Durban, South Africa. Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions, commonly known as BDS, has gained traction in the past decade. The same phenomenon, without the name, existed already as a potent organizational force in Europe since 1967.Rockefeller Brothers Fund finances Jewish Voice for Peace as it launches new anti-Israel campaign
“There is no systematic study delineating all BDS organizations in Europe. Based on my research, there are scores of formidable BDS organizations mainly in Western European countries. A petition on the website of BDS France attracted the support of nearly 70 French organizations.”
Benjamin Weinthal is a fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies— a non-partisan national security think tank in Washington— and a correspondent for The Jerusalem Post.
He adds: “The BDS organizations are like a rapid fire virus that spreads into all walks of European life. BDS entities exist in trade unions, allegedly human rights groups, and church institutions, among others.”
“European governments fund BDS organizations that are active in Europe and the Middle East. The Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor has published much information on European governmental support for BDS activity.
“To fathom the hardcore, deeply embedded, pro-BDS attitudes in European society, one can look at the EU decision in 2015 that sanctioned Jewish products from the disputed territories with a labeling system. Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians was the only territorial row subjected to EU punitive measures. Predictably, the EU ignored Turkey’s occupation of North Cyprus and Morocco’s occupation of Western Sahara.
Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) is an anti-Israel extremist group that enables, legitimizes and mainstreams antisemitism by providing a façade and veneer of Jewish legitimacy for the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement.Abdel Bari Atwan and the Palestine Solidarity Campaign
As we’ve highlighted in almost 100 prior posts dating back to 2011, JVP isn’t a Jewish group. Rather, it’s a far-left wing group that purports to be inspired by the Jewish tradition of social activism.
Appropriating the language of human rights and social justice, JVP presents itself as an organization committed merely to ending Israel’s ‘occupation’ and to advancing civil liberties and democracy through non-violent means. But as we’ve documented, its tactics and affiliations tell a very different story.
The reality is that JVP’s leadership and activists:
JVP advances its virulently anti-Israel agenda via a relentless series of heavily-hyped national campaigns. It’s recent initiative (“Deadly Exchange”) rolled out in the spring and revamped over the summer, JVP blames Israel and major Jewish American organizations for policing problems in minority communities, including police shootings. It thus sets Jews up as part of, and the driving force behind, a white supremacist power structure oppressing people of color.
- promote and up-lifts killers of Jews and stand proudly with heinous terrorists;
- partner with extremists individuals who demonize Israel and Zionism, while propagating negative stereotypes of Jews;
- usurp Jewish holidays and faith-based traditions in order to vilify Israel as a violent outlaw state;
- bully, harass and ostracize Jews who connect and identify with Israel;
- work to deflect allegations of antisemitism by standing ‘as Jews’ in support of their racist allies; and
- openly produce anti-Jewish propaganda and traffic in age-old antisemitic canards and tropes about Jewish money and power.
The self-styled Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) is actually a hate campaign. In particular, proponents of the most extreme violence are very welcome at its events. Come speak to us!MEETING TO DISCUSS ANTI-SEMITISM ‘WITCH HUNT’ AT LABOUR CONFERENCE
The latest is the journalist Abdel Bari Atwan. He will speak at a PSC event in Brighton on 14 September. Note how the PSC advertise the meeting:
He has also said ’Palestinians tried the “peace process”…now we should go back to square one, which means resistance’.
Dancing for War
This is how bad it gets. In a discussion of the Iranian nuclear programme, Mr Atwan turns to Israel:
If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight if the Iranian missiles strike Israel.
The PSC – A Good Crowd for Atwan
With this record, Atwan should be popular in PSC circles. This is a group where one can find several examples of outrageous antisemitism in a single rally. This one, for example. “Blood drinking swine”, “Go back to Poland”, “Israeli Jews to the sea”, and so on ad nauseam.
Here one sees PSC leaders in a very special moment, meeting Hamas in Gaza.
So, is Jeremy Corbyn still a patron of the PSC? Why yes, of course he is.
In fact, here is Mr Corbyn with Mr Atwan and crazed Hamas supporter Azzam “Kaboom” Tamimi.
Labour’s anti-Semitism scandal will be branded a “witch hunt” at a controversial meeting during the party’s conference later this month. The event, titled “Free Speech On Israel – Why We Oppose The Witch Hunt”, will be chaired by notorious anti-Israel campaigner Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi, who is on record accusing Israel of “exploiting” the Holocaust and denies Labour has an anti-semitism problem. Idrissi, who is co-chair of Chingford Labour Party and a close ally of Jackie Walker, told LBC last year:New York Times Columnist Recycles Advice From James ‘[Expletive Deleted] the Jews’ Baker
“I’m not saying that Israel is committing a Holocaust. I’m saying they use and exploit the fact of the Holocaust to justify what are, in some cases, crimes against humanity.”
Idrissi is a real piece of work, she has also accused Jewish Labour MP Ruth Smeeth of fabricating anti-Semitic incidents and has in the past literally reduced Labour MPs to tears. This is going to kick off…
Cohen concludes his column by writing:Haaretz English Edition Conjures Palestinian 'Politial Prisoners'
James Baker, as United States secretary of state, once gave the number of the White House switchboard and told the Israelis: “When you’re serious about peace, call us.” Trump should give his alter ego the same treatment — and wait for those investigations to run their course.
Yet Cohen doesn’t report that Baker’s “call us” tactic did not work. One might claim that it produced the Madrid Conference, but even the Madrid Conference didn’t produce much; the Oslo breakthrough, such as it was, had to wait for a Clinton administration that was perceived as more Israel-friendly than Baker had been.
Cohen also neglected to mention what another New York Times columnist, William Safire, did report in 1992:
Mr. Bush’s unprecedented rejection of humanitarian aid to a democratic ally — while continuing loan guarantees to dictatorships with no strings attached — followed the revelation that his Secretary of State said, “[ Expletive deleted ] the Jews, they don’t vote for us anyway.”
At a Bush speech the other night, a White House aide sought me out to say, “You know, Baker never said that.”
Though constrained by the rules of deep background, I can confirm that Mr. Baker did say that, with the same vulgarism that made it so memorable, to two high officials on two different occasions. President Bush and his top staff know he did; it has been agreed that everybody would deny it was ever said. But James Baker said it — twice — and meant it.
Cohen quoting Baker’s advice is just the latest example of recent Times veneration of the man notorious for his “[ Expletive deleted ] the Jews, they don’t vote for us anyway” comment. On July 30, a former Times Jerusalem bureau chief, Peter Baker, who is now the Times chief White House correspondent, claimed that James A. Baker III “is widely considered to be the gold standard” when it comes to that job.
The Times, by publishing Cohen, is following James Baker’s vulgar advice.
In an article about the possible loss of state funding for Jaffa Theater, Haaretz's Judy Maltz conjures up "Palestinian political prisoners." Online and in print (Thursday, page 1), Judy Maltz wrote that a June production included the reading of letters penned by Palestinian "political prisoners":
Finance Ministry’s legal adviser, Asi Messing, said representatives of the Jaffa Theatre would be summoned to a hearing in connection with two specific events held on their premises: a performance in June based on the recital of letters written by Palestinian political prisoners .
Political Prisoners JaffaTheatre.jpg
According to the U.S. State Department 2016 Human Rights Report for Israel: "There were no reports of civilian political prisoners or detainees" (page 16).
On what basis does Haaretz identify the prisoners in question as "political prisoners"? Political prisoners are (see, for example, the definition by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly) are imprisoned "for purely political reasons without connection to any offence."
The play does not identify the prisoners by name or their offenses. If Haaretz editors knows the identity and specifics of these prisoners allegedly held only the basis of their political activity, they haven't said so.
David Singer: ABC "Media Watch" Program Continues to Wipe Israel off the Map
I then sent Whittaker the following detailed response:Much ado about a meme
'Thanks for your response and the suggestion I can re-post my comment.
What about reposting the more than 20 other comments that were removed by "technical error"? Are they too irretrievable?
Reposting my comment does not answer my complaint about the following false statement made by [the presenter] Paul [Barry] in the story:
"But two days is obviously an age in the Mail’s hectic newsroom. And clearly no one bothered to watch the ABC report.
Because if they had they would have known that the nations in blue are where this law has been abolished. And the nations in yellow are those that still have it on their books.
And Israel was not on the map because it never had the offending statute."
This statement was patently false because:
1. Israel was shown on the map
2. Israel was coloured yellow
3. Israel was mislabelled "Palestine"
Paul was clearly in error in making the above statement.
Where he got the information to make this statement needs to be explained by Paul.
The segment was clearly tainted by this statement.
I am surprised that in these circumstances your response is:
"As for the story itself, like I said, we stand by it and have nothing more to add"
I didn't like the cartoon meme Yair Netanyahu shared. But I didn't think it was anything important. So he shared it; not a big deal. But given the enormous wave of righteousness about it on almost every media outlet, the immense pressure on the public consciousness to be "horrified" and "condemn" it, and of course, to blame the prime minister (how could they not?) -- it's important to present the other side, for the sake of free thought.IsraellyCool: Of Antisemitic Memes: Who Wore It Better?
What do you know, the denouncers accused, anti-Semitic sites shared the cartoon. I went onto the site of Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and saw that he had shared not only the cartoon, but the report about it from the Haaretz English website. There's a reason he keeps tabs on that paper. We can express harsh criticism over the bad cartoon, but if a share on neo-Nazi websites is a test for criticism, you should know that the Israeli paper that stars on such sites (as well as on Islamist and pro-BDS sites) is Haaretz.
"Yair Netanyahu's anti-Semitic cartoon," Yedioth Ahronoth screamed, "crosses not only a red line, but a black one. Anti-Semitism in the name of the fight," it wrote. Wow. About a year ago, Yedioth published a banner headline stating that "the new IDF chief rabbi" had ruled that "rape is permissible in war." Read it again, the anti-Semitic lie that ran on one of the most widely distributed papers in Israel. Israel Hayom was the only paper that condemned that falsehood. It barely ruffled the media's feathers compared to the cosmic horror we experienced yesterday over a stupid cartoon, as if it was the earthquake in Mexico or Hurricane Irma, both of which were marginalized in Yedioth to make room for about 80 pages on meals at the Prime Minister's Residence. Who needs George Soros and his pack of anti-Israeli groups when you have a headline in Yedioth that glorifies everyone who has ever hated Israel and the Jewish people? Now they're coming to educate us.
Yair has been criticized for the post because of the antisemitic imagery it employs, with the ADL denouncing it. And other critics, like Ha’aretz, have been quick to point out that neo Nazis like David Duke and the Daily Stormer have “supported” Yair.French government condemns attack on Jewish family near Paris
Now let me really clear about this: Yair Netanyahu’s post is horrid, and deserves condemnation, precisely because of the antisemitic imagery it employs. But to suggest the son of the Israeli Prime Minister is antisemitic is plain dumb. He is either ignorant, foolish or arrogant – or perhaps a combination of all.
I sincerely hope he learns from this – although he has not exactly apologized. Rather, he has gone on the attack against, among others, Ha’aretz, pointing out that David Duke shared his post through a story from their paper, indicating he reads them
Yair Netanyahu has a point.
What Ha’aretz regularly posts is the stuff of David Duke’s wildest dreams. Yet I do not recall the ADL ever condemning them.
Comparing Zionism to White supremacy – how is that ok? Or this other Gideon Levy piece
The French Interior Ministry denounced the violence and offered support for the family and the Jewish community, saying that racism and anti-Semitism "have no place in the French nation."Israeli rescue teams depart for South Florida
French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb promised a "major effort" to arrest those responsible "for this cowardly act [which] appears directly linked to the victims' religion. Everything will be done to identify and arrest those who carried out this foul attack."
Francis Kalifat, president of the CRIF umbrella group of French Jewish organizations, said, "This horrible act is proof that Jews in France are particularly threatened in the street ... and even in their homes."
French police said they were investigating the incident. No suspects have been arrested at this time.
The French Jewish community is the largest community outside of the U.S. and Israel. Some 40,000 French Jews have emigrated since 2006, the majority of them to Israel.
Experts and members of the Jewish community in France say the terrorist and anti-Semitic attacks in recent years were not the only reason people are leaving. Family, religious and economic reasons have also played a role in decisions to leave France.
Israeli rescue teams departed Saturday night for Miami ahead of Hurricane Irma, which began ravaging South Florida on Sunday.Remembering Peres: Israel Postal Company issues memorial stamp
The mission, organized by the Israel Rescue Coalition (IRC), an umbrella group of rescue groups that includes United Hatzalah. The Coalition, which sent a psychotrauma crisis and response unit to Houston, Texas last month, said in a release that volunteers would administer first aid and assist Jewish communities in the aftermath of the storm.
“Our job as volunteers will be to help the community and deal with the situation as best we can in the absence of American officials, until they arrive," said Moti Elmaliah, a spokesman for the IRC. “We will take care to organize residents’ committees to deal with the issues that arise from Hurricane Irma, which has been classified as the most powerful storm ever to hit the Atlantic Ocean.”
Some 650,000 Jews live in Florida, the third largest Jewish community in the United States. But ahead of the storm, many had left town as South Florida became a virtual ghost town. Drone footage of the city’s downtown area and Miami Beach showed empty streets and beaches. In total, nearly 7 million people were ordered to evacuate, and local and federal officials warned that residents who refused to leave their homes would “be on their own” in what the National Hurricane Center called a “life-threatening situation.”
To mark the first anniversary of the passing of Israel’s ninth president Shimon Peres, the Israel Postal Company in conjunction with Israel Philatelic Services on Monday issued a special Shimon Peres memorial stamp.
Valued at NIS 2.40, the stamp features a portrait of Peres against a library backdrop in recognition of his love of books. There are also national emblems and Peres’s name in Hebrew, Arabic and English, the years of his birth and death and the word Israel in the three above-mentioned languages.
The stamp was designed by Limor Peretz-Samia, and the first day cover was designed by Tal Huber and Sharon Blinkov.
The stamp was unveiled at a ceremony at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation attended by Communications Minister Ayoub Kara, Hezi Zaieg, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the IPC, Danny Goldstein, Director General of IPC, Elhanan Shapira, the head of IPS, Chemi Peres, chairman of the Peres Center and members of the Peres Center staff.