Sunday, November 05, 2017
PMW: “There was nothing called a Palestinian people” in 1917, says Palestinian historian
To mark the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, Mahmoud Abbas, the Chairman of the Palestinian Authority published an op-ed in the British Guardian newspaper. After castigating Lord Balfour for promising "a land that was not his to promise" he went on to describe the Palestinian people as "a proud nation with a rich heritage of ancient civilisations, and the cradle of the Abrahamic faiths." [The Guardian, Nov. 1, 2017]
Contradicting Abbas' historical revision, just a day before, PA official TV broadcast an interview with the historian Abd Al-Ghani Salameh, who explained that in 1917 there was no Palestinian people.
During the broadcast, the host of the program asked:
"There always was a historical struggle over Palestine, and many wanted to rule it. How did the aspirations to rule affect the Palestinian existence, the Palestinians' options, and the Palestinians' possibilities of development?"
Salameh responded:
"Before the Balfour Promise (i.e., Declaration) when the Ottoman rule ended (1517-1917), Palestine's political borders as we know them today did not exist, and there was nothing called a Palestinian people with a political identity as we know today, since Palestine's lines of administrative division stretched from east to west and included Jordan and southern Lebanon, and like all peoples of the region [the Palestinians] were liberated from the Turkish rule and immediately moved to colonial rule, without forming a Palestinian people's political identity." [Official PA TV, Nov. 1, 2017]
Collection: The PA demonizes Britain and the Balfour Declaration
Latest Terror Tunnel Discovery Spotlights the ‘Real Proxy of Iran’ in Gaza
When it comes to terrorism emanating from the Gaza Strip, most public attention usually focuses on Hamas, the group that rules the coastal enclave. But Israel’s latest discovery and destruction of a cross-border attack tunnel has brought to light the role of Gaza’s second-largest terror faction, Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ).
The IDF is on high alert for the possibility of revenge attacks from PIJ following Israel’s destruction of the tunnel on October 30. PIJ dug the tunnel, which had crossed into Israeli territory, and the terror group reportedly sustained most of the 15 casualties that resulted from the IDF’s explosion of the tunnel.
The Israeli defense establishment believes that PIJ has around 10,000 armed members, as well as its own rocket arsenal and tunnel network. It has a unique religious affinity with the Iranian Shia regime, and may be receiving messages from Tehran to escalate the Palestinian conflict with Israel.
Hamas, on the other hand, is likely pressuring PIJ to avoid sparking a renewed round of violence at this time, due to Hamas’s desire to avoid endangering its agreement to form a Palestinian unity government with the Fatah faction by December 1.
Dr. Ely Karmon, a senior research scholar at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism in Herzliya, Israel, noted that from its inception, PIJ “acknowledged the importance of the Iranian revolution and its influence.” He said that PIJ — not Hamas — has been the “real proxy of Iran.”
Netanyahu: When Israelis and Arabs agree on Iran, the world should listen
Iran has taken over Lebanon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday morning, issuing a warning about Tehran’s growing regional dominance before ending a five-day trip to London.With Hariri's resignation, Israel has more leeway in next war with Lebanon
Netanyahu was in Britain to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, but made use of the trip to persuade the British government to take steps to halt Iranian aggression.
Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri's Saturday resignation — during which he said he fears an assassination attempt — and his warning about Iran’s inference in his country appeared to underscore the message Netanyahu delivered in meetings he held with British Prime Minister Theresa May and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson.
“You just heard the resigning prime minister of Lebanon, Hariri, say Hezbollah took over, which means that Iran took over,” Netanyahu said in an interview with the BBC Sunday morning.
“This is a wake up call for everyone. It says what the Middle East is really experiencing, it is experiencing the attempt of Iran to conquer the Middle East, to dominate and subjugate it,” Netanyahu said.
“When Israelis and the Arabs, all the Arabs and the Israelis, agree on one thing, people should pay attention. We should stop this Iranian take over,” Netanyahu said.
Iran is also operating in Syria and wants to colonize it, Netanyahu said, vowing that Israel would not let this happen.
On Sunday, Yoav Gallant, a member of the security cabinet and former IDF general, told The Israel Project that Hariri’s resignation should be a wake up call for the international community.Lebanese president won't accept PM's resignation until he returns
“Iran controls actually Lebanon, Iraq and is working very hard to take over Syria. This is a great danger to the stability of the region and the peace of the world. Hariri understands very well that after the massacre that is taking place in Syria, he might be next in line, as it happened to his father Rafik al-Hariri, and he is saying it in his own words.”
Following Hariri’s resignation, Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman took to Twitter, saying that “Lebanon=Hezbollah. Hezbollah=Iran. Lebanon=Iran. Iran is dangerous to the world. Saad Hariri has proved that today. Period.”
Last month, Liberman bemoaned the "reality" in the region, saying, "The Lebanese army has lost its independence and has become an integral part of Hezbollah’s network.”
Hariri, a Sunni Muslim who formed a government last year, accused Shiite Tehran of "creating a state within the state... to the extent that it gets the final say on how Lebanon's affairs are run.”
And it does seem that way. Lebanon’s president, Michel Aoun, is an ally of Hezbollah and believed to have been an appointment by Iran. The Lebanese army, despite the aid it received from the West (including two A-29 Super Tucano light attack aircraft from the US last week), has far fewer weapons than Hezbollah and is cooperating with the terror group.
Lebanon's president will not accept the resignation of Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri until he returns to Lebanon, palace sources said on Sunday, delaying for now politically difficult consultations on his successor.Richard Millett: Palestine Solidarity Campaign smears the Holocaust on anti-Balfour Declaration protest in London.
Hariri left Lebanon for Saudi Arabia on Friday and resigned on Saturday in a televised statement that took the Lebanese political establishment by surprise.
He cited an assassination plot against him and criticized the regional role of Iran and its Lebanese ally Hezbollah, however Lebanon's army said on Sunday it had not uncovered any plot.
A resignation would thrust Lebanon back into the arena of regional rivalry between Sunni Muslim Saudi Arabia, an ally of Hariri, and Shi'ite Muslim Iran, which backs Hezbollah.
President Michel Aoun, a political ally of Hezbollah, will wait to accept or reject Hariri's resignation until he returns to Lebanon to explain his reasons, sources at the presidential palace said.
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign cannot kick its smearing-the-Holocaust habit. A banner proclaiming the media is, basically, Jewish-controlled and that Jews are, basically, Nazis (see above) was proudly paraded on the PSC’s anti-Balfour Declaration march through London today. There was no objection to it from any PSC stewards.
Added to that a woman wearing a Palestinian flag kept repeating there were “concentration camps” in Palestinian villages (part 1 below) and repeatedly accused a Jewish man holding a British flag of being “the anti-Christ” (part 2 below):
Smearing the Holocaust is a common theme now at PSC events and anti-Israel events generally.
As the some 3,000 PSC activists proceeded down Oxford Street a group of about 30 pro-Israel campaigners stepped into the road in front of the march and put a stop to it for about 30 minutes before the police finally moved everyone on allowing the protest to end up in Parliament Square where it was addressed by Jeremy Corbyn MP and Diane Abbott MP (via a live link), Ken Loach, Andy Slaughter MP, Salma Yaqoob and Dave Randall, amongst others.
The pro-Israel group were also called “Zionist pigs” by PSC activists but here they are in their full glory:
In a surprising turn of events, the PSC #Balfour100 march appears to be led by a fearless group of pro-Israel supporters! Is this a sign of new cooperation?? 😂 pic.twitter.com/ctJVxTjqmz
— SussexFriendsIsrael (@SussexFriends) November 4, 2017
Thousands of pro-Palestinians march in London against Balfour and Israel
Several thousand pro-Palestinians marched through the streets of London on Saturday to protest the centenary of the historic Balfour Declaration that helped lead to the creation of the Jewish state and to denounce Israel.Historical Hyperbole and False Rape Allegations
The marchers held signs reading “Free Palestine” and Justice for Palestine,” while they chanted “Free, Free Palestine” and “Occupation no more.” There were several ultra-Orthodox Jews spotted marching in the crowd, presumably from extremist anti-Zionist sects.
The protest came with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visiting the United Kingdom to celebrate the 100th anniversary of then-foreign UK secretary Arthur Balfour’s promise of London’s support in the establishment of a Jewish homeland in Mandate Palestine.
Several people in the crowd called for Israel’s destruction, Israel’s Channel 10 reported, with some chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”
Israeli TV reports said there were some 3,000 marchers, and that two hours after the protests started, several hundred pro-Israel counter-protesters arrived and waved Israeli flags nearby.
On Friday, Netanyahu called on the Palestinians to come to terms with Israel’s existence as the nation-state of the Jewish people. A Palestinian acknowledgement of that fact, he said at the start of a meeting with his British counterpart, Theresa May, would be a big step toward peace.
It’s hard to believe that Dominic Sandbrook is a historian and visiting professor at Kings College, London after reading his article on the Balfour Declaration in the Daily Mail.One hundred years after Balfour Should Britain apologise… to Israel?
The negative tone is set by the editors with their choice of headline:
According to Sandbrook:
The Balfour Declaration ignited a firestorm of controversy and violence that saw an entire people — the Palestinians — uprooted from their homes and condemned to life in squalid refugee camps.
The Declaration was at once the cornerstone of the Middle East’s most enduring democracy, and the death warrant for a historic nation. For the Jews of Europe, it offered salvation. For the Palestinians of the Levant, it meant disaster.
History should not be hyperbole.
An “entire people” was not “uprooted from their homes and condemned to life in squalid refugee camps.” That Palestinians were displaced is not in dispute. However, as over 1.5 million Arab citizens living in Israel today demonstrates, significant numbers of Palestinians remained in Israel after its independence in 1948.
And those who did not remain? How is it even possible to claim that they all ended up in refugee camps?
As for the claim that the Balfour Declaration was the “death warrant for a historic nation,” this is historical revisionism on multiple levels:
There was never a sovereign Palestinian state. The Arabs living under the Ottoman Empire identified with their tribes and with the wider Arab population of the region, including Syria. Were the Palestinians ever a “historic nation?”
The Balfour Declaration was not the “death warrant” for Palestinians. Having been offered multiple opportunities to have their own state only to reject them, it is misleading to place the entire blame for the situation of the Palestinians on Balfour.
With all the Balfour centenary kerfuffle and Palestinian demands for an apology for the Balfour declaration I don’t think anyone has discussed whether Perfidious Albion should issue an apology to Israel.JPost Editorial: Balfour and Hitler
Seventy-five percent of Palestinians polled, last October, said that they supported the call from President Mahmoud Abbas on Britain to accept the historical, legal, political, material and moral responsibilities for the consequences of Balfour Declaration including offering an apology to the Palestinian people for the catastrophes and injustice committed against them.
Yes, 100 years have passed since the notorious Balfour Declaration, by which Britain gave, without any right, authority or consent from anyone, the land of Palestine to another people. That declaration paved the road for the Nakba of the Palestinian people and their dispossession and displacement from their land.
Give the Palestine propaganda apparatus credit for reinforcing their victim status, a century after the event, at a time when the Palestinian claim has taken 2nd, 3rd or even 4th place to more pressing problems.
So what does Britain have to apologise for? Plenty.
The first apology… to the Turks
Odd as it may seem, I agree with Abbas on the point that the land was not British to give away. Balfour made his declaration in the middle of a war with the sovereign power in the Holy Land.
In other words the Ottoman Turkish Empire were the recognised owners of the Holy Land, and had been for hundreds of years – not and never Palestine Arabs.
Many or even most of the Arabs. who now call themselves Palestinian and laughably claim indigenous status, arrived between 1922 to 1848, after WWI, to take advantage of improved economic conditions and so were not even there at the time of the declaration.
Although if one actually reads the Declaration text they didn’t ‘give’ away anything, only a much revised and public message of support.
The Palestinian ideology of rejectionism is founded upon the transparent fiction that a Palestinian nation existed for thousands of years and that there never had been a Jewish Temple in Jerusalem. According to the PA’s delusional narrative, Britain’s support for Zionism was the beginning of Jewish history in the land.CAA team finds antisemitism on display as anti-Israel demonstrators bring central London to a standstill
The PA would have the world believe that the Balfour Declaration was a precursor of Hitler’s attempt to answer “the Jewish question.” A documentary broadcast on PA and Fatah TV since 2013 explains: “Faced with the Jews’ schemes, Europe could not bear their character traits, monopolies, corruption... The European nations felt that they had suffered a tragedy by providing refuge for the Jews. Later the Jews obtained the Balfour Declaration, and Europe saw it as an ideal solution to get rid of them.”
The ominous link between the PA narrative and Nazism should be alarming. In 1998, for example, the official PA daily presented Hitler and Balfour as united in a common goal: “The difference between Hitler and Balfour was simple: The former did not have colonies to send the Jews to so he destroyed them, whereas Balfour... [turned] Palestine into his colony and sent the Jews.
“Balfour is Hitler with colonies, while Hitler is Balfour without colonies. They both wanted to get rid of the Jews... Zionism was crucial to the defense of the West’s interests in the region, [by] ridding Europe of the burden of its Jews.” [Al-Hayat al-Jadida, December 6, 1998]
In a PA schoolbook just published this August, children learn: “Zionism is defined as a colonialist political movement... the Balfour Promise issued by Britain was a type of solution to get rid of the Jews by allocating to them the land of Palestine.” [Geography of Palestine and Contemporary Modern History, for grade 10]
The indoctrination is effective. As a 14-year-old boy told The Jerusalem Post’s Ben Lynfield: “The UK didn’t have the right to give Palestine to anybody... After Balfour, Israeli mafias came and occupied Palestine.”
The persistence of Palestinian delusion is mind-boggling: “There is no documentation that the Jews made the Western Wall a place of worship at any time, except after the Balfour Promise,” PA TV broadcast in March of this year.
Central London was brought to a standstill today as thousands marched and rallied against Israel and the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, with antisemitic themes emerging from the protest.BBC’s Bateman amplifies PLO’s Balfour agitprop
The march was organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), Palestinian Forum in Britain (PFB), Friends of Al Aqsa (FOA), Stop the War Coalition (STW) and the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB), some of which have been found to have antisemites amongst their supporters. The march started outside the US Embassy in Grosvenor Square, went via iconic Piccadilly Circus and Trafalgar Square and finished with a rally in Parliament Square opposite the Houses of Parliament, the seat of British democracy.
Volunteers from our Demonstration and Event Monitoring Unit went into the thick of the protesters to gather evidence.
Campaign Against Antisemitism is pleased that an announcement was made over the loudspeaker by a member of the organising committee at Grosvenor Square stating that “The police have told us that people will commit an offence if you fly the Hizballah flag.” When we asked a police officer about the announcement they replied: “I’m glad he said that.”
Along the route, we photographed a disturbing banner claiming: “Zionist media covers up Palestinian Holocaust.” According to the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions” and “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” is antisemitic.
We also took multiple video recordings of marchers chanting: “From the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea, Palestine will be free”, a chant that only makes sense as a call for the destruction of the Jewish state and its replacement with a Palestinian state. Under the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination” is antisemitic.
In his report Bateman told BBC audiences that Palestinians had been dispossessed of “their land” – thereby inaccurately suggesting to viewers that the territory on which Israel was established was ‘Palestinian’. Bateman’s choice of words when describing Jewish connections to that territory is no less revealing.More Balfour Declaration agitprop promotion on the BBC News website
Bateman: “We’re outside the British Consulate in East Jerusalem where Palestinian representatives have just been delivering a message to the officials inside. And as they do so, protestors have been gathering outside with the same message; they want the British to apologise for the Balfour Declaration of a hundred years ago today. They’ve been holding black flags; in their view mourning the effects of that historic statement. Palestinians see the Balfour Declaration as the start of a process that led to their dispossession – the dispossession of their land and they say they want the British not only to apologise but also to recognise a Palestinian state in reparation for what they say were the effects of the Balfour Declaration.
Well while this has been going on here, for many Israelis today it’s been a day they have marked with celebrations. The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has travelled to London to meet British prime minister Theresa May. They see the Balfour Declaration as a moment that their aspirations to what they see as their historical homeland, their ancestral homeland was given international recognition. And so they are marking that day very much in that mood.
As for the British, they have said there will be no apology. They say they’re marking the day with pride. But they also say that Arthur Balfour’s second pledge – to uphold the civil and religious rights of non-Jewish communities here is unfinished business.”
The phrase “unfinished business” was used by the British Foreign Secretary in an article published in the Daily Telegraph – but not in the context that Bateman claims.
Those familiar with the BBC’s record of promoting the recurrent anti-Israel propaganda produced by the anonymous English political activist known as Banksy would not have been in the least bit surprised to find two reports – one written and one filmed – concerning his latest ‘creation’ on the BBC News website’s Middle East page.Nikki Haley: Unless UN rights council reforms, US is out
On November 1st the website published a written report titled “Balfour Declaration: Banksy holds ‘apology’ party for Palestinians” which opens by telling readers that a location that has been under full control of the Palestinian Authority since 1995 is ‘occupied’ by Israel.
“The British artist Banksy has organised a “street party” in the occupied West Bank to apologise for the Balfour Declaration, ahead of its centenary.”
Readers were also told that the anti-terrorist fence – constructed in order to protect Israeli citizens from Palestinian suicide bombers – is “controversial”.
“An actor dressed as Queen Elizabeth II hosted dozens of children at the event.
She also unveiled a new work by Banksy etched into Israel’s controversial West Bank barrier that said: “Er… Sorry.””
Unsurprisingly, readers were not informed why ‘refugee camps’ (in this case Aida and Dheisheh) still exist over two decades after the PA assumed control of the area.
The United States is ready to pull out of the UN Human Rights Council unless it institutes reforms, including removing Israel as a permanent item on its agenda, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley told an Israeli American audience.Netanyahu rejects one-state solution, says settlements are a ‘side issue’
“The Human Rights Council will either adopt these reforms, or the United States will leave,” Haley said to applause at the annual Washington conference of the Israeli American Council.
Haley said US proposed reforms include removing “Item 7,” which requires a report on Israeli actions in the West Bank each time the panel convenes. She said the United States also wanted structural changes that would keep major human rights abusers from joining the council; she noted the Democratic Republic of Congo’s recent ascension to the council.
Haley said the US delegation was endeavoring to keep unpublished a list the United Nations Human Rights Council is compiling of companies doing business with West Bank settlements. Israel and the United States see the list as a blacklist for boycotters.
She described one of the Obama administration’s last acts — allowing through a UN Security Council resolution condemning settlements — as a “betrayal” of Israel.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday resolutely rejected a one-state solution but stopped short, however, of explicitly endorsing Palestinian statehood.PreOccupiedTerritory: Theorists Struggle To Posit Israeli Move Not Deemed Blow To Peace Process (satire)
In a comprehensive interview with the BBC as he wound down a trip to London, Netanyahu also praised US President Donald Trump for understanding the nature of Iran’s threat to the region, and said he hoped for “continuity” in UK-Israel relations if the Labour Party’s Jeremy Corbyn were to become prime minister.
“No, I don’t want a one-state solution, I’ll be clear about that. And I’m unabashed about saying that,” he replied to interviewer Andrew Marr’s question about the death of the two-state solution. “But I want to make sure that what we have next to us is something that will not threaten our lives. It really makes a difference what the other state is. Is it Costa Rica or is it North Korea? Is it another mini-Iran or is it Luxembourg?”
Advocates of a two-state solution do not specify what exactly they mean by that term, Netanyahu lamented.
“The other state, if it’s not demilitarized, if it doesn’t recognize the State of Israel, which the Palestinians still refuse to do, then it merely becomes a platform for continuing the war against the one Jewish state. And, therefore, I think you have to be more specific and say no, what we want is the recognition, finally, after a hundred years, after the Balfour Declaration, finally recognize the Jewish state.”
Scientists testing the principles of theoretical physics have so far been unable to create hypothetical situations in which an action by Israel will not be construed as a threat to the peace process with the Palestinians, a news brief in the journal Physics reports.Ferrari display at Western Wall sparks outrage
Writing to report on the latest developments – or lack thereof – in the Israeli-Palestinian niche of the field, a group of scientists indicated that through sixteen months of calculations, diagrams, experimentation, and analysis, they have yet to posit a move by Israel that would not immediately be characterized as undermining the peace process or the Two-State Solution.
“We will continue our work,” one scientist was quoted as saying. “But so far the results have proved disappointing.”
In an interview, research team leader Professor Palli Wood described the various ways in which each hypothetical Israeli move would meet its ignominious fate. “So far, and this might serve as the basis of an interesting model to explain the dynamic, the possible imprecations involving such moves fall into three categories,” she explained. “The most common reaction to an Israeli action involves painting it as directly opposite to peace, or to a desire for peace. That’s the simplest and easiest to predict.”
“The second type of negative reaction takes an Israeli move that, if performed by some other party, might be ignored or considered unremarkable,” she continued. “But because Israel is the party performing the action, the very neutrality or irrelevance of the action becomes a demonstration of Israel’s lack of commitment to the peace process or the Two-State Solution. If Israel were serious about peace, the argument goes, it would not waste its time on moves that, while they do nothing to hinder the peace process, do nothing to advance it, either, and therefore call into question whether Israel really wants peace.”
Parking your car in the Western Wall plaza in Jerusalem is strictly prohibited.Billionaire Saudi Prince Among Dozens Arrested Amid ‘Corruption’ Probe
Apparently though, there’s some leeway if you’re the top brass of a world-famous auto manufacturer.
That’s what visitors to the holy site discovered on Friday morning, when they were met with a display of 10 Ferrari sports cars smack dab in the middle of the holy site plaza.
Ferrari, celebrating its 70th anniversary, had apparently asked for permission to bring its cars to the Wall for a quick stop as executives toured the country to mark the event. The Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which runs the site, approved.
Some ogled the admittedly eye-pleasing vehicles, but others were annoyed, if not outraged.
Among those detained in Saudi Arabia, no name carries more power in Western financial markets than Prince Alwaleed bin Talal.Protester charges at Palestinian anti-BDS human rights activist Bassem Eid
The prince, listed by Forbes as the richest Arab with $18.7 billion to his name, long has made big bets in the markets, holding major stakes in companies like Apple and CitiBank.
But his arrest now comes after Saudi Arabia hosted a major investment summit in Riyadh at one of the hotels now reportedly holding dozens of princes and former officials detained late Saturday in what authorities described as an anti-corruption campaign. How the world will view investing in the kingdom now, especially its upcoming initial public offering involving its state-run oil company, remains to be seen.
"This is going to cause some immediate apprehension in terms of investors looking at Saudi Arabia," said Graham Griffiths, a senior analyst at Control Risks focusing on Saudi Arabia. Prince Alwaleed "is someone who has been represented as a face of the kingdom, someone that a lot of people have done business with and are comfortable doing business with."
Prince Alwaleed, 62, is a major shareholder in Twitter, as well as an investor in ride-sharing services Lyft and Careem. He is also majority owner of the popular Rotana Group of Arabic satellite channels, and owns shares in the Four Seasons and Movenpick hotel chains.
Bassem Eid is a Palestinian human rights activist, who argues that the Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement is a sham that harms Palestinians.Ministers back bill for companies to sue Israel boycotters
Eid is a frequent speaker in the United States, including on college campuses. Eid presents a Palestinian point of view not often heard on campuses, where radical faculty and student groups place all blame for the conflict on Israel.
In this short video, Eid addresses BDS:
Eid’s condemnation of BDS, and his willingness to criticize corruption and political abuses in Palestinian society, has made him a target.
Ministers on Sunday lent their support to a bill that would allow Israeli companies to sue boycott activists for up to NIS 100,000 ($28,500) without proof of damage.Queen’s Park branch of the Labour Party debates whether supporters of genocidal antisemitic terrorist group Hizballah should be allowed in the Party
The proposal, brought by Likud MK Yoav Kisch and backed by Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan, seeks to bypass a High Court of Justice ruling that disqualified portions of Israel’s anti-boycott law.
In the current revision, companies are allowed to seek damages without citing evidence they were hurt financially by the boycott campaigns, in a move the authors of the bill likened to similar Israeli laws on copyrights. That distinction from punitive damages would satisfy the court’s demands for the law as laid out in its ruling, the authors said.
In a tweet, Erdan said he was “proud” the Ministerial Committee for Legislation approved the bill, giving it coalition support.
“After it is approved, the law will be an effective tool to fight boycott activists against Israel,” he said.
The Queen’s Park branch of the Labour Party has reportedly heard arguments that members of Hizballah, the genocidal antisemitic terrorist group that seeks the extermination of all Jews worldwide, should be allowed to remain as members of the Party.UKMW prompts Financial Times correction – editors admit there are no ‘Jews-only roads’ in West Bank.
According to a Labour Party member who tweeted about the debate, the branch was discussing whether Labour Party members who supported other political organisations deserved to be expelled from the Party, when a member stated: “I don’t think a member of Hizballah should be expelled from the Party.” When it was pointed out to them that Hizballah is a terrorist organisation, the member allegedly retorted that what Israel does is worse than what Hizballah does. When another member pointed out that such a comparison was specious and in any case moot because Hizballah murders Jews around the world simply for being Jews, the pro-Hizballah member was undaunted, nor were they challenged.
Writing on Twitter, a Labour Party member said: “Now Hizballah is a proscribed terrorist organisation that quite openly and deliberately kills civilians. Unequivocally condemning them shouldn’t be difficult. But I’m afraid that’s where we are in the modern Labour Party. Telling a Jew that people blowing up Jews because they’re Jews is justifiable because of the actions of the Jewish state. I’m bereft to be honest. It is incredibly sad that the wholesale slaughter of my people for the crime of being Jewish can’t be unequivocally condemned in Labour. There was also an oblique suggestion that I only raised objections as part of a deliberate effort to sow division in the Party.”
A few days ago, we posted about a claim in an article (Israel at 70: my return to a divided country, Oct. 27) by Adam LeBor published in the Financial Times.CAMERA Prompts i24 Corrections on Hamas Charter
Here’s the paragraph we focused on, which makes an allegation about Israeli roads in the West Bank:
[Israel] construct[s] an infrastructure of roads, water and electricity supplied exclusively for Jews…
The suggestion by LeBor that there are religiously exclusive roads in the West Bank is an especially insidious lie because it evokes the greater lie that Israel is an ‘apartheid’ state. In fact, as CAMERA has demonstrated on multiple occasions, there are not, nor have there ever been, anywhere in Israel or the West Bank, roads exclusively for Jews.
We tweeted Mr. LeBor and emailed editors to explain that the allegation was false. A few days later, we received a reply from editors informing us that they upheld our complaint. The revised passage is still somewhat problematic, but no longer suggests the existence of ‘Jewish only roads’:
CAMERA's Israel office last week prompted correction to two separate i24 News article which incorrectly depicted a new policy documented issued by Hamas in May 2017 as a "new charter" or as revisions to its founding charter.Larry David jokes about picking up concentration camp women
An Agence France Presse article appearing on i24 New's site Nov. 1 ("Fatah and Hamas: a decade of strained relations) had originally incorrectly reported: "In May 2017, Hamas makes a major revision to its founding charter, easing its stance on Israel after having long called for its destruction."
In May, Hamas issued a new policy document, but did not revise its founding charter. i24 News' Nov. 1 hyperlink to the phrase "a major revision it [Hamas'] founding charter" is a April 3, 2017 i24 News article which incorrectly refers to the policy document as a "new charter" in both the headline and accompanying text ("New Hamas charter to define 'enemy' as Zionists, not Jews").
Yet, Hamas' own Mahmoud al-Zahar made clear that the new document does not in any way replace the founding charter of 1988. As Reuters reported:
One of Hamas's most senior officials said on Wednesday a document published by the Islamist Palestinian group last week was not a substitute for its founding charter, which advocates Israel's destruction.
Comedian Larry David opened “Saturday Night Live” this weekend with a monologue in which he pointed out the Jewishness of many Hollywood figures recently accused of sexual assault and harassment, and then joked about picking up women in concentration camps during the Holocaust.IsraellyCool: Simon Hickey, The Aussie Neo Nazi Who Can’t Separate Business From Jew Hatred
“I’ve always been obsessed with women, and I’ve often wondered: If I had grown up in Poland when Hitler came to power and was sent to a concentration camp, would I still be checking out women in the camp? I think I would,” said David, the star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm” and creator of hit sitcom “Seinfeld.”
He then imagined a conversation with a fellow inmate over the attractiveness of a woman and his attempts to initiate a relationship.
“‘Hey, Shlomo, look at that one over there by Barracks 8, oh my God is she gorgeous. I’ve had my eye on her for weeks. I’d like to go over and say something to her.'”
“Of course the problem is, there are no good opening lines in a concentration camp. ‘How’s it going? They treating you okay? You know, if we ever get out of here, I’d love to take you out for some latkes. What? What’d I say? Is it me, or is it the whole thing? It’s because I’m bald isn’t it?” It was an apparent reference to the Nazi practice of shaving the heads of camp inmates and David’s own advanced male pattern baldness.
David’s sketch drew sharp criticism on social media, with many users commenting on the “Saturday Night Live” Twitter feed that the jokes were in poor taste.
Yesterday, reader Gabriel messaged meA new Dutch play about Anne Frank doesn’t mention Jews or Nazis
I came across the website below searching for secondhand air cons and appears to be some antisemite that might need exposing…3/4 way down the page to do with air conditioning there is a banner for the Daily Stormer, and there is some Hebrew text about Hitler at the very footer of that page
Sure enough, I could not believe my eyes. On a business page for air conditioners, sticking out like a sore thumb, were some Neo Nazi items: a picture of Henry Ford and an ad for the Daily Stormer.
Then at the very bottom of the page, whoever was responsible had clearly used Google translate to (poorly) come up with a sentence in Hebrew.
What they were clearly trying to say (but did so in terrible Hebrew) was:
The lying media are traitors and will soon be swimming to Israel.
All hail Trump. We avenge the death of Adolf Hitler
A play that ignores Anne Frank’s Jewish identity and features an unfounded assault allegation against a Jew who hid with her is generating controversy in the Netherlands.Why Israel's Stealth F-35I Is Truly One of a Kind
The play, which is slated to premiere on Nov. 11 in the Netherlands, is set in modern times and mentions neither the Nazis nor why they murdered Anne Frank, the teenage diarist who wrote her world-famous journal while hiding in German-occupied Amsterdam during the Holocaust.
Esther Voet, the editor-in-chief of the Dutch-Jewish weekly NIW and a former leader of the CIDI watchdog on anti-Semitism, condemned the new play as “an unscrupulous falsification of history” in a scathing op-ed published Friday.
Apparently, “that pesky historical context, the one about the persecution of the Jews, that had to be done away with already,” she wrote of the play, which was produced by Arjen Stuurman and directed by Ilja Pfeijffer. It is titled “Achter het Huis,” a phrase that means “behind the house” and echoes the Dutch-language name that Frank gave the secret annex where she hid.
For fifty years, the United States has provided top-of-the-line fighter aircraft to help defend Israel from attack. Israel’s fielding of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, known locally as Adir, continues that tradition even as the country puts its own technological touch on the fifth-generation fighter. Unlike other F-35 customers, Israel is modifying its fighters from the outset to address unique security challenges and the country’s technological capabilities.Gala yields $17M for world's first underground blood bank, in Israel
The United States began sending first-line fighters to Israel in the late 1960s, when the F-4E Phantom II joined the Israeli Air Force. The F-4s were followed by the F-15A Eagle air superiority fighter in 1976, and by the F-16A Fighting Falcon multirole fighter in 1980. These fighters were eventually followed by the F-15C, F-15I strike fighter, and F-16C and F-16I fighters. With the exception of the F-22 Raptor, the Israeli Air Force’s fighter fleet is as well equipped as the U.S. Air Force’s.
Israel first applied to buy the F-35 in September 2008, when it requested to purchase twenty-five jets with an option for another fifty. The F-35s would fill a void created by retiring early-model F-16s. According to Defense Industry Daily, the Israelis were quoted a sticker-shock-inducing $200 million per jet. While this number came down considerably within a year to a more concerning $100 million plus, it was clear the F-35 would be a very expensive purchase for the tiny Middle Eastern country. By October 2014, Israel agreed to double its F-35 fleet to fifty aircraft.
The American Friends of Magen David Adom nonprofit organization held a special fundraiser in Los Angeles last Monday, raising $17 million for Israel's – and the world's – first underground blood bank.Friends of IDF Los Angeles event raises record $54 million
Magen David Adom is Israel's national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance and blood bank service. The AFMDA is the largest supporter of MDA worldwide.
Some 1,000 people attended the event, including Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson, who donated 42 million shekels ($12 million) to the project.
"These donations will help us establish Israel's blood bank and continue saving lives," MDA Director Eli Bin said.
MDA posted a special thanks to the Adelsons on its website, saying, "On behalf of the people of the State of Israel, MDA employees and volunteers, we would like to express our deepest gratitude to Dr. Miriam and Sheldon Adelson for their outstanding and generous contribution of NIS 42 million to Magen David Adom. MDA is blessed to have friends who support it as generously as you do."
The Friends of the Israel Defense Forces nonprofit organization, which operates 15 regional offices in the United States and Panama, held its annual gala event in Los Angeles on Thursday and raised a record $54 million for Israeli soldiers.
The organization's New York gala, held in late October, raised $35 million for the IDF.
Some 1,200 guests attended the prestigious Los Angeles event, hosted by Israeli-American philanthropist Haim Saban and his wife, Cheryl. Guests included prominent businesspeople, philanthropists and Hollywood royalty, alongside Israeli Consul General to Los Angeles Sam Grundwerg, FIDF National Executive Director Meir Klifi-Amir and founder and President of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein.
Another prominent guest, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, was the night's star donor, pledging $16.6 million. The donation was earmarked for improving on-base accommodations for soldiers serving in mixed combat units.
"Over the years, since the establishment of the State of Israel, courageous soldiers have always been called upon to protect our home in times of danger," Ellison said. "I believe there is no greater honor than to support these courageous people."
Saban, who chaired the gala for the 11th year running, donated $5 million.
"The support for IDF soldiers among the community in Los Angeles continues to amaze me, and this year's event broke an all-time record with unprecedented contributions," Saban said.
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