Wednesday, December 06, 2017
Full text of Trump’s speech recognizing Jerusalem as capital of Israel
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you. When I came into office, I promised to look at the world’s challenges with open eyes and very fresh thinking. We cannot solve our problems by making the same failed assumptions and repeating the same failed strategies of the past. Old challenges demand new approaches.
My announcement today marks the beginning of a new approach to conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
In 1995, Congress adopted the Jerusalem Embassy Act, urging the federal government to relocate the American embassy to Jerusalem and to recognize that that city — and so importantly — is Israel’s capital. This act passed Congress by an overwhelming bipartisan majority and was reaffirmed by a unanimous vote of the Senate only six months ago.
Yet, for over 20 years, every previous American president has exercised the law’s waiver, refusing to move the US embassy to Jerusalem or to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital city.
US President Donald Trump holds up a signed memorandum after he delivered a statement on Jerusalem from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House in Washington, DC on December 6, 2017 as US Vice President Mike Pence looks on. (Saul Loeb/AFP)
Presidents issued these waivers under the belief that delaying the recognition of Jerusalem would advance the cause of peace. Some say they lacked courage, but they made their best judgments based on facts as they understood them at the time. Nevertheless, the record is in. After more than two decades of waivers, we are no closer to a lasting peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. It would be folly to assume that repeating the exact same formula would now produce a different or better result.
Text of Trump’s official proclamation of Jerusalem as capital of Israel
PM Netanyahu: @POTUS Trump, thank you for today's historic decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital. The Jewish people and the Jewish State will be forever grateful. pic.twitter.com/6QnvGf9VGW
— Israel Foreign Min. (@IsraelMFA) December 6, 2017
Shapiro On Fox & Friends: Trump's Jerusalem Decision 'An Act Of Not Only Political Bravery But Moral Courage'
On Wednesday morning, in anticipation of President Trump’s expected announcement that the United States would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief Ben Shapiro appeared on Fox & Friends and was asked to comment on Trump’s decision. Shapiro lauded Trump, calling the decision “an act of not only political bravery but moral courage to move the embassy.”
Shapiro stated:
It's obviously an act of not only political bravery but moral courage to move the embassy. But just to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital — the absurdity of the U.S. policy suggesting that Jerusalem is not Israel’s capital has resulted in idiocies like the fact that my niece, who was born in Jerusalem, it says on her passport Jerusalem and then it doesn’t say which country she’s from.
Jerusalem is only important to the world because of Judaism; it’s important to Christianity because it was first important to Judaism; it’s important to Islam because it was first important to Judaism. Jerusalem is mentioned hundreds of times in the Jewish texts; Jerusalem is in the Israeli national anthem. The culmination of Jewish history, really, was in 1967, with the recapture and the unification of Jerusalem under Judaic rule. The freedom of Jerusalem was only assured, by the way, because of that Jewish rule.
What President Trump is doing is not just a recognition of reality, it’s also an act of political usefulness, because all of the negotiations that have been happening for the past 20 years, for most of my lifetime, all of those negotiations have been preconditioned on stupidity, that Israel was going to give up its eternal capital, which is insane.
Hailing Trump, Jerusalem projects US flag onto Old City walls
The Jerusalem municipality on Wednesday projected the US and Israeli flags onto the walls of the Old City in a show of appreciation over the US President Donald Trump’s expected recognition of the city as the capital of Israel.
From 7 p.m., the red, white, and blue American banner was projected next to the blue and white of the Israeli flag, celebrating the expected announcement. The flags were screened on the 16th century walls from Jaffa Gate in the direction of Mount Zion.
Trump was scheduled to make the controversial announcement recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and his plan to move the US Embassy there from Tel Aviv at around 8 p.m. Israel time, shifting decades of US policy.
The move will address Israel’s long-standing claim to the city as its undivided capital, but leaders around the world have warned it could harm peace efforts and spark violence.
Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat said that Trump’s expected announcement “is a historic declaration that sends a clear message to the entire world that the US stands with the Jewish people, the State of Israel and Jerusalem.”
PreOccupiedTerritory: Jews Arrogantly Continuing To Exist, Prosper (satire)
Despite thousands of years’ worth of efforts to eradicate them and demonstrate the world does not want them, Jews persist in arrogant defiance of popular will by remaining in existence, and in many cases doing well, reports indicate.
Initial efforts to eliminate Jews as a people first occurred during the latter half of the sixth century BCE, historians note, and have continued on and off until the present, but have seen only mixed success at best, owing in part to what scholars call a conceited attitude on the part of Jews as individuals and as a community not to bend to the manifest preferences of those around them that they disappear or be destroyed by violence if possible.
“It’s unheard of for anyone to sustain arrogant defiance for so long,” remarked Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, a leading proponent of efforts to convince Jews to consent to extermination, by force if necessary. “It has to give, since arrogance is one of those flaws that eventually destroys you. So it has to be merely a matter of time before the entire flimsy edifice of Jewish pride comes crashing down. Perhaps we can even install a countdown clock in Tehran to help anticipate that day.”
Caroline Glick to EU: Don’t ignore Palestinian terrorism
It is “morally atrocious” that the European Union fails to combat Palestinian terrorism when it battles the global phenomenon, columnist Caroline Glick charged during a panel discussion at The Jerusalem Post Diplomatic Conference on Wednesday morning.Melanie Phillips: Europe picks the wrong side. Again
“When we talk about fighting terrorism, don’t ignore the elephant in the room, Palestinian terrorism,” said Glick, who is the paper’s Senior Contributing Editor.
When the EU makes this distinction, it makes it impossible to fight terrorism, she said.
This was particularly a message on a day when Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is inciting violence against Israelis by calling for three days of rage to protest US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, she said.
When you “empower the good terrorist,” she said, “you empower all the terrorists, who, if they hang around long enough, will be redefined as good terrorists.”
“The forces of terrorism must be equally fought,” Glick said, not just for Israel’s sake but for the sake of the rest of the world.
For years Israel has been blamed for standing in the way of peace with its Arab neighbours. When it rejected a “peace plan” by the the Saudi regime which would have brought about Israel’s destruction, it was excoriated for turning down a chance to end the Middle East conflict.Peace is made with defeated enemies
Now the new Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has proposed another peace plan. Unlike its predecessor, according to the New York Times, this one would enable the Palestinians and the Arab world to live in peace and harmony alongside the State of Israel. The century-old Arab war of extermination against Israel would end.
Prince Mohammed has told the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to accept this plan or he’s finished. The Palestinians have been screaming betrayal ever since to anyone who will listen.
Lo and behold, Europeans have a new bogeyman. Prince Mohammed is now being painted as a weak, useless dilettante and his plan is being opposed and rubbished in Europe. Why? Because this astonishing Saudi reversal (assuming these details are at least mostly true) is being driven by the Saudis’ need to prevent the Iranian regime from achieving the regional hegemony towards which they are steadily driving, and to do that the Saudis need both America and Israel to join the fight against their common enemy. And to that end, the Saudis are not prepared to allow the Palestinians to get in the way. They have become dispensable.
The Iranian regime oppresses its own people, is driven by deranged hatred of the Jews and states that its goal is to destroy Israel. The Palestinian regime oppresses its own people, is driven by a deranged hatred of the Jews and states (in Arabic) that its goal is to destroy Israel.
In June 2016, the Israel Victory Caucus was launched in the US Congress by Senators Ron DeSantis and Bill Johnson, with a parallel caucus co-chaired by MKs Oded Forer and Yaakov Peri opening in the Knesset. In October, a joint declaration was signed by both caucuses that declared “the primary obstacle to ending the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the near century of Palestinian rejectionism of the right of self-determination for the Jewish People.”The PLO Charter change never happened
The journalist Chaim Levinson began the discussion, asserting that “the insistence on recognition of a Jewish state is extraneous, and hurts the chances of achieving peace. The injustice caused to the Palestinians requires us to reach a solution.”
Caroline Glick said, “The use of the term ‘democratic’ by human rights organizations funded by foreign governments is perverse. They are hurting the only democratic state in the Middle East.”
At the end of the event, Im Tirtzu Chairman Matan Peleg said that “we praise the efforts to advance the issue in the Knesset and in Congress, but strengthening Israeli society’s belief in Zionism and will to be victorious are fundamental requirements for success.”
“This is the reason that Im Tirtzu chose to take a central part in the project. There is no doubt that a strong ideological and moral front will be able to cope with the many challenges that lie ahead.”
Peleg emphasized that "the Jewish people must internalize that the situation in which they live in their homeland as sovereign is not a temporary one. When it does - so will our enemies.”
Former President Clinton on Dec. 14, 1998 stated the following in response to a raised arm verbal vote of the Palestinian National Council (PNC) and the other ministries, reaffirming a Jan. 13, 1998 letter from Arafat to President Clinton:‘More countries not only willing, but eager to embrace Israel,’ says Dore Gold
"I thank you for your rejection fully, finally, and forever of the passages in the Palestinian Charter calling for the destruction of Israel, for they were the ideological underpinnings of a struggle renounced at Oslo. By revoking them once and for all, you have sent, I say again, a powerful message not to the Government but to the people of Israel. You will touch people on the street there. You will reach their hearts there. . ."
Prime Minister Netanyahu, on page 258 of his book published in the year 2000, stated the following: ". . . At our demand the Palestinian Authority annulled the passages in the PLO Charter calling for Israel's destruction. . ."
The NY Times headline and the portion of the article on April 25, 1996 stated, "PLO Ends Call for Destruction of Jewish State": "Bowing to the insistent demands of Yasir Arafat, the main assembly of the Palestine Liberation Organization voted today to revoke the clauses in its 32-year-old charter that called for an armed struggle to destroy the Jewish state. . ."
The NY Times headline and the portion of the article on Dec. 15, 1998, "Clinton in the Mideast; Clinton Watches as Palestinians Drop Call for Israel's Destruction": "With President Clinton as their witness, hundreds of former Palestinian guerrilla fighters voted here today to rid their organization's charter of any clauses calling for the destruction of Israel, knocking down a critical roadblock on the rutted path to peace. . ."
Former Israeli ambassador to the United Nations Dore Gold is pushing back against the idea that Israel is more isolated than ever.
Instead, he says, an increasing number of countries are not only willing, but are eager to embrace Israel.
The 63-year-old Connecticut native spoke in an interview with The Times of Israel at the November 14 StandWithUs Northeast third annual gala. In conversation, Gold credits lucrative trade deals and Israel’s security expertise, among other things, for the warming ties.
Indeed, just hours before he sat down for the interview, Israel’s delegations at the United Nations co-sponsored a resolution with Saudi Arabia at the UN Human Rights Committee condemning the Syrian government for human rights abuses.
Several days after that, Israel announced it would open an embassy in Rwanda and there were reports that Israeli chess players may participate in an upcoming chess tournament in Riyadh.
Additionally, for the first time the United Kingdom voted against a UN resolution demanding Israel return the Golan Heights to Syria. The resolution was one of six anti-Israel resolutions passed by the General Assembly on the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People.
Britain’s vote was significant given that November 29 was also the 70th anniversary of the historic UN resolution that divided the British Mandate of Palestine into two states, Jewish and Arab.
Bill Cutting Off Aid to Palestinian Terrorists Sails Through House
The House on Tuesday overwhelmingly approved legislation that would cut off U.S. taxpayer aid to the de facto Palestinian government if it continues to aid terrorists.US Congressman: Palestinians Must End ‘Pay-to-Slay’ Policy
With unanimous consent, the swift passage of the Taylor Force Act brings the United States one step closer to stripping American funding from the Palestinian Authority until it ends its "pay to slay" policy, which distributes $300 million to terrorists and their families annually. The legislation now heads to the Senate for a floor vote.
Rep. Ed Royce (R., Calif), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said he will work with his Senate colleagues to ensure quick implementation of the bill to "ensure the U.S. plays no part, even indirectly, in participating in this behavior."
"The purpose of our aid, as we understand it, is to advance U.S. interests around the world," Royce said in remarks ahead of the vote. "I think all of us can agree that does not include paying people to commit crimes of terrorism. The Palestinian Authority is flat-out undermining U.S. interests by compensating violence."
The bill, named after an American who was stabbed to death by a Palestinian terrorist in Israel last year, is said to be part of a broader effort by the Trump administration and Congress to halt longstanding U.S. aid programs that have supported terrorists in the Middle East. The White House announced its approval of the measure in September.
By all accounts, Taylor Force was an all-American kid. He loved skiing, guitar and horses. He was an Eagle Scout and a West Point graduate who served honorably in Iraq and Afghanistan before enrolling in Vanderbilt’s MBA program.Report: Police Thwart Islamic Terror Plot To Assassinate Theresa May
Taylor was a young man with big dreams and loads of potential. That’s what brought him to Israel last year — to learn firsthand about Israel’s thriving culture of innovation and entrepreneurship — where he was tragically murdered in Jaffa by a Palestinian terrorist.
Sadly, Taylor’s story is all too common in Israel today. Hundreds of terrorist attacks have been carried out by Palestinians in just the last two years. But instead of condemning these horrors, the Palestinian Authority encourages them.
It is Palestinian law to reward Palestinian terrorists in Israeli jails with a monthly paycheck. Outrageously, the more violent the terrorist attack, the more the PA pays, with stipends ranging from $364 to $3,100 per month.
And the PA’s benefits for terrorists don’t stop there. It also, for example, guarantees jobs for terrorists imprisoned for more than five years. Additionally, the families of terrorists who die while carrying out an attack also receive monthly PA payments.
This perverse system is part of a larger problem that Israel faces — a deep-seated hatred nurtured by Palestinian leaders over many years in mosques, schools, newspapers and on TV. As one witness testified at a hearing I held, “‘Incitement’ is the term we usually use, but hatred is what we mean … teaching generations of Palestinians to hate Jews by demonizing and dehumanizing them.”
Police and intelligence officials thwarted a terrorist plot Tuesday to assassinate British Prime Minister Theresa May, according to a report from U.K.-based Sky News.Bill allowing IDF soldiers to sue activists for defamation advances
“It is in essence an extreme Islamist suicide plot against Downing Street,” Sky News’ report notes, referring to the residence of Britain’s prime minister. “Essentially police believe that the plan was to launch some sort of improvised explosive device at Downing Street and in the ensuing chaos attack and kill Theresa May, the Prime Minister.”
Armed police and members of Britain’s MI5 apprehended Naa’imur Zakariyah Rahman from north London and Mohammed Aqib Imran from southeast Birmingham last week. Both men were charged with preparing acts of terrorism.
They are due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court Wednesday morning, according to the report. It is not clear how Imran and Rahman planned to get through the fortified gates and armed police officers guarding Downing Street.
Nine terrorist attacks have been prevented in the U.K. in 2017, MI5 Director General Andrew Parker told Theresa May’s government Tuesday. He revealed the information during a presentation to cabinet members on the terrorist threat facing the country, according to The Guardian.
The Knesset on Wednesday green-lighted in a preliminary vote an amendment to Israel’s defamation laws that would allow civil lawsuits against activists and organizations that malign Israeli soldiers and military activities.Bedouin Leaders Condemn Violence, Urge Coexistence Following Terror Killing of Soldier
The bill would potentially pave the way for legal action against the Breaking the Silence group, which gathers testimonies of former IDF soldiers on alleged human rights abuses in the West Bank and Gaza. The organization has raised the ire of Israeli officials and drawn criticism from those who challenge the truthfulness of its mostly anonymous claims.
The proposal by Likud MK Yoav Kisch was cleared in its preliminary reading in the plenary with 61 MKs backing the measure and 33 opposed.
Likud MK Yoav Kisch attends an Economy Committee meeting, at the Knesset on July 26, 2017. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
It was sent to the Knesset’s House Committee, chaired by Kisch, for revisions ahead of the three other votes in the plenum that would advance it into law.
“IDF soldiers who were sent to protect us remain exposed in the face of repeated slander,” said Kisch. “We saw, for example, the case of the ‘Jenin, Jenin’ movie, in which the legal situation did not allow us to protect the soldiers, and of Dean Issacharoff, who lied about IDF soldiers but who cannot be sued.”
Following the arrest of two Bedouin Israelis for the murder on Friday of an Israeli soldier, Sgt. Ron Kokia, the leaders of several Bedouin communities condemned terror and called for coexistence as they met with the mayor of Arad, The Times of Israel reported Tuesday.Israel’s F-35 stealth fighters declared operational, a year after their arrival
The mayors and council leaders of the Bedouin communities of Rahat, Hura, Ar’ara Banegev, and Al-Kasom met with Mayor Nissan Ben Hamo of Arad, the southern Israeli city in which the murder took place.
“We denounce the attack and we are against violence,” Rahat mayor, Talal al-Krenawi, said. “Don’t let this grave incident harm the coexistence between us. We are in favor of tolerance and call on all the young people not to resort to violence. We must work together and live together; this is my country, as it is yours.”
“This incident shocked everyone,” Muhammad al-Nabari, the mayor of Hura, said. “A clear statement must be made from [Bedouin] society and it must be denounced. We are with you all the way, and we have proved in various other meetings that we are working toward a common goal.”
Ben Hamo welcomed the remarks and said, “It strengthens us that you came and are condemning this grave incident and are standing with us.”
Following a deadly terrorist attack in Beersheba two years ago, al-Nabari and al-Krenawi also condemned the violence.
The Israeli Air Force declared its fleet of F-35 stealth fighter jets operational on Wednesday, just less than a year after receiving the first aircraft.Palestinians ban 'Justice League' in Ramallah over Gal Gadot
Air Force chief Maj. Gen. Amikam Norkin said the F-35 jets, known in Israel as the “Adir,” or mighty one, will give Israel new capabilities that are necessary in confronting the “constantly evolving and complex challenges” in the Middle East.
“The announcement of the operationalization of the ‘Adir’ aircraft comes at a time in which the IAF is operating on a large scale on a number of fronts in a dynamic Middle East,” Norkin said in a statement.
Israel received its first two F-35 fighter jets in late December 2016. In the interim 11 and a half months, the air force has been putting the machines through their paces, training pilots to fly them and preparing ground crews to maintain and fix them.
The fifth-generation fighter jet has been lauded as a “game-changer” by the Israeli military, not only for its offensive and stealth capabilities, but for its ability to connect its systems with other aircraft and form an information-sharing network.
Palestine Cinema Tower, Palestinians' largest film distributor, banned the film Justice League in Ramallah for violating censorship rules, Israeli media reported Sunday.Ithaca College violates own policy for Palestinian flag
The decisions was made after local protest was sparked by a viral campaign built all in Arabic focusing on Israeli actress Gal Gadot’s nationality and role as Wonder Woman. Pictures of her in a Wonder Woman costume and IDF uniform are shown in tandem.
There is no report at this time if the film will be banned in other cities, but the country of Lebanon’s Office of the Boycott of Israel did ban Justice League, announced by Grand Cinema Lebanon on Twitter Wednesday.
This is not the first time Gadot's Israeli background limited a film starring her from showing in an Arab nation.The film Wonder Woman was banned by Qatar, Tunisia, Algeria, Lebanon and other Arab nations specifically because Gadot is Israeli.
Wonder Woman succeeded in the domestic box and was the highest grossing film of the summer and the second highest grossing film of 2017 despite the boycotts. The film was also a critical success, winning numerous awards and launching Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins and Gadot into the pantheons of Hollywood history.
Ithaca College violated its own policy by flying the Palestinian flag for 21 days on a special flagpole that students can ordinarily reserve for a maximum of one week per semester.David Collier: Tommy Sheppard’s anti-Jewish Marxist circus comes to Westminster
Ithaca College allowed students to fly a Palestinian flag from the “Campus Center Flagpole,” which was erected in 2003 so that student organizations and departments could fly “special interest flags.”
“This practice began when the African-Latino Society flew the African-American flag from the College’s main flagpole to celebrate Black History Month in February 2001,” a nearby plaque explains, saying the flagpole serves as a reminder that “this opportunity for free expression continues today.”
“This flag went up on 11/9 and was requested to fly until 11/30,” Sybil Conrad, Assistant Director for Campus Center and Event Services, told Campus Reform. “While our policy limits flag flying to one week per semester, I see there was an oversight and we didn’t catch that the requested end date exceeded our one week policy.”
The flag was taken down one day early, on November 29, an action that Ithaca College Campus Center and Event Services called a “mistake.”
“[W]e do not regulate the content of flags that are requested to be flown, and any registered student organization can request to fly a flag,” Conrad said. (h/t MtTB)
Last week an event was held in Westminster, that is alleged to have deliberately excluded Jewish members from attending. My own ticket was cancelled due to an overbooking, yet I later managed to get a place booked with a non-Jewish name. Some Jews who turned up were refused entry at the door, despite there being empty seats in the committee room. That particular event was hosted by MP Tommy Sheppard and complaints over the anti-Jewish racism have been lodged with the Office of the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards. Last night, another anti-Jewish event was held inside Westminster. It was also hosted by Tommy Sheppard.Boston Globe cartoon uses anti-Semitic images, Jewish leaders say
Now some will protest and suggest that this latest event wasn’t an anti-Jewish event at all, but rather one that simply wanted to promote ‘Free speech on Israel’. Except when the matter is looked at closely, it quickly becomes apparent that what is occurring in Westminster is unacceptable racism against Jews.
Can you imagine a group calling themselves ‘Free speech on Africa’, holding a panel event in Westminster that suggests that not only is almost all racism imaginary, not only is the rise in racism deliberately manipulated by blacks for political gain, but blacks themselves are responsible for the racism they experience? In fact, the meeting would go as far as saying that the real victims of anti-black racism weren’t even blacks, but rather those who try to harm them.
There are so many blatant angles of racism within that example. Accusations of a strategy of manipulation and deceit being applied to an ethnic, racial or religious group, as if they form a unity in which such a cohesive conspiracy could exist.
Well this idea of a ‘plot’ is receiving legitimacy inside Westminster. And once again, the devilish race being blamed for all manner of ills are the Jews.
Two Jewish leaders denounced a Boston Globe editorial cartoon that they said uses a caricature of Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson with anti-Semitic tropes.Canadian Muslim Organization Adjusting Recruitment Policies After Student Volunteer’s Tweets Resurface
The cartoon that appeared Friday was titled “Murder on the tax-cut express” and shows Adelson aboard a train conducted by US President Donald Trump labeled as riding in the section for “priority passengers.” Adelson is shown in a dining car reading a newspaper headlined “Estate Tax Repealed,” and a waiter is serving him a large sack labeled “$14.6 billion.”
In a letter to the editor published Monday in the newspaper, Robert Trestan, regional director of the New England region of the Anti-Defamation League, and Jeremy Burton, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Boston, said they were “deeply disturbed and offended” by the Ward Sutton cartoon.
“The portrayal — singling out, among all the donors and interests who stand to benefit, a prominent Jewish individual, Sheldon Adelson; depicting him with an exaggerated hooked nose; linking him with money; and positioning him as hidden inside the train while others conduct — evokes classic anti-Semitic imagery and reinforces existing stereotypes,” they wrote.
A non-profit Muslim organization based in Canada has promised to adjust its recruitment policies following the resurfacing of social media posts by a former student volunteer that included a prayer for God to "ruin the homes of the Jew."The BBC’s partisan portrayal of Jerusalem persists
Muslim Awards for Excellence (MAX) executive team member Omar Raza told the Washington Free Beacon that Leyan Saleh's comments run "contrary to our values and mission."
Saleh, who graduated from Toronto's Ryerson University last year, tweeted in 2014, "Keep Palestine in your prayers. During this holy night. Ya Allah #3rdIntifada," a reference to violent uprising by Palestinians against Israeli Jews.
In 2015, she wrote, ""#tweetpalestinianexpressionsinenglish May god ruin the homes of the Jew ‘ye5rib bait il yahud.'"
Saleh served until 2017 as a "youth facilitator" at the Canadian Centre for Victims of Torture, charged with helping young refugees integrates into Canadian society, according to her LinkedIn profile. Her current career status is as an "Outspoken sociology graduate pursuing teaching opportunities in the Middle East."
While that brief reference to the Jordanian occupation of Jerusalem is unusual in BBC content, the context to that – which includes the fact that Jerusalem is included in the territory assigned by the League of Nations for the creation of a Jewish homeland – was not provided.UKMW prompts correction to Times of London claim Sharon visited “al-Aqsa Mosque”
The reference to “key religious sites”, which of course include Temple Mount, as being in “East Jerusalem” – and hence by implication in what the BBC presents as ‘occupied territory’ – was reinforced by the inclusion in this article of a map which, despite having been produced by the politically partisan NGO B’tselem, is now frequently seen in BBC content.
The article continued with a no less politically partisan portrayal of certain Jerusalem neighbourhoods that of course include the ancient Jewish quarter in the Old City and districts such as Neve Ya’akov where Jews purchased land long before the Jordanian invasion in 1948.
“Since 1967, Israel has built a dozen settlements, home to about 200,000 Jews, in East Jerusalem. These are considered illegal under international law, though Israel disputes this.
If the US recognises Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, it will put it out-of-step with the rest of the international community and reinforce Israel’s position that settlements in the east are valid Israeli communities.”
It is once again all too apparent that the BBC has chosen to exclusively promote a politically partisan narrative in its coverage of this issue and readers of this report and its predecessor did not hear even one voice that dissents from that narrative. Instead, the BBC’s framing of this story is based on unquestioning amplification of very thinly veiled threats of violence from the Palestinians and their supporters as well as completely unchallenged claims that the opening of a US embassy in Jerusalem would “destroy” the (non-existent) “peace process”.
An article at Times of London yesterday (US to rule on recognising Jerusalem as capital of Israel, Dec. 4) included one extremely misleading passage, which we brought to the attention of the journalist (Bel Trew) in the following tweet:WH Smith apologises again after second international outlet found selling Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf
.@Beltrew Hi. Your report at @thetimes on J'lem recognition was good. But, passage in below image is misleading
— UK Media Watch (@UKMediaWatch) December 4, 2017
Sharon didn't visit al-Aqsa mosque. He visited the Temple Mount, Judaism's holiest site
Also, his visit didn't CAUSE the intifada, it was a PRETEXT for the intifada pic.twitter.com/EHetm7qkSw
As we explained in our subsequent complaint to Times of London editors, the language used by their reporter erroneously suggests that Sharon, then the opposition leader, visited a Muslim holy site, when in fact his 34 minute tour was to Judaism’s holiest site, the Temple Mount. Though the al-Aqsa Mosque is located within the larger Temple Mount compound, Sharon did not visit the mosque itself. Indeed, the language used by Trew mirrors Palestinian propaganda which frames a visit by any Jew to the Temple Mount as an incendiary act and a desecration of a Muslim holy place.
Further, as our tweet noted, it’s also extremely misleading to claim that Sharon’s visit “triggered the intifada”. His visit, which was coordinated in advance with Palestinian security officials, may have been the pretext for the subsequent orchestrated Palestinian campaign of violence, but it certainly was not its cause. (We didn’t include this in our complaint, as editors would have likely viewed the question of causation as open to interpretation.)
Later in the day, we learned that our complaint had been upheld.
WH Smith’s CEO has apologised to Campaign Against Antisemitism a second time after another of its international outlets was found selling Adolf Hitler’s antisemitic diatribe, Mein Kampf.CAA files complaints after Lowkey raps on BBC Radio 1 about “kosher nostra” and “zombies and Zionists” and radio host congratulates him
WH Smith CEO Steve Clarke has instructed all ten WH Smith outlets in Singapore to immediately remove Mein Kampf, after a traveller passing through Singapore’s Changi Airport was shocked to discover a stack of Chinese translations of Adolf Hitler’s text amongst self-help books and light holiday reading.
In December 2015, WH Smith promised us firm action after Mein Kampf was found to be selling in the “Bestseller” shelves at WH Smith at Queen Alia International Airport in Amman, Jordan. That Mein Kampf is a bestseller in many Arab countries is a sad reminder of the deep-rooted antisemitism across the Middle East, but we were nonetheless shocked to find WH Smith apparently catering to demand. In that case the branch was operated by a franchised affiliate. At the time, we were told that ranging policies, which already prohibited sale of such books, were being reviewed.
This time, it is one of WH Smith’s wholly-owned outlets which has been found stocking Mein Kampf.
Kareem Dennis, a popular rapper known as Lowkey, has performed a 15-minute apparently unscripted rap on BBC Radio 1 in which he called for “power to victims of this globalised kosher nostra” and berated “zombies and Zionists”. The reference to a “kosher nostra” means a Jewish mafia or conspiracy, and is a common phrase which alludes to the “Cosa nostra”, the Sicilian mafia.French court hands Arab 2-month sentence for anti-Semitic slurs
However, the show’s host, Charlie Sloth, responded to the rap not by criticising Mr Dennis, but by saying: “I feel like I’ve just been to university for five years”. Perhaps Mr Sloth studied at SOAS.
Under the International Definition of Antisemitism, “Making mendacious, dehumanising, demonising, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective” is antisemitic. Last year, the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee wrote in its report into the rise of antisemitism in Britain that “The word ‘Zionist’ (or worse, ‘Zio’) as a term of abuse, however, has no place in a civilised society. It has been tarnished by its repeated use in antisemitic and aggressive contexts. Antisemites frequently use the word ‘Zionist’ when they are in fact referring to Jews, whether in Israel or elsewhere…If these individuals genuinely mean only to criticise the policies of the Government of Israel, and have no intention to offend British Jewish people, they should criticise ‘the Israeli Government’, and not ‘Zionists’. For the purposes of criminal or disciplinary investigations, use of the words ‘Zionist’ or ‘Zio’ in an accusatory or abusive context should be considered inflammatory and potentially antisemitic.”
In an unusual ruling, a French court sentenced to two months in prison a young Arab man who shouted an anti-Semitic slur at a rabbi and his wife and children.Neo-Nazi says ‘troll storm’ against Jewish woman is legal
The incident occurred on Oct. 12 in the city of Nimes, which is located 60 miles west of the southern city of Marseille, according to an article that appeared Tuesday in the Midi Libre daily about the Nov. 30 ruling at the Correctional Tribunal of Nimes.
Talal Arrouijal, 22, shouted “dirty Jews” at the rabbi, his wife and their four children as they were leaving a local synagogue. The prosecution asked for a suspended prison term of six months but the judge decided to issue the harshest punishment afforded by the criminal code for verbal assault aggravated by a hate crime. Arrouijal was also given a $1,200 fine.
Arrouijal was identified using a security camera record of the license plate of the car he was driving near the synagogue when he shouted at the rabbi and his family, who were not named in media reports in France about the incident.
Attorneys for neo-Nazi Andrew Anglin, who founded and runs the neo-Nazi Daily Stormer website, said his calls for a “troll storm” against a Montana Jewish woman are protected by free speech.Prog rock band Camel announces first Israel performances
The motion to dismiss a lawsuit against Anglin filed Thursday in federal court also argued that the neo-Nazi memes and anti-Jewish slurs used by Anglin, who blogs on the website, are protected free speech and pose “no true threat” to Jewish people.
Tanya Gersh of Whitefish, Montana announced in April a lawsuit against Anglin for revealing her personal information and inflicting “emotional distress.” The lawsuit was filed on Gersh’s behalf by the Southern Poverty Law Center.
Anglin launched a campaign in December against Gersh after Sherry Spencer of Whitefish, mother of another white supremacist, Richard Spencer, posted an article on Medium targeting Gersh, a real estate agent, over a real estate dispute. The next day, Anglin made a post for his subscribers titled “Jews Targeting Richard Spencer’s Mother for Harassment and Extortion – TAKE ACTION!”
Gersh claims that anonymous internet users harassed her family after Anglin revealed her home address and phone number, her husband’s business contact information and her son’s Twitter handle.
For the first time, progressive rock band Camel will play in Israel, on May 25 and 26 in Binyamina’s Shuni Ampitheater.IDF births Syrian maternity hospital
Created in England in 1971 by Andrew Latimer and considered a founder of progressive rock, Camel has produced 14 original studio albums showcasing a unique sound that incorporates elements from other genres, including jazz and Baroque music.
There have been changes in the band lineup over the years as well a hiatus in the mid-1980s and some health problems for some of the musicians, but Camel began touring again in 2013 and is now on the road for The Moonmadness Tour 2018, performing music from a vaunted 1976 album of that name.
Camel is beloved in Israel for its influence on the neo-progressive rock genre, and even has a tribute band, The Humps, which routinely performs in Israel and toured through Europe last year.
Responding to a request from Syrian doctors, the IDF has facilitated the opening of a maternity hospital on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights – part of a significant expansion of Operation Good Neighbor, which provides Israeli assistance to war-ravaged villages near the border.Israel’s first female tank crews finish training, ready for deployment
According to Lt.-Col. E., the commander of Operation Good Neighbor whose full name has been withheld for security reasons, its main motive is humanitarian. “You can’t stand from the side and see your neighbor dying and living in hard conditions and know that you can help them and not do so,” he said.
But the IDF also stands to gain from this initiative. By helping the Syrian population and creating good will, it hopes that the border will remain quiet.
The army is working with “Syrian doctors, health care teams, people in municipalities, mayors, bakers and civilian people who can help the population,” Lt.-Col. E. said.
According to the commander, the hospital opened two weeks ago in the village of Bariqa in the Quneitra region of the Syrian-controlled portion of the Golan Heights. While it is staffed entirely by Syrian doctors, the incubators, beds and ultrasound equipment come from Israel.
The Israeli army’s first female combat tank operators completed their training on Tuesday, earning medals marking them as such, as part of a pilot program to assess fuller gender integration in the Armored Corps.Archeologists discover menorah inscribed on Early Islamic period coins
The 13 operators, of 15 picked for the program from female combat recruits, will shortly be sent to the borders of southern Israel to begin a four-month trial deployment.
“We’re standing before a bit of history. For the first time, a tank operator medal will be pinned on the uniform of female IDF soldiers,” said Col. Moran Omer, head of the corps’ training brigade.
In the ceremony at the Armored Corps’ monument in Latrun, outside Jerusalem, Omer lauded the female tank operators for finishing the intensive training program, which began earlier this year.
“We demanded you complete the full and long training program… after you were fully trained as fighters in the Border Defense Force — no simple mission in itself — and you did so successfully,” the colonel said.
“You stood up to the difficult physical challenges, learned the profession and no less importantly, you learned to love the power of metal,” Omer said.
Researchers recently discovered that menorahs prominently adorned Muslim coins and vessels during the early Islamic period 1,300 years ago.
Relics inscribed with the Jewish symbol dating to the Umayyad dynasty during the seventh-eighth centuries were found at various archeological sites in Israel and are now being exhibited to the public.
Last year, archeologists Assaf Avraham of Bar-Ilan University, and Peretz Reuven of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem exposed an early Islamic inscription referring to the Dome of the Rock as “Beit al-Maqdis.”
According to scholars, the “Nuba inscription,” as it is called, implies that in the early days of Islam, Muslims perceived the shrine as an Islamic version of the Temple of Solomon.
Now, researchers are exposing further finds in Israel that constitute evidence of Jewish influences in the early days of Islam.
“The Jewish symbol which the Muslims were using was the menorah [the gold seven-branch candelabra from the Temple], which appeared on several coins and other early Islamic artifacts,” said Avraham on Wednesday.
“The menorah coins bear the Shahada Arabic inscription on one side: ‘There is no god but Allah,’ while the menorah appears in the center of the coin. The other side bears the inscription: ‘Muhammad [is the] messenger of God.’”
