Thursday, November 29, 2018
Evelyn Gordon: ICC Takes Anti-Israel Bias to New Heights
On November 15, the pretrial chamber of judges ordered the court’s prosecutor—for the second time—to reconsider her refusal to investigate Israel’s 2010 raid on a flotilla to Gaza. Demanding one reconsideration is rare. Demanding two is unheard of. No such option even exists in the ICC’s rulebook.CNN commentator calls for elimination of Israel, endorses violent Palestinian ‘resistance’
Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda appealed this ruling last week. But regardless of what the Appeals Chamber decides, it’s already too late to salvage the pretense that the court is an unbiased judicial institution and not a cesspool of anti-Israel prejudice.
To understand why, a review of the case is in order. In May 2010, a flotilla tried to break Israel’s legal blockade of Gaza. Israel intercepted most of the ships peacefully. But on one, according to the same UN inquiry that upheld the blockade’s legality, passengers attacked the soldiers with “fists, knives, chains, wooden clubs, iron rods, and slingshots,” seriously wounding nine. To protect themselves, the soldiers opened fire, killing ten people.
Comoros, whose flag that ship flew, filed a complaint against Israel over the incident in May 2013. In November 2014, Bensouda dismissed it. Despite concluding (wrongly) that the soldiers used excessive force, she said the fact that they opened fire only after being attacked and the low number of deaths made the incident insufficiently grave to warrant attention from a court created to prosecute major atrocities. But in July 2015, the pretrial chamber ordered her to reconsider—the first time it had ever overturned a prosecutor’s decision.
I dissected the judges’ egregious errors of both fact and law at the time, including their failure even to mention the passengers’ attack on the soldiers, which was central to Bensouda’s decision, and their astounding argument that the gravity of the case should be determined not by what happened, but by how much international “attention and concern” it attracted. Bensouda evidently found their ruling equally unpersuasive, since she appealed it. But after losing that appeal, she duly reconsidered.
In November 2017, she announced, unsurprisingly, that her opinion remained unchanged. That should have ended the story. After all, the same appellate judges who upheld the pretrial chamber’s demand for reconsideration also unequivocally authorized her to stick with her original conclusion if she still deemed it correct. Moreover, section 108(3) of the ICC’s own rules explicitly defines the prosecutor’s decision after reconsideration as a “final decision.”
But Comoros appealed again, and astoundingly, the pretrial judges once again ordered her to reconsider, saying her initial reconsideration hadn’t satisfied their requirements. The clear implication was that they would keep demanding reconsiderations until Bensouda produced the decision they wanted.
There are several glaring problems with this. First, of course, it ignores the plain meaning of section 108(3). Instead, the majority essentially argued that a “final decision” only becomes final once they approve the outcome.
CNN commentator Marc Lamont Hill, in a Wednesday speech to the United Nations, called for violent resistance against Israel and advocated expanding Palestine “from the river to the sea,” a phrase used by those who believe that Israel should be eliminated.Marc Lamont Hill at UN calls for "Free Palestine from the River to the Sea" to chorus of applause
Hill, who has a long history of anti-Semitism, made the remarks at a U.N. event commemorating the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. He said the international community should boycott Israel and allow Palestinians more space to engage in violence against the Jewish state, arguing that violence was also employed in the struggles of African Americans.
“Contrary to western mythology, black resistance to American apartheid did not come purely through Ghandi and nonviolence," Hill said (see video below.) "Rather, slave revolts and self-defense and tactics otherwise divergent from Dr. King or Mahatma Gandhi were equally important to preserving safety and attaining freedom. If we are to operate in true solidarity with the Palestinian people, we must allow the Palestinian people the same range of opportunity and political possibility. If we are standing in solidarity with the Palestinian people, we must recognize the right of an occupied people to defend itself. We must prioritize peace, but we must not romanticize or fetishize it. We must advocate and promote nonviolence at every opportunity, but we cannot endorse a narrow politics of respectability that shames Palestinians for resisting, for refusing to do nothing in the face of state violence and ethnic cleansing."
He urged grassroots, local, and international action to "Give us what justice requires -- and that is a free Palestine from the river to the sea."
The phrase “from the river to the sea” has been a rallying cry for Hamas and other terrorist groups seeking the elimination of Israel, as a Palestinian state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea would mean that Israel would be wiped off the map.
Hill’s remarks are the latest example of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements.
📽#OnThisDay in 1947, the @UN proposed a two-state solution: a Jewish state alongside a Palestinian state.
— Mark Regev (@MarkRegev) November 29, 2018
🇮🇱The Jews celebrated their forthcoming state.
🇵🇸The Arabs rejected the proposed Palestinian state, and declared a holy war.
Their reaction at the time👇 pic.twitter.com/LKS2EGwFfS
On 29th November 1947, the @UN voted for partition. The Jews said yes, the Arabs said no and a bloody civil war broke out. Today the UN raise the #Palestinian flag, but no Israeli one. They may as well just openly declare they are sorry the Jews survived.
— David Collier (@mishtal) November 29, 2018
Palestinian aid groups perpetuate the conflict
On Nov. 29, 1947, the United Nations voted in favor of a plan to split Palestine into two states – one Jewish and one Arab. Arab leaders immediately rejected the plan and have continued to do so throughout the 71 years of the Jewish state's existence.Shaked touts ‘confederation’ of Jordan, Gaza, and parts of West Bank
All of the solutions that have since been proposed have focused on the principle of partition, the most important among them, and the one that could very well be responsible for the current reality in which we live, was the 1993 Oslo Accords.
One of the less-discussed outcomes of the agreement was the rise of the human rights and humanitarian aid industry in the Palestinian territories.
The number of non-governmental organizations with a vested interested in perpetuating the conflict has multiplied ever since the Palestinian Authority was formed, creating a new social status whose existence depends entirely on foreign aid. Humanitarian aid and international funding mechanisms are no longer the means to promoting a solution but the objective.
Throughout modern history, it was civil society that laid the foundations for the creation of state institutions and paved the way for governance. In Palestinian society, however, the opposite is true. With the PA's founding, more aid organizations were established at the expense of effective and official government institutions. This reality has led to a deviation from the traditional spheres of NGO activity to the point that these organizations now have excessive control over many aspects of Palestinian life.
Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked has proposed a “confederation” between parts of the West Bank, Jordan, and Gaza.Report: Sisi, Saudis push Arab nations to trade with Israel
“Our plan is to apply Israeli sovereignty on Area C and give the Palestinians living there full citizenship. Areas A and B will be part of a confederation, together with Jordan and Gaza,” she told journalists Wednesday in Jerusalem.
“There’s a large Palestinian population in Jordan and the Palestinians already have a state in Gaza. In the distant future, a confederation of these three entities will be the right way forward,” she added.
Responding to a reporter’s question about how she envisions the “end-game” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Shaked, a member of the nationalist Jewish Home party, seemed to endorse party chairman Naftali Bennett’s so-called Stability Plan.
First published in 2012, that plan calls for Israeli annexation of the West Bank’s Area C, where most of the Jewish settlers live. According to the Oslo Accords, Israel has full military and administrative control over Area C, which comprises about 60 percent of the West Bank’s territory.
According to the plan, the Palestinians who reside in Area C would be offered Israeli citizenship or residency, while those living in areas A and B — which are under full Palestinian or joint Palestinian-Israel control — would govern themselves, though they would not have a sovereign state.
Bennett, whose party is categorically opposed to Palestinian statehood, has in recent months repeatedly spoken of “a Palestinian autonomy on steroids” in areas A and B.
In June, he once more dismissed the two-state solution, saying in an interview that he is “open to other ideas, like a Jordanian confederation,” though it was unclear what exactly he was referring to.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who met late Monday night, resolved to encourage Arab nations to establish economic relations with Israel, the Al-Arabi Al-Jadid newspaper reported Thursday.PMW: Is Fatah trying to spark a new round of terror?
Sisi and bin Salman also discussed the possibility of establishing an Arab Quartet with the participation of Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the Palestinian Authority. However, a proposal to establish such a quartet was rejected last August by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who felt that the Egyptian president was urging him to make too many concessions to reach an agreement with Israel.
The Egyptian president and the Saudi Crown Prince also discussed "deal of the century" that US President Donald Trump is scheduled to officially present at the beginning of 2019.
The Fatah Movement has reposted part of a violence promoting speech by Mahmoud Abbas that was used in 2014 to launch a terror wave.Fatah Facebook rebroadcasts Abbas' call to prevent Jews "in any way" from “defiling our holy places”
Abbas gave the speech in October 2014 and then PA TV rebroadcast it 32 times. It coincided with a month of terror attacks in Jerusalem in which 11 Israelis were murdered in car rammings and stabbing attacks.
Abbas: "We must all carry out Ribat [religious conflict] in the Al-Aqsa Mosque... We have to prevent them, in any way whatsoever, from entering the Sanctuary... They have no right to enter it. They have no right to defile it. We must prevent them. Let us stand before them with chests bared to protect our holy places." [Official Fatah Facebook page, Nov. 28, 2018, July 15, 2017, rebroadcast of Abbas' speech on official PA TV, Oct. 17, 2014]
Fatah reposted the video now with the text:
"What did [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas say about Ribat (i.e., religious conflict/war over land claimed to be Islamic) at the Al-Aqsa Mosque?"
The question is why Fatah chose to post this speech now focusing on Ribat, which can include violence and terror?
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: “It's not enough for us to say: ‘There are those carrying out Ribat’ (religious conflict / war over land claimed to be Islamic). We must all carry out Ribat in the Al-Aqsa [Mosque]. It's not enough for us to say: ‘The settlers have arrived [at the Mosque]’. They have come, and they must not come to the Sanctuary (i.e., Temple Mount). We have to prevent them, in any way whatsoever, from entering the Sanctuary. This is our Sanctuary, our Al-Aqsa and our Church [of the Holy Sepulchre]. They have no right to enter it. They have no right to defile it. We must prevent them. Let us stand before them with chests bared to protect our holy places.” Note: This video originally aired official PA TV on Oct. 17, 2014 and was broadcast a total of 29 times that month. It was also broadcast 3 times on Nov. 1 and on Nov. 4, 2014. It was most recently posted on the official Fatah Facebook page on July 15, 2017.
Abbas: “Martyrs and their families, wounded and prisoners are sacred. We must pay all of them”
PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas: I say this to everyone – the salaries of our Martyrs, prisoners, and wounded are a red line. They [Israel] try by all means, and exert pressure by all means, and they continue to exert: “It cannot be that you will pay.” And they’ll even deduct our money that’s in their hands. They’ll deduct from it the amount that we pay to the Martyrs. We have said that this is a red line and we will not allow [it]. From 1965 until now, this matter is sacred to us. The Martyrs and their families are sacred, [and so are] the wounded and the prisoners. We must pay all of them. If one penny remains in our hands it is for them and not for the living. [Official PA TV, Oct. 28, 2018] Law to deduct terrorist salaries from PA tax money - Israeli law stating that the PA payments to terrorists and the families of dead terrorists is a financial incentive to terror. The law instructs the state to deduct and freeze the amount of money the PA pays in salaries to imprisoned terrorists and families of "Martyrs" from the tax money Israel collects for the PA. Should the PA stop these payments for a full year, the Israeli government would have the option of giving all or part of the frozen money to the PA. The law was enacted on July 2, 2018. During the parliamentary vote, the law's sponsor Avi Dichter said: “The Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee received much help in its deliberations... from Palestinian Media Watch who provided us with authentic data that enabled productive and professional deliberations, nuances that are very difficult to achieve without precise data.” [Israeli Parliament website, July 2, 2018]
Hamas leader furious after Israel, US push for UN condemnation
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is furious over the United States' efforts to push an unprecedented U.N. General Assembly resolution condemning the Islamist terrorist group over its rocket fire on Israel, its incitement to violence, and its use of civilian resources for military purposes, predominately its sprawling grid of terror tunnels. Hamas says rocket fire legal, slams ‘miserable’ US-led UN resolution against it
The General Assembly is set to vote on the resolution, a joint move by Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon and outgoing U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley, later this week or the following week.
If adopted, it would be the first time the General Assembly condemns Hamas, which usurped control of Gaza from the Western-backed government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a military coup in 2007.
Haniyeh on Wednesday sent a letter protesting the move to President of the General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa, saying that the Palestinian people "have the right to self-defense" against Israel, which he refers to as "the racist and colonial occupation that has been in place for over seven decades."
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh sent an open letter to United Nations General Assembly President Maria Fernanda Espinosa and to its member states late Wednesday, slamming a US-led push to condemn the Islamist terror group’s rocket fire at Israeli cities and calling it an effort to “delegitimize Palestinian resistance.”Danon: Hamas Going to the UN Is Like a Serial Killer Asking for Police Assistance
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said Tuesday that Washington was leading a push at the UN to win crucial backing from European countries for a resolution condemning the Palestinian movement, which has ruled the Gaza Strip since a violent takeover in 2007.
The General Assembly is expected to vote Friday or possibly Monday on the proposed resolution condemning rocket fire from Gaza at Israeli civilians, and demanding that Hamas end its use of violence.
“We in the Islamic Resistance Movement — Hamas are following up with great anger and condemnation the ongoing and miserable efforts by the United States of America, not only by adopting the Israeli narrative of the conflict, but also by providing all the necessary material and moral support for the Israeli occupation to continue its aggression against our people and deprive them of their basic rights of freedom, independence and self-determination, guaranteed by all international conventions and laws,” Haniyeh wrote in the letter.
Hamas, which is recognized by the US and the EU as a terror organization and which openly seeks Israel’s destruction, described the Israeli “occupation” in the letter as spanning “more than seven decades,” meaning since 1948.
The head of Hamas’ political bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, on Wednesday wrote United Nations General Assembly president, Maria Fernanda Spinosa, complaining about the US and Israel’s “ongoing and miserable efforts to delegitimize the Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation.”
Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon said in response that “Hamas speaks about international law while it fires rockets into civilian populations, holds the bodies of IDF soldiers and Israeli citizens, and uses its own people as human shields. A terrorist organization going to the UN for assistance is like a serial killer asking the police for assistance. Israel and the United States will continue to mobilize the countries of the world into a united front against the terrorism that Hamas engages in on behalf of Iran.”
Hamas, or only its military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, is listed as a terrorist organization by the US, the EU, Germany, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and Jordan.
Haniyeh objected to President Donald Trump’s administration’s efforts to cut down the number of UN resolutions on the “Palestinian issue” under the pretext that passing “many biased resolutions against Israel are not helpful.”
Israel and Sudan Held Secret Meeting, According to ‘Axios’
A representative from the Israeli Foreign Ministry conducted a secret meeting in Turkey with Sudanese officials last year in an effort to resume diplomatic relations between the two nations, despite the tension over the past several decades, according to Axios.Dutch ministry calls on Jews around world to criticize Israeli occupation
At the gathering in the Istanbul office of a Turkish businessman and close ally of Sudanese President (and wanted war criminal) Omar al-Bashir, the Israeli delegation “gave the Sudan file to a senior diplomat in charge of relations with countries with whom Israel does not have diplomatic relations,” stated the Axios report. “The Sudanese sent to the meeting a senior aide to the then-intelligence chief, Mohamed Atta, who is now serving as Sudan’s ambassador to Washington.”
A source briefed on the meeting told the outlet “the Israelis and Sudanese discussed the warming of relations between the countries and possible Israeli aid to Sudan in the fields of medicine, agriculture and the economy.”
An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman did not deny the report, though declined to comment to Axios.
Israel is the only country that Sudan does not permit its citizens to visit.
This development comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is seeking to forge improved ties with Arab countries, including in Africa.
The Dutch Foreign Ministry is officially urging Jews no matter where they are to speak out against Israel’s presence in the West Bank.Eric Margolis Claims Pro-Israel NeoCons & Lawyers Control U.S. Mideast Policy
An official ministry document listing actions that “encourage diaspora Jewish communities to voice their opposition to the occupation” appeared in a government report published earlier this year on Dutch funding for the Breaking the Silence group.
It was an unusual statement among European governments offering funding for organizations that they say are promoting peace or coexistence between Israel and the Palestinians. Breaking the Silence is a group of Israeli combat veterans who oppose the occupation.
Sigrid Kaag, the Netherlands’ minister for foreign trade and development cooperation, once worked for UNRWA, the United Nations agency that provides assistance to Palestinians, and is the wife of a former Palestinian Authority diplomat. Her ministry pledged $218,000 to Breaking the Silence in its 2018 budget.
Separately, a Dutch pro-Israel group said that the previous Dutch envoy to Ramallah approved subsidies for an anti-Israel organization in which his son was working.
The report on Breaking the Silence included the reference to Diaspora communities under the rubric “Goal 3: To increase opposition in the international arena to Israel’s prolonged occupation of the OPT based on global shared values.” OPT stands for “occupied Palestinian Territories.”
NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based watchdog group that focuses on funding for Israeli and Palestinian groups, criticized the ministry’s “intruding on Israel-Diaspora relations, on one of the most sensitive issues,” as the group’s founder, Gerald Steinberg, termed it in a statement Tuesday.
Best known for his anti-Western, anti-Israel, and even antisemitic bias, Eric Margolis’ habitual myopic portrayal of the Mideast region, promulgation of unsubstantiated allegations, and promotion of 9/11 conspiracy theories have seen this journalist, who used to write regularly for the Toronto Sun, be discredited as unreliable and biased.With winter rains, green returns to scorched Gaza periphery
Two days ago, Margolis resurfaced by writing on his website and an obscure website called “Information Clearing House” on the topic of a claimed U.S. policy shift on Israel’s rights and control of the Golan Heights. In his commentary, Margolis wrote the following (emphasis added):
The Trump administration abruptly changed US Mideast policy. First, it announced the US Embassy would move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, meaning that it rejected the idea of a Palestinian state with its capital in the old city of Jerusalem. Now, the White House has quietly accepted permanent Israeli control of Golan, though it violates international law and past US policy.
It’s clear that US Mideast policy is firmly under the control of the neocons aligned to Israel’s expansionist far right parties. In fact, it is impossible to see any difference between the policies of Israel’s hard rightwing leader, Benyamin Netanyahu, and President Donald Trump. They are joined at the hip. A coterie of pro-Israel lawyers and property developers from New York City have completely taken control of Mideast policy.”
There you have it, America’s Mideast policy is now firmly in the hands of “neocons” and “pro-Israel lawyers and property developers from New York City”. This certainly conjures up the antisemitic trope of Jews controlling government and politicians.
Lush green hues have returned to lands in southern Israel’s western Negev blackened by arson attacks from Gaza over the summer, thanks to the onset of winter rains.
Flora in the area’s beloved parks, including the Be’eri and Kissufim forests, are starting to grow back after suffering severe damage from fires sparked by hundreds of incendiary kites and helium balloons flown across the border, and farmers are again grazing cattle and planting wheat on lands scorched by fires over the summer.
A drone video taken by the Ynet news site published Wednesday showed the area once again awash in green vegetation. A similar video by a drone operator in May showed the same area with hundreds of acres scorched by the fires.
The area’s fields dry out in the hot summer months, making them susceptible to fires, which spread quickly due to the winds blowing inland from the nearby Mediterranean coast. The area turns green each winter, though, and draws tourists from around the country for the annual Darom Adom (Red South) Festival, which celebrates the blooming of the area’s red kalaniyot flowers. The festival begins in January.
The fires may actually benefit the flower bloom, Dani Ben David, director of the Western Negev Region for Keren Keyemet L’Yisrael/Jewish National Fund, told The Times of Israel during the height of the arson attacks over the summer.
A Budding West Bank Hamas Cell Sought to Cause Major Bloodshed
Israel’s Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency recently announced that it had broken up an extraordinarily dangerous secret terrorist network that Hamas was building in the West Bank. The network was unusually alarming, due to the scope of damage that it sought to cause.
The attacks were to have started in early October, but the Shin Bet stepped in before then. In addition, Hamas planned to use the cell to strike crowded targets in Israel in conjunction with one of the recent escalations in violence between Gaza terrorist factions and Israel.
Another unusual feature of this cell was the fact that it was orchestrated directly by Hamas’ military wing headquarters in the Gaza Strip. Previously, West Bank cells were remotely managed by Hamas operatives who originally hailed from the West Bank and were released in the 2011 Shalit prisoner exchange deal with Israel.
Hamas’ military wing in Gaza has embarked on an intense West Bank recruitment drive, using video chats to train terrorist recruits on how to prepare explosives, and how to select crowded targets for the planned atrocities. According to the Shin Bet, the explosives that the recruits were learning to use were highly advanced, and more powerful than any of those used by West Bank terror groups to date.
Gaza and Israel have been on the brink of conflict since Hamas began organizing mass riots and infiltration attempts on the Gaza-Israel border in March. During flare ups, Hamas engaged in intense rocket fire on Israeli civilians, drawing Israeli Air Force retaliatory strikes during rounds of fighting throughout the summer and early fall.
Gaza Imam Musa Abu Jleidan Calls the Jews Treacherous Cheaters, Claims Israeli National Anthem Says: "We Will Go Where Allah Wants When We See Our Enemies' Severed Heads" pic.twitter.com/CXyerVLvAK
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) November 29, 2018
Lebanon accepts Russian military Aid
Lebanon’s Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri has announced that his country will accept a Russian military deal involving millions of rounds of ammunition for its military forces, despite a report by the Lebanese daily al-Akhbar asserting that the Russian deal had been rejected due to “pressure from the United States.”This is why renewed sanctions on Iran will be effective now
Hariri’s press office reacted to the newspaper’s account in a printed statement, calling the report “disgraceful, shameful,” and “devoid of truth.” The prime minister’s office contended “The Russian side was informed of Beirut’s acceptance of the aid, which would be geared toward empowering the internal security forces.”
Asaad Bishara, a Lebanese writer and analyst, told The Media Line “the [Russian] offer wasn’t denied; the newspaper [al-Akhbar], which is sympathetic to Hezbollah, published incorrect news.”
The report, Bishara added, intended to show that the Lebanese army is dependent on the American administration, “which is not true.”
“Hariri visited Moscow three times already. He discussed in particular the subject of Russian aid and ways to enhance the Lebanese military’s ability to fight terrorism and secure the country’s borders.”
Pakistani PM Imran Khan Says 'No Mention Of Jesus In History,' Announces Int'l Anti-Blasphemy Convention: The West Should Be Made To Understand Our Love For Muhammad
Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan delivered a speech on the day of the Prophet Muhammad's birthday. He said that other prophets of Allah were not as significant as Muhammad, and that there is "no mention of Jesus in history.” He said that the West should be made to understand Muslims' love for the Prophet Muhammad and that freedom of speech is not a legitimate pretext to hurt somebody's religion. Khan also announced that his government is spearheading efforts to get countries to sign onto the "International Convention on Preventing the Defamation of Religions," which would state that freedom of speech is an insufficient pretext for hurting the world's Muslims. PM Khan's speech was aired on 24 News HD TV (Pakistan) to the Internet on November 20, 2018.Islamic Jihad Music Video Shows Veiled Women Shooting Guns and Training
"There Is No Mention Of Jesus In History, But The Entire Life Of Muhammad, Who Was Allah's Last Prophet, Is Part Of History"
Imran Khan: "There were prophets of Allah other [than Muhammad], but there is no mention of them in human history. There is negligible mention of them. Moses is mentioned, but there is no mention of Jesus in history. But the entire life of Muhammad, who was Allah's last prophet, is part of history.
"Today's [great] civilization, the West, learned from the Muslims in Spain. They started reading. Aristotle and Greek philosophies reached Europe through Muslims, and then European civilization rose.
"Every few years, in some Western country, our dear Prophet is blasphemed against and dishonored. What is the consequence of this? Muslims become angry. We take to the streets in protest, [protestors] break things in our country. But what does it achieve? It enables the enemies of Muslims to tell people in the West: 'See, Islam is a big religion that spreads violence.' They get an opportunity to spread propaganda against Islam."
"Their People Do Not Understand, They Can't Comprehend How Much Our Prophet Resides In Our Hearts, They Can't Understand, So We Should Make Them Understand"
The Islamic Jihad militant group in Gaza released a music video titled "The Honorable Women of Jihad." The video shows veiled women marching, doing military drills, and shooting firearms while wearing various forms of military garb, and it occasionally overlays with pictures of "martyred" women. The song lyrics describe the women as mothers of leaders, modern-day Khansaas (Khansaa was a 7th-century Islamic heroine,) and martyrdom-seekers who are defending Al-Aqsa and redeeming Palestine from the plundering occupiers. The video was uploaded to the Women's Action Department of the Islamic Jihad Movement's Facebook page on November 13, 2018.
Imam At NJ Islamic Center Workshop: Palestinian Cause Is 'Islamic' But Must Be Marketed As 'Humanitarian' To Garner Everybody's Support; Speakers Praise BDS, Say Israel Likely To Cease Existing Within 50 Years
At a "Workshop for Palestine" held by American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) at the Islamic Center of Union County, NJ (ICUCNJ) on November 17, 2018, New Jersey-based AMP activist Muhammad Habba said that he believes Israel will cease to exist in the next 50 years, and went on to praise members of the Democratic Party for supporting boycotts and sanctions against Israel (for more on Habba, see MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 7396, Muslim Center Of Middlesex County, NJ Hosts Pro-BDS Event, Speakers Encourage Boycotting J Street, American Companies: 'If You Look At The Whole History, They Did Not Spend More Than... 200 Years [In Palestine],' 'Most Of The Jews Today Are Not The Children Of Israel... They Are Not Even Jews'). Waseem Qana'a, another AMP activist, said that AMP's focus is cutting U.S. funding for Israeli state-sponsored terrorism. One of the audience members said that peaceful measures are not enough and that the" military option" should not be taken off the table. Qana'a answered that BDS is "the biggest threat to Zionist supremacy." Another audience member said that the Palestinian issue should be fought for by all possible means, and that the Palestinian cause is "100% Islamic and 0% humanitarian." ICUCNJ imam Sa'id Elkasaby responded that even though he agreed that the Palestinian cause is an Islamic cause, it must be marketed as humanitarian so that Jews, Christians, and other non-Muslims will support it as well.
An unedited video of the presentation was uploaded to ICUCNJ's YouTube channel on November 17, and was taken down a short time later. The following day, an edited version of the video was uploaded to the channel; it does not include the Q&A session and the content that is included in the MEMRI TV clip of the workshop.
The ICUC building formerly housed a synagogue, Temple Israel. It was sold to the ICUC in 2010.
The following is the transcript of the MEMRI TV clip of Elkasaby's sermon:
Imam Sa'id Elkasaby: Israel "Will Cease To Exist... Within The Next 50 Years; Right Now Palestine Advocacy In America Is At An All-Time High"
Imam Sa'id Elkasaby: "As I said in yesterday's sermon, Palestine is not limited to today's borders. Palestine is not limited to the borders of 1948, of 1976, or of Sykes-Picot. Palestine is greater than that. Palestine is in the heart of every Muslim. Palestine is a land of all Arabs and all Muslims. Before being an Islamic cause, Palestine is a cause for humanity."
