Sunday, December 13, 2020

12/13 Links: There is no room for Israel in the lies of the Nakba narrative; A Nobel Peace Prize for President Trump and His Majesty King Mohammed VI?

From Ian:

David Collier: There is no room for Israel in the lies of the Nakba narrative
Questions for the Rabbi and Jewish News
I ask the Rabbi and Jewish News a simple question: Can you point me to the Nakba narrative that you consider to be true? If Hotovely cannot call it a lie, what is it specifically that she cannot question?

Is it the Nakba narrative of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign? The Nakba narrative of the BDS Central Committee? Or the one promoted by Fatah or the PFLP? Is it perhaps the Nakba narrative of Hamas? Ilan Pappe’s conspiracy theory? I’ve read the books and have seen the story told to students on campus. It is an antisemitic pack of lies. Is it this narrative you want us to believe?

Which one? Don’t just tell us we cannot question it – point specifically to the one you categorically believe to be true. Until you can do this – and I won’t hold my breath, nobody has a right to tell us not to call it out for what it is – a pack of lies. The Nakba narrative and Holocaust equation

The Nakba narrative was designed to equate itself to the Holocaust. You can visibly see the Holocaust denying discourse surrounding those who question the historicity of the Nakba narrative events. See these two images:

Nakba narrative denial
There is nothing accidental about this equation. The Nakba is as bad as the Holocaust which makes it an untouchable historical event and Zionists are therefore as bad as the Nazis. Na’amod who won’t tell us what the Nakba even is, ethically compare questioning the event to Holocaust denial. The paper above it was the online TRT outlet – a Turkish state-owned channel. The false narrative is designed to self-protect and we are told that if we question their lies, then we are as bad as Holocaust deniers. This strategy is dangerous and sickening.

Anti Board of Deputies punchbag and the survival of the diaspora
Some of this is the Jewish hard-left picking up anything to throw at the BOD. Hotovely provides a convenient punchbag and they can and will attack any community body that platforms her. It is something we will see frequently during her time of service in the UK. Hotovely is the Israeli Ambassador. Her role is to represent Israel. It is absolutely vital that the lies of the Nakba are confronted. As certain left wing groups are spreading such a false narrative within the Jewish community, it was right and proper for Hotovely to use the platform of the Board of Deputies to address this.

When I talk about the Nakba in this fashion – some in the community feel real discomfort – but there is no denial here that the Arabs suffered loss. This conflation is part of a politically correct cultural conditioning and we have to break through these walls. These ahistorical lies MUST be opposed. Zionism cannot exist within the Nakba narrative. It is a simple equation. If secular diaspora Jewry swallows the false narrative of our enemie , then secular diaspora is burning the only ship holding itself afloat. This ahistorical hard-left poison must not be allowed to filter into the mainstream.
Seth Frantzman: Will UAE be safer and more tolerant for Jews than most of Europe?
Hanukkah celebrations in Dubai last week and the national efforts to support tolerance and coexistence in the United Arab Emirates have created a reality in which Jews are more welcomed and safe in the UAE than in Europe.

Many friends and contacts I have spoken to say they were surprised by the feeling walking around the Emirates’ most populous city over the last week wearing a kippah, something they would be hesitant to do in many places in Europe.

This is a testament to the reality of most Western democracies: It’s dangerous to be a Jew in Europe. Jewish schools are attacked and Jews with a kippah are assaulted. It happens almost every day throughout Western Europe and the US, where in some places half of all religious hate crimes target Jews.

Today, Jews are safer in the UAE than in most European countries and most American states. We measure antisemitism in most Western countries by how many thousands of attacks there are – that’s the reality. In most European countries, intolerance towards Jews is widespread, and growing.
A Nobel Peace Prize for President Trump and His Majesty King Mohammed VI?
Salmi Gailani, who was born in 1991, the year of the ceasefire, "blames the U.N. for the fact that for 30 years, Western Sahara has been a frozen conflict.... '30 years is long enough to place ballot boxes,' he said." — Euronews, November 17, 2020.

The international community has been trying to broker a peace for the Western Sahara for 30 years. Some observers, however, suggest that "if the Polisario Front were to have sovereignty over the Western Sahara, it would mean that Algeria was effectively surrounding Morocco."

Along with last week's the triumph for President Trump and King Mohammed VI, there have also been charges that Morocco could have joined the Abraham Accords without the US recognizing Morocco's sovereignty over the Western Sahara. So far, however, no one has quite said how.


Could Trump bring an end to what has become known as the 'Gulf crisis?'
This bombshell initiative had been preceded by Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia for a meeting with some 50 leaders of the Arab world. On the subject of Islamist extremism ,Trump had been characteristically blunt. “A better future is only possible if your nations drive out the terrorists and extremists... Drive them out of your communities. Drive them out of your holy lands. And drive them out of this Earth.”

Qatar has been under siege for more than three years. Although most major trade routes into and out of the country have been closed off, Qatar has been sustained by continuous shiploads of food and other goods sent in by Iran and Turkey. As for exports, Qatar is the largest global exporter of liquefied natural gas, and this has been maintained. As a result, the country seems to have weathered the blockade and to be reasonably well placed to sustain itself indefinitely.

According to most media comment the Trump initiative has yielded positive results. On December 4, Qatar’s foreign affairs minister, Mohammed Al-Thani, said “We are optimistic about a resolution to the Gulf crisis, but we cannot say that all problems will be solved in one day.”

The New York Times sees a connection between ending the dispute and Trump’s aim of weakening the regime in Iran, which has been sustaining Qatar’s economy. The paper reported that high among the proposed first steps, Trump is pressing Saudi Arabia to open its airspace for Qatari flights. Over the past three years, Qatar has been paying millions of dollars to use Iran’s airspace.

The Abraham Accords will surely be added to the credit side of Trump’s account when his years in office are eventually submitted to the judgment of history. If his last-minute effort to resolve the “Gulf crisis” yields a positive result, his reputation as a surprising and unexpected peace-maker will be further enhanced.
Will Biden cut strings Trump attached to Abraham Accords? - analysis
Democrats do not generally oppose the “legal peace” for Sudan, even though details must still be worked out, and Biden has not said anything to indicate he would block it. Yet the matter is unlikely to be at the top of his agenda if it is not done by January 20, and those delays could be a strain on the new Sudan-Israel ties.

Then, there’s Morocco, which is perhaps the most controversial move of all three. The US became the first country to recognize Moroccan sovereignty over Western Sahara. The Trump administration’s message was that decades of attempts at negotiations between Morocco and the leadership of the Sahrawi, the non-Moroccan people living in the region, have gone nowhere and autonomy under Morocco’s king is the way to move forward.

This has serious implications when it comes to international law that can radiate outward to Judea and Samaria, Crimea and beyond – as different as those land disputes may be – and the Trump administration has boxed Biden into a change of policy.

A cabinet source said on Sunday that the government of Israel is not concerned that any of the aforementioned strings attached to the Abraham Accords will be cut by the Biden administration.

“The US has a clear system of continuity, especially when it comes to diplomatic positions. We’ve seen this with Israel over the decades,” the source said.

But Biden has a drastically different view on foreign policy than Trump and he is likely to make many changes. What that means for Israel’s new partnerships remains to be seen.
Pence said planning Israel visit a week before Biden’s inauguration
US Vice President Mike Pence is expected to visit Israel in January, a week before Joe Biden is sworn in as the new president, Hebrew media reported Sunday.

There was no word on the purpose of the potential visit, but Army Radio quoted Israeli officials saying there were two more states that could normalize relations with Israel before US President Donald Trump leaves office on January 20.

The two countries weren’t named, though Saudi Arabia was reportedly not one of them.

The radio station said the planned date for Pence’s trip is January 13, when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is required to attend a plea hearing in his trial on corruption charges.

Pence was last in Israel in January for the World Holocaust Forum at Yad Vashem, where visiting dignitaries gathered to commemorate the Nazi genocide of Jews during World War II and mark 75 years since the liberation of Auschwitz.

The US Embassy in Jerusalem wouldn’t comment on the Pence’s reported travel plans, which were confirmed by Regional Cooperation Minister Ofir Akunis, a member of Netanyahu’s Likud party.

“Pence is planning on visiting Israel. I don’t want to commit to the dates,” Akunis told Army Radio. “It’s likely that during the trip itself there will be a declaration of normalization.”
Oman, Indonesia likely next countries to forge ties with Israel
The diplomatic source identified Oman and Indonesia as two countries with which talks have advanced and with whom normalization could be announced before US President Donald Trump leaves office on January 20.

Intelligence Minister Eli Cohen mentioned Indonesia in an Army Radio interview.

However, the Indonesian Foreign Ministry denied that any such efforts were underway and reaffirmed its support for Palestinian statehood, CNN Indonesia reported.

On Friday, Oman welcomed the announcement of ties between Israel and Morocco, expressing hope that they “will further endeavor to achieve a comprehensive, just and lasting peace in the Middle East.”

Netanyahu visited Oman in 2018 and met with its then-leader, the late Sultan Qaboos. Israel had unofficial trade relations with Oman in 1994-2000, and the countries cooperate in opposing Iranian aggression.

Israel and Indonesia do not have formal diplomatic relations, but they cooperate in trade and tourism. Indonesia bought arms from Israel in the 1970s and 1980s, and Indonesian soldiers have trained in Israel.

In 1993, prime minister Yitzhak Rabin met Indonesian president Suharto in Jakarta.

Contrary to Hebrew media reports, the diplomatic source said normalization with Saudi Arabia was unlikely before US President-elect Joe Biden enters office, although the Saudis have given tacit approval to other parts of the Abraham Accords.
Braving raging controversy, Muslim Indonesian woman hopes for peace with Israel
Azka Daulia is one of few Muslim Indonesians who openly support Israel. Her story began the day after Israel signed a peace deal with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and as it turned out, Sept. 15, 2020, was to be a day she will never forget.

"The ceremony was not broadcast on [Indonesian] television," Daulia said in an interview with Israel Hayom. "Whosever job it is to determine what gets broadcast did not show the public the wonderful Israeli news.

"The ceremony took place at 11 p.m. Indonesian time, and I was already asleep. But the next morning I went to the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Facebook page and watched the recording of the ceremony, heard Prime Minister Netanyahu talk about King David, and I said to myself, 'This is a nation that believes in God, and I think it's something positive to bring to people.' I was so excited, I cried.

"I told my father about the ceremony, and he said it was wonderful news. Many Muslim Indonesians love Israel, and I wanted people to see for themselves and enjoy the peace and the hope, how inspiring it is. I decided to share the recording of the ceremony on my Facebook and Instagram. I wrote to my Indonesian friends that I didn't film or edit the video, and I just wanted them to see the ceremony, that they should see the hope for peace."

Daulia added to her post an appeal addressed to Indonesian President Joko Widodo "in the hope that Indonesia will follow in the footsteps of these countries [UAE and Bahrain] and will establish diplomatic relations with Israel too.

"I was raised as a Muslim but have always been curious about Judaism," she said. "My grandfather is a devout Muslim. He is 101 years old and he has never spoken about Judaism. I have always felt uncomfortable asking him about it. But when I was a child, my father told me that if I wanted to know more about [the Prophet] Muhammad, then I should read the Torah. Also, my brother has a son who he named from the Torah, Eliezer."
What does Israel stand to gain from relations with Morocco? - analysis
Israel and Morocco exchanged liaison offices in 1995, following the Oslo Accords, marking the start of open – though not full – diplomatic relations between the countries. Morocco cut ties with Israel in 2000, after the Palestinians launched the Second Intifada.

Limited trade between the countries continued even after those ties were cut, with Israel importing $68m. in Moroccan goods and exporting $5m. to Morocco in 2018, according to the Israel Export Institute, and that is likely to grow with the planned direct flights and the sign of approval from King Mohammad VI in the form of normalizing ties.

Israel’s major exports to Morocco are plastics, machinery and electrical equipment, while Morocco mostly exports vehicles, apparel and accessories to Israel.

Israeli government sources view energy as a potential source for cooperation between Israel and Morocco, which does not have much energy resources of its own. Morocco has been importing about 90% of its energy since 2013, and seeks to expand its use of renewable energy. Israel exports natural gas and has expertise in solar energy.

Agriculture makes up about 40% of Morocco’s economy and a large part of its exports, and could be interested in Israeli agri-tech innovations.
Morocco’s FM on normalization: Relations with Israel were ‘already normal’
Morocco’s announcement is widely seen as making it the fourth Arab country this year to unveil plans to normalize ties with Israel through a US-brokered deal, following the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.

But in an interview with the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper on Sunday, Moroccan Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita said: “Israel’s relations with Morocco are special and can’t be compared to the relations that Israel has with any other Arab country.”

“From our perspective, we aren’t talking about normalization because relations were already normal. We’re talking about [re-formalizing] the relations between the countries to the relations we had, because there have been relations the entire time. They never stopped.”

A palace statement last week said that King Mohammed VI had agreed to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel with “minimal delay.” That followed Trump’s recognition of Morocco’s contested sovereignty in Western Sahara, infuriating the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, which controls about one-fifth of the vast, arid region.

Bourita, in the interview, highlighted Morocco’s enduring connection to Israel through its domestic Jewish community and the estimated 700,000 Israeli Jews of Moroccan descent.

“Morocco has an important history with the Jewish community, a history that is special in the Arab world,” he told the paper. “It’s my understanding that just this past year 70,000 Israelis came to visit here.”
Seth Frantzman: The UAE’s historic embrace of Hanukkah is part of a process - analysis
Jews have visited and resided in the UAE in the past, but obtaining kosher food was difficult. Now there are kosher caterers, and hotels will have kosher food. In May, reports about Elli’s Kosher Kitchen made huge headlines. Now there are new stories every day about initiatives for coexistence that include Jews, as well as a push to include more information about Jews and Judaism in everyday activities.

In discussions with numerous people involving these symbols and statements, videos showing rabbis with Jews at prayer with tefillin have been mentioned as examples of rapid change over the past year.

People say that although the changes seem fast, their overall foundation is the year of tolerance and the last decade of conscious national decisions to embark on this path.

It is a path that is being gingerly embraced by other countries. Whether it is renovations of synagogues in Lebanon or Egypt, or more interest in Jewish history in Iraq and even Sudan, the discussion is happening.

But in many countries it is happening more quietly. The new peace deals with Morocco and Bahrain provide wind in the sails for this coexistence. For instance, the “happy Hanukkah” greetings that are flowing from the Gulf, such as from organizations like the King Hamad Global Centre for Peaceful Coexistence in Bahrain, all anchor this new support for including Jews in national discussions.

On the one hand this should be normal: Jews should be embraced. But on the other hand, decades of toxic rhetoric in the region and the way Iran and its extremists made hatred a normal aspect of daily life – as well as the way groups linked to the Muslim Brotherhood push anti-Jewish views openly, including constant conspiracies – poisoned the minds of generations.

It will take decades to change that. What has begun in the UAE over the last week is part of the process – and it has burst forth with intense energy.


Israeli baker offers 'Abu Dhabi' doughnut for Hanukkah
An enterprising Israeli baker is trying to tempt customers with a date-flavored doughnut from the Jewish state's new regional partner, the United Arab Emirates.

Pastry chef Itzik Kadosh is offering the "Abu Dhabi" doughnut, with its Emirati dates, nougat and cream filling, topped with a golden leaf.

A gold leaf is added atop a date-flavoured "Abu Dhabi" doughnut created for the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah and in honour to the new diplomatic relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, at Kadosh pastry shop in Jerusalem

Coming in an ever-growing range of colors and fillings, the doughnut takes pride of place among dishes traditionally eaten over the week-long Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, which begins on Thursday.

The Emirates in September signed a landmark U.S.-brokered deal to formalize relations with Israel, the first such agreement by a Gulf Arab state and only the third by any Arab country.

"We want to pay tribute to Abu Dhabi and to peace in the region," Kadosh told AFP.


UAE, Israel export credit agencies sign agreement to boost trade
The export credit agencies of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel have signed a cooperation agreement to develop economic relations between the two countries, the UAE’s state news agency WAM said.

Etihad Credit Insurance and the Israel Foreign Trade Risks Insurance Corporation (ASHR’A) plan to support jointly exports, trade, and investment between the two countries, WAM said.

Since the UAE and Israel agreed to normalise relations in August, the two countries have signed a series of accords to boost economic and business ties.

The annual exchange of trade between Israel and the UAE across several industries is expected to reach $4 billion per year, the WAM report said.

“With state guarantees from both countries, this deal will encourage exports and investments, help minimise political and commercial risks, and raise export financing for the mid- and long-terms,” Nissim Ben Eli, chief executive of ASHR’A, was quoted as saying.

Export credit agencies (ECAs) offer loan guarantees, and sometimes direct financing to overseas buyers, to facilitate the export and supply of domestic goods or contractors.
Israeli, UAE soccer federations to ink cooperation deal
The UAE Football Association said Saturday it would sign a memorandum of understanding with the Israel Football Association on Monday in Dubai, in the presence of FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

The move comes after Israel established diplomatic ties with the United Arab Emirates, signing an accord along with Bahrain in Washington in September.

The “cooperation agreement” with the Israeli FA includes “the establishment of friendly matches for all national teams and clubs” and “joint workshops for the technical and administrative members of the federations,” the United Arab Emirates’s FA said in a statement Saturday.

The agreement “comes in activation of the peace treaty that was signed between the United Arab Emirates and Israel,” General Secretary of UAE FA Mohammed Abdullah Hazzam al-Dhaheri was cited as saying in the statement.

“It is unique in the Middle East and carries a message of peace from the ‘land of peace,’ and we are confident that its outcome will be very positive and will serve both sides,” he added.


Seth Frantzman: Russia, which annexed Crimea, concerned over US stance on Western Sahara
The US move to recognize Western Sahara as part of Morocco could dramatically impede UN efforts to resolve the half-century-old conflict there, Russia said over the weekend.

“By this decision, the Donald Trump administration aims to undermine the universally recognized international legal groundwork of the Western Sahara settlement, which stipulates the determination of the final status of that area through a referendum,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

“This new position of the United States could dramatically impede UN efforts to promote the Settlement Plan for Western Sahara, [and could] exacerbate the relations between the directly involved parties and provoke a new spiral of armed confrontation in the Sahara-Sahel region,” it said.

Moscow’s comments are in contrast to its own decision to annex Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, a move most countries do not recognize. Russia’s condemnation of the US is not surprising, since the countries are on opposite sides of most global issues.

Turkey also seems to be positioning itself against the US decision, largely because Ankara does not want Morocco normalizing relations with Israel. The US decision on Western Sahara came as Morocco said it would normalize ties with Israel.
ICC prosecutor wants full probe into alleged war crimes in Ukraine
International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said on Friday that a “broad range” of war crimes were committed in Ukraine since 2014, as she pushed for a full investigation.

Hague-based ICC prosecutors launched a preliminary probe in 2015 after Kyiv gave it the green light to probe alleged crimes committed during the pro-EU Maidan demonstrations, which came to a head in February 2014 when pro-Moscow president Viktor Yanukovic was ousted.

Ukraine, which is not an ICC member state, later gave Bensouda permission to broaden her scope and go beyond February 2014 to include the deadly conflict that has since wracked the country’s east.

Bensouda said her initial probe had now finished.

“My office has concluded that there is a reasonable basis at this time to believe that a broad range of conduct constituting war crimes and crimes against humanity within the jurisdiction of the court have been committed in the context of the situation in Ukraine,” Bensouda said.

“My office furthermore found that these crimes, committed by the different parties to the conflict, were also sufficiently grave to warrant investigation by my office,” she said in a statement.

Thousands have been killed since pro-Russia militias in eastern Ukraine launched a bid for independence in 2014, kicking off a conflict that deepened Russia’s estrangement from the West.

This included the downing of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in July 2014, killing all 298 on board.
What to do when the UN human rights office may have violated human rights?
Emma Reilly says she is not particularly popular at the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, the United Nations agency where she has worked since 2012.

The long-simmering tensions stem from a complaint she made more than seven years ago about an office practice which, in her view, potentially exposed human rights activists to retribution, including ethnic Uygur dissidents in China’s western Xinjiang region.

The office, known as the OHCHR, is tasked with protecting human rights and monitoring violations worldwide. Its Human Rights Council holds sessions three times a year where non-governmental organisations and others can make presentations and report on human rights violations.

Reilly’s complaint, which she says remains unresolved after years of dispute and litigation, is that the OHCHR has not properly investigated whether the practice of secretly providing names to China of individuals attending the sessions in Geneva could have exposed them to harassment and intimidation.

“All these ethics officers at the UN have looked at it and determined that … handing the names to China, and only China, and doing it secretly, that’s fine,” said Reilly, who was regional director of Search for Common Ground in North Africa during the Arab spring before joining the UN. “All the ethics officers agreed at that time so therefore it’s unreasonable of me to continue to report it,” she said in an interview.
Cheaper LEDs can disinfect against COVID-19, Israeli scientists find
Israeli researchers have found a way to significantly cut the cost of COVID-19-killing ultraviolet lights, and they are working on LED-embedded surfaces that clean themselves.

“We have discovered that it’s easier than previously imagined to disinfect from coronavirus using light, and we are already working on exciting applications for our findings,” Hadas Mamane, head of Tel Aviv University’s Environmental Engineering Program, told The Times of Israel.

As the world struggles to disinfect surfaces and public places, there is growing interest in the use of ultraviolet light, which has long had uses in fighting bacteria and viruses. It is not yet widespread in the coronavirus fight, but has been deployed, including in transportation via light-emitting robots.

Mamane’s team has made a breakthrough it hopes will expedite its rollout, namely finding that the desired effect can be achieved with higher-wavelength — or “less energetic” — LEDs than previously believed.

The team’s research has been published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology. The key finding is that LEDs emitting light with a wavelength of 285 nanometers were almost as efficient in disinfecting the virus as those with a wavelength of 265 nanometers, requiring less than half a minute to destroy more than 99.9% of the coronaviruses.


Seth Frantzman: Iran media says Lebanon outplayed US in Israel maritime talks
Iran’s Tasnim News Agency, relying on reports in Western media, has championed the Lebanese attempt to frustrate US-backed talks on delimiting the maritime borders between Israel and Lebanon.

Lebanon sought to prevent the Trump administration from gaining another foreign-policy success regarding Israel and prefers to complete the discussions under a Biden administration, Tasnim reported.

Lebanon, led by pro-Hezbollah President Michel Aoun, may be calculating that a US administration seeking to reenter the Iran deal will be more favorable to Lebanon in the discussions. In the past, the US ostensibly has gone soft on Hezbollah’s activities as it was attempting to get a deal with Iran because the Islamic Republic backs the terrorist group and has sought to keep the US from isolating it.

Tasnim acknowledged foreign media reports about the degree of Iranian control in Lebanon through Hezbollah.

“The sources claimed that Lebanon is currently controlled by an armed party that runs the country with a non-Lebanese agenda,” the pro-regime news agency said. “US sources note that it was clear from the outset that the Lebanese negotiating team would never give a gift to the Trump administration, which is leaving the White House, and would prefer to present it to the new US administration led by Joe Biden.”
PMW: PA to Palestinians: Become a terrorist and guarantee yourself a job in the PA!
Since 2018, the Palestinian Authority has been facing considerable financial pressure focused on bringing an end to its terror reward program. Despite that pressure and despite their intuitive desire to make positive overtures to try to placate the new Biden Administration, the director of the PA-funded Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Qadri Abu Bakr, has repeatedly made it clear that any changes made in the PA’s terror salaries to the terrorist prisoners and released prisoners will be purely cosmetic.

When asked about “a conversation that was republished and reached American media outlets,” clearly alluding to a recent article in the New York Times, “according to which there may be amendments that will affect the prisoners’ and released prisoners’ salaries,” Abu Bakr responded succinctly, but adamantly:
“These things are inaccurate and incorrect.”

[Facebook page of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Dec. 5, 2020]

Addressing the suggestion that the PA payments to the terrorist prisoners will no longer be based on the time they spend in prison, but rather be based on needs and social welfare criteria, Abu Bakr clarified:
“The prisoners are a sacred issue that can’t be touched. Let no one think that it will be transferred to the other institutions – the humanitarian ones or the [PA Ministry of] Social Affairs. This is emphasized by [PA] President [Abbas] at every meeting.”

[Facebook page of the PLO Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs, Nov. 27, 2020]




France Condemns ‘Barbaric’ Iranian Execution
France reacted with anger on Saturday to Iran’s execution of a Paris-based dissident journalist, which it said ran counter to Tehran’s international obligations.

“France condemns in the strongest possible terms this serious breach of free expression and press freedom in Iran,” the foreign ministry said in a statement after the execution of Ruhollah Zam was reported by Iranian state media.

“This is a barbaric and unacceptable act that goes against the country’s international commitments,” it added.


‘Israel’s Festering Police Brutality Problem’ Headline Highlights the New York Times’ Festering Bias Problem
The article may not have much logic independently, but it does make sense when viewed as part of a wider campaign to demonize Israel. The Times awards a gold medal “Times Pick” to a reader comment that observes, “Racism and police brutality are not just an American phenomenon.” That feeds the old Zionism-is-racism lie that the Times is increasingly keen on pushing. And the article includes a passage portraying Zionism as colonialism, another anti-Israel lie:

Badi Hasisi, chairman of Hebrew University’s Institute of Criminology, said violence was ingrained in the culture of the Israeli police force, which grew out of the paramilitary force the British maintained in Palestine.

“As colonial police, they were meant to deal with uprisings,” Professor Hasisi said. “They were more concerned with control — to be able to mobilize resources without any bureaucratic constraints.”

Actually the Jews were among those the British police were trying to prevent from rising up.

The Washington Free Beacon recently reported that the movement to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel is trying to capitalize on anti-police sentiment to try to halt exchanges between Israel and American law-enforcement agencies. The Times article will doubtless be used to support such efforts. Why, after all, should American police travel to Israel to learn if Israel indeed has, as the Times headline puts it, a “festering police brutality problem”? Perhaps the American law enforcement officials will be able to learn about the New York Times’ festering anti-Israel bias problem. It’s “ingrained in the culture.”
Financial Times corrects article omitting Ghassan Kanafani's terror affiliation
Last week, we posted about a Financial Times article that referred to Ghassan Kanafani merely as a “firebrand leftist”, whilst omitting that he was a terrorist with Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the terror group that coordinated the Lod Airport Massacre in 1972, as well as scores of other deadly attacks.

Here’s the original wording in the Dec. 9th article by Jerusalem correspondent Mehul Srivastava, titled “Reading as resistance: the bookshops keeping free speech alive”:

The walls [of the bookshop] are lined with the work of authors despised by the Israeli rightwing. Noam Chomsky, the Jewish-American linguist who was barred from entering Israel in 2010, rubs shoulders with Ghassan Kanafani, the firebrand Palestinian leftist assassinated by the Mossad in 1972.

We complained to Financial Times editors, arguing that the omission regarding Kanafani’s terror affiliation erroneously suggests that he was assassinated by the Mossad merely for being a “leftist” political activist.

They upheld our complaint, and revised the sentence accordingly:
Faces, testimonies of 101 UK survivors of Nazi atrocities captured in new book
If pictures are worth a thousand words, then Matt Writtle’s breathtaking portraits of Holocaust survivors must fill an entire library.

For more than two years, Writtle, alongside curator Jan Marsh and project manager Jacki Reason traveled across the United Kingdom to photograph and record the personal testimonies of 101 survivors of Nazi atrocities.

Thirty of the photographs were initially exhibited at City Hall in 2007 and now, more than a decade later, Writtle has brought the collection together in a new book, “Portraits For Posterity.”

Writing in the foreword, project manager Reason explains that the idea came about after visiting the Holocaust exhibition at the Imperial War Museum for the first time and realizing that one of the video testimonies showed a familiar face.

“He was Roman Halter, whom I met every day in the swimming pool, and who lived five minutes away,” Reason said.

Fellow swimmer Marsh, who worked at the National Portrait Gallery, suggested creating a portrait of Halter and it wasn’t long before Reason enlisted the help of her neighbor, Writtle, a freelance photographer for The Times.
Jerusalem's iconic King David Hotel celebrates 90th anniversary
The two flags in the lobby of Jerusalem’s iconic King David Hotel come as a surprise. Like all hotels in Israel – other than those being used for quarantined guests – the hotel is officially closed, but in fact has been operating throughout the pandemic in cooperation with Health Ministry regulations.

The famed hotel has still been accommodating visiting heads of state, prime ministers, foreign ministers and various foreign delegations. For several weeks, it also served as the unofficial office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while the Prime Minister’s Office was undergoing renovations. It was a natural choice, considering Netanyahu’s frequent visits there over the years to meet with visiting dignitaries.

Whenever the hotel is hosting foreign dignitaries, the flags of their countries are placed in a prominent position in the lobby. The two flags now were those of Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

The oldest luxury hotel in Israel, construction of the King David was completed on December 30, 1930, and officially opened for business in early 1931.

When interviewed last July for The Jerusalem Post’s In Jerusalem supplement, the hotel’s general manager Tamir Kobrin – a native Jerusalemite who was then relatively new, having worked abroad for most of his professional life – was brimming with ideas for the hotel’s 90th anniversary celebrations.
Rami Levy to install Vertical Field farms for fresh produce
Ra'anana-Based Vertical Field signed an agreement with Israel's largest grocery chain Rami Levy, to provide vertical farms to each of the supermarket branches in the coming years.

A vertical farm will be installed next to each branch, providing customers with fresh produce grown out of the company's indoor farms.

"The Rami Levy chain understands the social responsibility that it has for customers as related to food security and supplying the highest quality products while maintaining low prices," said VP of Marketing at Rami Levy Yafit Attias Levy. "Our customers bought Vertical Field’s produce during the pilot, and returned to purchase more."

"Therefore, we have decided to expand the partnership with Vertical Field to additional branches of the supermarket, and to offer fresh, high-quality and pesticide-free produce in a way that increases shelf-life for our customers," he added.

Vertical Field's innovative "vertical farm" solution was developed at the Ra'anana headquarters. The produce is grown in a sterile indoor environment, without the use of chemicals or fertilizers.
The table used to stop Monsey attacker is turned into a menorah stand
When a masked man entered a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York, on the seventh night of Hanukkah last year, Joseph Gluck thought quickly. He picked up a coffee table and threw it at the attacker, who subsequently followed Gluck outside the house before trying to enter a synagogue next door. The door was locked and the intruder fled.



That coffee table turned defensive weapon has been turned into a dreidel-shaped menorah stand to memorialize Monsey’s own Hanukkah miracle. Emblazoned on its sides are the Hebrew words marked on dreidels typically in Israel — “A big miracle happened here.” (Most outside of Israel are engraved with “a big miracle happened there,” referring to the miracle of the Hanukkah story in which the oil in the Temple lasted for eight days.) In the case of the stand, the miracle is even closer to home.

Rabbi Yisroel Kahan, a leader in Monsey and a member of the Rockland County Human Rights Commission, posted a photo of the coffee table and the menorah stand to Twitter on Friday. That table, by the way, broke after Gluck’s heave at the intruder. One guest at the Hanukkah celebration was severely injured in the attack and subsequently died of his injuries.
2,000-year-old lantern found in Jerusalem
Archaeologists have unearthed a candle holder from the Hasmonean period in the City of David in Jerusalem.

The 2,000-year-old lantern, which has been preserved in its entirety, was discovered during excavations in the Old City of Jerusalem, lead by the Israel Antiquities Authority and the Ir David Foundation.

Archaeologists were excavating the road that was used for pilgrimages in the days of the Second Temple about 2,000 years ago. The road is nearly 600 meters (2,000 feet) long and 8 meters (26 feet) wide. It connects the Siloam Pool in the south of the City of David and the foot of the Temple Mount.

The candle holder is made of clay and has plant decorations on its tip, probably a branch with leaves. It is typical of the first century BCE, at the end of the Hasmonean rule during the Second Temple period.

"One of the archaeologists approached me with something hidden in his hands and asked me to guess what he had found. He opened his hands and showed me the candle that was preserved in its entirety. I was really excited," Riki Zlot Har-Tov, field manager of the Ir David Foundation, said.



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