Sunday, March 27, 2022

03/27 Links: Edinburgh Council want to hug Hamas; Arab opposition to Zionism has always been antisemitic; Why is the US still paying for antisemitic UN farce?

From Ian:

David Collier: Edinburgh Council want to hug a proscribed terrorist group
On Tuesday – unbelievably -the Policy and Sustainability Committee of Edinburgh Council will debate and vote on a motion to twin Edinburgh with the HQ of a radical Islamic terrorist group. The 17 Councillors on this Committee (5 SNP, 5 Conservative, 3 Labour, 2 LibDem, 2 Green) will debate a petition concocted by an antisemite whose twisted thinking proved even too toxic for the proscribed group Labour Against the Witchhunt. Yes, that’s right, Tony Greenstein, a notorious antisemite himself, kicked this guy out over his antisemitism. That is how bad he is.

Yet his vile motion, that seeks to give the proscribed terror group Hamas a hug, is going be discussed. And even though it was born from the mind of a clear antisemite, two SNP Westminster MPs, Tommy Sheppard and Philippa Whitford, have disgracefully supported the proposal.

According to the original proposal in 2019, there seems to be a council process which means they have to consider a petition that garners more than 200 signatures ‘unless there is a good reason to oppose it’.

I am sure that if this were a far-right racist, asking for a debate that baited Edinburgh’s black community, the Council would have triggered the ‘opposition’ clause by now. The fact this is still going ahead because it only baits Jews – is just more proof that racism against Jews is still acceptable in Scotland.

The toxic proposer.
Anyone who is familiar with the fight against antisemitism in the Labour Party needs no introduction to Pete Gregson, the key actor behind this debate.

Gregson was expelled by the GMB union for antisemitism. Gregson has expressed a view that the Holocaust had been exaggerated. He added that this was ‘by Israel’, for ‘political purposes’. Gregson has previously made complaints about the way he has been portrayed as an antisemite in the media. IPSO did not agree with him.

He was a member of Labour Against the Witchhunt (LAW), but his association and support for 9/11 truther Ian Fantom and his bunch of extremists, along with his description of Holocaust denier Nick Kollerstrom as not a ‘denier’, but a ”Holocaust sceptic’ – led to him being ousted. It is worth noting that LAW is chock full of antisemites and conspiracy theorists itself, and it has even been proscribed by the Labour Party. Gregson was too toxic even for them.

LAW didn’t even support his twinning ideas. Too toxic for LAW, but suitable for Edinburgh Council. That surely is not something to be proud of.
New book: Arab opposition to Zionism has always been antisemitic
Arab antisemitism is indistinguishable from anti-Zionism, suggests a new book by Elder of Ziyon, veteran analyst and blogger. Point of No Return reviews The Protocols: Exposing Modern Antisemitism.

For anyone following Middle Eastern news as it relates to Israel, Elder of Ziyon has long been the go-to blog for up-to-the minute news and analysis. No one knows Elder’s true identity, but his avatar is the supposed likeness of the medieval rabbi and thinker Rashi. Elder uses him to symbolise the cabal purveying one of the most notorious of published conspiracy theories – The Protocols of the Elders of Ziyon. It is a Tsarist forgery hatched in 19th century Russia and still a best-seller in Arab bookshops.

For 14 years now Elder of Ziyon has been stroking his beard and ruminating over modern manifestations of antisemitism, the overarching topic of his blog. Now a book in three sections distils the themes he has been exploring in over 30,000 posts. The result is The Protocols: Exposing Modern Antisemitism.

The book is a welcome addition to any reader’s bookshelf.

In contrast to the Jerusalem Declaration which provides an impossibly narrow definition, Elder offers an even broader definition of antisemitism than the widely-accepted IHRA. Any example aimed at Jews as individuals, people, as a religion or an ethnic group can be antisemitic, he suggests. Elder’s principal preoccupation is with leftwing antisemitism, a phenomenon routinely ignored by progressives and underrated in the USA. The apathy of the Jewish community to this form of antisemitism, he claims, is exacerbated by poor leadership, ignorance, and lack of pride in Judaism and Israel.
Golda Meir, reconsidered through a feminist lens
If state-subsidized daycare is still a distant dream in most countries, it was a truly radical idea in the 1930s, when few mothers worked outside the home.

Yet that was when this social service was pioneered in Palestine. Jewish women needed safe and affordable childcare as they worked alongside their husbands to build what would become the state of Israel.

One of those women was Golda Meir.

Decades before serving as Israel’s fourth, and only female, prime minister (from 1969 to 1974), Meir was a member of the Women Workers Council and in the 1950s became Minister of Labor.

Believing that work was essential to dignity, Meir engineered Israel’s Social Security Act and guaranteed maternity leave with pay, says Boston University law professor Pnina Lahav.

Based on years of research, Lahav’s book, The Only Woman in the Room: Golda Meir and Her Path to Power, will be released on September 6 by Princeton University Press.

The book is described as a feminist biography, reexamining Meir’s life through the lens of gender.


Israel Assuming New Role in Middle East
Less than four years ago, the consensus among political commentators was that the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the relocation of its embassy to the city would ignite the Middle East. Similarly, a year and a half ago, they dismissed the Abraham Accords. And yet today – March 27 – the foreign ministers of some of the most important Arab countries gathered in Israel for a historic summit initiated by Jerusalem.

We live in a different political world.

One representative will be missing from the meeting that will be hosted by Foreign Minister Yair Lapid – from Saudi Arabia. This absence reflects the complexity of the new strategic arrangement of the Middle East, with the US relinquishing its central role in the region and becoming a kind of observer. The reason for the Israel-led preparations of the Sunni Arab states is the Iran nuclear agreement that is expected to be signed in Vienna sooner or later.

"When an agreement on the nuclear deal is reached, a likely possibility, it will be an absolute win for the Iranians, not different from the Taliban's victory in Afghanistan and a triumph for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps," Hussein Agha wrote in Foreign Policy news magazine.

The Iranians do as they please with regard to hegemony, and are unafraid of harsh rebuke by the United States. Moreover, the attacks – such as those perpetrated by the Houthis against Saudi oil facilities – were meant to hasten US nuclear negotiators.

Israel is not assuming an unprecedented role. To some extent, it is transforming into a link between the US and some Arab counties. This is especially true with Riyadh and Abu Dhabi, whose leaders do not answer President Joe Biden's phone calls requesting assistance in the Ukraine war.

This is an unusual and unprecedented situation. The good news is that the Arab-Israeli conflict is largely over, as the architect of the new structure in the Middle East – former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – said. The bad news is that Israel is at the epicenter of Iranian efforts to develop nuclear weapons and achieve regional supremacy.
US, Israel Still See ‘Eye to Eye’ on Preventing a Nuclear Iran, Blinken Says in Jerusalem
The US and Israel expressed a commitment to work together to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, regardless of whether the 2015 deal between Tehran and world powers is revived in the coming days.

Speaking in Jerusalem, Secretary of State Antony Blinken stated Sunday that on Iran’s nuclear program the US and Israel see “eye to eye.”

“We are both determined that Iran will never acquire a nuclear weapon. Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is another reminder of why this is so important,” Blinken said following a meeting with Israel’s Foreign Minister Yair Lapid. “The US will continue to stand up to Iran when it threatens us or when it threatens our allies and partners and will continue to work with Israel to counter its aggressive behavior throughout the region.”

Blinken reaffirmed that the US views a return to full implementation of the original 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) – which Israel opposes — as the best way to put Iran’s nuclear program “back in the box.”

“But whether there’s a JCPOA or not our commitment to the core principle of Iran never acquiring a nuclear weapon is unwavering,” Blinken asserted. “We will continue to coordinate closely with our Israeli partners on the way forward.”

Lapid echoed Blinken’s commitment to work together despite their differences on containing Iran’s nuclear enrichment ambitions.

“We have disagreements about a nuclear agreement and its consequences, but open and honest dialogue is part of the strength of our friendship,” Lapid said. “Iran is not an Israeli problem. The world cannot afford for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps to continue spreading terror around the globe.”
Is UAE trying to mediate between Israel and Syria?

Negev Summit reflects vastly changing Middle East landscape - analysis
When Amnesty International declared Israel an apartheid state last month, its agenda was clear: Turn the Jewish state into a pariah, a country that will be shunned by the international community.

How ironic it was, therefore, that just a couple of weeks later, Israel – represented by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett – turned up as one of the main actors on the international stage mediating between Ukraine and Russia in one of the most severe global crises since World War II.

Some pariah.

And now this: Four Arab foreign ministers were to gather in Israel Sunday evening along with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Foreign Minister Yair Lapid for an unprecedented summit.

That the summit is taking place in Israel rather than, say, Sharm e-Sheikh, the traditional venue for these types of meetings, is one thing. But that it is taking place in Sde Boker, the post-prime-ministerial residence of David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s founding father and someone who can be rightly termed Mr. Zionism, is nothing less than stunning and a powerful message.

Just as Amnesty International and organizations of its ilk are strenuously trying to make Zionism illegitimate and turn it into a dirty word, much of the Arab world is coming to grips with it. Not, of course, because of any great sympathy for what it represents, but rather because of the recognition that in a hate-filled region full of malevolent actors with medieval ideologies, Israel is a relatively benign actor.


What is the agenda of the Ramallah Summit? And the Negev one?
The whirlwind we have been living globally seems to be speeding up. From the pandemic to the truckers to the war raging now between Russia and Ukraine, and the nuclear talks ongoing simultaneously in Vienna, it’s hard to make sense of it all.

Perhaps that is exactly where we are meant to be coming from the Purim story towards the Pesach one.

And seemingly suddenly, there is a “Negev Summit” and a “Ramallah Summit” with an agenda well hidden from the public eye. But clearly there is only one topic of interest to all concerned and that is none other than “the two state solution” otherwise historically and sardonically referred to as “the final solution”!

Ironically the “Negev Summit” is being held in the south, in Sde Boker, the home of the State of Israel’s first prime minister...David Ben Gurion. Had anyone asked me I would have suggested it be in Hebron, the home of King David before moving the Jewish capital to Yerushalayim. The eternal heart and soul of the Jewish People.

This, dear foreign ministers, is THE Holy Land, and nobody knows it better than you! Well this Land is NOT negotiable! It was not established by the nefarious U.N., and it can never ever be divided, because there are enough Jews throughout the world that will not let it happen.

I remember well all the excitement and fanfare at the “recognition” by the Trump administration of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. Like any self respecting NDG people would need that recognition. A self respecting people would not allow any embassy to reside in this Land without the explicit understanding that it must be situated in OUR capital, as in every other country in the world, and that capital is Jerusalem not Tel Aviv! But clearly we are not a free nation in our own Land, other than in the “national” anthem! My national anthem is “ani mamin”! from Maimonides list and meaning "I believe" - the anthem we had long before we had a state!

So while you are down south, foreign ministers, I strongly suggest you visit the four families that are in mourning for their loved ones while you try to convince us two states living side by side in peace is on the horizon and best for everyone!

Really?

This is not a good week for that mantra! We don’t buy it!
Palestinian factions decry ‘summit of shame’ in Negev
Israel is taking advantage of the Arabs’ fear of Iran to divert attention from its actions on the ground and “liquidate” the Palestinian issue, the Palestinian Authority said on Sunday, in an implicit reference to the Negev Summit.

The PA and other Palestinian groups also expressed concern over the apparent emergence of an Arab-Israeli military alliance in the Middle East.

But while the PA refrained from criticizing the four Arab countries participating in the summit – United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Egypt – several Palestinian groups, including Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, strongly condemned the gathering, dubbing it a “summit of shame.”

Israel is “pretending that it’s focusing in its foreign policy on the Iranian nuclear file and the repercussions of the agreement that is being crystalized [between Iran and the US and other Western powers],” the PA Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. “But Israel’s real focus is the liquidation of the Palestinian cause and an attempt to remove it from the world’s attention.”

According to the ministry, Israel, with the full backing of the US, is “taking advantage of Arab anxiety and fear to form a new security alliance that bypasses the Palestinian cause. This Israeli move aims to cover up what it is doing on the ground, including the expansion of settlements and the Judaization of Jerusalem. This is the main project that the Israeli government is working to implement as part of its attempts to rearrange the priorities in the region away from the Palestinian issue.”

In the Gaza Strip, representatives of the National and Islamic Forces, an alliance of several radical groups, condemned the summit as a “stab to the Palestinian people and their cause.”
Israel on way to free trade with China, India, UAE
By the end of 2022, agreements with these and other countries will abolish tariffs on most goods, and substantially cut tariffs on food products.

If all goes according to plan, by the end of 2022, Israel will have free trade agreements with several more countries. This will mean no customs tariffs on most goods, and dramatic reductions in tariffs on others, among them fresh produce, and dairy and other food products. Thus even if the reform abolishing duties on these items does not succeed, through the free trade agreements, imports of them from the countries concerned will in any case be subject to reduced customs tariffs.

The list of countries is long, but some of them stand out. China and India, with which talks on free trade agreements have been going on for two years, together represent a quarter of the world's population. These two countries are huge exporters of food products, and their food companies can shortly be expected to be selling in Israel. The pace of the negotiations with India has been stepped up recently. Israel is also negotiating a free trade agreement with the Eurasian Union. This group of countries is led by Russia, and the negotiations will be delayed because of the war in Ukraine. Other members of the group are Belarus, Kirgizstan, and Armenia.

Negotiations are at a very advanced stage with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and will probably result in an agreement in the summer. The Abraham Accords rapidly brought about economic cooperation between the UAE and Israel, and within eighteen months trade was flourishing. The free trade agreement should make economic and business relations even smoother. An Israeli delegation headed by Ministry of Economy and Industry director general Dr. Ron Malka and Foreign Trade Administration chief Ohad Cohen has already completed a second round of talks, and they are proceeding well.


Seth Frantzman: Iran now knows its attacks on Saudi could bring Israel’s support - analysis
The support that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett gave Saudi Arabia following attacks by the Iranian-backed Houthis is a signal to Iran. Media reports at Iran’s Fars News noted that Israel is paying attention to the Houthi attacks. Iran puts on a brave face here, claiming that the “Zionists acknowledge” the power of the Houthis.

The fact that Iran can mobilize the Houthis against Israel has been known for years.

In January 2020 for instance, reports emerged that Iran had staged drones in Yemen that had a range that could put Israel in danger. Moreover, there have been increasing comments from the Houthis threatening Israel. The Houthis' official slogan is death to Israel and “curse the Jews.” But that is rhetoric, and actual Houthi threats have emerged more recently.

The Houthis' threats are backed up by their capabilities, including their long-range missiles and drones. Last year, a drone was used by Iran to attack a ship in the Gulf of Oman. Overall, the idea of Iran is to put in place a threat against shipping off the coast of Yemen and Oman. Iranian media spreads conspiracies about Israel’s interest in Yemen and about Israel-UAE ties.

The overall picture then is that Iran knows that there is an Israel angle to its role in Yemen. It now openly acknowledges this but tries to make it seem that Israel is afraid of the Houthis. Al-Arabiya in Saudi Arabia noted over the weekend the comments by Bennett. “The State of Israel expresses its sorrow to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after the horrific attack by the Iranian-backed Huthis,” Bennett wrote on Twitter.

Iran believes it can operationalize the Houthis as a regional threat. Iran has paid close attention to comments on Israel’s Channel 12 that note that as the threat from the Houthis increase, the cooperation of the Gulf with Israel will increase.


Jonathan Tobin: Why is the US still paying for antisemitic UN farce?
As Professor Anne Bayefsky of Touro College and the Human Rights Voices monitoring group said in her response to Lynk's presentation, his report used language that was familiar to readers of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion and Mein Kampf, both of which used similar imagery and words in order to promote myths about Jewish evildoing. Yet when Bayefsky pointed this out, she was interrupted and chided by UNHRC president Federico Villegas of Argentina for speaking inappropriately, although he had listened complacently to antisemitic invective from Lynk – and his various Palestinian and NGO supporters – without a word of protest.

The context for this travesty is the UN General Assembly's current project in which it has commissioned a formal report from a so-called "independent commission of inquiry" about Israeli actions that has been given an open-ended mandate to harry the Jewish state. Meanwhile, the International Criminal Court continues to plot a prosecution of Israel for fake war-crimes charges intended to criminalize its self-defense against terrorism.

Yet the most infuriating aspect of this is the way the Biden administration, despite occasional ineffectual protests, continues to support the UNHRC with its presence and pay 22% of UN costs with American taxpayer dollars.

The Biden foreign-policy team is made up of people who believe in multilateralism and the United Nations as if it were a religion whose value must not be questioned, despite what it says and does in its name. Nor can it be ignored that the US State Department has now contributed to the effort to bolster the apartheid lie with its own contribution: the offer of nearly $1 million in public funds offered as grants for "human-rights" groups in the West Bank that will doubtlessly continue in the same vein as Lynk's screed.

Rather than treat this as an annoying irrelevancy that does no real harm, it must be understood that the United Nations and its agencies, and allies like Amnesty and HRW, are providing the foundation for further "progressive" attacks on Israel as well as cover for the antisemitic BDS movement. Rather than tolerate their antics, the world body should be starved of funds, and its Jew-hating bureaucracy told to get their stipends from sources other than the American people, who – the left's advocacy notwithstanding – want no part of its antisemitic invective and actions. Until he moves to disassociate the United States from the dangerous antisemitic routine of the United Nations, Biden must be held to account for his administration's willingness to be part of an institution where this kind of vicious prejudice is considered business as usual.
From Guernica to Mariupol
To justify his invasion, Putin has cited irredentist demands coupled with kith-and-kin claims and national security interests. If adopted as acceptable behavior, Putin's scenario would be applicable to numerous other cases across the globe.

The most obvious example is that of China, where the Communist regime can threaten Taiwan on the basis of Putin's arguments. But the same arguments could also be used against Russia by China and Japan. Russia occupies large chunks of Chinese territory along with the Japanese Kuril Islands archipelago.

And what about Mexico trying to "liberate" California and Texas from the Yankee Imperialists?

If we adopt the Putin Doctrine, we end up with a lawless world in which Hitler's slogan "Force is Right" operates. We would take a giant leap back into an age in which war was the principal arbiter of relations along nations.

It would be absolute folly to ignore the message of Mariupol and not to try and stop the spiral to global hell created by a senseless war.
Seth Frantzman: Putin launched a regime change war, and some think he’s the victim
Now, these voices have jumped on Biden’s comments to prove that the US wants “regime change.” Furthermore, the comments are taken to now prove that Putin was right to be wary of US policy.

This puts the cart before the horse. Russia invaded Ukraine. Had it not invaded Ukraine, Ukraine wouldn’t have come close to being part of the EU or NATO. Ukraine faced and continues to face many hurdles to become part of the EU or NATO. But Russia’s attacks have now led many countries to seek US protection, and many European countries are plowing money into defense to avoid being treated like Ukraine.

The claim that Putin now can be affirmed in his concern about the US wanting regime change seems to ignore that Russia is the one actually doing regime change, trying to destroy Ukraine.

According to Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations, “Putin will see it as confirmation of what he’s believed all along. Bad lapse in discipline that runs risk of extending the scope and duration of the war.”

The assertion that Putin, who ordered an invasion of a foreign country, can then take any comment slamming his actions as “confirmation of what he’s believed” appears to mean the US needs to try to appease Putin and make him think the US doesn’t want his warmongering replaced by peaceful leadership. It makes no sense and would be like arguing that Saddam Hussein, after invading Kuwait, is now “confirmed” in his views by the US putting together a coalition to remove him from Kuwait.

It reverses the action-and-reaction sequence. Russia invaded Ukraine under Putin. Iraq invaded Kuwait under Saddam. The US is reacting. That the US president thinks Putin is a danger makes sense in this regard.

The onus is on Russia to walk back its escalation and attacks. The narrative that posits the US engages in “regime change” should be squared with the fact that other countries, like Russia, also engage in “regime change.” If the critique of “regime change” wars is authentic, then the condemnation of Russia’s regime-change war would come first.

The reality is that Russia is not often held to the same standards as the US, despite being on the UN Security Council and ostensibly following the same international rules-based order as the US is supposed to follow.

Biden’s comments don’t affirm Putin’s concerns. Russia launched a war on Ukraine that was an unprovoked escalation and provocation.
Ricochet Podcast: Perspectives on History and Herstory
With guest Niall Ferguson

Whenever James roams for the week, a dilemma emerges. How do we make up for his erudition and charm? This time we reached out for a northerner from across the pond. Our guest is Niall Ferguson, one of the few men alive truly qualified to explain the subtleties of consensus misinterpretations of history–and the consequences. Are western leaders making foolhardy wagers in Ukraine? And if so, what’s informing them? Tune in to get a take from “the world’s most useful historian.”

Further, Peter and Rob give their unscientific answers to the curiously controversial woman question, their thoughts on our presumed new Supreme Court Justice; plus the state of the Oscars and movies themselves.


After heated debate, cabinet approves building 5 new communities in the Negev
Cabinet ministers voted to approve the establishment of five new communities in the Negev during Sunday’s cabinet meeting, after a heated exchange between the disparate members of the ruling coalition.

The five communities — four Jewish and one Bedouin — are slated to be built around the southern city of Arad. The proposal was brought forward by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Housing Minister Ze’ev Elkin, and Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked.

“Our foremost obligation is to provide personal security for the residents of the south. We have started on this journey and we will not stop. At the same time, we are continuing to settle and develop the Negev,” Bennett said.

During the discussion of the proposal, Justice Minister Gideon Sa’ar and Environmental Protection Minister Tamar Zandberg — who voted against it — reportedly got into a tense confrontation.

“You have a fierce hatred for Jewish settlement. It’s sick,” Sa’ar was quoted as saying by the Walla news outlet.

“I will not be graded on Zionism by you, with all due respect,” Zandberg is quoted as saying.

“I will give you grades, in this and in other areas,” Sa’ar shot back.

“Do not raise your voice at me. What kind of style is this? Disgusting, you should be ashamed of yourself,” she replied. “You are both wrong and misleading. Giving out grades here — that’s insolence.”
Family bereaved in Beersheba attack turns down visit by terrorist’s relatives
A delegation of Bedouin leaders and family members of the terrorist who killed four Israelis in Beersheba last week sought to pay respects to the mourning family of one of the victims, but the family refused, according to Hebrew media reports Sunday.

Menahem Yehezkel, 67, Laura Yitzhak, 43, Rabbi Moshe Kravitzky, 48, and Doris Yahbas, 49, were killed in a ramming and stabbing attack in the southern city last Tuesday.

The assailant, 34-year-old Mohammad Abu al-Qi’an from the Bedouin town of Hura in the Negev, had served four years in prison for plotting to join the fundamentalist Islamic State terror group in Syria and was released in 2019.

The Arab community in Israel has largely condemned the attack. Abu al-Qi’an’s relatives have called it a “stain” on the family and on Hura as a whole.

Police have said that Abu al-Qi’anlikely acted alone, though they interrogated two of his brothers on suspicion of knowing about his intentions and failing to prevent an act of terrorism.

The Bedouin delegation, which was to have included the deputy mayor of Hura and other officials, wished to visit Moshav Gilat near Beersheba, where Yahbas lived and was laid to rest.
Historical Distortion: Axios Article Incorrectly Suggests Annual Ramadan Violence Connected to Jewish, Christian Holidays
Buried deep in an article, titled “Blinken to visit Israel, West Bank, Morocco and Algeria,” Axios, a popular news site that offers quick takes on current events, claims that any outbreak of violence that may take place in Jerusalem over the next few days would merely be due to bad timing:
Blinken will arrive in Israel and the Palestinian Authority ahead of an unusual situation that happens once every 10 years, when Passover, Ramadan and Easter take place at the same time — heightening the potential for violence in Jerusalem.”

In the alternate reality presented by Axios, the annual spasm of unrest that roils Israel’s capital city following incessant incitement leading up to Ramadan — regardless of the timing of Passover and Easter — seemingly has no place.

Before Passover, Easter Palestinian Leadership Launches Campaign of Violence
The Muslim holy month of Ramadan begins this year on the evening of April 2. In preparation, and left unmentioned by Axios, the Palestinian leadership has already begun to incite violence against Israelis just as it did prior to last May’s conflict with Gaza-based terrorist groups headed by Hamas.

A Hamas spokesman on March 17 said that “the Palestinian people are united behind the gun,” and called on Jerusalem Arabs to “make all friction points with the enemy [Israel] clash points.”

On March 20, two Israeli police officers were stabbed in an incident that was hailed as “heroic” by Hamas. The previous day, another Palestinian terrorist assaulted an Israeli while he was jogging in central Jerusalem. That came after another knife attack was carried out by a Hamas member that injured Israeli security forces at the entrance of the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site. Earlier this month, two Israeli policemen were injured in a similar incident.

The week before, two Israelis were wounded in separate stabbings in Hizma, an Arab town bordering Israel’s capital.
PMW: 20 years after the Passover Seder Massacre - PA continues to glorify and reward the murderers
Today is the twentieth anniversary of the Passover Seder Massacre. As families sat down to participate in the Passover dinner at the Park Hotel in Netanya in northern Israel, a Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up murdering 30 people and injuring another 160.

Every month, the Palestinian Authority spends tens of thousands of shekels/dollars/euros to reward the family of the suicide bomber and pay salaries to the terrorists who were arrested for their part in the massacre.

Among the terrorists arrested for the attack are:
Abbas Al-Sayid – Arrested May 2002 – Main planner of the attack - Sentenced to 35 life sentences
Fathi Hatib – Arrested May 2002 – Convicted for transporting the suicide bomber – Sentenced to 29 life sentences
Muhannad Shreim – Arrested May 2002 – Financed the attack - Sentenced to 29 life sentences
Muamar Al-Sheikh – Arrested May 2002 – deputy of Abbas Al-Sayid - Sentenced to 29 life sentences

Each one of the terrorists above has by now been paid over one million shekels by the PA as a reward for their participation in the murder of 30 Israelis.
The PA has also paid hundreds of thousands of shekels to the families of Kais Adwan, one of the main planners of the attack, who was killed on April 5, 2002, and to the family of the suicide bomber, Abd Al-Basset Odeh.

The PA has repeatedly honored the mastermind Abbas Al-Sayid, calling him, among other things a “heroic fighter” and “the lion of the prison cells." [PA TV, Oct 25, 2011]


Palestinian woman gets engaged to imprisoned murderer

Nephew tells imprisoned murderer uncle: “You are one of the heroes of Palestine”



Amb. Dore Gold: The West Cannot Afford to Be Complacent about the Iranian Threat
Supporters of the deal argued that reaching some agreement over its nuclear capabilities would help moderate Iran’s overall behaviour. But this proposition was soon tested with the conclusion of the JCPOA in 2015. In the event, the exact opposite occurred.

According to one British study, after 2015, the number of militant Shiite militias rapidly increased. The Middle East became far more dangerous. The removal of Western economic sanctions prepared the groundwork for funding militias across the region, especially in Iraq, Syria and Yemen.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) was Iran’s chosen instrument for spreading the new militancy. Stripping the IRGC of its terrorist label, as the JCPOA did, is not just morally and factually wrong, it is likely to empower that network to conduct more attacks since it reintroduces a degree of impunity to IRGC actions, even when they are incontrovertibly acts of terror.

Earlier this year, the IRGC took credit for a rocket attack targeting the US Consulate in the northern Iraqi city of Erbil, launched with a dozen Iranian rockets. The IRGC’s role should not have come as a surprise. It has been a pivotal player in some of the worst Iranian-backed strikes since it was formed not long after the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

The IRGC had a role to play in the attack by Shiite militants in Beirut in 1983, when the US Marine Corps barracks was bombed and 241 US servicemen lost their lives. It was also instrumental in organising the 1996 attack on Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia that killed US Air Force personnel. Its role has become global, extending well beyond the Middle East. In 2015, its partner, Hezbollah, was caught stockpiling explosives on the outskirts of London.

One of the legacies of the 9/11 attacks was to alert the West to the dangers emanating from Sunni organisations such as al-Qaeda. Yet through the work of the IRGC, a powerful Shiite militancy is also spreading, promulgated by Iran. This cannot be overlooked.

The ongoing negotiations between the West and Iran will undoubtedly influence Tehran’s power projection capabilities in the future. Without some major change in Iranian intentions towards Western states, European countries are not likely to remain merely political rivals. They could soon become the very real targets of Iran’s increasingly robust missile forces.


Success! CBC Ombudsman Finds Anti-Israel Culinary Radio Show Violated Journalistic Standards
HonestReporting Canada is pleased to share that, subsequent to a complaint we lodged with CBC last year regarding an anti-Israel segment that their radio program “Unforked” broadcast, Ombudsman Jack Nagler upheld our complaint and recognized that the episode violated their Journalistic Standards and Practices.

In a report dated March 23, 2022, Ombudsman Nagler responded to our complaint about a July 5 episode of “Unforked,” a show which describes itself as “Picking apart the food that we eat to reveal the culture and politics baked into it,” which covered the topic of “gastronationalism” and hummus, the beloved chickpea dish enjoyed by peoples throughout the Middle East and around the world.

The episode which was purportedly about hummus descended into a depiction of Israelis as “settler colonialists” and occupiers of indigenous Palestinian land, who were responsible for erasing so-called historical Palestinian communities.

The episode featured two guests – one Palestinian and one Israeli, Laila El-Haddad and Dafna Hirsch – but both shared views hostile to Israel, and the host, Samira Mohyeddin (pictured right), offered little in the way of pushback or context against the anti-Israel statements, including suggestions on the part of one guest that Israel’s right to exist was illegitimate. These concerns were pointed out by HonestReporting Canada at the time.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, this is not the first time Mohyeddin has been associated with anti-Israel misinformation.

Last May, Mohyeddin signed an anti-Israel open letter entitled “An open letter to Canadian newsrooms on covering Israel-Palestine,” which characterized Israel’s actions in defending itself from Hamas rocket attacks in Gaza as “forced expulsions and indiscriminate airstrikes” against Palestinians, and baselessly referred to Israel’s “violence against innocent civilians and children.”


BBC News again explains a topic it refrained from clarifying in Gaza
Back in 2016 the BBC News website similarly provided a short insert titled “What does the law say about bombing hospitals?” in a report about air strikes on hospitals in Syria blamed on Russia.

As we noted at the time:
“So as we see, the BBC is aware of the fact that medical facilities can be a legitimate military target in certain situations but notably, it did not go to the trouble of informing its audiences of that fact two years ago during the conflict between Israel and Hamas. Moreover, the corporation went out of its way at the time to conceal Hamas’ use of hospitals in the Gaza Strip for military purposes and to provide amplification for denial of that tactic, thereby implying that Israeli actions were unnecessary, unjustified and even unlawful.”

We of course look forward to reading a presentation as informative as the one provided by Jim Reed in relation to events in Ukraine the next time that Israel finds itself having to deal with Hamas’ exploitation of medical facilities for military purposes.


CAA appeals to Attorney General as Nicholas Nelson handed absurdly lenient sentence following antisemitic harassment
The defendant in a criminal case that resulted from first-of-its-kind litigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism has been handed an absurdly lenient sentence today at Southwark Crown Court which we are appealing to the Attorney General’s Office, who has the power to refer sentences for certain offences, which she believes to be unduly lenient, to the Court of Appeal.

The eighteen-month sentence, suspended for two years, was the culmination of first-of-its-kind litigation by Campaign Against Antisemitism to unmask an anonymous antisemitic online troll.

When the defendant was unmasked as a result of our litigation, we realised that he was a repeat offender with a long history of obsessive antisemitic harassment. He had committed the offences, for which he was today sentenced, whilst apparently already subject to a suspended sentence for other antisemitic offences. This would appear to demonstrate his contempt for the supposedly deterrent suspended sentences that he had already been handed.

Nonetheless, instead of going directly to prison, the defendant, Nicholas Nelson, 32, was instead ordered to undertake just 30 days of rehabilitation activity and 220 hours of unpaid community service. He must also pay a modest victim surcharge and is subject to a restraining order.

Handing down the suspended sentence, referring to Mr Nelson’s “horrible tirades”, Judge Charles Gratwicke said that the defendant was “not the person you were two or three years ago.” However, he accepted that “Nobody sitting here in this courtroom who has read the newspaper can feel anything but revulsion, sickness and downright anger at the type of hate that you engaged in.”
Report: Germany eyeing acquisition of Israel's Arrow 3 missile defense system
Germany might buy a missile defense system from Israel, according to a media report and lawmakers, as the country considers how to spend an injection into the defense budget in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

A missile defense shield for the whole territory of Germany was one of the topics discussed when Chancellor Olaf Scholz met with Eberhard Zorn, the inspector general of the Bundeswehr, last week, the Bild am Sonntag newspaper reported.

Specifically, they spoke about a possible acquisition of the Israeli Arrow 3 system, the paper said.

The defense ministry declined to comment on the report. Israel's Defense Ministry had no immediate comment.

Andreas Schwarz, a member of parliament for Scholz's Social Democrats who is a budget spokesperson, told the newspaper such a system made sense.

"We must protect ourselves better against the threat from Russia. For this, we need a Germany-wide missile defense shield quickly," he told the newspaper, adding: "The Israeli Arrow 3 system is a good solution."

In a landmark speech days after Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, Scholz announced that Germany would sharply increase its defense spending to more than 2% of its economic output and inject 100 billion euros ($110 billion) into defense.
‘Israel Loses Less Than 3% of Its Water, It Ranks Fourth in the World’
Israel’s national water company Mekorot’s next important challenge after managing the water economy and providing it to all residents of the country, is investing in the various digital fields — from cyber companies that will identify and prevent attacks on Israel’s water infrastructure to the use of artificial intelligence to manage data. This is what Chana Herstik Sichel, Mekorot’s chief legal counsel, said during a talk at the Mind the Tech conference in London.

According to her, analyzing and managing millions of data points a day will help the company achieve energy efficiency and great savings. Proper management of the information flowing from the sensors on the company’s sites also helps to monitor water quality continuously, purify water in cases of contamination and improve quality.

“Mekorot was established before the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 and the reason was simple — Israel never took water for granted and water was always a top priority. Mekorot is a completely state-owned company, but is listed on the stock exchange with an annual development budget of $400 million and a financial rating of Triple A,” she said.
Film museum to add exhibit on Hollywood’s historic Jews – but why were they omitted?
A new museum about the history of Hollywood will have a permanent exhibition devoted to the contributions of Jews after early criticism that Jews were omitted.

The change was announced this week in the lead-up to this year’s Academy Awards, which features a slate of nominees more diverse than in the past. It caps a period of intense discussion about how Hollywood includes Jews — and how it does not.

Whether in their depictions on screen, the actors cast to play them or acknowledgment of their historic role building up the film industry, Jews over the last few months have been vocal about their impressions of being left out of the current Hollywood conversation.

The Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, which opened last fall in Los Angeles, is exhibit A in this purported oversight. Overseen by the Oscars’ governing body, which described its mission as “radically inclusive,” the museum’s announcement of its new permanent exhibition focused on Jews came only after the academy admitted it had initially sidelined or ignored Hollywood’s prominent Jewish founders.

Jewish visitors to its unveiling, including prominent donors to the museum, such as Haim Saban, publicly voiced their concerns that Jewish stories were being overlooked in the industry’s historical narrative.

Among the figures who had little or no prominence in the museum’s storytelling were Jewish studio heads like Louis B. Mayer and the Warner brothers; prominent directors like Billy Wilder and Ernst Lubitsch; stars like Hedy Lamarr; and screenwriters like Herman Mankiewicz (subject of the recent biopic “Mank,” which starred non-Jew Gary Oldman).

Figures such as these molded the early years of Hollywood, even while all but hiding their Jewishness from the general public, according to historians of the era such as Neal Gabler, whose book “An Empire Of Their Own” explores the central Jewish role in the creation of Hollywood.






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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

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