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Sunday, November 27, 2022

11/27 Links: Israel does not need anyone’s permission to exist; The FBI should investigate the attack on US citizen in Jerusalem bombing; How Israel lets the Palestinians get free power while taking over land

From Ian:

Israel does not need anyone’s permission to exist
This November, Iraq is hosting a celebration to honor 90 years since the British gave it independence. Iraq will be joined by Jordan, which will mark 76 years since the British Mandate for Transjordan ended. In attendance at these ceremonies will be United Nations officials. A keynote speech will be delivered by British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who will reflect on Britain’s role in the creation of two major Arab countries.

Except this won’t happen.

After World War I, the League of Nations created five mandates in the Middle East: Syria, Transjordan, Palestine, Mesopotamia and Lebanon. All those mandates, with the exception of Palestine, became sovereign nation states, retaining the borders identified by the League of Nations. Not one of them had ever before held sovereignty over that territory. The Jews alone had once maintained a sovereign kingdom in the Levant.

Yet the only country still celebrating its right to exist by genuflecting before the world is Israel, which hosts annual celebrations of the 1947 U.N. Resolution 181 that partitioned British Mandatory Palestine into Jewish and Arab states.

This year is no different. For example, in Los Angeles, the Consul General of Israel is organizing a 75th anniversary celebration of the event. Subscribe to The JNS Daily Syndicate by email and never miss our top stories

Resolution 181 is now a staple in Jewish and Israel education in the Diaspora. When I attended Jewish day school, our teachers, with pride and tears in their eyes, would show us film of the outburst of applause and standing ovation as the U.N. consecrated the Jewish people’s right to their historic and ancestral homeland.

No one can deny that Resolution 181 was historic and significant. Israeli-American philosopher and computer scientist Judea Pearl called it “the encounter between the Jewish people and history.” But this mythology of the resolution has contributed to the Jewish people’s recurrent need for external recognition.

Seventeenth-century French philosopher Rene Descartes’ emblematic declaration, “I think, therefore I am,” was a pivotal moment in our understanding of the nature of knowledge, forging a philosophical connection between self-awareness and existence. Sadly, for the Jews, Descartes’ exultant affirmation reads more like, “The non-Jews think, therefore we are.”

This concept has long been applied to Israel, whose legitimacy is constantly in question, and to the Jew, who during his 2,000-year exile from the Land of Israel was considered a nuisance and later a pariah. The “Jewish Question” was, at its core, the non-Jewish world’s attempt to grapple with the existence of the Jew. During the French revolution, non-Jews gave an answer to this question: To the Jew as a citizen, everything; to the Jews as a nation, nothing. Tragically, many Jews embraced this form of partial acceptance.


The FBI should investigate the attack on US citizen in Jerusalem bombing
US law does not restrict the pursuit of terrorists who harm Americans overseas only to those who kill Americans. It also includes anybody who “attempts to kill” a US citizen (18 US Code 2332).

Palestinian Arab terrorists have murdered 146 American citizens, and wounded 204 more, since 1968. Yet, not one of those killers has ever been handed over to the United States for prosecution.

Over the years, I have had the opportunity to discuss this matter with senior officials of multiple administrations, Republicans as well as Democrats. The excuses I have heard as to why they don’t pursue Palestinian Arab killers of Americans have ranged from evasive to downright disingenuous.

For example, they have claimed that the US “can’t find” the suspects, even when they are hiding in plain sight, by serving openly in the Palestinian security forces or – in the case of Sbarro pizzeria killer Ahlam Tamimi – hosting a radio show in Amman, Jordan.

US officials also have claimed that nothing can be done because America does not have an extradition treaty with the Palestinian Authority – even though the US frequently arranges for the transfer of criminal suspects from countries with whom it does not have formal treaties.

In fact, the real reason that the FBI is not investigating the latest attempt to murder an American citizen in Israel is the same reason it has never pursued any of the other Palestinian terrorists who have killed or injured Americans: because it would interfere with the administration’s goal of maintaining friendly relations with the Palestinian Authority in order to bring about the creation of a Palestinian state.

The PA will resist any request to hand over killers of Americans, since it regards the killers as heroes. For the United States to pursue justice, it would have to be willing to confront the PA, including putting political and financial pressure on the PA leadership. That would interfere with the Biden administration’s warm relationship with the PA.

And so, justice is sacrificed in order to avoid angering the PA. That’s why the FBI will investigate the accidental death of an Arab-American in Israel who placed herself in a dangerous situation, but not the deliberate murder and attempted murder of Jewish Americans in Israel. That’s why terrorists will be extradited and transferred to the US from around the world – but not if they are Palestinian Arab killers of Americans. And this outrageous double standard will continue until American Jewish leaders make it clear to the Biden administration that they will no longer stand for it.

The writer is an attorney and the father of Alisa Flatow, who was murdered in an Iranian-sponsored Palestinian terrorist attack in 1995. He is author of A Father’s Story: My Fight for Justice Against Iranian Terror.
Canadian lawmaker vows to defend Israel, Jews
She’s a Jamaican-born lawyer who immigrated to Canada with her family at age five. She made history by becoming the first woman of color to run for the Conservative Party leadership in Canada and is well-known for tweaking the establishment view with her unabashedly socially conservative opinions. And she’s also a staunch supporter of the State of Israel.

Meet Canadian MP Leslyn Lewis, the new chair of the Canadian Parliamentary Israel Allies Caucus, a cross-party faith-based parliamentary lobby that seeks to strengthen the bonds between the two nations.

“The existence of Israel is at the cornerstone of our faith as Christians,” Lewis, who represents Haldimand—Norfolk in southern Ontario, says in a telephone interview with JNS from Ottawa. “As both Canadians and Christians we stand in support of the only democracy in the Middle East.”

Lewis sees a direct link between the increasing levels of antisemitism both in Canada and around the globe and the narrative coming out of the BDS movement that seeks to delegitimize and demonize Israel, conceding that it is becoming increasingly challenging to reach the hearts and minds of the next generation at a time when pro-Israel students are being silenced and demonized on university campuses.

“Young people are more focused on things that pull at their heart-strings—so when you throw out words like racism and Apartheid of course their view is ‘I want to fight against that,’ ” she said. “When they tie it in with racism, it becomes very visceral. As a person of color I can see it.”


How Israel lets the Palestinians get free power while taking over land
I have driven down the long, winding road between Neve Tzuf and Ofarim in the western Binyamin region countless times. It is one of the most beautiful routes in the country. This time, however, was different. Instead of enjoying the incredible, breathtaking view of the Binyamin hills, I spent it looking at electricity poles. They carried signs that I had never noticed before: The walls of the Old City of Jerusalem with the Dome of the Rock and the universal symbol for high voltage, a lightning bolt. Underneath the image, in English and Arabic, were the words “Jerusalem District Electric Company” (JDECO).

The discovery jolted me. These power lines provide electricity to Palestinian villages and will soon carry power from the enormous solar farm that the Palestinian Authority has built between Neve Tzuf and Ofarim. So why does that frustrate me? Because instead of the Civil Administration penalizing JDECO for providing electricity to illegal buildings in Area C, the company has been rewarded with authorization to advance huge projects. JDECO’s growing debt to the Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) has topped a billion shekels ($292.2 million), but that has not prevented the Civil Administration from approving JDECO’s requests to upgrade the electricity line between Israel and Jordan and to purchase more electricity from Jordan.

So, what is JDECO? The company has a long and twisted history. Once a Jordanian company, it is now a legal Israeli entity that has a license from the Electricity Authority and the Energy Ministry to provide electricity to eastern Jerusalem and the Jericho, Bethlehem and Ramallah areas. In the past, the JDECO produced electricity at a power station in Shuafat in eastern Jerusalem, but 30 years ago it stopped independently producing electricity and is now a supplier of electricity purchased from the IEC and Jordan. The company’s board of directors comprises representatives of the municipalities to which it provides electricity: Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Beit Jalla, Ramallah, al-Bireh and Jericho.

Since 1967, JDECO has been a focal point of Palestinian political power and a symbol of Palestinian independence. Going back as far as 1981, the PLO has held a majority on the board of directors. Today, one can say that JDECO serves in practice as a tool for the Palestinian Authority as it seeks the establishment of a Palestinian state. On the one hand, it assists the Palestinian Authority, through legal means, with the authorization and encouragement of the Israeli Civil Administration, to progress toward energy independence, freeing itself from reliance on Israel. On the other hand, it provides electricity to the P.A. for illegal construction in Area C as part of the Palestinian plan, supported by the European Union, to establish a state unilaterally through facts on the ground. This is all happening far from the public eye, without any debate regarding the significance of these measures and in particular without any clear and consistent, forward-looking government policy. A chokehold
From Binyamin, we headed south, to the northern entrance to Efrat. From Givat Hadagan, a rocky hilltop near the town, we looked over the outskirts of El Hadr, a Palestinian village south of Bethlehem where there are dozens of illegal stone buildings, some three stories high, that spill over from Area A into state lands in Area C. From a distance, between the buildings and the vines, looms an orange crane working on what appears to be another illegal building. All this undisturbed, in full daylight.
Canadian lawmaker vows to defend Israel, Jews
She’s a Jamaican-born lawyer who immigrated to Canada with her family at age five. She made history by becoming the first woman of color to run for the Conservative Party leadership in Canada and is well-known for tweaking the establishment view with her unabashedly socially conservative opinions. And she’s also a staunch supporter of the State of Israel.

Meet Canadian MP Leslyn Lewis, the new chair of the Canadian Parliamentary Israel Allies Caucus, a cross-party faith-based parliamentary lobby that seeks to strengthen the bonds between the two nations.

“The existence of Israel is at the cornerstone of our faith as Christians,” Lewis, who represents Haldimand—Norfolk in southern Ontario, says in a telephone interview with JNS from Ottawa. “As both Canadians and Christians we stand in support of the only democracy in the Middle East.”

Lewis sees a direct link between the increasing levels of antisemitism both in Canada and around the globe and the narrative coming out of the BDS movement that seeks to delegitimize and demonize Israel, conceding that it is becoming increasingly challenging to reach the hearts and minds of the next generation at a time when pro-Israel students are being silenced and demonized on university campuses.

“Young people are more focused on things that pull at their heart-strings—so when you throw out words like racism and Apartheid of course their view is ‘I want to fight against that,’ ” she said. “When they tie it in with racism, it becomes very visceral. As a person of color I can see it.”


Qatar shows that Abraham Accords did not change Arab-Israeli relations - analysis
“The sea is the same sea and the Arabs are the same Arabs,” former prime minister Yitzhak Shamir famously said in 1996, after the Oslo Accords, meant to bring peace with our neighbors, ended with a wave of Palestinian terrorism across Israel. The “sea” was a reference to a once-common trope of Arab leaders calling to drive the Jewish usurpers into the Mediterranean.

Twenty-six years later, a group of Israeli journalists are learning the same thing at the World Cup in Qatar, despite the sea change of the Abraham Accords with four Arab states in 2020.

Of course, it is not fair to paint all Arabs – or any ethnic or national group – with a broad brush as Shamir pithily did. And in this case, it’s the fact that there are Arab leaders and citizens of their country that bucked the trend that seem to have lulled some Israelis into complacency that Israel has somehow become beloved in the Middle East, when that simply is not the case.

The leaders of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan (a more complicated case because of the civil war), and before them, of Egypt and Jordan, had courage and the willingness to think outside the box into which the PLO continues to try to close the Arab League.

The specific motivations differed, and sometimes an American sweetener was needed, but they understood that their official state of war with Israel hasn’t benefitted their countries, nor has it pressured Israel into peace with the Palestinians. They chose, instead, to find ways to cooperate with the regional anomaly, the Jewish state.

These agreements have all been overwhelmingly popular in Israel, as well.

So maybe there’s a logic to how dumbfounded Israeli reporters at the World Cup in Qatar seem to have been over the past week as soccer fans from various Arab states refused to speak to them, harassed them and tried to intimidate them.
Israel is Star of World Cup 2022 as Palestinian Activists Whip Up Hatred, Encourage Fans to Harass Jewish Journos
The litany of anti-Israel incidents in Qatar is the result of social media movements that are determined to stoke division in Doha as activists capitalize on the proportionally larger number of Arab fans in attendance than at previous World Cup tournaments.

One Twitter campaign — dubbed the “Palestinian Dream” — calls on supporters to “make the Palestinian issue known to the world,” while fans are also told to don keffiyehs, the headscarves that have been associated with Palestinian militancy.

There are even plans to set up “information camps” to distribute misinformation about Israel too, while youth groups acting as “Palestinian ambassadors” will attempt to engage fans on the street, despite the vast majority of people going to the World Cup simply to enjoy a game of soccer.

More worrying than the Arab and Palestinian-spearheaded crusade against Israel, however, is the way these disturbing incidents have been covered by the international media — either in the form of stone-cold silence or tacit acceptance that validates these unpleasant campaigns.

On Thursday, the Associated Press finally got around to covering the abuse to which Israeli reporters have been subjected in a piece, ‘Israeli-Palestinian conflict catches up with Qatar World Cup.’

While the piece references several incidents of Israelis being abused, as well as the particularly upsetting Shorrer incident (although it is framed merely as an allegation from the sports journalist), the story downplays the antisemitism and anti-Israel bigotry that has been so publicly displayed in Qatar.

For example, reference is made to how “Israelis have made themselves at home among Doha’s glittering skyscrapers,” while “Qatar’s first kosher kitchen set up near the airport, supplying hotels and fan zones with the classic eggy Jewish challah bread and olive and hummus sandwiches.” AP fails to mention the initial ban on kosher food and Jewish prayer.

The fact is, the abuse suffered by Israeli journalists in Qatar is not just shameful but is the antithesis of what the World Cup should be about — an event that unites fans from all over the world in their love of the beautiful game.

Indeed, when FIFA was asked about the decision to name Qatar as the host of the event, leaders of the organization announced that “no one people or culture or nation is ‘better’ than any other,” describing this principle as the “very foundation stone of mutual respect and non-discrimination” and core value of soccer in general.

“At FIFA, we try to respect all opinions and beliefs, without handing out moral lessons to the rest of the world. One of the great strengths of the world is indeed its very diversity, and if inclusion means anything, it means having respect for that diversity,” they added.

How hollow these words ring in light of the antisemitism and discrimination against Israelis that have characterized World Cup 2022.
Israelis experience cold reception in Qatar



Iran coordinated with Qatar to suppress opposition at World Cup
Iranian authorities worked with Qatar to suppress any anti-regime expressions at the ongoing FIFA World Cup in the Gulf state, according to documents leaked by the Black Reward hacktivist group.

The documents were seized by Black Reward after infiltrating the systems of the Fars News Network and shared with the Iran International news agency before being published on the group's Telegram channel.

Basij commander General Ghasem Ghoreyshi told a Fars news reporter in the leaked recording that Qatar had provided a list of Iranians who had bought tickets to the games, noting that 500 individuals known for anti-regime activity were on the list.

Qatar had a few deals with Iran, including one agreement to not allow the mentioned individuals into the country and another agreement to prevent Iran International from entering the country.

Iran International announced in mid-November that Qatar had revoked the permission for its reporters and crew to cover the World Cup without providing an explanation.

The Gulf state also agreed to prevent anti-regime symbols, such as the slogan "woman, freedom, life" and the old Iranian flag featuring a lion and sun which was replaced after the Islamic Revolution, according to Ghoreyshi.

Iranian fans who have attempted to bring in the lion and sun emblem or slogans from the protests sweeping Iran have been prevented from entering stadiums and even detained by police, according to Iran International.
‘A golden duck’: Taliban reportedly earned millions from World Cup in Qatar
The Taliban has netted millions from the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, according to a Friday report.

The Islamic militant group has served as the de facto ruler of Afghanistan since US troops withdrew from the country in August 2021.

According to the UK-based newspaper The Telegraph, the group made millions of dollars by renting heavy machinery and building materials to construction contractors hired by Qatari authorities to erect the state-of-the-art stadiums used during the tournament.

The report said Taliban officials stationed in Doha since 2013 for peace talks with the West were paid lucrative allowances to live in the Gulf state, which were then used to purchase the machinery, which they repeatedly rented out to the highest bidder.

“The Taliban invested heavily in the World Cup construction and the tournament was a golden duck. They were paid millions,” The Telegraph quoted a Taliban official as saying.

“Some Taliban members had between six and ten pieces of heavy machinery each in Doha and would earn up to £10,000 per machine per month,” the official added.
Bennett extolls outgoing coalition in NYT op-ed, praises Ra’am’s Abbas as ‘a mensch’
Former prime minister Naftali Bennett praised Ra’am leader Mansour Abbas for being “brave” and joining his government, and said he hoped the incoming coalition would succeed in uniting Israeli society, in a New York Times op-ed published Sunday.

“We called ourselves a good-will government. We proved to ourselves and to those outside our coalition that people with radically different political opinions can work incredibly well together. The world is more polarized than ever. The model we presented was one of cooperation and unity. Of transcending your tribe for the good of your nation,” Bennett wrote.

The right-wing politician singled out Abbas for particular praise, saying that while he initially had a negative opinion of the Islamist party chief, it quickly changed.

“I discovered a brave leader just about my age who turned out to be something of a mensch,” Bennett wrote.

“We are both men of faith and quickly agreed that whatever theological disagreements may exist between Judaism and Islam, we will let God handle those. We will work together here and now to provide better education, better jobs and safer streets for Israelis and Arabs,” Bennett said.
Activist no more? Ben Gvir waffles about changing Temple Mount status quo
Until recently an outspoken activist in favor of Jews being permitted to pray on the Temple Mount, Knesset member Itamar Ben Gvir equivocated on the matter on Sunday — just as he’s poised to assume responsibility over the Israel Police, the body that sets the day-to-day policies at the site.

Ben Gvir, who is soon to hold the new title of national security minister, avoided answering when asked in an interview with Kan public radio if he planned to permit Jews to pray on the Temple Mount. Still, he said vaguely that he would work to address the current situation according to which Jews may not pray at the holy site, calling it “racist.”

The comments represented a notable departure from his unequivocal rhetoric about the Temple Mount on the campaign trail, when he repeatedly stressed the need for Jews to show that they are “the owners of the place.” Ben Gvir is a regular visitor to the flashpoint site.

“Will the national security minister allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount?” Kan journalist Kalman Liebskind asked Ben Gvir on Sunday.

“The national security minister will ask for clarifications and will work against the racist policy on the Temple Mount,” the MK answered.
2 convicted in brutal beating of off-duty soldier in Jaffa during May 2021 unrest
Two Arab Israelis were convicted by the Tel Aviv District Court on Sunday as part of a plea deal after they admitted taking part in the beating of an off-duty soldier in Jaffa during nationwide unrest in May 2021.

Mohammed Ayiash, 23, was convicted of incitement to terror and violence in the case. Prosecutors will seek a sentence of 22 months in prison, a suspended sentence and a fine. Ali Misri, 20, was convicted of aggravated assault. Prosecutors will seek a five-year prison sentence, a fine, and compensation for the wounded soldier.

Leon Shranin, 19 at the time, was left in serious condition after he was beaten on May 13, during a wave of unrest in mixed Jewish-Arab communities. The attackers were only deterred after passersby intervened and called rescue services.

Shranin suffered a skull fracture and a cerebral hemorrhage, Ichilov Medical Center in Tel Aviv said, and required lengthy rehabilitation for his injuries.

According to the indictment, Ayiash called on members of a WhatsApp group, “Breaking News Jaffa Arabic,” to come to Jaffa’s Jerusalem Boulevard on the day of the attack. Others in the group encouraged each another to bring weapons such as explosives and gas canisters.


PMW: PA and Hamas’ shared values: Both promote identical death/blood worship
Many mistakenly portray the Palestinian Authority as the “moderate” Palestinian side, and the terror organization Hamas ruling the Gaza Strip as the only extremists.

Often it is difficult to tell their views apart. In the following, Palestinian Media Watch has put together statements by PA Prime Minister Muhammad Shtayyeh and Hamas MP Marwan Abu Ras, both endorsing death for “Palestine,” speaking about the wonder of Martyrdom and the “Martyrs’” blood. Can you find any differences between PM Muhammad Shtayyeh (left) and Hamas's Marwan Abu Ras (right)?


PA and Fatah lie, turns murderer of 3 into victim of “arbitrary attack” and execution in cold blood

Footage of Palestinian terrorist who murdered 3 shows his first lethal stabbing attack

PA TV reporter: “Every new Martyr… brings [us] one step closer to liberation”



Tehran Dangles the Samson Option Again
The new enrichment program is taking place in the Fordo nuclear center which, built deep underground, is supposed to be immune from possible air strikes.

As on the eight previous occasions when this trick was used, Tehran's message is addressed to Western powers, notably the United States: resume the nuclear talks or else!

The mullahs played that trick with presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. In every case, except that of Trump, the trick worked.

At the same time, Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian plays reluctant debutante by claiming that the US "is begging us to resume talks." Over the past two weeks, he has been pestering Omani and Qatari foreign ministers with phone calls demanding they persuade Washington to return to the stalled talks.

Last week, Tehran announced that 41 foreign nationals have been seized as hostages and charged with helping the current anti-regime protests across the country. That brings the number of hostages now held by the mullahs to 81, the highest since they seized 52 American diplomats in 1979.

Will the trick work again? I am almost certain that, had it not been for the current uprising against the Islamic Republic, the Biden administration would have fallen for the trick with a big smile, if only to save Obama's only legacy while settling scores with Trump.

It is not hard to expose Tehran's game as a cheap trick. For years, Tehran, through its lobbyists and useful idiots in Washington, has been selling the story that Khamenei has issued a fatwa banning the production of nuclear weapons under Islamic law.


Khamenei’s niece slams Iran’s ‘child-killing regime’ in video
The niece of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei described authorities led by her uncle as a “murderous and child-killing regime,” in an online video uploaded by her brother on Saturday after her apparent arrest on unclear charges.

Farideh Moradkhani comes from a branch of the family that has a record of opposition to Iran’s clerical leadership and has herself been jailed previously in the country.

Her brother Mahmoud Moradkhani wrote on Twitter that she was arrested on Wednesday after going to the office of the prosecutor following a summons.

Then on Saturday, her brother posted a video on YouTube, with the link shared on Twitter, in which she condemned the “clear and obvious oppression” Iranians have been subjected to, and criticized the international community’s inaction.

“Free people, be with us! Tell your governments to stop supporting this murderous and child-killing regime,” she said.

“This regime is not loyal to any of its religious principles and does not know any law or rule except force and maintaining its power in any way possible.”


CUNY Prof Alleges Being Targeted in Retaliatory Investigation After Calling for Removal of BDS Supporter from DEI Search Committee
City University of New York’s (CUNY) Kingsborough Community College Professor Jeffrey Lax is alleging that the university is investigating him in retaliation for Lax calling for a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) supporter to be removed from a search committee.

In August, Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) had reported that Kingsborough assembled a search committee to hire a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) assistant dean, whose purview includes dealing with instances of antisemitism on campus. The JNS report noted that a member of the committee included someone who has signed onto public pro-BDS petitions and that the committee doesn’t have any Jewish members on it. The day after the JNS report was published, Lax, who at that time served on the college’s Personnel and Budget Committee, filed a complaint against Kingsborough President Claudia Schrader over the matter, alleging that it was symptomatic of a hostile environment against Zionist Jews on campus. Later that month, Lax resigned from the committee.

Lax tweeted out a picture of a letter on which he was copied saying that CUNY would be investigating a complaint filed by the BDS supporter on the DEI search committee and that the investigation would be overseen by an independent firm. The investigation would be completed by January 2023 at the latest. The email did not specify what exactly was being investigated.

Lax told the Journal that while he has not been told that he is under investigation, the fact that he was copied at the bottom of the letter suggests that he is the target of the investigation. “That’s how it works, the respondent is sent a copy of the letter,” Lax said. “It’s very obvious I’m being investigated. They’re doing it in the most cryptic of ways.” Lax has asked Kingsborough what he’s being investigated for but has yet to receive a response.

“The worst thing I did was call her [the BDS supporter] antisemitic,” Lax said, “which I stand by 100 percent … anyone who signs a BDS petition is antisemitic and should not be on DEI search committees for antisemitism officers.”

As for Lax’s complaint, CUNY had tapped their chief diversity officer, Saly Abd Alla, to oversee it, which Lax rejected because Abd Alla used to work as the civil rights director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ (CAIR) Minnesota affiliate. JNS reported that Lax had criticized CUNY’s decision to tap Abd Alla for the investigation because of Abd Alla’s work for an “openly anti-Zionist organization.” CUNY agreed in September to pull Abd Alla from the investigation.
Guardian amplifies Palestinian artist's sympathy for female suicide bombers
Both the Guardian and the artist seem breezily unconcerned with human carnage produced by female Palestinian suicide bombers.

Here’s a partial list::
Wafa Idris – the first female Palestinian suicide bomber – detonated a 22-pound bomb in the center of Jerusalem outside a store on Jaffa Road on January 27, 2002 that killed one Israeli and injured more than 100 others.
Reem Saleh Riyashi murdered four Israelis at the Erez crossing on January 14, 2004.
Hanadi Tayseer Abdul Malek Jaradat blew herself up on Saturday, October 4, 2003 in a suicide attack on Maxim restaurant in Haifa. Twenty-one people were killed and 51 injured. Among the dead were four Israeli children, including an infant.
Andalib Suleiman 17-year-old female suicide bomber, detonated an explosive device hidden on her body shortly after 4:00 pm at a bus stop at the entrance to the popular outdoor market, killing six civilians and injuring 104 people, many of them teenagers.
Ayat al-Akhras at age 18, murdered two Israeli civilians (including a 17 year old girl) on March 29, 2002, by detonating explosives belted to her body.

It’s extraordinary that this even needs to be stressed, but the only real “victims” of suicide bombers – female or otherwise – are those murdered and maimed by the bombers.

Further, to add some context, the most recent published data (by Pew Global) examining Palestinian views of suicide bombing revealed that 62% of Palestinian Muslims believe that “such [suicide] attacks are often or sometimes justified in order to defend Islam from its enemies”. Support, the poll noted, “is strong both in Hamas-ruled Gaza (64%) and the Fatah-governed West Bank (60%)”.
As CAMERA noted in 2020, on the 20th anniversay of the 2nd Intifda, the bloody half-decade that followed Palestinian rejection of a peace plan: “If you don’t understand Israel’s experience during the Second Intifada, a multi-year a wave of Palestinian terror attacks [including scores of suicide attacks] that began 20 years ago…you can’t understand the state of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict today”.

By normalising a Palestinian artist’s characterisation of female Palestinian bombers of “victims”, while failing to provide context on Palestinian support for such a barbarous practice, and the impact it had on Israelis, the Guardian again obfuscates Palestinian responsibility for the continuation of the conflict.
BBC News website coverage of Jerusalem terror attack
The first BBC News website reporting on the terror attacks in Jerusalem on the morning of November 23rd appeared some two hours after the second incident and included a phrase also heard in early BBC radio coverage of the same events.
Over the next nine and a half hours that report was updated four times with subsequent versions written by David Gritten and the final version credited to Gritten and the BBC Jerusalem bureau’s Tom Bateman.

The teenage victim of the attack was named in the third version of the report.

The final version of the report – which will remain available online as ‘permanent public record’ – is titled ‘Jerusalem bombings: Teenager killed in rare twin attacks at bus stops’ and it opens with presentation of a lower number of people injured (one of whom was in critical condition and has since died) than was reported by the local media and entirely superfluous use of the word “suspected”.

“A 15-year-old boy has been killed and 14 other people have been wounded in two suspected bomb attacks at bus stops in Jerusalem, Israeli police say.

The explosions happened at two busy areas on the outskirts of the city as people were heading to work.

The teenager who died was an Israeli-Canadian Jewish seminary student named Aryeh Schupak.”

Adhering to standard BBC practice, the report uses the euphemism “militant” to describe some of the terrorist organisations that lauded the attack:
“No group has so far said it was behind the blasts. However, the Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad both praised the perpetrators of what they referred to as the “operation”.”

Four paragraphs of the report promote redundant linkage between the terror attack and the unrelated topic of post-election coalition talks:
“The attacks come as Prime Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party continue negotiations to form a new coalition government with allied far-right and religious parties. They won a majority in parliament in an election that centred on security.”


InterviewMyths about Auschwitz Jewish ‘Sonderkommando,’ failed rebellion busted in new study
A new monograph on the “Sonderkommando” of Auschwitz-Birkenau dispels myths about the Jewish inmates forced to operate the German death camp’s killing facilities while revealing details about the “special unit’s” resistance activities.

Based primarily on SS reports and Sonderkommando testimonies, “Witnesses from the Pit of Hell: History of the Auschwitz Sonderkommando” by historian Igor Bartosik traces the notorious unit from its creation in 1942 until the camp’s liberation in 1945.

“Prisoners of the Sonderkommando were always condemned and stigmatized as willing participants in the mass murder of victims, whose bodies they burned, in return for a stayed sentence of just a few more months and the tacit permission of the SS to scavenge food left in the bags of the said Jewish victims before they entered the gas chambers,” wrote Bartosik.

The first Sonderkommando was established as part of Auschwitz-Birkenau’s transformation into the “Final Solution” destination for Jews from all over Europe. Up to 2,000 men — nearly all of them Jewish — were eventually forced into the Sonderkommando, of whom fewer than 60 survived the war.

After the war, many Sonderkommando survivors “fell silent and they remained silent for many years,” wrote Bartosik, who has conducted research at the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum in Poland for decades.

Bartosik told The Times of Israel that his research at the former death camp is akin to analyzing an airplane’s “black box,” in that he only makes use of documented facts. For many years, the scholar maintained a relationship with Polish-born survivor and former Sonderkommando member Henryk Mandelbaum, who died in 2008.

“I do not feel competent to analyze the memories of former Sonderkommando prisoners from the emotional and personal side,” Bartosik said. “My very close friendship with Henryk Mandelbaum taught me there are ‘places’ to which, I, who was not a prisoner, have no moral right to approach.”

Surviving in the so-called “grey zone” — a term used by Auschwitz survivor Primo Levi — Sonderkommando prisoners were forced to carry out “special handling” procedures at the former death camp where one million Jews were murdered in gas chambers. In some accounts, Sonderkommando inmates were made to cremate their own relatives.

“I believe that the prisoners of the Sonderkommando are great victims but also winners over evil,” said Bartosik. “They were thrown to the very bottom of hell. Meanwhile, the Jews of the Sonderkommando, left on their own, whose relatives have mostly died, still remained people against the will of the SS,” said the historian.
German-Iranian arrested for throwing Molotov cocktail at synagogue
A German-Iranian man was arrested on suspicion of committing arson at a synagogue in the city of Bochum in Germany on November 18, according to the Attorney General's Office in Düsseldorf.

The 35-year-old man was arrested after a witness testified that he tried to convince him to attack a synagogue in Dortmund on the same night of the attack in Bochum.

The suspect's connection to the arson attack in Bochum was further established after he was identified in security camera footage from the site of the attack.

Police searched the suspect's apartment and car, confiscated his electronic devices and are looking for more accomplices. A possible connection to the shooting attack in Essen

The suspect might also have been responsible for an attack on an old synagogue in the city of Essen, where four shots were fired at the door on November 18, Nordrhein-Westfalen Interior Minister Reul told the press.

The investigation is now focusing on the question of the possible connection between the three attacks, which happened on the same night in neighboring cities.

Iranian plans?
The witness who identified the suspect is a German-Iranian citizen as well. According to him, the suspect attempted to convince him to commit the attack by promising him that he would get an amnesty from Iranian authorities and be able to visit Iran once again without repercussions.

The police see this as a possible indication of the involvement of the Iranian secret service. Already in 2018, the German secret service told the press that Iran is preparing a list of possible Jewish targets to attack in Germany.
IRONMAN Israel competition draws 2,500 competitors
Patrick Lange of Germany took first place in the IRONMAN Israel-Middle East Championship in Tiberias on Friday, with a personal best time of 07:42:00. In the women’s pro category, Ruth Astle from Great Britain finished first, with a time of 08:41:13.

The event featured two races: a full distance one and a shorter race. The full distance race included a 2.3 mile swim in the Sea of Galilee, a 111-mile bike ride and a 26-mile run.

More than 800 Israeli and 400 international athletes competed in the full-distance race, while 1,500 Israelis and 360 international athletes competed in the shorter one.

Second place in the men’s pro category went to Daniel Bækkegård of Denmark (07:43:40), and third to Gregory Barnaby of Italy (07:47:02). Daniela Bleymehl of Germany placed second in the women’s category (08:50:13), and third went to Barbara Riveros of Australia (08:55:49).

Israel’s senior triathlete, Dan Alterman, finished the full competition in a total time of 08:54:18.

Businessman and philanthropist Sylvan Adams, who helped bring the event to Israel, said, “The friendships built today will last a lifetime. This is just one international sporting event that we are bringing to Israel, and we hope to have many more in the future.”


Save a Child's Heart NGO saves 3000th child with heart surgery



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