Sunday, July 23, 2023

07/23 Links: Victor Rosenthal: Yes, it is a Coup; Al-Haq Staff: Justifying Violence and glorifying terrorists; Antisemite of the Week Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

From Ian:

Victor Rosenthal: Yes, it is a Coup
The immediate issue is a law that the government is trying to pass to limit the “reasonableness criterion,” one of the tools that the Supreme Court can use to block actions or appointments by the government. In fact, this law would have little or no effect on the Court’s power, since it has other equally vague criteria (such as “proportionality”) that it can use in a similar way. But it has become the focus of conflict. From the point of view of the government, if this law can be defeated by extra-legal means, then the democratic election that brought them to power will have been subverted. Power will have been transferred from the elected government to the rebels, who could use similar tactics to derail any government action. From the point of view of the protest, if the government is allowed to “get away” with passing this law, then there will be nothing to stop it from continuing its program to “end democracy and establish a dictatorship.”

There are various groups and individuals that are encouraging, controlling, and financing the protests. The parliamentary opposition, led by Yair Lapid and Benny Gantz is naturally happy to see Netanyahu’s coalition in trouble, but they are nervous about the increasingly bellicose attitude of the protestors, and especially about anything that can endanger the IDF’s ability to respond to threats. There are several non-governmental organizations that provide organizational and financial assistance to the protests. There are ad hoc groups of former security officials, etc. And there is Ehud Barak.

Barak, a former chief of staff and prime minister who presided over the debacle of the 2000 Camp David summit between Israel, the PLO, and the US, has been one of the driving forces, ideologically, and financially, of the protest movement. He served as Minister of Defense under Netanyahu in 2011-12, and together with him advocated for attacking the Iranian nuclear program before the Iranians entered a “zone of immunity” after which an attack would not be effective. The plan was not carried out due to opposition from elements in the army and the security forces, and the Obama Administration. Since then, Barak has reversed course, aligning himself with the anti-Netanyahu side. In 2020, he argued that PM Netanyahu was attempting to acquire dictatorial powers using the Covid pandemic as an excuse, and called for removing him from power, detailing the precise tactics that are being used today. He also said that he saw himself as the best choice to replace him.

The Biden Administration has pressured the Israeli government to stop the judicial reform legislation, despite the internal political nature of the debate. It has also denigrated PM Netanyahu, following the precedent set by the Obama administration, many of whose alumni now work for Biden. Although smoking guns are hard to come by, I would be surprised if the protest movement were not being assisted by the US State Department and intelligence agencies.

At this very moment, three days before the observance of Tisha b’Av, the anniversary of the destruction of the two Temples, PM Netanyahu is in a hospital having a pacemaker implanted after episodes of transient heart block which led to losses of consciousness. At ten o’clock today the Knesset will begin debate on the bill to limit the reasonableness criterion, and the vote is expected to take place tomorrow. At the same time, there are warnings that Iran’s proxy Hezbollah is preparing for war. It is possible that the Iranians think that Israel is on the verge of implosion and wish to take advantage of it.

I don’t think there has been this degree of tension in Israel since the Yom Kippur War. Will the coup succeed? Will Netanyahu manage to reassert control? Are we on the verge of a multi-front war which will make all the political machinations moot? It’s been said that the existence of a Jewish state today is miraculous, but miracles these days require both divine and human action. Now we need such a miracle; may it happen, speedily in our day.


‘Barak detailed plans to bring down government three years ago’
Israel’s Public Diplomacy Minister Galit Distel Atbaryan (Likud) on Friday exposed what she claimed was the plan of former prime minister Ehud Barak to bring down the government.

In the Twitter post, the Likud lawmaker describes an interview with Barak from July 2020 on Forum 555, a group of retired pilots and navigators.

In the interview, Barak detailed his “master plan” for creating civil unrest in a future coalition, she said, such as the one currently being led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which since the start of the year has faced unrelenting opposition to its judicial reform initiative.

Atbaryan summarized the interview, which she reminded readers occurred a few years before the current right-wing and religious coalition took power and began its push to reform the judicial branch.

The plan, she said, included deliberately inflaming the civilian population, creating a false representation of a danger to democracy, and bankrolling protests, including purchasing flags.

Asked during the interview about a possible reprise of the “success of 1999,” when he was elected prime minister, Barak said, “A friend of mine, a historian, once told me, ‘Ehud, they will call you when bodies are floating in the Yarkon River.’ I wish to stress: not the bodies of illegally residing Palestinians from the territories will be floating, and not Israeli Arabs. The floating bodies will be of Jews that were killed by Jews.”

He went on to say that should Netanyahu somehow disappear from the scene, and should Israel’s situation worsen on various fronts, that “I am more suitable and prepared than any other person in the country to take the wheel.”


NGO Monitor: Al-Haq Staff: Justifying Violence and glorifying terrorists
Although Palestinian NGO Al-Haq professes a human rights mandate, its board members and officials have made highly disturbing comments, not in keeping with such mandate, regarding violence against Israeli civilians and Palestinian terrorists – including under the slogans of “a right of resistance” or using any means to “oppose the occupation.”

Al-Haq is a leading campaigner for international sanctions against Israel, claiming a human rights mandate. This includes lobbying for International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutions of Israelis, promoting international BDS campaigns, and demanding that the international community take steps whose practical effect would be dismantling Israel.

Al-Haq is also designated as a terrorist entity by Israel due to its ties to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a US and EU-designated terrorist organization.

Justifications for violence and its glorification by Al-Haq board members and officials – described below – are consistent with the NGO’s broader goal of eliminating Israel.

Since 2020, Al-Haq has received funding from Sweden, Germany, the European Union, Denmark, and Norway. (For more information on Al-Haq’s activities and its funding, see NGO Monitor’s file on Al-Haq.)


Netanyahu delays trips to Cyprus, Turkey following surgery
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday postponed his planned trips this week to Cyprus and Turkey, after undergoing surgery to implant a cardiac pacemaker.

“After Netanyahu underwent a medical procedure, a follow-up of several weeks became necessary. The state visits have been delayed,” a source in the Prime Minister’s Office said.

Netanyahu was scheduled to Cyprus on July 25 and return the next day. He was set to travel to Turkey on July 28, in the first visit to Ankara by an Israeli premier since 2008.

Last week, King Mohammed VI of Morocco invited Netanyahu to visit the North African country for the first time.

Netanyahu underwent a cardiac pacemaker implantation procedure at Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan overnight Saturday.

Doctors said the operation was successful. The 73-year-old Netanyahu is expected to be discharged on Monday morning.


Netanyahu Says Doing ‘Excellently’, Plans to Attend Key Reform Vote on Monday
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was “doing excellently” after an overnight hospitalization and vowed to be in parliament on Monday to vote for a disputed judicial reform that triggered a fresh round of mass protests on Sunday.

With Israel embroiled in its most serious domestic political crisis in decades, the 73-year-old leader was rushed to Sheba Medical Center near Tel Aviv on Saturday after a heart monitor implanted a week earlier in what was described as a dehydration episode detected a “temporary arrhythmia,” his doctors said.

Thanking well-wishers and the team that treated him in hospital, Netanyahu in a video statement said: “As you can see, I am doing excellently.”

“We are pursuing efforts to complete the legislation, as well as efforts to do this through consensus, but in any event I want you to know that tomorrow morning I’ll be joining my colleagues in the Knesset,” said Netanyahu, smiling and wearing a blazer, referring to Monday’s vote.

Monday will see the beginning of voting in parliament to ratify the first of a package of reforms in Netanyahu‘s highly contested judicial overhaul, which has ignited months of nationwide protests and concern abroad for Israel’s democracy.

Lawmakers on Sunday began debating the bill, which would limit the Supreme Court’s ability to void decisions made by the government and ministers it deems “unreasonable”. The result of Monday’s vote could come as soon as that evening.


Two close PM advisers, ex-Mossad, and NSC chiefs call for pause to legislation
Two of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's closest and most recent former advisers, former Mossad chief Yossi Cohen and former national security council chief Meir Ben Shabbat, called for pausing the judicial legislation in separate but simultaneous opeds on Sunday morning.

Neither Cohen nor Ben Shabbat joined a letter issued over the weekend by all of the other five former still living Mossad chiefs and many other IDF, Shin Bet, police and other security chiefs and top officials which blamed Netanyahu for the crisis over repealing the reasonability clause and the challenges to the stability of the defense establishment.

Rather, the two op-eds, Cohen in Yediot Ahronot, and Ben Shabbat in Yisrael Hayom, maintained a neutral tone without any direct criticism of Netanyahu, but still firmly called to pause the legislative push in order to reach a consensus on the changes to the separation of powers which Netanyahu seeks.

Who is Yossi Cohen to Netanyahu?
Cohen was Netanyahu's NSC chief 2013-2016 and then was his Mossad chief 2016-2021, including being given extensions and only stepped down in mid-2021 when he refused additional extensions requested by Netanyahu.

He was closely associated with many of Netanyahu's achievements in the covert war against Iran and with setting much of the stage for the Abraham Accords, along with Ben Shabbat, then Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer and some others.

Meir Ben Shabbat
Ben Shabbat was a top Shin Bet official for decades until becoming Netanyahu's NSC chief from 2017-2021 and besides handling Iran and Abraham Accords issues, also dealing with sensitive issues with the US, Russia, China, the coronavirus and elsewhere.

Cohen wrote on Sunday, "Iran constitutes the central threat to our security and the debate and the disagreement are endangering the resilience of the State of Israel in the immediate future. Therefore, I call on leaving the IDF out of the disagreements and to stop the legislative process in order to facilitate immediate dialogue between the different camps."

Ben Shabbat did not explicitly call for a stop to the legislative process, but strongly implied his support for that result.


‘The Million’ Arrive in Tel Aviv for a Pro-Reform Rally
JewishPress.com brings our readers a live broadcast of Sunday night’s right-wing rally supporting the government’s planned judicial reform on Tel Aviv’s Kaplan Street, where anti-government anarchists have been holding weekly rallies and demonstrations for more than half a year.

As Israel’s Knesset gears up for its final debate Sunday night on the “reasonableness” clause, the right-wing national camp is gathering to show support for a vote on Monday in favor of an amendment that will modify the clause to reduce the power of the judicial system to strike down laws based simply on an opinion of whether or not the laws are “reasonable.”

“The people are with you: complete the legislation!” right-wing supporters are shouting. “Sixty-four mandates are not second class!”

The latter is a reference to the solid right-wing majority Israeli voters elected to the Knesset last November – and as a result, the government’s promise to overhaul the country’s skewed judicial system.

Likud government Minister David Amsalem called on the public to participate in the pro-reform rally, calling it an “historic moment” in the State of Israel, and another step to ensure the continuation of Israel as a democratic state.

“For the past six months we have practically accepted a coup d’etat in the State of Israel, including a military rebellion that is taking place in the Israel Defense Forces,” Amsalem told the 0404 news outlet.

“Those who care about the country should come and protest this. We are a democratic country and those who really care about democracy should come. This demonstration . . . by the right-wing, lovers of the State of Israel and lovers of the IDF, will come to express their support.


Iran media celebrates possible Israel ‘civil war’ and Netanyahu’s ‘crisis’
Pro-Iran media on Sunday feasted on Israel’s apparent crisis, focusing on the protests and internal divisions in Israel. Iran’s pro-regime media has for months sought to highlight the protests sweeping Israel, portraying them as an existential crisis for the “Zionist regime.”

Iran, which usually boasts of threats to Israel, not believes the real threat is internal. No longer does Iran have to pretend Israel will collapse from conflict, it now believes Israel may collapse internally, and therefore all Iran has to do is sit by the proverbial river and wait.

Iran’s media on Sunday said that Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani had referenced reports that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was in hospital. The Iranian ministry spokesman then claimed that “the crisis in the heart of the Zionist regime is deeper than the crisis in the heart of its prime minister,” the report at Tasnim news said. Tasnim is considered pro-regime and close to the IRGC in Iran.

Iran's watchful eye on Israel
Iran is clearly paying close attention to developments in Israel. The regime noted through its media that protesters had reached Jerusalem and that they had “set up their tents in front of the Zionist Knesset building. The opponents have threatened to prevent the holding of the session of the Israeli Parliament on Sunday and Monday in order to review and approve the bill to reduce the powers of the judiciary.”

Iran denies that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel, but the pro-regime media in Iran had to admit that the protesters had marched to Jerusalem and that Israel’s government is in Jerusalem, a tacit acknowledgement that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Even in Tehran’s zeal to condemn Israel, it has to reveal some of the realities on the ground.

In another report at Fars News the report looked at other regional media reports that “the current unrest could lead to civil war and have a real impact on the state of the occupation regime's military institutions.” This report looked at potential red lines that could be crossed in Israel, speculating that “political assassinations and the occurrence of a state of rebellion in the Israel army” could lead to civil conflict.


Riyadh to allow Israeli officials attend UNESCO confab
Saudi Arabia has signed an agreement with UNESCO to allow delegations from all member states, including Israel, to attend the World Heritage Committee’s meeting in Riyadh in September, according to an Axios report.

If Saudi Arabia follows through on the commitment, it will mark the first time members of the Israeli government have officially and publicly entered the Sunni Muslim kingdom.

Axios reported last month that Riyadh was refusing to sign a “host country agreement” with UNESCO, with Israeli participation in the upcoming event being the main sticking point.

Without such an agreement, preparations for the meeting in the Saudi capital cannot begin.

UNESCO director-general Audrey Azoulay told Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen during their meeting in Paris last week that the negotiations with the Saudis were successful.

Invitations for the meeting will be sent in the next few days to all member states, including Israel, although Jerusalem remains concerned that Riyadh will attempt to backtrack.

In March, the Saudis blocked a group of Israeli Muslims from attending a United Nations event held in the Gulf Arab state.

The U.N. World Tourism Organization had invited villagers from the Circassian town of Kfar Kama in the Lower Galilee region of northern Israel to the event honoring their village, but Saudi authorities denied them visas.
Netanyahu is Israel's biggest threat - Washington Post defense analyst
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is Israel's number one security threat, wrote The Washington Post's defense analyst Max Boot in an opinion column he wrote on Sunday morning.

Boot began the piece by noting that he had similarly said former president Donald Trump was "America's No. 1 security threat" in the past.

“'Bibi,' as he is universally known, doesn’t seem to care that his policies are undermining Israeli democracy, risking Israel’s close relationship with the United States, and might even be sparking another violent uprising — a third intifada — among West Bank Palestinians. Like Trump, he seems to care about nothing but holding onto power, and his radical policies are the price of keeping together a coalition of far-right extremist parties," wrote Boot.

The defense analyst stressed that US President Joe Biden has been "trying to warn Bibi off the destructive path he is on — but to no avail."

Boot pointed to an op-ed by New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman warning of the effects of the judicial reform on relations between the US and Israel, saying that Friedman has been "called in" by Biden to write the piece.

Boot also rejected accusations by Republican politicians that Biden is "being anti-Israel."

"Netanyahu may well calculate that, with all of his GOP support, he doesn’t have to listen to what the Democratic president is telling him — no matter how much long-term damage he does to Israel’s standing with American public opinion," wrote the analyst.

Boot noted that the reasonableness standard bill will lead to Israel losing "one of its few checks on majoritarian tyranny."


IFCJ marks 100 flights bringing Jewish Ukrainians to Israel
The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews has marked its 100th flight bringing Ukrainian Jewish refugees to Israel since Russia invaded the European nation in February 2022.

The IFCJ has brought 5,500 immigrants to Israel via Chisinau (formerly known as Kishinev), Moldova, ranging in age from four months old to 100 years old.

While more than 1,000 of the immigrants are retirees, over 400 are certified engineers, some 200 are economists and another 200 are teachers, along with four politicians.

“The arrival of these latest [32] immigrants [last week] marks 500 days of a war to which there is no end in sight,” said Yael Eckstein, president of the IFCJ. “We are committed to return Jews home to Israel from any place in the world where they are in danger and will continue to do so whenever there is a need.

The process of aliyah from Ukraine has changed drastically in the past year and with the help of our donors all around the world, we will continue to respond to and support the changing needs on the ground at all times,” she said.

When the war began, the IFCJ launched an emergency aid program for the Jewish community that included grants of nearly $60 million to organizations that operate in the field, among them the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee and Chabad, to ensure the distribution of food, medications, blankets, generators and more.


Antisemite of the Week Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
For centuries, Jews have been at the center of conspiracy theories related to pandemics, wars, slavery, and economic status. The notion that Jews bear the blame for diseases or are somehow immune to their effects harkens back to the medieval period. As with the anti-Jewish conspiracies of the past, there is zero evidence to support RFK Jr.’s claims about COVID-19's connection to the Jewish people.

On July 20th, 2023, Kennedy testified during the House Judiciary hearing of censorship and claimed, "I want to say this, while I’m on the record, that in my entire life and, while I’m under oath, in my entire life, I have never uttered a phrase that was either racist, or antisemitic." According to documented statements of his in the past, this is simply false. For example:

Just weeks before Kennedy made this declaration in the House, he met with the vile anti-Jewish rapper, Ice Cube. In June 2020, Ice Cube was named StopAntisemitism's 'Antisemite of the Week' for supporting the beliefs of the radicalized hate group 'The Black Hebrew Israelites (BHI). 'The BHI sect maintains that today’s Jews are religious converts who descended from the Khazars, with no historical connection to the land of Israel.

In 2022, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. issued an apology for his remarks insinuating that the conditions under the COVID-19 restrictions and mandates were more severe than those endured by Anne Frank's experiences during the Holocaust. In response, his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, tweeted separately, distancing herself from his statement and calling it "reprehensible and insensitive.

On June 5, 1968, Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian who held strong anti-Zionist beliefs assassinated Senator Robert F. Kennedy Sr. Sirhan murdered the Senator over his open support of the State of Israel. RFK Jr. wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle that he denies that Sirhan is responsible for the death of his father.

The IHRA working definition of antisemitism is a comprehensive guideline that defines antisemitism as a certain perception of Jews, which may target their religion, ethnicity, or the state of Israel. It includes manifestations such as hatred, discrimination, and conspiracy theories about Jewish people. The definition is used globally to help identify and combat various forms of antisemitism.

Those who continually violate this definition of antisemitism - like Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. - should never be in the position of running for President of the United States.
RFK's COVID claims mired in antisemitic conspiracy
In any case, the paper doesn’t say what Kennedy claimed. The paper was based on DNA lab analyses, not on any findings about ethnic susceptibility to the virus. It came to no conclusions about any “disproportionate” effects of the virus, but only noted that some groups have different genetic characteristics that may or may not affect their susceptibility to infection. The paper’s authors wrote that “these factors are largely unknown.”

The authors did emphasize, however, that mortality and morbidity related to COVID-19 were closely tied to factors such as “age and co-existing health conditions, including cancer and cardiovascular diseases” – findings that have held up over time.

To the contrary, no evidence has surfaced relating the genetic factors the paper referred to – and that Kennedy ran with – to the course of the pandemic.

To validate Kennedy’s claims that different genetic features of human cells contribute to infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, “you would need to show that that actually mattered in the real world of human beings,” says John P. Moore, professor of microbiology and immunology at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

“In the three years since that paper, I’m not aware of any evidence that different human cells and different human populations in cell culture differ in any significant way in their ability to support SARS-CoV-2 infection,” Moore, who spent years battling denialism that HIV caused AIDS, told me.

“There is no scientific basis that is out there for what Kennedy is saying,” Moore says. There has been so much research on the implications of genetic diversity for the COVID pandemic, he says, that “we would know for sure if what Kennedy is saying was true, and there is no such evidence.”

Kennedy’s plea that he “never, ever suggested that the COVID-19 virus was targeted to spare Jews” is undermined by his own words, as recorded in the published video clip. The implications of what he says are crystal clear.

In his defensive tweet, Kennedy ignored the questions of who he thought was doing the targeting of COVID-19 and why it would be targeted at Caucasians and Black people. He failed to elucidate why he singled out Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese in his rundown of supposed immunities. The paper, however, makes no mention of the Chinese, but only mentions DNA analyses of South Asian and East Asian populations, which encompass many other populations in addition to ethnic Chinese.
Let RFK speak, let any antisemitism be exposed
I watched, and rewatched those clips of the hearings of the censorship of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Unfortunately, too many of you won’t. It’s a shame, because you are watching democracy fall faster than the rush at kosher pizza stores after a fast day.

Let Robert F. Kennedy speak and get caught on tape. Let us find out what he realy is by hearing him How many times since he announced his candidacy did he have to walk back comments made that offended Jews?

Last May, he defended proud Israel and Jew hater Roger Waters as a “global hero” and then had to explain that he had no idea of Waters antisemitic history.
Last week, sitting at a party with the New York Post’s Jon Levine, he stated that COVID may have been “ethnically targeted” to spare Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people.
He has stated multiple times that he supports a two-state solution despite the fact that Palestinian Arabs have repeatedly stated that it is the first step towards eliminating Israel
He had to walk back a decades long friendship with Anti-Semite Louis Farrakhan, whom he has called in the past a ‘Truly Great Partner’ and seems only now to disavow himself from that association..
He had to address his past collaborations with Nation of Islam official Tony Muhammad in 2021.
He chose former Ohio congressman Dennis Kucinich as his campaign manager. While in the House of Representatives, Kucinich often voted against Israel and was criticized by Jewish organizations multiple times. He even stated in 2007 that Iran's anti-Zionist leader is not seeking to exterminate Israel.
Israeli forces prevent knife attack at Gilboa crossing
Israeli forces stopped an attempted stabbing at the Gilboa crossing to northern Samaria on Saturday.

The knife-wielding terrorist from Jenin ran towards security guards manning the checkpoint on the 1949 Armistice Line. The checkpoint is operated by the Defense Ministry’s Crossings Administration.

The guards “responded by employing deterrent fire to neutralize the threat,” the Defense Ministry said. “The terrorist threw down the knife and was apprehended by security guards, without causing any injuries.”

On Friday night, a Palestinian terrorist tried to carry out a ramming against IDF soldiers at Sebastia near (Shechem), in central Samaria.

“The force responded by firing at the two suspects who were traveling in the vehicle. The driver of the vehicle was neutralized and another suspect who was in the vehicle was injured and arrested by the force. There are no casualties to our forces,” the IDF said.

Also on Friday, an IDF reserve officer on duty was lightly wounded by shrapnel when a Palestinian threw a bomb at Israeli forces near the Palestinian-controlled village of Beit Ummar, located near Hebron in Judea.


The Man Who Can’t Stop Lying: Palestinian ‘Ambassador’ Husam Zomlot’s Most Outrageous Interviews
Husam Zomlot, the self-styled “Palestinian Ambassador” to the United Kingdom, never misses an opportunity to get in front of a television camera.

Any issue related to Israeli-Palestinian affairs will invariably see Zomlot interviewed by every broadcaster armed with softball questions from London to Timbuktu.

So when Israel launched Operation Arrow and Shield, which resulted in the successful elimination of more than a dozen terrorists and the destruction of terrorist infrastructure in Jenin, Zomlot was never far from our screens as he initiated something of a media blitz designed to saturate the airwaves with anti-Israel misinformation.

While Zomlot was given far too much free airtime this month to disseminate all manner of lies, including by mainstream organizations like the BBC and CNN, these were not even close to his worst interviews, which we have narrowed down into a top 5:

Challenged on Sky News – July 2023
Credit to Sky News anchor Kay Burley, who pushed back against most of Zomlot’s more outrageous and incendiary statements made during an interview about the recent surge in violence in the West Bank.

For example, when Zomlot attempted to justify the spate of violent attacks by suggesting younger Palestinians were disillusioned having grown up with stories of the so-called “Nakba,” Burley cut in with the only follow-up question required: “Is that why some of them grow up to be terrorists?”

Perhaps not familiar with such directness from interviewers, Zomlot seemed very much on the back foot, claiming the word “terrorist” should not be used to describe young Palestinians who commit attacks because they are “victims.”

Zomlot’s effort to whitewash terrorism was dealt a further blow when Burley asked him how he would characterize the actions of a group like the Jenin Brigades and when she pointed out that his claim that Palestinians only want “peace” is undermined by the fact they perpetrate terror attacks on Israelis.

Burley also managed to expose Zomlot as the terror apologist he is by simply asking him to condemn attacks on innocent Israelis and condemn violence on both sides — neither of which he was able to do.


Hamas accepts PA's invitation to unity talks after top official released
The Palestinian Authority security forces on Sunday released a senior Hamas official who was arrested last Thursday on charges of slandering Palestinian officials and fomenting sectarian strife, paving the way for the Gaza-based terror group to participate in a meeting of faction leaders in Egypt at the end of this month.

The move came after Hamas and other Palestinian groups, including Palestinian Islamic Jihad, threatened to boycott the planned meeting of Palestinian faction leaders in the Egyptian capital of Cairo on July 30 to discuss ways of achieving national unity.

PA President Mahmoud Abbas had invited the leaders of the factions to the meeting in response to the Israeli military operation in the Jenin Refugee camp earlier this month. Abbas hoping to convince Hamas, other Palestinian groups to join new unity

Palestinian officials said Abbas, who himself might participate in the Cairo discussions, is hoping to convince Hamas and other Palestinian groups to join a new unity government that would end the split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The arrest of 63-year-old Sheikh Mustafa Abu Arra, a resident of the town of Tubas in the Jordan Valley, drew sharp criticism from Hamas and other Palestinian factions, as well as human rights organizations.

Shortly after his arrest, Abu Arra, who suffers from a heart disease, was rushed to the hospital for medical treatment. On Saturday he was transferred to a PA police station in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem.

A representative of the Palestinian Independent Commission for Human Rights who met with Abu Arra in the police station said the Hamas leader was accused of slandering Palestinian officials and stirring up sectarian strife. The group called for his immediate release due to his unstable health condition and the nature of the charges against him, which fall within the category of freedom of expression.
Hamas’s ‘multi-arena’ strategy targets Israeli stability
In a recent interview with the Hamas-affiliated Felesteen newspaper, senior Hamas official Musa Abu Marzouk shed light on the group’s “multi-arena campaign,” revealing a vision that aims to put Israel in a state of constant instability and vulnerability to various threats.

The strategy involves active unification and participation in the Iranian “axis of resistance,” and financial stabilization of Gaza through Arab aid.

The multi-arena operation, which requires extensive coordination, has been steadily gaining momentum since Hamas joined Iran’s “Jerusalem axis” in 2021, an alliance that also includes Hezbollah, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other proxy militias in Syria, Iraq and Yemen in 2021.

Hamas’s renewal of relations with Syria marked a crucial turning point for the alliance, which serves as Iran’s counterweight to the Abraham Accords.

“We aim for the enemy to live under instability when his interests are under constant threat,” Abu Marzouk said.

The strategy seeks to create multiple fronts against Israel, and already, tensions are risiing along the Lebanese border.

Iran plays a significant role in supporting Palestinian terrorist groups, providing generous support in terms of money, weapons and technology. As part of the recent Saudi-Iranian rapprochement agreement, Hamas leaders visited the kingdom in April to strengthen ties, signaling a shift in relations after years of boycott.

Hamas is also trying to strengthen its presence in Judea and Samaria, considering it the core of its strategy due to the concentration of Palestinian population and direct conflict with Israelis.

But this has been complicated by its growing rivalry with Islamic Jihad inside the Strip and a Palestinian Authority crackdown on terrorist groups in Judea and Samaria.
Fatah official calls for terror: “Fatah has renewed the promise to ambush [the enemy]”
Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam: “We will fight this occupation, and the Fatah Movement has renewed the promise to its public to ambush [the enemy]… We will always be at the front lines, and we will not hesitate to dish out twice as much as we have received to this occupation… We will urge [the people] towards there being true resistance to the occupier.”
[Official PA TV News, June 17, 2023]

Sabri Saidam also serves as Fatah Revolutionary Council Deputy Secretary and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas’ advisor for communications and information technology, and he is a former PA Minister of Education and Higher Education.


Father of terrorist Martyr: He moved forward his “wedding” to a “wedding” in Paradise
Father of terrorist Abd Al-Jawad Saleh: “We were left with three [children] in his place, and the three will go as ransom for Palestine, and every inch of Palestine. Allah willing, we’ll all follow his path and his mission. Allah willing, we’ll all go as Martyrs following him. Happy is he. This year we were supposed to accompany him as a groom to his wedding. Praise Allah, he moved it forward and we accompanied him as a groom [in Paradise].”
[Official PA TV News, July 8, 2023]

A Martyr's funeral is considered his wedding to the 72 Virgins in Paradise in Islam

Abd Al-Jawad Saleh – 24-year-old Palestinian terrorist who was shot and killed while participating in violent confrontations against Israeli civilians and soldiers outside of Umm Safa near Ramallah on July 7, 2023.




At school I was picked on for being Jewish. It’s no better today.
School grounds can feel like unsafe places. It’s something I’m aware of because I am an education reporter - but also because I am Jewish.

At school I had coins tossed at my feet, in the anticipation that as a Jew I’d stingily pick them up and pocket them.

I was careful whom I told about my real identity – to certain people I classed Shabbat as “Friday night dinner”. I’d pretend I had plans on Saturday mornings instead of disclosing the real reason: that I was actually going to synagogue to prepare for my Bat Mitzvah. This as a 12-year-old girl.

As we negotiated the trials of adolescence there lurked the feeling that we needed to hide our identity, knowing our families were murdered because of who they were and the worry that we’d be targeted because of it.

Being Jewish is a spectrum, some have ancestry but don’t identify, some may be atheist but culturally Jewish, or religious and anti-Israel. To bullies, none of that matters.

When he went to school my husband Andrew, who only found out about his Jewish ancestry as a teenager, was called “An-Jew”. Other students told him that they’d kill and rape his Jewish grandmother who narrowly escaped the Holocaust. They were jokes, of course.

It’s worrying that in the almost 20 years since I went to school, things have not changed. In some cases they are worse.
New Zealand pro-Palestine group claims Jane Campion asked Jerusalem festival not to show her movie
The New Zealand Palestine Solidarity Network has claimed in a media release that acclaimed film director Jane Campion requested that her 1989 movie “Sweetie” not to be screened at the Jerusalem Film Festival.

J-Wire believes that the film was shown on Thursday and that the festival ends today.

The PSNA congratulated the Oscar-winning director, stating: “This is a moment of pride for Aotearoa New Zealand – similar to the pride felt when New Zealand entertainer Lorde cancelled a scheduled concert in Israel in 2018.”

Other than the PSNA release, J-Wire was unable to find any other report of Miss Campion’s request.

We have requested the writer of the PSNA release to substantiate the story.


BBC News airbrushes weapons and explosives in Jenin mosque
In addition to those written reports, a filmed item titled “BBC reports from inside Jenin refugee camp after Israeli assault” also appears on the BBC News website, with its synopsis including the following:
“The BBC’s Anna Foster visited the camp, where she heard stories of Israeli armoured bulldozers reportedly ploughing through parked cars in search of improvised explosive devices.”

As we see, in addition to the unhelpful portrayal of terrorists’ command-and-control centres from the head of the BBC’s Middle East bureau Jo Floto, two additional reports included redundant qualifications relating to that topic. Similar superfluous qualifications appeared in much of the reporting on the issue of roadside IEDs.

Notably, none of the seven BBC reports that will remain online as “permanent public record” informs BBC audiences about the use of a mosque – apparently by the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organisation – for the storage of weapons and explosives or the tunnels underneath that building.

That across the board omission is all the more remarkable given that, as shown on the BBC News website’s ‘live page’ on July 3rd, BBC journalists were well aware of that story.


Government to launch Channel Island concentration camps inquiry
The British government will launch an official government inquiry into Nazi concentration camps on the Channel Island of Alderney.

The crown dependency was the only place at which German camps operated on UK soil, but the full scale of the horror that took place there has never before been uncovered.

Now 80 years on, the government will seek to establish how many prisoners were killed on the island.

The government’s envoy on post-Holocaust issues, Lord Eric Pickles, said: “The difference between the estimates is so large, I thought it sensible for everyone to put the facts on the table, for it all to be transparent and for the deliberations to be in the open.

“It seemed pointless people shouting across at each other. It would be better to have a proper discussion and to bring together a panel of international experts.”

Dame Margaret Hodge - whose family fled Nazi persecution - said she welcomed the inquiry.

She told the Observer: “It is time for the British government and Alderney authorities to finally face up to the horror of what happened on British soil. There can be no more lies and no more cover-up.”

The Channel Islands were occupied by the German army from 1940, with Alderney's 1,400 residents totally evacuated. Thousands of prisoners were brought to the island to construct massive concrete defences against an anticipated invasion.


Nigel Planer: 'My father hid that he was Jewish until his 70s'
Actor Nigel Planer has revealed that his father hid the fact that he was Jewish from his own family until he was in his 70s.

The Young Ones star said George Planer had emigrated to the UK from Berlin in 1933, when he was 13, after his house became the only one on the street without a Nazi flag.

“When my dad left Berlin, people were being encouraged by the state to grass up their own parents if they were Jewish,” Planer told the Sunday Times.

“I was born in 1953, not long after the end of the war. So it was kind of a reasonable position for him to take, don’t you think? But I’m grassing him up now, aren’t I?”

After growing up in south West London, Planer studied acting at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before embarking on a career in comedy.

His most famous role was Neil in The Young Ones, which ran from 1982 to 1984, but he also appeared in Blackadder, The Bill, and Death in Paradise.

Asked if he ever suspected that his father was Jewish while growing up, Planer said: “It was probably always in the air, but when you’re young you pick up a vibe, don’t you?

“It was so strongly inculcated in me not to ask, not to say anything. Don’t put your neck out, don’t sign anything, definitely never join a political party.
Oppenheimer, the movie that showcases the Jewish physicist behind the atomic bomb
‘Oppenheimer', the story of the father of the atomic bomb also tells his Jewish story

Rabbi Jack Shlachter, former phycisist who worked at the Los Alamos facility where the atomic bomb was invented, talks with Jewish World Weekly host Calev Ben-David about the issues the movie raises


Activists urge more Aliyah of Ethiopian Jews to Israel
Over the years, hundreds of Ethiopians were brought to Israel each month.

Time passes and the numbers of people waiting in the camps in Ethiopia continue to fluctuate. The only constant is that these camps are always full. Successive "immigration operations of Ethiopian Jews" have brought thousands to Israel, yet there always seem to be around 5,000 to 8,000 people awaiting approval to migrate.


100 years of photographs at Machane Yehuda market
As the market celebrates its 100th anniversary this year, we gathered photos showing its transformation over the decades.

The facilities, stalls and focal points of the market may have changed throughout the years, but scenes of its early days are still delightfully recognizable to the modern-day visitor, as is the strong resonance of the landmark as a meeting place for people from all walks of life.

Rather haphazard
The market began on an empty lot near the Machane Yehuda neighbourhood at the end of the 19th century, when Jerusalem was under Ottoman rule.

Its first vendors were Arab farmers from nearby villages, who sold their wares to the Jewish residents of the neighborhood.

The market quickly became popular, saving both vendors and customers the long walk to the Old City market, but remained a rather haphazard affair.

Within a few decades, the market became a proper establishment, but to the dismay of the British Mandate governor of the city, it lacked proper planning. He ordered an architectural plan of the place, complete with drinking water, sewage and lighting points.

This never happened, reportedly for budgetary reasons. Meanwhile, new streets and stores were added to the market bit by bit.

Around the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the market vendors increasingly were new Jewish immigrants.

In the decades that followed, the market turned into how we know it today – complete with paved streets, lighting, rooftops and clean public toilets.

An attempt in the early 2000s to move the market a few minutes away into a more modern, indoor space was vehemently opposed by both vendors and visitors, testifying to its omnipresent appeal and charm.
Security forces light candles in memory of the victims of a deadly terror attack that shook the market in the summer of 1997.
Trying to sink the boat: The real story of the Exodus
King Geoge’s forces wanted to make an example of the Exodus 1947 passenger. First, they towed the ship to Haifa. After reaching Haifa, British soldiers forced them onto three freighters converted into caged prison ships and headed to Europe. When they reached Port-de-Bouc, France. There the Jews were ordered off the ship— they refused to leave.

Once they were stopped by the British, The Exodus 1947 passengers had no place to go. The British didn’t want them. Their White Paper was why they boarded The Exodus 1947 so close to the Holy Land. FDR kept the Jews out. In the book “FDR and the Holocaust: A Breach of Faith,” historian Rafael Medoff wrote that Roosevelt failed to take relatively simple measures that would have saved significant numbers of Jews during the Holocaust because his vision for America was one that had a small amount of Jews.

The British Thought Some of The Exodus Jews would enjoy a trip back to Hamburg, Germany. As you can see, they didn’t want to go, so the British forced them off.

Unlike the brutal British, the French authorities refused to force the Jews off the boats. The British feared bad press feeding bad public opinion (if they only knew). Therefore they decided to wait until all the passengers left on their own accord. The passengers declared a hunger strike which lasted 24 days, and became the lead story in newspapers worldwide, even the NY Times.

Displaced Jews in camps all over Europe staged their own hunger strikes when they heard the news. Protests erupted on both sides of the Atlantic. The British got what they feared international embarrassment.

King George’s troops forgot the rule: “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.” The British ships carrying the Exodus 1947 passengers went from France to Hamburg, Germany, part of the post-war British occupation zone. Britain knew that returning the Jews to camps in Germany would increase worldwide scorn, but Germany was the only territory under British control that could immediately accommodate all the passengers.

The women and children left the boats voluntarily. The men fought back but were beaten and carried off the boat and joined their loved ones in the British camps.

The persistence of Exodus passengers and the way they overcame the brutal treatment they received from the British focused worldwide support for the Zionist cause. They became a symbol for many of the need for the Jewish nation to govern themselves in their eternal homeland, soon to be named Israel.

That’s what the haters don’t get. The meaning of Zionism is simple—The right of the Jewish Nation to rule themselves in their eternal homeland, now called the state of Israel.
The voyage of the famed 'Exodus' of 1947, 76 years later
'Exodus,' the immigrant ship on which over 4 thousand courageous and determined Holocaust survivors reached the Promised Land only to be forced back to Germany by the British army before they could disembark

Last week, its 70th anniversary was marked with a commemorative event at the Port of Haifa




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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 over 19 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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