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Monday, December 09, 2024

12/09 Links Pt2: ‘NY Times’ confirms Hamas presence in UN schools; BBC News is openly deceiving you; The Real Reason Iran Wants to Destroy Israel

From Ian:

Kassy Akiva: Why Trump Recognizing Jerusalem As The Capital Of Israel Is ‘Just and Right’
The authors of a book detailing the behind-the-scenes story of Donald Trump’s decision to move the United States embassy in Israel to Jerusalem weighed in on what a future Trump administration will mean for U.S.-Israel relations. In their book, “Because It’s Just and Right,” Farley Weiss and Leonard Grunstein chronicle the story behind one of Trump’s most significant foreign policy moves. Now, as Trump prepares to return to office in January, the two authors offer unique insights about how his second term may further redefine and strengthen U.S.-Israel relations. “You’re going to be seeing a whole different world, a much more peaceful world now with the Trump administration,” said Weiss. Weiss and Grunstein both predict that a key priority of the Trump administration will be to expand the Abraham Accords. “I think you’re going to see many countries become part of the Abraham Accords and you’re going to just see a whole different dynamic,” said Weiss. He added that the Abraham Accords will be able to broaden because the United States will refocus on countering the Islamic Republic of Iran and their proxies, including Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis. Grunstein said that he hopes these actions will pave the way for a “Cyrus Accords” agreement — named after Cyrus the Great, who liberated the Jews from captivity and allowed them to return to Israel in 538 B.C. — between Israel and the free people of Iran. “It’s natural for the free people of Iran to come together. And this new axis of evil that’s developed will be dismembered in effect, and it will usher in a new age of peace and prosperity in the world,” said Grunstein. Both Grunstein and Weiss believe that more countries will be emboldened to follow Trump’s lead and move their embassies to Jerusalem. So far, Guatemala, Honduras, Kosovo, and Papua New Guinea have made the move. Argentina has indicated that it will follow suit, with some speculation that Hungary is considering the move as well. Because It’s Just and Right, named from the remarks for former Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ), who championed the Jerusalem Embassy Act in 1995. Weiss himself was instrumental in the act’s passage, after being asked by Kyl to serve as an advisor because of his credentials as the president of Young Israel of Phoenix, a prominent synagogue.
JPost Editorial: Amnesty International cherry-picked incidents to fit its predetermined narrative
Undermining credibility
Amnesty International’s misuse of the term “genocide” undermines its credibility and trivializes the suffering of actual genocide victims. From the Holocaust to the Rwandan and Yazidi genocides, the term carries a historical and moral weight that should never be wielded irresponsibly.

The timing of this report is equally telling. It comes as Israel continues to recover from the October 7 massacre perpetrated by Hamas: the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust. Amnesty International, which condemned Israel’s actions so swiftly, has yet to produce a comprehensive report on Hamas’s atrocities, including its use of human shields and indiscriminate rocket fire targeting civilians.

NGO Monitor said before the report’s publication that the announcement used selective evidence to come to its conclusions. The group highlighted how casting the humanitarian effort of evacuation orders as genocidal contradicted demands that Israel take precautions to avoid civilian deaths in combat.

This report is not about justice or accountability – it is about vilifying Israel. By turning a blind eye to Hamas’s crimes while condemning Israel for defending itself, Amnesty exposes its bias and forfeits its moral authority. The International Legal Forum pointed out that the report is “replete with malicious lies, gross distortions of truth, and fabrications of law.”

If Amnesty International wishes to salvage its reputation, it must retract this report and apologize for its reckless accusations. Human rights organizations must uphold fairness, impartiality, and truth – not inflame tensions with baseless claims. The term “genocide” should never be used as a rhetorical cudgel, and Amnesty’s decision to do so is an insult to both the victims of real genocides and to the truth itself.

Israel’s critics should remember this: The Jewish state will always be held to a higher standard and will not shy away from scrutiny. But reckless accusations like these do nothing to protect civilians or promote peace. Instead, they encourage extremists and deepen divisions.
David Collier: BBC News is openly deceiving you
Make no mistake – BBC News is openly deceiving its audience. It is happening day after day, and article after article. Sometimes we can put the problem down to laziness, ineptitude, or an ‘agency problem’ (the fact most BBC articles on the Middle East are dependant to some degree on toxic BBC Arabic journalists and their networks). But often, the problem is clearly more sinister than mere incompetence.

We know for a fact that there are numerous BBC journalists who spend almost all their time ONLY looking for new ways to demonise Israel – and there are far too many occasions where a piece has been deliberately worked to hide a central truth from a reader. The only logical conclusion – is that there are BBC journos out there who are deliberately skewing the news. BBC News deceiving readers – example 1

This heartbreaking article was published late Sunday night, 01 December. It is the story of a poor, innocent Lebanese family, who paid a devastating price during the conflict. Having already moved several times to get away from the fighting, the woman in the image – Rihab Faour – eventually lost both her children and her husband to a massive IDF strike. A devastating story with a crushing headline…so of course, the article went viral.

Hezbollah – the aliens from outer space
The article on Rihab Faour is a great example of a primary disinformation campaign the BBC has been running since Oct 7. The BBC completely misleads readers about the culture, and make-up of the societies being discussed. The truth is that Hezbollah is even more embedded into Shia Muslim Lebanese society, than Hamas is into Gaza – but this truth does not suit the narrative the BBC journalists want to spread around.

Instead, the BBC describe a fictitious landscape, which suggests 99% of the local population has nothing at all to do with the terrorist groups (that most of them voted for!). What this does is create a completely false illusion – as if Hamas and Hezbollah are aliens that have invaded these lands, and have forced themselves on all these poor, innocent, locals. This is a blatant misrepresentation of the truth and places the IDF in an impossible war.

But a very different story is hidden away behind the words in the article – or in some cases omitted all together. For example, even though it can be found easily online, the original village Rihab Faour came from is (strangely) not mentioned in the BBC article. I found it on the FB page of her husband’s workplace. It was Bint Jbeil. Which means that the BBC journo did not have to go far, to give some colour and context to the piece, because BBC News has previously referred to Bint Jbeil as ‘Hezbollah heartland’. For whatever reason – this information – that the family lived in a Hezbollah heartland, was left out.

Then the article tells us the family left ‘their unnamed village’ – and headed to a suburb of Beirut
“The Israeli bombs fell close enough to Rihab’s village that the 33-year-old and her husband Saeed, an employee of the municipal water company, gathered their daughters Tia, eight, and Naya, six, and fled to Rihab’s parents’ house in Dahieh, a suburb of the capital Beirut.”

A responsible journalist would probably have added here that the Beirut suburb of Dahieh – is the capital of Hezbollah’s ‘state-within-a-state’, which is WHY the suburb was being specifically targeted. But the BBC is not publishing this article to INFORM readers – it is being written to MISINFORM. So nowhere in the article is that vitally important fact mentioned either. The family left one Hezbollah outpost – and headed to another.

And it gets worse. The family moves again, and is tragically struck (and children being killed is always a tragedy), during an Israeli attempt to kill Wafiq Safa, the head of Hezbollah’s co-ordination and liaison unit. Which means (whether it was successful or not) that the third place we know the family had set up home inside, was in, or next to, a building being used by Hezbollah’s leadership.

And then there is this from Saiid Kabalan – Rihab Faour’s husband. Posted on his timeline 11 years ago. A statement he is proud to be considered a terrorist, and is ‘at the service’ of Hezbollah:


NYTs: Records Seized by Israel Show Hamas Presence in U.N. Schools
To his students, Ahmad al-Khatib was a deputy principal at an elementary school in Gaza run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees. To Hamas’s military wing, documents say, he was something else entirely: an infantryman operating out of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

The military wing, known as the Qassam Brigades, kept meticulous records of its fighters, tracking the weapons they were issued and regularly evaluating everything from their fitness to their loyalty.

Mr. al-Khatib, an employee of the U.N. agency since 2013, was among them: Secret internal Hamas documents shared with The New York Times by the Israeli government say that he held the rank of squad commander, was an expert in ground combat and had been given at least a dozen weapons, including a Kalashnikov and hand grenades.

The refugee agency, known as UNRWA, operated schools across Gaza before they were shuttered in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel and the ensuing war. The agency, which employs roughly 13,000 people, including thousands in the schools, has a duty to maintain the neutrality of its facilities in the conflict zones in which it operates, including by keeping militants off its premises and payrolls.

But interviews and an analysis of the records shared with The Times by the Israeli military and foreign ministry indicate that Mr. al-Khatib was one of at least 24 people employed by UNRWA — in 24 different schools — who were members of Hamas or Islamic Jihad, another militant group. Before the war, the agency was responsible for a total of 288 schools, housed in 200 different building compounds, in Gaza.

A majority were top administrators at the schools — principals or deputy principals — and the rest were school counselors and teachers, the documents say. Almost all of the Hamas-linked educators, according to the records, were fighters in the Qassam Brigades.

The Israeli military said it had obtained the trove of documents during its campaign in Gaza. While The Times had no way to independently authenticate the records, they bear similarities with other Hamas records that The Times has examined. Beyond that, names and identification numbers listed on the seized documents match those in a separate UNRWA database.

UNRWA officials say Israel is pursuing a campaign to discredit the agency and ultimately shut it down. The agency has long provided education, health care and other services to millions of Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan, and has turned many of its schools into shelters during the current conflict. It is difficult, U.N. officials say, to guarantee that there are no militants among the agency’s workers in Gaza, where it is one of the largest employers, and where Hamas has exercised ironclad control for nearly two decades.
‘NY Times’ confirms Hamas presence in UN schools

New reports claim UNRWA works with terrorists, teaches hate as agency hits back at critics
Following numerous allegations and charges against the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) over its ties to terrorists with involvement in the Hamas terrorist massacre in Israel, the scandal-hit agency is facing new allegations of wrongdoing.

U.N. Watch a Geneva-based NGO, has released parts of a 150-page dossier that Executive Director Hillel Neuer told Fox News Digital shows "high-level UNRWA staff who are complicit with terrorists, who meet with them regularly."

Before presenting his documentation to the world, Neuer attempted to address it directly with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini. In a letter to Lazzarini, Neuer explained that Lazzarini’s staff have previously complained that U.N. Watch did not submit its reports to UNRWA for comment prior to publishing. Neuer then recounted several attempts to meet personally with Lazzarini to discuss U.N. Watch’s findings and explained that when it released its dossier, Lazzarini would be unable to "claim… that we do not show you the evidence in advance."

UN vehicle in Jerusalam
U.N. vehicle enters the UNRWA offices in Jerusalem. Apr 2, 2024. (Yoav Dudkevitch/TPS)

Neuer's group then released photographs of senior UNRWA staff, including Lazzarini and former UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krahenbuhl, meeting with alleged terror leaders. "You wouldn’t find these photos on [UNRWA officials’] own social media," he said. "We found them our own ways, but they don’t post them."

Neuer pointed Fox News Digital to two undated photos showing Lazzarini meeting with groups that included members of terror organizations, including the Jihadi Islamic Movement, the Islamic Ansar League, and Hamas.

In another photo dating back to late 2014, multiple UNRWA regional directors met with senior Hamas member Ali Baraka. Neuer said, and reporting from Al Watan Voice confirms, that the UNRWA staff wanted to "to congratulate [Baraka] on Hamas’ anniversary."

In another instance, Neuer said he was able to find a photo and transcript from a February 2017 meeting between former UNRWA chief Pierre Krahenbuhl, Baraka, members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), and others. According to U.N. Watch, Krahenbuhl reportedly told the assembly that "we are united, and no one can separate us."

In September 2024, the U.S. Department of Justice announced "terrorism, murder conspiracy, and sanctions-evasion charges" against Baraka and five other Hamas leaders for their roles in Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terror attack, which killed 40 Americans and over 1,000 others.

UN ACCUSED OF DOWNPLAYING HAMAS TERRORISTS’ USE OF GAZA HOSPITALS AS NEW REPORT IGNORES IMPORTANT DETAILS

Krahenbuhl and his staff were investigated in 2019 for reports of "sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority." Krahenbuhl resigned from his position, but in April 2024 was named the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Leading congressional voices requested that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator Samantha Power "persuade the ICRC to reconsider this appointment" given Krahenbuhl’s "disastrous tenure" as UNRWA commissioner-general.

Fox News Digital asked the ICRC about the photos of Krahenbuhl posing with terror leaders, and of congressional concern about his fitness for the position in the Red Cross. An spokesperson told Fox News Digital that the ICRC "was not present in the meeting, so it cannot speak to the full context of the discussion."

They also stated that Krahenbuhl "has demonstrated through his work at ICRC and his decades of humanitarian experience that he has one objective: to secure aid to civilians in conflict zones. Meeting with any group that controls access to civilians, is an essential part of the ICRC work and other humanitarian organizations in conflict zones."


UNESCO mum on whether it will offer its fact-checking training to UN officials
An “alarming” two-thirds of digital content creators share unverified information with millions of followers, according to a Nov. 27 UNESCO “landmark study.” The U.N. agency states that it is partnering with the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas to create “the first-ever global training course for digital content creators.”

JNS asked at a U.N. press briefing on Nov. 27 whether officials at the global body will take the course. Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for António Guterres, the U.N. secretary-general, said that the United Nations wants to make sure that everyone associated with it “takes special care not to pass along any disinformation.”

Francesca Albanese, the U.N. special rapporteur for Palestinian rights, wrote 10 days before the release of the UNESCO report that a “stellar surgeon” was “likely raped to death” in Israeli prison.

“The racism of Western media who are not covering this, and Western politicians who are not denouncing this, together with the thousand other testimonies and allegations of rape and other forms of mistreatment and torture that Palestinians have suffered in Israeli jails, is absolutely sickening,” she wrote.

The U.N. rapporteur shared an image in the social-media post that remains live and has been viewed 4.2 million times, citing Sky News as the source of the story. The post does not link to an article, and a Sky News report on the physician in question makes no mention of him being raped.

JNS asked Haq about the apparently manipulated image posted by the U.N. special rapporteur.

“Of course, I’d remind you that officials, rapporteurs like Ms. Albanese, are independent experts,” he said.

Whether UNESCO would offer its training to U.N. officials is up to the agency, according to Haq. JNS sought comment from UNESCO. A source familiar with the work of the Israeli mission to the United Nations is unaware of any such course offered to U.N. officials.

“From our standpoint, we want to make sure that all officials take special care of that,” Haq told JNS at the press briefing. “We, as spokespeople, for example, try very hard to make sure that our fellow communicators are aware of disinformation and don’t pass it along.”

The United Nations rarely challenges its “independent experts” and special rapporteurs publicly. The U.N. Human Rights Council appoints the latter, who are free to speak without clearance from the global body.
Global leaders demand UNRWA reform and tackle rising antisemitism
At a high-profile international summit in Washington, global leaders from center-right parties convened to address escalating challenges, including rising antisemitism, the International Criminal Court's recent decision, and the future of UNRWA.

The International Democracy Union (IDU) Forum is an annual meeting of the Global Alliance of the Centre-Right, which draws center-right leaders from democratic countries around the world.

A key resolution during this past week’s summit was the unanimous adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism. Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli led the discussions, emphasizing the dangerous overlap between anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

Speaking alongside influential figures such as former Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper and Australian ex-leaders Scott Morrison and Tony Abbott, Chikli stressed the need for a unified approach to combat these intertwined phenomena.

“Adopting the IHRA definition directly addresses the dehumanization and double standards often applied to Israel,” Chikli remarked. He praised the resolution as a significant step in countering antisemitism, particularly in North American and European universities, where hostility has grown markedly.


Triggernometry: The Real Reason Iran Wants to Destroy Israel - Elica Le Bon
Elica Le Bon is an Iranian-American attorney, activist, and artist.

00:00 Introduction
00:38 Elica's Story
05:25 Iran Before The Revolution
09:40 What Is Life Like In Iran In 2024?
13:54 Monetary Metals Advert
14:59 What Does The Iranian Regime Want?
22:18 Explaining President Biden Giving Billions Of Dollars To Iran
33:10 What Is Jihad?
41:11 Verso Advert
44:22 Losing Friends For Not Supporting Palestine
56:35 What Would You Like The West To Do?
01:00:14 What's The Thing We're Not Talking About That We Should Be?


Israel and Taiwan | Democracies Under Siege
A seasoned diplomat with a wealth of experience in international relations, Ya-Ping (Abby) Lee has been the Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Tel Aviv since January 2022, where she leads the mission in promoting Taiwan-Israel relations across a wide range of sectors, including consular services, economic and commercial affairs, and cultural exchange.

Since October 7th, she’s been outspoken in her support and solidarity with the Israeli people as natural democratic allies against authoritarian threats. Eylon sits down with the Taiwanese representative to discuss the key to saving these two democracies in the face of existential threats.




Activists in court over break-in and £1m damage at Israeli defence firm UK site
Eight anti-Israel protesters have appeared in court accused of breaking into an Israel-based defence firm’s site in South Gloucestershire, with sledgehammers and whips in their possession, and causing more than £1 million of damage.

Elbit Systems UK’s site near Patchway, Bristol, was allegedly attacked by members of Palestine Action in the early hours of August 6.

Sean Middlebrough, 32; Aleksandra Herbich, 40; Teuta Hoxha, 28; Julia Brigadirova, 32; Heba Muraisi, 30; Qesser Zuhrah, 19; Zahra Farooque, 24; and Kamran Ahmed, 27, all appeared via video link at the Old Bailey on Friday accused of aggravated burglary and criminal damage.

Around 40 people gathered outside the court building ahead of the hearing, with Palestinian flags dotting the small crowd and a large sign being held up reading: “Advocating for Palestine is not a crime”.

The charges allege the group entered Elbit Systems UK as trespassers, with sledgehammers and whips in their possession, and destroyed or damaged property estimated to be worth more than £1 million.

Hoxha, from East Dulwich, south-east London, and Brigadirova, of Manchester, only face those two counts.

While Middlebrough, of Liverpool; Herbich, of Kensal Rise, north-west London; Zuhrah, of Wembley, north London; Muraisi, of High Barnet, north London; Farooque, of Fulham, south-west London; and Ahmed, of East Ham, east London, have also been charged with violent disorder.

A previous court hearing was told a vehicle was driven into the building’s doors during the protest, and two responding police officers and a security guard were injured.

Ten others have appeared in court and are due to stand trial next year charged over the same incident.

Samuel Corner, 22, of Devon, is charged with aggravated burglary, criminal damage and violent disorder.

He is also charged with causing police sergeant Kate Evans grievous bodily harm and Pc Aaron Buxton and Angelo Volente actual bodily harm.


Corbyn fails to directly condemn tyrant Assad as he criticises Israel in the Commons
Jeremy Corbyn has failed to directly criticise outgoing Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad, while taking aim at Israel over its presence north of the Golan Heights in his first Commons intervention on last weekend’s events.

In a question put to foreign secretary David Lammy, the former Labour leader spoke only of the Syrian people coming out of the horrors of “war, torture and imprisonment” and “many into asylum” without referencing the role of former Syrian president al-Assad in this scenario.

Corbyn, who has repeatedly faced allegations of being an “apologist” for Assad in his political career, then made a rather more direct criticism of Israel in the same intervention, calling for the IDF to “withdraw immediately from the area it illegally occupied over the last few days, just north of the already illegally occupied Golan Heights.”

The Islington North MP also raised concerns about the presence of Turkish troops in the region, calling for them to “leave” as well as the rights of the Kurdish people.

The Labour MP Kim Johnson, already facing condemnation over recent promotion of an event put on by the Isalamist advocacy group Cage, then also saw fit to only offer her own criticism of Israel as she rose to question the foreign secretary.

Johnson accused Israel of “seizing” territory in the Golan, and asked “what will happen if the Israelis decide it isn’t temporary” to remain there.

Earlier, having given a statement on the situation in Syria to MPs, Lammy had suggested Israel did have legitimate security concerns with the situation in Syria unclear, and in a country that had previously harboured ISIS terrorists.

He confirmed to Corbyn that in conversations with the Israeli foreign ministry, Lammy had been assured Israel’s recent advances in the north of the Golan were only “temporary.”

Corbyn has long sparked outrage with his calls for “negotiations for peace” and “a political settlement” in response to allegations of atrocities committed by the hated Assad regime in Syria.

He slammed “legally questionable” airstrikes by the UK in Syria, in line with his long-time support for the position of the Stop The War campaign group.

In response to the deaths of “hundreds of thousands of Syrians” Corbyn called for the UK government to “take a diplomatic lead to negotiate a ceasefire in the conflict” in 2018.


US Supreme Court to rule on PA, PLO terrorism accountability
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed on Friday to resolve a dispute over whether Americans killed or injured in Palestinian terrorist attacks can sue Palestinian Authority entities in U.S. courts.

The dispute has produced conflicting rulings. Legislation meant to hold Palestinian authorities accountable was struck down as unconstitutional by a federal appeals court. This produced fresh countermoves. Now the Supreme Court has agreed to review the issue and deliver a definite ruling, probably sometime next year.

The Supreme Court decided to hear two cases, CNN reported: One from family members who sued the Palestinian Authority and the Palestine Liberation Organization, and another from the Biden administration, which is also arguing for the court to rule on such lawsuits.

In previous rulings by lower courts on such claims, some judges ruled that the U.S. justice system lacked jurisdiction.

The bereaved relatives whose petition the Supreme Court agreed to hear were awarded $650 million by a lower court in 2015 under the federal Anti-Terrorism Act, which permits Americans to sue for damages caused by terrorism.

But the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that verdict, ruling that courts lacked jurisdiction over the PLO and P.A.
Jerusalem court awards $2.3m to ‘collaborators’ tortured by PA
The Jerusalem District Court has ordered the Palestinian Authority to pay five Palestinians compensation totaling some 8 million shekels ($2.3 million) after they were tortured by P.A. forces over allegations of “collaborating” with Israeli authorities.

The rulings were first reported by Israel’s Maariv daily on Sunday.

Judge Miriam Ilany said that the P.A. “is responsible for the unlawful imprisonment and torture of the cooperators,” adding that Ramallah’s ongoing conduct “constitutes a blatant violation of basic human rights.”

Ilany also wrote that “this is not only about the loss of the plaintiffs’ freedom but also about prolonged physical and psychological torture that has left lifelong scars.”

The Jerusalem-based Arbus, Kedem, Tzur law firm, which represented the Palestinians, as well as Israeli terror victims, said the court rulings send “a clear message that the State of Israel will stand behind anyone who extends a hand to it in its struggle against terrorism.”

“These rulings are not just about compensation but also about holding accountable an evil authority that perpetuates terrorism,” the firm said.

The Jerusalem law firm is currently involved in a Supreme Court case that is seeking to expand the scope of Israel’s law on punitive damages to include those who cooperated with the Jewish state, in an effort to provide additional compensation to Palestinian torture victims.

In September, the Jerusalem District Court issued rulings ordering the P.A. to compensate three Palestinian “collaborators” who were tortured to the tune of some 3 million shekels ($840,000)

Among other torture methods, the victims were reportedly beaten all over their bodies with rifles, batons and electric cables, denied sleep and access to a bathroom, forced to drink soap and had their teeth broken. Their families’ lives were also threatened.

“It is hard to believe that the Israeli courts would recognize a defense that cooperation with Israel is an act of treason in favor of the Israeli enemy,” Ilany ruled. “In addition, those acts of ‘treason’ were intended to prevent acts of terrorism against Israel and against Israelis, which the P.A. pledged to prevent in the [Oslo Accords] interim agreement.”

Under the terms of the Oslo Accords, which the Jewish state signed with Palestinian terror leader Yasser Arafat in the 1990s, the newly created P.A. was tasked with fighting terrorism in parts of Judea and Samaria.
Understanding Abbas’s appointment of Rawhi Fattouh as his successor
The decision of 89-year-old Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to issue a “constitutional declaration” appointing Rawhi Fattouh, the chairman of the Palestinian National Council (PNC), to “temporarily serve as P.A. president pending the holding of presidential elections” signifies, in essence, the final nail in the coffin of the Palestinian Authority.

While intentionally worded misleadingly, the so-called “constitutional declaration” is the latest in a series of decisions made by Abbas over the last six years, all intended to replace the P.A. bodies with those of the Palestine Liberation Organization, over which Abbas and his Fatah party have complete dominance.

The P.A. was created under the Oslo Accords, which provided that the P.A. would have two central governance bodies—the P.A. chairman (president) and the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), which would function as the P.A. parliament. After its creation, the P.A. enacted legislation, mostly mirroring the provisions of the Accords, for the election of these two functionaries. In theory, the P.A. laws provided that the chairman would be elected for a four-year term, after which the incumbent could run for a second and final term. Elections for the PLC were also to be held every four years.

P.A. law aside, elections for the position of P.A. chairman have only been held twice in the last 30 years. Yasser Arafat won the first election, held in 1996, and stayed in the position, without further elections, until he died in 2004. Abbas won the second election, held in 2005, and has stayed in his position, without holding new elections, to this day.

The PLC suffered a similar fate. The first elections for the PLC were held in 1996, with Fatah, the party of Arafat and later Abbas, winning the majority of seats. The PLC elected in 1996 continued to function until 2005. The second PLC elections were held in 2006. Despite employing several different tactics and receiving substantial U.S. support, Abbas’s Fatah lost the elections, with its rival, Hamas, the internationally-designated terror organization that led the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre, winning 74 of the 132 PLC seats.


The time for California Gov. Newsom to adopt IHRA is now
Since Oct. 7, like many San Francisco Bay Area Jewish leaders, I have been deeply inspired by the remarkable ways in which individuals in our activist-minded community have risen to confront the alarming surge in antisemitism. Across California, we have witnessed the emergence of numerous grassroots efforts addressing these challenges head-on. Leaders of many of these initiatives have voiced their frustration regarding the state’s failure to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. Some have recently joined a JIMENA-led coalition of 26 Jewish organizations across California, advocating for Gov. Gavin Newsom to issue an executive order adopting the IHRA.

It is evident that support for the IHRA definition is strong throughout California. The urgency of this matter cannot be overstated, given the rising threats of Jew-hatred and the communal consensus surrounding this definition.

As federal investigations into antisemitism push forward and the number of lawsuits addressing rampant antisemitism in California’s public schools and universities continue to grow in number, the time has come for Newsom to recognize and rectify the shortcomings of his Golden State Antisemitism Plan, introduced last year. While the plan may have been well-intentioned, it fell short of addressing the needs and expectations of California’s diverse Jewish communities. Specifically, it overlooked the calls of more than 25 Jewish organizations to adopt the non-legally binding IHRA definition of antisemitism. How can California’s public agencies effectively recognize and combat antisemitism if they lack a clear, standardized definition to guide them?

Newsom’s plan not only failed to define antisemitism but also highlighted funding allocations that raise serious concerns. For example, California’s Department of Social Services’ $150 million “Stop the Hate” program, intended to support victims and survivors of hate crimes, awarded $2.6 million to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in 2022. This is despite the organization’s troubling history of antisemitism. Shockingly, none of the “Stop the Hate” funds were directed to Northern California Jewish agencies assisting victims of antisemitism. In fact, a mere 0.04% of the program’s budget was allocated to addressing antisemitic hate, even though the California Attorney General’s Office has reported that anti-Jewish hate crimes account for 62% of all religiously motivated hate crimes in the state.

This glaring oversight underscores a broader issue: While state officials have taken steps to protect Jewish communities, it is a fundamental challenge for public agencies to issue directives to help their staff—our public servants—identify and combat antisemitism effectively without a clearly mandated definition. Concerns about free speech are valid and must be taken into account, but the Jewish community is merely requesting a non-legally binding definition that safeguards free expression, even for those who openly espouse anti-Zionist or antisemitic views.


Illinois man who put swastikas on campaign signs appears for trial
Keith Klingeman, 51, of Naperville, Ill., appeared in court for a bench trial on Dec. 2 for a 2022 incident involving the defacement of three campaign signs for Patty Gustin, a candidate for the DuPage County Board.

Klingeman, who entered a not-guilty plea during his arraignment in February 2023, is charged with two counts of hate crime and one count of property damage for putting swastika stickers on Gustin’s campaign signs. In the past two years, the case has been continued 20 times.

Prosecutors that the defendant’s intentional use of swastika stickers was “more than distasteful” and sought to link Gustin’s “likeness to that of Adolf Hitler.”

Gustin, who is not Jewish, had previously shared publicly that her family is honored at the Holocaust museums in Israel and Washington, D.C.

“I have been proud to share this,” she told Patch following the incident in 2022. “However, it put a target on my back.”

At the hearing, the prosecution played a police video filmed of Klingeman at his home in which he told police that he had placed the swastikas on the campaign signs and cut one of the signs with a knife.

Klingeman also expressed frustration at Gustin’s statements at a Naperville City Council meeting but denied any malevolent intent toward the local politician.

Gustin said in court on Monday that the stickers caused her to feel “numb” and “emotionally drained,” as well as afraid to go out in the community.


Jonny Gould's Jewish State: 169: Survivor: the true story of Ivor Perl's journey through the Holocaust as a boy.
This is Survivor, an animated film created near singlehandledly by puppeteer and cartoonist, Zoom Rockman.

It's the story of Auschwitz and Dachau survivor, Ivor Perl BEM, based upon his Holocaust memoir, Chicken Soup Under The Tree.

The first screening in London took place in November 2024 and you'll hear Ivor and Zoom reflect on the movie and why it's so important in this episode.

I’ve had the privilege of a one-to-one conversation with Ivor at his London home, where he shared his harrowing experiences and reflected on the reawakening of antisemitism today.

This is a Lemon Soul film, dedicated in loving memory to Jonny Zucker, an inspirational teacher, fantastic children's author, who celebrated reading among kids and envisioned educational ideas such as this movie.

The title music was composed and performed by Erran Baron Cohen, who produced musical accompaniment on the night.Listen to the story of Survivor.


Geert Wilders tours Samaria with regional council head
Geert Wilders, the head of the Party for Freedom, the Netherlands’ largest political faction and a member of the ruling coalition, visited Samaria on Monday morning at the invitation of the Samaria Regional Council.

Council head Yossi Dagan said that Wilders, as part of his tour of the area, received a briefing at an observation point “in the seam line area on the narrow ‘waist’ of the State of Israel, which illustrates the security importance of Samaria for the residents of the center of the country.”

Dagan told the visiting political leader: “There are only 70 kilometers [44 miles] from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River, with the hills of Samaria dominating the area, accounting for 55 kilometers, [or 34 miles, of those 70 kilometers].”

Wilders responded by acknowledging that this is a “very small area,” adding, “Not everyone will understand this, but I do.”

The Dutch politician arrived in the Jewish state on Sunday for a 36-hour visit. After he touched down at Ben-Gurion International Airport on Sunday night, Wilders met with Minister of Innovation, Science and Technology Gila Gamliel “and other dear friends” in Tel Aviv, he said on social media.

Wilders said he was “proud and privileged” to return to Israel after more than seven years, “meet their leaders and politicians and visit beautiful Judea and Samaria where I used to live for some time in the ’80s.”

Later on Monday, Wilders is scheduled to meet with President Isaac Herzog, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, Energy Minister Eli Cohen, Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana and other lawmakers, according to the Dutch MP.

Last month, Wilders said that he would be pursuing police action after his travel plans to Israel were leaked to the media, allegedly by Dutch civil servants, which reportedly led to the postponement of his visit.


Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon!

"He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024)

PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

    
 

 

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