Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: Holocaust denial

Showing posts with label Holocaust denial. Show all posts

Monday, July 18, 2022

Today's Egyptian antisemitism: Comparing Latrun incident to the Holocaust

Earlier this month, Israeli media revealed a terrible secret from the Six Day War. Yossi Melman tweeted:

After 55 years of heavy censorship, I can reveal that at least 20 Egyptian soldiers were burnt alive and buried by IDF in a mass grave, which wasn't marked & without being identified contrary to war laws, in Latrun. It happened during the Six Day's War.

Days before the war Egypt's Nasser signed a defense pact with Jordan's Hussein. Egypt deployed 2 commando battalions in the West Bank near Latrun, which was no man's land. Their mission was to raid inside Israel and take over Lod and a nearby military airfields.

Fire Exchanges took place with IDF troops and members of Kibbutz Nahshon. Some Egyptian troops fled, some taken prisoner, and some bravely fought.

At a certain point IDF fired mortar shells and thousands of uncultivated dunams of wild bush in the dry summer were set on fire. At least 20 Egyptian soldiers died in the bush fire "the fire spread quickly in the hot and dry bush, and they have no chance to escape" I was told by Zeen Bloch (now 90 years) who was the military commander of Nachshon, a left-wing Kibbutz.

The next day IDF soldiers equipped with a bulldozer came to the scene, dug a pit, pushed the Egyptian corpses and covered them with soil. Bloch and some Nahshon members watched with horrors as soldiers looted personal belonging and left the mass grave unmarked.

Saleh Abu Muslim, an Egyptian writer in news site Elaosboa is comparing this incident with the Holocaust, which he is not sure really happened anyway.

When the word Holocaust is mentioned, one immediately thinks of the Holocaust against Jews and others by Nazi Germany and its allies led by Adolf Hitler during the Second World War. Because of the genocide and the brutal Holocaust that the Jews were subjected to from 1935 until 1945, whether real or fiction, they are crimes of shame against humanity. Many scholars, historians and others believe that the Holocaust is a trick or a lie that is exploited by the Zionists to achieve their interests and blackmail the Western countries responsible for committing these crimes, and that is why those who deny the truth of the Holocaust by the Jews and their sympathizers are considered anti-Semites. ...

The Jews of the world are weeping and lamenting the burning crimes they were subjected to by Nazi Germany and its allies, and even calling for the prosecution of all those who deny the Holocaust and deny its occurrence, and they demand that Germany pay great financial compensation for the Jews who were exterminated. Yet here are the Israeli occupation soldiers and they practiced the same brutal crime against the prisoners and besieged Egyptian soldiers starting from the 1956, 1967, and 1973 wars. ...After 55 years of blackout, the Israeli authorities now come to us to reveal to us that the Israeli occupation forces in 1967 burned and killed more than 80 soldiers of the Israeli [sic] forces. The Egyptian special forces during the June 1967 war in the Latrun area located between Jaffa and Jerusalem, when those forces were on a special mission to support the Jordanian army in that area. Successive Israeli governments since 1967 to reveal to us this horrific crime after the Israeli forces fired phosphorous shells in the middle of a barren desert area full of weeds and dry trees to be burned...

Let's make some things clear: The burning of the soldiers was an accident. It wasn't from phosphorus shells but regular mortars, according to Melman.

The Egyptian soldiers were valid military targets under the Geneva Conventions. They were not innocent civilians, and they weren't prisoners of war. They were active combatants.

The IDF was absolutely wrong both in burying them and in looting their belongings, no question. Those soldiers should have been punished. And the incident should not have been kept secret for this long.

But comparing that to the Holocaust?

Egyptians have every right to be angry over the incident and to demand answers. But using it as an excuse to minimize the systematic mass slaughter and genocide of millions of Jews is obscene.

And even more obscene is that the editor of the newspaper felt that the writer was making a valid point. And that whenever such an obscene article is published in Arabic, there is no visible pushback from other Arabs.

Buy the EoZ book, PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism today at Amazon!

Or order from your favorite bookseller, using ISBN 9798985708424.

Read all about it here!

Holocaust Education and “The Elephant at the Table” (Judean Rose)

Interview with Master Holocaust Teacher Dorene Schwartz-Weitz

Master Holocaust Teacher Dorene Schwartz-Weitz

Holocaust education is something that should be part of every history or social studies class. Or so you would think. After all, the Holocaust is an historic event, a catastrophic event, an attempt at genocide. It happened. People are yet alive to give testimony that this is so.

We know however, that in many cases, this particular event in history, the event known as the Holocaust, goes unmentioned in elementary and high school curriculums. Artist and Master Holocaust Teacher Dorene Schwartz-Weitz aims to change this. She wants mandatory Holocaust Education in every school in the United States. And she wants that education done properly. Schwartz Weitz wants Holocaust Education curriculums to be not only mandated but regulated.

How do we know that the state of Holocaust Education within the United States is a failure? A 2020 poll revealed that 63% of the respondents had no idea that “6 million” Jews had been murdered.* Of those who were aware that a number of Jews had been murdered by the Nazis, 36% believed the number of victims to be 2 million or so. A further 48% of those polled could not name a single concentration camp. They had apparently never even heard of Auschwitz, the most infamous of all Nazi concentration camps.

The Holocaust occurred only 75 years ago, but is largely forgotten by Americans. Some educators in, for example, Florida and Texas, feel that Holocaust denial should be a part of Holocaust Education, and treated as valid opinion. Not to mention the staff member who had third graders reenact the Holocaust and told them that Jews caused the Holocaust "because they ruined Christmas."

Whether all of this is from ignorance or antisemitism, it is (and sometimes isn't) hard to say. But we do know that something must be done. Dorene Schwartz-Weitz is doing her part, having made it her life’s work to improve and make mandatory, Holocaust Education in schools across America. A busy artist whose uncle, aunts, and cousin were Holocaust Survivors, Dorene gave generously of her time to tell us about her work:

Varda Epstein: Tell us something about yourself, your background. How does one become a master teacher of the Holocaust?

Dorene Schwartz-Weitz: If someone would have shown me a video of my future, I'd never believe I'd become someone who has devoted her life to working passionately on promoting Holocaust Education. My original career trajectory was to become an artist. And indeed, my first major gallery opening was on 57th Street at the age of 25.

Though I was raised by an extended family of Holocaust Survivors, the subject was always "the elephant at the table" (as Jews, we were always at the table, lol). The noted Holocaust historian and Survivor, Dr. Yaffa Eliach, zt"l, was my high school teacher. But antisemitism wasn't part of my everyday life experience.

Dr. Yaffa Eliach (A"H) with Dorene Schwartz-Weitz

There was, however, always an undercurrent of antisemitism prevalent throughout my teaching career with what unfolded and what I came to witness was a lack of basic understanding of what it was to be a Jew. The culmination of all this arrived one day when a student—a high school football star in the running for a full scholarship—refused to do the required assignments. When confronted, he said, "You didn't learn your lesson. You should be sent back to Auschwitz".

Informed of the incident, the administration of the school failed to support me. Instead, they turned the tables "and then they came after me" with accusations regarding my teaching abilities.

It was then that I wrote, coordinated and taught, "Portraits of Survivors,” an interdisciplinary Holocaust Education program, and went back to Rutgers for a Master Teacher of The Holocaust certification. I was thereafter awarded plaques inscribed with, "Excellence in Teaching.”

Varda Epstein: Not long ago, you told me that teaching the Holocaust “should not be like teaching kids dangers of smoking when they haven’t started.” Why shouldn’t the Holocaust be taught as a cautionary tale?

Dorene Schwartz-Weitz: There is a phenomenon I became aware of while teaching the Holocaust. I had a student who seemed so dedicated, supportive and involved until I realized it was he who was carving those swastikas into the table where he sat. Apparently, when teaching, i.e., anti-smoking or sex ed. you get students who will suddenly start smoking and students who will start to engage in premarital sex.

It's called "The Boomerang Effect" and has to do with the fact that those in this age group are often rebellious.

Varda Epstein: Can you talk about the principal in Florida who refused to say that the Holocaust is a fact? What are your thoughts on this? How can we address top down Holocaust denial from our educators?

Dorene Schwartz-Weitz: More and more we are seeing the dire need for school to be a safe place. Creating this environment begins from the top down in setting the atmosphere. Administrators need to first be educated, have a curriculum in place, and an agreement as to how to best achieve a result where students know their well-being is the top priority.

Opening the door for Holocaust Denial by redefining it as "others' views and opinions,” sets the stage for conflict, not resolution. Would we give sex offenders a voice in sex education? I would dare to say that denying the Holocaust, with all its ramifications, is far worse.

Varda Epstein: How can educators teach the Holocaust to youth in an accurate way without sugarcoating the truth? And if we get that far, how do we avoid traumatizing them?

Dorene Schwartz-Weitz: The concept of having a whole school work on Holocaust education as an interdisciplinary program creates the environment where everyone knows they are working together toward a common goal of learning so as to promote an understanding of how this could have happened, and thus be prevented.

Moreover, having a student meet with a Holocaust Survivor so as to listen to their life's story of survival makes the unspeakable more humanely digestible. After 9/11, such meetings became all the more valuable with our students desperately seeking ways to survive psychologically or in the face of terror.

In the future, we will need to rely on resources such as Steven Spielberg’s interviews of Holocaust Survivors, and the vast archives at Yad Vashem, Bad Arolsen, and the like.


My Great Uncle Moish, Aunt Tzeril and Yankel, Holocaust Survivors on their first day in America.

Yankel was 9.

They survived by burying themselves alive in shallow graves and bunkers, in the forests surrounding Poland.

Varda Epstein: Where are we failing in regard to teaching the Holocaust?

Dorene Schwartz-Weitz: With regard to the goals of teaching lessons learned from the Holocaust, we fail in that there isn't first an agreement as to the necessity for Holocaust Education in its own right, rather than as a tagline to Genocide Education, where the Holocaust may be merely mentioned, if at all. There needs to be an awareness of the Holocaust as the turning point in civilization, on all levels. When the discussion encompasses other times and places where there were unspeakable genocides, it waxes over the very facts. The Holocaust happened at a time and in a place where science, art, music, and education were in top form. This wasn't happening to some uncivilized population unable to protect itself, thus making for the possibility of, “it can happen again.”

We need a Holocaust Mandate instituted as a requirement for a high school graduation diploma. There needs to be an agreed upon curriculum implemented by administrators and teachers, and supported by parents.


My father's family, Maciejow Poland. Taken the day my Bubby, father and uncle left to the US. Everyone else in this picture was killed as Hitler went through all the shtetlach.

Varda Epstein: How can we improve Holocaust education in the classroom?

Dorene Schwartz-Weitz: In writing a Holocaust curriculum, there needs to be age appropriate information paired with exercises that promote an understanding of how to process and direct those goals so as to improve our relationship to the Holocaust. Those who have gone through Holocaust Education programs, Holocaust Survivors, children of Holocaust Survivors, and victims of antisemitism are our greatest resources in conveying the message. Students should know what a Jew is, along with some Jewish history (including prior persecutions), and current events as part of the basic foundation of understanding. Additionally, students should be made aware of the WWI events that led to Hitler’s, y"s, rise to power, which in turn, led to the near accomplishment of his main goal: the Final Solution.

All of the above should be included in the Holocaust curriculum.

Varda Epstein: How can parents supplement their children’s understanding of the Holocaust at home?

Dorene Schwartz-Weitz: After sitting to draw the portraits of a couple who had survived the Holocaust, one of my high school students said, "I didn't believe the Holocaust happened, but when I saw all these old people getting off a bus on this cold icy winter day just to talk to us, I knew they were not coming to make up stories.”

It later became known that the student's parents were Holocaust deniers. Thus separated from their influence, he was able to form his own opinion.

We cannot assume that parents will be supportive. Some need to first be educated. On the other hand, there are many parents who want to help and do so by chaperoning or taking their children to a Holocaust museum or movie, and then discussing the lessons to be learned.

Student portrait of Survivor Adam Boren

Student portrait of Survivor Ana Balaban

Varda Epstein: What would you say is the main takeaway that we should want our children to have from the historic catastrophe that is the Holocaust?

Dorene Schwartz-Weitz: The world is made of many nations, religions (4,200!), and creeds. Though we are sometimes seemingly so different, we share a most common need and goal for communication, acceptance, understanding and especially peace and love. By opening ourselves up to this awareness, we can all enjoy our shared lives.

Yes, it can happen again, but with Holocaust Education you will know there is a choice in how to respond to your own or others' needs for help. There are still many Righteous Gentiles being honored for their unbelievable courage when putting their own lives and the lives of their loved ones, on the line to save a Jew.

Varda Epstein: What does the future hold for you as a Holocaust educator?

Dorene Schwartz-Weitz: Things have drastically changed over the past two years in the world. We are living in the most challenging of times. G-d fearing people see "The Hand of G-d" in all unfolding.

Growing up after The Holocaust, in The Golden Medina, we had childhoods filled with attainable dreams and hope. As a parent/grandparent I pray my children and grandchildren will enjoy the same opportunities afforded us—and especially in regard to having the ability to live their lives as practicing Jews.

As Jews, we are taught to be accepting and respectful of others. Hillel summarized the entirety of the Torah by stating the most important commandment is to, "Love thy neighbor as thyself.”

As a Holocaust Educator, I see that our work, in many ways, has just begun.

If you would like to help assist the goals of education toward prevention, here's what all of us should do ASAP:

1. Demand mandatory Holocaust education: only 19 out of 50 states in the US have mandatory Holocaust Education.

2. Learn more about the issue of mandatory education here: "If You Don't Have Mandatory Holocaust Education, Demand It"

3. Add your voice and receive updates about mandatory Holocaust Education on Facebook by joining our group: Campaigning to make Holocaust education mandatory.

*It is important to note that “6 million” was only an estimate. The actual number of Jews murdered in the Holocaust is closer to 7 million and still counting, as mass graves and bodies continue to be discovered in various parts of Europe.

Sorry, Noura Erakat, but you cannot deny Arab and Palestinian antisemitism

Noura Erakat, the lawyer who is a darling of the anti-Zionist Left, tweeted (I corrected numerous spelling errors)

In today's edition of living while Palestinian. Journo interested in IHRA critique asks me if Palestinian protest doesn't risk turning into anti Jewish hate. So here we go #Thread #IHRA

First off, the fact that young Palestinians who have only known Israeli siege and massacre and aerial bombardment & snipers in Gaza distinguish between Zionists and Jews and rally for a decolonial future for all. THAT is a remarkable example of humanity and what should be the story.

Second, since the only thing that has been hateful has been Israel’s racialized violence, its siege, its shoot to kill policies, its home demolitions - the story is about Zionist settler hate. It is THE primary teacher and exemplar of hate.

Third, as much as we try to distinguish Zionism and Judaism, our adversaries want to collapse the two and obscure the distinction between a people and a state. We are not responsible for this gross reduction and resist it. No state or ideology is beyond critique.

Fourth, the greatest source of antisemitism is white supremacy/ists. Go do interviews with them rather than interrogate Palestinians if they really think they deserve freedom and have the right to condemn the racist ideology that has marked them for removal. #IHRA

Every single one of her four points is a lie, and Erakat knows it.

Young Palestinians don't distinguish between Zionists and Jews. All you need to look at are the numerous terror attacks against Jewish targets in Israel - rabbis while praying in synagogues, children studying in yeshivas, and the 1929 pogroms against religious Jews in Hebron and elsewhere still celebrated by Palestinians. In Arabic, children are taught to hate the Jews - and they proudly say it on TV (even if in this case they say "sons of Zion" itis clear they mean Jews when they say "murderers of Allah's prophets.")

Her second assertion that "the only thing that has been hateful has been Israel’s racialized violence" is nothing short of absurd. Certainly she is aware of Palestinian terrorism that pre-dates Israel's existence. And how many ways can Palestinians glorify stabbing Jews?

Her claim that Palestinians try to distinguish between Jews and Zionists is also a lie. In print, they are more sensitive than they had been years ago because of MEMRI and Palestinian Media Watch, so they are a bit more careful about replacing the word "Jew" with "Zionist," but in the end, they don't ask a Jew they are about to stab if they support settlements or not.

And according to the ADL, an astounding 97% of Palestinians hold antisemitic views - the highest in the world. Her assertion that Palestinians are only anti-Zionist and not antisemitic is laughable gaslighting.

Finally, the center of today's antisemitism is not white supremacists but the Arab world. White supremacist websites get only a tiny percentage of the readership as mainstream antisemitic Arab media. The Palestinian Al Quds news site published in Britain includes regular Holocaust inversion and references to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion as being obviously real, and it is one of the top 4000 websites in the world - compared to the most notorious neo-Nazi website, Stormfront, which doesn't crack the top 200,000.

Actual Holocaust denial is still a regular feature of Arab websites, like this one in Al Mayadeen (ranked #10,131 in Alexa.) This top Egyptian newspaper (#1856) headlines an article with the Nazi claim that Kristallnacht was a response to what a Jew did.

Thankfully, this has been slowly changing, in no small part because of the Abraham Accords. Antisemitism in the UAE and Morocco has been tempered with articles that are sympathetic to Jews and Judaism. Of course, the peace agreements that are prompting this major pushback against antisemitism in the Arab world is opposed by Noura Erakat.

Noura Erakat is not stupid nor is she ignorant. She knows everything I have written is true. Her entire goal is to spread false propaganda. It must be exposed - every time.

Saudi Arabia is less antisemitic than the @NYTimes

From The New York Times:

In a surprising televised monologue, a senior member of the Saudi royal family and former ambassador to Washington accused Palestinian leaders of betraying their people, signaling an erosion of Saudi support for an issue long considered sacrosanct.

... Prince Bandar offered a rambling and selective history of the Palestinian struggle, saying that the Palestinians “always bet on the losing side.”

His survey, interspersed with archival images and footage, cited the contacts between Haj Amin al-Husseini, the grand mufti of Jerusalem and an early Palestinian nationalist leader, and the Nazis in the 1930s, adding, “we all know what happened to Hitler and Germany.”

While there is broad agreement that Mr. al-Husseini collaborated with the Nazis against Zionism, historians differ on the significance of his relationship with Nazi leaders.

First of all, the Mufti's contacts with the Nazis were during the Holocaust in the 1940s, not in the 1930s. Even the photo of Hitler and the Mufti that the NYT published was from a 1941 meeting.

Secondly, the Mufti was a rabid antisemite for his entire life. He wasn't against "Zionism," he was against Jews - just like the Nazis he collaborated with.

The New York Times is engaging in Holocaust minimization.

The US Holocaust Museum summarizes the Mufti's antisemitic statements on Nazi radio:

Al-Husayni spoke often of a "worldwide Jewish conspiracy" that controlled the British and US governments and sponsored Soviet Communism. He argued that "world Jewry" aimed to infiltrate and subjugate Palestine, a sacred religious and cultural center of the Arab and Muslim world, as a staging ground for the seizure of all Arab lands. In his vision of the world, the Jews intended to enslave and exploit Arabs, to seize their land, to expropriate their wealth, undermine their Muslim faith and corrupt the moral fabric of their society. He labeled the Jews as the enemy of Islam, and used crude racist terminology to depict Jews and Jewish behavior, particularly as he forged a closer relationship with the SS in 1943 and 1944. He described Jews as having immutable characteristics and behaviors. On occasion, he would compare Jewishness to infectious disease and Jews to microbes or bacilli. In at least one speech attributed to him, he advocated killing Jews wherever Arabs found them. He consistently advocated "removing" the Jewish homeland from Palestine and, on occasion, driving every Jew out of Palestine and other Arab lands.

Even during that meeting with Hitler the word "Zionist" was never used - just "Jews."

[Mufti:] The Arabs were Germany’s natural friends because they had the same enemies as had Germany, namely the English, the Jews and the Communists....The Arabs could be more useful to Germany as allies than might be apparent at first glance, both for geographical reasons and because of the suffering inflicted upon them by the English and the Jews.

The Fuhrer replied that Germany’s fundamental attitude on these questions, as the Mufti himself had already stated, was clear. Germany stood for uncompromising war against the Jews. That naturally included active opposition to the Jewish national home in Palestine, which was nothing other than a center, in the form of a state, for the exercise of destructive influence by Jewish interests. Germany was also aware that the assertion that the Jews were carrying out the functions of economic pioneers in Palestine was a lie. The work there was done only by the Arabs, not by the Jews. Germany was resolved, step by step, to ask one European nation after the other to solve its Jewish problem, and at the proper time to direct a similar appeal to non-European nations as well.

Hitler's opposition to a Jewish state came directly from his hate of Jews - exactly like the Mufti.

The Mufti is a hero to Palestinians and considered their first leader.

The tie between antisemitism and anti-Zionism has never been clearer than these words from Adolf Hitler.

The Saudi royal accurately noted the mistakes of Palestinians including allying with Hitler. The New York Times then tries to minimize those ties as being merely "anti-Zionist."

What a joke the New York Times has become.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Saudi paper: Never any Jews in Jerusalem; Israel using Zionism to take over world

Al Bilad, one of Saudi Arabia's oldest newspapers, has an article by Dr. Ghazi Hussein, former PLO envoy to Austria.

Jerusalem is one of the most important holy places that has been associated with the Arabs, Muslims and Christians throughout the ages. Jerusalem is the symbol of the nationalism and holy to Christianity and Islam, the first Qiblah [direction of Muslim prayer] and Islam's third holiest site and the City of Flowers and the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the birthplace of Jesus Christ and the essence of the question of Palestine Arab-Zionist conflict.

Jerusalem occupies a central position among the Arabs for its historical and religious have and to Muslims all over the world.

Arabs were the first to build the foundations of the city around 3000 BC....

The Islamic conquest of Jerusalem came during the reign of Caliph Omar ibn al-Khattab may Allah be pleased with him; when it was liberated by the Romans it had no single Jew in it.

The Patriarch of the city of Damascus signed a declaration to the caliph that Jerusalem was not inhabited by Jews.

Jews used their ambitions for the Arab land and their wealth to settle it with colonialism to serve the interests of Jewish Jerusalem saying that it had special significance to them. The rabbis and leaders of the Zionist movement cemented these allegations and superstition and greed in the minds of Jews, despite the absence of any impact of religion on the city from them at all.

The founder of Zionism Theodor Herzl supported brutality and barbarism in his books in which he says: "If we got one day to Jerusalem and I was still alive and able to do anything, we will remove and burn everything that is not holy to Jews."

The Zionist founders mockingly used the Jewish religion as a sharp weapon in the Judaization of Palestine and for hegemony over the Middle East as a prelude to world domination. And therefore they used it for the success of the colonial Jewish settlement in Palestine and to convert settler colonialism as a center of Jewish worldviews and created the illusion that Jerusalem is the capital of the occupiers.

The clear Jewish ambitions in the city of Jerusalem can be seen in the Jewish Encyclopedia, which said that they aim to control of Jerusalem and to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque: "the Jews wanted to go to Jerusalem and overcome the power of the enemy, and establish their own temple there. "

Don't forget - Saudis are "moderate."

Ghazi Hussein is also a Holocaust-denier, which makes him well-suited to be an honored writer for the Arabic press.

I can confidently predict that no one in the Arabic-speaking world - no professors of history at a single Arab university - will write a response to this article pointing out its absurd lies.

Syrian media upset that Rouhani acknowledged the Holocaust

Syria's "General Organization of Radio and TV" has an op-ed by Dr. Ibrahim Alwash attacking Iran's president Hassan Rouhani for saying that the Holocaust occurred.

The article mostly accuses Rouhani and Iran of selling out, including the Rosh Hashanah greeting to Jews by its foreign minister Zarif, noting that his greeting by definition must have also included Jews who "occupy Palestine!"

Alwash says that Iran is trying to ingratiate itself with the US and is of course using the Jews to help bring this about.

But he is most upset about the Holocaust statement, saying that Jews use the event to justify the existence of Israel, which is of course an unpardonable crime.

While Alwash does not explicitly deny the Holocaust in this article, according to his Wikipedia and Facebook page he is a "researcher" on the topic and he does consider the Holocaust to be a myth. Here is how he illustrates his latest Facebook entry:

Alwash is not a Syrian although he is a staunch defender of the Assad regime. He is a Jordanian of Palestinian origin.

Enough links to last the weekend

Hamas leader Mahmoud al Zahar told a rally in Gaza that the Holocaust was a Zionist lie. Surprised?

The Economist has a good article about Israel's economic promise, and potential problems. (h/t Yaakov Lozowick)

Israellycool, inspired by my series, makes his own poster.

Speaking of, a Polish site put my posters together in a narrative!

Zach at Facebook notices that a couple of people were killed in a protest in Tanzania, a story that will disappear immediately without a trace because no one can blame the Jews.

Yesterday the PA released a number of prisoners who were involved in major terror attacks - including the massacre of four people near Hebron in August. Palestine Today has smiling photos of them. (Israel arrested them, accidentally killing a man during the search.)

Palestine Today also reports that Israel is looking for a type of gum to keep soldiers alert and awake. I figure, if Israelis are so good at making sex gum, how hard can it be?

Swiss bank UBS has banned money transfers to certain anti-Israel (called "pro-Palestinian") organizations. The major one is Collectif Urgence Palestine, whose webpage says that their objectives are to end occupation, release prisoners and allow the right to return as a first step. Hmm..wonder what Step 2 might be? (It is possible the UBS made the decision after lawsuits from Israeli victims of terror claiming that UBS money transfers funded the attacks.)

Folderol sent a link to some new information indicating that Jews used Greek translations of the Torah in synagogues much later than had been thought. Some of the Greek is written in Hebrew characters.

Richard Millett notices an advertisement for tourism to "Palestine" that seems to imply that Israel doesn't exist. Will the UK advertising board ASA object?

Alan Dershowitz and Yaacov Lozowick respond to the ridiculous Letty Cottin Pogrebin column in the Forward that I skewered last week.

Yaacov also has a nice perspective on Abu Rahma.

I had missed this great story from last month: BDS protesters tried to intimidate a Montreal shoe store owner into dropping a brand of high-end Israeli women's shoes called BeautiFeel. He refused, and the Montreal Jewish community has more than made up for any losses from the weekly protests. (One woman bought $3000 worth of shoes to distribute to the homeless!) (from Gil Troy blog)