Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: anti-normalization

Showing posts with label anti-normalization. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 27, 2023

Palestinians force Tunisian Muslim woman out of Al Aqsa:"You walk with the Jews!"

Rabbi Yehuda Glick posted on his Facebook this photo and caption:

On the evening of Yom Kippur we prayed at the Temple Mount together.

Muslim Christian and Jew

We prayed for not one God that peace will come

About us and all mankind

May this place be a house of prayer for all nations.

In practically no time, the story spread and the woman - who is apparently Tunisian but traveling with a European passport - was refused entry to Al Aqsa when she tried to enter the site again on Tuesday.

In this video, a Palestinian man berates the Muslim woman woman who just wanted to pray. He tells her “Go outside, please. Oh, go outside. You walk with the Jews. You walk with Yehuda Glick. I never want to see you here again!"

The woman weakly protests but remains perfectly calm and while being berated.

Some angry Arabic sites identify her as Moroccan, which adds an extra layer of hate since Morocco had normalized relations with Israel.

The woman asked Glick to hide her face in his Facebook post, which he did. But it was too late; the original photo had already been published and spread.

Yet Glick's attempt to minimize the damage shows that he cares more about the welfare of this Muslim woman than Palestinian Muslims do.

Palestinians are cheering the man who forced a Muslim woman to leave the holy site.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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Shiites in Bahrain threaten violence if normalization continues

The Iranian Tasnim News Agency reports:

The leader of the Islamic Al-Wafa Movement in Bahrain, Mr. Murtada Al-Sindi, affirmed that no one can guarantee the safety and stability of the Zionist entity in Bahrain.

On the implications and objectives of the visit of the Zionist entity's foreign minister, Eli Cohen, to Bahrain, the leader of the Islamic Al-Wafa Movement in Bahrain, Mr. Mortada Al-Sindi, said in a statement to the correspondent of Tasnim News Agency that the government chose its position in the struggle of the axes, and the people of Bahrain also determined their position, the government chose to be with the Zionists and a tail of Israel, while the people of Bahrain chose to be with the axis of resistance and the Palestinian cause.

Regarding the possibility of a popular resistance to the Zionist presence in Bahrain, he said, the natural reaction to the presence of the usurping entity in Bahrain is resistance and rejection, and the people of Bahrain are jealous and religious people, and all segments of Bahraini society and all sects of society have expressed their rejection of the Zionist presence, but no one guarantees that it [civil disobedience alone] will continue ...Matters are subject to escalation and may be manifested in resistance movements and factions to confront the bastard presence of the usurping Zionist entity of the holy land of Palestine.

He added that the violations and crimes committed by the Zionist entity against our brothers and loved ones in occupied Palestine turn into lava in the chests of our people, and this lava may erupt at any moment and turn into a movement of resistance to the Zionist presence in Bahrain, and no one can guarantee the Zionist entity's safety and stability in Bahrain. .

This is a threat of violence on Bahraini soil. But there is a little element of deniability, claiming that any such violence would be from regular Bahraini citizens who are fed up, not organized by Al Sindi's superiors in Iran.

Israel and Bahrain agreed to improve their trade ties today.

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Libya says it will quit international energy organizations that have Israel as a member. (They won't.)

The fallout in Libya of the discovery that Israeli and Libyan officials have been meeting secretly for years, and those officials denials, has prompted many other Libyans to pledge that they will never, ever, ever do anything that could be considered the slightest bit of normalization with Israel.

For example, the mayors of Libyan towns felt it was necessary to issue a statement that they "expressed their complete rejection of establishing any relationship of any kind with the criminal Zionist entity."

But perhaps the strangest announcement of people trying to out-Arab the Palestinians - who do indeed speak to Israeli officials - comes from the Libyan Ministry of Oil and Gas, which said

The Ministry of Oil and Gas announces its rejection of state officials calling joining organizations or forums attended by the Zionist entity or in which it is a member, especially in areas related to the oil and gas sector.

I don't know how many international energy organizations Israel is a member of, but Israel certainly has been a member of the World Petroleum Council for decades - and so is Libya, and Iran,.

All three are also members of the International Gas Union.

Is it really going to quit those organizations now? A Libyan boycott of these, and probably many more, international organizations that include Israel would only hurt Libya - it wouldn't affect Israel at all.

Moreover, Israel and Libya have both been members of these organizations for quite a while, and Libya never said a word against it - even though Libya's official laws rejecting normalization of Israel have been in force since 1957.

Just like the announcement of the mayors, this is all posturing. Libya was shamed by the foreign minister's meeting with her Israeli counterpart, and now they are scrambling to regain their "honor." Honor has nothing to do with reality - public declarations of solidarity with Palestinians mean much more than privately insulting them, or privately accpeting Israel's membership in these international organizations.

Put it this way - none of Israel's enemies have quit the UN yet despite Israel being a member.

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Why doesn't the US tell Libya (and other Arab nations) to stop acting like children when Israel is discussed?

The story about the meeting between Israel's Foreign Minister Eli Cohen with his Libyan counterpart Najla Mangoush, and the angry reactions from Libya, have dominated the news cycle.

Looking at Libyan newspapers, people are falling over themselves to distance themselves from any possibility that they support talking to Israelis.

Besides the opposition political parties who are using this episode as an opportunity to slam the government, we have the Women and Children Affairs Committee in the Libyan House of Representatives which felt obligated to announce that the meeting "does not represent the national and national constants of Libyan women towards the Palestinian cause," adding that "this meeting is high treason and a moral crime."

Meanwhile Libyans burned photos of Cohen and Mangoush.

Just another day of unbridled hate that is considered normal in the Middle East.

I don't know whether Eli Cohen's explanation that the news of the meeting was about to be leaked is true. And almost certainly Cohen did not handle this as professionally as he should have. But the US reaction to the announcement is almost as insane as the Libyan reactions.

US President Joe Biden’s administration is reportedly furious with Jerusalem for revealing last week’s meeting between the foreign ministers of Israel and Libya.

US officials told Israel that the episode will deter other countries from embarking on a normalization process with Israel, multiple Hebrew media outlets reported Monday.

A US official also said it “killed” the conversation channel with Libya about recognizing Israel.

Something is not adding up here.

Everyone is talking about Saudi normalization with Israel, quite publicly, including top US officials. Everyone knows there have been secret talks between Saudi and Israeli officials. Somehow, those discussions and the angry response from Israel haters is not deterring the discussions. Somehow, Saudi conciliatory moves - like opening up its airspace to Israeli aircraft - is not deterring other countries from considering peace with Israel.

But for the subject to be broached for Libya, this is the end of the world?

The reason is simple. Over the past few years, the Saudi leadership started acting like adults, and the Libyans are still stuck in their old paradigm.

The US had a golden opportunity here. Instead of castigating Israel's Foreign Ministry, it could have told Libya and the rest of the Arab world, "Israel exists. Talking with a regional superpower about common interests is normal behavior for any state leaders who care about their own people's welfare. It is literally the job of top diplomats to talk to leaders of other countries, even and sometimes especially enemies. Acting as if this is a major crime is infantile. There are real problems in the world, and having a conversation with an Israeli official is not in the top 5,000. Stop acting like babies."

The reason that countries like Libya have managed to remain steeped in their childishness concerning Israel is because the West lets them. Antisemitism is a given as part of the Arab world and not something that must be combatted - it is a cultural right, you see. Crazed hate is expected behavior for Arabs so they are never chided for reinforcing that attitude.

Instead of demanding that Libya's top politicians act like leaders who have the best interests of their people in mind, the US rewards their mad dash to outdo themselves as to how much they publicly hate Israel.

Instead of getting angry at the Arabs who are proud of their hate, the US is angry at Israel for not bending over backwards to accommodate their obsessive hate of Jews and Israelis.

And while Israel needs to be sensitive to cultural mores when trying to establish relations - including, sadly, antisemitism - it shouldn't have to apologize for treating other countries as if they aren't filled with childish, Jew hating idiots.

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A Lebanese SWAT team shows their skills confiscating Israeli kitchen towels! (video)

The Jerusalem Post reports:

Lebanon’s National Security Ministry confiscated Israeli goods from store shelves around the country, its National Security Ministry announced, according to Lebanese media reports on Tuesday.

It is unknown how the Israeli goods ended up in commercial centers in Lebanon, as the two countries do not have diplomatic relations and do not engage in trade.

According to the reports, the Lebanese ministry stated that “relevant parties had been summoned for questioning.”

According to Ynet, among the Israeli goods confiscated in Lebanon were kitchen towels from the Netanya-based home goods company, Golf & Co. as well as sealing strips from PROMAX.

This doesn't come close to capturing the absurdity of Lebanon's zealousness at enforcing Article 285 of the Lebanese penal code which prohibits trade with an enemy state.

Lebanese State Security released this video dramatizing how their strangely masked employees received the information of the dangerous goods, then enter a vehicle while heavily armed, where they race down the streets in order to confiscate the contraband that is, shudder, "MADE IN ISRAEL."

It is a clown show, yet they are taking this all so seriously.

The entire country is going to hell, but at least Lebanese citizens can sleep at night knowing that their security forces are protecting them from Zionist kitchen towels.

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BDSers are proud of using violence to stifle free speech

From JTA last week:

Pro-Palestinian protesters injured a university employee while demonstrating against a lecture speaker who heads the Brazilian chapter of a pro-Israel advocacy group.

Andre Lajst, the director of StandWithUs Brazil, was speaking about ways that Israeli technologies could help develop the Amazon region at the Federal University of Amazonas in Manaus on Thursday when protesters clashed with security and other university employees outside the lecture auditorium.

According to news reports, the advisor to the university’s rector left the scene with a broken nose after attempting to safeguard her daughter. Several students entering the lecture were also harassed, and police officers escorted Lajst into and out of the venue. One protester was reportedly arrested for pushing a police officer but later released.

Here's video at the scene:

Andre Lajst completed his lecture and had to be escorted out by police for his safety from the violent mob.

But BDS-aligned media are bragging (and lying) that they managed to shut down his speech with their thuggish mob!

Pro-Palestine Brazilians demonstrated at a university in the Brazilian city of Manaus against the organization of a pro-Israeli-occupation event on campus.
Despite the high-security measures against them, the protesters managed to stop the meeting in support of the Israeli occupation, which is entitled “Cooperation with Israel”.
André Lajst, director of the Brazilian branch of StandWithUs, a pro-Israeli-occupation group in Brazil, spoke at the event about supporting the occupation and normalization with it.
Video clips showed the large number of anti-Israel-occupation demonstrators, known as BDS Mob, who confronted the Brazilian police and attempted to shut down the event by force, forcing Lajst and his companions to leave the place quickly.
These protests are a part of the international BDS activities against all forms of normalization with the Israeli occupation, especially educational normalization.

Among themselves, BDSers don't even pretend to be "non-violent." They are happy and proud to threaten and attack people.

And then they claim in mainstream media articles that they are doing it in the name of "academic freedom."

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Report of Saudi demands for negotiations on normalization with Israel appears to be Palestinian psy-ops, not real

Arabic media are publishing a supposed list of four Saudi demands in order for the kingdom to start negotiations to recognize Israel.

Private sources reported that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia desires strong political, economic, security and social relations with Israel that include all kinds of cooperation with friendly countries and the establishment of an unprecedented partnership in all fields.

For this, the Kingdom needs security and political guarantees before starting serious negotiations on the form of the relationship. Therefore, the Saudi National Security Council set four conditions for starting real negotiations under the auspices of the United States of America, which are:

1- The United States agrees to sell the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia 50 F-35 aircraft, without banning any of the types of advanced capabilities it has, like Israel.

2- The United States of America agrees to complete the sale and construction of 5 nuclear reactors for peaceful purposes.

3- Israel's agreement to subject its nuclear reactors to be under the supervision of the Atomic Energy Commission, and agreement of a Middle East region free of nuclear weapons.

4- Israel should stop weakening the Palestinian National Authority and return to the negotiating table in order to achieve peace and stability in the region.

The only places these were published were Palestinian media, so the list is a little suspect.

Beyond that, these are pre-conditions before any negotiations, and from that perspective they seem absurd - the US giving advanced weapons in exchange for talks that could go nowhere? Israel being forced to make major concessions before any negotiations even start?

And one more thing: The Saudi National Security Council was dissolved in 2015.

This looks like a Palestinian psy-ops attempt to pressure the Saudis to demand more concessions from Israel on the Palestinian issue, as there is a real (and founded) fear among Palestinians that they will be only an incidental part of any normalization plan.

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BDSers eating their own

Haaretz reports:

Tunisian singer Emel Mathlouthi...canceled last Monday’s scheduled performance at Fattoush Bar in Haifa, in wake of a BDS media campaign against her. “We call upon Tunisians and Arabs, and all Palestine supporters around the world, to boycott Emel Mathlouthi, all her music and all her shows,” the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement activists had written.

Last Thursday, Mathlouthi posted on her Facebook page a statement rejecting the claims by BDS alleging that she was “normalizing the occupation by cultural means.” She noted that the Palestinian issue is a top priority for her, as evidenced in her songs, positions and personal statements. Nonetheless, her scheduled performance in Haifa sparked controversy on social media, and the pressure from BDS had its intended effect.

“In wake of the controversy raised by the concert tour in the Palestinian territories, and in order to avoid misunderstandings, we’ve decided not to go ahead with the performance in the occupied city of Haifa, even though the place (Fattoush Bar) is under Palestinian ownership,” she wrote.

The attack on the singer elicited fierce discussion on social media by young Palestinians who objected to BDS’ position. Activist Athir Ismail wrote on Facebook: “I am a Palestinian. And I want to speak about what I want without someone from outside watching me and telling me how to fight and how to live.”

Ismail directed her criticism at BDS activists living abroad whose calls for boycotts end up affecting Palestinians who live in Israel. “What do you know about our life here aside from what you see and hear on the news?” she asked. “You cast doubt on our Palestinian identity and act like a man who thinks he has to explain to a woman what she can and can’t do in her fight against toxic masculinity, what’s permitted and what’s forbidden.”

Artist Haya Zaatry from Nazareth also criticized BDS’ actions: “Preventing or canceling a musical performance by an Arab artist in an independent Palestinian space in Haifa only heightens the cultural embargo in which we (Palestinian citizens of Israel) live, and this is a bad and dangerous thing.”

The BDS movement is dominated by privileged white people who falsely claim to be doing what Palestinians want them to do, and when self-described Palestinians tell them they are wrong, they ignore them.

Mathlouthi did end up performing in Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Ramallah - and those concerts, for some reason, were considered "normalization" with Israel:

A Tunisian singer who rose to prominence during the Arab spring uprisings announced Wednesday an upcoming show in Tunisia had been cancelled for supposed “normalisation” with Israel.

Mathlouthi, 41, had been set to perform at the Hammamet International Festival in Tunisia next week.

“I am very sorry to announce our much awaited concert in Hammamet has been cancelled with no official reason,” Mathlouthi said in a statement posted on Instagram.

“We believe that our latest tour in beautiful Palestine has sparked an unjustified controversy accusing me of normalisation.”

The best possible anti-Israel spokesperson - attractive, talented, and immensely popular - is being canceled for being insufficiently anti-Israel.

When a movement is built on hate, it eventually falls apart because the members start hating each other for not hating enough.

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European Union think tank seems think the Abraham Accords are a mistake

From the EUISS webpage:

The European Union Institute for Security Studies (EUISS) is the Union’s Agency analysing foreign, security and defence policy issues. Its core mission is to assist the EU and its member states in the implementation of the Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP), including the Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) as well as other external action of the Union.

One would think that the EUISS' analyses would be in line with mainstream EU thinking.

Last year, Algeria hosted a forgettable Arab League summit. The EUISS used this as a springboard to evaluate how well and how poorly the League of Arab States (LAS) does what it was meant to do - avoid intra-Arab wars, for example.

But one of its threads of analysis was quite concerning:

The LAS has lost credibility in recent decades due to the weakness of its institutional mechanisms,and its failure to translate the lofty statements of its leaders into action. The inability to take a united stance on the Palestinian issue, when several Arab leaders decided to normalise relations with Israel, is probably its most profound failure, especially given that an overwhelming majority of 88% of Arab citizens disapprove of their governments’ recognition of Israel, and only 6% accept a formal diplomatic recognition.

It sure sounds like the EUISS is saying that a unified Arab consensus against even recognizing Israel is far preferable to a situation where some Arab nations establish relations.

An official EU organization that apparently considers several Arab states making peace with Israel to be a "profound failure" seems to be a pretty big deal. Does this mean the EU considers earlier peace between Israel and Jordan and Egypt to have been a net negative as well?

In fact, the EUISS site does not have any analysis of the Abraham Accords at all. Even though these agreements have been perhaps the most far-reaching change in the Middle East since the Iranian revolution, they do not merit a single article.

The longstanding EU position is that the Palestinian issue is the center of any Middle East peace (the "linkage" claim) and the Abraham Accords showed that this assumption has never been true, and indeed the Arab League was the impediment to peace by pretending that its members were obligated to act as a single anti-Israel bloc instead of in their own self-interests.

In 2020, the EASS - the diplomatic service of the EU - officially welcomed the normalization agreements without using the name "Abraham Accords," but then spent more time discussing how a two state solution should be the main goal and blamed only Israel for the lack of progress on that front. Whether it is stated formally or not, the EU position seems to be that Israel has no rights or legitimate claims to the Old City, Area C or any historic Jewish sites outside the Green Line. It appears that the EU regards the Abraham Accords as a net negative because they reduced diplomatic pressure on Israel on ceding its claims and they took the focus away from the "Palestinians are virtuous, Israel is intransigent" mantra that has been its foreign policy towards the conflict since the Palestinian refusal for peace and the second intifada.

(h/t Irene)

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Was a Moroccan singer "canceled" for performing in Israel?

Arabic media is reporting:

The Moroccan singer, Fatima Zahraa Al-Arousi, caused anger among activists, after she performed a concert in Israel.

Activists shared footage of Fatima Al-Zahraa Al-Arousi's performance, which was organized by the Moroccan Liaison Office in Tel Aviv, on the occasion of the Mimouna festival held by Jews of Moroccan origin at the end of Passover.

It seems that Al-Arousi was expecting the angry reaction, so she did not previously announce the event through her accounts on social networking sites.

However, the Moroccan artist lost thousands of followers from her fans after the footage circulated of her concert in Israel .

Here's the short clip being circulated:

So did she lose her fan base?

Her detractors are circulating this graphic:

According to this, Al-Arousi lost abut 11,000 followers in the three days after the news broke, and based on that, about 60,000 followers until today.

It sounds like a lot, but it is only 3% of her fan base. And her Instagram has a bunch of people criticizing her but really not that many, considering how many followers she has, and many defending her as well. Other social media is decidedly mixed, with plenty of people saying that Morocco and Israel have a peace treaty and she can do whatever she wants. Also, the critics don't have the usual kind of vitriol one usually associates with anything to do with Israel.

It looks like the people who she lost were not her biggest fans anyway. More importantly, the reactions I'm seeing are far saner that the crazed reactions one sees in Arab countries like Algeria, Egypt and Jordan. Usually by now the artists would be accused of being complicit in mass murder or something.

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Moroccan government rebukes opposition party for attacking its policy on Israel

Last week, Morocco's Islamist Justice and Development Party accused the Moroccan government of defending Israel in international forums:

Morocco's Foreign Minister Nasser Bourita has been slammed for allegedly "defending the Zionist entity" during meetings with African and European officials.

The Justice and Development Party (PJD) denounced Bourita's remarks during a meeting with the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi last week, in which he talked about tripartite regional cooperation and the "opportunities that it grants for development between Morocco, the European Commission and Israel."

The government issued a rare rebuke where it both expressed its support for Palestinian positions as well as defended its relations with Israel while accusing the PJD of playing politics:

The General Secretariat of the Justice and Development Party (PJD) recently issued a statement containing irresponsible excessive views and dangerous approximations concerning the relations between the Kingdom of Morocco and the State of Israel, against the background of the latest developments in the occupied Palestinian territories.

In this regard, the Office of His Majesty the King stresses the following:

Firstly: Morocco's position regarding the Palestinian question is irreversible. It constitutes one of the priorities of the foreign policy of His Majesty the King, the Commander of the Faithful and Chairman of the Al-Quds Committee, who places this issue on a par with the question of the Kingdom's territorial integrity. For Morocco, this is a constant, principled position, which should not be open to political posturing and narrow electoral campaigns.

Secondly: The Kingdom's foreign policy is a prerogative of His Majesty the King, may God assist him, as per the Constitution - a foreign policy which His Majesty implements in light of the immutable values and best interests of the nation, chief among which is the question of territorial integrity.

Thirdly: The Kingdom's international relations cannot be the subject of blackmail by anyone or for any consideration whatsoever, particularly in the current complex global context. The instrumentalization of the Kingdom's foreign policy in a domestic partisan agenda thus constitutes a dangerous, unacceptable precedent.

Fourthly: The resumption of relations between Morocco and Israel took place in circumstances and in a context which everyone knows. It is governed by the communiqué of the Office of His Majesty the King dated December 10, 2020, and the communiqué issued on the same day following the telephone conversation between His Majesty and the Palestinian President, as well as the Tripartite Declaration of December 22, 2020, signed in His Majesty's presence.

The nation's driving forces, political parties, as well as some prominent figures, and certain associations engaged in the Palestinian question, were at the time informed of that decision, for which they expressed their support and commitment.

Arabic media are interpreting this statement according to their own political positions, some emphasizing the Moroccan commitment to Palestinian positions and others highlighting the Moroccan government attacking an Islamist party.

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BDS leader Omar Barghouti admits BDS targets Jews, not "Zionists"

Last week, a bunch of "anti-Zionists" got together for a webcast that next to nobody watched about the dangers of "normalization" with Israel.

One of the speakers was Omar Barghouti, who claims to be the founder of the BDS movement. He explains here what, exactly, BDS opposes when it says it opposes normalization with Israel, giving two conditions before anyone can meet with the "Israeli side." Paraphrasing, the Israeli side must oppose Israel's existence as a Jewish state, and the meeting itself must be an anti-Israel meeting.

Then at the very end of his description, Barghouti says, "Again, 'Israeli side' means Jewish Israelis or Jewish Israeli institutions as the case may be."

Meaning, that it is not "normalization" to meet with Israeli Arabs or Israeli Christians even if they are Zionist. The "crime" of normalization applies only to meeting Jews.

Yes, BDS is antisemitic. But we knew that already.

Here is the video, with as much context as I could put in:

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Egypt freaking out over possible Suez Canal agreement with Israeli company

Middle East Monitor reports:

The Egyptian Suez Canal Authority (SCA) on Friday denied reaching an agreement with an Israeli company to manage its services and decided to take legal action against those spreading the rumour.

A statement by the authority denied the news: "In response to the information that was circulated on some anonymous personal accounts on social media regarding the canal signing a contract with a company to manage its services through a 99-year contract."

The SCA statement came the day after an alleged contract was circulated on social media platforms, with those posting it claiming that it is a contract between the Egyptian government and an Israeli company to manage the canal's services. The controversy increased after the confirmation by Israeli journalist Edy Cohen.

Chair of the SCA Lieutenant-General Osama Rabie confirmed in a statement: "These rumours are completely and utterly untrue."

He affirmed: "Egypt's absolute political and economic sovereignty in managing, operating and maintaining the navigational facility of the Suez Canal. All contracts the authority has entered cannot affect Egyptian sovereignty in any way over the canal and all its facilities, which are protected by the Constitution."

Edy Cohen published several pages of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Suez Canal Authority and a fairly secretive consortium based out of the UK called HAB & JPR Privee Group.

The wording in the denial indicates what is probably going on. It wouldn't be unusual for the Suez Canal Authority to contract out specific services to others, under strict conditions - companies do that all the time. It clearly would not affect Egypt's sovereignty over the canal.

Also, there is a difference between a Memorandum of Understanding, which is like an agreement to make an agreement, and a legally binding contract. Most MOUs allow each party to back out of it under certain conditions. SCA's denials are of a contract, not an agreement.

I have no idea if HAB & JPR Privee Group is really Israeli.

Assuming that Cohen's MOU is legitimate, I find it interesting that it seems to be written on World Bank stationery.

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

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US gives millions to Palestinians without reporting where, exactly, the money goes

The United States has a very nice web page that shows how much foreign aid is given and the specific recipients every year.

Here's a detail of what the West Bank/Gaza page looked like in 2020:

The highlighted text says, "USAID redacted this field in accordance with the exceptions outlined in the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016."

I count about $90 million given to these anonymous Palestinian recipients since 2016.

Looking at the text of that Act, it appears that there are only two reasons to redact the names of the recipients:

(3) REPORT IN LIEU OF INCLUSION.—
(A) HEALTH OR SECURITY OF IMPLEMENTING PARTNERS.—
If the head of a Federal department or agency, in consultation with the Secretary of State, makes a determination that the inclusion of a required item of information online would jeopardize the health or security of an implementing partner or program beneficiary or would require the release of proprietary information of an implementing partner or program beneficiary, the head of the Federal department or agency shall provide such determination in writing to the appropriate congressional committees, including the basis for such determination.
(B) NATIONAL INTERESTS OF THE UNITED STATES.—If the Secretary of State makes a determination that the inclusion of a required item of information online would be detrimental to the national interests of the United States, the Secretary of State shall provide such determination, including the basis for such determination, in writing to the appropriate congressional committees.

Could it be that the reason that some of the recipient names are redacted is because they would be threatened if it was known they were accepting aid from the US? Or perhaps some of the programs are "under the radar" grassroots peace initiatives, that the Palestinian Authority tries to quash as "normalization"?

Either way, it seems like there is a bit of money sloshing around without any transparency.

One other interesting note. In 2019, the Trump administration announced that it ceased all aid through USAID to the Palestinians. Yet somehow USAID still managed to send millions to the Palestinians in 2019 and 2020 - much less than during the Obama and Biden administrations, but not close to zero.

It seems that the "Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act of 2016" leaves a lot of wiggle room for non-transparency.

(h/t Irene)

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

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Syria insists it would NEVER accept earthquake aid from Israel. No one thinks this is strange.

From Reuters:

The pro-Assad regime Al Watan newspaper on Monday quoted a Syrian official denying reports it relayed a request for Israeli aid in the wake of the massive earthquake that shook the region.
Earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a request from Syria did arrive and that Israel was prepared to send tents and medical supplies and provide treatment for the injured.

Arabic media reports one of the denials:

The source said, "If Netanyahu had received such a request, it was certainly from his allies and friends in ISIS, Jabhat al-Nusra and other terrorist organizations."

The source added to the Syrian newspaper Al-Watan: "The Israeli occupation entity is the cause of woes, wars and tensions in the region, and it is the last one who has the right to talk about providing aid and assistance. It is disgraceful that Netanyahu exploits the catastrophe of the earthquake that struck Syria to mislead public opinion and cover up the expansionist and aggressive policies of the occupation."

Aid-washing!

The highest priority of any government is to protect its citizens. If Syria is telling the truth now, it is saying quite clearly that hating Israel is a more fundamental tenet than saving people's lives.

That's about as good a definition of antisemitism as there is.

It is exactly the philosophy of BDS, who claim to want to boycott Israel at any cost (for anyone but themselves.)

And just like BDS, the insistence that human lives are less important than having nothing to do with the Jewish state is couched in terms of - morality!

Isn't it strange that the rest of the world doesn't think this is strange? Syria and other Muslim nations having an obsessive hate of Israel is accepted as a law of nature.

And, in some ways, that's also a good definition of antisemitism.

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!

Today's Arab media antisemitism

Lots of Jew-hate this weekend in Arabic language news media (defined as such by Google News.)

The Palestinian Wattan site says that "we do not deny the truth of the Holocaust" but adds a caveat: "Regardless of the issue of the Zionist exaggeration of the victims of the Holocaust in order to win the sympathy of the world and the support of the Zionist state..." The article also rails against Holocaust education in UAE schools, saying that Israel's treatment of Palestinians is at least as bad as the Holocaust and should be taught together with it, at the very least.

Pan-Arab Laa Media also has a lengthy article about the Holocaust, saying that it was exaggerated, that Jews use it to force the world to do their desires, and that the Holocaust deniers who are telling the real truth are being persecuted.

Jordan's Alsaa.net says that any nuclear war will not affect the Arab countries near Israel. The Quran promised that the Children of Israel would gather in their land, and that prophecy is being fulfilled by Israel. Therefore, the Muslims will destroy the Jews by conventional weaponry, because that it the only way that the other Quranic prophecy will be fulfilled, that trees and rocks will tell Muslims that a Jew is hiding behind them so they can be killed,

Al Taghyeer (Sudan) denies that Arab countries were ever antisemitic, and explained that their persecution of Jews was simply anti-Zionism: "The Jews were part of the social fabric of most Arab countries and Islamic empires, and they were not burned or exiled from their countries. [That is a pretty low bar.] Hostility to them escalated after they were promised to establish an alternative homeland for them in Palestine, in the famous Balfour Declaration. The intense hostility towards them as Jews emanated from two different directions, one of them from the leftist Arabist movement and the other an Islamic Brotherhood movement, despite the hostility between them, but they were united in this hostility."

Sudan's Sudanile says that the reason not to normalize with Israel has little to do with its treatment of Arabs(since Arab governments treat their own people at least as badly.) No, the reason not to have relations with Israel is "because God commanded us not to be loyal to the Jews" - the Quran says Jews hate Islam so therefore Muslims altogether shouldn't normalize relations with Israel.

Also, a followup to the story about a book at the Cairo International Book Fair with the antisemitic cover.

The book was withdrawn from the fair, and the publisher says this was because of pressure from Egyptian authorities. A small firestorm of criticism ensued on social media, and the publisher reinstated the book to the fair.

Observers believe that the entire controversy was engineered by the publisher to gain publicity for the book, pointing out that if the Egyptian government wanted to ban a book, it would never be returned to the shelves.

In this case, antisemitism was the main selling point of the book.

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!

Popular Arabic children's media empire, founded by a self-described Palestinian, targeted because it has connections to Jews

Fozi Mozi and Tutti is a hugely popular children's show on YouTube and on digital platforms, with billions of views.

Most of their videos are in Arabic, although they have branched out into English, Turkish, Hindi, Spanish and other languages.

It was founded by Fawzi Saeid, who calls himself a Palestinian on his LinkedIn page.

The characters have played to large audiences worldwide - and even went to Gaza recently to perform for children there.

Fozi Mozi is a true Arab success story.

But the Ultrapal news site has uncovered some shocking news - Fozi Mozi is partially owned by Mememe Studios which is owned by Dori Media which was founded by Nadav Palti - an Israeli Jew!

Horrors!

Naturally Ultrapal discovered that Palti was in the IDF decades ago.

The partnership between Saied and Israeli distributors is not surprising and it is probably the reason for Fozi Mozi's success. Fawzi Saeid is almost certainly an Israeli citizen; he is an Arab Christian who lives in Haifa and attended schools in Israel from his youth.

The Ultrapal expose doesn't talk much of that. They are far more upset over Palti's involvement than Saied's being a citizen of Israel.

And this is the way things work. Ultrapal's problem with Fozi Mozi isn't that Saeid is Israeli himself; it is that he partners with Jews.

This is the same as BDS as a whole, one doesn't boycott Israeli Arabs, only Israeli Jews.

The antisemitism is as obvious as it is denied by the BDSers.

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!