Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: anti-normalization

Showing posts with label anti-normalization. Show all posts

Tuesday, July 12, 2022

Algeria media upset "Zionists" attended a mass Muslim circumcision ceremony in Morocco

Algerian news site Echorouk Online claims that there was a major normalization crime in rival nation Morocco:

[The Moroccan kingdom] focused on its provocative activities, the latest of which was the organization of a circumcision ceremony for children of poor and needy Moroccan families under the supervision of a Zionist delegation consisting of hardened criminals, in order to create a propaganda scene that serves the Zionist agenda and the Zionist subversive penetration into the depths of Moroccan society, according to the

The Moroccan Observatory for Anti-Normalization stated that “in a very dangerous step, and considered a crime with full descriptions, some agents of normalization in the city of Fez organized a circumcision ceremony for more than 500 children and a medical examination for more than 200 women free of charge, in order to receive, honor and highlight the faces of Zionist terrorism, represented by a delegation from the officers of the Zionist war army, for whom everything was arranged,” in Kharja bearing “a lot of very dangerous symbols.”

In the context, the observatory said that Moroccan women were lured from the poorest neighborhoods in Fez, “with the aim of making the scene of propaganda a servant of the Zionist agenda and the Zionist subversive penetration into the depth of Moroccan society and beautifying the faces of Zionist terrorism in the eyes of Moroccans.” According to the observatory, what happened in Fez is “a major crime by all standards, and accordingly it is necessary to arrange the positions it requires, whether by the state or society, otherwise the country is heading to the bottom, the bottom of the comprehensive Zionist disgrace.”

It took a while but I found video of the supposed event.

It seems that an Israeli named Avraham Avizemer arranges tours of Morocco for Israelis, and this was part of one tour. It wasn't an official Israeli delegation.

Avizemer was born in Casablanca and formerly worked for the Israeli Navy, which is what makes him a Zionist criminal, apparently.

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There's been a "Marshall Plan" for Palestinians for decades. It didn't work.

World Jewish Congress president Ronald Lauder made a splash earlier this month when, in Arab News, he suggested a new "Marshall Plan" for Palestinians to help bring peace.

It might seem counterintuitive, given the decades of failed peace efforts, but I believe this is exactly the right time to offer the Palestinians a new initiative — one that they cannot turn down. What I am suggesting is a “Marshall Plan” that would offer the next generation of Palestinians a future of wealth, success and self-reliance, rather than the dismal prospects of the past.

Just as the Marshall Plan put Europe on a sound financial footing, the Palestinian plan should focus on the creation of small businesses, home building, hotels, restaurants and job creation that would offer a positive future to the next generation.

A fixed sum of money could be given to young entrepreneurs to create new businesses, which would be closely monitored. If they prove to be viable but need a financial boost after a year, another small infusion could be given. In other words, provide Palestinians with all the things that made Israel and other countries financially viable, which would help create a new and successful Palestine.

Within three-to-five years, I believe per capita wealth would double annually. The wealthier a future Palestinian nation becomes, the more likely it is that it could be the viable, successful country it should be — and every country in the region would benefit from this change.

This is short-sighted, for a number of reasons.

First of all, for decades, the per-capita aid to the Palestinians has dwarfed that of every other nation. In other words, they have already been the recipients of the most extensive "Marshall Plan" in history - and it has not moderated them one bit.

Notice that even in 2019, when the US has sharply reduced aid to the Palestinians under Trump, they still received nearly double the aid per capita of the next highest recipient and quadruple that of #3.

In 2009, they received some six times what the next highest recipient was. But that didn't stop three more wars from Gaza.

Throwing money at the problem doesn't solve anything when it comes to Palestinians.

Secondly, while the PA budget is in very bad shape, a lot of that is because the government itself insists on giving a significant percentage of its budget to reward terrorism. As long as that is happening, the PA cannot and must not be a recipient of aid, directly or indirectly. The message from the world must be that this is unacceptable - not that we will send yet more money.

Thirdly, the Palestinians themselves ridicule the idea. They want Jerusalem and Hebron to be Judenrein, they demand "return" to destroy Israel demographically, they think that the ICC and UN and "human rights" NGOs will destroy Israel given enough time so they can sit back and wait.

What about aid to individual entrepreneurs, as Lauder suggests? That is also already happening. The US, Canada and private initiatives are already investing tens of millions to help Palestinian businesses. And it is not a bad idea. Palestinians high tech teams are already partnering with their Israeli counterparts. Israel is expected to increase 4G wireless networking in the territories during Biden's visit, which should help Palestinian high tech firms find partners worldwide. The Palestinian Authority does not seem to recognize that services that could be done remotely like coding should be a national priority.

Creative Palestinians will find ways to build up their businesses anyway. But they aren't the problem that needs solving.

The main problem is that the majority of Palestinians think that terrorism is the best Palestinian strategy, as the most recent poll shows.

Throwing money at people who believe in terrorism is not how to bring peace. The PA, Hamas and those who support the goals of destroying Israel should be getting less money, not more. The linkage should be explicit.

Which is what Israel is already doing. It links work permits to calm. When there is relative peace, more Palestinians can enjoy the benefits of being neighbors with an economic powerhouse. As soon as a rocket is shot towards Israel or a Jenin terrorist stabs someone in Tel Aviv, the borders get sealed - an obvious and logical response to a country under attack. Palestinians can see the linkage between their actions and consequences, and they don't want to suffer the consequences. Even Hamas has been acting to keep things calm.

This is not peace. With the current Palestinian mindset, it will never bring peace. But it brings calm, and that is the best we can hope for.

Throwing money at the problem gives a disincentive for Palestinians to cooperate with Israel. It gives the false impression that they don't need to think about working together with Israel because the cash is coming in anyway.

Linking their actions with immediate consequences - both positive and negative - is the best and most effective way to save lives, and, ultimately, to allow both sides to prosper.

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Palestinians against building a sports center for Arabs in Jerusalem because it is "normalization"

The Jerusalem Post reports that ground has been broken on a new sports complex in Beit Hanina meant to serve the Arab community of Jerusalem. It will include a half-Olympic sized pool, instruction pool, exercise gyms and more. The $20 million project, once completed, will be fully managed by Jerusalem Arabs from the already successful Beit Hanina Community Center.

These will be the first public pools built in Jerusalem for the Arab population. Much of the funding is coming from the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation.

Anti-Israel activists have complained for years - with some justification - that Israel is not providing enough services to its Arab population. Here is an attempt to address that concern. So are they happy?

Of course not.

Here is how Al Resalah is reporting this story:

Jerusalem researcher: The occupation is establishing a Judaizing sports center to impose normalization in Jerusalem

Jerusalem researcher Mazen Al-Jabari says: "The Judaization Sports Center will be built on Palestinian lands confiscated by the occupation,...

According to Al-Jabari, the occupation municipality is one of the tools of the "Israeli" government, as it works to Judaize the Holy City and normalize the situation there, pointing out that the completion of the sports project will hit youth projects in Jerusalem, especially as it will provide services for free, where swimming pools and modern playgrounds.

He stressed to Al-Resalah that the goal of the Judaization project is to undermine the relationship of Jerusalemites with their youth and sports centers and to normalize Jerusalemite youth with Jewish centers, and thus the occupation municipality succeeds in changing the character of the Old City.

Regarding the occupation’s recent activity in Judaizing sports, Al-Jabari mentions that through the sports movement and the great demand for it, the occupation sees it as an important entrance to attract young people to normalize and integrate them into the "Israeli" sports machine.

As usual, everything the Jews do is awful. The haters just need to figure out the reasons why.

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Morocco's universities, and then its government, are in danger of Zionist takeover!

Arab media - especially in Algeria - have been issuing dire warnings in the past couple of days:

The National Working Group for Palestine and the Moroccan Observatory against Normalization expressed their concern about the "escalating Zionist penetration of universities and higher institutes in Morocco through the accelerated normalization steps ."

In a letter they addressed to the National Syndicate for Higher Education, the two anti-normalization bodies warned of the danger of revealing “a number of infiltrations and deceptions of the tools of the Zionist enemy and its intelligence services, hidden and declared, to the university campus through a series of what were called scientific and research activities framed by officers and leaders of the Zionist army with a number of university institutions, under misleading descriptions and names, and with great secrecy over their true identities."

The message focused on the danger of this penetration on the future of Moroccan universities and on scientific research in their institutions, especially on students and youth, and on the future of the country as a whole, calling for the necessary vigilance and mobilization to confront it.

The head of the Moroccan Observatory against Normalization, Ahmed Wehman, said in an interview with Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that “the Zionist penetration into the Moroccan university is a targeting of the country’s elites and an investment in tightening control over Morocco and its capabilities through the creation of a Zionist elite that will be empowered to occupy senior positions in the economic, social and cultural centers of the state, to rule it as a Moroccan front for the Zionist entity’s rule of Morocco.”

They figured it all out!

Interestingly, I did not see this article in Moroccan media. It might be censorship, it might be self-censorship, or it might be just too stupid to publish.

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Iraq shooting itself in the foot with anti-normalization law

A week ago, the Iraqi parliament unanimously passed a law criminalising any form of normalisation with Israel. The law threatens the death penalty or life imprisonment for anyone calling for normalisation.

The law says that any Iraq who visits Israel will be sentenced to life imprisonment, and those who establish any political, economic, or cultural relations with Israel institutions, even through social media, will be sentenced to death.

An analysis in The New Arab - which is very anti-Israel - indicates that Iraq might suffer from this law if it enforces it, which it might not do:

The new anti-normalisation law could also be weaponised against Sunni Arab dissidents, warned Tallha Abdulrazaq, an expert in Middle Eastern strategic and security affairs, in an interview with The New Arab.

“I’m a British-Iraqi and in my academic work I engage sometimes with Israeli academics, policymakers, and even lawmakers on occasion…I’m exactly the kind of target whom they’d like to sweep up in this sort of thing because I’m a dissident of the political process and I’m a Sunni. There’s a political aspect and a sectarian aspect to this…So, if you have any interactions with an Israeli entity, they can target you with this law.” He added that “this is going to have a chilling effect on academics abroad and people who work in the media.”

This legislation could also have negative implications for Iraq’s economy and foreign investment climate. Depending on the extent to which authorities enforce this law, investors might worry more about the potential risks of doing business in Iraq on top of concerns surrounding the country’s overall state of insecurity.

There could be “possible obstacles to foreign direct investment in Iraq by companies that feel constrained by their own policies or the laws in their home countries that would penalise anything that looks like cooperating in a boycott of Israel,” according to analysts Yerevan Saeed and Hussein Ibish.

Yet, Abdulrazaq believes that this law will not be weaponised against foreign corporations with links to Israel given Iraq’s current economic problems.

“The Iraqi economy is in absolute shambles…They need these foreign companies [and] foreign direct investment…This is more for popular consumption. It’s not meant as a stick meant to beat foreign companies with. They need them for their economy…If these guys were to leave, then that’s it for Iraq. There’d be almost nothing there for them. Even in terms of their oil sales, it’s not enough. It’s not enough to sustain Iraq itself. They will not chasing any foreign corporations any time soon.”

The initial consensus is that this law is simply a means to unite Iraqis with anti-Israel rhetoric, a time honored tradition in the Arab world that is quickly losing its effectiveness. There seems little appetite to have Iraq allow foreign investors to be chased away because they also have ties to Israel, which was the Arab League position for decades.

(h/t JW)

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Palestinians in the UK warn about the "dangers" of interfaith dialogue - they normalize Israel!

The Palestinian Forum in Britain, in cooperation with the European-Palestinian Communication Forum (Europal), organized a symposium in London on “How Interfaith Groups Are Being Used to Normalise Israeli Apartheid.”

Zaher Birawi, head of the Palestinian Forum in Britain, said during his opening speech, “The aim of the symposium is to warn of the danger of the occupation state or the Israeli lobby institutions in Europe using this concept (of interfaith dialogue) as a means to normalize the practices of the apartheid state, or to infiltrate communities. It promotes the occupation’s false narrative about the conflict, or is even an attempt to distance the Muslim community, its institutions and mosques from talking about the crimes of the occupying state against Jerusalem and the Israeli violations against the first two Qiblas and the third of the Two Holy Mosques. "

Birawi added: “We are certainly with the idea of coexistence, tolerance, and even cooperation between religions, but on the basis of respecting everyone’s minds and rights, and not according to the model supported by the Israeli lobby, but on the basis of rejecting the occupation and its practices against Muslims and Christians in Palestine, mosques and churches, and on the basis of rejecting racism in all its forms.”

In short, they support dialogue which is a monologue of Palestinian Arab claims.

It looks like it attracted about a dozen people.

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Algerian Islamists try again to make "normalization" illegal

From Middle East Monitor:

Algerian lawmakers, on Tuesday, submitted a Bill criminalising normalisation with Israel, including articles prohibiting travel or any direct or indirect contact with Tel Aviv, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Youssef Ajesa, a lawmaker from the Movement of Society for Peace, told Anadolu Agency that he "lodged on behalf of his party's group of deputies (65 out of 462) the Bill to the Parliament."

The Movement of Society for Peace is an Islamic party that forms the largest opposition bloc in the Algerian Parliament. The party's leadership, however, has constantly confirmed its support for the country's foreign policy.

Ajesa said "his parliamentary bloc tried to include other groups to contribute to the Bill, but it did not receive a response, so I took the initiative to present it in its name."

The Bill includes seven articles that aim to "criminalise normalisation with the Zionist entity (Israel)" as well as forbidding any contacts with Israel or travelling to and from Israel.

What is not mentioned is that Algerian parties have submitted similar bills in the past and they (surprisingly) failed.

Apparently, this bill is meant to copy Iraq's draft bill from last week to criminalize any contacts with Israel, a "crime" that could be punished with the death penalty.. The Iraqi parliament legal committee discussed the bill yesterday ahead of its second draft reading.

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"Progressive" BDS attacks Palestinian environmental activist who met with Israeli counterparts - and guess what happened next?

EcoPeace ME is an organization of Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian environmental activists who work on fixing the water shortages in the region to benefit all.

It doesn't get more progressive than that.

But it breaks a BDS rule.

So BDS attacked EcoPeace, and specifically Nada Majdalani (center), director of the Palestinian branch, who recently met with her Israeli and Jordanian counterparts in Washington:

BDS issued a statement denouncing the meeting: "What [Nada] Majdalani is doing goes beyond normalization by being completely involved in covering up the crimes of the occupation against our people, and in harmony with the betrayal of Arab regimes that are rejected and fought by the peoples of the Arab region, including our Palestinian people."

This was particularly upsetting to the BDS hate group because Majdalani's father, Ahmed Majdalani, is the Palestinian minister of Social Affairs and Secretary-General of the Popular Struggle Front. Majdalani is also a member of the PLO Executive Committee. Seeing his daughter actually touching an Israeli must have been enraging.

Of course, they were also trying to shame Nada's father Ahmed with this statement, as they name checked him.

So what did her father do?

He organized his own "normalization" meeting between Israelis and Palestinians in Al Bireh, under the auspices of the PLO!

BDS Fail!

Other Palestinian factions and media complained bitterly that Palestinian officials are meeting with Israelis sometimes.

Palestinian journalists also protested a press conference today for Israeli journalists in Ramallah.

This obsession with cutting off all communications with Israeli Jews has accomplished less than nothing, but many Palestinian officials continue to insist on it - either because they are stupid or because they are afraid of their constituents.

You will not find "pro-Palestinian activists" publicly denouncing BDS, even when they are clearly acting in ways that are counterproductive to all Palestinians. For most of the "pro-Palestinian" crowd, hating Jews is a higher moral imperative than helping Palestinians.

Nada Majdalani should be a hero for people who claim to want the best for Palestinians. Instead, she is vilified. And that tells you everything you need to know about the hypocrisy and regressiveness of the BDS crowd.

SOAS professor calls Israel a "Western virus"

There is so much in this article from TheJC that typifies the new antisemitism. Read the whole thing. Some excerpts:

An academic from London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) has labelled Israel a “Western virus”.

Dr Haim Bresheeth, Professorial Research Associate at SOAS's Centre of Global Media and Communication, also claimed the Holocaust was the “clincher argument” in Israel’s “presumed right over Palestine”.

During a debate held earlier this month on the “normalisation” of Israel, Dr Marwa Osma, a Lebanese commentator who has appeared on Iranian-backed Press TV, also called for support for “armed resistance” coupled with “international pressure” against what she said was “Zionist aggression.”

The two-hour long discussion was organised by the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) and included a contribution from the controversial charity’s chair Massoud Shadjareh.

Yes, the "Islamic Human Rights Commission" hosted someone who advocates killing Jews in Israel. ("Armed resistance" is a nice way of saying "terror attacks.")

Anyway, Mr. Shadjareh has an interesting take:

He said there was “huge concern the way that there has been a policy of the Zionists to normalise themselves in all different arenas” – focusing particularly on inter-faith initiatives between the Jewish and Muslim community.

Condemning attempts to “normalise” Israel, Mr Shadareh said “the institution of interfaith was used as one of the tools for this and you know, you could ask yourself, you could look into it, why is it that all the Jewish organisations who are involved in interfaith are actually Zionists while we know there is a huge number of anti-Zionists, non-Zionists in the Jewish community and none of them are represented. “

Meanwhile Mick Napier, the former leader of the Scottish Palestinian Solidarity Campaign, claimed Israel was the world’s number one pariah state – and the mass media, including the BBC, were involved in a cover-up of its crimes.

Dr Bresheeth, an associate member of the SOAS Centre for Palestinian Studies, suggested Zionism was "riding on the latent Islamophobia inherent in Christian society since the Crusades”.

He argued: “This form of Islamophobia has never disappeared from the West and explains the great centrality of Zionism to Western regimes”.

"Israeli presumed rights over Palestine are seen as, within Zionism, as exclusive and religious-based with the Holocaust deals at the clincher argument. This is very useful because no one seems to be able to say anything about this combination of, you know, Judeo-Christian and Holocaust arguments."

Arguing that Zionism was the creation of Western Christians at the end of the nineteenth century, who used it to exert control over the Middle East, Dr Bresheeth said: "The West had conceived of Zionism as the bulwark of Western capitalism against Islam and the Arab world and used it to open the Middle East for western interests, and this is continuing.

“In this way Israel became the Western virus in the region during the Cold War, developing its political outlook as a Western/US outpost in the near east - an agenda gradually adopted by the US, UK, Canada, Australia, apartheid South Africa, and most importantly the EU.”

Israel has a purpose even for these jokers. It is a means for them to publicly spout their hate for Jews while pretending that they are merely rabidly anti-Zionist.

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When Israel tried to give permanent homes to Palestinians in "refugee" camps

From the Christian Science Monitor, May 26, 1992:

Numerous efforts have been made to resettle [Palestinian] refugees, but all have failed. In 1950, long before the territories came under Israeli control, UNRWA suggested moving 150,000 of them to Libya, but Egypt objected. In 1951, UNRWA vetoed a plan to move 50,000 Palestinian refugees from the Gaza Strip to Northern Sinai when Egypt refused permission to use the Nile waters to irrigate proposed agricultural settlements. In 1952, Syria rejected UNRWA's initiative to resettle 85,000 refugees in camps in that country. In 1959, UNRWA reported that of the $250 million fund for rehabilitation created in 1950 to provide homes and jobs for the refugees outside of the camps, only $7 million had been spent.

In the early 1970s, Israel initiated what it called the "build your own home" program. A half a dunam of land outside the camps (equal to about an eighth of an acre) was given to Palestinians who then financed the purchase of building materials and, usually with friends, erected a home. Israel provided the infrastructure: sewers, schools, etc. More than 11,000 camp dwellers were resettled into 10 different neighborhoods before the PLO, using intimidation tactics, ended the program.

Israeli authorities say that if people were able to stand up to the PLO and if it had the funds to invest in the infrastructure, within eight years every camp resident could own a single-dwelling home in a clean and uncongested neighborhood.

I have written about this Israeli initiative beforehand but didn't know the actual numbers of Palestinians who took advantage of moving out of UNRWA camps before the PLO started threatening them.

The UN General Assembly also passed resolutions condemning Israel for giving Palestinians free land and infrastructure as an opportunity to improve their lives.

If it wasn't for PLO threats, by 2000 there could have been no more UNRWA camps in the territories and every resident could have owned their own home and land - for free.

This one episode shows that Israel cares about the well-being of Palestinians more than the PLO ever did. On the contrary, the PLO is invested in keeping its own people in misery .

The "pro-Palestinian" groups who are protesting Israeli normalization with other Arab countries follow that tradition of preferring that Palestinian "refugees" stay without homes they can call their own - so they can blame their situation on Israel.

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Palestinian leaders want to ban some Muslims from praying at Al Aqsa

When the UAE announced it would normalize relations with Israel:

The Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian Territories, Sheikh Muhammad Hussein, announced today that it is forbidden for Emiratis to pray in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, according to a fatwa he issued in 2012 against anyone who prints with and reconciles with Israel.

He told the German news agency (DPA) that he had issued a fatwa in 2012 “permitting visits to Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa within certain criteria, not including normalization.”

He added, “Since this (Emirati-Israeli) agreement bears the signs of normalization so visiting Jerusalem is not allowed and forbidden.

A major Islamic scholar st Al Azhar rejected the ban:

A grand scholar at Al Azhar Al Sharif, Egypt's renowned Islamic institution, has rejected a fatwa by Al Quds Mufti where he forbids the Emirati people from praying in Al-Aqsa Mosque following the UAE-Israeli peace accord.

"As a specialist in Islamic Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) I can't find any religious justification for declaring as haram (forbidden) the worship of any Muslim people in any mosque all over the world based on a political stance taken by these people's leadership. I reject any religious fatwa that is not based on Shari'a - compliant rules," Dr Abbas Shuman, a member of Al Azhar's Committee of Senior Scholars.

"To the best of my knowledge, our Islamic history has not witnessed any fatwa by the righteous forefathers and their descendants banning any Muslim from praying in any mosque around the world," he concluded.

The Mufti is appointed by the PA president Mahmoud Abbas, meaning that the PLO/PA are the ones banning Muslims from worshiping at Al Aqsa.

In fact, this isn't the first time, according to reports from 2017:

Al-Aqsa guards expelled yesterday a Bahraini delegation from the mosque’s holy site, local sources reported.

The sources added that the move came as the Bahraini delegation was reported to have visited the Jewish state to “normalise and strengthen ties with Israel” and to deliver “message of peace and brotherhood to Israel.”

Israel sometimes bans some Muslims from the site if they are a danger to public safety and security. The Palestinian leadership bans some Muslims from the site if they don't like the politics of the country they are from.

This is one reason why the Arab world is sick and tired of the Palestinians - they claim ownership over a holy site and politicize it. They claim that they want Muslim and Arab unity but they are willing to ostracize any Muslims they disagree with.

The Palestinians are burning their bridges very quickly.

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Arab American groups make bizarre claims in anti-normalization protest in Chicago

On Sunday, a group of Arab American organizations held a sparsely attended event in Chicago protesting normalization between Israel and the UAE.

Video of the event indicates that all of the speeches were in Arabic, which is probably why this rally received next to no attention. But the official Palestinian news agency Wafa covered this extensively, to give the impression that Palestinians are still a major issue for the larger Arab world.

The final joint statement, as translated by Wafa, is insane.

A joint statement, in the name of the participating Arab communities, was read by the Palestinian National Council member Ghassan Barakat, at the conclusion of the meeting held in Chicago. The institutions warned of the repercussions of this agreement on the stability of the region, saying: "The shameful agreement will pave the way [for Israel] to devour the entire Arab region, and the occupation has a new means of penetration into the Arab world.

Representatives of social, service, charitable and religious institutions representing the Palestinian, Egyptian, Yemeni, Iraqi, Libyan, Tunisian, Algerian, Syrian, Kuwaiti, Jordanian, Moroccan, and Lebanese communities participated in the meeting.

In the joint statement, they praised the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in the face of attempts at normalization and deception practiced by the occupation state, under the illusion of peace that targets all capitals of the Arab region, to bring them to their knees, humiliate them, and plunder their wealth.

The statement said: "The agreement rewards the occupation state by acknowledging its full control over the land of Palestine, and its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, and paves the way for compromising the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Judaizing it, which is not and will not be accepted by any free Arab, especially since Jerusalem is the path of our honorable Messenger Muhammad, may peace and blessings be upon him."

Imagining that Israel is using peace as a means to take over the region is crazy enough. But the underlying assumption behind it is really interesting, if you think about it.

These Arab American self-declared leaders are saying that every single Arab nation is run by idiots who will be fooled by the brilliant, diabolical Jews into giving up all of their land and natural resources.

The more that the "pro-Palestinian" side insults every Arab nation, the more likely they are to throw the Palestinian issue under the bus and make peace with Israel.

Their self-destruction is really something to see.

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Turkey hosts anti-Israel conference with participants from 50 countries - and Hamas

More than 700 people from 50 countries from around the world participated in the “Together Against the Deal of the Century and Normalization” conference in Istanbul, Turkey on Friday.

This is the eleventh session of the annual anti-Israel conference.

It was organized by the World Coalition for Jerusalem and Palestine along with the Center for Relations of Turkey and the Islamic World, the Pioneers International Foundation, the World Coalition for Women in Support of Jerusalem and Palestine, the World Youth Coalition, Sports for Solidarity with Jerusalem and Palestine, the Association of Palestinian Scholars Abroad and the World Scout Coalition in Support of Jerusalem and Palestine.

There is quite a cottage industry in creating anti-Israel organizations!

The head of the political bureau of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, delivered a speech where he called on participants in the conference to "develop a plan, a program of action and a vision to bring down the deal of the century and projects to liquidate Palestine."

You know how Palestinian leaders like to accuse Israel of turning the conflict into a religious war? Well, Haniyeh said that anti-Israel actions "represents a legitimate duty and a national and international duty on every Muslim."

These conferences happen all the time. They result in a statement of support for Palestinians and Jerusalem and perhaps vague promises to create a fund for them. Nothing ever happens, and the participants fly to the next conference.

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08/22 Links Pt1: Blood money -The PA has paid 2,692,500 shekels to terrorists who murdered 23 people

From Ian:

PMW: Blood money -The PA has paid 2,692,500 shekels to terrorists who murdered 23 people

16 years ago tonight, the 22nd of the Hebrew month of Av, 23 Jews were murdered in a suicide bombing while traveling on a bus in Jerusalem's Beit Yisroel neighborhood. Those murdered included 7 children. There were six terrorists directly involved in the attack, including the suicide bomber, two terrorists killed in an attempt to arrest them and three terrorists who are still in prison.

According to the calculations of Palestinian Media Watch, the Palestinian Authority has paid the imprisoned terrorists and the families of the dead terrorists, as payment for the murderous attack, a cumulative sum of 2,692,500 shekels ($764,482).

One of the more dominant terrorists who planned the attack was Majdi Za'atri who was sentenced to 23 consecutive life sentences and an additional 50 years. He alone, through June 2019, has been paid by the PA 706,800 shekels ($188,996).

Two other terrorist arrested at the same time have been paid the same amount. Accordingly, since the arrest of the three terrorists in August 2003, the PA has paid them, to date, a total of 2,142,300 shekels ($608,263).

Confronting UNRWA education antisemitism at the UN

The timing of the Palestinian Authority being called to task for antisemitism in its textbooks by the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination coincides with the UNRWA mandate coming under debate for renewal every five years, since 1949.

This year, for the first time, there will be no automatic renewal.

What is the connection between the PA textbooks and UNRWA?

I personally interviewed Dr. Na’im Abu Hummus, who was then Palestinian education minister, at his office on August 1, 2000, the very day the first textbooks published by the PA curriculum were provided to UNRWA.

In that interview, Al-Hummus explained that the PA had contracted with UNRWA to function as the exclusive supplier of schoolbooks for all UNRWA schools in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and Jerusalem.

That day, the PA provided the Center for Near East Policy Research (CFNEPR) with its first 80 school books, and the center has over the last 19 years received and examined all 365 school books which the PA has supplied to UNRWA.

Conclusions? The CFNEPR has found that PA textbooks used by UNRWA have been indoctrinating virulent antisemitism into the hearts and minds of refugees from the 1948 War of Independence and their descendants.

Significance? UNRWA is responsible for the education of 321,000 students in 370 schools.

UN agency for Palestinians is too corrupt to save

The United Nations General Assembly renews UNRWA’s mandate every three years and is expected to rubber-stamp its extension this November. Perhaps the assembly would reconsider if UNRWA’s top donors — the European Union, Germany, Britain, and Saudi Arabia — made clear that their patience is at an end.

Instead, UNRWA donors should call on the UN to treat Palestinian refugees like all other refugees in the world and address their needs through the UNHCR, which is less prone to corruption, though still not immune. The provision of services to Palestinians in need would continue or even improve. The U.S. could incentivize the proposed reform by offering to restore most or all of its $360 million annual funding if the UNHCR takes charge.

Additionally, as President Trump’s special envoy Jason Greenblatt suggested, nearby countries hosting Palestinians should assume many of UNRWA’s responsibilities — with donor support — so that these populations can finally start building lives outside the camps.

Corruption within a self-serving and self-preserving bureaucracy is entirely predictable. UNRWA has become a vestigial organ, no longer serving its purpose of helping actual refugees. Eliminating a bloated, bureaucratic UNRWA and redirecting its work towards more efficient bodies determined to solve the problem will ultimately serve all interested parties. It would cause some pain, but it is better than condemning another generation of Palestinians to grow up in the camps, where they learn to blame Israel for their suffering.

Qatar cancels "Music and Dialogue Festival": too "Zionist"

If you want to find an Israeli who is "pro-Palestinian", you won't be able to do better than Daniel Barenboim.

The Israeli pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim has been granted Palestinian citizenship for his work in promoting cultural exchange between young people in Israel and the Arab world.

The Argentine-born musician is believed to be the first person in the world to possess both Israeli and Palestinian passports after receiving his new documentation at the end of a piano recital in Ramallah in the West Bank at the weekend.

"Under the most difficult circumstances he has shown solidarity with the Palestinian people," Mustafa Barghouti, a Palestinian MP and presidential candidate, said at the recital held to raise money for medical aid for children in the Gaza Strip.

Barenboim even managed to enter Hamas-controlled Gaza last year to perform with his mixed Arab-Jewish orchestra.

And for the past few years, that same orchestra - the West Eastern Divan Orchestra, which he co-founded with Edward Said - has performed in a festival in Qatar.

But not this year.

The event was supposed to include three concerts featuring the orchestra under Barenboim's lead as well as a debate at a local university on the subject of "music as a contribution to peace."

Said died nine years ago, his widow was among those invited to the debate. Everything was ready, thousands of tickets were sold, but just a few days ago Barenboim was surprised to hear that the Qatari authorities announced that the festival was cancelled.

The reason? "Sensitivity to the developments in the Arab world." The official announcement further stated: "We are aware of Maestro Barenboim's special talents, but the festival under his lead is cancelled."

Apparently this is only a diplomatic pretext and the reality may be that the Qatari authorities surrendered to the pressure that was put on them by the Palestinian organization for boycott on Israel.

The Arab media insisting that the reason for the cancellation is the fact that "Barenboim represents the occupation."

Editorials in newspapers throughout the Arab world stated: "This isn't the time or place to entertain Israelis and a Zionist conductor. Qatari authorities are giving the Zionist maestro an opportunity to present a seemingly positive aspect of Israel."

Omar Barghouti, the hypocrite leader of the Israel boycott movement who has no problem getting his doctorate from an Israeli university, explains why Barenboim is such a horrible Zionist:

Although he rejects the 1967 occupation, he also rejects the return of refugees to the homes they were thrown out of during the nakba [in 1948].

Barenboim attempts to cleverly clean up Israel’s image by accepting some Palestinian rights, but at the same time he repudiates the most significant of Palestinian rights.

Meaning the right to destroy the Jewish state.

Barghouti has an entire op-ed in Al Akhbar about this, decrying how Arab countries are "normalizing" relations with Israel in academia, the arts and even sports. He loves to self-righteously force his agenda to boycott Israel on everyone but himself.

Barenboim might be spending his entire life trying to achieve peace and dialogue between Israel and the Arab world, but he still accepts that Israel has a right to exist. That is an unpardonable crime.

And Qatar cannot appear to be "Zionist" by hosting a pro-peace artist who was honored by the Palestinian Authority. That is too controversial.

This episode also neatly proves that the BDS movement is not merely against "occupation" but against the very existence of Israel itself.