Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News: history

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Thursday, June 20, 2024

It Took Only 150 Years To Revise The Reputation of General Sherman. How Long Will It Take For Israel? (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

“Those people made war on us, defied and dared us to come south to their country, where they boasted they would kill us and do all manner of horrible things. We accepted their challenge, and now for them to whine and complain of the natural and necessary results is beneath contempt."
General William Tecumseh Sherman

General William Tecumseh Sherman was one of the most notable Union generals of the Civil War, famous for his "scorched earth" policy requiring destroying anything useful to the enemy. That was arguably Sherman's main claim to fame -- or infamy.

General Sherman's military career in the Civil War does seem to have some interesting parallels to the current Israel-Gaza War -- beyond the above quote about his view of the South's challenge to the North. His policy for conducting the war has been challenged over 150 years for being destructive and brutal. General Sherman was arguably responsible for committing war crimes:

Major General William Tecumseh Sherman’s actions after the capture of Atlanta and his subsequent March to the Sea are sometimes seen as anticipating the pattern of total war in the twentieth century. Some have claimed that Sherman was a war criminal, authorizing plunder and looting of civilian property. But the matter is more complex than either of these charges indicate. In fact, Sherman’s actions were the culmination of a Union policy toward civilians that evolved during the course of the war.

But his reputation appears to be going through a makeover. That redemption gained steam in 2014, as reflected by this marker:

The marker was erected by the Georgia Historical Society and the Georgia Battlefields Association:

On November 15, 1864, during the Civil War, U.S. forces under Gen. William T. Sherman set out from Atlanta on the March to the Sea, a military campaign designed to destroy the Confederacy’s ability to wage war and break the will of its people to resist. After destroying Atlanta’s industrial and business (but not residential) districts, Sherman’s 62,500 men marched over 250 miles, reaching Savannah in mid-December. Contrary to popular myth, Sherman’s troops primarily destroyed only property used for waging war – railroads, train depots, factories, cotton gins, and warehouses. Abandoning their supply base, they lived off the land, destroying food they could not consume. They also liberated thousands of enslaved African Americans in their path. Sherman’s “hard hand of war” demoralized Confederates, hastening the end of slavery and the reunification of the nation.

The media covering the marker at the time picked up on this revision of Sherman's reputation. We can only wonder if the analysis offered just 9 years ago would be made today:

Historians have increasingly written that Sherman’s plan for the systematic obliteration in late 1864 of the South’s war machine, including its transportation network and factories, was destructive but not gratuitously destructive. Instead, those experts contend, the strategy was an effective and legal application of the general’s authority and the hard-edged masterstroke necessary to break the Confederacy.

In other words:

o The force used by the general was proportionate.
o It targeted military -- not civilian -- infrastructure.
o And it did not contravene the law.

This is not to deny the inevitable excesses one expects in war but focuses on the intent of Sherman and his troops.

And what about the accounts of the deliberate brutality of Sherman's troops?

[Experts] have described plenty of family accounts of cruelty as nothing more than fables that unfairly mar Sherman’s reputation.

“What is really happening is that over time, the views that are out there are being challenged by historical research,” said John F. Marszalek, a Sherman biographer and the executive director of the Mississippi-based Ulysses S. Grant Association. “The facts are coming out.”

Family accounts?

Apparently, Hamas terrorists are not the first to recognize the effectiveness of the use of civilian accounts for blackening the reputation of its enemies.

But this is not to say that Sherman's redemption is complete. The South still is bitter over what they view as the war crimes of General Sherman.

Not surprisingly, the battle over Sherman can also be found on college campuses. A professor at the University of Georgia notes that there is a change in attitude where he is teaching:

“You all the time run into college kids who don’t know which side Sherman was on — and their parents and certainly their grandparents would be aghast to know that,” he said. “It’s not just a matter of education. It’s a matter of being the blank slate that younger generations present for revision or education that older generations don’t because they’re steeped in the mythology of their ancestors.”

Has there ever been a time when university students were not blank slates for those with an agenda?

Another interesting parallel appears in Wikipedia, quoting authors who believe that Sherman's conduct of the war influenced the Democratic Party and the elections:

Sherman's success caused the collapse of the once powerful "Copperhead" faction within the Democratic Party, which had advocated immediate peace negotiations with the Confederacy. It also dealt a major blow to the popularity of the Democratic presidential candidate, George B. McClellan, whose victory in the election had until then appeared likely to many, including Lincoln himself. According to Holden-Reid, "Sherman did more than any other man apart from the president in creating [the] climate of opinion" that afforded Lincoln a comfortable victory over McClellan at the polls.

The "progressives" of that time who parallel today's "Ceasefire Now" advocates did not push for a definitive victory over the South. Similarly, McClellan's position on the war is reminiscent of Biden's position on the Israel-Gaza War and the problems that is causing him.

According to ChatGPT:

[McClellan's] platform, as adopted by the Democratic Party, called for an immediate cessation of hostilities and a negotiated peace with the Confederacy. However, McClellan personally distanced himself from the more extreme peace elements of his party, asserting that any peace settlement must include the restoration of the Union. Despite this, his campaign was seen as an attempt to end the war through compromise rather than military victory.

But none of this helps Israel.

General William Tecumseh Sherman died in 1891. There have been over 130 years for the dust to settle, for some degree of objectivity to set in, and for a re-examination of Sherman and his actions to begin to be re-evaluated.

It will be a long time before analysis of Israel and its modern history approaches anything near objectivity.

(Hat tip: PreOccupied Territory)

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The UN's history of the "Question of Palestine" omits every single Palestinian attack on Jews

The UN has a webpage where it shows a timeline on the "Question of Palestine."

It is biased as hell.

It starts with "1885 – The term 'Zionism' first coined by the Viennese writer, Nathan Birnbaum."

There is no mention of Jewish history in the region for thousands of years. No mention of Jewish kingdoms. No mention of the centrality of Eretz Israel and Jerusalem to Judaism. No mention of the Bible.

But after that, it simply ignores or whitewashes every single act of terrorism by Palestine's Arabs.

It doesn't mention the murderous Palestinian pogrom against Jews in 1929.

It says, "1936/1939 – Palestinian rebellion against the British Mandate and Jewish immigration." But not that Arabs murdered Jews, just that it was a "rebellion."

It doesn't say anything about the Arab League boycott of Jews.

It doesn't mention any Arab attacks on Jews in 1947-48. No outbreak of hostilities hours after the UN Partition resolution, no mention of the constant attacks on Jewish civilians, no mention of the Hadassah Hospital convoy massacre or the many other attacks on Jewish civilians - but it does mention Deir Yassin, and exaggerates the number of dead as "hundreds." .

The UN gets the date of Israel's independence wrong, saying it happened on May 15, 1948.

There were scores of fedayeen attacks by Palestinian Arabs against Israel in the 1950s and 60s, and hundreds of Israelis were killed. Not one incident is mentioned.

But the UN describes the 1966 As-Samu incident, where Israeli and Jordanian troops battled after a land mine killed 3 IDF soldiers, as a "massacre" of Palestinians. 15 Jordanian soldiers and three civilians were killed. It was not a massacre by any definition.

There is not one mention of Palestinian airplane hijackings in the 1960s and 1970s.

It says, "1987 – First 'Intifada' begins in the Jabaliya Refugee Camp in the Gaza Strip." It doesn't mention that the intifada killed hundreds of Israelis. The many terror attacks that occurred during the Oslo process are nowhere to be found.

Similarly, it says, "Ariel Sharon’s al-Haram al-Sharif visit in September 2000 triggers the Second Palestinian Intifada."

Not a word about Palestinian suicide bombings, or bus bombings, or attacks on pizza shops and Passover seders and bar mitzvahs.

And of course no mention later about rockets from Gaza, massacring rabbis or kidnapping and murdering kids. Hamas is not mentioned as a terror group - or even militant group. In fact, the word "terror" is nowhere to be seen. Neither is "Islam," "Muslim" or "Jihad," although Jews are mentioned.

The Holocaust is not mentioned either. There is simply no information on why Jews might want to have their own homeland in the region.

There is plenty of other anti-Israel bias in wording and choice of incidents.

According to this official UN history, Palestinians have not attacked, let alone killed, a single Jew. The only aggression mentioned is from Jewish and Zionist groups.

The UN's anti-Israel bias is unmistakable even in this public document that is pretending to be objective.

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End the Lebanese and Jordanian occupation of Palestine!

I love when I tweet and the Israel haters are reduced to gibberish in response.

I had tweeted,

Proof #619 that calling Israel "apartheid" is antisemitic:

Lebanon treats Palestinians worse than Israel by every conceivable yardstick. Discrimination is enshrined in law. Yet no one accuses Lebanon of "apartheid."

The responses from modern antisemites were all along the lines of:

"Whataboutism!" (meaning, don't talk about Palestinian suffering unless it can be blamed on Israel)

"You are a liar!" (without any links or proof)

"Of course it's apartheid - everyone says so!" (appeal to authority fallacy)

But a couple of people responded with something like, "Lebanon isn't occupying Palestinian territory!"

Are they sure?

Here's a map of Palestine from 1870:

It includes large amounts of todays Lebanon as well as much of today's Jordan.

How come no Palestinian is upset at the occupation of Lebanon and Jordan of Palestine?

But, you might respond, this is a Western map. Maybe Arabs felt that Palestine before 1923 included the exact borders of the British Mandate and no more.

Well, here is a 1918 map of Palestine, labeled as such, in Arabic:

It doesn't include Lebanon but a great deal of Jordan is included in this map.

Based on this map, it sure looks like at least Jordan is occupying ancient sacred Palestinian lands!

Why aren't we seeing Palestinians demanding "Free Palestine from Jordan and (maybe) Lebanon!"

Maybe for the same reason that the PLO in 1964 didn't claim the West Bank or Gaza as being part of "Palestine."

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The British didn't leave Palestine on May 15, 1948 - but on June 30

The last British soldiers did not leave Palestine until six weeks after Israel declared independence.

The British continues to control Haifa's port until June 30, when they finally left and Israel took over.

And within hours of the withdrawal, Israel introduced its new navy. (London Daily Herald, July 1 1948)

It was so small that United Press put the word "navy" in scare quotes.

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1639: The Jews of Jerusalem escape destruction when their prayers end a drought

This story was written as an appendix to "AN INFORMATION, CONCERNING The Present STATE OF THE JEWISH NATION IN EƲROPE and JƲDEA," probably written by Henry Jessey of England in 1658.

The state of the Jews at Jerusalem hath been many hundred years of late such, as that they ever lived of the supply and Contributions from their brethren abroad; because the place doth yield but little occasion for them to maintain themselves: and besides those that betake themselves thither, are either Old men or Women, only to do penitency and lay down their bones near the Sepulchers of their fore-fathers: or of younger men that for respect to the holiness of the place (as supposing God to be nearer there, and that all prayers must needs ascend that way into heaven) come thither, there to ply devotion and penitency for the sins of themselves and the whole Nation: and therefore cannot attend any trading, but all their time is taken up with praying, reading and hearing Sermons; as also with fastings and watchings and the like penitential Exercises: which intent and endeavours their Brethren abroad amongst the Nations well knowing, and with all desiring to keep (as it were) possession, or at least a footing in Jerusalem, and to shew their holiness till a full restitution come, have been ever willing to uphold them in it: and to that purpose, wherever any Synagogues of Jews are, on every Sabbath-day a Collection is made for the poor at Jerusalem; and what so is gathered, they are to send thither every year., therefore the Jews of Poland, &c. By the Turks (and especially their debts made for want of supply amongst the Citizens) being rigorously exacted, they were haled into prison, &c.

An Instance hereof is this, that in the year 5399. from the Creation, which is now nineteen years ago, there was a great drought in Jerusalem, which had put all Inhabitants to prayers, the Necessity being extream: but the worst of all was this, that an apostated Jew going out to the Turks, persuaded unto the then Bassa, the Lord Mahomet Bassa, that the sole cause that the heaven were shut up, were the Jews by reason of their disobedience unto God; whereupon an Edict was put forth, commanding all Jews, great and small, young and old, to be cast out of the Town presently.

Whereupon some eight of their Eldest were sent up to the said Bassa: which Eldest with great Expences bestowed partly on the Bassa, and partly on his Consellours, had much to do, to crave only three dayes delay: If perhaps within that time the Lord should accept of their prayers and penitency: If not, and that the Lord gave no Rain, he might do with him what he pleased.

This being so stated, it was proclaimed throughout the City, that if within three days no rain came, all the Jews should be expelled, and their goods made prize to the Turks: and whosoever should be found remaining, was to be killed.

Hence arose a doleful lamentation amongst the Jews: a continual fasting for those three nights and days was put upon all, except Babes and Women with Child or in Child-bed, who were bound only to one day and night: So they prayed and humbled themselves all that while with great Cries and Weepings, so that the voice of it was heard throughout the City; and on the Evening on the second day, they seeing no likely-hood their prayers should be heard, and judging their sins to be too great, they took a Resolution, like to Saul, rather to kill one another, one Brother the other, the Father his Children, the Husband his Wife, &c. then to suffer themselves to be polluted by the merciless Turks.

Yet one thing they would first request of the Bassa. viz. That they might all go out to the Sepulchre of the Prophet Zacharia, which was out of the Town, and whither they could not come without his consent. So one R. Emanuel Albachry was sent unto him, who hearing of their desperate Resolutions pitied them and said, Go ye and make your prayers there, if perhaps God might hear you and save you from being killed.

So on the morning of the third day early, all went forth and laid themselves down at the Sepulchre of Zacharia, and there wept bitterly. One R. Asaria made a very pathetical Sermon, and caused all the people to weep, and so did R. Meyer likewise. And at Length arose one R. Samuel, who put the people in mind of the sins of their forefathers, and against this Prophet, at whose Tomb they now were prostrated, how they arose against him, and stoned him most cruelly: how (said he,) shall we here obtain mercy at his feet, seeing our Fathers had no mercy on him? At which words the people wept bitterly, and struck their hands together, and poured out tears as water, and lift up their voices, men and women, young and old: and the Lord remembered.

These are the words of R. Samuel Ben Seth, as the next page show his surety: and he made this R. Samuel to think on the words of the Prophet Elijah on the Mount Carmel, when he said to his man go up and see, &c. and therefore commanded the people to go seven times round about the Sepulchre, at the first Circuition he ordained Psalm 24. and certain prayers to be pronounced; at the second he assigned Psalm 48. and other prayers, and so at each of the seven Circuits some peculiar Psalm and prayer till the Vespertime came. And then the people going forth saw a little Cloud on the West side of Heaven as large as the palm of a hand.

That very day it had been very hot, even as it had been Mid Summer, so that no man could have believed any rain could have fallen that day; which made that the Turks had already gathered up stones, wherewith they thought to have stone the Jews at their return into the City: But such was God's providence that even that day before Sun-setting the said Cloud grew thick, and a wind began to blow, and then came Thundering, and Lightning, and such a blessed shown of Rain, that in two or three hours all the Cisterns were brim-full; so that for the Rains sake the Jews were forced to remain that whole Night in Holes and Concavities of the Sepulchre. And when on the next morning the Women went first of all toward Jerusalem, the Turkish Women met them by the way, and Congratulated them, that God had heard their prayers; and so likewise many of the Chief Turks met with the men, and brought them some presents of fruits and Confitures; and the Bassa bestowed a suite of apparel on every one of their Rabbis.

This is an extract drawn out of an Authentique Copie, written by the said R. Samuel, and signed by all the Elders of the High-Dutch Synagoge at Jerusalem, 1657. April. 22. An other Instance of the same kind we could add of the year (as we count) 1651. and another yet since while Rab. Nathan was here; but this afore mentioned being most Considerable and most Authentical, and exactly pend, whereas the others are but received by word of mouth, we shall here desist. This being sufficient to manifest unto us, that however despised this people is by men, yet that the Lord doth yet own them and accept of their prayers, when none but he can help, when ever with a penitent and contrite heart they repent of their sins and call for mercy, as we have seen here at the Sepulchre of the Prophet Zachary.

Some say the events happened in 1651, others say 1639 which seems more in line with this narrative (5399 Hebrew year.)

The book also describes how poverty-stricken the Jews of Jerusalem were, relying on charity from Jews in Europe. It describes how Christians contributed to their welfare one year when they were punished by the Ottoman authorities for not coming up with the amount of taxes they normally were able to raise because of a war in Poland, causing controversy since the Christians were known for wanting to convert all the Jews, but the fundraiser rabbi assured Jerusalem's Jews that this was voluntary - he hadn't asked for the money - and there were no strings attached.

[S]ince the desolation, brought by war upon Poland, and the other parts, whence that supply was sent unto them, they have been in great extremity of want; insomuch, that in the year one thousand six hundred to death, and the taxes laid upon them by the Turks, being rigorously exacted, they were haled into prison, their Synagogues were shut up, their Rabbi's and Elders beaten and cruelly used. So that to find relief, because none came from Poland, Lithuania, and other parts of Europe, by the late war, and none could be had in those parts form their own, by reason of the general Pressures, which the Turks without Mercy laid upon them all, they send two of their chief Rabbi's to their Brethren in Europe, to acquaint them with their state, and to desire some help from them. The chief of the Rabbi's was called Nathan Saphira, son to the high Lord, Ruben David Tavel, a man of great learning, and skill in their Cabala, and of a very pious, holy and humble disposition, who coming with his companion from Jerusalem upon this errand, and finding at Amsterdam little relief from the Portugal Jews, became accidentally acquainted with some of our Christian friends, who pitied their Condition, and were of their own accord moved to procure some relief unto them among their other Christian friends...

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Did the Kingdom of Israel control the lucrative "royal purple" and "royal blue" dye trade?

Pottery that contained the argaman dye found at Shikmona

Haaretz publishes a fascinating theory:

Israeli archaeologists are rethinking the history of an ancient factory that, thousands of years ago, was one of the largest sites for the production of “royal purple,” a dye that adorned the robes of the rich and powerful across the Mediterranean.

Tel Shikmona, located on the shore of the modern-day city of Haifa, was interpreted as a Phoenician settlement that produced royal purple from sea-snails. The dye was one of the most sought-after luxuries of the ancient world. But a new paper, putting together information from archaeological digs there over 50 years, reached a new conclusion.

For about two centuries, Shikmona was something of a joint venture: an industrial site controlled by the biblical Kingdom of Israel and run by skilled Phoenician workers, say Prof. Ayelet Gilboa, an archaeologist at the University of Haifa and Dr. Golan Shalvi, formerly also at Haifa and now a postdoctoral researcher at Ben-Gurion University.

Their study, published in June in Tel Aviv: Journal of the Institute of Archaeology of Tel Aviv University, offers rare insight into the closeness of the ties between the ancient Israelites and the Phoenicians. It also sheds light on the economical background behind the expansion of the Kingdom of Israel, which would rise to become a major regional power during the middle of the Iron Age (or the First Temple Period, if one prefers references to the biblical chronology).

The theory, backed up by archaeology, is that the Israelite kingdom expanded to encompass the already existing Phoenician dye factory. It built fortifications to protect it, indicating that the Israelites employed the Phoenician experts to control the export market for both royal purple (argaman) and royal blue (techelet), very expensive dyes used not only by royalty but also in the Jewish Temples in Jerusalem. Tekhelet was also used (and some still use it) in tzitzit, the Biblical commandment to put a tekhelet string on the corners of square garments including prayer shawls.

The archaeologists point to proof that there was a large export trade in argaman, with pottery from Cyprus at the site. They theorize that this site, the only known such factory in that time period, was a major source of the Northern Kingdom's revenue with a near monopoly on the valued dyes.

The paper can be read here.

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

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"Tantura massacre" is a conspiracy theory

The Guardian reported last week:

An investigation into a massacre in a destroyed Palestinian village carried out by Israeli forces in the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation has identified three possible mass graves beneath a present-day beach resort.

Palestinian survivors and historians have long claimed that men living in Tantura, a fishing village of approximately 1,500 people near Haifa, were executed after surrendering to the Alexandroni Brigade and their bodies dumped in a mass grave believed to be located under an area that is now a car park for Dor Beach. Estimates have ranged from 40 to 200 people.

In recent years, a growing body of evidence for the Tantura massacre has generated significant controversy in Israel, where atrocities committed by Jewish forces in 1948 remain a highly sensitive subject: an Israeli-made documentary about what happened in the village faced widespread backlash on its release last year.

The extensive new investigation by the research agency Forensic Architecture identifies what it says is a second mass grave site in the former village of Tantura, as well as two more possible locations, in the most comprehensive research yet.

There is a difference between history and conspiracy theory. In legitimate historical research, you start with all the facts that then look for larger historical patterns that the facts lead to. With conspiracy theories, however, you start with the theory, and then look for the facts (or half facts) that support the theory and ignore or disparage anything that contradicts them.

The Forensic Architecture "analysis" of Tantura, like their others, is a conspiracy theory dressed up as scientific research.

Historian Benny Morris has dismantled the Tantura massacre myth, using the tools of a historian. Morris has documented every major event that happened in 1948, including what would be considered war crimes today. In every case the Arab victims and victims of relatives spoke about the events in real time, loudly, to whomever would listen. Yet, he notes:

If there was a massacre of 200 to 250 people at Tantura, it was the largest of the 1948 massacres. But there is no available document from 1948 that mentions a massacre at Tantura, apart from one document, which I’ll come back to below, that deals with the execution of a handful of Arab prisoners of war on the fringes of the village. Strange, very strange, because all the massacres perpetrated by Jews in 1948 are at least mentioned, if not described, in documents from 1948. These include documents of the Haganah, the main Jewish militia until the end of May 1948, the Israel Defense Forces, the UN (which had observers on the ground from May 1948), the Red Cross (whose officials operated in the country from April 1948), as well as records by the British and the Americans, whose representatives reported from Israel to London and Washington about the wartime events.

Deir Yassin, Burayr, Ein Zeitun, Lod, Hunin, Dawayima, Eilabun, Arab al-Mawasi, Majd al-Kurum, Saliha, Jish, Safsaf, Bi’na-Deir al Asad – the massacres perpetrated by Jews in these places and others are all mentioned in contemporary 1948 documentation, and in some cases are described in detail. Just not Tantura, not one mention.

Not that Haganah/IDF officers ignored Tantura in 1948. Accounts of the battle, the expulsion, the demolition of buildings afterward, all appear in the documents. Just not a massacre. On June 18, during the war’s First Truce, under the supervision of the International Red Cross and the United Nations, more than a thousand refugees from Tantura were transferred in an army convoy to Tulkarm, then under Iraqi army control. A document in the Haganah Archives sums up Arab radio broadcasts of that period (Haganah Information Service, “E.I. [Eretz Israel, Mandatory Palestine], June 21-22, 1948”): “An Arab woman from Tantura… relates that the Jews are raping Arab women and demolishing the place.” But according to the report, the woman did not mention by so much as a word that the Jews also massacred hundreds of her fellow villagers. (A slightly different version of this report states that the woman related that the Jews “raped women in addition to the acts of robbery, theft and arson.” Again, no mention of a massacre). These items were broadcast on Radio Ramallah.

In addition, as far as I was able to discover, the archives of the UN and the Red Cross – whose officials organized and escorted the move of the Tantura refugees to Tulkarm and reported frequently to their headquarters – contain no mention of a massacre at Tantura. Does it stand to reason that among the thousand deportees, who were no longer under Jewish control, not one bothered to tell the Iraqi officers or the UN and Red Cross officials that, by the way, they had endured a horrific massacre of their fathers, brothers, sons, as described by Katz and Schwarz and their supporters? It is simply inconceivable, if a large-scale massacre that they had eyewitnessed or at least heard about had indeed occurred.

Morris admits that there is evidence that the Israeli troops killed between 8-10 snipers in the village. That's it. No civilians.

He brings plenty of other evidence that the modern blood libel is false and that the current "researchers" are knowingly lying.

Forensic Architecture, however, is looking for a huge massacre. And when you start from that perspective, just like with 9/11 "truthers" or Holocaust deniers, it is easy to find "evidence" that fits your preconceived notions.

In this case, the entirety of the "evidence" they discovered are two shadows in 1949 aerial photos that they didn't see in 1947 photos.

According to them, the only possible explanation for these shadows are that they are man-made earth mounds that would be the site of mass graves. They even do some helpful math:

We believe that if bodies were laid shoulder to shoulder and oriented northwards in a single layer, there could be around seventy bodies under a mound of this size. Were the bodies to be layered on top of each other, as one testimony suggests, the total number could be double that, up to approximately 140 bodies. Thus, our assessment is that the total number of bodies contained in a mass grave site such as this would be in the range of seventy to 140.

... As we did with Earthwork 1, we used the measurements of the mound to calculate the likely number of bodies which could be buried there. Our assessment is that the total number of bodies in a mass grave of this size is in the range of forty to eighty.

Ta-da! Shadows have now become proof of the murder of 240 people, coincidentally the highest amount that people made up fifty years after the event!

At times, FA doesn't even pretend that they are merely guessing. In this diagram, they refer to the supposed earth mound they claim the shadows indicate definitively as a mass grave, no questions asked:

So what if decades of research since this "Tantura massacre" allegation first appear in the 1990s have not uncovered the name of a single victim? We have shadows!

It's science!

There are two years between the two photographs they are comparing. As is obvious, there are other changes between the 1947 and 1949 photos besides these shadows - new buildings and roads being built. Israel did move quickly in 1948 to build new villages to house immigrants, and Tantura was one of the spots where there was building activity (Palestine Post, August 2, 1948).

All of those require moving earth.

The Nachsholim settlement was built there.

But Forensic Architecture knows that those shadows were created on May 24 or 25, 1948, and not in the months before or afterwards. How?

Because, like all conspiracy theorists, they aren't considering any other possibility, and will not admit that any other theory is possible.

Let's say that they are correct and that these faint lines really represent two long 85 centimeter high earth mounds. What could be the reason?

Maybe the animals in the village who were not being fed died and needed to be buried. Maybe the graves of the snipers really are there and there are only 10 or so people buried separated by three meters out of respect. Maybe the kibbutzniks decided to build a fence between the trees and the field and cleared the area with a bulldozer. Maybe the leftover earth cleared for the new buildings and road was, for some reason, deposited on the edge of the field perhaps as a marker. Maybe there was a garbage dump that was attracting insects or animals that needed to be buried.

The point is that when you only are willing to accept the most obscene explanation at the outset, you aren't engaging in research - you are just looking for proof of a conspiracy theory.

And only antisemites would assume that the most likely explanation for two shadows is the existence of mass graves that contain some 240 people murdered by Jews whom no one can name and whom no one heard about until 50 years later.

No amount of 3D reconstruction can make up for the fact that the "researchers" at Forensic Architecture are anti-Israel bigots who consistently start their "research" with their conclusion and then connect the dots to reach it after the fact.

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The emancipated Jewish women of Jerusalem, 1823

This article from 200 years ago - May 1823 - describes the lives of (Sephardic) Jews in Jerusalem then, and pays particular attention to the women.

Excerpts:

Many of the Jews are rich and in comfortable circumstances, and possess a good deal of property in Jerusalem, but they are careful to conceal their wealth, and even their comfort, from the jealous eye of their rulers, lest by awakening their cupidity, some vile, indefensible plot should be devised to their prejudice. In going to visit a respectable Jew in the holy city, it is a common thing to pass to his house over a ruined foreground, and up an awkward outside stair, constructed of rough unpolished stones, that totter underfoot, but it improves as you ascend, and at the top has a respectable appearance, as it in an agreeable platform in front of the house. On entering, the house itself is found to be clean and well furnished the sofas are covered with Persia carpets, and the people seem happy to receive you. The visitor is entertained with coffee and tobacco, as is the custom in the houses of the Turks and Christians.

The ladies presented themselves with an ease and address that surprised me, recalled to my memory the pleasing society of Europe. This difference of manner arises from many of the Jewish families at Jerusalem, having resided in Spain or Portugal, where the females have rid themselves of the cruel domestic fetters of the east, and on returning to their beloved land, had very properly maintained their justly acquired freedom and rank in society. They almost all speak in broken Italian, so that conversation goes on without the clumsy aid of an interpreter. It was the feast of the Passover. they were all eating unleavened bread; some of which was presented to me as a curiosity, and I partook of it merely that I might have the gratification of eating unleavened bread with the sons and daughters of Jacob in Jerusalem. It is very insipid fare, and no one would eat it from choice.

...The Jewesses in Jerusalem speak in a decided and firm tone, unlike the hesitating and timid voice of the Arab and Turkish females, and claim the European privilege of differing from their husbands, and maintaining their own opinions. They are fair and good looking; red and auburn hair are by no means uncommon is either of the sexes. I never saw any of them with veils; and 1 was informed that it is the general practice of Jewesses in Jerusalem to go with their faces uncovered - they are the only females there who do so. They seem particularly liable to eruptive diseases, and the want of children is as great a heart break to them now as it was in the days of Sarah.

Alexandria Gazette

Alexandria, Virginia •

Sat, May 10, 1823

Page 4

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January 1920: Palestinian Arabs pledge to boycott Jews forever until either Zionism is eradicated - or until they all die

On January 16, 1920, prominent leaders of Nablus - both Muslim and Christian - met in a conference where they pledged, under oath::

(1) To boycott the Jews completely as n counter-measure against their covetous spirit toward this country.

(2) To refuse them dwelling space in our district, and to binder their admittance thereto in every way.

(3) To persevere In this boycott and opposition until there remains no trace of the Zionist Idea, or until we perish to the last man.

(4) To submit this decision to His Excellency the Chief Administrator of the Occupied Territory, and, through the medium of the Allied representatives In Jerusalem, to the delegates of their respective governments at the Peace Conference; and to publish the same in the newspapers for the information of the civilized world, so that It may be understood why the inhabitants of this country are forced to sacrifice their lives for its freedom.

(Seat of the Islamo-Christian Conference at Nablus.] (Signed) Youssuf.

It was essentially a declaration of unending war against the Jews of Palestine until they returned to being the second class citizens they should be.

This wasn't the only boycott that Palestinian Arabs declared against Jews.

The fifth "Palestine Arab Congress" in 1922 pledged a boycott of Jewish products and services including the nascent electricity lines being set up by Pinchas Rutenberg, and this was reiterated in at least one successive Congress.

There is not exactly room for compromise here. The Arab leaders said, either Jews remain subjugated under our control, or we keep fighting them forever.

Terrorism and Arab Jew-hatred is not a reaction to Jewish "occupation" or supposed crimes. It pre-dates all of that. And whether it is official or not, the pledge to keep opposing Jewish rights in the Holy Land has never been rescinded.

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Palestinian preacher at Al Aqsa: "Palestinians Have No Historical Right to Palestine"

From MEMRI:

In an address at the Al-Aqsa Mosque posted on the Aqsa Call YouTube channel on April 14, 2023, Palestinian Islamic scholar Issam Amira said that Palestinians are no more Canaanite than Egyptians are Pharaonic. Rather, he said that the Palestinians are Muslims, and had had no rights whatsoever prior to the advent of Islam. He added that when late PLO leader Yasser Arafat referred to the Palestinian people as a (Canaanite) "nation of giants," he was cursing and humiliating his own people.

Isaam Amira: "The people of Palestine have no historical right to Palestine. They have no right that dates back 2,000, 3,000, or 4,000 years.

"The right of the Canaanites to Palestine is equal to the pharaohs' right to Egypt. Is it conceivable that any Muslim in Egypt would say: 'I am Pharaonic and proud of it?' Well, it's the same if a Muslim in Palestine says: 'I am a Canaanite and proud of it.' To hell with your Canaanite identity and with his Pharaonic identity.

"People, our history is simple and it is not ancient. Our history dates back only 1,440 years. 1,440 years ago we had no rights of any kind. Absolutely none.
[...]

"It must not be said that the Palestinians have Canaanite roots. We can go back to the words of Yasser Arafat who lost our cause. He referred to you as the [Canaanite] 'nation of giants.'

"This is the first time I see a president who curses his own people. The Palestinians are Muslims.

"Calling them [Canaanite] 'nation of giants' is cursing them. It's humiliating to them. It sends them back to the infidel days of tyranny. The only thing you are allowed to say is: Oh Palestinians, you are Muslims."

I don't know if Al Aqsa during Ramadan is like open mic night at a comedy club where anyone can go onstage. The audience behind Amira seems less than interested.

Amira is a preacher in Beit Safafa in Jerusalem who has preached at Al Aqsa previously. He is a member of Hizb ut-Tahrir, which is a virulently antisemitic and pan-Islamic movement that wants nothing less than a unified Islamic Umma'- and they even oppose Hamas for wanting a separate Palestinian state instead of a new caliphate.

This rant makes sense in that context, since he doesn't want Muslims to identify as any other people except as Muslims.

(h/t Josh K)

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The Mufti tried to establish an anti-Jewish university in Jerusalem

World Islamic Congress in Jerusalem, 1931

In the Winter 2022 edition of the Institute of Palestine Studies journal, pseudo-historian Ilan Pappe puts forth a theory:

This article asks, why was there no Arab university in Mandatory Palestine (while there were two Jewish universities). Apparently, the colonial mentality of the British authorities who deemed the Palestinians yet another colonized people who had to be oppressed, while regarding the Zionist settlers as fellow colonialists, feared that such a university would enhance the Palestinian national movement. At the same time, Zionist pressure, British anti-Arab racism, and lack of resources also combined to undermine the emergence of a proper Palestinian higher education system.

According to Pappe's abstract, the main reason an Arab university was not established was British racism. Yet even he admits that the British allowed other Arab institutions of higher learning to be established in Palestine.

The truth is only partially mentioned in the article:

After the Buraq disturbances, some members of the Palestinian political leadership and most notably Mufti Hajj Amin al-Husayni attempted a different path. It was in the wake of the All-Islamic Congress convened in Jerusalem in 1931 that the real efforts to open such a university began in earnest in 1932. The coordinating committee of the All-Islamic Congress sent delegations to Egypt, Iraq, Afghanistan, and India for fundraising for an Islamic University in Jerusalem.

... [British] opposition was not the only reason that the idea of the Islamic university in Jerusalem petered out. Unfortunately, these fundraising missions, particularly the mufti’s long fundraising trip to Iraq and India in 1933, were not successful in raising the funds necessary to establish a university in Jerusalem. Nor was there enough interest among activists in convening a second congress in the city, and that led to the collapse of the organizational capacity of the World Islamic Congress by the end of 1934.48 Although the local press constantly mentioned the idea of reviving the university project and holding another congress in Jerusalem in the years that followed, those plans came to nothing and were soon forgotten. As mentioned, even after the mufti’s escape from Palestine in 1937, he was still involved in the efforts until 1940; soon after he also lost interest in the project.

The antisemitic Mufti of Jerusalem couldn't galvanize nearly enough interest in the Arab world to build the "Islamic University in Jerusalem." He couldn't raise the funds and he lost interest himself. It doesn't appear that British opposition had much if anything to do with this - the Mufti certainly didn't consider that an obstacle.

Which means that Pappe is not telling the truth.

Other sources fill in more gaps. Pappe touches on this, but this article notes Egyptian opposition to the university:

The news that the [Islamic] conference would support the creation of an Islamic university in Jerusalem was seen as a direct threat to the dominating status of al-Azhar as the most prestigious university in the Islamic world. Thus, for example, Muhammad Bakhit, former Mufti of Egypt, in his public statement against the conference, also criticised the 'dreams' of those who pretended to establish a new university which would become the new scientific centre of the Muslim world. The loud opposition of al-Azhar to the conference must have also affected the cautious reaction of the opposition parties in Egypt. Although they might have been eager to use it as a stage to attack Sidqi's regime, Wafdist and Liberal leaders, being Egyptian nationalists, could not accept the eventuality that a non-Egyptian caliph would be nominated at the conference. Similarly, these leaders opposed any alleged attempt to erode the prestige of al-Azhar as the most respected centre of Islamic teaching. Even Egyptian advocates of the Palestinian Arab cause, such as Muhammad Ali Alluba and Ahmad Zaki, called for its postponement.

The entire purpose of the university was to help the Mufti's power base as well as to oppose the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, which had attracted prestige very quickly. But it was also a means to make land unavailable for Jews to buy, as Pappe notes:

Some funding did come through. The nizam (ruler) of Hyderabad donated one million rupees. ...That sum of money was used to buy land in the Tulkarm district that was endowed as a waqf for the future university. At least in this respect, the mufti could have been satisfied; he prevented the sale of the land coveted by the Zionist movement and ensured a future investment for the university. Alas, it was a short-lived victory as the village (Raml Zayta/Khirbat Qazaza) was destroyed in 1948 and on its ruins Jewish settlements were built and the university was not established.

This nexus between endowment, struggling against Zionist purchase of land, and the university enthused also Christian activists in the national movement. Members of the Christian Orthodox community were prepared to do more than send words of congratulations. Most notable in this respect was ‘Isa al-‘Isa, the editor of Filastin, who sent the World Islamic Congress a proposal outlining a scheme for saving Palestinian lands from the Zionists by creating endowments on the coveted land...

The proposed Islamic University of Jerusalem was not conceived as a positive way for Palestinian Arab youth to improve themselves, but as a way to counter Jewish progress.

As with Palestinian nationalism itself, it wasn't pro-Palestinian. It was anti-Jew.

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When an Arab diplomat told the UN that Palestinian Arabs are Philistines (plus cartoon)

The Palestinian Arabs have alway been a bit fuzzy about their supposed origins. Their story seems to always be whatever hurts the Jews most.

For example, many now claim to be Jebusites, because the Hebrew Scripture says the Jebusites controlled Jerusalem before King David. There is no evidence of the Jebusite people outside the Jewish Tanach, and that same Tanach says that King David purchased the Temple Mount from them.

Many Palestinians tell Westerners nowadays that they are Canaanites. I've even seen some point to the Kanaan family as proof. Too bad that family traces its origins to...Syria. (The Kanani family name has nothing to do with Canaan and comes from Saudi Arabia.)

Back in 1947, though, the famed Syrian diplomat (and later prime minister) Faris Khoury gave what was considered the history of the Palestinian people to the UN.

And he said that they were Philistines.

During the First Special Session of the GA, exactly one year before Israel was reborn, he told the UN General Assembly:

Let us see who the Palestinians are who are now called the Arabs of Palestine. It is a fact which so of you may or may not know.

The Palestinian Arabs are the descendants of the same inhabitants of that country of forty centuries ago who fought in the first campaign which the Jews waged against Palestine in the fifteenth century before Christ. In the Bible, they are called the Philistines. After about the thirteenth century, they adopted the Arabic language, which was later replaced by the Syrian language, a language closely related to the former. These people have not changed. They are the same people who were living there then. They have been there for forty centuries—since prehistoric times.

....The Jews remained for a very short time in Palestine. They occupied the eastern portion of it. The western portion of Palestine—and the best part of it—was still occupied and held by the Philistines, the remote fathers of the present people of Palestine.

In 1947, the most convenient origin story for Palestinian Arabs (note that Khoury never called them "Palestinians") was not that they were Canaanites, but Philistines. This was attractive for two reasons: one is that the Philistines fought the invading Jews, and the other is that the Philistines were not completely defeated by the Jews. (Being defeated by the Assyrians and Egyptians is not nearly as offensive.)

When a people change their own origin story to whatever is politically convenient, it indicates that all the origin stories are fiction.

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75 years ago: Arab terrorist attacks on Jews intensify, and an early "BDS" from Egypt

In the Palestine Post of December 26 and 27, 1947, Arab terror attacks on Jews were as bad as they were during the second intifada.

No one talks about that today.

It is worthwhile to study them. The Palestinian mentality and antisemitism, their making no distinction between Jewish civilians and armed forces, remains exactly the same today.

The December 26 edition mentions the murder of a Jewish Olympic athlete, Elias "Elo" Katz, who had won the silver and gold medals in the Paris Games in 1924 (the article is mistaken.)

While any Palestinian terrorists who ever kicked a ball are trumpeted to the world as if Israel targets athletes (this article today from the official Palestinian news agency claims Israel has targeted and killed over 700 Palestinian athletes!), here was a real Olympics gold medalist who was murdered by Palestinians.

The December 27 Palestine Post reports on two more convoys - meant to bring food and supplies to isolated Jews - ambushed and seven Jews murdered:

The Arab Legion of Transjordan at the time partnered with the British to help keep things calm - but instead, this professional army shot at two civilian buses near Haifa, killing one Jew and wounding others, originally claiming that the Jews attacked first but it was found to be a lie.

An absolutely heartbreaking story of a little girl in bed killed by Arab gunfire.

Violence was so prevalent that here we see four separate incidents - including an attack on a Jewish children's home, a Jew killed - are thrown together on a single Page 3 story (the newspaper was only four pages long.)

Palestinian Arabs openly threatened Jews - from London.

Egypt decided that since it was impossible to ensure that they were only boycotting Jews in Palestine, they should boycott everyone in Palestine.

Like today's BDSers, the point isn't to help Palestinian Arabs but to try to hurt the Jews. Like today's BDSers, they would swear that they are doing this to help the Palestinian Arabs. Like today's BDSers, they never actually asked the affected Arabs if they want to be collateral damage.

Other news from that paper are also echoes of today: a huge blizzard in the US that kills many people, and a fatal cholera outbreak in Syria that people are desperate to contain.

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