An article I mentioned yesterday from Palestine Information Center includes an interesting statistic:
According to recent statistics, the Christian community in the Gaza Strip is getting smaller with about 730 Christians living currently in the enclave, most of whom belong to the Greek Orthodox Church.
Some might be managing to escape through Egypt when that country opens its borders, but Hamas and Egypt severely restrict who can leave Gaza and who can leave Egypt altogether.
“Every year Christians have one permit to leave and visit the holy places on Easter and Christmas,” and many of them stay there," explained [Father Mario] da Silva, speaking to ACI Prenza.
So when 250 Gazans have already received permits to go to Bethlehem for Christmas, the Christian population of Gaza may be reduced to 500 or so by the end of the year.
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A heartwarming story came out last week as a video was produced ahead of a Bob Marley festival in Israel.
This year, the initiators of the festival, Shmulik Bar-Dan and Bella Malkin, decided to shoot a clip for the Marley song One Love, an unusual clip to be shared by adults and children from all over the Middle East.
The song was performed by members of the writer-group "Kach Rasta", who are also responsible for all the arrangements. "We filmed forty children from a school in Baka al-Garbiyeh, photographed in a children's home on Kibbutz Magal, in a nursery in Herzliya, we filmed members of African-Israeli gospel from Eritrea and Sudan, and a few Breslov Chassidim," says Malkin.
But then they saw a good news story here about Gaza residents who sent peace messages to Israel with the aid of pigeons from the Gaza Strip, and the article about Lisa Miara, the Israeli who established a rescue center in Iraq for children rescued from ISIS and refugee children from Syria.
When Malkin turned to them to offer them to participate in the clip, they responded with great enthusiasm.. In Gaza, a class of elementary school girls was photographed in the clip after learning about the song and its messages. "They knew that they were filming an Israeli clip that would be distributed on YouTube to the whole world, and they were very enthusiastic about this idea and the possibility of pulling out a message of peace from Gaza," Malkin says.
The addition of the children of northern Iraq to the clip moved her even more. "To think that children who yesterday were threatened by ISIS sing today 'One Love' is perhaps the most powerful thing I have experienced working with Marley's songs," Malkin says. "Lisa told me that these are the first words they learned in English, and when they filmed the clip, Word and word, and wanted to convey the message that we are all human beings, and we all run to sing and to love."
Here's the video:
This video showing people of all ages, colors and nationalities singling about peace and love violates both the BDS rules and Palestinian Authority law.
The BDS Movemenr, which pretends to support peace, is against anyone cooperating with Israel in any cultural projects, so therefore the Syrians, Iraqis and Gaza children who sang here are, to their minds, collaborators with the Zionist entity and not interested in peace.
The Palestinian Authority is against any "normalization" with Israel, and the only Israelis they agree to deal with are the ones who support their aims to destroy Israel. A non-political project with Israelis who want peace is forbidden for Palestinians. In a way, it is good that the children on this video are from Gaza where they cannot be punished by the PA, although how Hamas reacts is an open question.
Throughout the Arab world there are many committees and groups against "normalization" with Israel as well, and possibly this video violates Iraqi and Syrian laws.
The one nation that yearns for peace is the one that is painted as hating peace, and the people who pretend that they only want peace are the ones who are upset at a peace video.
To be fair, Ma'an's article about this video is not judgmental. But as the video gains popularity, expect to see a major backlash in the Palestinian and other Arabic media against the idea of any cooperation with Israelis, even for something as non-offensive as this.
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Like many other Jews, it is the discovery that anti-Semitism has crept up on them from the political Left that is one of the propelling factors for such a move. It is one of the cruellest ironies of our day that the place of last resort for Jews worldwide should have become the primary focus of hatred by people who – among other things – like to think of themselves as ‘progressive’ and on the side of minority groups.
However, the most heart-breaking comment – which should be widely heard across Britain and Europe – is what Lewis said as he arrived in Israel. “We’re a wandering people, and it’s time to wander again,” he said. “People just don’t want to see it.” He also knows other people considering the same path.
Perhaps they will see it in due course. One of the most haunting phrases in fiction in recent years is the moment in Michel Houellebecq’s novel Submission in which the French law professor learns that his student, and lover (who is Jewish) is planning to leave France and go to Israel to live. As she mentions it, Houellebecq’s character reflects that “I don’t have an Israel”.
To that haunting phrase of Houellebecq’s invention can now be added Lewis’s terrible one. There are many things that people can say are emblematic of an era. But that statement, “It’s time to wander again”, is as sobering and disturbing a phrase as I have heard. With implications that go deep as well as wide.
Whether words mean anything in the current era (where they often seem to mean whatever anyone wants them to) is one matter. Whether actions count for much in an era deluged by unprecedented noise and images, is another. But it seems to me that the words and actions last week of this one Jewish man and his partner should count for something. And should be thought upon by anybody who still cares to think.
The visit to Israel this week by Italian deputy prime minister Matteo Salvini has provoked criticism and dismay within the Jewish world.
Salvini, who heads Italy’s right-wing “populist” Lega party, is controversial because of his anti-immigration stance.
Israel’s President Reuven Rivlin declined to meet him, citing “scheduling issues.” Rivlin’s view of political parties such as Lega were made clear, however, when he told CNN that the whole world needed to work against xenophobia, discrimination and antisemitism.
“There are neo-fascist movements today that have considerable and very dangerous influence, and sometimes they also express their strong support for the State of Israel,” he said.
Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, would seem to disagree. Indeed, he has gone out of his way to embrace leaders who, although some insist they are just conservative nationalists, are described by others as neo-fascists.
Among such politicians are Hungary’s prime minister Viktor Orbán, who has introduced what he calls an “illiberal democracy”; the Austrian chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, who heads a coalition including a party whose first two leaders were former SS officers; the Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte, who supports extra-judicial killing for drug-users and other criminals; and the new president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, who opposes just about everything on the progressive agenda.
So what’s going on? Well obviously, Israel needs all the friends it can get. Its overarching goal is to ensure its survival. If it were too fastidious about its allies, it would place itself in far greater danger.
Netanyahu’s calculation is that the new “populist” parties, which overwhelmingly support Israel, can be encouraged to shatter the monolithic animosity against it in both the European Union and the United Nations.
Moreover, when it comes to supporting Israel, these “authoritarian” leaders are putting liberal Western Europe to shame.
Former chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau Khaled Mashal said that resistance is the basis of day-to-day life for people under occupation, and that just as people say "I think, therefore I am," the Palestinians say: "I resist, therefore I am." Explaining that the abandonment of Jihad leads to humiliation and death, Mashal said that resistance is the pinnacle of life. He criticized Fatah for not engaging in "resistance" and added: "The West Bank, which spans over 5,600 square kilometers, and which has mountains and valleys... has everything necessary for guerrilla warfare." Mashal's comments aired on Al-Jazeera Network (Qatar) on December 2, 2018.
To view the clip of Khaled Mashal on MEMRI TV, click here or below.
"The Quran Goes Even Further Than That By Defining Jihad, Resistance, And Self-Defense As The Essence Of Life"
Khaled Mashal: "For peoples under occupation, resistance is the natural way of life. It is the basis of day-to-day life. This is because it is inconceivable that we live under daily suffering and all of its implications under occupation, without living our daily lives with the resistance. It is the natural and reciprocal response. Just like they say: 'I think, therefore I am, as Palestinians and as a great nation that is creative when it comes to resisting, we say: 'I resist, therefore I am.'
"The Quran goes even further than that by defining Jihad, resistance, and self-defense as the essence of life. 'Oh you who believe, respond to Allah and to the Messenger, when he calls you to that which gives you life.' Indeed, this is the case. The abandonment of Jihad leads to humiliation and death. Hence, resistance is the pinnacle of life. A person who lives under occupation, and who does not resist, is in fact dead.
"A country cannot be liberated and rights cannot be restored without resistance. It is not possible. Without resistance, the occupation cannot be defeated or forced to retreat. Every means of power must be put to use.
"[The West Bank] Has Everything Necessary For Guerilla Warfare – Why Are We Not Preparing For That?"
Former Hamas Leader Khaled Mashal Calls for West Bank "Guerrilla Warfare," States: "I Resist, Therefore I Am" pic.twitter.com/OyZr0Ehc0q
An international organization concerned with defending the rights of Christians in the Middle East and Northern Africa on Saturday said that Israel has not issued permits to Christians in Gaza to visit the West Bank, especially Bethlehem, during the Christmas holiday.
The organization issued a statement saying that Gaza Christians have not been given the necessary permits to enter the West Bank to participate in the Christmas celebrations or visit their relatives.
It affirmed that all the Christians who had applied for permits this year were rejected except those over the age of 55.
The name of this "international organization" is not given.
On November 27, and for the Christmas celebrations, the Israeli military authorities approved 500 permits for Palestinian Christians of Gaza to have access to East Jerusalem and the West Bank.
“Last year, 300 permits were given to the Christians in Gaza to celebrate Christmas in Bethlehem, but only to people over the age of 55,” said Fr. Mario da Silva, Parish priest of Gaza. “This year, 500 permits were approved by Israel. But until this moment, we have only received around 250 permits for people over the age of 55 and between the ages of 16 and 35. However, children under the age of 16 were not included.”
So much for the claims of this "international organization."
(h/t Tomer Ilan)
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To be fair, expecting UNIFIL to stop Hezbollah was never realistic. As a senior Israeli official acknowledged this week, few countries would be willing to contribute troops to a mission that actually involved fighting Hezbollah.
What’s inexcusable, however, is that UNIFIL has never even reported any of Hezbollah’s activities to mobilize international action against the organization. On the contrary, whenever Israel complains, UNIFIL insists it has seen no sign of hostile activity.
This might even be true because UNIFIL has learned not to look anywhere Hezbollah doesn’t want it to look. Back in 2010, after a French unit made the mistake of actually trying to do its job by conducting searches and using sniffer dogs, Lebanese “civilians” clashed with UNIFIL troops, seized their weapons and threw stones at them until UNIFIL’s commander forbade such searches. Today, the UN confines itself to meaningless statements about how “allegations of illegal arms transfers … warrant serious concern” and would violate Resolution 1701, but they are “not in a position to substantiate them independently.”
And even when turning a blind eye becomes impossible—like when Israel took UNIFIL officers on a guided tour of the cross-border tunnels—the organization is careful never to blame Hezbollah. As the blogger Elder of Ziyon reported last week, UNIFIL’s press statement about the tunnels didn’t accuse anyone of responsibility; it never mentioned Hezbollah at all. In fact, the post continued, “the UNIFIL website has not mentioned the word ‘Hezbollah’ or ‘Hizbollah’ since the 2006 war!
In contrast, UNIFIL has no problem making accusations against Israel. The same November report that couldn’t “substantiate” Hezbollah’s arms transfers declared that UNIFIL had recorded 550 Israeli violations of Lebanon’s airspace and demanded their “immediate cessation.
For instance, immediately after the September 11 attacks, then-British prime minister Tony Blair flew to Washington. He was the first foreign leader to meet with then-president George W. Bush. Blair’s visit had a singular impact on US policy toward Israel at the dawn of the US war against Islamic terrorism. Thanks almost entirely to Blair’s lobbying, Bush agreed to exempt Palestinian terrorism against Israel from his general rebuke. Blair convinced Bush that Palestinian jihadists who waged a terrorist war against Israel were not as objectionable as al-Qaeda jihadists were. The consequences of Blair’s efforts are still being felt – as the victims of this week’s Palestinian terrorist attacks make clear.
A prime minister, Corbyn will have a profound impact on the balance of forces in today’s Democratic Party. There can be little doubt that his rise will empower radical, extreme Israel haters in the party at the expense of more moderate forces. If a prime minister Corbyn is met in Washington by a Democratic president, his influence on US-Israel ties will be profoundly damaging.
Liberal American philosopher Michael Waltzer has argued that leftist foreign policy in the US stems more from attitudes and prejudices than from a significant, rational view of the world. There are two main twitches that underpin the foreign policy of the American Left: anti-Americanism and support for empowering international institutions at America’s expense.
Given Corbyn’s oft-stated intention to unleash the UN against Israel, Israel can expect for the UN to become even more peripatetic and hostile in its anti-Israel operations in the era of a Corbyn government. Britain, a permanent, veto-wielding member of the Security Council is liable to submit draft resolutions condemning Israel on a regular basis. Other UN institutions from UNESCO to UNICEF to the World Court can be expected to intensify their operations against Israel on multiple fronts. And if a Democratic president serves parallel to Corbyn, the implications for Israel are liable to be disastrous.
On Wednesday, May responded to Corbyn’s attacks against her for her handling of Brexit by saying, “The biggest threat to the UK is not Brexit, it is a Corbyn government.”
It’s possible that enough British voters agree with her to ensure that the Conservatives will win the next elections. But it is possible that they won’t.
Israel cannot wait to find out. Israel needs to act now to prepare itself for the day after a Corbyn government is formed. Because without a doubt, Corbyn intends to use his power to harm Israel. And as the prime minister of Britain, he will have significant means to achieve his goal.
A Pulitzer-nominated New York Times photographer posted support for terrorism on his social media, i24NEWS has discovered.
Wissam Nassar posted pictures of the suspected terrorists behind the Barkan Industrial Estate and Ofra shooting attacks on Instagram, adding the text: “A sad morning that carries with it pride with the martyrs, and honor in resistance. ‘If you lost the way, follow the martyrs’.”
The Palestinian Gaza-based photographer uploaded it as a “story”, meaning it was deleted after 24 hours.
Palestinians Salih Omar Barghouti and Ashraf Walid Suleiman Na’alwa were killed in IDF manhunts on the night of 12 December. Barghouti was suspected of being part of a terror cell that committed the drive-by shooting outside the West Bank settlement of Ofra on the night of 9 December. The cell injured seven people, shooting a seven-months pregnant woman in the stomach—and forcing doctors to prematurely deliver the baby, who died three days later.
Na’alwa had been on the run for two months since the 7 October Barkan Industrial Estate attack, in which he shot dead two Israeli coworkers: 29-year-old Kim Levengrond-Yehezkel, whom he handcuffed before killing, and 35-year-old Ziv Hajbi.
Islamist terror group Hamas took responsibility for both attacks. Its armed wing, the Qassam Brigades, said: “From the heroic Barkan operation to the Ofra operation, the Qassam Brigades are undertaking a new battle.”
Wissam Nassar’s work has been featured in Time Magazine and The New York Times, which used his photographs inside Gaza in articles on the “Great March of Return” protests and riots.
Propaganda from Hamas and Fatah, the rulers of Gaza and the West Bank, routinely sings the praises of the “heroes” and “martyrs” who slaughter Israeli civilians in the name of justice for the Palestinian people. Obscenely, that even extends to the murderer of a 4-day-old baby.
Little Amiad Yisrael Ish-Ran perished Wednesday, just four days after his delivery by emergency Caesarian at 30 weeks — surgery made necessary when he and his mother, Shira, were badly wounded in a West Bank shooting (as was his father, Amichai).
Hamas’ military wing, the Izz ad-Din Al-Qassam Brigades, took “credit” for the attack, but both rival Palestinian groups praised the killer, Saleh Omar Saleh Barghouti — himself killed Wednesday resisting arrest.
Hamas called the attack a “heroic and qualitative operation” serving “to affirm our people’s legitimate right to resist the occupation.” Fatah called him a “heroic martyr of the homeland,” with lots of poetry about his blood spreading a fine scent on the wind.
As with all Palestinians who commit the political murder of any Israeli, the late killer’s family will qualify for a substantial stipend from the Palestinian Authority.
You don’t have to support Israel to find this beyond barbaric.
A pair of Israeli soldiers killed in a terror shooting in the central West Bank were identified on Thursday evening as Staff Sgt. Yovel Mor Yosef, 20, and Sgt. Yosef Cohen, 19.
Mor Yosef was from the southern city of Ashkelon. Cohen was a resident of Beit Shemesh. Both were members of the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda infantry battalion, a unit for religious soldiers.
The army said Mor Yosef and Cohen were posthumously promoted from the ranks of sergeant and corporal respectively after they were killed by gunfire in the attack outside the Givat Assaf settlement outpost.
Mor Yosef’s funeral will be held at the Ashkelon military cemetery at 11:00 a.m. on Friday. Cohen will be buried in Jerusalem at 10:30 a.m. on Friday morning.
A third soldier was critically injured in the shooting and underwent surgery for a gunshot wound to the head at Hadassah Hospital Ein Karem in Jerusalem on Thursday. A civilian woman was also seriously wounded.
Mor Yosef’s uncle told reporters his nephew was supposed to return home Thursday, but volunteered to remain with his unit to give other soldiers time off.
“His life goal was to serve in a combat unit. This is what he did and wanted. He really enjoyed serving, [he] contributed and volunteered,” Sami Mor Yosef said.
The two Israeli soldiers killed in Thursday’s terror shooting in the central West Bank were buried on Friday, solemnly and fondly remembered by their families, friends and commanders.
Sgt. Yosef Cohen and Staff Sgt. Yovel Mor Yosef were members of the Kfir Brigade’s Netzah Yehuda infantry battalion, a unit for ultra-Orthodox soldiers.
Mor Yosef and Cohen were posthumously promoted from the ranks of sergeant and corporal, respectively, after a Palestinian shot them dead in the attack outside the Givat Assaf outpost. A third soldier was critically injured in the shooting, and a civilian woman was seriously wounded although her condition was improving Friday.
Cohen’s funeral began at the Shamgar funeral home in Jerusalem, where hundreds of people mourned the 19-year-old resident of Beit Shemesh, including Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben Dahan (Jewish Home), MKs Moti Yogev (Jewish Home) and Oren Hazan (Likud), and Jerusalem Mayor Moshe Lion.
“Yosef, sweet child, righteous child, I never believed we would come to this moment,” Cohen’s stepfather, Rabbi Eliyahu Merav, said in his tearful eulogy. “For years I raised you, you great, holy, pure child… full of love, giving and soul.”
Cohen’s father, Eitan, had died when he was young, and his mother — who like other women didn’t speak at the funeral in accordance with ultra-Orthodox custom — married Merav.
“Dear Eitan, are you happy with your dear child, now? Are you dancing with him up there?” Merav addressed Cohen’s late father.
Saleh Barghouti, the 29-year-old Palestinian who was killed on Wednesday night by the IDF near the village of Surda, north of Ramallah, belongs to a clan whose members are famous for carrying out a series of terrorist attacks against Israel in the past four decades.
The IDF says that Saleh belonged to the cell that carried out the shooting attack outside Ofra, which resulted in the nine Israelis wounded. An infant boy was delivered prematurely after his mother was seriously wounded in the attack and died on Wednesday.
Saleh was the most recent member of the prominent Barghouti clan to be involved in terrorist attacks against Israel. The clan has several families that live in the villages of Kobar, Aboud, Bani Zeid and Beit Rima in the Ramallah area. Saleh was from Kobar.
Saleh’s father, Omar, 65, spent more than 25 years in Israeli prison for his role in terrorism. The father was first arrested by the IDF in 1978 for killing an Israeli citizen and was sentenced to life in prison. However, Omar, who is known as Abu Asef, was released seven years later in a prison exchange. Since then, he has been repeatedly held in administrative detention for several years. Omar entered Israeli prison as a member of Fatah, but later became a prominent leader of Hamas.
A clan member also named Omar Barghouti is a founding member of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic Boycott of Israel and co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS). Omar was born in Qatar.
An employer who agrees not to discriminate against any employee or job applicant because of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, physical or mental disability, or age Definition of 'Equality Opportunity Employer', Merriam Webster
Hansen said he believes there are Hamas members on UNRWA's payroll, but they have to follow UN rules on remaining neutral.
"Oh I am sure that there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don't see that as a crime. Hamas as a political organization does not mean that every member is a militant and we do not do political vetting and exclude people from one persuasion as against another," Hanson told CBC TV.
"We demand of our staff, whatever their political persuasion is, that they behave in accordance with UN standards and norms for neutrality," he said.
UNRWA logo
Well, isn't that reassuring?
In 2006, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he was giving $25 million to UNRWA, The Toronto Sun made clear
UNRWA has, according to various experts, been infiltrated by Hamas members and sympathizers. Hamas is an Islamist terrorist group, as designated by the Government of Canada.
And better yet, Hamas does not restrict membership to leadership positions on the basis of being a member of UNRWA either.
The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees suspended a Palestinian staffer Sunday, a spokesman for the U.N. agency said as Israel alleged the employee was elected to a leadership position with the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Chris Gunness of UNRWA said Suhail al-Hindi, the chairman of the UNRWA Palestinian workers’ union in Gaza and the principal of a UNRWA elementary school, was suspended due to “substantial information” received by the agency.
...The agency temporarily suspended al-Hindi in 2011 for participating in events with Hamas officials.
The AP helpfully adds that "The U.N. agency forbids its staff from holding political office." [emphasis added]
And what about UNIFIL, which operates in Hezbollah's back yard?
UNIFIL logo
As it turns out, UNIFIL is no slouch either when it comes to the integration of the local populace either.
Tony Badran, a research fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, writes how despite its mandate to keep Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon -- UNIFIL has all kinds of time on its hands:
Both the LAF and UNIFIL share the same objective of not disturbing the status quo, which is to say, not to cross Hezbollah’s red lines. In turn, this raises a question about the point of underwriting this arrangement altogether, while pretending UNIFIL is doing something that it clearly cannot and will not do. Instead, UNIFIL has become more akin to yet another UN aid agency. It clears minefields, and works “together with the Lebanese authorities, in creating the conditions conducive for the population to build their future.” It also “works closely with many municipalities and local authorities to strongly support their communities.” It even hires Hezbollah members and supporters! [emphasis added]
The Lebanese Shiite organization has always suspected Blue Helmets spying for Israel. On the other hand, it does not hesitate to infiltrate Finul [UNIFIL], whose civilian staff numbers 585 Lebanese. "Some employees do not hide from belonging to Hezbollah," admits a Finnish commander. Another anomaly: some UN battalions are from countries that do not recognize Israel. "I can assure you that Indonesian peacekeepers are constantly reporting Israeli movements to various Lebanese actors," said the senior officer. [emphasis added]
All of which raises the question: in the fight against terrorism, which side is the UN on?
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AMCHA led a group of over 100 organizations asking the University of California to denounce academic boycotts of Israel, especially in light of recent news of professors refusing to sign recommendation letters to students who want to study in Israel.
Some of the UC campuses are known for extreme anti-Israel activity, so this is a major blow to the Israel-haters who insist that the world (except for Palestinians themselves!) adhere to an academic boycott of Israel.
The UC letter states:
As chancellors of the University of California campuses, we write to reaffirm our long- standing opposition to an academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions and/or individual scholars. Our commitment to continued engagement and partnership with Israeli, as well as Palestinian colleagues, colleges, and universities is unwavering. We believe a boycott of this sort poses a direct and serious threat to the academic freedom of our students and faculty, as well as the unfettered exchange of ideas and perspectives on our campuses, including debate and discourse regarding conflicts in the Middle East.
This letter condemning the boycott was signed by all 10 chancellors of UC campuses.
AMCHA is following up with asking other university chancellors to sign similar letters against any academic boycott of Israel.
This is a major victory against BDS.
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I count no less than 11 articles in the official Wafa Palestinian news agency where people are quoted condemning a few posters put up by Israelis saying that Abbas, by paying murderers, should be killed.
"Assassinate the terror funders" say the posters, put up by a little-known right wing group.
The PLO simply freaked out over these posters. People who daily incite to kill random Jews and who celebrate when Jews are killed are suddenly very concerned over incitement - even though there is no real threat to Abbas' life.
The PA Foreign Ministry condemned them. Saeb Erekat said he holds Israel fully responsible for the president's life and called on the world to condemn the incitement.
Israeli Arab MP Ayman Odeh said he held Netanyahu responsible for creating an environment where this could happen.
Fatah said the incitement against Abbas are the highest degree of terrorism.
The Palestinian National Council warned that "our people have the right to confront this terrorism and the threat to defend their rights and dignity. "
The Speaker of the Arab Parliament called on the international community, the UN General Assembly, the UN Security Council and international organizations, to condemn the posters.
All for some posters from an organization with no political power whatsoever.
But after two full days of freaking out, the Fatah Facebook page decided that they should make it look like Abbas is above being worried about these posters that he personally has tried to turn into an international incident.
Showing Abbas looking relaxed, the new poster says "No worries."
Because a strong leader would complain to the UN every time some Jew says he should be responsible for his crimes.
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In 2002, Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hezbollah, was said to have given a speech noting that the creation of the state of Israel had spared his followers the trouble of hunting down Jews at “the ends of the world.” The Lebanese terrorist group has prominent apologists in the West, and some of them rushed to claim that Nasrallah had uttered no such thing.
Except he had. Tony Badran of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies tracked down the original recording of the speech, in which Nasrallah carries on about “occupied Palestine” as the place appointed by Allah for the “final and decisive battle” with the Jews. By “occupied Palestine,” he wasn’t talking about the West Bank.
Sometimes anti-Zionists are — surprise! — homicidal anti-Semites, too.
That’s a thought that can’t be far from the mind of anyone living in northern Israel, where in recent days the Israeli Army has discovered at least three tunnels dug by Hezbollah and intended to infiltrate commandos under the border in the (increasingly likely) event of war. Given the breadth of Hezbollah’s capabilities, the depth of its fanaticism, and the experience of Hamas’s excavation projects in Gaza, it’s fair to assume other tunnels will be found.
What would Hezbollah do if it got its fighters across? In 1974, three Palestinian terrorists crossed the border from Lebanon and took 115 hostages at an elementary school in the town of Ma’alot. They murdered 25 of them, including 22 children.
Another infiltration from Lebanon in 1978 left 38 Israelis dead. Given Hezbollah’s long record of perpetrating massacres from Buenos Aires to Beirut to towns and cities across Syria, it’s a playbook it wouldn’t scruple to follow in a war for the Galilee.
All this is to say that Israelis experience anti-Zionism in a different way than, say, readers of The New York Review of Books: not as a bold sally in the world of ideas, but as a looming menace to their earthly existence, held at bay only through force of arms. It’s somewhat like the difference between discussing the effects of Marxism-Leninism in an undergraduate seminar at Reed College, circa 2018 — and experiencing them at closer range in West Berlin, circa 1961.
Take, for example, the United Nations' recent decision not to condemn the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. This week, the U.N. General Assembly voted on a resolution condemning the group for "repeatedly firing rockets into Israel and for inciting violence, thereby putting civilians at risk," as well as for using assets to construct "tunnels to infiltrate Israel and equipment to launch rockets into civilian areas." The U.N., which requires a two-thirds vote to pass a General Assembly resolution, voted down the resolution — 87 nations in favor, 58 against, 32 abstaining. All in all, that means that more nations voted against ratifying the resolution — 90 — than in favor of it.
Up to this point, the U.N. has never passed a single resolution against Hamas.
Just days later, Palestinian terrorists opened fire on a group of people waiting for a bus near Ofra, a settlement in Judea and Samaria. The drive-by shooting wounded seven people, including a pregnant woman and her unborn child, as well as her husband. Both the woman and the baby are now in critical condition; it will be a miracle if both survive. According to The Times of Israel, Hamas immediately praised the attack, deeming it "heroic" and an "affirmation of our people's choice and legitimacy in resisting the Zionist occupation and its settlers."
Hamas isn't hiding the ball. It is evil. It celebrates evil. It pays terrorists to commit acts of evil. But the international community isn't hiding the ball either when its members refuse to condemn terrorism as terrorism when it is directed against disfavored members of the international community.
Take, by contrast, the international community's reaction to a terrorist attack directed against an Iranian military parade in late September. The U.N. Security Council forcibly condemned the attack, calling it a "heinous and cowardly terrorist attack" and pledging its support to "hold perpetrators, organizers, financiers and sponsors of these reprehensible acts of terrorism accountable and bring them to justice."
What's the difference? Only the perpetrators and the targets. The international community is a joke. Perhaps the United States ought to change its climate change or health care or gun policies. But those arguments should never be made on the basis of the international standard of morality — a standard that doesn't exist, has never existed and ought not be the subject of pretending by Western nations that ought to know better.
The leftist counterargument is that anti-Zionism is a legitimate political position that has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. But anti-Zionists discriminate against the Jews alone among the peoples of the world and call for the Jewish state’s economic, cultural and academic boycott. What sense would it make to say: “I don’t think Ireland has a right to exist, but I’m not anti-Irish”?
Anti-Semitism has been likened to a virus that adapts to changes in society. What may have started with the accusation of “Christ-killer” morphed to socioeconomic “justifications” for Jew-hatred. In the late 19th century, racial theories provided pseudoscientific “evidence” of Jewish inferiority. The medieval libel of “Jews poisoning the wells” turned into “Zionists poison Palestinian water.” The 19th-century German politician Heinrich von Treitschke said “the Jews are our misfortune,” which the Nazis later picked up. The sentiment finds its modern equivalent in, “The world would be a better a better place without Israel.” A third of the respondents in the EU poll said they hear that frequently or all the time.
Last Thursday the bloc’s justice and home-affairs ministers unanimously approved a declaration designed to tackle all sources of anti-Semitism. They endorsed the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance Working Definition of Anti-Semitism, which specifically includes as examples denying Israel’s right to exist or holding Jews responsible for Israel’s actions, real or imagined.
Far leftists—including Jeremy Corbyn, leader of Britain’s Labour Party, pick up traditional anti-Semitic tropes, replace “Jews” with “Zionists,” and deny anti-Semitism. The European Union sees through this obvious deception. (h/t IsaacStorm)
So anti-Zionism supposedly isn't the same as anti-Semitism. Would we also accept such sophistry as: "I don't think Ireland has a right to exist, but I'm not anti-Irish"? Read my take in @WSJopinionhttps://t.co/cEnCvdqkPu
David Lloyd George was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1916-1922.
This quote from his book "Is It Peace?" written in 1923 is remarkable for how accurate it is today - except that Jews managed to turn Canaan into a land of milk and honey far quicker than he anticipated.
Of all the bigotries that savage the human temper there is none so stupid as the anti-Semitic.
In the sight of these fanatics, Jews of today can do nothing right. If they are rich they are birds of prey. If they are poor they are vermin. If they are in favour of war, that is because they want to exploit the bloody feuds of Gentiles to their own profit. If they are anxious for peace they are either instinctive cowards or traitors. If they give generously-and there are no more liberal givers than the Jews-they are doing it for some selfish purpose of their own. If they don’t give – then what would one expect of a Jew! If labour is oppressed by great capital, the greed of the Jew is held responsible. If labour revolts against capital-as it did in Russia-the Jew is blamed for that also. If he lives in a strange land he must be persecuted and pogrommed out of it. If he wants to go back to his own (land) he must be prevented…
It will be long ere Canaan becomes once more a land flowing with milk and honey. The Jews alone can redeem it from the wilderness and restore its ancient glory.
They belong to a race which for at least 1,900 years has been subjected to persecution, pillage, massacre and the torments of endless derision; a race that has endured persecution which for variety of torture – physical, material and mental – inflicted on its victims, for the virulence and malignity with which it has been sustained, for the length of time it has lasted, and, more than all, for the fortitude and patience with which it has been suffered, is without parallel in the history of any other people.
Is it too much to ask that those among them whose sufferings are the worst shall be able to find refuge in the land their fathers made holy by the splendour of their genius, by the loftiness of their thoughts, by the consecration of their lives and by the inspiration of their message to mankind!
(h/t Jasper)
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The history of nation-building — of human nation building — is this: we are in America. What happened? There were some Indians. Then some white people came and they killed the Indians, and they took over. That’s what happens with countries. If I get your territory, if I win a war, I either kill you, I subjugate you, or I expel you. In rare cases I would make you citizens, on my terms. That’s the way the world works.
The Jews were survivors of [the] Holocaust and of pogroms, and did not have a state for 2000 years. So they can re-invent the wheel. ’67 war? They decided not to annex, and not to kill the people. Not to expel them, but to do some kind of — God knows what it is — a very complicated Talmudic thing, nobody knows, even the Jews cannot figure it out. —Tuvia Tenenbom
Nishbar li. It’s not easy to translate: I’ve had enough, I won’t take it anymore.
Back in 2011, Young Palestinian Arabs butchered five members of the Fogel family, including almost cutting the head off of a 3-month old baby. Two years ago, a Palestinian Arab climbed in a window and stabbed 13-year old Hallel Yaffa Ariel to death in her bed. And this week Palestinian Arabs shot and critically wounded a 30-week pregnant woman, Shira Ish-Ran, and her her unborn child in a drive-by shooting.
In between there have been too many murders for me to count, too many stabbings, car-rammings, shootings. There was Rabbi Raziel Shevach, volunteer medic and father of six. There was Ezra Schwartz, a student from the US after whom a new youth baseball field is named. There was Ari Fuld, whose last act was to save a woman being chased by the terrorist that had just stabbed him. There were so many more. So many more.
So ma pitom? Why, suddenly, do I say that I’ve had enough? Surely I’m used to the daily — yes daily — attempted and successful murders of Jews by Palestinian Arabs?
Believe it or not, there is something special about this case, something in addition to the beautiful young family that has been so horribly wounded.
Here it is: security footage shows that there were a number of uniformed soldiers there, who rushed to the aid of the victims of the shooting, and even fired at the car containing the fleeing terrorists. They were nearby, but the terrorists aimed and fired at the pregnant woman.
Uniformed soldiers were nearby, but they aimed and fired at the pregnant woman.
Do I need to add anything? This is who (or what) the Palestinian Arabs are. They will brag about the successful “military operation” they carried out, but it was not a military operation. It was simply an act of sadism, because violent sadism is the way to establish that, despite the nakba and the other humiliations they believe have been inflicted on them, they are “men.”
They are not men, the ones who did this. They are not even human beings. I pray that when the IDF or the police come for them, they will not go quietly, that they will be destroyed.
By the way, I don’t buy the argument that terrorism is a strategy intended to make us abandon the land, and “go back to Europe.” Most Israelis were born here, and about half of them have roots in the Middle East or Africa. But none of us are going back anywhere. And I believe that the terrorists know this. They don’t care; they like to kill, especially children and young women, religious Jews and “settlers” (but they see every Jew in the Land of Israel as a “settler”).
I don’t want to hear about “peace plans” anymore. I don’t want to hear that we should improve humanitarian conditions in Gaza, where the creatures are still throwing themselves at the border fence in what reminds me of a scene from World War Z (video). I don’t want to hear about the “international community” or “civil society.” I don’t want to hear about another “Talmudic thing.” It’s too late for any of that for for me.
No, I want to see the traditional human solution to the classic problem of two tribes fighting over the same piece of land, the solution in which one of them wins and the other disappears. I want to see us make the Palestinian Arabs disappear.
Nishbar li
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Sunday, December 16, 2018
Elder of Ziyon
