Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, August 12, 2016

The other Olympic sport that "Palestinians" have qualified for

The Reuters article we've been discussing about Mary al-Atrash, the Palestinian Olympics swimmer, had a subtext.

The impression that the reader was supposed to get upon reading the story was that she, and by extension the entire Palestinian Olympics team, had unusual hurdles on the way to Rio. From this and other mainstream media stories we get the impression that Israel is applying arbitrary rules just to make their lives difficult, that they cannot get proper equipment to train, and in general they live in an area where even getting to the Olympics is a story of perseverance way beyond ordinary Olympics athletes.

Christian Zimmermann, "Palestinian"

But there is another sport that will see a Palestinian entry.

Equestrian dressage.

Even with the richest of all sports, for Palestinians there is still a political angle as this Middle East Eye report says:

A German entrepreneur in his 50s is hoping to go for gold at the Rio Olympics on Thursday as the first person to represent Palestine in the equestrian competition.

Christian Zimmermann, a descendant of German composer Robert Schumann who holds dual German and Palestinian citizenship, finished 12th out of 60 after the first day of a two-day event that began on Wednesday.

Zimmermann, now 54, abandoned competitive dressage aged 26 to enter the business world, ending up as the CEO of an international communications company.

However, he re-entered the sport on an international level a decade ago, and was persuaded to represent Palestine by a Russian-Palestinian diplomatic family who are also involved in dressage, the al-Shaers.

“The decision was certainly not a whim,” said Zimmermann, who began representing Palestine in 2012 and took part in the 2014 World Equestrian Games under the Palestinian flag.

Zimmermann has said he will be careful not to do anything “inappropriate” when he meets members of the Israeli delegation.

The Lebanese delegation was in hot water earlier last week after athletes reportedly refused to allow Israeli counterparts to travel in the same bus to the opening ceremony.

“It’s true that my second nationality gives me more choice over where and when to compete internationally,” Zimmermann told German news site Berliner Zeitung this week.

However, he said, he chose to compete under the Palestinian flag to make a political point about Germany’s relationship with Israel.

“We as Germans carry a special responsibility for the Jewish people and for Israel,” he told the paper.

“But this responsibility also means that we must push for peace in the Middle East conflict, as difficult as that may be.

“On top of that you can be critical of the development of Israeli policy in recent years. So finally I decided to ride for Palestine, as a gesture towards the Palestinian people.

“If, by competing in the Olympics, I can contribute in some small way to giving the region and its inhabitants a bigger voice, I have been successful."

This is all garbage.

Haaretz notes that it is unclear how or if he became a Palestinian citizen, and his decision to represent "Palestine" was more opportunism than any desire for peace:

It took until 2013 for him to change his national allegiance because of the rules of the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (known by its French acronym, FEI). His choice of Palestine derived in part from his search for a way to qualify for the Olympics. As a German rider he was not particularly successful in making the cut, but as a Palestinian he has virtually no competition, which has enabled him to reach the Games, as the German tabloid Bild has suggested.
In addition to Zimmermann, only five other Palestinian equestrians are registered, along with two horses, as members of FEI, according to that organization. The PA holds no international equestrian competitions either, so the question still stands: Why Palestine, and not, for example, some small, undeveloped African nation?
Zimmermann explains that at a competition in which he participated at the end of the last decade, he met a family of Russian diplomats of Palestinian origin. That marked the beginning of a special friendship, which later led to his decision to represent Palestine. It was not a spontaneous decision, he adds; he took his time before deciding to ride for Palestine.
While he mentions the political aspect of this move, he also hints that there is also a practical dimension to it. Specifically, he notes, such decisions will naturally influence a person on a personal, sporting and political level. But pragmatically, he also realized he would have a great deal more freedom competing on behalf of Palestine than if he tried to fit into the German organizational structure.

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08/12 Links Pt1: Where Palestinian Aid Really Goes; Turning Suicidal Teens into Killers

From Ian:

Where Palestinian Aid Really Goes

Why does Palestinian corruption get a pass? Because their status as alleged victims of the Jews seems to give them priority over every other group in the world.
How can we be all that shocked when individuals divert money and material intended to alleviate the plight of ordinary Palestinians to terrorism when that is precisely what both Hamas and Fatah do on a regular basis and on a much larger scale? That is especially true for Mahmoud Abbas’s faction, whose leaders have grown wealthy while the world continues to picture Palestinians as indigent. A group that pays pensions to imprisoned terrorists and to the survivors of those who died while trying to kill Jews (and boasts on Facebook that it has killed 11,000 Israelis) ought not to be in any position to cry poverty, but that is exactly what it does.
The supposedly more puritanical Islamists of Hamas are guilty of many of the same offenses. Few homes have been rebuilt there since the 2014 war but somehow the Hamas tunnel network—which serves as a point of attack for terror raids into Israel and strongholds to shelter Palestinian armaments, fighters, and leaders while the population has no bomb shelters—has been reconstituted and strengthened.
The UN and World Vision and all those who contribute to other Palestinian charities should spare us their expressions of shock or denials about these scandals. While the Palestinians have genuine needs, anyone who gives money to them should do so in the knowledge that they are just as likely to be financing a terrorist’s pension, a terror tunnel, or a Hamas bunker than they are to feed a child or build a home.

Turning Suicidal Teens into Killers

The Los Angeles Times published an eye-popping report this week: According to Kadoura Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, roughly one-fifth of all Palestinian attacks on Israelis in recent months have been attempts to commit “suicide by cop.” Even if that estimate were exaggerated, Israeli security officials concur that there have been many such cases, which begs an obvious question: Given that suicides are usually interested mainly in killing themselves, why do so many suicidal Palestinians try to kill others in the process? And Fares is quite upfront about the answer: “In our culture, suicide for no reason isn’t honorable,” he said. “If they try to confront a soldier, however, it’s looked on with more respect.’’
Or to put it more bluntly, Palestinians have created a culture where mass murder is the quickest, easiest and surest path to glory. What distressed Palestinians are told by their society is roughly the following: “Do you feel like a failure? No problem. All you have to do is murder a Jew, and you’ll be an instant hero. You’ll be lionized on radio and television programs; schools and soccer tournaments will be named after you; politicians will sing your praises. And as a bonus, you’ll also earn the respect that goes with being a breadwinner: If you live, the government will pay you an above-market salary while you’re in prison, and if you die, it will pay your family.” For a distraught youngster, such a prospect of instant redemption is enormously tempting.
This, clearly, is a form of society-wide child abuse: Instead of being encouraged to seek help, distressed young people are encouraged to commit murder, thereby ensuring they will either be killed by security personnel or sentenced to years in jail. That this practice is ignored by all the myriad “human rights” groups active in the West Bank is ample proof that they care as little about Palestinians’ human rights as they do about those of Israelis.

One On One With Alan Dershowitz - Aug. 11, 2016 w/ Col Kemp

Earlier this week I reported that an Israeli plan to give special rewards to Arab schools in Jerusalem to adopt the Israeli curriculum, which would allow students to more easily go to Israeli universities, was slammed by the PA Minister of Education as "racist." It is a strictly voluntary program.

The Palestinian Authority Cabinet discussed this at their weekly meeting, and they agreed that Israel giving money to some Arab schools is truly evil.

The Council condemned the requirement of the occupation authorities to provide funds for the restoration of Jerusalem schools by adopting the Israeli curriculum, rather than the Palestinian curriculum. It stressed that the practices and procedures of Israel against Palestinian schools and education in the holy city is a flagrant violation of human rights under international law... The Council demanded not to pass this plan, and the need to defend education and schools in the holy city, and to defend our language, our culture and the Palestinian Arab identity, calling on all relevant international organizations for urgent action to stop this grave Israeli violation.

The same do-nothing cabinet also praised terrorists, or in their words "paid tribute to the heroes of our prisoners languishing in Israeli jails."

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Somehow, Gazans get help via "normalization" - and without flotillas

One of the fundamental principles of the BDS movement, which we are constantly told reflects the will of "Palestinian civil society," is that any interaction with Israel or Israelis is forbidden.

This is, of course, for the good of the Palestinian Arabs who need to live with these rules.

But two stories came out today from Muslim nations who are ignoring these artificial rules.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mouloud Jawish Ihsanoglu announced an aid ship to Gaza next month, ahead of the Eid al Adha holiday. But it isn't going to break the legal Israeli naval blockade - it will go to Ashdod and the goods will be transferred to Gaza from there.

He stressed that Turkish aid will continue increasingly in the next phase, according to an agreement with Israel, especially in health and education and the banking industry.

Egypt has made similar announcements of aid to Gaza in recent weeks - but the aid again goes through Kerem Shalom.

This photo of kids playing in front of
Gaza's power plant doesn't look staged at all

In a much more ambitious announcement, Qatar's Gaza liaison Mohammed Al Emadi announced that Israel has approved a massive 100 megawatt solar power station for Gaza which will go a long way towards providing power needs for Gazans. There is a long way to go - they don't have a site picked out yet - but this also came about through negotiations with the hated Zionist enemy.

All without a single flotilla!

Not that the flotilla idiots are deterred. The next "peace boat" is scheduled to sail in September, and already the participants are happily lying:

Green Party MP Marama Davidson will be joining a women’s peace boat in late September which will highlight the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the Green Party said today.

“I am participating in the Women’s Boats to Gaza flotilla to highlight the crucial role of women in keeping their communities afloat, particularly in post-conflict situations,” said Green Party human rights spokesperson Marama Davidson.

“The people of Gaza are still living with the terrible impact of the 2014 war between Israel and Hamas, which resulted in the death of 2,300 civilians and the destruction of hundreds of thousands of homes, schools and hospitals.

If 2,300 civilians were killed, that means that Israel somehow managed to miss every single militant in Gaza!

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From Times of Israel:

France on Thursday condemned Israel over last week’s demolition of several structures, funded by the French government, in a Palestinian village north of Jerusalem.

“France condemns the Israeli army’s destruction of several structures funded by France in the Palestinian village of Nabi Samuel (West Bank) on August 3,” the French government said in a statement.

“This is the third time that buildings funded through French humanitarian aid have been demolished or confiscated by Israeli authorities since the beginning of 2016, and notably follows the dismantling of a school in February.”

Paris also joined the US in denouncing the razing of three European Union-funded shelters in the West Bank on Tuesday, which it said constituted “a violation of international law.

“With several other EU projects destroyed south of Hebron, France expresses its deep concern over the accelerating rate of these demolitions and confiscations of humanitarian structures built for the Palestinian people in Area C,” it said. “We call on the Israeli authorities to end these operations, which are a violation of international law.”

Who is violating international law?

If you assume - as France does - that Israel is a belligerent occupying power in Area C, then international law is clear: the existing legal system that was in place before occupation must remain in place as much as possible, except for very specific cases (where there is no adequate existing system, or for specific military reasons.)

I don't know all of the Jordanian laws in force in the West Bank before 1967, but here are some of the requirements in Jordanian law today needed before building a warehouse. Almost certainly most of these laws would apply to building a home or school, as the EU is doing in Area C, and a significant subset of these laws must have applied in 1967:

Receive soil examination by licensed engineering office
Obtain location (land use) permit
Obtain approval of project design drawings by the Engineering Association
Apply for building permit
Obtain project clearance on fire safety
Receive inspection by the City Development Department
Obtain building permit
Hire an authorized engineering office for inspections of the construction site
Apply for occupancy permit
Receive inspection of completed works from Civil Defense Directorate
Receive final approval from Civil Defense Directorate
Receive inspection of completed works from Greater Amman Municipality
Obtain occupancy permit
Apply for water connection
Receive water and sewerage inspection
Obtain water and sewerage connection

If the EU is not applying these procedures and obtaining the permits before erecting structures in Area C, then it is violating the law. One only has to glance at these EU-funded structures to see that they are simply plopped down on random empty land without any regard to zoning laws or permits.

Under international law, the previous laws must be respected, so they are violating international law and Israel is upholding international law by requiring them to go through official channels to obtain permits to build.

Sorry, France, but you are the violators, not Israel.

See also my recent post detailing the extent of illegal EU structures dotting the landscape in Area C, all built in violation of the law.

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EoZTV: A conversation with Ben Dror Yemini, part 4

In which we discuss Haaretz as well as how people falsely label him, a Labor voter, as "right wing" in order to delegitimize his opinions.

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08/11 Links Pt2: Israel Emerges As A Player On The World Stage'; List of Discriminatory Israeli Laws Is a Fraud

From Ian:

Dr. Mordechai Kedar: The real al Aqsa Mosque is not in Jerusalem

A well known proverb says "liars need to have good memories." The reasoning is clear: a liar needs to remember his own lies and whom he told them to in order to avoid contradicting himself and revealing his mendacity. This rule applies to important issues as well. Jerusalem, for instance, whose holiness to Sunni Muslims is based on a late and political interpretation of a Koranic verse, while to Shiite Muslims it is only the third holiest city, ranked below Mecca and Medina (today the city of Najaf in southern Iraq).
Early Islamic sources state that the "al Aqsa Mosque" (literal meaning: 'the farther mosque'), mentioned only once in the Koran, was one of two mosques located near Ji'irrana, a village located between Mecca and Taaf in the Arabian Peninsula (now Saudi Arabia.) One of the mosques was called "al-Masjid al-Adna," meaning the "closer mosque" and the other " al-Masjid al-Aqsa", the "farther mosque." When the Koran refers to the al Aqsa mosque while telling the myth of the Prophet Muhammad's night time journey from the "holy mosque" of Mecca to al Aqsa, that is, the "farther mosque," it is referring to the mosque in Ji'irrana.
In 682 C.E., fifty years after Mohammed's death, Abd allah Ibn al-Zubayr, the tough man of Mecca, rebelled against the Umayyads who ruled Damascus and would not allow them to fulfill the Haj in Mecca. Since the Haj pilgrimage is one of the five basic Islamic commandments, they were forced to choose Jerusalem as their alternative for a pilgrimage site. In order to justify choosing Jerusalem, the Umayyads rewrote the story told in the Koran, moving the al Aqsa mosque to Jerusalem, and adding, for good measure, the myth of the night time journey of Mohammed to al Aqsa. This is the reason the Sunnis now consider Jerusalem their third holiest city.
Shia Islam, mercilessly persecuted by the Umayya Caliphate, did not accept the holy Jerusalem canard, which is the reason the second holiest city to Shiites is Najif in Iraq, the burial place of Shiite founder Ali bin Abi Talib. Many of the Shiite elders – Iranian and Hezbollah – only began to call Jerusalem holy after the Khomeni rebellion in 1979 so as to keep the Sunnis from accusing them of being soft on Zionism.
The first lie, in that case, is the spurious claim that the "farther mosque" is in Jerusalem.

JPost Editorial: Speaking for history

Is there a difference between an historian and a Jewish historian? The storm of criticism unleashed last week by the confessions of two academics who virtually renounced their previous identification with Israel suggests that the operative distinction has more to do with an irrational self-loathing than with scholarship.
Professors Hasia Diner and Marjorie Feld published an anti-Zionist screed in Haaretz dissociating themselves from a previous identification with Zionism, which has become associated in their understanding with racism, genocide and apartheid, just to cite a few of Israel’s alleged crimes.
Diner begins her anti-Zionist rant with a simple confession: “The Israel I once loved was a naïve delusion.” What a distance she has traveled from the Habonim Zionist movement of her youth to today, as she writes, “I feel a sense of repulsion when I enter a synagogue in front of which the congregation has planted a sign reading, ‘We Stand With Israel.’” Diner writes that she could not endorse the Jerusalem Program, because it affirms belief in “the centrality of the State of Israel and Jerusalem as its capital” for the Jewish people. This, she writes, is because it encourages aliya and “the classic negation of the Diaspora and as such the ending of Jewish life outside a homeland in Israel.”
Straying further into the realm of the absurd and nonfactual, she declares, “The death of vast numbers of Jewish communities as a result of Zionist activity has impoverished the Jewish people.” What deaths of which Jewish communities? Israel, she concludes, is “a place that I abhor visiting, and to which I will contribute no money, whose products I will not buy, nor will I expend my limited but still to me, meaningful, political clout to support it.”
Sovereign Israel cannot choose to absorb Jewish refugees and grant them citizenship, Diner states, because “The Law of Return can no longer look to me as anything other than racism.”
Feld is no better, writing how she learned from non-Jews in “liberal and left organizations in college” who opened her eyes. “I saw that Israel fit neatly into my broader understanding of Western colonialism.... The founding of Israel was the Nakba, the great catastrophe, for Palestinians, with ethnic cleansing, destruction, and no right of return.” She apparently sees no contradiction in the UN Partition Resolution of 1947 creating an Arab and Jewish state which was accepted by the Jewish community and violently rejected by the armies of half a dozen Arab countries.

Israel Emerges As A Player On The World Stage

The emergence of Israel as a small but significant player on the world stage is one of the remarkable developments at the end of the post-Cold War era. The slow economic growth of the United States and Europe has shown the weakness of the status quo powers. The American semi-withdrawal from the Middle East and the British withdrawal from the European Union have opened the door to new powers.
The chaos in the Middle East and the rise of revisionist authoritarian states such as Russia, China and Iran and democratic states like India raise the possibility of a new world order. This would be partly dominated by hardline conservative nationalism, charismatic leadership, slow economic growth, and hostility to the old globalist order.
With eight million people Israel can only play on the fringes of a new global order. But, it has a flourishing economy of $300 billion and nearly $40,000 GDP/capita. Its democratic, liberal politics and growing economy make it able to play both sides of the street.
Its military was rated by the Institute for the Study of War as “pilot to pilot and airframe to airframe” having “the best air force in the world“ and the best army in the Middle East. Israel’s extensive work on air defenses (Iron Dome, David’s Sling, Arrow 2 and soon Arrow 3), carried out with the United States, makes it a serious military power. Its 80-100 atomic bombs put it in a rarified club of nine states in the world. Its intelligence capabilities (Shin Beth and Mossad) are formidable.

Here are some of the examples of antisemitism that the State Department listed in its annual Religious Freedom report.

Afghanistan:

There are small numbers of practitioners of other religions, including one Jew.

Algeria:

Practitioners of non-Sunni-Muslim religions, including Christians and Jews, reported they had experienced threats and intolerance and often kept a low profile as a result.

On October 16, the president’s chief of staff, speaking also as head of the National Democratic Rally at a party meeting, stated the leader of the regional Movement for Self-Determination of Kabylie (MAK) was trying to “help the Zionists” and accused him of “selling Algeria to the Jews.” In an interview responding to the chief of staff’s remarks, the MAK leader denounced the use of a “racist phrase,” which he said increased “anti-Semitism and the hatred of Jews.”

YouTube users in October created an online video, entitled Jews in the Streets of Algeria: What Will Happen? The video depicted a young man pretending to be Jewish (wearing a kippah) approaching people on the streets of Algiers; those he approached then appeared to insult, harass, or assault him. The makers of the video concluded what they termed a “social experiment” by stating “Algerians do not want to smell the odor of Jews in their country.”

Egypt:

Societal anti-Semitic actions included desecration of a Jewish cemetery.

For the fifth consecutive year, authorities cancelled an annual Jewish pilgrimage, including the participation of many Israeli citizens, to the shrine of 19th-century scholar Rabbi Yaakov Abu Hassira. The cancellation occurred following an administrative court decision to ban permanently the Abu Hassira festival in December 2014. The court justified its decision by stating the festival was a “violation of public order and morals” and “incompatible with the solemnity and purity of religious sites.”

The government generally failed to take action against or condemn anti-Semitic comments that appeared in both government-owned and private media. For example, on November 15, Al-Hayat satellite channel television host Iman Izz Al-Din said that Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, the leader of Da’esh, was a Jew. On October 27, El-Rahma television host Muhammad Khaled said “The history of the Jews has been black since the dawn of time. Nebuchadnezzar burned them, the Crusaders burned them, and even Hitler and Nazism burned them.” Then he asked his interviewee, professor of Islamic history at Cairo University Yusri Ahmad Zidan, whether “burning was the only solution for the Jews.” Zidan responded, “So it seems.”

Talk show hosts occasionally approved the killing of Jewish civilians and failed to distinguish between Jews and supporters of Israeli policies in broadcasts critical of such policies. Private Salafist media sometimes included anti-Semitic programming that glorified or denied the Holocaust, including in interviews with academics and clerics. There were reports of imams using anti-Semitic rhetoric in their sermons, including allegations that Jews were responsible for the “spilled blood” of Muslim Palestinians.

In a Facebook post on March 6, President of the Cairo Jewish Community Magda Haroun reported teenagers defiled her family’s graves at the Basateen Jewish cemetery in the south of Cairo on March 5. Haroun said as she was visiting the graves a group of teenagers shouted repeatedly, “the graves of the Jews, the sons of bitches” and then urinated on the graves.

Iran:

Articles in international news media quoted Jewish community representatives as saying there continued to be government restrictions and discrimination against Jews, but little interference with Jewish religious practices

According to the Tehran Jewish Committee, five Jewish schools and two kindergartens continued to operate in Tehran, but their principals were required to be Muslim. The government reportedly continued to allow Hebrew instruction but limited the distribution of Hebrew texts, particularly nonreligious texts, making it difficult to teach the language, according to the Jewish community. Although the government did not require Jewish students to attend Saturday classes, it reportedly required Jewish schools to remain open on Saturdays, in violation of Jewish religious law, to conform to the schedule of other schools.

Iraq:

The law states constitutional guarantees providing for the reinstatement of citizenship to individuals who gave up their citizenship for political or sectarian reasons do not apply to Jews who emigrated and gave up their citizenship under a 1950 law.

Jordan:

Editorial cartoons, articles, and public statements by politicians sometimes depicted negative images of Jews and conflated anti-Israel sentiment with anti-Semitic sentiment. On November 17, Ro’ya, a private television station, hosted a journalist drawing an editorial cartoon showing an anti-Semitic stereotype and stating that Jews were the “mother of terrorism.”

Lebanon:

The government continued to refuse to give approval to the request from the Jewish community, repeated over several years, to change its official name from the Israeli Communal Council to the Jewish Community Council.

Malaysia:

Government officials made anti-Semitic, and in some cases anti-Christian, statements. In August Mahdzir Khalid, the minister of education and a senior leader of the ruling UMNO party, said a London-based website that reported Malaysian government corruption was part of a Jewish/Christian agenda to split the Malay Muslim community.

Morocco:

In October participants in a pro-Palestinian rally in Casablanca reportedly acted out a scene in which individuals in Palestinian dress pushed fake rifles into the backs of other individuals in handcuffs dressed as Hasidic Jews, and then play-acted the execution of those portraying the Jews. Local authorities later briefly detained and questioned the individuals involved in the play-acting scene, but no charges were filed.

Saudi Arabia:

The calculation of accidental death or injury compensation differs according to the religious affiliation of the plaintiff. In the event a court renders a judgment in favor of a plaintiff who is a Jewish or Christian male, the plaintiff is entitled to receive only 50 percent of the compensation a Muslim male would receive; all other non-Muslims are entitled to receive only one-sixteenth the amount a male Muslim would receive.

Editorial cartoons continued to exhibit anti-Semitism characterized by the use of stereotypical images of Jews along with Jewish symbols, particularly at times of heightened political tension with Israel. For example, in March a cartoon showed the Star of David caging a peace dove, and in January a cartoon showed an orthodox Jew armed with a weaponized menorah riding an elephant to conquer the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Tunisia:

In March unknown individuals damaged the grave of 18th century Jewish author and scholar Rabbi Masseoud Elfassi. Media reports speculated the vandalism was the work of looters. After the incident, President Beji Caid Essebsi increased security around the cemetery and other Jewish sites, and publicly promised a European rabbinical body he would protect the Jewish community and its institutions.

Turkey:

Mastermind, an anti-Semitic “documentary” film, was broadcast repeatedly on private television channels and posted on the websites of several pro-government media outlets, starting in March. An adviser to Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu appeared in the film, and said President Erdogan was responsible for bringing unfavorable “facts” about Jews to the public’s attention. The film paints the Jews as the country’s biggest enemy.

Yemen:

Anti-Semitic material continued to appear in print. Jewish leaders reported continued harassment of Jewish community members in Amran by the local population, including by throwing stones and coercion to convert to Islam. Jewish students reportedly continued to stay away from public schools due to social pressures and security concerns. Attempts by the Jewish community to establish private schools, which had been abandoned following the Houthi takeover of Sana’a in September 2014, remained halted. In October several members of the Jewish community departed Yemen, citing concerns over security and their children’s future.

There were some positive anecdotes as well, particularly in Turkey and Tunisia.

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

Israel’s sometimes impulsive Defense Minister, Avigdor Liberman, was forced to apologize for a statement issued with his approval that compared the Obama Iran deal with the 1938 Munich agreement, which as we know fed Czechoslovakia into the maw of Nazi Germany in a vain attempt to stave off war.

Ha’aretz reported that “the White House was furious. Obama’s senior aides couldn’t understand how, at the very moment when they were negotiating with Israel over the largest military aid package America has ever given any country, the Israeli defense minister could release a statement like that against Obama.”

This is at least the fourth or fifth time – usually it’s because of construction plans in Jerusalem – that Obama and his people have been reported as “furious” with Israel. There are, however, few non-satirical reports of Obama being furious with Vladimir Putin, Bashar al-Assad or even Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. It seems that no country or national leader can ignite White House anger like Israel, Bibi Netanyahu or (now) Liberman.

It’s easy to understand why. We are granted $3 billion each year in military aid, and then we turn around and “spit in Obama’s face” by building apartments in our capital, by having the wrong capital, or by opposing the Iran deal, which, after all, really does have much in common with the Munich agreement.

Israel and its leaders are expected to be subservient, and when an underling doesn’t follow orders, then it is not just wrong, it is insubordinate and insulting. Insubordination provokes anger. Putin, on the other hand, is expected to oppose American interests, so nobody loses their temper when he does what he is supposed to do.

The problem is exacerbated by the increasing “daylight” between the Obama Administration and Israel. But even a more friendly administration would expect to get what it believes it is paying for.

Be aware that with every verbal slap in the face, every lecture from the White House or Secretary of State, every time our Prime Minister is called a ‘chickenshit’ or made to cool his heels while the President has dinner, every time one of our ministers has to grovel in order to be forgiven for making a true statement, every time Obama vents his fury at our country as at a disobedient servant, we lose some of our national honor.

Some people think this is nothing. An apology is just words; don’t we have the strongest army in the Middle East? But they are wrong. National honor is important, nowhere more so than in the Middle East. It is a component of deterrence, along with a powerful air force. A nation without honor is a legitimate target to its enemies, it is not worth defending by its friends, and it is not worth fighting for by its own people.

Our enemies know this, and that’s why they try to humiliate us, to steal our honor, whenever possible – even a bus ride or a handshake at the Olympics is worth exploiting.

But nothing steals honor more than being a whore, that is, someone who allows herself to be humiliated and does things that are opposed to her own sense of self and well-being in order to be paid. A whore has no honor. Zero.

Israel has become a whore for American military aid. For $3 billion a year we are expected to keep our mouths shut about the Iran deal that is going to bring us our next, possibly nuclear, war. We are expected to take seriously the insane idea of withdrawing from Judea and Samaria and allowing them to become a base for terror attacks against the center of our country. We are expected to freeze building in our capital city, while rising prices are driving Jewish residents out. And when we fail to do these things, the administration gets ‘furious’ at us.

There are plenty of good reasons to phase out American military aid. Since most of it (and soon all of it) must be spent in the US, it weakens our home-grown defense industry. It requires us to purchase systems like the F-35 that are unsuitable for our needs, perform poorly or are too expensive (the F-35 seems to be all of these). If you don’t agree, consider whether Israel would embrace the F-35 if it had to spend its own money.

Very significantly, it subverts the decision-making processes in our military chain of command. When our Minister of Defense and Chief of Staff evaluate possible courses of action – to bomb an enemy’s nuclear facilities or not? – it is impossible for them to forget that 20% of their budget comes from the US. Even their opinions on broader political issues can be colored by concern for the funding of their favored projects. This happens not only at the highest levels, but is pervasive throughout the IDF. How could it be otherwise?

Most important, the aid reduces Israel from a sovereign state to a satellite nation. We become subservient both in the political and military arenas to an administration which, increasingly, would just as soon see us disappear. We become a nation without national honor.

But we have options. It is not impossible to cut off the so-called “golden handcuffs.” A gradual phase-out of aid would permit our native defense industry to pick up the slack and soften the blow to the American contractors. There’s no doubt that many items could be produced here at a significant cost saving. We even buy our army’s boots with American aid today – making them in Israel would both save money and return it to our economy. Our expanded military industries would also be capable of increased export business. We don’t need to stop buying from American contractors where they produce the best products. We would simply use our own money to do it.

There would be great opposition to such a plan, from our generals who would have to think a bit outside the box that they have been in for decades, and from the US defense contractors who are the biggest beneficiaries of the aid. But the results would justify the effort. The $3 billion each year could be put to use within the US or even (gasp) be returned to American taxpayers.

It would be good for America – and better for Israel.

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

08/11 Links Pt1: PA brainwashing works, terrorists kill to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque; How UNDP panders to Hamas regime

From Ian:

PMW: Special report: PA brainwashing works, terrorists kill to defend Al-Aqsa Mosque

Mother of murderer of 13-year-old Israeli girl explained son's killing: He was "defending Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque"
Uncle of stabber explained 14-year-old's attack: "He said: 'Maybe after two operations (i.e., terror attacks) they (i.e., the Jews) will stop invading the blessed Al-Aqsa Mosque'"
Terrorist stabber in farewell video before attack: "I dedicate myself to the protection of the Al-Aqsa [Mosque] and defense of our occupied land"
This follows PA libel: Israel is destroying and defiling Islamic holy places PA and Fatah leaders say presence of Jews in Muslim holy places is "desecration" and "defilement"
PA and Fatah leaders urge Palestinians to "defend" and "protect" the Muslim holy places "at all costs" and "whatever the sacrifices" - including implicit call for violence and terror PA and Fatah leaders urge Palestinians to come to the Al-Aqsa Mosque to "carry out Ribat" - religious conflict/war over land claimed to be Islamic

14-year-old terrorist stabbed an Israeli, believing it would stop Jews from "invading Al-Aqsa"

Terrorist who stabbed Israeli "dedicated" himself to "protection of the Al-Aqsa [Mosque]"

Newest "Apartheid?" poster

Avi Mayer tweeted:

Mazal Tov! Mabrook! // Journalist Furat Nassar becomes first Arab Israeli to anchor Israel's most-watched newscast.

So it is time for a new poster to add to my ever-growing series.

These posters have been viewed over 200,000 times from my page alone, not counting the many times they have been copied, emailed and otherwise reproduced.

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

I continued my Twitter conversation with Reuters' Luke Baker about the Palestinian swimmer story.

He said that I was wrong in my assertion that Reuters blamed Israel for her being unable to train in Jerusalem, because the actual Reuters quote said "Use of superior Israeli facilities and training partners in nearby Jerusalem where there are several Olympic-sized pools and many swimmers, has not been possible due to the long-standing conflict with Israel."

When I asked how that doesn't blame Israel, he responded:

@elderofziyon The conflict is the responsibility of both Israel and the Palestinians, who have opposed letting athletes train in Israel
— Luke Baker (@LukeReuters) August 11, 2016

This is disingenuous. Reuters has written hundreds of stories about Israel supposedly oppressing Palestinians, and less than a handful on Palestinian opposition to normalization with Israel. The only possible interpretation that a Reuters reader could get from the story is that Israel is responsible for al-Atrash not being allowed to train. It certainly didn't say that Palestinians were against such training.

Taking the two Reuters statements together - that use of the Jerusalem facilities "has not been possible" and that Palestinians oppose letting athletes train in Israel, together with the IDF's statement that they would have been happy to allow Mary al-Atrash to train in Israel if she had only applied for a permit, we come to a conclusion: Reuters seems to be saying that the Palestinian leadership bans their athletes from training in Israel.

This would be an astonishing piece of news.

I asked Baker to confirm that this was what he was saying:

Would I be accurate in writing an article, based on this tweet, that the PA bans Pal athletes from training in Israel? @LukeReuters
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) August 11, 2016

Unfortunately, he apparently did not feel comfortable answering this tweet.

Upon reflection, I don't think that there is an actual ban from the PA. I cannot find anything written that indicates that. Tens of thousands of Arabs enter Israel daily to go to work; if the PA specifically banned athletes it would be a big deal.

However, it is entirely possible that Baker was hinting that Jibril Rajoub, the head of the Palestinian Olympic Committee, has told athletes that they cannot go to the Olympics if they train in Israel, effectively handicapping their own athletes in the name of "anti-normalization." Rajoub regards sports as an important piece in the propaganda war against Israel and he would not want any story to ever be published about how Israel cooperates with Palestinian athletes to help them go to the Olympics. Any cooperation with Israel would deflate Rajoub's entire reason from moving from terrorism to "sports."

This is the man, after all, who said that a moment of silence for Israeli athletes murdered in Munich would be "racism."

This is why the author of the article, Mustafa Abu Ganeyeh, didn't bother to ask the IDF if they didn't allow athletes to train. He knew that it wasn't Israel's fault to begin with so he just implied it by blaming the "conflict." No reader would even consider the idea that the Palestinians themselves would purposefully use their athletes as pawns in such a way.

Whatever the specifics, Baker is saying that Palestinians are not allowing their own athletes to get the best possible training for political reasons. This is a huge story - a story that Reuters knows about and yet is not willing to report, clarify, confirm or deny.

Which is, when you think of it, also a huge story.

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