Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, April 11, 2019

04/11 Links Pt1: Israel's Beresheet set to make history, land on moon today; Benjamin Netanyahu Wins Elections because—to Most Israelis—He’s Right about What Matters

From Ian:

Israel's Beresheet set to make history, land on moon today

Seven weeks after Israeli spacecraft Beresheet (Hebrew for Genesis) soared into the night sky at Cape Canaveral, Florida, commencing an epic 6.5 million km. journey, it is poised to make history on Thursday evening when it reaches the Moon.

Only three countries have completed the formidable task of landing a spacecraft on the lunar surface – the United States, Russia (then the USSR) and China. The tiny State of Israel is set to join that prestigious club of cosmic superpowers.

Beresheet, the ambitious project developed by SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries, has been making history even before the unmanned vessel was launched on February 22, becoming the world’s first spacecraft built by a non-governmental organization.
Last week the spacecraft left the Earth’s orbit and began its descent to the lunar surface. Only seven countries have been able to successfully place a spacecraft in the Moon’s orbit.

While such an achievement alone is already a source of pride for Beresheet’s engineers, the eyes of nine million Israelis and people across the Earth will be fixed on the Mare Serenitatis (Sea of Serenity) on Thursday evening at approximately 10:30 p.m. local time, with high hopes for a successful lunar landing.

“The most significant thing is not just becoming the fourth country to land on the Moon, but our desire for young people in Israel to go and learn science,” Yigal Harel, head of SpaceIL’s spacecraft program, told The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

How to watch the Beresheet spacecraft land on the moon

With elections in the rearview mirror, Israelis are now focusing on the moon.

The Israeli spacecraft Beresheet, or Genesis, is scheduled to touch down on the moon’s surface on Thursday night in Israel. And the country has Beresheet mania.

Watch parties and celebrations are planned throughout Israel. The main event — in Hod Hasharon, about 13 miles from Tel Aviv in the central part of the country — will include exhibitions, a dance party, a space-themed selfie wall and videos.

Tens of thousands of Israelis had stayed up until the wee hours of the morning to watch the lunar lander’s launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida on Feb. 21 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

This time the hour will be more civilized, with Beresheet expected to touch down in the northeastern part of the Sea of Serenity, a flat area on the moon’s surface, sometime between 10 and 11 p.m. in Israel. A successful landing will make Israel the fourth country — after the Soviet Union, the U.S. and China — to land a spacecraft on the moon.

Here is the Youtube Live broadcast for the Moon landing. #Beresheet will start the landing process at approximately 22:05 Israeli time (UTC+03:00), which will take around 25 minutes. https://t.co/vnCsVpauAs #IsraelToTheMoon #SpaceIL
— Israel To The Moon (@TeamSpaceIL) April 11, 2019

#Beresheet will start its landing process at around 22:05 Israeli time (UTC+03:00), which is:
04:05 in Tokyo 🇯🇵
05:05 in Sydney 🇦🇺
12:05 in Los Angeles 🇺🇸
14:05 in Mexico City 🇲🇽
15:05 in New York 🇺🇸
16:05 in Rio 🇧🇷
20:05 in London 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
21:05 in Paris 🇫🇷#IsraelToTheMoon #SpaceIL
— Israel To The Moon (@TeamSpaceIL) April 11, 2019

Israel Airports Authority lists moon landing on its timetable

Alongside incoming flights from Istanbul and Madrid, the Israel Airports Authority listed the Beresheet moon landing on its arrival timetable.

The flight carrier is identified as Israel Aerospace Industries and the landing scheduled for 10 p.m., although the landing is actually expected to take place at 10:25 p.m.

Marked as “not final,” Beresheet’s touchdown is expected at Ben Gurion’s Terminal 3, according to the site.

The four-legged spacecraft is expected to land in the Sea of Serenity after 47 days and 6.5 million kilometers of flight, making Israel the fourth country to land a spaceship on the moon.

UC Santa Barbara students defeat BDS - but antisemitism is a real issue there

Early this morning, after an all-night session, the Associated Students of UC Santa Barbara (ASUCSB) defeated a BDS resolution 14-10.

Before the meeting this tweet went out from a BDS supporter:

When people complained she clarified that, no, of course, she didn't mean to physically fight - unlike "Zionists" who love to. She then complained that she felt unsafe.

More troubling was this flyer found near UCSB before the meeting:

There is a clear correlation between anti-Israel activity and antisemitic activity on campuses, and some of the Jewish students at the meeting mentioned the fear they feel.

UC Santa Barbara is the only University of California school whose students did not pass a BDS resolution.

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Amnesty International's press release about AirBnB's decision to not discriminate against Jews in Judea and Samaria is unintentionally hilarious:

Airbnb’s decision to continue to allow accommodation listings in illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank is a reprehensible and cowardly move that will be another devastating blow for the human rights of Palestinians.

This decision is a deeply shameful abdication of Airbnb’s responsibility as a company to respect international humanitarian and human rights law wherever they operate in the world. This includes Israel’s illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. It also exposes the hollowness of their claims to be a company that values human rights.

Airbnb had a clear opportunity to make the right decision to uphold human rights and use their influence to set a precedent in the tourism industry. Instead, they have chosen to bury their heads in the sand - ignoring blatant evidence that they are helping to fuel violations that cause immense suffering to Palestinians.

I want to see an interview of a shopkeeper in Nablus or an artisan in Bethlehem saying how "devastated" they are that a website advertises homes to rent to Jews a few kilometers away.

Looking through Arabic media, this is a non-story, with a couple of sites publishing a Reuters article about it. No one cares. it doesn't affect Palestinians at all.

The only Palestinian I can find complaining about this is perennial kvetcher Saeb Erakat, whose denunciation is reported in Haaretz, not in Arabic, as of this writing.

One would think that if this decision is "devastating," the purported victims would be a little more interested in it.

Palestinians don't care. But Amnesty does.

Amnesty spent considerable time and money creating logos and videos, case studies and maps in its campaign to pressure Airbnb along with Tripadvisor and others companies to stop advertising Jewish-owned tourism destinations in the historic Jewish homeland.

It issued a 96 page report on the issue in January. Most of its campaigns include reports of only two pages.

Palestinians aren't devastated. Amnesty is. (As are the Israel haters who started the campaign in 2016 that Amnesty copied.)

Amnesty spent a great deal of its political capital and its prestige to pressure US companies to discriminate against Jews, and its loss is not only a loss for its campaign but also for its influence as a human rights NGO. It isn't fighting for human rights - it is upset that it wasted so much money and time for nothing.

Needless to say, Amnesty's decision to spend hundreds of man hours attacking Airbnb and Tripadvisor came at the expense of its ability to actually do critical human rights work that can save lives and free political prisoners. Its hate for Israel has perverted its very reason for existence from helping people who are unjustly persecuted into attacking not only Israel but even businesses that work in Israel. It may do great work elsewhere, but its Middle East section is pretty much parroting BDS talking points.

Amnesty's obsession with Israel has nothing to do with human rights - and this episode proves it.

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From YNet:

IDF Col. Ala Abu Rukon has been named as the new military secretary to President Reuven Rivlin, his office said Thursday.

Abu Rukon will be promoted to the rank of brigadier-general with the appointment, Rivlin's office said. The decision was made by Rivlin, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is defense minister as well as prime minister, and IDF Chief of Staff Aviv Kochavi.

The 47-year-old officer, from the Druze town of Isfiya, currently serves as the IDF military attache to China. He has been a member of the armed forces for 25 years, and has held positions in the Paratroops Brigade and the Intelligence Branch.

Rivlin congratulated Abu Rukon on his appointment, calling him "an impressive and professional addition to (my) team of advisers."

I couldn't find a photo of Ala Abu Rukon, but he isn't the first Druze - or even the first Abu Rukon! - to reach heights in the IDF.

Last year Major General Kamil Abu Rukon was appointed as the new head of the IDF's COGAT.

It is ironic that this happens the day after Netanyahu is elected to a new term as prime minister - to lots of stories about how he is a racist.

And doubly ironic that this happens during "Israeli Apartheid Week" month.

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04/10 Links Pt2: There is no left left in Israel; Saudi Journalist: 'Allah Commanded Us To Love And Respect' The Jews; 'Antisemitism In The Arab World Is The Product Of Loathsome Racist Education'

From Ian:

There is no left left in Israel

That leaves Netanyahu very well placed to form a government quite similar to the solidly right-wing one that has been ruling the country since 2015, albeit with one significant change: Likud's share of the vote looks to have increased from 23.4 percent to a little under 30 percent (with seats in the Knesset expanding from 30 to something around 35 out of 120). And he did it while running for re-election under threat of indictment — by warning ominously that if Likud lost, the left would take over Israel.

The left will be doing no such thing in Israel anytime soon. But the fear that it could, and the conviction that this would be disastrous for the country, is a very powerful force in Israeli politics these days, just as the American right hopes it will become in the United States.

Which is another way of saying that what American political scientists call negative partisanship has been extraordinarily effective for the Israeli right. It has done nothing for the Israeli left because, in an electoral sense, there is no Israeli left. It exists now primarily in the minds of the right — as an existential threat, a sort of suicidal impulse toward surrender to Israel's many blood-thirsty enemies that must be resisted at all costs.

Gantz may have campaigned as the anti-Netanyahu, but his disagreements mostly focused on the corruption investigation and domestic issues. On the Palestinian question and Israel's relations with its neighbors, the former commander of the formidable Israeli military came down quite close to Bibi's positions, and he maintains close ties to sharply hawkish members of the Knesset. This would not change if his alliance ends up forming a government, because any governing coalition would need to include at least some of the same right-wing parties that have been Likud's partners for the past four years. And that's assuming Blue and White doesn't join together with Likud itself to form a national unity government.

No matter what happens in the coming days and weeks, the right in Israel holds most of the cards, the center is its only opposition and viable alternative, and the left is well and truly dead. (h/t jzaik)

MEMRI: Saudi Journalist: 'Allah Commanded Us To Love And Respect' The Jews; 'Antisemitism In The Arab World Is The Product Of Loathsome Racist Education'

In his March 3, 2019 column in the leading London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Saudi journalist and businessman Hussein Shobakshi condemned the deeply rooted hatred of Jews in Islamic culture, in which the term "Jew" is strongly derogatory. Shobakshi mused on why the Muslims do not differentiate between the Israeli Zionists and the Jews in general, even though Allah had instructed the Muslims to love and respect Jews and Christians, and even though the Prophet Muhammad himself had married a Jewess, made pacts with Jews, and maintained relations with them. He called on the Muslims to first achieve peace amongst themselves and with those around them, and to recognize that they have profound antisemitic hatred and racism, and that they are capable nevertheless of carrying out Allah's commandment and respect the Jews.

The following are translated excerpts of Shobakshi's column:
"When the extremists in the political Islam organizations want to carry out character assassination against a leader in the Arab world, they are accustomed to reiterating over and over that 'his mother was a Jewess' or that 'he has Jewish roots.' Often, the supporters of this or that leader respond to this by saying of the leader of the Muslim Brotherhood that 'his mother was a Jewess.'[1] This has made me wonder about the scope of the hatred for Jews in our culture, and about our inability to distinguish between the Jews as People of the Book – whom Allah commanded us to love and respect and permitted us to trade with them, eat their foods, and marry them – and the Israeli Zionist political project that has instilled [in us] schizophrenia [in our attitude towards the Jews] from which we have not yet awakened.

"The intensity of the Jew-hatred disseminated by the media and by art, literature, and political cartoons [in the Arab world] has reached a degree that cannot be ignored. No one, of course, is arguing that the Jewish and Israeli arena itself is free of a culture of hatred within it. In the extremist religious Jewish schools, there is [also] the same takfir [i.e. accusing others of heresy, as there is among Muslims] and differentiation between the [Jewish] people and the 'gentiles,' who are worthless and may be robbed and killed. From these schools emerged the well-known extremist terrorists Meir Kahana and Baruch Goldstein.

"However, antisemitism in the Arab world is the product of loathsome, racist education that is rooted in the Arab mentality that is used to labeling people according to tribal, family, and racial affiliation, and according to the religious school to which they belong. It is this education that prompted thousands of Jews who were citizens of Arab countries to emigrate after the establishment of the State of Israel… (this is the same mentality faced by Christians of the Arab Orient and by all other religious [non-Muslim] streams in the region).

“Annexation” is a word I’ve fought against for years. Especially as applied to Judea and Samaria. You annex land that doesn’t belong to you. If it belongs to you, on the other hand, you exercise your sovereignty and say, “This is ours.”

Getting this message across has been difficult. People find it easier to speak of annexation. Fewer syllables or something. They don’t realize the import of what they’re suggesting when they use the “a” word. If I call them on it, they tell me I’m quibbling, that it’s just semantics.

That is why I was beyond ecstatic when Netanyahu, in an interview with Army Radio on Saturday night, clarified that he was not speaking of annexation. “I did not say I would annex the West Bank,” said Netanyahu, “I said I would apply Israeli law to Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria.”

In a later television interview (Hebrew only), the Prime Minister did one better, using the word "sovereignty."

It is true he was saying these things on the eve of an election, so such declarations could be seen in that light, as so much campaign smoke. On the other hand, this is the first time a sitting prime minister, or anyone in a position of authority in an Israeli government referred to exercising sovereignty in the territories. It was the first time a sitting prime minister declared that there is no need to annex Judea and Samaria, because they are already ours. The same prime minister who commissioned the Edmond Levy Report was at last utilizing that report, a report which found that Israel has a legal right to the territories that are Judea and Samaria.

Just as the Bar Ilan speech has come back to haunt Bibi, so too, this declaration, sets a precedent. But unlike Bibi’s declared backing of the two-state solution, which could lead only to concessions and bloodshed, the thought of exercising our sovereignty over our native territory fills us with joy. Sovereignty brings a new note into the conversation about Judea and Samaria, a topic that has grown in importance, as Jews have begun to tiptoe into new waters, experimenting with the word “indigenous.”

Indeed, we are the indigenous people of the territory. Jews are named for Judea.

From a legal standpoint, the territory returned to us during a defensive war, after Jordan illegally occupied the territory from 1948-1967. It breaches no article of the Geneva Convention for Jews to voluntarily come and build homes in their ancient indigenous territory. It is not Israel who occupied this territory. It was all the foreign aggressors who did so for centuries: they occupied Jewish territory—territory that was Jewish before Mohammed was a gleam in his mama’s eye.

I am not Bibi’s biggest fan. But I am encouraged that he said these things, even now, on the eve of an election. I am pleased that he emphasized application of Jewish law over Judea and Samaria, and clarified that he did not speak of annexing some made up place called the West Bank (that doesn’t seem to lie on the banks of a river, in any case). We know of Bibi’s excellent relationship with Donald Trump, who is getting ready to unveil his deal of the century. Trump just recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Presumably, Trump will also recognize Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, once we end the state of martial law. Otherwise Netanyahu would not have made this bold public declaration now, at this time.

All these many months, pundits have worried about Trump’s plan, putting forward this rumor and that regarding the unknown contents of that plan. There has been so much scaremongering on that score. Now it seems that the plan includes recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.

That would be an amazing thing. Even more amazing than moving the embassy. More amazing than recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, in my opinion, which only made sense for the U.S., what with Iran in control in Syria. In recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria, Trump would be recognizing Israel as the sovereign power she is, sovereign over her people’s indigenous territory. This would be addressing the longest-running historic wrong of all: giving the Jewish people back their territory once and for all, after all the centuries of thievery and oppression and leaving the Jews to run things as they wish—in peace—for all its citizens.

I write this column as Israelis are going to the polls to vote. I am confident that Benyamin Netanyahu will be the one forming the next coalition and will remain in power as Israel’s prime minister. I look forward to the coming months with great anticipation, to see how it all unfolds.

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Area Wife Can't Decide At Which Gentile-Blood Restaurant She Wants To Eat (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Jerusalem, April 10 - The expanding selection of top-flight culinary establishments in Israel's capital city poses a quandary for a local homemaker, who is experiencing trouble choosing from among the numerous such places that specialize in the use of the blood from murdered non-Jews.

Faygie Tannenbaum, 35, looks forward each year to week or two leading up to Passover, a time when the in-between status of the kitchen and dining room means fewer home-cooked meals and more eating out. Over the last several years the number of high-quality of Jerusalem gentile-blood eateries has skyrocketed, a fact that should make Ms. Tannenbaum excited, but leaves her with a sense of confusion.

"This isn't your grandmother's pre-Pesach routine," she remarked, perusing several pages of advertisements in her community's kosher restaurant guide. "Twenty years ago if you wanted to sample this year's harvest of goy-blood foods you were essentially limited to falafel, shawarma, grill places, and lousy pizza. But somehow in the last couple of decades the fare has improved, and now we have our pick of goy-blood steakhouses, goy-blood trattorias, goy-blood cafes with extensive food menus, even goy-blood sushi and Indian cuisine. I can never decide what I'm in the mood to eat. Goy-blood entrecôte? Goy-blood calzones? Or maybe just a simple burger in goy-blood sauce? It drives my husband crazy."

"She gets like this every year when we have to eat out," lamented her husband Dov. "It's not just that it's hard to eat so many meals in the house during Pesach preparations and cleaning; it's also that this time of year is when the surplus goy blood is released onto the market for general culinary use, now that the bulk of matza production is more or less complete. The rest of the year we don't go out much - not because we don't like non-goy-blood food, but because it's a drain on the wallet. I make a living, but we can't always splurge like this. The sudden large-scale availability of the blood drives prices down and the food becomes more affordable. With six kids and a seventh on the way, we have to spend judiciously, even when circumstances all but force us to eat out."

Tradition dictates the use of blood from a murdered Christian child, but in recent decades Palestinian children of all varieties have all but taken their place, owing to plentiful supply.

Dov favors a new wings joint in the hipster-oriented Mahane Yehuda market at night, and if it were up to him, he'd go there all the time. "I'm not like that, though," conceded Faygie. "Don't get me wrong, their young-goyish-child-blood sauce is to die for, but I need some variety. My mood changes. And Baruch Hashem, Dov is so accommodating."

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04/10 Links Pt1: Airbnb rescinds ban on Jewish settlement home listings in “West Bank”; Trump: Netanyahu win a 'good sign for peace'; poll finds Palestinians deeply distrust their leaders

From Ian:

Airbnb rescinds ban on Jewish settlement home listings in “West Bank”

We previously covered the policy implemented by Airbnb last November to ban listings from Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria (the “West Bank”).

That amounted to a de facto Jewish boycott because Jews are forbidden under Palestinian Authority law and practice from buying homes outside the settlements, and Palestinians could be killed for selling or renting to a Jew.

That policy arguably violated U.S. law as applied to Americans who wanted to list their West Bank properties as well as Israeli law.

One of the federal lawsuits, pending in the District of Delaware, has been settled, and Airbnb agreed to rescind the policy. Shurat HaDin Law Center released this statement:

Dear Friends,

We just scored a tremendous victory in the lawsuit we launched against Airbnb! The online hosting platform has agreed to completely retract its policy of delisting Jewish homes in Judea & Samaria. This is an important and precedential decision in the battle against the racist BDS movement.

Over the past few weeks we have been negotiating a settlement agreement with the hospitality giant Airbnb to rescind its discriminatory policy redlining Jewish-owned properties in the Judea and Samaria region. That policy, announced in November 2018, had banned Jewish property owners in Judea and Samaria from listing properties on Airbnb, while allowing Muslim and Christian property owners to list properties in the same area. Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Airbnb has agreed to repeal the discriminatory policy, thereby resolving the discrimination lawsuit.

The plaintiffs, a group of twelve Jewish American families had filed a civil rights lawsuit against Airbnb in the United States Federal District Court for the District of Delaware. The lawsuit was captionedSliber, et al. v. Airbnb, 1:18-cv-01884-RGA. The lawsuit was brought in Delaware because Airbnb is incorporated in Delaware. In their lawsuit, the plaintiffs alleged that the policy of the San Francisco-based internet hospitality company discriminated against them based upon their religion.

ADL, Simon Wiesenthal Center applaud Airbnb decision not to delist W. Bank

Jewish groups, including the Anti-Defamation League and the Simon Wiesenthal Center, have applauded Airbnb's decision not to delist properties within the West Bank.

“The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which denounced Airbnb’s initial decision to drop Jewish homeowners living on the West Bank as antisemitic, is pleased that the company has rescinded its ill-conceived political move,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the SWC associate dean and director of Global Social Action. “Airbnb can now return to its mandate of bringing people of all backgrounds together around the world, whatever their nationality, race, or religion.”

"We appreciate that Airbnb and Brian Chesky listened to us and the wider community, and course-corrected on how they implement their listing policy," said Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League. "We also welcome their clear rejection of BDS and embrace of the Israeli market."

Airbnb announced on Tuesday that it would rescind its decision to remove ads of Jewish homeowners in Judea and Samaria following a settlement of a Shurat Hadin lawsuit.

The rental giant had said in November 2018 that it would ban Jewish property owners living in the West Bank from advertising on its site following objections from groups seeking to boycott Israel.

Melanie Phillips: Our crazy world Golan, Brexit, Labour antisemitism

We talk about my recent article for the Jewish News Syndicate on the common factor between President Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and the Brexit issue. What’s the connection between these obviously divergent issues? Simply this: that the uproar over the recognition of the Golan annexation is rooted in the false belief that the Arab war against Israel is an argument over land boundaries and that Israel has no right to overstep these.

But it isn’t; it’s a war of extermination against Israel. Wars of extermination are not negotiable; any compromise is an act of surrender. Moreover, as the victim of Syrian aggression Israel is well within its legal rights under international law to retain the Golan heights for the forseeable future in order to defend itself.

We also talk about the latest in Britain’s agonising Brexit trauma, as well as the Sunday Times splash on the shocking extent of Labour antisemitism and evidence that the party leadership is actively interfering to stop the disciplining of Jew-hating members.

What, exactly, is the downside of designating Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization?

Lots of people are criticizing President Trump's declaration of Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist group, but the initial reasons given for such criticism are all over the place.

Which means that the reflexive reactions are more based on being anti-Trump than any sort of sober analysis.

Here are the reasons being given so far, besides Tulsi Gabbard's nonsensical claim that it will lead to World War III.

CNN has an op-ed that says:

Inside Iran, it is difficult to avoid doing business with the IRGC, IRGC-controlled or IRGC-linked entities. The White House's Monday statement says that, "If you are doing business with the IRGC, you will be bankrolling terrorism." Does this apply to a produce vendor who rents his stall from an IRGC-linked bonyad (a cross between a charitable foundation and a private equity fund)? What about the vendors' customers, who might be Iranian locals or foreign tourists? Are all visitors to Iran now responsible for determining the precise ownership of every hotel, restaurant and store that they patronize?

Difficulty to enforce all aspects of the designation is not really a reason not to do it. And if it is only enforced selectively, I don't think anyone will complain that the US is breaking its own laws.

The author also tries to use a gotcha argument:

And if the Trump administration thinks that it is easy to avoid dealing with the IRGC, I'd suggest it ask the Trump Organization, which, according to the New Yorker, worked with an IRGC-linked family on a building in Azerbaijan. The building suffered major damage in an April 2018 fire, and the story was quickly overtaken by the myriad other Trump administration controversies.
Maybe now the House of Representatives can, in the spirit of Monday's designation, investigate American firms that may knowingly have done business with the IRGC -- starting with the Trump Organization.

OK, go ahead! If anything this should make Trump's critics more supportive of the designation!

Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post adds some more comments from critics of the designation. From Michael Rubin:

The problem for Washington and those who value freedom and liberty in Iran is that if Iran is ever going to change, it is going to be essential to fracture the IRGC. That requires identifying its weak points and internal disputes and exacerbating them. There can be no informal reform so long as the IRGC remains intact as a Praetorian Guard for the supreme leader, nor will the regime collapse so long as the IRGC remains in power. ...

Designating the IRGC may satiate a segment of the American audience for whom hatred of the Islamic Republic of Iran runs paramount, but it will be counterproductive if it, first, allows the IRGC to consolidate itself and, second, substitutes for the far more difficult problem of fracturing the organization and encouraging defections from within its ranks.

Since Rubin admits that the US has failed at fracturing the IRGC up until now, what evidence does he have that this designation will make it more difficult, rather than easier, to accomplish that?

Singh argues in a similar vein, “The real questions to which the FTO designation gives rise are twofold: first, how will it be applied to what is essentially a state military with hundreds of thousands of members and millions of veterans?” He observes that the second issue is akin to the Obama administration’s unfulfilled declaration that “Assad must go” regarding Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. The administration “having framed the designation as an unprecedented step, the U.S. must show that it will appreciably add to the pressure on Iran, or the political impact may be the opposite of what was intended.”

Psychologically, it already has added pressure to Iran. It will allow the US to increase financial pressure, and the existing pressure is already hurting the Iranian economy and slowing down their support for terror groups. What is the downside?

Veteran Middle East negotiator Dennis Ross says: “It is a symbolic move. Practically, it does not add to the designations by Treasury of the IRGC and its front companies.” He explains, “Given how embedded the IRGC is in the Iranian economy, the risk of being subjected to US sanctions because of the Treasury designations was already very high. And, as we have seen, this already had chilling effect on international companies that might have sought to do business in Iran.”

And that is a bad thing because....?

The main arguments seem to be "we don't know what this means."

But even the critics agree that the designation is accurate; The WaPo article spells it out:

There is little doubt about the accuracy of the designation. Michael Singh of the Washington Institute tweeted: “I’ve sat through many interagency debates on whether to designate the IRGC as a [Foreign Terrorist Organization]. What was never on dispute: the IRGC is a prolific and ruthless supporter and perpetrator of terrorism.”

Michael Rubin (no relation) of the American Enterprise Institute agrees that “there’s the simple fact that the IRGC is responsible for the deaths of more than 600 Americans in Iraq, and the maiming of many times more. If the IRGC were a formal and declared combatant in Iraq, that might be one thing, but Iranian leaders with American diplomats and agreed to keep the IRGC out of Iraq. They violated that agreement by waging combat while not in uniform and while shielded by civilians.”

If everyone agrees that the IRGC indeed supports terrorism, what is wrong with saying so out loud?

If Obama would have done this, all of these supposed criticisms would evaporate (to be replaced no doubt with similar ones from the other side of the aisle.) Which shows that the real reason there is opposition to this is because of Trump, and nothing else.

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Ilhan Omar has made it on the cover of Newsweek, in an article that effectively praises her for opening up the conversation in the Democratic Party to include anti-Israel and antisemitic comments.

The article says, "The diminutive Omar has emerged as the most voluble—and visible—of Israel’s critics. She appears to embrace the role of a political provocateur, particularly when it comes to foreign policy. Omar articulates a view that is rarely heard from a sitting member of Congress, one that has been forged from her first-hand experiences of war and exile."

Notice that her being a Muslim is not mentioned as a possible influence on her attitudes towards the Jewish state. Centuries of Islamic antisemitism is, of course, not allowed to be spoken of. Her hate of Israel and her antisemitic dog whistles are depicted as being honest and somehow a result of her experience in - Somalia.

The article goes on to feature Omar's criticism of AIPAC and then it quotes prominent AIPAC critic MJ Rosenberg for proof that she is right. It doesn't mention how small the pro-Israel lobby is in comparison with much larger domestic lobbies or even compared to the amount spent by foreign governments on lobbying the US. It only briefly mentions that Americans have other reasons to be pro-Israel outside of Washington politics.

Finally, Newsweek chooses pictures of Omar looking like a friendly fashion model, but a photo of Netanyahu is chosen when he is practically scowling.

Israel has indeed emerged as a partisan issue, and this is not good. Republicans are just as guilty as Democrats in causing this situation. But the Democratic criticisms of Israel are often based on myths about Israeli "brutality" and the party is pandering to the most extreme socialist wing of the party whose lies about Israel come from a long line of Soviet talking points since the 1960s.

However, this article is only peripherally about partisanship on Israel. Ilhan Omar made comments that antisemites and white supremacists recognize as part of their own thinking, and she is being honored specifically for those comments with her smiling face on what may still be a major news magazine - raising her national profile in a huge way. Any other politician who would have done anything close to that speaking about any other minority would be roundly vilified without any caveats; Omar is being rewarded specifically because of her offensive comments.

That is immoral journalism.

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Here is a statement from presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard where she pretty much says that Benjamnin Netanyahu is pushing for the US to go to war with Iran - and Russia! - to start World War III.

Here's the text:

I've always supported Israel's right to exist even more so after I had the opportunity to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp in 2005. That's why I'm so concerned with Bibi Netanyahu who's aggressive annexation policies which are simply going to stoke the flames of resentment and conflict. This is bad for Israel, bad for the United States, Palestinians and the region.

Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia want to drag the United States into war against Iran and Trump is submitting to their wishes. The cost in lives and money will be beyond our imagination.

Netanyahu's annexation of the Golan Heights and his promise to annex parts of the West Bank and Trump's declaration that the Iranian military the IRGC is a terrorist organization like Isis will undermine any chances for peace between the Israelis the Palestinians and Israel's neighbors this brings the United States closer than ever to war against Iran which will be absolutely disastrous for our country, for Israel, for Iran, the Middle East, Europe and the world. It's going to cost Americans trillions of dollars, dollars that should stay in the pockets of our people or be used to rebuild our infrastructure, educate our kids, provide universal health care and meet so many of the
other urgent needs that we have.

It'll also lead to many more of our troops paying the ultimate price, sacrificing their lives and increasing death and suffering of people in the region this will increase tenfold the present refugee crisis that Europe is facing and could even lead to direct conflict between the United States and Russia which could quickly leads to nuclear conflict that would mean the end of the world as we know it.

This is an existential threat that requires every American to stand up and say no.

To put it bluntly, this is insanity.

First of all, Israel didn't annex the Golan. Trump's declaration recognizing Israel's rule over the Golan didn't change anything. The Arab world put out some obligatory statements and yawned.

To throw Trump's declaration into a list of things that will upset Palestinians and make peace less likely is a head scratcher. True, Islamic Jihad and Hamas have denounced the move, but they aren't exactly peace partners.

To claim that designating the IRGC, which everyone admits has killed hundreds of Americans, as a terrorist organization is Bibi bringing the US to war with Iran is a fever dream of someone who hates Netanyahu and Trump so much that no accusation is over the top.

And to say, with birds chirping in the background, that not only will Israel's actions lead to US war with Iran but also to war with Russia is completely nuts. Why, exactly, would Russia intervene? Gabbard doesn't say.

She assumes an Israel that is directing US policy with no ability of the US to resist doing things against its own self interest.

Israeli Jews must be hypnotizing the world again. Those Jews can convince a superpower to ignore infrastructure, education and health care and instead start a nuclear war on its behalf.

Notice that she is not denouncing Trump. In her mind, Bibi is calling the shots and Trump is obediently listening to him - because Trump is a wild uncontrollable bully in evry other aspect of his policies but a slave to the Zionists.

Notwithstanding her invoking of Auschwitz as a reason for Israel to exist (self determination of the Jewish people is apparently not a good enough reason,) Gabbard is implying that the Israelis, by likely electing Netanyahu, are warmongers who for some reason want World War III - which would incidentally destroy Israel.

This is the Ilhan Omarization of the Democratic Party. And there are not enough prominent Democrats who are willing to go out on a limb and say that this kind of accusation is not only wrong and ignorant but it gives comfort and ammunition to real antisemites.

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04/09 Links Pt2: You Say Anti-Semitism, NYU says Worthy Work!; Why Are Democrats Kissing The Ring Of Al Sharpton?; Another Israeli election, another BBC claim of a ‘shift to the right’

From Ian:

NYU president Hamilton – Is this how you support justice?

On April 4, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) announced on their Facebook page that they were selected to receive the NYU President’s Service Award, given to students who have had an “extraordinary” and “positive” impact on the school’s community. It is clear to so many students on campus – Jewish, non-Jewish and pro-Israel – that this group does the exact opposite of improving the “quality of student life at New York University.” This has not yet been confirmed by NYU, but even the possibility cannot be ignored and must be addressed.

SJP has worked immensely hard each year to demonstrate their anti-Israel hatred, sometimes even violently, in more ways than one. Realize Israel, a pro-Israel group on NYU’s campus, mentioned in a Facebook post that members of SJP have defaced Israel’s flag, physically assaulted pro-Israel students, and continually present factually inaccurate anti-Israel resolutions to the Student Government Assembly. Why celebrate such behaviors with an award? Why give an award to an organization that in itself is “anti” and not to an organization that is solely “pro”?

We ask NYU’s senior vice president of student affairs, Marc Wais, if any of the pro-Israel groups on campus will be selected for this year’s award, seeing as none were chosen in 2018. We hope that NYU’s leadership recognizes that: 1) Israel is at the forefront of improving the world with its focus on human rights, diversity and equality for all its citizens; 2) Israel, a country the size of New Jersey, is leading the world in innovation within the healthcare, agriculture and various technological fields; 3) When humanitarian crises strike throughout the world, particularly natural disasters, Israel is always one of the first countries to utilize their financial resources, technology and manpower to help recover and rebuild. How ironic is it that a group which has blatantly shamed students who devote their efforts to support a country that helps communities all over the world is now being praised?

In April 2018, NYU president Andrew D. Hamilton denounced the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This was an amazing step forward for the community, and for helping Jewish and pro-Israel students feel safe on campus. The Jewish, non-Jewish and pro-Israel community thanked him then, and again say now: THANK YOU president Hamilton for standing against the BDS movement. But why is the student organization that very much supports the BDS movement allegedly receiving your prestigious President’s Service Award?

You Say Anti-Semitism, NYU says Worthy Work!

What has SJP done to have such an extraordinary and positive impact? The greatest impact they’ve had in recent months was on the passage of a boycott resolution by NYU’s student government. SJP members introduced and fought for it. That resolution, though limited in its reach, explicitly supported the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, and made use of easily exposed propaganda.

NYU President Andrew Hamilton—presumably, the “president” in “president’s service award”—has repeatedly said that boycotting Israel, which is very nearly the sole purpose of SJP, is “contrary to” NYU’s “core principles of academic freedom” and “antithetical to the free exchange of ideas.”

But it’s not merely that SJP’s mission contradicts the university’s. Adela Cojab, past president of the NYU branch of Realize Israel, has said that for “the overwhelming majority of [her] community, Zionism is a part of who they are, and they see an attack on Israel as an attack on their Judaism.” When SJP led other organizations in declaring that they wouldn’t work with pro-Israel groups, Cojab adopted the language of the left. Anti-Zionist activities were creating “unsafe spaces” on campus for many Jews, she said.

That may be going too far, but it is shocking that this university isn’t just tolerating an organization that promotes what many Jews consider anti-Semitism but patting it on the back. Giving SJP an award reserved for those who benefit the community is a gross insult not only to Jewish pro-Israel activists but also to the many others who, just as Cojab says, consider SJP’s attack on Zionism to be an attack on Jews.

If SJP is really set to receive such an award—NYU did not respond to my request for confirmation–it should be rescinded.

Why Are Democrats Kissing The Ring Of Al Sharpton?

Then again, ruined lives are strewn across Sharpton’s career. Maybe Democrats need to be reminded that Sharpton used a tragic 1991 car accident to incite a four-day race riot in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Or maybe they just don’t care. It was Sharpton who stoked anger over the imaginary nexus between “Tel Aviv” and “South Africa” and the “diamond merchants right here.” After the Jewish community protested, Sharpton said, “Jews want to get it on, tell them to pin their yarmulkes back and come over to my house.”

But, of course, Sharpton’s bejeweled and rotund frame was, as always, hiding behind bodyguards. It was his mob that took over. And one man who forgot to pin back his yarmulke was Yankel Rosenbaum, a 29-year old Orthodox Jew visiting from Australia who, after turning down a wrong street, was dragged from his car to the shouts of “Kill the Jews!” by throngs of angry protesters and stabbed to death. Never once has Sharpton shown any remorse for his role in this bloodletting.

When, in 1995, Fred Harari, a Jewish sub-tenant who operated a store called Freddie’s Fashion Mart, evicted his own sub-tenant, a black-owned record store owner, Sharpton, who told the protesters, “We will not stand by and allow them to move this brother so that some white interloper can expand his business,” saw another opportunity to provoke chaos.

Never mind that it had been a black Pentecostal church that had asked Harari to evict the record store owner. If you’re inclined, you can listen to his ceaseless race-baiting and anti-Semitism that Sharpton allowed, and engaged in, on his show day in and out. The venomous protests, fueled in part by his show and his presence, soon began to resemble a mob. When Roland Smith Jr. went in with a gun, he asked all the black patrons to leave before he killed everyone else. The “white interloper,” as Sharpton perceptively predicted, “did not expand his business in Harlem.”

Never once, as far as I can tell, have any of his didactic colleagues on cable news asked him about these career highlights. Not once did a reporter ask any of the presidential candidates about Sharpton’s history.

As a native New Yorker, I hold a grudge. That doesn’t mean others can’t forgive Sharpton for the horrible things he’s done. It’s something else, however, when a remorseless man with a history of hucksterism and cruelty is not only being flattered as national moral leader by presidential candidates but that those same politicians are being given a free pass as they kowtow to a reprehensible character.

BDS founder Omar Barghouti heads to DC, for panel with Peter Beinart, seeks Congressional meetings

Omar Barghouti, co-founder of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement, is in the U.S. this week to promote the economic battle against Israel.

According to Congressional sources, Barghouti is seeking meetings on Capitol Hill.

Barghouti will also participate on Thursday in two panels at the Arab American Institute in Washington, D.C.

The first event, co-sponsored by the Foundation for Middle East Peace and NYU-Washington, D.C., is billed as a “candid conversation about the BDS movement” between Barghouti and Peter Beinart. The other event, later in the day, is co-sponsored by Jewish Voice for Peace – D.C. Metro chapter.