Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, October 13, 2021

Two Principles (Vic Rosenthal)

Weekly column by Vic Rosenthal

All of my writing is informed by two principles. The first, both logically and rhetorically, is that there is no moral principle more important than the value of preserving the Jewish people. This is axiomatic for me: if we don’t agree on this, then there is no point to continue the discussion.
This means that preserving the Jewish people is more important to me than anything else, including democracy or even considerations of human rights. Not that I think that there is a conflict between the continued existence of this people and the legitimate rights of others; I do not. But if, in any particular case, I have to choose between Jewish survival and the good of others, I will choose Jewish survival.

Some say that this disqualifies me as an “objective” observer of events. Actually, it makes me like everyone else. We all have loyalties that override universal obligations to humanity. Who would sacrifice their immediate family in order to protect the rights of others?

The second principle is the necessity of a Jewish state. If the Jewish state were to disappear, so – in short order – would the Jewish people. Unlike the first principle, this is an empirical one. The early Zionists who called for a Jewish state did so to a great degree because the history of the treatment of the Jews in the Christian and Muslim worlds impelled them to the conclusion that a sovereign state was necessary to ensure the continuance of their people despite persecution and assimilation. Subsequent events – the Holocaust among them – provided evidence that they were correct.

So what are the consequences of these principles?

Here is an example: Hezbollah has 130,000 rockets aimed at Israel. If they were to be launched, they would kill thousands in Israel and imperil the continued existence of the state. Therefore I believe that a preemptive attack on the launchers, even if it would kill numerous innocent Lebanese civilians, is morally justified (whether such an action is a good idea from a military or political standpoint is another issue, which I am not discussing at this point).

Another example: the geographic characteristics of the State of Israel require that she maintain control of the high ground of Judea and Samaria and the western ridge of the Jordan Valley in order to have defensible borders. Therefore, regardless of political considerations, these areas cannot be transferred to Arab sovereignty. If you believe that Israel’s holding on to these territories poses a demographic threat to her Jewish majority, then you must find the solution in reducing their Arab population rather than in Israeli withdrawal.

I do not believe that the Arabs who call themselves “Palestinians” have a valid legal claim on the area called Eretz Yisrael. But even if I did, I would be opposed to them realizing it, because it is in direct opposition to the continued existence of the Jewish state. In other words, I am not impartial on this question. I do not give equal weight to Jewish and Arab aspirations in our little land.

That’s enough for many people to declare me a “racist” whose opinions are worthless. But there is no human being who does not privilege some group over others, even if it’s just their immediate family. The ideal of valuing all human beings equally always breaks down at some point. This is unsurprising. We are not abstract entities, we are animals, and like all living creatures we function according to evolutionary rules established by forces far more powerful than our reason (incidentally, this isn’t an anti-religious statement: halacha was developed with this in mind). Family feeling, tribalism, and peoplehood are not things that can be erased.

Here is the reality: it is not Jewish paranoia to think that much of the world opposes Jewish self-determination, and sometimes the existence of Jews themselves. It is not paranoid to notice that Jews living in the diaspora are facing more antisemitism and anti-Jewish discrimination and even violence from day to day. And neither is it paranoid to think that the Palestinian Arabs would kill, enslave, or expel all the Jews from the land if they had the ability to do so. Indeed, they’ll gladly tell you so.

I am not going to argue for the value of the existence of the Jewish people. And we don’t need to convince anybody. What matters, as Ben Gurion said, is not what the nations think, but what the Jews do.

10/13 Links Pt2: BDS again proves it's all about antisemitism; Labour activist’s father was Hamas minister; Jewish Anti-Fascist Film Thought Destroyed by Nazis Gets World Premiere

From Ian:

Jonathan S. Tobin: BDS again proves it's all about antisemitism

It's no accident that Israel is the country that is always singled out by so-called human-rights advocates for its alleged crimes even though other nations, which are actually tyrannies, get ignored. Israel is the only nation in the world that has spawned a worldwide movement that aims at its destruction. Only Jews and Jewish rights are treated in this manner, which is to say that BDS, in whatever form it takes, is, like anti-Zionism itself – inherently anti-Semitic. And the fact that some Jews, like Cohen and Greenfield, or groups with Jewish names like Jewish Voices for Peace, which promotes anti-Semitic blood libels, support it doesn't give them a pass for a movement that targets their own people for hate and discrimination.

That's why laws being pushed in states all around the country to punish those companies that engage in discriminatory commercial conduct against Israel and Jews are not only not a violation of free speech but desperately needed.

In much of the mainstream media and polite liberal society, BDS is still treated like a legitimate protest rather than antisemitism. The growing acceptance of critical race theory and intersectionality is part of the reason for this since those toxic ideas provide a permission slip to antisemitism so long as it is cloaked in the rhetoric of the left.

But the actions of people like Rooney and Ben & Jerry's rip the veil from this subterfuge. Those who think that only Israel's efforts to defend itself against the Palestinian war on its existence or to assert Jewish rights are the most intolerable acts happening anywhere on the planet mustn't be allowed to pose as do-gooders. Whether actively or passively, they are complicit in a hate campaign with an anti-Semitic goal that essentially justifies terrorist violence. Those who engage in such despicable behavior deserve the same opprobrium and boycotts that they would use against Israel and the Jews.

David Collier: An open letter to Sally Rooney – on the boycott of Israel

BDS is about destroying Israel – the only Jewish state in the world and the only democracy in the entire MENA region. And you support it. Yet as the slave trade flourishes in some Arab nations, democracy is non-existent and human rights are unheard of – you do not take an issue with translations into Arabic. Nor do you have a problem with Chinese – with China a Titan of human rights abuses. Nor Russian, or any of the languages of the world’s real human rights abusers.

But it isn’t just about brazen hypocrisy. Last week I published a devastating report on antisemitism in Ireland. Those people you seem to feel comfortable surrounding yourself with are neck deep in anti-Jewish hatred. You side with those that believe the Protocols of the Elders of Zion are real, push Holocaust denial, rabid anti-Jewish conspiracy and wish for a violent end to Jews and Zionism. Not all of them sure, but how many antisemites do you have to stand alongside before you feel uncomfortable?

Because BDS plays on people’s antisemitism. The BDS National Committee is fully aware that they can make up any old story about Jews and Zionism and there are enough antisemites to drive their twisted demonising narrative into the mainstream. Once in the mainstream it find support from the naive virtue signallers. People it seems, such as yourself.

This obsession with Israel exists in certain bubbles, but like most false paradigms, eventually the bubble will burst. I don’t know whether it will be 10 years from now (doubtful), 20 (probably a little too soon), or 50 years from now (almost certainly) but at some point mainstream researchers will be looking at the obscenity that is the ‘obsession with Israel’ and tearing it apart. They will point to the UN and the UNHRC targeting of the world’s only Jewish state and explain them away as despots ruling the roost – and they’ll go on to wonder at how it was that anyone took these organisations seriously. They will talk about the damage done by the increasing Islamist influence of global NGOs like Amnesty and HRW too. But they will also turn to the players who supported the BDS boycott. By then it will be seen for what it is – just another attempt by the Arab ’empire’ to do away with the tiny Jewish enclave that fought for freedom in its midst. And those fools in the west that played along – boycotted the products of the Jewish state – or refused to have anything to do with publishing houses there – will be seen just as racists are always viewed through the lens of history. I have no doubt that your current actions will be held up as an example of the antisemitic fervour of the day. That will forever be part of Sally Rooney’s legacy.

So go ahead – boycott Israel. It isn’t like the Jews are not used to people boycotting them. Let your books continue to be translated into Chinese and not Hebrew – Israel will continue to thrive without the Israelis reading them. But you should always remember that the brave folk are the ones that stand up against the tide of rising antisemitism. Those who see the anti-Israel obsession for what it is and refuse to partake in the blatant attack on Jewish self-determination are the heroes worthy of remembering. Your actions are those of a coward.

Naked double standards: Raunchy Marxist author Sally Rooney refuses to have her new novel translated into Hebrew because of her left-wing beliefs about Israel but is quite happy to see it sold in repressive China

Rooney is entitled to her political beliefs, however simplistic and ill thought through they might be.

But she is also a novelist, a highly regarded one at that. And all novelists – indeed all artists – should properly believe in free speech, the free exchange of ideas and art for art's sake.

As a committed Left-winger, she might also espouse some of the internationalist instincts that motivate Left-wing parties around the world. By allowing Hebrew speakers to read her books, she might in time convert some to her passionate cause.

Plenty of artists are clever enough to understand this.

One is the great Australian singer-songwriter Nick Cave: he has called the BDS boycott 'cowardly and shameful' – while also making it clear that he doesn't support everything Israel does and that he hopes fervently for a resolution to the plight of the Palestinian people.

Yet all too often the Left is incapable of understanding this – as the wretched regime of Jeremy Corbyn's Labour party showed us all. (I will never forget the time a Left-wing BBC journalist chillingly told me to my face that he thought that Israel, a state created out of the worst genocide in the history of our species, 'had no right to exist'.)

The same is true in Rooney's native Ireland, where Leftists and nationalists have long-standing links with Palestinian activism, seeing Ireland and Palestine as both being involved in a struggle against 'colonialism'.

If Rooney really wanted to address the serious injustices of the world, she might instead be campaigning on Communist North Korea, Burma, Zimbabwe or plenty of others … and so aim for a shred of consistency.

Instead, she does a terrible disservice not only to Hebrew speakers around the world – but to all of us who believe that art should be widely shared.

I see @thetimes , like the @guardian , uses Alice Walker as an example of another BDS supporting author in their Rooney article but neglects to mention her love for David Icke and anti Jewish racism. You’re in the best company, Sally. @p_j_chappell pic.twitter.com/t1hPxR6DOy
— Felix Ungar #SaveSheikCorbyn (@Husker_Ju) October 13, 2021

Ben & Jerry’s is closing off the ice cream pipeline to the Jews—but not the Arabs—who happen to live in Jerusalem or in Judea and Samaria. Of course, if you have a hankering for Chunky Monkey, you could always put on a hijab or keffiyah, buy some in an Arab neighborhood, and risk getting lynched. But that would be stupid and Jews are supposed to be smart.

We Jews can forgo the ice cream, of course. We’ve been through worse. What we cannot stomach, aside from the ice cream, is the hypocrisy. And even that is not new.

Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield are progressives. People of their political ilk profess to shun every form of hatred based on race, creed, color, or gender. They tout themselves as the champions of minorities and indigenous peoples. Therein lies the rub: the Jews, aside from their ancient and distinctive creed, are both a minority and an indigenous people.

Refusing to sell Jews ice cream in their ancestral lands should place Cohen and Greenfield squarely outside of normative progressive society.

Ha ha [mirthless laugh]. If only.

We all know it is not like that at all. Antisemites are celebrated in the progressive wing. Taking a crap on Israel is an especial delight. And when it comes to Jews building homes for themselves or for daring to live in Jerusalem or Judea, oh my GAWD the uproar. It is so loud you cannot think (for yourself).

The noise is so loud it crowds out every sane and truthful thought about Jews, Jewish land rights, and the meaning of the word “indigenous.” Progressives call us murderers for building homes, for wanting to live on empty hilltops. They either hate us or actually believe they are championing a people of color by championing the Arabs and backstabbing the Jews. The backstory of who owned what when, doesn’t matter, because Arabs are dark.

In fact, most have never been to Israel and have no familiarity with our skin tones. But they imagine us as white and this gives them license to champion the Arabs, who are brown. Others know full well they are lying about the color of our skin, and the actual identity of the “occupier.” But the ends justify the means: a Jew-free Middle East where no Jews may build homes anywhere, beginning with the epicenter of holy Jewish territory, Jerusalem, and on into Judea and Samaria (which the propaganda team calls “West Bank” to poison your minds).

The entrenched antisemitism of the progressive wing, alas, is not new. The need of Jewish progressives to ingratiate themselves with the non-Jewish world is also not new. It may be a form of psychopathy, but it is nothing new. Nor is stepping on Israel to amass power.

You have to wonder what happened to these people when they were young. What childhood trauma led Ken Roth to make a profession out of telling big, giant whoppers about Israel—the more rapacious and violent the better? Was he forced to eat gefilte or go without dessert? Did his mama drop him on his head?

And does the same malady indeed infect Sanders? Cohen and Greenfield? Beinart, Ben-Ami and many others we could name? There is way too much dirty linen being forced into view, strung as it is among the headlines.

"I think that the simple truth is that Ben and Jerry lack understanding and rather than educating themselves, they choose to wallow in their ignorance and double down," comments Israel advocate and indigenous rights activist Ryan Bellerose.

Bellerose is not wrong. Progressives may just as often be dumb as they are evil. We all saw Ben Cohen, for instance, go blank-faced when put on the spot about Israel in that Axios interview.

After a long back and forth on the boycott against Israel, the interviewer uses an analogy to put the prejudice of the aging ice cream couple into perspective:

“You guys are big proponents of voting rights. Why do you still sell ice cream in Georgia, Texas, abortion bans, why are you still selling there?”

[Paaaaaaaause]*

“I don’t know. I mean it’s an interesting question, I don’t know what that would accomplish, we’re working on those issues of voting rights and … I don’t know.

Ben got caught. And he knew it. He tripped on his own tongue when he said, "I don't know what that would accomplish."

Cohen knows exactly what boycotts accomplish. Boycotts generate hate and starve an economy, placing pressure on the inhabitants to leave or to do the things outsiders want them to do. But see, here's the thing Ben: if you aren’t going to sell ice cream to the Jews of Jerusalem, you can’t sell it to Texas conservatives, either.

Aside from which, parroting the mantra that settlements violate international law, doesn't make it true. P.S. It isn't.

From international law expert Eugene Kontorovich:

Under international law, occupation occurs when a country takes over the sovereign territory of another country. But the West Bank was never part of Jordan, which seized it in 1949 and ethnically cleansed its entire Jewish population. Nor was it ever the site of an Arab Palestinian state.
Moreover, a country cannot occupy territory to which it has sovereign title, and Israel has the strongest claim to the land. International law holds that a new country inherits the borders of the prior geopolitical unit in that territory. Israel was preceded by the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, whose borders included the West Bank. [The four-page 1978 memo written by State Department legal adviser Herbert Hansell], fails to discuss this principle for determining borders, which has been applied everywhere from Syria and Lebanon to post-Soviet Russia and Ukraine.

The facts of course, do not matter. As a progressive, Cohen imagines expelling Jews from Jerusalem or from Judean settlements, for instance, as a sort of rude justice for the poor brown people, the Arabs. In his book, it’s a mitzvah (l’havdil) to hate settlers, a mitzvah to take away Jerusalem and give it to someone else because of their color. Denying Jews ice cream seems little enough to do for these poor brown latecomers, the Arabs.

In his progressive playbook, it is also a mitzvah to give Jerusalem to the Arabs, because the Jews are entitled or something—entitled to Jerusalem. And Judea. And Samaria. Which is why they can’t have it. #becauseentitled.

But you know, I can’t get too excited about a couple of old hippies. And since I adore their ice cream, it actually makes for a suitable sacrifice on the altar of my love for Israel. Kind of like not listening to Pink Floyd.

For the meantime, I have a reprieve. I will be buying ice cream from Ben & Jerry’s Israel until the owner of the local franchise, Avi Zinger, is put out of business by the Big Bosses. Zinger has been staunch in delivering ice cream to both Jews and Arabs, wherever they live in the Land of Israel, and has refused to give in to demands by global headquarters. “We will not succumb to the pressure and boycott of Unilever and Ben & Jerry’s Global,” said Zinger. “Ice cream is not part of politics. We call on Israelis to continue to buy Israeli products that support hundreds of workers in the southern region.”

So sane. So logical an approach: Everyone has a right to ice cream, no matter where they live. Take the politics out of ice cream.

Business tactic or no, I think we should support Zinger. At least until the Fat Lady sings—or the Cherries Garcia calls from the freezer.

via GIPHY

*(That long pause—is it just me or was he not stoned out of his gourd?)

By Forest Rain

My friend was about to be inaugurated as Prime Minister of Israel. For the past year I had done everything in my power to help make that happen. Of course, I had to be there.

On the other hand, this inauguration would establish a government with progressive, extreme left, post and anti-Zionists whose ideology, from my perspective, spells disaster for the only Jewish State. Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s longest reigning and probably best Prime Minister, would step away from the helm of the country and an unspeakable Frankenstein of a government would take over.

A milestone in Israeli history. A little like a car accident that you don’t want to see but can’t not look at…

Disclaimer:

I like Naftali Bennett. He has a special magic that (unfortunately) doesn’t translate through the tv screen. He has an intense focus that soaks up everything about whatever it is that he is interested in. When that focus is turned on you, it is as if there is no one else in the universe, as if the sun rose for you and you alone. When Naftali looks at you and tells you something, you believe him.

He has a unique charm that makes you forgive him swiftly, even after doing something that made you furious.

Naftali has a quicksilver mind, a backbone of steel and an ability to approach things in ways that no one else would or could. If most people think “inside the box” and many Israelis in the Start Up Nation think “outside the box”, Naftali walks through walls. For a year I had been reminding him that he knows he can do “the impossible” because he already had – in his army service, in business and in politics.

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine he would do THIS and create this impossible government.

During the campaign he promised not to. Specifically, that he would not in any constellation, for any title, make Yair Lapid Prime Minister. He promised, and I believed him.

During the negotiations to build the coalition I asked him what he would do if Netanyahu, who had not received enough mandates to create a government alone, would offer Gideon Sa’ar to be Prime Minister in rotation. Naftali answered: “Of course I would join that government, no question! It’s not about my position, it’s about doing the best for Israel.” Considering the political map, there was no justification for not creating a right-wing government – the majority of the country voted for right wing parties. The problem was that while Gideon did receive the offer I saw coming and Naftali did agree, Sa’ar refused. Sa’ar held hate and distrust of Netanyahu dearer than ideology.

Bezalel Smotrich also could have enabled a Netanyahu led government but chose being right over being smart – He refused to join a government that needed the support of the Arab party, Ra’am who are the political representation of the Muslim Brotherhood (the parent organization of Hamas).
The other Arab parties in Israel’s Knesset, the “Joint Arab List” are secular but they and Ra’am are essentially two sides of the same coin. I agree with Smotrich that it is a dangerous and bad precedent for the government of the Jewish State of Israel to have to count on the support of the Arab parties but is what was created instead a better option?

With an aching heart, I asked Naftali all the hard questions as he was considering the new coalition:

· How will you govern without a majority of mandates? How will you not end up being a fig-leaf for horrific left wing, anti-Zionist policies?

· How could you even consider empowering the left, putting back into power parties that have not been in the government for decades? How could you make Yair Lapid Prime Minister?! Particularly after promising not to?

· If you give the country back to the left who believe it was stolen from them by the right (Israel’s version of “deplorables”) you will be creating a new divide and new anger between the elites, and the disenfranchised. You say you want to heal the rift in Israeli society but what about the new rift you will be creating with this choice?

· Who are you to choose for Israel a government the people did not vote for?

His answer:
“You are right. But the alternative is another round of elections which would cause more division and hate. What I see is the destruction of “Bayit Shlishi,” we will lose everything like the Nation of Israel did twice before in our history because of hatred of brother against brother. This insanity needs to end.”

I didn’t like that answer. To my mind another round of elections would have been preferable. At the same time, who am I to say that he was wrong?

One of Naftali’s key qualities is seeing things others do not, seeing things before everyone else does. Perhaps here too he was right. Perhaps this utterly unacceptable choice was the least bad choice for Israel.

Old power becomes stagnant and blind

I believe that Prime Minister of Israel is the hardest job in the world. It takes an unusual person to want to carry this burden and among the unusual, Benjamin Netanyahu is in a category of his own. Like Winston Churchill, Netanyahu has become a global icon – synonymous with the Jewish State but also a symbol of the power of capitalism, hard work and individualism to raise even the weakest to international prominence. Reason enough to cause many in Israel and abroad to both love and hate him.

In a world not fond of living Jews, a world that is racing full speed ahead to a new global, progressive, socialist ideology, a man who embodies Jewish tribalism and the potency of capitalism is very dangerous.

A large portion of the “insanity” Naftali saw was destructive fires of incitement (much of it funded or inspired by foreign powers) created to fuel the battle between ideologies – individual sovereignty and nationalism vs socialist ideology that sings the tune of “equity, diversity and inclusion.”
Just to clarify – equity is equal outcome, not equal opportunity. Diversity does not include diversity of ideas, only diversity of skin color and gender, and inclusion somehow never includes Jews.

Old power attains it’s status by being strong and good and yet, it is a law of nature that over time, it becomes blind. New power is necessary to reinvigorate a stagnant system. We all instinctively know that there is logic and value to term limits for politicians. But how do you know where to draw the line?
Israel’s Prime Minister is tasked with holding off the constant existential threat knocking at our doors. His (or her) choices have immediate and dramatic consequences. With lives at stake, it is understandable that many citizens would feel hesitant to replace the experienced with the inexperienced. Israel benefited from experienced leadership but also suffered from stagnation caused by the blindness of politicians used to being in power and forgetting that their job is to serve the people and not themselves. Israeli society is full of serious issues that were not dealt with because they were too difficult or not immediately pressing but disastrous in the long term (for example the violence in Arab-Israeli society) as well as systems the State needs to survive but have become rotten to the core (like the police force).

Perhaps, for the survival of our society, it was necessary to create turbulence in the stagnant water, to bring to light the problems that old power refused to see. Perhaps.

Trusting new power

Stepping into a role previously held by an icon is terribly difficult, even in the best of conditions. Historically, new Israeli Prime Ministers have not done a good job (including Netanyahu in his first years), simply because the job is so difficult. Naftali has had many years of experience in government but nothing is comparable to being PM and the circumstances make success near impossible.

But Naftali is not a man to be written off or dismissed.

Naftali’s key to success is also his greatest obstacle. He doesn’t play by the rules that constrict average people – which is how he accomplished the “impossible” many times in the past. His decisions gained him his new role but it also created problems that will impact Israeli society in the years to come:

1. Trusting the integrity of the election process – mandates and ideology
Society is held together based on the majority of the people agreeing to adhere to the same social rules. Naftali became Prime Minister by breaking the rules of the political “game” that dictate that the government is led by the party that has the majority of mandates and that the coalition is formed by parties who hold compatible ideologies.

When any size party can take over the leadership of the nation and the coalition is not formed on the basis of ideological compatibility, the voting process becomes devoid of meaning.

We are already seeing the results of a government headed by a small party that lacks political clout. Naftali’s Yamina Party needs the agreement of the coalition in order achieve anything and there are few issues parties with apposing ideologies can agree on. Left wing agendas are being pushed to the foreground and even if actions are prevented, the simple discussion of anti-Zionist ideas are damaging – if Israeli (leftist) Ministers of Knesset revive the “Two State Solution”, why shouldn’t world leaders follow suit? If Israeli MK’s support America’s Iran Deal, why shouldn’t the Biden Administration pave the way to a nuclear Iran?

2. Trusting that the Prime Minister has the best interests of the People at heart
Israel is the Jewish homeland and the PM is the manager of our home. His role has psychological weight that an average politician does not carry - like that of a father who is supposed to lead his family and keep them safe. For the “home” to run smoothly, it is imperative that the People trust that the PM and believe that he is doing his best for all of us.

People expect politicians to break promises and even outright lie - but not on ideological issues. Not when they look you in the eye and promise to never, under any circumstances do a very specific thing. Naftali Bennett made the same promise over and over, in person and on camera to the entire nation, not to put the left in power and specifically not to make Yair Lapid Prime Minister. And then he turned around and did exactly that.

When such a fundamental promise to his electorate was so blatantly broken, how can anyone, on the left or right, trust other things that are said or promised?

Trust needs to be rebuilt in order to heal these chasms, to protect Israel now and in the future. Thus far Naftali has not taken action to address these problems. I hope he will. They will not go away on their own and it is better late than never.

The Naftali I know

If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck and looks like a duck, it’s probably a duck. But, in the case of Naftali Bennett, not necessarily. Unusual people behave in unusual ways. Analysis of his behavior would lead most people to conclude that what they see is an obvious and horrific betrayal of trust, hunger for power at any cost and utter lack of ideology. But that’s not the Naftali I know.

I know a man who sees things differently than most people. Who analyzes swiftly and is adamant about his decisions even and perhaps especially when they spell difficulty ahead. The man I know works harder, longer hours and more intensely than everyone else around him. The man I know doesn’t care about his wealth or believe that power makes him better than others, only that power helps him achieve for others.

The Naftali I know sees and cares deeply about making sure the centuries old Jewish story last centuries into the future. The man I know sees himself as someone who can stand in the gap and shoulder an unbearable burden to make sure the chain of our People remains unbroken.

The man I know has the heart and courage of a lion. I pray he be granted the wisdom and strength to steer away from the bad and toward the good. The man I know is a task-oriented, high-speed bulldozer who often focuses so intently on the tasks at hand that he overlooks the people left in his wake. The psychological implications of neglected feelings can create resentment, mistrust and lack of cooperation that could, eventually, stop even a bulldozer. I pray he will accept the help of people close to him to smooth the path before him, to avoid difficulties that don’t need to occur.

The path ahead is difficult enough without adding extra challenges.

Conclusion:

Am I happy that my friend became Prime Minister? Absolutely.

At the same time, I am absolutely horrified by the way it happened and the problems it is and will create in our society for the years to come (detailed above). I am angry that my friend chose to enable Yair Lapid to become Prime Minister. I am frightened by the ramifications of the agendas being promoted by his coalition partners. I am frightened for the future of Israel.

And with all that, I know that Naftali Bennett is not a man to be dismissed or written off. Even, maybe especially when things seem the most horrible.

It’s complicated. But there is always hope. And miracles.

10/13 Links Pt1: Remembering the Barbaric Ramallah Lynch; Cherokee tribe recognizes Jerusalem as Israel's 'eternal undivided capital'; IsraAID Helped Evacuate 165 Refugees From Afghanistan in ‘Spy Novel’ Operation

From Ian:

Remembering the Barbaric Ramallah Lynch

The media love a powerful, symbolic image, but exactly twenty years to the day after the brutal, barbaric lynching of two Israeli reserve soldiers, this one isn’t being republished.

This is the important story the media failed to retell today.

On 12 October 2000, two Israeli reserve soldiers dressed in civilian clothes, Yossi Avrahami and Vadim Nurzhitz were headed towards their unit’s assembly point in a town near Jerusalem. The pair were unfamiliar with the local road system, took a wrong turn and ended up in Ramallah.

Although previously Palestinian Authority policemen had sent wayward Israelis back, this time the two reservists were detained by Palestinian Authority policemen and taken to a local police station.

The incident coincided with a nearby funeral service for a Palestinian youth who had been killed in clashes with Israeli forces two days earlier. The funeral was attended by thousands, and soon afterwards, as rumors spread that Israeli undercover agents were in the building, an angry crowd of over 1,000 Palestinians gathered outside the station calling for the death of the Israelis.

While there are indications that at first police attempted to protect the soldiers, before long the enraged rioters managed to overcome the police and storm the building. It later emerged that Palestinian Authority policemen actually took part in the horrific assault.

What followed can only be described as a savage, barbaric lynching. The crazed mob beat and stabbed the Israelis, tore the men limb from limb and gouged out their eyes. During the attack, Mr Avrahami’s wife Hani called him on his mobile phone. Instead of being greeted as usual, an unfamiliar strange voice answered the phone : “I just killed your husband.”

As all this was happening, one man came to the window and, much to the delight of the delirious crowd below, triumphantly held up his blood-soaked hands for all to see.

The crowd stood below, waving fists and cheering. The body of one of the soldiers was then thrown out of the window. The baying crowd rushed to attack, beating and stamping the lifeless body in a frenzy. The body of the other soldier was set on fire. One of the soldiers was later seen upside down, dangling from a rope.

EU, Germany Launch Program to ‘Maintain Palestinian Identity’ of Jerusalem Through Tourism

The European Union (UN) and Germany launched on Tuesday the “East Jerusalem Tourism Development Programme” and inaugurated the Tourism Development Hub in eastern Jerusalem, with an objective of “maintaining the Palestinian identity of the city.”

The German Development Cooperation is implementing this new program in partnership with “the different components of the Palestinian tourism sector” in eastern Jerusalem, the Office of the European Union Representative stated.

The East Jerusalem Tourism Development Programme aims at “maintaining the Palestinian identity of the city and supporting the tourism sector in East Jerusalem, against the backdrop of a worrying trend of increasing hardship for Palestinian life and economic activity in this part of the city.”

The program “supports a revitalized and vibrant tourism sector that provides great opportunities for Palestine’s private sector, foster economic development and protect the Palestinian culture and heritage in East Jerusalem.”

The EU did not detail in its statements what “Palestinian culture, heritage and identity” it was relating to.

EU representative to the Palestinian Authority Sven Kühn von Burgsdorff claimed that Arabs in Jerusalem face “daily political, economic, and social challenges. Tourism has always been one of the main income-generating activities in the city and helped maintaining the Palestinian presence and identity of the city.”

In the 1920s, Mufti Haj Amin El Husseini built his Palace Hotel on part of the same cemetery. It was publicized by some of his many Arab enemies in Jerusalem. pic.twitter.com/xzUhlz6Upt
— Lenny Ben-David (@lennybendavid) October 13, 2021

MEMRI: Lebanese Journalist: Hizbullah Continues To Turn Lebanon Into A 'Narco State,' Now Using West Africa As A Transit Hub For Its Illegal Drug Trade

In an October 9, 2021 article in the English-language Saudi daily Arab News, Lebanese media figure Baria Alamuddin writes that Hizbullah continues its globe-spanning drug trafficking activities, now using West African countries as major transit states for its drug shipments. She notes that Hizbullah and Syria, both sponsored by Iran, continue to bolster their status as the world's major source of the amphetamine-based drug Captagon. However, since Saudi Arabia banned the import of Lebanese produce earlier this year, Hizbullah has had to divert its Captagon shipments through transit countries to obscure the country of origin. West Africa has become a preferred option, especially counties with large Lebanese communities, such as Cote d’Ivoire, where Lebanese control a large part of the economy, as well as Togo and Congo.

Alamuddin notes further that Hezbollah's illegal operations in West Africa -- including money laundering, weapons proliferation, drug trafficking and other organized crime -- are estimated to net the organization at least $1 billion a year. Warning that Hezbollah's illegal activities may come to dominate Lebanon’s entire economy, transforming it into a narco state, she calls on the international community to fight Hizbullah's globalized network for criminality and terrorism.

The following is her article:
"Following The Collapse Of The Lebanese And Syrian Economies, Assad Family Mafiosi And Hezbollah Set About Remodeling Their Nations As Narco States"

"When Saudi Arabia banned the import of Lebanese produce in April because these shipments were being abused to smuggle narcotics into the Kingdom, Hezbollah found itself with a problem.

"Following the collapse of the Lebanese and Syrian economies, Assad family mafiosi and Hezbollah set about remodeling their nations as narco states — world production centers for the amphetamine-based drug Captagon, a favorite among partygoers and terrorist groups. Syria’s Captagon trade is estimated to be worth over a billion dollars a year.

"Captagon production had become established in areas such as Homs and Aleppo, but given Syria’s extreme dysfunction, many major factories have been reconsolidating themselves along the Lebanon-Syria border, particularly in Hezbollah strongholds such as Qusair and the Bekaa Valley. Lebanon’s former Justice Minister and security chief, Ashraf Rifi, describes a “partnership between Hezbollah and the Syrian side in terms of manufacturing and smuggling” Captagon. This is in addition to Syria and Lebanon becoming favored routes for heroin, crystal meth and hashish.

IfNotNow asking its members why it should exist

Kweansmom has posted some questions that IfNotNow sent to its mailing list which are a strong indication that it cannot figure out a reason why it should exist.

First it bragged about its accomplishments - which, when you look at them, didn't actually accomplish anything. Mostly it was making noise and getting some media attention.

But they have no idea what to do now. When Trump was president, they had a target, but now what?

So they ask their members - and the questions are amusing.

They want to know, how much can we push you guys towards supporting terror groups before you are uncomfortable with it?

As Kweansmom shows, they have already partnered with the pro-terror Palestinian Youth Movement and American Muslims for Palestine. Is that too much, too little, or just right?

The questions themselves show that INN's philosophy is pure antisemitism, but they don't want to push Jews out of their comfort zone - perhaps because most Jews aren't ready to support another intifada terror spree to blow up other Jews.

But if the leaders of INN don't know their own message, that is a major step towards oblivion. Its members will sense IfNotNow's leaders have no clue how to lead, and instead they want to not alienate their likely supporters, meaning that they have no message at all and are floundering to find one that won't push most members away.

Open Letters - Israel-haters' biggest bang for the most meaningless buck

The Guardian published a letter from several hundred anonymous Google and Amazon employees against those companies starting a $1.4 billion contract, Project Nimbus, to build cloud services in Israel.

The letter itself reveals the antisemitism of the writers. It admits that there are lots of customers of Google and Amazon that the employees find distasteful -

We have watched Google and Amazon aggressively pursue contracts with institutions like the US Department of Defense, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (Ice), and state and local police departments.

But when it comes to Israel - only then are they angry enough to send a Letter. Only then do they tearfully say that they "cannot look the other way."

Even more telling are the contracts that they don't list - deals with China and Saudi Arabia and with armies throughout the world escape their ire. Only to slam Israel do they exert the huge amount of effort to click on a button on a keyboard.

300 workers at Amazon and 90 workers are Google anonymously signed this letter. That comes out to 0.023% of all Amazon employees. For Google, it is 0.064%.

For contrast, 2.3% of Americans believe the Earth is flat - a hundred-fold more that the percentage of Amazon workers who say that Israel is terrible.

This is the way all anti-Israel letters work. A small number of people - in academia, it is always the exact same group of several hundred people - write a letter about how awful Israel is, they represent a minuscule percentage of the total number of people in the field, and the letters get eagerly publicized by news outlets who often share their sentiments.And if they cannot get The Guardian to publish their letter, they can self-publish in Medium and still get publicity from media outlets.

Nothing gets more bang for the buck than letters. They don't even require someone to get out of their seats to protest something - just a mouse click and a keyboard clack. Celebrities like Roger Waters and Noam Chomsky sign anything anti-Israel anyone sends them.

It's all a scam.

But it is a scam that media outlets are more than happy to spread.

This Amazon/Google letter is particularly cowardly. The signatories are not even willing to risk putting their names on the letter. We don't know if they are top-ranking coders or mailroom interns. But they still take the high road, claiming that they are afraid of losing their jobs for signing a letter. They take literally no risk. It is no braver than voting in a Twitter poll.

And the Guardian plays along - along with other media that report on the story as if it is a real story, and not something that any Israel hater can whip up any day of the week.

MEMRI quotes an Iranian opposition group's Telegram channel as saying that Iranian Vice President Mohsen Rezaee, deputy for economic affairs, has threatened to use Iran's Jews as hostages in case Israel does anything Iran doesn't like.

The Telegram page said:

In an unprecedented speech, Mohsen Rezaee, [President] Ebrahim Raisi's deputy for economic affairs, took Iran's Jews hostage, warning that they would be punished by the [Iranian] regime if Israel makes a mistake!

Rezaee told members and directors of [the ideological organization] Tharollah Tehran: 'The Israeli government knows very well that if it makes a mistake, the regime will treat the 10,000 Jews living in Iran differently.'

Elements in the Islamic Republic [of Iran] have in the past threatened Israeli citizens and cities such as Tel Aviv and Haifa, in order to confront the Israeli threat, but this is the first time that a senior [Iranian] regime official is threatening the Jews, who have been living in Iran for thousands of years.

It seems that Rezaee has a habit of threatening to take people hostage:

On June 10, 2021, Iranian journalist in the U.S. Masih Alinejad tweeted a video clip showing then-presidential candidate Rezaee in an Iranian television broadcast calling for solving Iran's economic problems by taking 1,000 Americans hostage and demanding billions of dollars in ransom for them.

Alinejad herself had been the target of an Iranian kidnap plot.

MEMRI notes that Rezaee is also secretary of the Expediency Council, of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination, and of the Iranian government's Economic Committee. He is no fringe figure.

This pretty much destroys Iran's insistence that it is not antisemitic.

It sure sounds like a terror state, doesn't it?

10/12 Links Pt2: A Common Battle Against the Poison of Antisemitism; Sally Rooney’s very ugly world; Vice News Downplays Hamas Terror Tunnels, Contends Gaza Child Soldiers Receive ‘Fitness Training’

From Ian:

Ambassador Erik Ullenhag: A Common Battle Against the Poison of Antisemitism

We live in a formative time with fewer and fewer survivors who can tell us what happened, which calls for intensified efforts to commemorate the Holocaust. Deniers should never be allowed to falsify the history of the worst crime against humanity.

On Oct. 13, Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Löfven will be hosting the Malmö International Forum on Holocaust Remembrance and Combating Antisemitism, Remember ReAct, with President Isaac Herzog as one of the main speakers. The Forum aims to jointly take concrete steps on Holocaust remembrance and the fight against antisemitism.

During the pandemic we saw it again – when there is a crisis in the world, some will always blame the Jews. And during the flair-up of the Gaza conflict, Europe witnessed an appalling rise in antisemitism and hate crimes against Jews, so to in Sweden. In Malmö, a 12-year old Jewish girl found a derogatory comment about Israel written by her cloakroom hook in school. In Gothenburg, a man wearing a Kippa to show solidarity with his Jewish friends was assaulted. I am repulsed by these heinous acts and the hatred aired publicly and online. antisemitism is a poison that must be fought.

Going back to the personal engagement of former Prime Minister Göran Persson, who in 1998 initiated the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), successive Swedish governments have sought ways to combat antisemitism, with an emphasis on education. In these efforts, Israel and Yad Vashem have been indispensable allies.

This has yielded results, but much work remains. A recent report by a Swedish expert agency indicates a decrease in anti-Semitic prejudices among Swedes. But it also concludes that antisemitism is more prevalent among older people, persons born outside of Europe, and persons of the Muslim faith.

Quick notes on anti-zionism

Anti-zionist activism reached fever pitch during the Israel-Scotland World Cup qualifier recently. Twitter lit up. Boorish Scottish fans threw food missiles at Israeli players on the pitch and jeered and heckled when the Hatikvah was played. The Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) had a lovely day out screaming ‘apartheid’. A touch incongruous that, because one of Israel’s two goals was scored by an Arab-muslim Israeli, Mu’nas Dabbur. Israel was edged out by a 3-2 win by Scotland. Israel won’t be in Qatar for the World Cup. Yes the same Qatar that has its grand football stadiums built by slave labour in boiling heat and has seen over 6500 migrant worker deaths since it was awarded the World Cup hosting rights. One hopes that Scottish fans take their activist fervour to Qatar. Human rights are so important.

Truly sending out their best and brightest pic.twitter.com/K2wuFtI8Mn
— ~Jachnun Supremacist~ נפתלי בן מתתיהו (@JachnunEmpire) October 10, 2021

Palestinian Authority cancels meeting with FIFA president

The Palestinian Authority has canceled a meeting with FIFA President Gianni Infantino, Army Radio reported on Monday. The cancellation is due to Infantino's scheduled appearance at Monday's Friedman Center's inaugural gala at the Museum of Tolerance in Jerusalem.

While Infantino's camp reportedly attempted to pass it off as a "schedule constraint," his appearance and scheduled speech are viewed by the PA as a "violation of the Islamic religion," Army Radio said.

The Friedman Center for Peace through Strength is a non-profit institution established with the goal of advancing peace and prosperity throughout the Middle East. Infantino will also speak at The Jerusalem Post's 10th Annual Conference on Tuesday.

In addition, the FIFA president met with Israeli Football Association (IFA) Chairman Ori Sasson on Monday. Infantino was also scheduled to meet the Palestinian Football Association (PFA) Chairman Jibril Rajoub.

"I'm happy to be in Israel," Infantino said, according to N12. "Oren Sasson and his team presented me with the vision and strategy to advance Israeli football to the next level," the FIFA president said.

"The hard work has already started. It is an encouraging time for Israeli football."

In 2016, the Palestinian Authority created a Social Security Insitution..

It's been a joke ever since.

In 2018, two members of its board resigned because of non-transparency and non-independence.

Now, a new audit report shows that despite millions of dollars put into it, the organization can point to zero accomplishments.

Its budget has never been published. No financial reports have been published.

Employees were appointed without any regard to their qualifications.

Office furniture was purchased without any oversight.

Board meetings were held without most members of the board.

Unauthorized people signed contracts on behalf of the entire organization.

There is no mechanism to identify any conflicts of interest by employees.

There has been tampering of electronic records.

In other words - business as usual for the PA. Cronies use their government positions for their own purposes, the people get screwed, and no one really expects any change.

While Palestinians are well aware of the corruption in their government, Western media shows remarkably little interest in what happens, especially given that the West funds so much of the Palestinian Authority government and activities.

10/12 Links Pt1: Israel’s critics have a new slogan; Do the EU and the UN Know They Are Supporting Scholarships for the Children of Terrorists?; Ben & Jerry suffered an AOC moment

From Ian:

Israel’s critics have a new slogan

Every couple of years, critics of Israel come up with a new slogan that they hope will pressure the Israelis into making more concessions to the Palestinian Authority. They’ve just trotted out their latest model: “Shrinking the conflict.”

Such slogans are usually invented to try to overcome some obstacle that’s interfering with the left’s campaign to force Israel to accept a Palestinian state in its back yard. The current obstacle is that it’s been more than seven years (!) since Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas has been willing to negotiate with Israel.

If Abbas won’t talk, there’s no way to talk Israel into surrendering half its country. So, Israel’s leftwing critics figure they will wait him out—after all, Abbas, now in the 16 th year of his four year term of office, is 85 and facing various domestic problems. He can’t last forever. While they wait, the pressure-Israel crowd is looking for other ways to engineer Israeli concessions. Hence “shrinking the conflict.”

The Israel-critics think they’re being very clever with this one, because it actually comes from a phrase that was spoken by Prime Minister Naftali Bennett. But of course, they’ve taken it out of context and tried to turn it into a weapon against him.

The concept that Prime Minister Bennett has mentioned is that since there’s no way of ending the conflict, then all that’s possible is to “shrink” it somewhat, through small steps aimed at economic improvement for the Palestinian Arabs.

But critics of Israel see “shrinking the conflict” differently—they see it as a new formula for building a Palestinian state, just more gradually. So, they’ve seized on the phrase and are running with it.

Do the EU and the UN Know They Are Supporting Scholarships for the Children of Terrorists?

A promotional flier for a course run by an internationally-funded Palestinian NGO shows how the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the Palestinian NGOs abuse international donors, duping them into funding ostensibly worthy causes, but at the same time supporting terror.

While Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) welcomes European Union (EU) and United Nations (UN) funding for training courses for Palestinians, the problem arises when the courses offer full scholarships to the children of terrorist prisoners and dead terrorists, thereby rewarding the terrorists for their crimes.

A new flier — posted by Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam, the former PA Minister of Education and current advisor for communications and information technology to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas — promotes a Digital Academy for Scientific Innovation (DASI) program run by the Palestinian NGO Al-Nayzak.

According to the flier, while the children of law-abiding Palestinian families are potentially entitled to a 65% discount for the course, the children of “Martyrs and prisoners” are entitled to a full scholarship.

In other words, children of terrorists and murderers — be they imprisoned, released, or dead (so-called “Martyrs”) — are rewarded and can study for free.
Text on image: “Hurry to register at the following link:
Dasi.ps/register
With a possibility to receive a full scholarship for the children of Martyrs and prisoners.
And a discount of up to 65% for the rest of the recipients.”
[Facebook page of Fatah Central Committee Deputy Secretary Sabri Saidam, Sept. 18, 2021]
This means that Safa, the daughter of Abdullah Bargouhti, an imprisoned Palestinian terrorist convicted for the murder of 67 people in multiple terror attacks, and the children of Marwan Barghouti, convicted for his part in the murder of 5 people, are entitled to special privileges, simply because their fathers are mass murderers.

Ben & Jerry Struggle to Defend Israel Boycott Decision in Sanctimonious Interview

Bennett Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the founders of the eponymous ice cream brand, sat down for an interview with Axios political reporter Alexi McCammond as part of an Emmy Award-winning docuseries.

The in-depth conversation saw the famously progressive duo grilled about the Vermont-based firm’s divisive decision to end sales of its products in “Occupied Palestinian Territory” — that is, the disputed West Bank — as well as the subsequent fallout that included numerous US states divesting funds from Ben & Jerry’s parent company Unilever.

After acknowledging they were aware of having waded into an “emotional issue,” Greenfield was quizzed by McCammond on why the company only took a stance on the issue recently when the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has been ongoing for many years.

Greenfield replied:
The policy of the Israeli government has been to endorse these settlements in the occupied territories that keep on making it harder and harder to actually have a two-state solution.”

In fact, Israeli peace plans have been rejected repeatedly by Palestinian leaders, including those that would have seen the creation of an independent Palestinian state.

If anything, it is the actions of the Palestinian Authority that have stymied the peace process, not those of the Israeli government.

Greenfield later described the steps taken by US states to divest from Unilever as “largely based on misinformation,” before clarifying, “I think Ben & Jerry’s and Unilever are being characterized as boycotting Israel, which is not the case at all. It’s not boycotting Israel in any way.”

However, a noteworthy point of contention that is conspicuously absent in this exchange is that the Ben & Jerry’s independent board did want to boycott Israel in its entirety.

Ben & Jerry suffered an AOC moment - comment

Like AOC, Cohen hooked onto the settlements, because that’s easy, because it takes a very complicated issue and reduces it to one source of all the problems. Because it’s acceptable and in vogue and “progressive” to bash settlements.

And how is the boycott of settlements good for business? Greenfield hinted at this when he said that Ben & Jerry’s “publicly supported Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, but over the years the company continues to sell more ice cream and thrive.”

Perhaps the “but” here is out of place. Perhaps he should have said, “Ben & Jerry’s publicly supported Occupy Wall Street, Black Lives Matter, and as a result, over the years, the company continues to sell more ice cream and thrive.”

Might that also have been one of the rationales for the company taking its move now on settlements? Get behind an issue seen as cutting edge ‘woke,’ in the hopes that by virtue signaling on a popular Progressive issue, it may boost sales.

Or, as Nick Kostov wrote in the Wall Street Journal piece last month about various states divesting from Unilever stocks because of the Ben & Jerry/settlements brouhaha, the fallout for Unilever “comes as more companies take public stands on societal issues, an approach Unilever has put at the heart of its strategy. For decades, companies largely tried to avoid wading publicly into social and political debates, preferring to influence policy through lobbying efforts, campaign contributions and membership in industry groups. But in a reversal for many big businesses, brands have embraced what has become known as purpose marketing, which many believe helps to drive sales growth.”

What Israel-supporters opposed to Ben & Jerry’s move are seeking to do, is show that when it comes to the Jewish state, this type of “purpose marketing” will have the opposite effect.

We are woke foreign policy on Israel, and this is our MasterClass. pic.twitter.com/NKRgMwU46k
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) October 11, 2021

Israel haters just cannot stop lying

Jewish Voice for Peace tweeted, "Thousands of Palestinians who took part in uprisings this May are still detained in Israeli prisons." It then gave a link to a fund that pays Palestinian terrorists.

Thousands of them are still in prison? Given that for the past few years, there have been roughly 5000 security prisoners in Israeli prisons at any time, that seemed to be unlikely.

Another NGO that is critical of Israel, HaMoked, keeps track of the number of security prisoners in Israel by month. (B'Tselem used to but says that they can no longer get the information under Israel's Freedom of Information Act. It is unclear how HaMoked does.)

The first thing you notice is that the number of prisoners has stayed roughly the same between April and today.

The second thing is that the number of security prisoners actually decreased during the time period in question, between April and June, indicating that however many people Israel arrested were not placed in prison (unless Israel released a similar number of prisoners, which seems highly unlikely.)