Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, June 14, 2019

06/14 Links Pt1: Gaza Rocket Strikes School in Southern Israeli City, No Injuries Reported; Tehran Sends Threatening Messages Via Its Proxies In Gaza; Will it take a Jewish 9/11... for us to take security seriously?

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Hezbollah UK terrorist plot kept secret as British continue appeasing rising Iran aggression

As sanctions make the regime feel increasingly cornered, it may be more inclined to use violence. Some analysts believe it won’t risk provoking Washington too far because it knows a U.S. military attack could finish it off.

So it might choose just to sit out the Trump presidency in the hope of a pliable Democrat replacing him in the White House.

The drumbeat of war, though, is increasing. The top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East says he believes the Iranians or their proxies may orchestrate an attack at any moment.

Over the last month, the Trump administration announced that it was sending an aircraft carrier strike group and air force bombers to the Middle East, as well as Patriot missiles and additional troops, to “send a clear and unmistakable message” to Iran.

U.S. officials said that the decision was based in part on intelligence that the Iranian regime has told some of its proxy forces that they could now target American military personnel and assets.

The day after that announcement, four oil tankers were attacked in the Persian Gulf, with Iran being considered the chief suspect. On Thursday morning, two more oil tankers were damaged near the Strait of Hormuz in another suspected attack.

It’s hard to see how the Iranian regime can be stopped without some kind of military action being taken against it. Those like Britain and the European Union who believe that is unthinkable and can best be avoided by the Obama deal are wrong.

Failing to neutralize Iran will merely mean that, a few years down the road, the West will be menaced not just by Hezbollah terrorism, but by a nuclear Iranian enemy bent on the annihilation of Israel and the destruction of the West.

MEMRI: With No Progress In Indirect U.S.-Iran Contacts, Tehran Sends Threatening Messages Via Its Proxies In Gaza

In recent statements and speeches, Yahya Al-Sinwar, head of Hamas's political bureau in Gaza, and Ziyad Al-Nakhalah, secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), threatened new confrontations with Israel and praised Iran for its support of their organizations. Some of their statements were delivered at a rally organized by the Palestinian factions in Gaza on the occasion of Qods Day, an annual event that was initiated by the Iranian regime and is held on the last Friday of Ramadan.

Coming at this time, these statements by the leaders of Hamas and the PIJ highlighting Iran's support and its contribution to their fighting abilities are more than just a threat aimed at Israel. They constitute a threatening message sent by Iran, via its proxies, to the U.S. and its allies, in light of the lack of progress in the indirect contacts between Iran and the U.S. over the nuclear issue.

As part of these threatening messages, Hamas leader in Gaza Al-Sinwar stressed the increase in the number and quality of the organization's rockets, and its intention to stage massive attacks on targets in central Israel in the next confrontation. He also declared that Hamas plans to provide the participants of the weekly March of Return protests on the Gaza-Israel border with military training. He praised Iran for the financial and technical assistance it has extended to Hamas, which has enabled it to develop its military capabilities. "All the Arabs have sold out Palestine, but not the Islamic Republic of Iran, which continues to support our people against the Israeli enemy," he said.[1]

PIJ leader Al-Nakhalah said, in an interview with Hizbullah's television channel, that the Palestinian resistance is capable of striking strategic targets in the heart of Israel with its locally-manufactured rockets, including rockets with half-ton warheads, stressing that the PIJ utilizes Iranian weapons and expertise and is closely assisted by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). IRGC Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani "knows the men of the [Palestinian] resistance, and they know him well," he said. He added that the PIJ would be part of any regional confrontation between the resistance axis and Israel, and that "the Arab regimes have relinquished Palestine," so their leaders are unfit to lead the Arab nation, whose rights they have relinquished.[2]

Both leaders slammed the Trump administration's Middle East peace plan known as the "Deal of the Century" as well as the U.S.-led "Peace to Prosperity" economic workshop scheduled to be held in Bahrain on June 25-26, 2019 to discuss the economic dimensions of the peace plan.[3] This is in line with Iran's position on the Deal of the Century and with Iran's efforts, reported recently in the Arab press, to unite the resistance axis against it.[4]

Iranian Official Hassan Rahimpour Azghadi: Iranians Fought Alongside Hamas, Islamic Jihad in Gaza; We Will Destroy Israel within 25 Years pic.twitter.com/jt4TnIkym3
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) June 14, 2019

Is the US planning an UNRWA surprise in Bahrain?

IPSNews writes:

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been forced to justify its existence at the United Nations ahead of a pledging conference later this month.

UNRWA came under fire by Jason Greenblatt, US Special Envoy for International Negotiations, at a Security Council meeting late last month.

“The UNRWA model has failed the Palestinian people,” he said, describing the Agency as an “irredeemably flawed operation” and a “band-aid” solution. Instead, he proposed an integration of the Agency’s services into government and non-governmental organisations’ structures.

UNRWA has for years struggled to meet its budget. Last year, around 42 countries and institutions increased their contributions to erase an unprecedented deficit of US$446 million.

Greenblatt noted the United States was frequently called upon to fill budget gaps. Having pledged around US$6 billion to the organisation over the course of its existence, he reaffirmed his government’s refusal to continue to do so.

Instead, the United States has called for a conference in Bahrain—June 25-26– to discuss possible solutions to the Palestine refugee crisis. Many see this as compensation for withdrawing funding for UNRWA.

I had not seen an explicit link between the Bahrain conference and UNRWA before, but it makes one think: is Greenblatt planning an UNRWA surprise?

Has the US lined up support from the UAE and Saudi Arabia to, perhaps, announce that they would allow Palestinians to become citizens? The Gulf states have had problems with foreign workers who take up two thirds of the Saudi labor force, and replacing them with Palestinians - who are generally more industrious than native Saudis - could help modernize Saudi Arabia and ready it for a post-oil world.

The rush for Palestinian "refugees" to qualify for such a program would show the world how hollow are the words of their leaders when they say that their people would rather remain stateless until "return."

There are going to be some interesting things coming out of Bahrain.

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Every week's Gaza border riots are given a theme by the Hamas-linked High Commission for Return and Breaking the Siege.

The theme for today's demonstration is "'No to annexing the West Bank', confirming the rejection of US Ambassador to the State of Israel David Friedman's words and the rejection of US policy, which has become a flagrant aggression against the Palestinian people."

But Friedman did not say that Israel has the right to annex part or all of the West Bank. He said that they have a right to the land but that "under certain circumstances, I think that Israel has the right to retain some, but not all, of the West Bank." He is clearly referring to the terms of a peace deal, not unilateral annexation.

The New York Times, however, headlined its piece with the false claim that Friedman said Israel has the right to annex parts of the West Bank.

And this lie is what was reported worldwide.

Although the march organizers would have found another theme for today's riots even without this journalistic malpractice, anyone who might be injured or killed today in the Gaza riots can partly blame the New York Times for giving a pretext to the violence.

Words matter. Facts matter. The New York Times' lies about Israel make a difference, and always in ways that are counterproductive.

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Tunisians freak out over video of Jewish tourists saying "Long live Israel! Long live Tunisia!"

About a week ago, a video from Israeli TV surfaced in the Arab world that has caused an uproar.

A group of Jewish tourists and pilgrims, in Tunisia for Lag B'Omer to visit the famous synagogue in Djerba, also went to visit some sites where their ancestors came from in a tour bus.

On the bus, one exuberant Jewish woman was filmed saying in Arabic, "God bless all the soldiers of the Israeli army! Long live Tunisia! Long live Israel!" with each phrase answered with "Amen" by her fellow tourists.

بحماية أمنية مشددة.. تطبيع رسمي برحلات سياسية إسرائيلية إلى #تونس.#التطبيع_خيانة pic.twitter.com/IJQ1U7YcBW
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) June 10, 2019

Tunisians, ignoring the fact that Jews were blessing their country with long life, have been angry about this. They say this is proof that Israelis were allowed in the country. The Interior Ministry assured everyone that they did not accept anyone's Israeli passport, but the angry Tunisians responded that these tourists had dual citizenship with Israel (probably true) and should not have been allowed in to begin with (not sure how Tunisia could exclude them.)

Tunisia's Tourism Minister, Roni Trabelsi, is Jewish, and of course he is being accused of specifically recruiting Israelis to visit Tunisia. Journalists are calling for him to resign. Trabelsi denies it and notes that antisemites have been out to get him since he was appointed.

Other Tunisians found a different thing to be angry about. They said that the tourists visited near where Israel assassinated Fatah leader Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) in 1988. In fact, they were kilometers away from that site, but facts aren't convenient when inciting antisemitic hatred.

The event has had other political implications. Some Tunisians are accusing the Al-Mayadim channel that has publicized this video as attempting to take down the Tunisian government by implying that it has abandoned the Palestinian cause.

Still others say there is nothing wrong with maintaining relationships with Jews of Tunisian origin who live in Israel, as long as it is not recognizing Israel.

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06/13 Links Pt2: Caroline Glick: Where BDS and Terrorists Converge; NYTs Birthright Israel Article Echoes ‘Zionism Is Racism’ Myth; Zionism is national liberation for colonised Jews

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Where BDS and Terrorists Converge

Last October, Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs published an in-depth report demonstrating the central role terror Palestinian terror groups play in the “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) campaign against Israel and Jews who support Israel.

The report, titled “Terrorists in Suits: The ties between NGOs promoting BDS and terrorist organizations,” exposed that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas are both heavily involved — indeed, likely control — several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Western countries that play central roles in BDS campaigns. Hamas and the PFLP are both designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the State Department and the EU.

Samidoun is a major actor in the BDS universe. According to the Israeli government report, Samidoun is a U.S.-registered NGO founded in 2012. It has branches in Lebanon, Canada, France, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Greece, and the Palestinian Authority.

It is also enmeshed in, if not controlled by, the PFLP.

According to the Israeli government report, Samidoun’s international coordinator, Charlotte Kates, is married to Khaled Barakat, a member of the PFLP Central Committee. Kates is a member of several other BDS groups operating in the U.S. and Europe. Many of them are similarly affiliated with the PFLP. Some operate as left-wing BDS groups.

The Israeli report further alleges that Mustafa Awad, Samidoun’s European representative, is a Lebanese national. The report notes that according to the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), Awad was a member of a PFLP terrorist cell operating in Europe, and was in contact with terrorist operatives from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

New York Times Birthright Israel Article Echoes ‘Zionism Is Racism’ Myth

The New York Times gave a front-page platform this week to a news article about a handful of anti-Israel activist who walked off a Birthright Israel trip about a year ago because it didn’t devote enough attention to the Palestinian Arabs.

There are lots of problems with the article. For example, the Times claims it highlights a new phenomenon: “growing unease among many young American Jews over Israel’s policies… a generational divide… Many older Jewish Americans have long expressed unease about Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, but consider it anathema to openly protest the Jewish state.”

That’s both inaccurate and unclear. It’s not clear whether the Times means openly protest the existence of the Jewish state, or openly protest the policies of the Jewish state. If it means openly protest the policies of the Jewish state, the Times has been hyping that as far back as 1979: “Protests From U.S. Jews Stir Controversy in Israel.” And if means openly protest or oppose the existence of the Jewish state, that’s not a view held by “many” Jews at all, young or old.

To prop up its claim, the Times reports: “Just 6 percent of American Jews over the age of 50 believe that the United States gives Israel too much support, according to research by Dov Waxman, a professor of political science, international affairs and Israel studies at Northeastern University. But that view is held by 25 percent of Jews aged 18 to 29, the cohort that goes on Birthright trips.”

There’s no hyperlink to this “research,” so Times readers are unable to assess for themselves the sample size, the margin of sampling error, who funded the research, how and when the question was asked, whether it has been independently replicated, how the Jews in the survey were defined, and whether it’s a finding that really measures attitudes toward Israel or, rather instead captures more general feelings about foreign aid or a particular US presidential administration’s policies.

The biggest problem with the Times Birthright article, though, at least in my reading of it, is the way it reinforces the pernicious canard that Zionism is racism. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan described that falsehood as the “Big Red Lie,” “the last great horror of the Hitler-Stalin era,” as one can read in the fine book of Moynihan’s letters, a volume edited by Steven R. Weisman. Back in 1991, when the United Nations repealed its Zionism is racism resolution, The New York Times issued an editorial saying: “The United Nations hardly deserves applause for waiting 16 years to rescind a disgraceful declaration that should never have been adopted.”

The Suppressed Plight of Palestinian Christians

"Fatah regularly exerts heavy pressure on Christians not to report the acts of violence and vandalism from which they frequently suffer, as such publicity could damage the PA's image as an actor capable of protecting the lives and property of the Christian minority under its rule.... That image could have negative repercussions for the massive international, and particularly European, aid the PA receives." — Dr. Edy Cohen, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

Considered another way, the bread and butter of the PA and its supporters, media and others, seems to be to portray the Palestinians as victims of unjust aggression and discrimination from Israel. This narrative could be jeopardized if the international community learned that Palestinians themselves were persecuting fellow Palestinians — solely on account of religion.

"Far more important to the Palestinian Authority than arresting those who assault Christian sites is keeping such incidents out of the mainstream media. And they are very successful in this regard. Indeed, only a handful of smaller local outlets bothered to report on these latest break-ins. The mainstream international media ignored them altogether." — Dr. Edy Cohen, Israel Today.

As Justus Reid Weiner, a lawyer and scholar well-acquainted with the region explains, "The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs... In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving."

If @IfNotNowOrg wants everyone to hear all sides of the story...

The New York Times wrote an infomercial for IfNotNow, describing how a tiny number of anti-Israel activists walked off their Birthright tours last year in pre-planned publicity stunts.

Of course, IfNotNow has been tweeting the hell out of this. Their arguments are laughable.

Isn't it shocking that a Zionist organization doesn't spend millions of dollars to teach people to hate Israel?

Just as shocking as @IfNotNowOrg not demanding that Breaking the Silence or Palestinian tours of the WB include Zionist talking points.

No one buys your lies. https://t.co/DWMAQ7Ebjn
— Elder Of Ziyon ҉ (@elderofziyon) June 12, 2019

So I started my own campaign for hearing all sides of the story. If Zionists aren't allowed to talk about Zionism in their own venues without giving equal time to anti-Zionists, then those same rules should apply to anti-Zionists as well, right?

Dear @IfNotNowOrg,

Your website does not have any information about why Jews have the right to the entire Land of Israel. It is one-sided. I demand that you add this information immediately or I will start a protest movement and harass you until you do.

These are your rules.
— Elder Of Ziyon ҉ (@elderofziyon) June 12, 2019

Dear @IfNotNowOrg ,

It has come to my attention that you do not have a single Jewish settler on your team. This is obvious discrimination based on where they live. We demand at least 25% representation from the people you demonize. #YourRules @YonahLieberman @maxberger https://t.co/IcKY9prvNs
— Elder Of Ziyon ҉ (@elderofziyon) June 12, 2019

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UN Invites Jussie Smollett To Head Israeli War Crimes Panel (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Geneva, June 13 - An international body that aims to look into allegations of violations of the Laws of Armed Conflict by the Jewish State has engaged to spearhead the effort a man with recent experience with allegations of disproportionate, illegal attacks.

The United Nations Human Rights Council today (Thursday) named Jussie Smollett, star of the TV series Empire, the director of a new probe into Israeli crimes against Palestinians at the border with the Gaza Strip and within the territory during the brief explosion of cross-border violence in April. A spokesman for the Council made specific mention of Mr. Smollett's unwavering commitment to his narrative of victimhood even in the face of mounting evidence that he fabricated the entire incident and hired African immigrants to stage it.

"We find in Mr. Smollett a kindred spirit," declared Bahrain council delegate Tashhir Aldam. "His unrelenting insistence that an attack took place even when hostile elements challenged his assertions is exactly what this panel looks for when it encounters allegations of Israeli crimes. The Smollett Commission, as it will be known, will forge ahead with its inquiry undeterred by accusations that it ignores evidence contrary to its predetermined conclusions, in keeping with the finest traditions of UN inquiries such as those conducted under Messrs. Goldstone, Falk, and others."

A representative of the African-American actor thanked the Council for its recognition and conveyed the star's aspiration to justify the organization's faith in his abilities. "Jussie hopes to live up to the Council's expectations," stated Ali Latdam. "He is excited to partner with others in the world who have dedicated their lives and careers to bringing justice as defined by anti-Western, anti-Zionist, often anti-Semitic sensibilities, under which people of color - also defined by that group - bear perpetual victim status and cannot be expected to shoulder responsibility for their actions or situations, with the result that responsibility and guilt devolves onto whatever non-POC entities may be involved. In his case that was the Chicago police, or American society, or whichever accusation gets the most traction; in the case of the Human Rights Council it's Israel, because Jews."

Ambassador Aldam also noted the actor's achievement in avoiding long-term career consequences for adhering to a disproved narrative. "We're especially encouraged by Mr. Smollett's ability to avoid permanently tainting himself with this episode," he explained. "The UN can offer him an even more sympathetic environment in which to pursue blood libels, since the rigor of our methods does not approach that of the Chicago police department."

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06/13 Links Pt1: Dershowitz: International Law Supports Israel Retaining Some of the West Bank; Nikki Haley: Trump's peace plan puts Israel's security first

From Ian:

Alan M. Dershowitz: International Law Supports Israel Retaining Some of the West Bank

I participated in the drafting of UN Security Council Resolution 242 back in 1967, when Justice Arthur Goldberg was the U.S. Representative to the UN. I had been Justice Goldberg's law clerk, and he asked me to come to New York to advise him on some of the legal issues surrounding the West Bank. The major controversy was whether Israel had to return "all" or only some of the territories captured in its defensive war against Jordan.

The end result was that the binding English version of the resolution deliberately omitted the crucial word "all," which both Justice Goldberg and British Ambassador Lord Caradon publicly stated meant that Israel was entitled to retain some of the West Bank. Moreover, under Resolution 242, Israel was not required to return a single inch of captured territory unless its enemies recognized its right to live within secure boundaries.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is right in two respects: (1) Israel has no right to retain all of the West Bank, if its enemies recognize its right to live within secure borders; (2) Israel has "the right to retain some" of these territories. The specifics are left to negotiation between the parties.

The reality is that Israel will maintain control over traditionally Jewish areas, as well as the settlement blocs close to the Green Line. I know this because Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told me this on more than one occasion when we have met.

The attack on Ambassador Friedman is mere posturing by the Palestinian leaders and their supporters. The realpolitik, recognized by all reasonable people, is that Israel does have a right to retain some, but not all, of the West Bank.

The Palestinians can end the untenable status quo by agreeing to compromise their absolutist claims, just as Israel will have to compromise on its claims. The virtue of Ambassador Friedman's statement is that it recognizes that both sides must give up their absolutist claims, and that the end result must be Israeli control over some, but not all, of the West Bank.

Ambassador Danny Danon: Israel and the US, winning together

For decades, the United Nations has served as the home turf of Arab countries who used it to batter the State of Israel and the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces. In recent years, though, the rules of the game have changed, and no longer finding itself having to deal with a last-minute tie, Israel now takes the field with a significant advantage.

The strength of the alliance between the United States and Israel is a prominent layer in our policies at the UN. Our cooperation at the forefront of the diplomatic stage helps leverage the efforts of both Israel and the US.

In December, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and I submitted a motion condemning the Hamas terrorist movement to the General Assembly. For the first time in the organization’s history, 87 countries voted to condemn Hamas and admitted the terrorist group was a global problem. This helped leverage the efforts Israel is leading to have Hamas defined as a terrorist organization at the UN.

At the same time, when Washington needed our help, we were the first to stand alongside the US. Every year, a resolution is submitted demanding the US revoke its economic embargo on Cuba. Israel was the only country outside the US at the UN to oppose the resolution in last year’s vote.

A few days ago, one of Hamas’ terrorist arms in Lebanon, disguised as a human rights organization by the name of “Shahed,” tried to gain observer status at the UN. We informed our counterparts in the American delegation and together, enlisted a majority of countries within the framework of an international campaign that succeeded in preventing a Hamas delegation from penetrating the UN.

But the cooperation does not begin and end in New York; it is spread across the various branches of the UN, including the infamously anti-Israel Human Rights Council in Geneva. One year ago, the US announced that while it would continue to fight for human rights, it would no longer do so within the framework of an organization so blind with Israel hatred. The US quit the council and called on other countries to follow suit.

Nikki Haley: Trump's peace plan puts Israel's security first

Nikki Haley may no longer be the United States permanent representative to the United Nations, but her passion for defending Israel is as strong as ever.

The Jewish community in the United States and Israelis by and large treated Haley as the superstar of the Trump administration because she relentlessly took the UN to task and put a mirror in front of the international organization, revealing just how biased it was toward Israel.

Now, as a private citizen, she takes pains to assure Israelis they have nothing to fear regarding the administration’s peace efforts, just weeks before the rollout of the economic component of its peace plan. She says President Donald Trump’s peace team considers Israel’s security paramount.

Haley sat down for an interview with Israel Hayom Editor-in-Chief Boaz Bismuth on Thursday in New York. The following are excerpts from the interview. The full version will be published on Friday.
Former US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley with Israel Hayom Editor-in-Chief Boaz Bismuth | Photo: Nir Arieli

Q: Later this month, the administration will roll out the economic component of its peace plan. Some in Israel are worried that the US would want something from Israel in return for recognizing Jerusalem as its capital and recognizing its sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Should Israel be worried about the plan?

“Israel should not be worried. Because through the Middle East plan, one of the main goals that [Senior Adviser to the President] Jared Kushner and [US Special Representative for International Negotiations] Jason Greenblatt focused on was to not hurt the national security interests of Israel. They understand the importance of security, they understand the importance of keeping Israel safe. I think everybody needs to go into it with an open mind, everybody should want a peace plan. Everybody should want to make way for a better situation in Israel and I think it can happen. So rather than pushing back against what we don’t know, I hope everybody would lean in on what the possibilities of what the peace plan could look like and think of a better life for everyone.”

Cartoon of the Day: We love Jews, but with strings attached

This cartoon is dedicated to the DC Dyke March that planned to ban Jewish symbols before giving in.

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"Palestinian Animal League" weaponizes kindness to animals to incite hatred of Israel - and blames Israel for Palestinian homophobia!

I reported on Tuesday about an academic paper that accused Israel of "veganwashing," meaning that Israel is so obsessed with its "occupation" that it will embrace liberal causes like LGBTQ rights or veganism in order to distract people from thinking about Palestinians.

This is psychological projection. Palestinians want the world to only think about "occupation," so much so that they will hang everything they do on publicizing that.

Enter the Palestinian Animal League. Its ostensible purpose is to promote animal rights in the territories, with programs to try to stop Palestinians from abusing donkeys (which are often beaten) and helping take care of stray dogs (which they suggest could be deliberately released by Israel.)

In reality, the PAL is just another cog in the machine of anti-Israel incitement.

PAL provides English-language tours for Western animal lovers called "Vegan Tours in Palestine." Here is their entire description of the goals of these tours:

– Meet Palestinians and get the chance to learn about initiatives of resistance to the Israeli occupation and the colonization of the land;
– Learn about the solidarity movement with the Palestinian people;
– Discover the natural beauty of this land, the culture and the delicious Palestinian cuisine, which is very vegan-friendly.
– Support the local economy that suffers immensely from the occupation.
– Share what we you see and experience here with your own communities, and explain the Palestinian struggle for liberation and self-determination where the voices of Palestinians cannot be heard.
– Get an insight on vegan-washing, i.e. the use of the animal rights movement in Israel to improve Israel’s image and to distract attention from the Israeli violations of both human rights and animal rights.

Not one goal about raising awareness on animal rights issues in the territories. The entire purpose is political, to get international vegans to hate Israel.

This goal is not only seen from the "Vegan Tours." The director of PAL, Ahlam Tarayra, spoke at the animal rights EACAS Conference 2019 which took place at Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona earlier this year.

She didn't talk about the work PAL does or the challenges they have in changing Palestinian attitudes towards animals. She instead spoke about how Israel is responsible for Palestinian bigotry and intolerance!

Ahlam discussed how PAL is working to improve the physical and cultural environment for animals in Palestine. She also discussed how PAL has been observing the impact of historical British colonialism and the Israeli occupation upon animals in Palestine. PAL has been “digging back to the roots” to discover where the roots of various forms of oppression – such as speciesism, homophobia, and patriarchy – began in Palestine.

In an article she wrote for This Week in Palestine, she explains her theory:

Coming out as a homosexual is almost impossible in Palestine...it is important to underline how the Ottoman rule and the prolonged Israeli occupation have hugely contributed to remarkably emphasizing various forms of oppression that permeate a cycle of violence, which is a fundamental obstacle in Palestine’s efforts to develop into a broad-minded society that acknowledges that all oppressive institutions (racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, xenophobia, classism, and speciesism) are interconnected and cannot be examined separately.

Palestinian intolerance for every major liberal cause is not the result of their own culture, according to this theory - but because of Israel.

Apparently, Israel controls Palestinian TV, Internet, school curricula, newspapers, magazines, conferences and topics of conversation in the street.

I suppose that the same intolerance in other Arab societies are somehow Israel's fault as well, but the intersectional theorists like Tarayra haven't yet figured out exactly how.

What is clear is that Palestinians are never responsible for their own shortcomings - it is always Israel's fault.

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This REAL Palestinian alphabet poster in Arabic includes "bomb," "bullet," "pistol," "child fighter"

In the light of the recent controversy over the "P is for Palestine" book for kids, here is a real Palestinian alphabet poster - in Arabic - designed in 1985.

Here are some of the specifics that Palestinian leaders wanted to teach their kids:

“Mim” (M) is for Musaddas = pistol

“Qaf” (Q) – is for Qunbula = bomb

“Ra” (R) is for Rassasa = bullet

“Sin” (S) is for Sayf = sword

“Shin” (Sh) is for Shibl = lion cub, but in the vernacular always means child fighter

“Fa” (f) is for fidai (pl. fedayeen) - guerrilla fighter

The designer was Mohieddin Ellabbad, an Egyptian graphic artist who was hired by Dar El Fatah El Arabi, a publishing house for children that was an arm of the PLO's cultural program Dar El Fatah. The entire point of Dar El Fatah was to ensure that Palestinian children grow up with the same revolutionary ideals of the PLO.

Ellabbad's boss was Nabil Shaath, currently the spokesperson for Mahmoud Abbas.

Violence is in Palestinian DNA.

(h/t Irene, Ibn Boutros)

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

A Hamas-related “military unit” called “Sons of al-Zawari” has been responsible for launching countless incendiary and explosive kites and balloons across the border into Israel for more than a year. Recently they even threatened to fill the condoms they use for balloons (apparently they are made of strong latex, so they are less likely to break prematurely) with a payload of some kind of poisonous or carcinogenic material.

Mohammed al-Zawari, in case you are interested, was a Tunisian engineer who developed drones for Hamas; he was assassinated in 2016, probably by the Mossad.

Although it is not so newsworthy outside of Israel, Arabs from Gaza continue to start fires and try to kill people in southern Israel with these devices. Israel responds in various ways, like reducing the size of the area in the Mediterranean in which Gazans are allowed to fish (really). They have also “attacked” the groups launching the devices with drones – but news reports never say that any of their members are killed, so I presume they fire low-yield weapons near, but not directly at, the terrorists.

The “disturbances” at the border fence wax and wane, but they never stop. Every once in a while someone is shot trying to harm Israeli soldiers on the other side, or planting explosives to create a breach in the fence that would allow a large number of terrorists to cross over and attack local civilians. Israel is building a massive barrier, both above and below the ground, to protect local communities against attacks via tunnels dug under the fence, and from shooting – in a recent case, a man was killed when his car was hit by an anti-tank rocket fired from Gaza. This barrier will cost billions, but will not stop the balloons or kites, nor will it prevent rocket attacks as we experienced this May. Recently, Israeli officials said that Hamas has already replenished its stock of rockets after the recent violence.

In a sense, Hamas is already engaged in chemical and biological warfare against Israel. The border demonstrations often involve burning tires, with the smoke darkening the skies over Israeli communities, some of which are only a few hundred meters from the fence. Even more seriously, for years, raw sewage from Gaza has been dumped in the sea and into streams that flow in southern Israel. Garbage is dumped and burned near the border. The Hamas government has received much assistance from international donors to solve its pollution problems, including the World Bank financing a large treatment plant in northern Gaza, which, due to a lack of electricity and other problems, never became operational.

Of course the population of Gaza suffers far more than that of Israel from the air and water pollution. But Hamas has always allocated available resources primarily to its war effort, following the First Principle of Palestinism,™ which is that it’s always preferable to hurt Jews than to help Arabs (although, to be fair, they have built luxurious residences for their leaders).

The Israeli government has come up with various reasons (perhaps ‘excuses’ is better) for why the mighty Jewish state can’t stop the torture of the residents of the southern part of the country: Israel does not want to occupy and become responsible for Gaza; there is a more serious threat from Hezbollah and Iran in the North; among the balloon launchers and fence busters are “children;” and, an attempt to overthrow Hamas would result in numerous civilian casualties in Gaza – something that the “international community” would not permit.

The “solution” from our “hardline, right-wing” government – just ask the NY Times how “hardline” it is – is to find technological answers to all the threats: we’ll shoot down the rockets with Iron Dome or similar systems, we’ll finish the expensive over- and underground barrier, and we’ll put out the fires started by the incendiary balloons before they get too big. Then, when the Gazans understand that we won’t allow them to hurt us, someone (preferably not us) will provide the cash to solve their economic and ecological problems, and we can live peacefully side by side.

This is a recipe for failure, and it is already failing. With every Iron Dome launch costing the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars, and with Hamas and Islamic Jihad improving both the number of rockets they can fire in a short period of time and their accuracy, the task of intercepting them all becomes more challenging and more expensive. During the last exchanges of fire in May, several rockets did get through and resulted in a number of deaths. The trend is against us: it is easier and cheaper for them to improve their offensive systems than for us to strengthen our defensive ones.

Although various high-tech solutions to the low-tech balloons have been proposed, they are still setting damaging fires on a daily basis. While attempts to bribe the Hamas regime have from time to time reduced the number of balloons launched or the number of demonstrators at the fence, extortion has a way of becoming more expensive and less effective as time goes by. And we have no solution to the ecological crisis that Hamas is creating for its own population and for our common neighborhood as long as Hamas remains in power.

One goal of Hamas is to cause Israeli residents of the area to abandon it. So far, because of economic incentives to live there, the high cost of housing in other places, and apparently a strong feeling of community, this has not happened. But don’t kid yourself – if there is a successful penetration of the border in which there are significant casualties among Israelis, or if there are extended periods during which people must stay in shelters, there may be a point at which many of them ask themselves whether the disadvantages of living there don’t outweigh the advantages.

What we are doing is a combination of holding the line and kicking the can down the road, to violently mix metaphors. These are by definition temporary solutions. What is a permanent solution?

We could win a war with Gaza, and probably suffer relatively few casualties of our own, as long as we actually apply the “principle of proportionality” in the Law of War as it is intended. If the enemy is using otherwise protected targets like mosques, hospitals, schools, and civilian structures for military purposes, then we are permitted to attack as long as the collateral damage is proportional to the military advantage of doing so. In other words, if Hamas has located its main command and control center in the basement of a hospital in Gaza City, then we can bomb it, if doing so is an important enough military objective – which it certainly would be. We are permitted to fight against child soldiers, and human shields that are injured or killed are the responsibility of Hamas.

Part of winning such a war would include targeted killings of the upper echelons of Hamas and Islamic Jihad leadership. They are war criminals, responsible for the deaths of numerous Israelis, and they maintain a dictatorial and oppressive regime over their own population. They are our deadly enemies and even if their military capabilities were destroyed, would manage an insurgency against us. Killing them would send a message to their successors that they are personally responsible for events.

At this point, the hard part begins. We have eliminated the regime – who will be the new regime? Probably the civilian infrastructure will have collapsed. It is already collapsing economically and ecologically, public health is a disaster, and drug abuse is rampant. The educational system is a training camp for jihadists.

Should we dump it in the lap of the UN? If they agreed, they would be ineffective at best. At worst, they would invite operatives from hostile countries who would establish a beachhead. I am sure Erdoğan would love to help!

I think there is only one acceptable long-term solution: to depopulate Gaza. That is, to provide an exit for most of the Gazan population to emigrate to various parts of the world, including but not limited to Arab countries, Europe, Australia, and North and South America. Emigration would be financed by the UN with funds normally provided to Gaza by UNRWA. If cooperation of host nations could be arranged, this would probably cost less in the long run than continuing the international support for Gaza as at present. There would probably have to be a temporary Israeli administration set up to assure security during the process. At some point, Israel would officially annex the territory, and the remaining population – who would be vetted to ensure that they didn’t present a risk of terrorism – would be offered Israeli citizenship in a way similar to what was done in Jerusalem.

It’s doubtful that there would be many votes for this idea in the UN, if it were put to a vote. But there are probably two groups of people that would love it: Israelis, especially those that live in the southern part of the country – and Gazans.

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

06/12 Links Pt2: How Hollywood idol Audrey Hepburn helped save Dutch Jews during the Holocaust; White Liberals Are Turning against the Jews and Israel

From Ian:

How Hollywood idol Audrey Hepburn helped save Dutch Jews during the Holocaust

Audrey Hepburn starred in a constellation of memorable roles, from Manhattan socialite Holly Golightly in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” to Cockney flower seller Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady.” The 1953 classic “Roman Holiday” — in which she portrayed Princess Ann, a royal exploring the Eternal City with Gregory Peck — earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. And Hepburn is among the select few to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony award.

Yet her most important role is perhaps her least-known. It’s the story of a Dutch aristocrat, raised by parents with controversial political allegiances, who aided her country’s resistance to the Nazis while enduring tragedy and starvation — and, despite it all, becoming a prima ballerina en route to Hollywood stardom. It’s her real-life coming-of-age story, told in a new book, “Dutch Girl: Audrey Hepburn and World War II,” by Robert Matzen.

“Dutch Girl” is based on Matzen’s visits to the Netherlands, where he accessed hard-to-get information in archives, and interviewed people with wartime memories of Hepburn, gaining a new understanding of the star’s own statements about her wartime past. Hepburn’s son Luca Dotti wrote the foreword, and shared previously-unseen photographs, documents and mementos.

A veteran Hollywood chronicler, Matzen learned about Hepburn’s war years while researching his previous book, a biography of Jimmy Stewart, who had been a WWII fighter pilot before becoming the all-American star of such films as “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Some of Stewart’s men had been shot down over the Netherlands, and when Matzen visited the city of Arnhem, he learned Hepburn had lived there during the war. That sparked his next project, one that would bring to light Hepburn’s war experiences, which he called in an interview with The Times of Israel, “a side of Audrey that nobody knows.”

Holocaust Museum digitizing letters from Anne Frank's father

Ryan Cooper was a 20-something Californian unsure of his place in the world when he struck up a pen pal correspondence in the 1970s with Otto Frank, the father of the young Holocaust victim Anne Frank.

Through dozens of letters and several face-to-face meetings, the two forged a friendship that lasted until Frank died in 1980 at the age of 91.

Now 73 years old, Cooper, an antiques dealer and artist in Massachusetts, has donated a trove of letters and mementos he received from Frank to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington just before the 90th anniversary Wednesday of Anne Frank’s birth on June 12, 1929.

He wants the letters to be shared so that people can have a deeper understanding of the man who introduced the world to Anne Frank, whose famous World War II diary is considered one of the most important works of the 20th century.

“He was a lot like Anne in that he was an optimist,” Cooper said of Otto Frank at his house on Cape Cod recently. “He always believed the world would be right in the end, and he based that hope on the young people.”

White Liberals Are Turning against the Jews and Israel

Over the past five to ten years, writes Zach Goldberg, a new group of liberals has emerged—mostly white, mostly born after 1980, and greatly shaped by social media and Internet reporting—that has altered attitudes on the left. Recently dubbed “the Great Awokening”—after the use of the vernacular “woke” to mean awakened to injustice—the resulting changes in liberal opinion bode ill for Jews and the Jewish state:

[These] seismic attitudinal shifts . . . have implications that go beyond race: they are also tied to a significant decrease in support for Israel and—perhaps more surprisingly—an increase in the number of white liberals who express negative attitudes about the perceived political power of American Jews. . . . Then there is the marked shift in attitudes toward Israel. Between 1978 and 2014, white liberals consistently reported sympathizing more with Israel than with the Palestinians. Since March 2016, this trend has turned on its face: significantly more white liberals now report greater sympathy for the Palestinians than for Israel.

The surveys show that among white liberals, Jews are perceived to be “privileged”—at least in comparison with other historically victimized groups. . . . Jews are no longer the downtrodden collective that white liberals can readily sympathize with. Other groups lower on the privilege hierarchy and less tainted by association with “whiteness” now have priority. So long as anti-Semitism comes from whites, there is no problem here. But if the [anti-Semite is] a member of an “oppressed” or “vulnerable” group, there may be a cognitive dissonance.

To see how this logic extends to Israel consider that the same . . . outrage over the bigoted persecution of the vulnerable by the “privileged” that informs the changing policy positions on domestic issues is applied to the international arena. [In the “woke” view of things], a “white-supremacist” America holds people of color down and keeps the door shut for others, while a “Zionist-supremacist” Israel behaves in much the same way toward its minorities of color. It’s a narrow and warped perspective but one that’s easily assimilated into a broader worldview in which human relations are defined by categories of oppressor vs. oppressed; and where these roles are assigned based on one’s placement in the privilege hierarchy. . . .

As Jews have become [symbols] of “whiteness” in the liberal political imagination—to the point that Israel is considered a white state despite having a slight nonwhite majority—they have come to be associated with an oppressor class. We shouldn’t be surprised then that white liberals are significantly more likely to feel that Jewish groups have too much influence and less likely to say the same with respect to their Muslim counterparts.

Benay Blend has written a kvetchy little piece on the antisemitic Mondoweiss about how her Arab friend Rima Najjar got banned from Quora. Blend would have us believe that Najjar’s voice is being silenced because of her “national origin.” She suggests there is a concerted effort to still voices such as Najjar’s citing a piece I wrote some years back called “Quora: The New Battlefront for Israel.”

The piece appears on the Israel Forever Foundation website, the brainchild of Dr. Elana Yael Heideman. I met Dr. Heideman at a bloggers meet-up about 5 years ago. She was getting ready to launch her website and was looking for content that showed a love of Israel. Elana didn’t care if I were right or left-wing, Haredi or Reform. All she cared about was whether I had something true and nice to say about Israel.

Elana Heideman’s belief was that Jews were too concerned with what divided us and needed to focus more on what we shared. She wanted us to get back to that basic connection that we have as a people, and she believed the key to that connection was Israel. A love for Israel was something we shared, no matter our different backgrounds.

I liked the concept and so, from time to time, I’d write something up for her website. These pieces were always written from the standpoint of unapologetic love for Israel. Because that is the entire thrust of the Israel Forever Foundation, and a writer always tailors the writing to the venue.

Blend, on the other hand, would have you believe that the Israel Forever Foundation and those of us who volunteer our time and content there, are a sort of militia, aimed at robbing others of their right to free speech. Of Najjar’s banishment from Quora, Blend writes:

She handled herself with grace and strength, always clear in her convictions, but that was not enough to counter the concerted effort of groups like the Israel Forever Foundation, which runs pieces such as Varda Epstein’s in which she describes how she “fight[s] back” against pro-Palestinian voices on social media, including Quora. Using military terms, she vows to “obliterate” any anti-Israel bias that she finds. “Because this is war, Habibi,” she declares, thereby announcing a war of words that she will win by default if there are no Palestinian voices left on Quora.

This, of course, is a distortion of the truth, or an outright lie. It is certainly lacking in context. From the perspective of the Israel Forever Foundation and from my own perspective, Najjar is free to say whatever she likes. She is even free to lie, because the Israel Forever Foundation isn’t concerned with freedom of speech issues or in silencing dissent.

I asked Elana Heideman to sum up the purpose of the Israel Forever Foundation: why she does what she does. She wrote:

Israel Forever was created to bridge the gap in knowledge, understanding, and engagement with Israel as a vital and vibrant element of Jewish life and identity. With the growing hate rhetoric, lies and demonization of Israel and Jews, our content and resources are our contribution to educators, parents, youth or community leaders, or anyone wanting to strengthen their connection or activism opportunities. Whether in social media or in person, we all must do all we can to equip and empower people to know and protect Jewish history, rights and freedom - in Israel and everywhere in the world - today, tomorrow and FOREVER.

I don’t see anything in there about silencing voices or silencing dissent. The purpose of the Israel Forever Foundation, rather, is to offer a resource to strengthen Jewish identity. It’s to encourage people to take an active stand against the lies we see from people like Blend by coming back at them with the truth.

The Israel Forever Foundation is not meant to silence or divide. It is meant to draw the Jewish people closer together. It’s certainly not about silencing “pro-Palestinian voices.”

As for me, I don’t fight against voices. I fight against lies, with words.

It would not occur to me to “obliterate” a voice, and I wouldn’t even know how.

I would, on the other hand, do everything in my power to obliterate anti-Israel bias, whenever and wherever it is encountered, such as the bias we see in Blend’s Mondoweiss piece. An example of such bias is her reference to my use of “military terms.”

Here were the “military terms” I used:

I want to answer that [anti-Israel Quora question] in such a way that my Israel-loving bias will obliterate the anti-Israel bias expressed in that question. Because this is war, Habibi.

And true love will always win out.

Najjar is getting ready to sue Quora. Her lawyer says that the ban imposed on her by Quora is “based solely on ‘her advocacy for Palestinian rights through her opposition to Zionism’ and for ‘unlawfully deny[ing] her access to a place of public accommodation on the basis of Dr. Najjar’s national origin.’”

But nowhere in Blend’s piece does she offer any proof that Najjar’s ban is based on discrimination. Instead, Blend says that being Jewish, she, Blend, would say exactly what Najjar wanted to say, but when she said it, Quora often, though not always, let it through. It was only when Najjar said the same things that the content was removed and the ban imposed.

My answers were not targeted near as often as her writing. This would seem to support the contention that her ban was a case of censorship partly due to her national origin. Her content, which countered the Zionist “narrative” so long imposed on the struggle for justice in Palestine, was a problem for those busily disseminating hasbara content. Being philosophically and politically in agreement, she and I collaborated in answering questions. More often than not, Dr. Najjar edited my writing so that the ideas stood out more clearly. And yet, I was never a target of attacks that she received.

If Blend and Najjar have spent as much time on Quora as Blend suggests, then they know that this is not how Quora works. Any user can report a response or comment, adding a detailed complaint. Eventually a Quora moderator looks at the report and decides whether or not the material should be hidden, removed, or left alone.

Some Quorans do use the report feature to target those with whom they disagree. But that targeting works both ways: many of my responses and comments have been targeted in exactly this manner. Sometimes I win on appeal. Sometimes I don’t. A lot of my content has been hidden or removed.

It’s not just one side, not just Najjar, and not just me, either. One of my sons ended up with a lifetime ban just like Najjar’s for his Israel advocacy.

Because that’s how it works: if enough of your responses and comments are troublesome—meaning if enough users complain about you—Quora will ban you for life.

This is clearly what happened with Najjar.

Now when I don’t win, I move on. I say, “Those are the breaks.” It has never occurred to me to sue Quora, though, from time to time, I have suspected an individual moderator of anti-Israel bias.

In my case, I am often certain that a Quoran with an anti-Israel bias is using the report mechanism to silence my voice. But when it happens, I don’t then get up on a soapbox and accuse people of employing “military terms” to obliterate pro-Israel voices. I just buck up and keep on keeping on.

Najjar and her Jewish spokesperson, from my perspective, seem to be drowning in litigious self-pity or perhaps just plain old sour grapes. It can be rough out there on Quora. I don’t always like the rules. For instance, I try not to use the word “Palestinian,” because I don’t believe there is a distinct people known by this term. If I instead use the word “Arab,” someone will report me. The same is true of Facebook.

This isn’t fair, of course. But it’s how Quora and Facebook want it. If you want to play, you have to obey.

Najjar, in short, was not banned because of some inherent bias against her “national origins.” She was banned because she used language that offended people and violated Quora policies. Had she not done so and not been banned for life, Najjar might have discovered, as I have, that there is always a workaround: a way to tailor language to satisfy Quora specifications.

With a bit more creativity, Najjar might yet have been free to speak her mind on Quora. But since she was not more creative, and offended people, she is not free to speak her mind on Quora. And perhaps Najjar ought to take responsibility for that, instead of hiring lawyers and having her Jewish friend complain about me and the Israel Forever Foundation—who have nothing whatsoever to do with Najjar’s apparent lack of control—on Mondoweiss.

UPDATE: Before this piece was even published, another article appeared by Blend, this time in the Palestine Chronicle, making the same accusations, and using my Israel Forever Foundation article as an example of the "concerted campaign of harassment and censorship by Zionists and Israelis” that is targeting Najjar "for her content." Here she goes into even more detail, and winds up by suggesting that this "campaign" is at the behest of the Israeli government.

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