Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, October 06, 2021

10/06 Links Pt2: Auschwitz-Birkenau Site Vandalized With Antisemitic, Holocaust Denial Graffiti; Dara Horn: What Happens When the Last Jew Leaves Afghanistan

From Ian:

Auschwitz-Birkenau Site Vandalized With Antisemitic, Holocaust Denial Graffiti

Wooden barracks at the Auschwitz II -Birkenau death camp memorial site in Poland were vandalized with antisemitic phrases as well as Holocaust denial slogans, staff operating the memorial grounds disclosed on Tuesday.

Signs of the act were discovered on Tuesday on nine wooden barracks at the Auschwitz-Birkenau memorial and museum site, the institution said in a statement. They included spray-painted inscriptions in English and German, some of them “antisemitic in nature.” There were “two references to the Old Testament, often used by antisemites, and denial slogans,” the statement read.

“Such incident is, above all, an outrageous attack on the symbol of one of the greatest tragedies in human history and an extremely painful blow to the memory of all the victims of the German Nazi Auschwitz-Birkenau camp,” the museum stated.

The museum said that the handwriting of the slogans would be analyzed, and that police have opened an investigation into the vandalism, with available video material now being examined.

“We hope that the person or persons who committed this outrageous act will be found and punished,” the museum said.

Staff at the museum called on anyone who may have been in the vicinity of the death camp site on Tuesday morning and witnessed the incident to come forward, particularly anyone with photos taken around the Gate of Death, at the entrance to Birkenau, and the wooden barracks.

Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan Reacts to the Antisemitic Attack at Auschwitz

Today, Yad Vashem Chairman Dani Dayan reacted to the news about the antisemitic graffiti recently discovered at the site of the former Nazi German concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau.

"We are very saddened by the attack on Auschwitz, the authentic location where over a million Jews were murdered, and strongly condemn the willful vandalism of the barracks there with antisemitic and Holocaust denial inscriptions. This incident, at such a major and significant site of the atrocities of the Holocaust, constitutes an attack not only on the memory of the victims, but also on the survivors and any person with a conscience. It is also yet another painful reminder that more must be done to raise awareness about the Holocaust and to educate the public and the younger generation regarding the dangers of antisemitism and Holocaust denial and distortion."

Dara Horn: What Happens When the Last Jew Leaves Afghanistan

Places around the world now largely devoid of Jews have come to think fondly of the dead Jews who once shared their streets, and an entire industry has emerged to encourage tourism to these now historical sites. The locals in such places rarely minded when living Jews were either massacred or driven out.

But now they pine for the dead Jews, lovingly restoring their synagogues and cemeteries — sometimes while also pining for live Jewish tourists and their magic Jewish money. Egypt’s huge Jewish community predated Islam by at least six centuries; now that only a handful of Jews remain, the government has poured funding into restoring synagogues for tourists.

I have visited, and written about, many such “heritage sites” over the years, in countries ranging from Spain to China. Some are maintained by sincere and learned people, with deep research and profound courage. I wish that were the norm. More often, they are like Epcot pavilions, selling bagels and bobbleheads, sometimes hardly even mentioning why this synagogue is now a museum or a concert hall. Many Jewish travelers to such sites feel a discomfort they can barely name.

I’ve felt it too, every time. I’ve walked through places where Jews lived for hundreds or even thousands of years, people who share so many of the foundations of my own life — the language and books I cherish, the ideas that nourish me, the rhythms of my weeks and years — and I have felt the silence close in.

I don’t mean the dead Jews’ silence, but my own. I know how I am supposed to feel: solemn, calmly contemplative, and perhaps also grateful to whoever so kindly restored this synagogue or renamed this street. I stifle my disquiet, telling myself it is merely sorrow, burying it so deep that I no longer recognize what it really is: rage.

WATCH:

What is it like to be Jewish in Europe?

These 12 quotes from the EU's survey of European Jews are truly heartbreaking. pic.twitter.com/56SRP07c3h
— American Jewish Committee (@AJCGlobal) October 5, 2021

Weekly column by Vic Rosenthal

Recently I have been hearing that Israel can’t stop Iran’s nuclear program, and America is our only hope. For example, here is Daniel Gordis:

[Former PM Ehud] Barak wrote that Israel no longer has a viable military option for preventing Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold, and that the Mullahs are marching steadily forward on their quest. Israel needs the US to develop military plans to stop Iran (Barak said that not only does the US have no such plans, it also has no interest in developing them); furthermore, he said, Israel is going to have to recognize its increased dependence on the US, and to work hard to deepen its ties to America.

But Barak does not draw the appropriate conclusion from the facts that he presents, and neither does Gordis, who thinks that Israel must “mend fences with American Jews” to help influence the US “to do the right thing” and act against Iran. Barak’s argument (Hebrew link) actually implies that we cannot depend on America.

Barak wrote that Iran’s “breakout time” – the time it will take to produce enough enriched uranium for a bomb once Iran has decided to do so – has been reduced to about 30 days. Of course there are other technological hurdles to pass before that uranium can be made into a deliverable weapon, but still, Israel’s moment of decision is closer than ever.

There is a lot of discussion of whose fault this is, with Barak and others placing the blame on Netanyahu and Trump. I don’t want to expend too many words on this, but I disagree. Trump is accused of precipitously ending the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran (with Netanyahu’s encouragement), which allowed the Iranians to increase their uranium enrichment activities significantly. But Iran was already violating the too-weak deal, and Trump’s policy of “maximum pressure” – both economic and covert, as in the assassination of Qassem Soleimani – was causing the regime great distress. The policy’s failure was assured by its early termination: Trump was not reelected, and Biden chose to scrap it. But it doesn’t matter who’s to blame; the question is what to do about it.

Barak suggests that the Iranian regime intends to develop all of the pieces of a nuclear weapon, starting with the necessary fissionable material, without immediately assembling one. Technically Iran will not be a nuclear state, but it will be able to become one in a very short time, perhaps measured in days or even hours. By remaining a “threshold state” and not assembling or testing a weapon, the regime can protect itself diplomatically, while for all practical purposes having a nuclear capability. And Barak correctly notes that the US Administration does not see this situation as sufficiently threatening to American interests to require a military response.

And here I need to say a few words about America. I’ve said a lot of this before, so I’ll summarize.

First, support for Israel among US elites is waning, due to the success of the campaign of cognitive warfare that has targeted the American educational system since the 1970s, when massive amounts of petrodollars were recycled into contributions to universities and think tanks, departments of Mideast Studies were established, and professorial chairs endowed. Money also flowed from organizations linked to billionaire George Soros and left-leaning foundations like the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, into anti-Israel groups targeting sectors of the population, like Jews and Evangelicals, that had traditionally provided the backbone of support for Israel. More recently, the broad Left, which includes numerous student groups, “racial justice” movements, and left-leaning members of Congress, have universally adopted anti-Israel positions regardless of their relevance to their causes.

Second, the officials responsible for Iran policy, prominently represented by special envoy to the nuclear negotiations Robert Malley, are associated with a policy of appeasement of Iran rather than coercion (either economically or by force). Malley also has a history of taking anti-Israel positions in the Palestinian arena.

Third, especially after the debacle in Afghanistan, the US is wary of becoming involved in any military activity in the Middle East, either unilateral or cooperative. The best that Israel can hope for is that if she decides to take action against Iran, the US will not intervene in some way against Israel, such as by leaking information that might compromise an Israeli attack on nuclear sites.

Fourth, the US has its own problems which are rapidly getting worse. Led by an incompetent president who is incapable of being a unifying personality, the nation is wracked by social conflict (which I believe is to a great extent instigated by cognitive warfare being waged against it by external enemies). The collective mind space of the elites is occupied by mass-psychotic aberrations about gender and race. The media are no longer trusted or trustworthy; people get their news in social-media bubbles where they are easily manipulated. The bubbles, where the more radical an opinion is, the more it is valued, create extremists and amplify outlandish ideas. But reality is out there, and while Gen. Mark Milley, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, worries about “white rage,” China prepares to take Taiwan. And it won’t stop there.

I think it is a foregone conclusion that the US will not take military action against Iran, especially if Iran remains a threshold state. Further, it is clear that the Biden administration will not even follow the path of Trump and impose strong sanctions; it is moving in the direction of appeasement. And the Iranian regime is so close to their nuclear goal that they can taste it.

The diplomatic track followed by the US is counterproductive from Israel’s point of view. No deal that the regime will agree to make with the US will prevent Iran from becoming a threshold state. A deal will simply give it time to continue development while protecting the nuclear program from Israel, who would be cast as a rogue state if she acts. This, I think, is why Netanyahu forbade his government to discuss parameters for a deal with the Americans: no possible deal is a “good deal” for Israel.

Therefore there is no reason for Israel to “recognize its increased dependence on the US, and to work hard to deepen its ties to America” as Barak and Gordis suggest. The opposite is true: Israel must realize that she is almost alone in her struggle with Iran, and she must develop a plan to eliminate the threat by herself, with whatever help she can get from her Arab allies in the Gulf. And it’s painful to say this, but Israel must also be wary of a US effort to sabotage her plans.

Barak describes the difficulties and dangers inherent in an Israeli attack on Iran. They are indeed formidable. But there is no solution to be found in America. The alternative to stopping Iran is to give up the future of the Jewish state, or, in other words, there is no alternative. In Hebrew, ein breira.

David Ben Gurion is not my favorite personality in Israel’s history. If I hadn’t been 5-1/2 years old at the time, I would have preferred to be on the deck of the Altalena than on the shore shooting at her. But unlike Barak, Ben Gurion understood that when there is no alternative, you do what you have to do. He knew that the moment he declared the state, it would be at war. He knew that the new state would be weak and outnumbered. But his approach was to declare the state and find a way to win the ensuing war.

We have some number of months before Iran effectively becomes a nuclear state. Dealing with Iran is a technical problem, and technical problems are soluble. We have no choice but to solve this one. Ein breira.

Is Islam the oldest religion? This is the not-so-innocent question a friend in South Africa put to Google a month ago. She was looking for factual information to use in an online debate regarding which religion is the older: Judaism or Islam. The friend sent me the above screenshot of the featured snippet that came up in response to her question.

The text of said snippet:

'Islam is the oldest religion in the world, founded by Adam, and it was reborn with Abraham and a second time with Muhammad. Between Abraham and Muhammad, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism and Christianity emerged in this order. Then Sikhism emerged after the time of Muhammad. These are the six world religions.'

Nu, so what exactly is a featured snippet and why should we care? A featured snippet is a box with a brief text answer followed by a source URL (a link). You might see a featured snippet above your search results, especially if your search is framed as a question. The purpose of the featured snippet is to preempt the need for the user to click on search results by providing a fast answer right out of the gate.

Here, for illustrative purposes, I asked Google: What color is milk?

Featured snippets are often accurate and answer your most burning questions (such as, for example, what color is milk) without any need for further searching or clicking. But in the case of my friend asking about the chronology of world religions, the featured snippet went horribly wrong, featuring nothing so much as bullpucky.

It literally makes no sense to claim that Islam is the oldest religion. Mohammed wasn’t even a gleam in his mama’s eyes when Abraham, the first JEW, was born.

Exhibit A:

Note that Google corrects my spelling when I try to type "Mohammed."

Exhibit B:

The birth of Abraham may have preceded Mohammed by 2720 years or so (you did the math, right?), but repeat a lie often enough, for instance the silly lie that Islam is the oldest religion, and it may, in fact, be accepted. (Hence the people talking about Israel’s “ethnic genocide” and “displacement of peoples.” Hence the idiots who understand Iron Dome as some kind of weapon or an imbalance of power rather than as a purely defensive technology that saves lives by intercepting and destroying the missiles that Arab terrorists shoot at Jewish civilians. Hence the people who refer to bold lies that demonize Jews as “your truth” and get away with it by professing their love for Israel after the fact—and hence the idiot people who are grateful to accept such professions of love, because Democrats.)

But I digress. (Perhaps not.)

There's a problem with that featured snippet that told what might have been hundreds of thousands of idiots that Islam is the oldest religion: People are sheeple. They think that Google is the word of God. Anyone who happened on this snippet during a search may now believe and repeat the lie—kind of like media "clarifications" and "corrections." People may not see the tiny print of a correction or clarification, but they sure read the lie in the first place. And more often than we'd like to think, they believe it.

The good news regarding that snippet about Islam gone wrong (calling Dr. Freud) is that I couldn’t replicate that result, not even when searching incognito. Nor could my friend when I had her check again, today. The snippet gone wrong is now merely gone (poof!). Instead, there's a featured snippet from the History Channel website which says the opposite of that earlier snippet. Islam, says the new and improved feature snippet: “is the youngest of the world religions.”

The source cited in the original misbegotten featured snippet has now dropped down to second place in the search results. That’s a good thing. People are no longer being misled about the place of Islam in the chronology of world religions. At least not by Google today, though we see from what happened here that a featured snippet can change in a flash.

The other piece of good news is that the original source of the earlier snippet for "Is Islam the oldest religion"—actually links to a refutation of that idea, hosted by, of all things, a Malaysian website. Click the link and you’ll be taken to a letter citing and rebutting the very text that Google had earlier so promptly supplied us:

All of which makes Google’s horribly wrong momentary mistake even worse, presented as it was, completely out of context. But let's face it: some Google algorithms suck worse than others. For us, the devil is in the details. And those details all too often tend to walk all over the Jews, their religion, and the Jewish State.

10/06 Links Pt1: UN Chief Should Rescind Ban on Naming Antisemitic UNRWA Teachers; Biden Admin Reverses State Department Declaration of Strategic Talks with ‘Palestine’

From Ian:

UN Watch: UN Chief Should Rescind Ban on Naming Antisemitic UNRWA Teachers

A watchdog group today appealed to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to intervene after the UN Human Rights Council president on Friday cut off a speech for naming antisemitic teachers who work for UNRWA, the UN agency that runs schools for Palestinians.

In an unprecedented and controversial move, President Nazhat Shameem Khan cut off Hillel Neuer for what she said were unacceptable “personal attacks.” She then ruled his statement “out of order.”

Khan interrupted the Geneva-based human rights activist as he began to present examples from UN Watch’s recent report that exposed over 100 antisemitic UNRWA teachers, a study that has already prompted UNRWA investigations — and, according to Al Jazeera, suspensions.

“I have noticed that in the course of this video, derogatory, insulting and inflammatory remarks have been made which in particular refer directly to specific individuals,” said the council president, reading from prepared remarks.

“This amounts to personal attacks against those individuals and it is not acceptable in this forum. This statement is out of order,” ruled Khan, who then gave the floor to the Palestinian Return Centre, a group linked to the Hamas terrorist organization.

Gilad Erdan Israel Ambassador Today, the UN tried to silence the truth. UN personnel prevented me from bringing in a photo showing the antisemitism and incitement that exists among UNRWA teachers. Despite their best efforts, I will always continue to fight to defend Israel. pic.twitter.com/DCrITSfGji
— Eye On Antisemitism (@AntisemitismEye) October 5, 2021

BREAKING: B'TSELEM ACTIVIST WAS CAUGHT ON CAMERA SETTING PALESTINIAN PROPERTY ON FIRE, AND THEN TRYING TO BLAME THE JEWS.@EUinIsrael @btselem @DTzantchev @Ofer_Hadad pic.twitter.com/rjH9sqRZwv
— ????? ??? | MyIsrael (@MyIsraelorgil) October 5, 2021

JTA reported last month:

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are contributing $1.3 million to 11 Jewish groups, eJewish Philanthropy reported, citing a spokesperson for the couple.

News of Zuckerberg and Chan’s donations comes as the couple has gradually emphasized its Jewish identity in public in recent years. Privately, Zuckerberg and Chan have also been meeting with rabbis and scholars to discuss Judaism and the Jewish community, according to eJewish Philanthropy.

Two of the grantees are national organizations: OneTable, which supports Shabbat dinners hosted by young Jews, and PJ Library, which distributes Jewish children’s books and music for free.

But the rest primarily serve local needs in the San Francisco Bay Area. Three educational institutions received funding: Contra Costa Jewish Day School in Lafayette, Gideon Hausner Jewish Day School in Palo Alto and the Jewish Community High School of the Bay. Three summer camps in California, URJ Camp Newman, Camp Ramah in Northern California and Camp Tawonga, also were beneficiaries.

For Zuckerberg, this is very little. He has given $250 million to the Center for Tech and Civic Life and hundreds of millions to education programs. $1.3 million is pocket change for him.

It makes sense that Israeli and Jewish media would report on the Zuckerman donation to Jewish causes, even though they are small for him.

But why would Palestinian media care?

The story was picked up in Palestinian media today. I couldn't find any stories about Zuckerberg's much larger other charitable donations in Palestinian media.

The recipients of the $1.3 million are not particularly Zionist. They are not funding settlements. The donations are exclusively for helping American Jews.

So why is this series of small donations even being reported by Palestinian news media?

It is hard to know for sure, but it seems like the story is meant to elicit negative reactions from Palestinians. The story seems to promote the idea that the Jew Zuckerberg is prioritizing charity to his fellow Jews at the expense of others, and that Jews stick together for nefarious purposes, an echo of the Elders of Zion myth.

Yasan al-Masri, 2

On the first day of the May war, and anti-Israel NGO DCI-P reported:

Six Palestinian children and two adults were killed in a third blast that occurred around 6 p.m. in Beit Hanoun about 800 meters (2,600 feet) west of the Gaza Strip perimeter fence. Those killed included Rahaf Mohammad Attalla al-Masri, 10, and her cousin Yazan Sultan Mohammad al-Masri, 2; brothers Marwan Yousef Attalla al-Masri, 6, and Ibrahim Yousef Attalla al-Masri, 11; as well as Hussein Muneer Hussein Hamad, 11, and 16-year-old Ibrahim Abdullah Mohammad Hassanain, according to information collected by DCIP. When the blast occurred, members of the al-Masri family were reportedly harvesting wheat in the field outside their home, and their children were playing nearby, according to information collected by DCIP.

DCIP has not yet confirmed the cause of these deaths. At the time of the incident, Israeli drones and warplanes were reportedly overhead and Palestinian armed groups were firing homemade rockets towards Israel. DCIP continues to investigate these incidents to determine and identify the responsible parties.

The launch site of a Hamas rocket that killed this family, including 6 children, has been identified:

The rocket came from an underground Hamas rocket launch site with 10 silos. It flew 7.5 kilometers to Beit Hanoun, where it killed the al-Masry family.

The silos were located next to a mosque in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.

This occurred at 6 PM on May 10, either before or within minutes of any Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

Even though Defense for Children - International believed that this might have been a "homemade" rocket, Human Rights Watch decided months later this was an Israeli missile after its sham "investigation."

On May 10 near the town of Beit Hanoun, an Israeli-guided missile struck near four houses of the al-Masri family, killing 8 civilians, including 6 children.

HRW based its lies on "eyewitnesses" who said the rocket came from the east. and it decided, based on its experts who know literally nothing about weapons, that it was an Israeli anti-personnel missile.

And so it goes - Hamas kills Gaza kids and Israel gets blamed.

10/05 Links Pt2: Phyllis Chesler: People just love dead Jews; Kamala Harris and the Truth about Israel; The myth of Cable Street; Middle East 'kidney diplomacy' saves 3 women's lives

From Ian:

Prof. Phyllis Chesler: People just love dead Jews

I am, quite simply, blown away by Dara Horn’s impeccable and original research, relentless courage, and sheer eloquence as contained in her latest book, People Love Dead Jews: Reports From A Haunted Present.

I think that Horn is rather like Ruth Wisse, only younger. And, it is no accident that they are both steeped in Yiddish literature and Jewish sacred texts. In addition, both are supremely literary Ladies—Grand Dames, really.

Please understand who exactly is being overwhelmed here. And overjoyed, because Horn is almost half my age. In her hands, the work of truth-telling against all odds, continues.

By 2000-2001, I was already writing The New Anti-Semitism and have proudly been seen as a traitor in certain circles ever since I published it in 2003. In lectures, I’d ventured the idea that Jewish deaths have long been worshipped as “redemptive” by Christians—but, like Horn, I was also made uneasy by the unsettling reverence that Jewish people manifested when they visited Holocaust exhibits.

In 2006, I published “How a Holocaust Happens,” a piece in which I wrote:

“As dangerous as Holocaust denial is, Holocaust Memorialization may also function as a form of denial…it may allow us the luxury—and the consolation—of assuming that the ‘worst’ has already happened. Alas, this may not be true. Certain intellectuals, Jews among them, attempt to hide their rabid Jew-hatred by focusing on the European Holocaust—on all the dead Jews—as a way of diverting attention from the impending (slow motion) Holocaust against living Jews. Because they oppose what was done to the Jews in World War Two, they feel justified, credentialed, to say that today’s attacks on Israel are ‘justified,’ that the Palestinians are now the true victims, (the ‘new Jews’ in a sense), and the Israeli Jews are their ‘Nazi’ persecutors.”

I am so glad to say that Horn has taken my insights to a whole other level.

Her essay on Anne Frank is masterful. She reminds us of the vast tourist industry that has grown up with visitors to Anne’s hidden room—just as if “people love dead Jews.” But there’s more, much more, especially the bizarre incidents in which Museum employees were prohibited from wearing yarmulkes—lest the Anne Frank House be seen as losing its “neutrality.”

Emily Schrader: The cost of Kamala validating 'Israeli genocide' speech

Several years ago, we saw this occur with the Women’s March, which is absolutely a necessary and just cause. Yet instead of being able to grow the movement and gain allies across the aisle in fighting against sexual assault and sexual harassment, the co-founders of the Women’s March damaged the credibility of the movement by making multiple inflammatory and antisemitic comments, which frankly have nothing to do with the fight for women’s equality.

We saw a similar phenomenon with Black Lives Matter inserting anti-Israel positions based on outright lies into its agenda.

Unfortunately, these are just a few of many examples of how anti-Israel interests have made a concerted effort to dump Palestine onto any and every cause they possibly can, inserting the issue in debates that have absolutely no association whatsoever with Israel and the Palestinians or even the Middle East. These efforts polarize important discussions that should be taking place in society, be they racial inequalities, feminism, or voting rights.

For the vice president of the United States to fall into the trap of labeling outright lies as “your truth” sets a terrible example for the rest of society from a leader who absolutely knows better.

While her office has clarified her position, noting that, “the vice president strongly disagrees with the student’s characterization of Israel,” it’s too little, too late. Her response already gave legitimacy to anti-Israel lies when she had the perfect opportunity to set an example and take a stand for the truth the way any leader should.

Kamala Harris and the Truth about Israel

The fact of the matter is that truth is not subjective. The second-highest elected official in the United States is not doing our undergraduates any favors by encouraging them to believe they can imagine the truth to be anything they want. And in this case, the truth is that the state of Israel is America's great and good ally which has flourished for more than seven decades as the only democracy in the Middle East, and is a critical security partner. Our alliance has enjoyed robust, bipartisan support in the United States Congress for decades, which both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris claim is their administration's policy.

It is also a truth, however inconvenient, that Jews are the disproportionate targets of violent crimes both in the United States and around the globe. Failure to respond to false assertions that demonize Jews implicitly condones this violence. Harris' shameful episode happened to have occurred on the eve of the 80th anniversary of the Babi Yar massacre, which took place at the end of September, 1941.

Nazi forces had entered Kiev a month before, and booby traps left by retreating Soviet forces destroyed some of the buildings they occupied, causing significant casualties. Whether they knew who the real perpetrators were or not, the Nazis took advantage of the situation to scapegoat the remaining Ukrainian Jewish population. They swiftly massacred 33,771 Jews at the Babi Yar ravine, creating one of the largest mass graves in history. As the events of World War II become more distant in time, they run the risk of becoming abstract. Our contemporaries forget all too easily how the long, ugly history of anti-Semitism, and its tacit acceptance, erupted into the Holocaust.

Rather than gloss over pernicious bigotry, Harris would have done better to treat the George Mason student to a history lesson on what such attacks have led to in the past. "Never forget" doesn't mean we assume the Holocaust can never happen again. It means we all do everything we can, in ways great and small, to vigilantly oppose this evil. After the flare up of violence in Gaza this spring, there was a disturbing trend in both Europe and America of attacks on any and all Jews as surrogates for Israel, regardless of their citizenship. The way to reverse this trend is not to legitimize it as some sort of subjective personal truth, then have your communications team issue a "clarifying" statement. It is to personally and unequivocally reject false allegations, and forcefully defend the U.S. alliance with the Jewish state.

From Iran's IQNA:

Prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Isa Qassem condemned Bahraini government’s steps to normalize ties with the Israeli regime as a crime against the Islamic Ummah.

“What will you write in history about the opening of the embassy of the occupying regime and the visit of the Zionist foreign minister Lapid to Bahrain and the welcome of the Bahraini rulers except the government’s shame and crime against Islam, the Islamic Ummah and the people of Bahrain? And what gap this will create between the government and people?” tweeted the top cleric.

For once, it isn't Israel committing the "crime" - but nations normalizing relations with Israel.

Given that Israel has relations with 164 nations, that is a lot of criminal activity.

Recent articles in Arabic consistently accept the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" as true

A century after the "Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion" was

proven to be a hoax, Arabic media continues to believe that they are true. All of these articles are from within the past month.

Egypt's popular Seventh Day news site celebrated the birthday of the first person to translate the Protocols into Arabic.

Iraq's Kitabat quotes them as an aside in an article on political money to prove the point that controlling the media and money is a decisive factor in politics.

An Amman news site says that one should not believe the "Pandora Papers" accusations against Jordan's King Abdullah because the media is under Zionist control, as the Protocols prove.

A Jordanian writer in Al Quds says, as an aside, that luxury items should be eschewed because the Protocols say that Jews use luxury items to control everyone else.

Last but not least, Dr. Ghazi Hussein - an elder Palestinian statesman whom we recently quoted - wrote an entire article in Al Majd filled with Jew-hatred based on the Protocols. Excerpts:

The protocols aim to create the means to control global politics by controlling money and the press, spreading chaos and corruption, undermining Christianity, Islam,
nationalism, moral values, values of truth and justice, and sanctifying power and placing it above truth and the principles of international law.
The Zionists spread corruption, devastation, destruction, settler colonialism and genocide from the Torah, the Talmud, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and the Israeli strategies, which feed in them placing force above the right, and that force creates the truth, and that the world and what is in it belong to the chosen people of God, belief in superiority, racism, terrorism, and the theft of the lands, property and wealth of non-Jewish peoples. . They believe that only Jews are human beings, and non-Jews are animals created in human form to serve the Jews. They established protocols to corrupt and weaken the world so that it would eventually be subject to the control of the Jews and their interests in the Middle East and the entire world through the control of American Judaism over the Congress, the White House, the Pentagon, the American National Security Council and the State Department.

The Fifth Protocol provides for the elevation of Jewish ambitions to the rank of religion, and states:
“We have been chosen by God to rule the whole earth. And God gave us the genius to take on this burden... All the wheels of the apparatus of governments need a motor, and this motor is in our hands and it is gold... Then we step forward after that and establish the supreme world government”
.
The eleventh protocol states:
“God has bestowed upon us, the chosen people, the grace of captivity, exile, dispersal, and scattering in the land, and this matter that was in the past the manifestation of our weakness, has later been reversed, the reason for our strength that has led us now to enter the door through which we extend our sovereignty over the whole world.”
Protocol Seventeen: “We will degrade the dignity of the clergy in order to succeed in harming their message, and it will only take a few years for Christianity to completely collapse, and the rest of the religions will follow in the collapse, and the King of Israel will become a “pope” over the world.”
The Protocols clearly show what the sages and leaders of the Jews planned for the world of hatred, evil, and enslavement of peoples and individuals by exploiting the weaknesses in souls to achieve their plans and ambitions.
The Jews seek to destroy morals and spiritual values and destroy religions because achieving this enables them to reach their plans and goals and brings them wealth and wealth. They use the press, cinema, theater, and publishing houses, which in the United States and Europe are under their control, to reach their goals and to eliminate all those who stand in their way from politicians, countries, nations and peoples.
The Jewish history recorded by the Torah writers was characterized by violence, terror, genocide, the killing of children and women, and the appropriation of the property and lands of other peoples. The past and present of the Jews, and in particular Israel, were based on aggressive wars and genocide of other peoples, just as they do today with the Arabs in Palestine and the rest of the neighboring Arab countries.
In the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the Jewish rabbis planned to establish a global Jewish government that would control the world and control it and its capabilities for the benefit of the Jews only and to increase their profits, influence and control.. They laid the path that the Jews should follow in order to reach global control and make Greater Jerusalem, which extends to Jericho, the capital of the world.
Thus, the Protocols are a hellish Jewish scheme to control the Middle East and the world through their control of the United States of America and the rest of the Western countries and their followers from the Arab kings and princes in the Gulf. The Protocols clearly demonstrate the evil intentions of universal Judaism towards all peoples in the world and towards all humanity.

The Protocols were used heavily by the Nazis to spread antisemitism. Today, the "progressive" Left - while claiming to hate Nazism - insist that antisemitism and anti-Zionism have nothing to do with each other, when these articles show that they are one and the same. Their failure to condemn Arab antisemitism, and particularly Palestinian antisemitism, shows that they don't really care about antisemitism at all.

10/05 Links Pt1: UN prevented Erdan from displaying pro-Hitler posts by UNRWA teacher; Global Media and Leaders Tacitly Accept Palestinian Authority-Backed Violence

From Ian:

UN prevented Erdan from displaying pro-Hitler posts by UNRWA teacher

UN security personnel stopped Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan from bringing a display poster into the General Assembly on Monday showing a social-media post by a UNRWA teacher that glorified Hitler.

“I see it as a very dangerous precedent here, preventing my freedom of expression, preventing my freedom of speech and hiding the truth from the UN,” Erdan said during his public speech to the UNGA.

He had meant to display the post during a discussion on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees so that he could illustrate his concern about the problem of incitement in UNRWA schools.

Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan decrying the UN's prevention of his display of pro-Hitler posts by an UNRWA teacher, October 4, 2021.

“I am shocked because I brought here with me a photo of a UNRWA teacher’s post glorifying the most horrific mass murderer in history, Adolf Hitler,” Erdan said. “Unfortunately, shockingly, I was prevented from bringing in this photo in order to share this proof with the other distinguished ambassadors here.”

UN protocol prevents ambassadors from using props when delivering speeches, a UN representative told The Jerusalem Post.

However, heads of state who speak during the high-level opening sessions that take place every September can do so, the representative added.

43 countries pledge to combat antisemitism at UNHRC session

Statement led by Austria, Czech Republic and Slovakia in coordination with World Jewish Congress

At least 43 countries signed a statement pledging to combat antisemitism that was issued at the 48th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva on Monday.

The statement was led by Austria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia with the coordination of the World Jewish Congress.

Austrian Foreign Minister Alexander Schallenberg warned of the dangers of antisemitism in a video statement, saying that "we will remain steadfast in our pledge, never again."

"Even 75 years after the end of World War II it is a tragic reality that antisemitism is not a thing of the past," Schallenberg said. "This venom still exists, right in the midst of our societies. This is why today we declare our unequivocal solidarity in the face of hatred."

The statement was read at the start of a debate on racism, antisemitism and the growing threat from hate speech and the glorification of Nazism.

Countries that signed the declaration include: Israel, Germany, the United States, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Honduras, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Australia, the United Kingdom, Greece, Belgium, Cyprus, Ukraine, Cameroon, Japan, Slovenia, Argentina, Armenia, Croatia, Finland, New Zealand, Guatemala, Colombia, Chile, Poland, Moldova, the Netherlands, Latvia, Romania, Seychelles, Lithuania, Estonia, Uruguay, Norway and Sweden.

Also at the UNHRC special session on Monday, the World Jewish Congress and the Muslim World League issued a joint a statement calling for the protection of human rights for all in what is the first joint declaration between Jewish and Muslim organizations at a UN body.

The fall season of ?@JIPodcast? kicks off with ?@mikepompeo?. Topics: Iran, Afghanistan, Abraham Accords, Israel & the possible reopening of a consulate in Jerusalem. Plus: ?@jarrodbernstein? & I discuss Iron Dome funding & @Unilever. https://t.co/AS4mtMIBIu
— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) October 5, 2021

83 years ago: A massacre at Tiberias, Arabs murder 19 Jews - 11 of whom were children

From the October 3, 1938 Boston Globe:

Wikipedia adds:

Arab rioters killed 19 Jews in Tiberias, 11 of whom were children. During the massacre, 70 armed Arabs set fire to Jewish homes and the local synagogue. In one house a mother and her five children were killed. The old beadle in the synagogue was stabbed to death, and another family of 4 was killed.

A representative of the British mandate reported that: "It was systematically organized and savagely executed. Of the nineteen Jews killed, including women and children, all save four were stabbed to death."

The targets weren't the Haganah or even "Zionists" - Tiberias was settled by Jews multiple times before modern Zionism. The targets were Jews - Jewish families, Jewish women, Jewish children, and a synagogue.

The massacre seems to have been the handiwork of Abu Ibrahim al-Kabir, a disciple of Izz ad-Din al-Qassam.

Al-Kabir is still considered a hero to Palestinians - here is a Fatah page dedicated to him that compliments him on a 1932 bombing in Nahalal that killed a Jewish father and son. Here's a video praising him that includes a song in his honor.

Palestinian nationalism and antisemitism are two sides of the same coin.

Iraqi newspaper makes up lies, claims Israeli who saved Iraqi Jewry "admitted" to bombing synagogues

A pernicious Arab lie has been published, slandering an Israeli Jewish hero.

From Iraq's Annabaa:

On September 19, 2021, Mr. Ghassan Al-Attiyah published an exciting article on his Facebook page, under the title “Death of the Farhud Organizer.” The post was topped by a phrase for Al-Attiyah saying, “Thank you to those who provided me with this information.” And it was stated in it, that Shlomo Hillel, an Iraqi Jew, who died recently at the age of 97, was a resident of Baghdad and immigrated to Israel and later returned in disguise to carry out a very dirty mission that targeted the security of Iraqi Jewish citizens, by inciting mobs and planting bombs in synagogues to intimidate the people and push them to immigrate to Israel. Unfortunately, these actions led to casualties and entered the history of contemporary Iraq in the name of “the Jews’ Farhud”!

Al-Attiyah quotes a confession by Shlomo Hillel in his book “Operation Babel” and he says frankly that the Iraqis are innocent of this issue and that it was orchestrated by him with an entire team, including the Israeli Defense Minister in the June 1967 war, Moshe Dayan...The publication also stated that Jewish Iraqi writers, including the poet Ibrahim Obadiah and Professor Shmuel Moreh-Sami, confess in books and diaries the innocence of Iraqis from the Farhud events.

Shlomo Hillel did die this year. That is the only accurate sentence in this article.

Hillel was a key figure in the airlift of 120,000 Jews from Iraq in Operation Ezra and Nehemiah. He did write a book about it, but he certainly never said that he was responsible for the (1941) Farhud or the bombings of Jewish areas of Baghdad in 1950-51.

No Jew was responsible. The idea that Jews were involved is an Iraqi myth (although many Iraqi Jews, disillusioned after they reached Israel and suffered discrimination, believed the myth, which helped spread it. )

Here is a good debunking of that slander:

The Jewish exodus from Iraq was influenced by, and coincided with, a wave of bombings which took place between April 1950 and June 1951. These bombings damaged both Jewish and American targets, produced a number of serious injuries, and caused the deaths of six Iraqi Jews.

According to a number of anti-Zionist authors, the bombings were perpetrated by Zionist agents in order to cause fear amongst the Jews, and so promote their exodus to Israel (Black Panthers 1975:128-132; Hirst 1977:155-164; Eveland 1980:47-49; Wolfsohn 1980:186-201; Shapiro 1984:37-38; Avnery 1986:135-136; Shiblak 1986:119-127; Shohat 1988:12; Giladi 1993; Cohen 1998:111).

Some evidence for this argument is provided by the fact that the Iraqi authorities charged three members of the Zionist underground with perpetrating the explosions. Two Jews were subsequently found guilty and executed, whilst a third was sentenced to a lengthy jail term (Gat 1997:173-175).

The historian Moshe Gat argues convincingly (in my opinion) that there was little direct connection between the bombings and exodus. He demonstrates that the frantic and massive Jewish registration for denaturalization and departure was driven by knowledge that the denaturalization law was due to expire in March 1951.

He also notes the influence of further pressures including the property-freezing law, and continued anti-Jewish disturbances which raised the fear of large-scale pogroms. In addition, it is highly unlikely the Israelis would have taken such measures to accelerate the Jewish evacuation given that they were already struggling to cope with the existing level of Jewish immigration (Gat 1987:395; Gat 1997:182-187; also Meir-Galitzenstein 1988:235).

Gat also raises serious doubts about the guilt of the alleged Jewish bomb throwers. Firstly, a Christian officer in the Iraqi army known for his anti-Jewish views, was arrested, but apparently not charged, with the offences. A number of explosive devices similar to those used in the attack on the Jewish synagogue were found in his home. In addition, there was a long history of anti-Jewish bomb-throwing incidents in Iraq.

Secondly, the prosecution was not able to produce even one eyewitness who had seen the bombs thrown. Thirdly, the Jewish defendant Shalom Salah indicated in court that he had been severely tortured in order to procure a confession (Gat 1997:180-181 & 187-188; Gat 2000:11-13; also Hillel 1987:277-282; Meron 1995:51).

It therefore remains an open question as to who was responsible for the bombings, although Gat suggests that the most likely perpetrators were members of the anti-Jewish Istiqlal Party (Gat 1997:187; Gat 2000:20).

There is an Iraqi political analyst named Ghassan al-Attiyah but it seems highly unlikely that he would have said this. I could not find the Facebook post mentioned, but if this was only published on Facebook then the Ghassan Attiyah who published it is a nobody.

Yet the lie is published as truth.

h/t RealJerusalemStreets

Al Monitor reported last month:

The current religious leader of the Armenians [in Jerusalem] and his real estate director are now embroiled in a row with the Palestinian leadership for leasing hitherto unused sensitive land next to the Jewish Quarter initially to the Israeli municipality for a parking lot.

The 10-year lease that required the Israelis to spend $2 million to clear rubble in order to prepare the parking lot is now said to have become a 99-year lease to Jewish Australian businessman Danny Rubenstein, to convert it into a luxurious hotel that the patriarchate has admitted to and said it “will bring in a stream of hundreds of thousands of dollars that will provide financial stability for the cash-strapped church.

Palestinians are very upset.

Al Quds newspaper reports:

The Secretary-General of the National People's Congress of Jerusalem, Major General Bilal Al-Natsheh, warned of the danger of the Armenian Patriarchate renting a plot of land belonging to it to a Jewish investor in the Armenian neighborhood of East Jerusalem to build a hotel on it. Al-Natsheh said in a statement issued today, Monday, that this step serves the Israeli policy of Judaization of the Holy City in general and the Old City in particular.

The Secretary-General of the National People's Congress of Jerusalem added that this measure is totally rejected, and the Patriarchate must reconsider and retract its decision.

If the land would be leased to a Muslim, no one would care. If it would be leased to Christians, no one would care. But when it is leased to a Jew - not an Israeli, but a Jew -the furor proves yet again that anti-Zionism is merely a thin camouflage for old fashioned Jew-hatred.

It was never about Israel or Israelis. It was always about Jews.

10/04 Links Pt2: Why anti-Zionism and antisemitism are inextricably linked; Kamala Harris’ silence vs Sarah Silverman’s noise; The Associated Press war of words against Israel

From Ian:

Why anti-Zionism and antisemitism are inextricably linked

Since 2014, we have seen a dramatic shift regarding the discourse around Israel. In a nation that celebrates free speech, almost any conversation is encouraged. But when that conversation borders on incitement and causes Jews to feel unsafe, then there is a serious problem. The US State Department upholds the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's working definition of antisemitism, which posits that it can and does entail attempts to delegitimize Israel.

As for both Jews and non-Jews who want to criticize Israel and flinch every time they are accused of being antisemitic or a self-hating Jew, I would say this: We can have a whole discussion about the standards that Israel is held up to, as well as its policies. However, Israel is held to a different standard than any other country in the world when defending its citizens.

A misguided and simplified narrative that looks at the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a powerful aggressor and an innocent underdog fails to understand that there are two sides to this complex situation, with people across Israel's border in the Middle East all too often committed to the country's demise. Moreover, an obsessed and myopic view on what the one Jewish state in the world does or does not do? That is antisemitic.

No matter what political affiliation we have, we are Jews first and foremost. It is crucial to come together on this issue before we splinter off into partisan leanings.

Across the Atlantic, for Israelis who think this is exclusively a problem for American Jews, they must understand that the broader erosion of support for Israel may very well lead to diminishing bipartisan support for the Jewish state, which will have a detrimental effect on Israel's own security.

On a macro level, though, antisemitism has historically been the canary in a coal mine. Any society that actively embraced Jew-hatred has shown acceptance for discrimination and prejudice that far extends beyond Jews. It may start with us, but it never ends with us.

To that end, I call on communal and world leaders to call out antisemitism when they see it and advocate for schools to actively teach about this complex phenomenon and what constitutes it (while also explaining that criticism of Israel is legitimate and valid). Meanwhile, politicians must cease using antisemitism as a political tool. Too often, we see politicians blame the opposing party of having anti-Jewish members for the sake of accruing political capital. Jews are not political pawns. We are active, contributing citizens of the United States who deserve protection and security amid this growing crisis.

As for our community, right now it is imperative for global Jewry to come together. It should not have to reach a point where we all speak out against antisemitism only when violence breaks out. We do not need another Pittsburgh or Poway. What we need is unity.

The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism Is Itself Antisemitic

The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA), presented in March 2021, was created to replace the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, which had been adopted by 35 countries by 2020. The writers of the JDA wished to “clarify” the IHRA, which they feel is insufficiently obsequious to the Palestinians. Their real object is to use the fight against antisemitism as another weapon with which to vilify Israel.

The Jerusalem Declaration of Antisemitism (JDA) is the product of a group of international scholars of antisemitism and related fields who have been meeting since June 2020 in a series of online workshops convened by the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. Essentially, the new document charges the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism with blurring the “difference between antisemitic speech and legitimate criticism of Israel and Zionism.” As a result, the IHRA definition “delegitimiz[es] the voices of Palestinians and others, including Jews, who hold views that are sharply critical of Israel and Zionism.”

The JDA was purportedly written as a resource for strengthening the fight against antisemitism, because “there is a widely felt need for clarity on the limits of legitimate political speech and action concerning Zionism, Israel, and Palestine.” The JDA is presented as the alternative, a “corrective to overcome the shortcomings of the IHRA definition.”

Nowhere in the IHRA definition are Palestinians mentioned; nor does it mention BDS. There are, however, three clauses that can be construed as applying to the actions of Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists. These are:
- the denial of the Jewish people’s right to national self-determination; e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor
- the application of double standards by requiring of Israel behaviors that are not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation
- the comparison of Israeli policies to those of the Nazis.

Pro-Palestinian activists and anti-Israel groups have long complained about the IHRA definition because, in the grip of their fixation on Israel as fundamentally illegitimate and their flat denial of the Jews’ right to self-determination, they reject the premise that anti-Zionism is antisemitism.

How to Use Antisemitism Against Antisemites

So what is the Jewish community to do with all this perceived power? The gap between reality and perception is wide. Yet it opens up a space for skillful negotiation by thoughtful Jewish leaders who understand that, as in certain martial arts, the key to winning is to turn an opponent’s momentum against him.

By population, the Jews are a tiny people: almost 15 million worldwide, about 0.2 percent of the global population and about 2 percent of America’s. There are approximately 6.9 million Israeli Jews, compared with an Iranian population of over 80 million, more than 420 million Arabs, and almost 2 billion Muslims. By sheer numbers, Jews are clearly outmatched. The intersecting echo chambers I have described mutually reinforce one another in a way that elevates the perceived power of a people who usually haven’t had much power at all.

Yet the malignant perception of overwhelming Jewish power comes with a hidden but potent benefit: the chance to leverage the tropes used against Jews to Jewish advantage. If Khamenei, Hamas, and Hezbollah prefer to believe that Jews pull all the big levers of American might, it only feeds a mindset of paranoia and illogic that is usually self-defeating. It might even give them more reason to fear us than to fight us. If Tehran (or the Washington press corps) wants to feed the perception that my modestly sized think tank dictates U.S. policy in the Middle East, who am I to complain?

What goes for U.S. policy in the Middle East goes for other areas of Jewish concern: Especially in a democracy, the perception of power is power, at least in the hands of those who know how to use it judiciously.

From biblical times onward, Jews have often proved adept at this, not for nefarious reasons but because we appreciate how necessary that perception can be to our own survival. To take one example: In 1991, after Ethiopian dictator Mengistu Haile Mariam lost his Soviet patron, he approached Israel as a conduit to Washington — doubtlessly on the idea that Israeli influence in Washington would surely be enough to rescue him. The belief was antisemitic, but it still helped set the basis for negotiations leading to the rescue of Ethiopian Jews in Operation Solomon.

Something similar might be said about the way Jewish politics play out in the U.S. By any standard metric, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is far from the biggest lobby in Washington — certainly not when compared with, say, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Rifle Association, or the pharmaceutical lobby. What actual power AIPAC has derives mainly from three strengths: the talent of its staff; the passion of its members; and, above all, the instinctual support that a majority of Americans (only a small fraction of whom are Jewish) feel for a country they rightly see as an embattled bastion of democracy facing and fighting the same enemies that threaten the United States.

Yet AIPAC’s critics, at home and abroad, like to paint it as a Washington juggernaut that politicians cross at their own peril. In a city where perception counts for almost everything, such a view can work in AIPAC’s favor. As in the 1959 Peter Sellers classic, The Mouse That Roared, it’s better to be a midget thought of as a giant than the other way around.