Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

What kind of rabbi visits Arafat's tomb? (Judean Rose)

Varda Meyers Epstein's weekly column

What kind of rabbi visits Arafat's tomb? And why would anyone defend him? These are two questions I've been asking myself for the past couple of hours, ever since I began researching the curious case of Rabbi Neil Blumofe, on a tip from my husband. Blumhofe, senior rabbi at Agudas Achim, the only Conservative synagogue in Austin, Texas, arranged a trip to Israel for his congregants that included just such a pilgrimage to the arch terrorist's tomb. That is until he got called on it by a congregant and was forced by the resultant outcry to change the itinerary.

Thank God for that! Thank God someone had the sense to call him on it. Because seriously—could anything be uglier than paying homage to an evil one who drenched the Holy Land with Jewish blood (collecting a Nobel Peace Prize along the way)?

First, the evidence. Here is the itinerary:

Blumofe Itinerary for trip to Israel by IsraelMatzav on Scribd

And here is a screenshot of the item in question on that itinerary.

Here is the letter that served to expose Blumofe:

Letter to Rabbi Blumofe by IsraelMatzav on Scribd

20 July 2017
Dear Rabbi Blumofe:
I moved to Austin and joined CAA in 1991. Over the years I have seen a number of Rabbis
serve our community. From the moment you arrived, I was a “Neil fan”. You connected with
the members and you connected with the member’s kids. No one could ask for anything more
than this. With the passing of years, the vast majority of the community supported you in your
transition from Hazan to Rabbi.
I am writing you today because somehow the train has jumped the tracks.
Few in the community would know this but I lived on a Kibbutz in Israel for several years after
high school. I arrived on Kibbutz Ma’ayan Tsvi in the fall of 1977. Ma’ayan Tsvi sits next to
Zichron Ya’acov on the Hof Hacarmel and with the Kibbutz’s fields stretching from the base of
the Carmel Mountains to the Mediterranean.
Each spring, millions of birds migrate north from Africa passing over Israel towards Europe. As
they migrate, Ma’ayan Tsvi’s fish ponds make a nice place for millions of birds to eat their fill of
fish. In the spring of 1978, an American photographer, Gail Rubin was hanging around the
Ma’ayan Tsvi fish ponds taking photos of the dozens of the species of birds. Gail was the niece
of the US Senator from CT, Abraham Ribicoff. We used to chat with her as she wandered
around the ponds and on several occasions, she ate breakfast with us in a little field kitchen that
we used down by the ponds.
On Saturday, March 9, 1978, 13 PLO terrorists came ashore at our beach in two inflatable boats.
Their plan was to land in Tel Aviv and attack the beach front hotels, but the seas were rough and
they ended up on our beach some 40km north of their target. Armed to the teeth, they first ran
into Gail who was taking photos by the fish ponds. After murdering her, they cut through a
chain link fence and started shooting at vehicles traveling on Israel’s main north/south highway
connecting Tel Aviv to Haifa. They hijacked a bus full of Egged Bus Company employees who
were returning to Tel Aviv. As they headed south from Ma’ayan Tsvi towards Tel Aviv, they
were indiscriminately shooting at the vehicles heading north on the other side of the highway.
By the time all the terrorists were dead or incapacitated, 38 people, including 13 kids were
murdered.
The following day, Yasser Arafat was celebrating the event. A town square in some West Bank
town was named “in honor” of the one female terrorist who participated. I’ve lived my life
knowing that only a slight twist of fate saved me from the fate that ended the lives of these 38
murdered souls.
This is but one of dozens of terror attacks which were organized by Arafat’s PLO. The blood of
hundreds of murdered Jews still drips from his dead hands.
Today I learned that you are planning on leading a group of CAA members on a trip to Israel in
June of 2017. Included in the itinerary is a visit to Yasser Arafat’s tomb. I, for one, feel that
your visit to Arafat’s tomb is beyond the pale. To me, it’s no different than were you to travel to
Germany to pay your respects at Adolf Hitler’s tomb, if one existed. Somehow your priorities
have become completely perverted. Apparently you don’t seem to understand that your place is
with the victims of his murderous actions. Not with the murderer himself.
Don’t misunderstand me. You are free to do as you please. Your politics are your own business.
And you have every right, as an American, to make common cause with the Palestinians and to
pay homage at the tomb of Yasser Arafat. But you are not free from the consequences of your
actions. You are the Rabbi to an entire congregation, not to just some faction that agrees with
your personal politics. And to be absolutely clear, the problem here is not the politics of your
Palestinian tour destinations. What’s at issue here is what is in your head and what is in your
heart. You have revealed yourself to be a man of poor judgment and little common sense.
Sadly, your moral compass is completely broken.
Paying homage at the tomb of Yasser Arafat while touring Israel on a CAA affiliated tour,
disqualifies you completely and absolutely from being the moral and spiritual leader of a
Conservative congregation of Jews.
Let me repeat myself…. As the leader of our community, your place is with the victims of his
murderous actions. Your place is most definitely NOT with the murderer.
I believe that we have come to an impasse. I cannot understand nor can I condone whatever
thought process has led you to believe that it’s a good idea for you to pay homage to this mass
murderer of Jews. The harsh truth is that there is no reason to wait until you actually visit his
tomb. The fact that you believe that it’s reasonable for you to do so, is enough. It’s more than
enough.
You are entitled to your own politics. But this is a bridge too far.
It’s time for you to resign. Depart and let us be done with you. In name of G-d, go!
Signed
Richard Brook
CC: Caroline Legatt (by email)
Enclosed: Agudas Trip Itinerary

Now you had better believe that letter got attention. And once the cat was out of the bag, Blumofe was forced to change that particular item on the congregation's anticipated itinerary. As you might imagine, however, the hue and the schrie that was raised, were very loud indeed.

On the one side you had the normal people saying, "How could you do such a thing? The guy has so much Jewish blood on his hands. What possible defense could you have for making a pilgrimage to his tomb (and with your congregants wagging their tales behind you!)? Seriously. WTF?"

And on the other side, you had, well, the others. The deranged people who wanted to plead on Blumofe's behalf, as if it were defensible for him, in his official capacity as shul rabbi, to plan to lead a group of congregants on a pilgrimage to pay homage to the murderer of their own people. What could he/they possibly say to smooth this over and make it okay?

As it turns out, a lot. Because spin always requires lots of words.

There was an editorial in the Washington Jewish Week, for instance, called, A rabbi is "lynched," which begins:

Twelve years after his death, Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader and arch-terrorist, is still causing Jews grief. This time, we’re relieved to report, no one died. But there’s no doubt that the life of Rabbi Neil Blumofe, senior rabbi of Agudas Achim in Austin, Texas, was badly shaken. And all because he included a visit to Arafat’s grave in Ramallah in a draft itinerary for a congregational trip that would include Christian clergy that the rabbi knew well.
“I do a lot of work in the non-Jewish community, where we are losing support for Israel,” Blumofe told a Jewish newspaper in New York. Blumofe saw himself in the position of providing “a pro-Israel narrative for those who question and want to be challenged.”
Instead, Blumofe, was attacked — largely online — as a traitor.

Oh, so that's what that was. He was just including the pilgrimage to Arafat's tomb because there were gonna be Christian clergy along on that trip who wanted to go there and heck, Blumofe KNOWS THEM WELL. (Is that important? The part about Blumofe knowing them well? Frankly, I can't see the significance of that idea in this context.)

The "badly shaken" part, well, that's supposed to make us feel guilty for calling Blumofe to task for wanting to pay homage (with congregants in tow) to a modern-day Hitler. Better he's shaken now, while he can still repent his ugly deeds, in my humble opinion. And since we're going backwards in the text, that bit about being "relieved to report, no one died?" Is that meant to inform us we're going way overboard, because Arafat? He's dead. He can't hurt anyone anymore. So what's the big deal about going to some place where his bones just happen to be buried?

And you see, that's the thing! It's a huge deal. You do not pay honor to the evil. You do not pay honor to one who slayed multiple members of your people with the intent of wiping them out completely (and stealing their land). No one should be feeling sorry for Blumofe. On the contrary, everyone should be yelling their heads off. He should lose his job.

What he did was BAD.

Then there was The Forward, which tried to tell us to LIGHTEN. UP. in a piece called, Meet the Jazz-Playing, Erotica-Writing Rabbi Who Planned a Synagogue Trip to Arafat’s Grave, with its " seven facts about the rabbi who went a bit viral," a sort of "did you know" compendium of "Hey Dude, this rabbi's COOL. Pass the weed," kind of facts, such as:

He [writes] his own blog and has published several stories on Jewrotica, an online community that describes itself both as a “hub for Jewish sexual expression” as well as a sex-ed resource for the Jewish community.

Writes his own blog! And does erotica, too. Whatta guy. Whatta JEW!

The New York Jewish Week, not to be outdone, carried an editorial piece from Editor and Publisher Gary Rosenblatt called, Anatomy Of A Takedown: Community builder and lover of Israel, or glorifier of Arab terrorism: could this be the same Texas Conservative rabbi?

This is a cautionary tale of what can happen when the impulse among some supporters of Israel to lash out — in a fierce and often personally damaging way — with whom they disagree plays out. It’s about the harmful ripple effect, fueled by the Internet, of a facts-and-intention-be-damned approach: Ready. Fire. Aim. All in the name of protecting Zion.The results, fed by self-righteousness on the part of the critics, and a miscalculation and feelings of hurt and alienation from the victim, dangerously deepen the gap between Jews on either side of the Israel divide.

Well, Mr. Editor Sir, for the record, the fact is that the itinerary of a trip Blumofe arranged for his congregation concludes with a pilgrimage to the tomb of a man who spilled gallons of Jewish blood. His intention? There IS no intention that can make this okay. Wanting to expose congregants to both sides of a narrative? One for their people, one for MURDERING them?

Sorry. That is not okay. I do not have to understand Arafat to repudiate his deeds. And I understand Arafat's sycophantic terrorist followers only too well. The problem, Rabbi Blumofe, is that you do NOT.

You, Rabbi Blumofe, don't understand that the only understanding they, the terrorists, want, is the one in which you and your people are in several pieces six feet under, preferably by dint of a violent act, and with your land safely in their bloodstained hands.

Apparently, Rosenblatt does not understand this, either.

Alienation? Deepening the gap between Jews? I gotta say that there is nothing I want more than to deepen the gap between me and people like Blumofe. And you should want that too, Mr. Rosenblatt. (Maybe you would if you spent some time with people whose lives were affected by terrorism, attended a few of their funerals, visited THEIR graves.)

Finally, there was the Times of Israel piece, The American rabbi who dared consider a visit to Arafat's grave. I loathe giving them page views, so you're going to have to Google it if you want to see this piece. But as per the other apologias, the hint of the focus is in the title. Blumhofe is not evil. Why he's positively DARING. Courageous, don't you know (you peons, you utter basket of DEPLORABLES).

Here's a quote:

In addition to the Ramallah stop, the itinerary in question included a visit to the illegal West Bank outpost Havat Gilad and an overnight stay in the nearby settlement of Har Bracha, as well as a meeting with the head of its yeshiva.Blumofe had met one of MEJDI’s Palestinian guides while on a personal visit to Israel — one of many he has taken over the past several years — and said he was impressed with his critical view of the Palestinian narrative. The rabbi felt the tour operator would be a good fit for the trip he had in mind.In addition to interested Jewish congregants, Blumofe, who is the president of Interfaith Action of Central Texas, planned to include Christian clergy from streams that are not necessarily friendly to Israel. He had hoped, “based on my long term, invested relationships with various people in the interfaith community, that new relationships could be fostered and fresh paths made,” he told The Times of Israel.

"Fresh paths" such as the one leading straight to Arafat's tomb. How lovely. And of course, we'll throw in a few token visits to "illegal" Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria to make everything fair and balanced.

I spoke with Ardie Geldman about tours and tokenism. Geldman is the founder and director of iTalkIsrael, offering home hospitality, lectures, and tours in Gush Etzion to visitors from all over the world. I asked him, "So, as bad as a visit to Arafat's tomb would be, the itinerary would have exposed them to the settlers' narrative, too. Right?"

"Yes, that's true. They are "yotzei"* with a short, obligatory visit with "the other ('settlers') side." But more often than not, their guide sets them up with what to expect to hear from the "settlers," and sure 'nuff, what'dya know, that's exactly what the settler says.

"More to the point, the visits with Palestinians are designed to tap the visitors emotions, i.e., visits with families in their homes, with meals, hearing personal stories of tragedy suffered at the hands of the IDF and "settlers." The rule of thumb with visits to a "settlement" is first to take note of the quality of life it reflects in comparison to the Palestinian hovels to which they are taken. The discussions are generally at the impersonal and political level in which the designated "settler" or "settlers" are put on the defensive about the very existence of their community and are often made to answer for what the visitors don't like about the Israel Government's or the IDF's policies vis-a-vis Palestinians.

"And, of course, there is always the calumny of water. Yes, many Palestinian suffer from a shortage of water; no, this is not Israel's fault. In short, the visit with Palestinians is intended to engage the visitors' emotions of pity and concern, while the visit with the "settlers" is geared to excite anger."

So there you have it. Were Blumofe's intentions good? I suppose it's possible. He is just as likely to be brainwashed about Israel as any other liberal American Jew. Except for the fact that he must be at least somewhat conversant with Jewish history and the Torah as a Conservative rabbi. And that's where I just can't fathom him dialoguing on issues such as the legality of building Jewish homes in the Jewish homeland of Judea and Samaria. Or giving honor to a murderer of his people.

Nope. I just can't find a way to square this and that's not a shortcoming in my ability to dialogue and see the other side of things. Rather it's a shortcoming of Neil Blumofe. He, Blumofe, can't accept the narrative of his own God, can't accept the Torah, can't absorb his own people's brave and tragic history. And by dragging the feet of his congregants into this mess alongside him, he has committed a grave sin.

No pun intended.

*considered to have fulfilled their obligation, as in a religious obligation.

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It's Sexist To Expect Feminists To Stand Up For Women In Muslim Countries (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

It's Sexist To Expect Feminists To Stand Up For Women In Muslim Countries

By Carly Morrison, Feminist Activist

The male-dominated media would have you believe that being a feminist means seeking equality for women everywhere, but the male-dominated media has no right to define for us what being a feminist means. It's sexist for anyone to tell us feminists that we're supposed to fight for the equality of women in the Muslim world. An outrage.

Feminism doesn't mean what you men say it means. It means what we women say it means. And if we decide it means ignoring the yawning inequality between men and women in Muslim countries, then that is what it means. You can't define for us what our movement wants.

Definitions themselves are a patriarchal institution, after all, and we will have no part of them. Etymology - et- him-ology - has been dominated by men forever. Linguistics - lingu-his-tics - has the same defect. Sorry, men, but this is not your rule book to interpret anymore. You are in no position to tell us we have to use words the way they have been used throughout their history. His-tory.

If we want, we can claim that laws mandating the hijab, niqab, and other coverings actually empower women, and none of you are allowed to say boo. You just want an excuse to rape them, probably. So your opinion counts for nothing. You simply do not understand that when a pre-teen Muslim woman in Gaza is given by her father in marriage to a much older man, that is an act of liberation, a way of asserting cultural independence from you white males and your assumptions about what is good for women. You sexist pigs.

No offense intended to pigs. At least to the sows.

So no more of your holier-than-thou, sanctimonious preaching that feminists should be fighting polygamy, female genital mutilation, or other phenomena rampant in the Islamic world. Maybe those women WANT to have sex be a painful experience. Maybe they WANT to risk infection and death from adhering to their tribal traditions. Maybe they WANT to vie for the attention and support of a husband with multiple other wives. Maybe they ENJOY when their husbands force them to have sex. Maybe they don't WANT to drive cars. Maybe they don't WANT to leave the house without a male escort. It would never occur to you to respect those wishes, of course, because you men always know what is best for women, and their desires can be safely ignored.

And you call yourselves liberal.

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09/14 Links Pt1: The Businesses of Mahmoud Abbas and His Sons; End US aid to Palestinian terrorists

From Ian:

JCPA: The Businesses of Mahmoud Abbas and His Sons

Abu Abbas is not prepared to countenance Muhammad Dahlan as his successor.

The PA chairman’s two sons, Tareq and Yasser, own an economic empire in the territories worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and they rely on their connection with their father.

Mahmoud Abbas’ main endeavor is to find a fitting successor who will ensure both the continued existence of his sons’ businesses and their wellbeing.

The succession battle in the Palestinian Authority has become very elemental since Mahmoud Abbas rejected the request of four Arab states – Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – to mend fences with his bitter rival Muhammad Dahlan. Some of those states want to see Dahlan as the next PA chairman.
Although some in Fatah view Abbas’ rejection of the Arab request as an act of “political suicide,” Abbas does not show signs of stress. At the urging of Egypt and Jordan, which fear Hamas, he called off the elections in the territories and consented to a return to Fatah by some of Dahlan’s people. As far as Abbas is concerned, he has complied with most of Egypt and Jordan’s requests. Yet, still, he is not prepared to countenance Muhammad Dahlan.
PA Prime Minister Riyad al-Maliki claims that relations with Arab states are in perfectly good order.
This week, Ahmed Qurei (Abu Ala), a member of the PLO Executive Committee, revealed the way in which Abbas became PA chairman. It perhaps sheds light on how the next PA chairman, in the absence of elections in the territories, will be appointed.

PreOccupiedTerritory: Obama Surprised $3.8B In Israel Aid Need Not Be Delivered In Cash (satire)

White House officials told reporters today that President Obama was taken aback at discovering that the ten-year, thirty-eight-billion-dollar military assistance package to Israel does not have to be supplied in pallets of cash borne by airplane.
The assistance agreement, which will be formally signed today between American and Israeli officials, allocates an average of $3.8B annually between the fiscal years 2019 and 2028 to Israeli military needs. The White House officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said Obama had been laboring under the assumption that transfers of funds to other countries had to be conducted surreptitiously and in hard cash, as that was the model to which he had become accustomed in his administration’s dealings with Iran. Congressional representatives disabused the president of that notion today, and informed him that wire transfers will be used.
In fact, said the officials, the story fed to the media about a delay in the completion of the assistance agreement – that South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham would withhold his support for the package unless the amount was raised – was simply to buy time to explain to the president the mechanisms of foreign aid that do not rely on loading pallets of cash reserves on a plane and flying them directly to the recipients.
“It was understandable the president thought that’s what we do, considering how everything has been handled with Iran,” explained one aide. “With his sympathy for those who consider Israel a rogue regime, it should hardly be surprising that our chief executive assumed the same measures would be necessary to effect the aid transfer as were necessary to deliver billions of dollars to Iran as ransom for captive US sailors and to sweeten the nuclear deal.”

Iranian Red Crescent active in Gaza?

The Iranian Red Crescent announced that it had given meat to 25,000 Gaza families for Eid al Adha.

It seems strange that they would work directly with Israel to import the meat, but I have not heard about any imports from Egypt lately.

In fact, I have not heard of the Iranian Red Crescent in Gaza altogether until this story. A few years ago they made noise about sending an aid ship to Gaza which was scuttled when Egypt didn't allow the ship to dock. During the 2014 war they announced an aid shipment. That's about it.

Based on the photos and the articles I could find, my guess is that this is a new initiative where Iran recruited job-starved Gazans to start a propaganda campaign around support for Gaza.

These photos do not indicate an operation that could feed 25,000 people for three days. It looks like this location was created just for the photo-op, not to give any serious quantities of food to anyone.

I think Iran, alarmed at the possibility of an election (since postponed,) wants to have a more direct line of influence in Gaza than through its usual clients in Islamic Jihad and parts of Hamas. After all, a large part of its strategy is to demonize Israel and the quiet lately has not been in Iran's interests. In a time-honored tradition, they are trying to infiltrate through charity organizations - real or imagined - and getting press coverage about how much they support Gaza and its "resistance."

This is admittedly conjecture, but there is certainly more behind this story than simply Iran giving meat to some Gazans.

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IDF helps Muslims while Hamas threatens to kill Jews during Eid

The Eid al Adha holiday is a perfect time to see the stark difference between how Israel treats Palestinian Muslims and how Palestinians think of Israeli Jews.

The IDF's COGAT released this graphic:

Sure enough, thousands of Palestinians flocked to the beaches in Tel Aviv:

A group of Jewish girls from Brazil, left, talk with Palestinians from the west bank town of Nablus during the Eid al Adha Muslim holiday at the beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2016. Tens of thousands of Palestinians visit Tel Aviv and other places in Israel after Israel granted travel permits to West Bank Palestinians. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

Israel just announced that it would keep the Allenby Bridge crossing open for 48 hours straight Thursday and Friday to allow pilgrims from Hajj to return to their homes. 11,000 people crossed the bridge on Tuesday.

Far more Muslims were on the Temple Mount on the first day of Eid this year than the number of Jews who have visited the holy site in total since 1948.

Meanwhile, Israelis' Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman is saying that as long as the (relative) calm from Gaza continues, Israel will consider allowing Gazans to work in Israel the way that vetted West Bank Arabs do.

How do Palestinian leaders respond to such humanitarian gestures?

Well, Hamas reacted this way:

Hundreds of resistance fighters from the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas Movement, paraded in Gaza streets on Saturday evening to mark the advent of Muslims’ Eid al-Adha (the Sacrifice Feast). “Palestinians’ joy will reach its zenith the day the liberation of Palestine and of the al-Aqsa comes true,” said al-Qassam Brigades. A Qassam leader said as he addressed the Palestinian masses: “Hamas resistance brigades will always sacrifice their lives and souls to defend the people, land, and holy sites.”

“The anti-occupation Palestinian youths will forever remain a thorn in the throat of the ‘new Nazis’ (in reference to the Israeli colonizers),” he added. “The Palestinian resistance has become able to settle scores with the Israelis. We will cut the very hands that dare assail our children and women,” he vowed.

“Self-abnegation has become a social phenomenon,” the fighter further stated. “Every single Palestinian citizen opts for armed resistance as the only effective response to the Israeli aggressions.”

“The Palestinian resistance will forever remain faithful to the souls of those who sacrificed their lives for the sake of their motherland. We will always track their footsteps. We either win and recover our holy al-Aqsa Mosque or else die at its doorsteps,” he concluded.

The West always assumes that confidence building measures results in both sides becoming more willing to cooperate. The fatal mistake is assuming that the Arab and Muslim worlds share the same mindset as the West.

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But they look so perfect together!

From the Page Six gossip column of the New York Post:

New York’s “Palestinian Power Couple” is no more: Pink Floyd legend Roger Waters, a vocal critic of Israel, has split with Palestinian journalist and author Rula Jebreal.

Pink Floyd rocker Waters, 73, and Jebreal, 43, had been dating for a few months earlier this year, in the aftermath of Waters’ split with his fourth wife, Laurie Durning, Page Six exclusively revealed.

Their relationship became the talk of the Hamptons — where Waters owns two homes — because both are outspoken supporters of Palestinian rights. Waters is a supporter of a boycott of Israel and has likened treatment of Palestinians to apartheid South Africa, sparking criticism from the pro-Israel lobby. Likewise, Jebreal is an articulate critic of Israel and has written three books, including “Miral” — about women caught in the crossfire of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — which was made into a movie by her ex, the famed artist Julian Schnabel.

A source had told us of Waters and the beautiful Jebreal’s relationship, “It is the talk of the Hamptons, and some people are calling them the ‘Palestinian power couple.’ One can only imagine the pillow talk.”

But another source now tells us, “It was over as quickly as it began — while they agreed on many issues, they couldn’t find common ground on others. Plus, their families didn’t get along.”

Ironically, Jebreal and Waters got to know each other after they were introduced by his ex-wife Durning and Jebreal’s now ex-husband, biotech entrepreneur Arthur Altschul Jr.

To the shock of both their exes, they then started a relationship. “It was very weird for their former spouses, who introduced them . . . Rula had asked to meet Roger because he’s a vocal activist for Palestine. The two former couples have had dinner together many times. They were all friends.”

The source continued, “But after Roger split with his wife, he began an affair with Rula. Arthur found out, and their marriage ended.” Reps for both Waters and Jebreal didn’t get back to us.

All together now: "Awwwwwww."

Jebreal (who is an antisemitic bigot by her own definition) had only been with her ex-husband Arthur Altschul Jr. for a couple of years.

I'm sure that they will both blame Israel for this breakup, since we all know that Israel is responsible for all problems, big and small, retroactively, since the Paleozoic era.

(h/t Bob Knot)

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A damning indictment of the UN at the WSJ

We've seen many, especially UN Watch, categorize how obsessed the UN is with Israel. But this short WSJ piece by Eugene Kontorovich and Penny Grunseid lays it out, in my opinion, in an even more devastating fashion.

The United Nations began its annual session this week, and Israel will be prominent on the agenda. Many fear the Security Council may consider a resolution setting definite territorial parameters, and a deadline, for the creation of a Palestinian state.

President Obama has hinted that in the final months of his term, he may reverse the traditional U.S. policy of vetoing such resolutions. The General Assembly, meanwhile, is likely to act as the chorus in this drama, reciting its yearly litany of resolutions criticizing Israel.

If Mr. Obama is seeking to leave his mark on the Israeli-Arab conflict—and outside the negotiated peace process that began in Oslo—there is no worse place to do it than the U.N. New research we have conducted shows that the U.N.’s focus on Israel not only undermines the organization’s legitimacy regarding the Jewish state. It also has apparently made the U.N. blind to the world’s many situations of occupation and settlements.

Our research shows that the U.N. uses an entirely different rhetoric and set of legal concepts when dealing with Israel compared with situations of occupation or settlements world-wide. For example, Israel is referred to as the “Occupying Power” 530 times in General Assembly resolutions. Yet in seven major instances of past or present prolonged military occupation—Indonesia in East Timor, Turkey in northern Cyprus, Russia in areas of Georgia, Morocco in Western Sahara, Vietnam in Cambodia, Armenia in areas of Azerbaijan, and Russia in Ukraine’s Crimea—the number is zero. The U.N. has not called any of these countries an “Occupying Power.” Not even once.

It gets worse. Since 1967, General Assembly resolutions have referred to Israeli-held territories as “occupied” 2,342 times, while the territories mentioned above are referred to as “occupied” a mere 16 times combined. The term appears in 90% of resolutions dealing with Israel, and only in 14% of the much smaller number of resolutions dealing with the all the other situations, a difference that vastly surpasses the threshold of statistical significance. Similarly, Security Council resolutions refer to the disputed territories in the Israeli-Arab conflict as “occupied” 31 times, but only a total of five times in reference to all seven other conflicts combined.

General Assembly resolutions employ the term “grave” to describe Israel’s actions 513 times, as opposed to 14 total for all the other conflicts, which involve the full gamut of human-rights abuses, including allegations of ethnic cleansing and torture. Verbs such as “condemn” and “deplore” are sprinkled into Israel-related resolutions tens more times than they are in resolutions about other conflicts, setting a unique tone of disdain.

Israel has been reminded by resolutions against it of the country’s obligations under the Geneva Conventions about 500 times since 1967—as opposed to two times for the other situations.

In particular, the resolutions refer to Article 49(6), which states that the “Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” This is the provision that the entire legal case against Israel settlements is based upon. Yet no U.N. body has ever invoked Article 49(6) in relation to any of the occupations mentioned above.

This even though, as Mr. Kontorovich shows in a new research article, “Unsettled: A Global Study of Settlements in Occupied Territories,” all these situations have seen settlement activity, typically on a scale that eclipses Israel’s. However, the U.N. has only used the legally loaded word “settlements” to describe Israeli civilian communities (256 times by the GA and 17 by the Security Council). Neither body has ever used that word in relation to any other country with settlers in occupied territory.

Our findings don’t merely quantify the U.N.’s double standard. The evidence shows that the organization’s claim to represent the interest of international justice is hollow, because the U.N. has no interest in battling injustice unless Israel is the country accused.

At a time of serious global crises—from a disintegrating Middle East to a land war and belligerent occupation in Europe—the leaders of the free world cannot afford to tempt the U.N. into indulging its obsessions. Especially when the apparent consequence of such scapegoating is that the organization ignores other situations and people in desperate need of attention.

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.

09/13 Links Pt2: Chloe` Valdary – “Forever” – An ode to the people of Israel; Anti-Semitism and the British Left

From Ian:

Chloe` Valdary – “Forever” – An ode to the people of Israel

Jerusalem U proudly presents “Forever” – a powerful new video about Jewish pride from African-American poet Chloé Valdary; a leading new voice in the pro-Israel movement, a Tikvah fellow under Pulitzer Prize-winner Bret Stephens at the Wall Street Journal, and one of Algemeiner’s top 100 people positively affecting Jewish life today.
Chloé is the new Director of Partnerships & Outreach for Jerusalem U. www.JerusalemU.org
This film was made possible thanks to the generous support of Sam & Meryl Solomon

“Forever” – An ode to the people of Israel

Anti-Semitism and the British Left

For many British Jews and others, Mr. Corbyn thus personifies a tolerance among parts of the left for reactionary Islamists that is at best naïve, at worst malign — not least because it overlooks Islamism’s history of murderous repression toward democratic socialists in Muslim-majority countries.
Labour had once been Britain’s most pro-Zionist party. This began to change when support for Palestinian statehood entered party policy. Mr. Corbyn arrived as a new member of Parliament in 1983 as a sponsor of the Labour Movement Campaign for Palestine, a new group that was pledged to “eradicate Zionism” from the party and saw Israel as a colonial implant in the Middle East. Rather than being a legitimate expression of Jewish national longing, Zionism was then labeled a racist ideology akin to apartheid.
At the same time, Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government included a record number of Jewish ministers. Most British Jews had long since moved on from their origins in a prewar immigrant working class, and many among the new suburban Jewish middle class were attracted to Mrs. Thatcher’s entrepreneurial capitalism. According to the historian Geoffrey Alderman, “Anglo-Jewish political attitudes and loyalties, which were substantially Liberal for much of the 19th century and substantially Labour in the mid-20th, are now substantially Conservative.”
This may be of little electoral consequence to Labour, since Jewish voters influence the outcome in only a handful of parliamentary seats. In any case, the Corbyn project seems more directed at molding an ideologically pure movement than winning power at the next general election in 2020.
Yet there remains a strong progressive tradition among Jews that now has no political home. Their alienation from Labour is an ill omen: Whether British Jews ever feel they can return to Labour will give a strong indication about the future direction and character of the party as a whole.

BDS Exploits Artists Like Brian Eno

Thankfully, major artists supporting BDS are few and far between. Hundreds of international artists, including Sia, Justin Timberlake, Rihanna, Lady Gaga, Elton John, Alicia Keys, One Republic, Paul McCartney, The Rolling Stones, Madonna, Dionne Warwick, The Black Eyed Peas, Justin Bieber, and many, many others have and will continue to perform in Israel and raise their voices loudly for peace.
In response to Mr. Eno, Batsheva's artistic director and frequent critic of the Israeli government, Ohad Naharin, wrote: “If boycotting my company would help the Palestinian people, then I would boycott my own show. If the boycott of my work could bring a peace treaty, I would be the happiest person in the world. But I know it would be useless."
We, and the more than 30,000 people who have signed our anti-boycott petition, could not agree more. BDS does not help Palestinians and will not bring peace.
The BDS movement is anti-peace and anti-coexistence. Through its anti-normalization campaign, it aims to keep Israelis and Palestinians apart, never giving them the chance to gain understanding of and empathy for one another, though both are crucial requirements for realizing true peace based on justice.
We believe art and music, through their ability to unite, can help bring this true peace to fruition. We are deeply saddened to see an artist such as Brian Eno support the BDS movement and deny his music to Batsheva.
We hope Mr. Eno will reflect on the fact that the Israeli government would fund a dance company led by a fierce critic of its policies, that the company would then choose to use music created by a fierce opponent of Israel, and then just maybe come to the conclusion that Israel is an imperfect but strong democracy worthy of engagement rather than boycotts.
Peace depends on it.

A Sudanese writer has posted on his Facebook page that he wants his government to normalize relations with Israel.

Sudanese paper Al Nilin reported that Abdel Azim Mohamed al-Jaafari wrote that he has been advocating normalization with Israel for years, saying that he has challenged religious scholars worldwide to explain why such relations with Israel would be forbidden.

Jaafari extols the economic and political benefits of relations with Israel as well as how consistent it would be with creating an atmosphere of peace in the region.

He says that he has floated the idea to a number of Sudanese as well as Israelis on the Internet. He wants nothing less than to see the Israeli flag proudly fly in the streets of Khartoum.

Interestingly, his Facebook page says that he is working at the Saudi Ministry of Agriculture, which makes one wonder if perhaps the Saudis are floating some trial balloons for is own potential opening up of relations with Israel.

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

Usually I write about Israel. Halfway around the world, America looms large. The bond between the land of my birth and the land of my heritage is strong.

It is a bond of principles and values, of Judeo-Christian ethics. Ideas that were born in Israel and woven in to the founding of the “New Zion”, America.

It is a bond of freedom. Of ‘doers’, people allowed to speak their mind, people who, if they work hard enough can achieve anything. That is the America I grew up believing in, it is the Israel I know today.

Ours is also a bond of enemies – because of what we represent. It is America that is the ‘Great Satan’, Israel that is the ‘Little Satan’

15 years after 9/11, with enough terror attacks of our own, Israel is remembering that day. It’s a day I will never forget.

We were horrified as if the attack had happened to us. We ached for the pain of our friends, the victims and the heroes, the Jews and Israelis that were involved. At the time, our horror was in seeing our friend and ally, the country we saw as a big brother or sister, hurt in a way we thought only we would experience, a pain we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemies.

Today, the pain is in looking back at lessons unlearned. The lessons are in the actions of every-day people who knew they were the “watchmen” at the gate. People who didn’t wait to be saved, people who knew it was better to go down in flames than be used to terrorize others.

This is for Danny Lewin. Did you know that the first victim of 9/11 was an Israeli? His Israeli Special Forces training told him that something wasn't right aboard American Airlines flight 11. Deciding to tackle the terrorists, Danny was fatally stabbed trying to save everyone on the plane.

This is for Todd Beamer.

They and too many others like them have been stolen from us by terrorists. Let’s learn from their legacy.

Now it is our turn.

“Are you ready? Okay. Let’s roll.”

On 9.11.2001 America learned there is an enemy. They didn’t understand who the enemy was or why they were being attacked. They did understand that someone wanted to bring the great US of A to her knees and most Americans resolutely declared they would not let that happen. America would stand proud as she had always done, America is good and good prevails.

Todd Beamer and the other passengers on flight 93 didn’t know who the enemy was. They did know that they had been hijacked, that other planes had been hijacked and slammed in to the Twin Towers. Together they made a swift choice, deciding that it was better to go down in flames than to be used as a killing machine to murder and terrorize other Americans. Those who could, called their loved ones to say goodbye. Todd Beamer rallied other passengers around him. They recited the Lord’s Prayer and the 23rd Psalm and then Beamer led the way, saying: “Are you ready? Okay. Let’s roll.” The passengers stormed the cockpit, bringing the plane down in an empty field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.

Al Qaeda attacked America and almost 3000 Americans died.

On 9.11.2012 the American embassy in Benghazi, Libya was attacked by terrorists who murdered the Ambassador as well as Sean Smith, Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods. The American people did not know who the enemy was. The government announced that the attack came as a result of Muslims being offended by a video disparaging the Prophet Mohammed. Slowly the truth has come out. The Ambassador could have been saved. The operatives that rushed to the rescue had received a stand down command. Americans had been abandoned by their government, murdered and the public was told lie after lie to make them forget.

On September 10, 2012, at least 18 hours before the attack in Benghazi, Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri called for attacks on Americans in Libya.

Again, Al-Qaeda.

Despite the betrayal the American people re-elected the same government. The people did not notice (or maybe did not care) that all American fundamental values had been thrown out the window. The idea of “leave no man behind” no longer mattered. America denied protection to her own Ambassador but what difference does it make? Doubt seeped in… maybe America isn’t so good, maybe it’s America’s fault that so many people around the world hate her. Maybe America has mistreated Muslims and should apologize…

On 9.11.2014 the Islamic State looms large.

Americans took little notice of the organization as it massacred Iraqis, Christians, Shiite Moslems and Yazidis. The massacre of Syrians was dismissed as an internal civil war and mostly blamed on Bashar Assad. It was only when two American journalists were beheaded by a Muslim with a British accent that Americans really began to realize the enormity of the problem and demand Mr. Obama define US policy to deal with it.

Mr. Obama has explained that the Islamic State has nothing to do with Islam. He has spoken about terror as a method but he has made no mention of Jihad, terror leveraged to achieve a religious-political goal i.e. submission to Islam. Mr. Obama has explained that America will fight the organization from the air and by supporting “moderates” who will do the fighting on the ground.

Who are the moderates?

One year ago, when Mr. Obama was talking about the evils of the Assad dictatorship the “moderates” were the “Syrian rebels”. America, Britain and France provided them support and weapons. In a very short time it became clear that the term “rebels” or “opposition” included secular groups that want to overthrow the Syrian government as well as the Syrian version of Al-Qaeda (=Al-Nusra) and ISIS.

Now ISIS has grown and become the Islamic State. They have captured American weapons in Iraq and were given weapons as well. Mr. Obama is proposing to fight the Islamic State by arming the “moderates” which, in his dictionary, seems to mean anyone who will fight IS. This includes Hezbollah and the Syrian version of Al-Qaeda.

The enemy of your enemy is not your friend. The moderates are not moderate at all. Nothing has changed.

Or maybe one thing has changed – America. The sleeping giant has been kicked in the side repeatedly but it only made her mumble, roll over and go back to sleep. The spirit of “Are you ready? Okay. Let’s roll.” has been forgotten. The memory of the victims, of the heroes and everyone who strived to make America the great country she once was, is being dishonored.

Apathy is just as dangerous as any terror threat. America can only be beaten if she allows herself to be defeated.

America began as an idea that provided hope to the world. The Islamic State also began as an idea and its flames are swiftly spreading across the globe. The idea of a global Caliphate has existed for centuries, America for only a few hundred years. Both ideas are very powerful, both provide hope and the opportunity to belong to something larger than the individual. Which will win?

There is hope for the free world but first the sleeping giant must wake up. The enemy must be named. Action must be taken.

“Are you ready? Okay. Let’s roll.”

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.

09/13 Links Pt1: Fatah: Munich Olympic Massacre was a "heroic operation"; Temple Mount Denial

From Ian:

PMW: Fatah: Murder of Israeli athletes at Munich Olympics was "heroic operation"

Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah Movement continues to take pride in the massacre at the 1972 Munich Olympics, when Palestinian terrorists from the Black September terror group murdered 11 Israeli athletes.
On the anniversary of the killings, Fatah's Facebook page called the massacre a "heroic operation", posting photos of the terrorists carrying out the attack and of Black September leader Salah Khalaf. Fatah stated that the attack showed "the courage and power of the Palestinian resistance fighter":
"The 44th anniversary, Sept. 5-6, 1972, the anniversary of carrying out of the heroic Munich operation that was carried out by fighters of the PLO Black September organization. The Munich operation is still remembered and is recorded in history, and it demonstrates the meaning of the courage and power of the Palestinian resistance fighter and his self-sacrifice for the homeland and for the cause."
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Sept. 5, 2016]
Another Fatah Facebook post highlighted Fatah's role in the attack with the phrase "Munich operation, Sept. 5, 1972 - Fatah was here."
Fatah's glorification of the Munich killings and its continued praise of the murderers as heroes comes only two months after the International Olympic Committee finally commemorated the tragedy with an official ceremony at the recent Rio Olympics.

Eugene Kontorovich: New research paper: ‘Unsettled: A Global Study of Settlements in Occupied Territories’

My new working paper, “Unsettled: A Global Study of Settlements in Occupied Territories,” is now available on SSRN.
Imagine that someone (a scholar or a diplomat) wanted to understand how the general prohibition on aggression in the U.N. Charter was interpreted in international law. What do the general words of Art. 2(4) mean in practice? To figure out what Art. 2(4) means, he studies the Indian invasion and annexation of Portuguese territories in 1961. Examining this one case and the international reaction to it, he would conclude that the use of force and annexation of territory are permissible in international law.
Of course, this understanding would be deeply mistaken, because the Goa incident itself was highly anomalous. Without looking at other cases, from the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait to the Russian takeover of Crimea, one would misunderstand how states really interpret the provision. And that is why international law scholars, like lawyers generally, do not try to tease legal rules out of one particular case, but try to discern the pattern in the entire set of cases. Making law from one case risks serious error.
Yet that is exactly what happens with Art. 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, the provision that, loosely speaking, restricts settlements in occupied territory. The provision itself is quite obscure and has never been applied in any war crimes case. Thus, looking at state practice would be particularly useful to understand the scope of its meaning.
Yet scholars and humanitarian groups have only sought to understand its meaning through the lens of one case, that of Israel. If there were no other situations to look at, this would be understandable. But, as I show in my new research paper, settlement activity is fairly ubiquitous in occupations of contiguous territory. Yet state practice in these other situations has not been used to inform an understanding of the meaning of Art. 49(6).

Blood libels thicker than water

As politics goes, it doesn’t get much dirtier than the Palestinian Authority deliberately letting untreated sewage flow into water sources because it is reluctant to cooperate with Israel in building wastewater treatment plants, even though the funds and framework exist. Apparently, the PA considers normalization of relations with Israel more dangerous than any health hazards presented by the pollution and drilling of piratical wells.
In an extensive study published in 2012 by the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies, hydrologist Prof. Haim Gvirtzman notes that, thanks to Israeli efforts, “In comparison to [their] Arab neighbors, the Palestinians in Judea and Samaria now enjoy much better access to running water.” That was before the civil war in Syria compounded the infrastructure problems there and sent a flow of more than half a million refugees into water-strapped Jordan.
Faced with the latest libel, several friends were reminded of the periodic “dam lies” that one wit termed “a flood libel.” For example, in February, news outlets around the world reported that Israel had deliberately opened the gates to dams bordering Gaza, flooding villages and leaving scores homeless.
Israeli officials swiftly pointed out that there are no dams in the area. Israel’s water company, Mekorot, has in the past answered pleas by the UN to provide Gaza with heavy-duty pumps to help it deal with the flooding. Ironically, the Dutch water company Vitens cut off contacts with Mekorot for alleged violation of international law for operating beyond the 1949 lines.
The Palestinian stories don’t hold water. But Israel is being made to pay hell. Since the Middle Ages, many, many Jewish lives have been lost in pogroms and attacks following false claims of Jews poisoning the wells. The Palestinians will not die of either thirst or poisoned waters. But lives are already being lost by poisoned minds.

UNRWA Commissioner-General Pierre Krähenbühl held an "extraordinary session" of the UNRWA Advisory Board in order to beg for more funds.

His justifications for asking for more and more money to give an agency that perpetuates, rather than solves, statelessness, are almost rudely self-serving and still relies on blaming Israel rather than the true culprits: itself and the Arab leaders.

Here is a key part of the speech:

Time and time again, I am confronted with the question of why the world should care about the fate of Palestine refugees when there are so many more pressing issues to deal with. Well, it should care:

Because the conditions facing the 5.3 million refugees are now worse than at any time since 1948.

Because of Syria. And yet the UN inefficiently divides up Syrian refugees into "Palestinian" and "everyone else," doubling up on resources and applying them unequally and inefficiently. If UNRWA wanted to save money it would give its Syria budget to UNHCR and allow them to support all Syrian refugees instead of the 95% or so it does. For UNRWA to demand funds for refugees from Syria simply because their ancestors happen to have lived in British Mandate Palestine for a time is hardly a smart use of worldwide refugee funding.

Because the absence of political horizon is draining them of their resolve and creativity.

Yet if you look at the UNRWA webpage you see lots of articles about how wonderful their school students are, how creative and happy they are.

Because fifty years of occupation and ten years of blockade in Palestine are etched into the soul and identity of the Refugee community.

Of course, it wouldn't be UNRWA if there was no swipe at Israel. However, the people under "occupation" and "blockade" are not refugees - they live in the boundaries of the British Mandate, under the rule of their own leaders, whose decisions are what led to their being in the situation they are in.

But maybe even more importantly:

Because a young generation of Palestine refugees is growing up which is losing faith in politics and diplomacy. In the West Bank and Gaza, most young people were born after the Oslo Peace Agreement. They were told by the world that if you choose a path of moderation, there will be justice served. But it was not.

Was the enthusiastic outbreak of a murderous spree of suicide bombings immediately after Arafat spurned Clinton's peace plan an example of this path of moderation that they are now so disappointed over it not succeeding? How about the happy cries of victory after 9/11 in the streets of these youth? The people who overwhelmingly showed support for Bin Laden, and who voted for Hamas terrorists to lead them? Because that is what happened, not this fantasy of disillusioned youth attempting "a path of moderation."

Because in Syria, Palestine refugees, displaced, dispossessed and desperate, now understand in their hearts what their parents and grand-parents went through in 1948 and 1967.

This is perhaps the most offensive part of all. To compare what is happening to civilians in Syria today with what happened in 1948 or 1967 is a sick revisionist history. It is to accuse Israel of genocide, of dropping barrel bombs and poison gas. This one statement shows the depths of UNRWA's immorality, because if its leader says this statement to his donors in English, the lies and hate taught by its teachers to generations of students must be orders of magnitude worse. It might be the "narrative" but it is slander, and UNRWA is in no small part a reason that the false narrative against Israel and historic fact has been so popular.

Krähenbühl should be forced to resign based on this one disgusting lie by itself.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

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Every year, during Eid al Adha, videos are released showing amateur slaughterers trying to kill cows in the streets of Gaza.

This video - three minutes of stabbing a cow in the neck and torture that still doesn't kill the animal - is so horrific that even other Muslims are questioning whether this is allowed under Islam.

But at the same time, Gazans are posting videos of similar horrible scenes and calling them "beautiful and wonderful":

In this Gaza video, the onlookers chant "Allahu Akbar" as the poor beast slowly bleeds to death:

In this one the cow isn't even dead by the end of the video as a crowd watches and cheers:

Gaza is perhaps the worst as people chase after and slaughter animals in the street in an orgy of animal torture. But even official slaughterhouses can be as bad. This video from Beirut shows dozens of animals that are already seemingly slaughtered still alive and moving on the ground afterwards (starting at 0:24.)

Over 200 Gazans were reported injured on the first day of Eid during these scenes as cows tried to escape, slaughterers injured themselves and others with their knives, and similar injuries.

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Far more Christians of Palestinian origin in Chile than in the Middle East (update)

Last week, Hanan Ashrawi held a meeting with Chilean citizens of Palestinian Arab origin. Official PA news agency Wafa issued a press release which was published, nearly verbatim, by other outlets:

Hanan Ashrawi, member of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Executive Committee, Thursday called on a visiting delegation of Palestinian business and civil society leaders from Chile to maintain a link to Palestine and to engage in a joint discourse and projects with Palestine.

“In light of Israeli efforts to eradicate the Palestinian identity and erase our strong connection to the land, history and culture, I am extremely encouraged by Palestinian expatriates, exiles and refugees who return to their homeland and are ready to invest in Palestine in a variety of ways,” Ashrawi told the delegation at her PLO office in Ramallah.

“We are not ready to disappear or abandon our rights,” she said. “By returning to Palestine and maintaining your links to the homeland, you are reaffirming the Palestinian connection to the land and our right to exist in freedom and in dignity.”

Ashrawi led a candid discussion on Israel’s unilateral violations of international law and Palestinian rights and its systematic efforts to destroy the chances for peace and stability.

I think when they say "candid" they really mean "canned."

Chile has a large number of people of Palestinian origin. The vast majority are Christian. Many of them arrived before anyone ever referred to them as "Palestinian" in the 19th century; the Chileans referred to them as "turcos" (Turks) because they came from the Ottoman empire. The 19th century immigrants didn't refer to themselves as Palestinian either; they identified as coming from their hometowns (Beit Jala, Bei Sahour, Bethlehem) or as Syrians or simply Arabs.

Because they are full citizens of Chile, and happy to be there, no one wants to talk about them because they obscure the narrative of a stateless diaspora Palestinian Arab community. Articles about them might encourage Palestinians to move to Chile, lose their stateless status and become no longer available as pawns and cannon fodder, which seems to be the preferred type of Palestinian to the Arab world and to their own leaders.

What is striking is that there are ten times as many Christians of Palestinian origin in Chile than there are under PA rule. There are only 50,000 Christians in the PA compared to nearly 500,000 Christians of Palestinian origin in Chile.

Israel's Christian population also dwarfs that of the Palestinian Authority, with about 150,000 Christians there, most Arab.

Most of the Christians under Arab rule have fled over the decades - from Palestinian Arab rule, from Syria, Lebanon and Egypt.

The numbers show to a remarkable degree how Christians have been forced to leave Arab areas of Palestine because of Muslim persecution, a story that is also swept under the rug in favor of the "blame Israel for everything" narrative that the Palestinian leadership has so successfully and single-mindedly pushed.

No one wants to move from Chile to "Palestine." But Chile would be an obvious destination for Palestinians, especially Palestinian Christians, who want to start new lives outside the influence of the corrupt Arab leaders who want to keep them miserable - ostensibly for their own good.

If UNRWA was a real refugee agency, Chile would be a top choice for resettling stateless Palestinians.

UPDATE: Mike Conrad tells me that the Palestinian Christians of Chile indeed referred to themselves as "Palestinos" since at least 1920, based on the names of their soccer clubs and social organizations, and distinguished themselves from Lebanese and Syrian immigrants who arrived at the same time.

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