Sunday, November 29, 2015

TIME columnist finds it easier to explain murdering Jews than killing other French people

Vivienne Walt, a Time magazine writer, has written how difficult it is to explain the Paris terror attacks to her child.

She writes:

In January it had been relatively simple to explain to my child, who was then eight, why the cartoonists had been the target, and why a Jewish supermarket was attacked—grim as the details were. ....Answering questions over dinner on Sunday was more difficult, however. The targets this time were young people having fun on a warm Friday night; people, in fact, who were his age not all that long ago.

Really? It is easier to explain why terrorists would murder Jews than to explain why they would murder other Parisians?

I wonder how Ms. Walt explained the January attacks in a way that her son would understand. Are Jews considered natural targets in the Walt household? Or is it because of their presumed association with that shitty little country that happens to be the Jewish state? I would love to know what makes shooting Jewish shoppers relatively normal to Vivienne Walt.

Yoav Hattab, murdered at Hypercache, was 21, and Yohan Cohen was 22. They were pretty young.In fact, they were younger than nearly every victim of the more recent Paris attacks. But apparently that didn't make it more difficult to explain their murders to Vivienne's 8 year old son. Shopping for food is probably as familiar an experience to her son as sitting in a cafe or going to a concert, but clearly that didn't make the job of explaining those murders any more difficult.

Somehow, their being Jewish made it all understandable.

So what exactly did she say so that her son would be secure in the knowledge that only attacking Jews (and cartoonists) is not something he needs to empathize with or worry about?

Grappling to find the logic in this, my son pondered the situation, and asked, “Well, why did they attack those restaurants and not other restaurants?”

It was a good question, hitting at the most terrifying aspect of all—the randomness of the attacks. Friday’s attacks impacted so many regular Parisians because they had been aimed directly at the most normal of people — the drinkers, the concert-goers, the soccer fans.

Implying, again, that the Jews going shopping are not exactly "the most normal of people," and in a small way their murders are more logical than those of the drinkers and soccer fans.

Does Vivienne Walt harbor antisemitic feelings? If so, it is certainly deep in her subconscious. After all, she wrote an article for Time in the wake of the Hypercacher attacks about how it affected the Jewish community. But here it is. Murdering "normal" French people is something that even adults have a hard time grappling with, but murdering French Jews is is something that can be explained even to a pre-teen,

And the editors at Time did not even think for a second that there was anything wrong in this piece..

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11/28 Links: Israel remains the Middle East's only anchor; Syria is dead, Israel must prepare

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: It’s all over for the ‘decent left’, and they have only themselves to blame

Two weeks after Paris we finally have some clarity from the political left. The current stance of their leadership (as expressed in the Parliamentary Labour party) is that while there is no justification for bombing ISIS, there are many reasons to bomb London. On the same evening that Jeremy Corbyn told his party that he could not support airstrikes on ISIS his old comrade (and head of the Labour party’s new ‘defence review’) Ken Livingstone shared his view on Question Time that the 7/7 bombers ‘gave their lives’ in an act of supremely selfless objection to the 2nd Iraq War.
Now I know that there are a few people still on the left who object to this line of thought or try to resist it. They like to call themselves the ‘decent left’ among other things. But they should recognise that they have lost. Their party is headed by a Marxist who is supported by a Stalinist and seconded by someone who while spending this week denying he is a Maoist was once again shown to be a supporter of IRA violence. Knowing when you have lost is important. It means you can begin the mourning process.
One minor point of interest to me over recent days has been watching some survivors of the left who have spent the last decade attacking anyone who has written on terrorism and Islamism now beginning to talk like old pros about Islamism and terrorism. You’d almost think they’d spent the last decade addressing these issues, rather than trying to shut down anyone who did address them. I suppose they’ll make some running of it and bluff along for a while, but these people seem to me little use to anyone. We don’t need them to talk about how ‘pathetic’ ISIS are or otherwise describe them as offensively as possible (‘death-cult’ etc) as though they might offend ISIS into submission. These people remain part of the problem because even though they have woken up to an element of Islamism they still display that lack of honesty which is one reason why they have lost even on their own political side.
Because currently the ‘decent left’ is trying to hold the following line. It is no longer ‘racist’ to be rude about ISIS or ISIS-like groups. Nor is it any longer ‘bigoted’ or ‘Islamophobic’ to identify an ideological component to their actions. There is even a recognition that ‘non-progressive’ ideological views are held by a certain portion of the Muslim communities of Europe. However, it remains deeply bigoted, racist and ‘Islamophobic’ to express any concern about bringing millions more Muslims into Britain and Europe.

Ken Livingstone 7 7 bombers were protesting Iraq invasion

Guy Bechor: Israel remains the Middle East's only anchor

For years, 'experts' have been dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, without realizing just how marginal it is and without understanding that it is being used as a tool for diverting the attention from the region's real problems.
What is there today on the other side, opposite Israel? A big void. There is a group of elderly people in Ramallah, with no power or legitimacy, and no agreement they could have reached would have been accepted by the Arab public in Judea and Samaria on in Gaza, and in any event, they had no intention of reaching any agreement. Their only goal was to gain the territories and use them for the next attack aimed at minimizing and weakening Israel.
Apart from that, there is nothing: No democracy, no economy, no law and no future. And there were those who wanted to give this void land from which they would attack central Israel with missiles.
The Arab regimes have accepted Israel's existence and are, secretly and openly, seeking its assistance. The conflict with the Palestinians exists, but it's tiny compared to the Sunni-Shi'ite demon, the huge battle with radical Islam and the world powers' infiltration of the Middle East in a military drive.
In the huge storm, the likes of which the area has not known since the Mongol invasion a little less than 800 years ago, Israel has remained the only island of stability. In the Middle East, which is desperately searching for a balance, we remain the only anchor.

Israelis Celebrate Modern Hanukkah Miracle as Mahmoud Abbas Begins 11th Year of His 4 Year Presidential Term (satire)

With only days left until the Festival of Lights, Israelis from all walks of life are celebrating a 21st Century miracle, as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas prepares to begin the 11th Year of a Four Year term of office that began in January 2005. The Daily Freier spoke with Tel Aviv residents as they made preparations to celebrate this momentous occasion.
“So the legend is that there was only enough corruption, incitement and farce to last four years…” explained local historian Yoni K. as he looked for sufganyot and potatoes in the Shuk Ha Carmel. “But through a little luck and maybe even a miracle, his four year term has lasted ten years and counting! Nes Gadol Haya Po!”
Nearby, local homemaker Rachel T. searched for Hanukkah gifts to send Mr. Abbas. “Abbas is always complaining about the Jews’ dirty feet, so I thought, why not get him a doormat…you know, just in case he has Jews over for company!”
While most people will celebrate Hanukkah as they always do, Florentin resident Danny G. wants to try something new this year. “Well first, I think we will hang out at my apartment and take turns reading President Abbas’ Doctoral Thesis. And then, I was thinking of hitting some clubs in Dubai with President Abbas’ son Yassar!”

On Saturday, presidential candidate Ben Carson visited Syrian refugees in Jordan in the Azraq camps.

But he didn't see any of the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who are considered "Palestinian."

Because they are not allowed to live in that camp.

In fact, for over two years, Jordan has pursued a policy of not allowing refugees from Syria whose ancestors lived in British Mandate Palestine in 1947 to enter, and they have been deporting scores of those who came in previously.

A report I quoted earlier this month explains:

In January 2013, the Jordanian government announced a non-entry policy for Palestinian refugees. Since then, those Palestinians who had been able to cross into Jordan (usually relying on forged documents or smugglers) have lived in fear of being arrested and deported back to Syria. Furthermore, Palestinians who fled to Jordan cannot legally live in the refugee camps established for Syrians, but at the same time, cannot legally work to earn money to rent housing outside of camps. The one exception is Cyber City, which is more of a detention center than a refugee camp, and where Jordanian authorities have been transferring Palestinians who are in the country clandestinely since April 2012. Palestinians are confined to Cyber City unless they decide to return to Syria.

Cyber City, which only has a few hundred Palestinians at this time, is essentially a prison.

Carson, without realizing it, witnessed discrimination against Palestinian Arabs that is much worse than how African Americans have been treated in the US since the Civil War. They are being told to go return a war zone.

And it is not only by Jordan - Lebanon and Egypt also turn away any Syrians of Palestinian ancestry from their borders.

Over 3000 Palestinians have already been killed in Syria, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Yet the Arab nations who reflexively trot out their supposed concern for Palestinians every time a Western leader visits or every time they address the UN are never asked about why they have entrenched, institutional discrimination against the people they claim to support.

If Ben Carson wants to help his foreign policy credentials, he should ask Jordanian officials where the Palestinians fleeing towards Jordan are, and why Jordan welcomes 600,000 Syrians but turns away Syrian Palestinians.

11/27 Links Pt2: Lessons from the Pollard saga; Hamas Looks beyond Jerusalem to Rome and Beyond

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Lessons from the Pollard saga

It warns us that while secretaries of state proclaim their eternal concern and friendship for Israel, there are officials whispering in their ears that Israel is the source of instability in the Middle East and that due to the support Israel enjoys from American Jewry, America’s ability to secure its interests in the Middle East is impaired. The weaker both US Jewry and Israel are, the better off America will be, they are told.
Unfortunately, more often than not, when Israelis aren’t pretending that these forces don’t exist, they tend to view them as all-powerful.
So it is that the same Israeli officials – again, predominately on the Left – who insist that Israel can trust US security guarantees because the US will never waver in its commitment to Israel, also insist that Israel must never act in opposition to the US. So long as the US opposes destroying Iran’s nuclear installations, Israel, they insist, must not raise a finger against them.
So long as the US supports a Palestinian state, they insist that Israel must carry on as if the so-called two-state solution is possible, let along good for Israel.
Obviously, both positions are simplistic and wrong. For the past 30 years, as Pollard suffered in prison, and Israel’s position in the US remained under constant assault by its opponents in the bureaucracy, Israel’s relations with the US expanded and deepened. The level of US popular support for Israel has grown from year to year.
Pollard’s story tells us that we need to grow up. The US is a great ally, but our alliance with America is no substitute for national power.
As an ally, we should take US concerns into account where we can, and act independently where we must. Pollard’s case was a great victory for our enemies in Washington. And they will score additional ones in the future. But so will our friends. And so will we.

November 29: The Day the UN Stands With the Palestinians and Demonizes Israel

There is no other UN subsidiary committee or UN day of solidarity specifically designated to advance the political cause of one people over another. This committee is yet more proof such double standards against Israel persist and are sanctioned by an official UN event in New York.
The Day is also a catalyst for highly politicized non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to amplify their support for anti-Israel BDS (boycotts, divestments, and sanctions) movement and other hostile campaigns. Many of these NGOs, which receive extensive funding from European governments, also regularly exploit UN forums and judicial processes to accuse Israel of “war crimes,” “crimes against humanity,” and other alleged violations of international law.
For example, in 2013, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which prides itself on seeking to create “a wedge” within the American Jewish community over support for Israel, marked the occasion by escalating efforts to boycott Israeli company SodaStream. Similarly, Palestinian NGO Al Mezan co-signed a letter accusing Israel of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” while calling on “UN member states to vote in favor of any resolution that would recognize Palestinian statehood.” Al Mezan is funded, directly and indirectly, by Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, the European Union, Norway, Germany, the UN Development Programme, and the UN Central Emergency Response Fund.
In 2012, a dozens of NGOs including Al Mezan, Al-Haq, Badil, Defence for Children International-Palestine — all of which are heavily funded by European donors — participated in a World Social Forum entitled “Free Palestine” held in Brazil. The four-day forum, which overlapped with November 29, included panels on “the right to return,” “international law and human rights,” “popular resistance,” and “the case of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.” Tellingly, the conference did not center on obtaining Palestinian statehood, but rather lamented the “narrowing of the Palestinian struggle to the West Bank only.”
While November 29 recalls the implications of UN resolutions from 40 and 70 years ago, we should also bear in mind another momentous event from the Fall of 1945. On October 24, the UN was founded at Lake Success, New York, to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights.” As the UN and NGOs prepare to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians by demonizing Israel and denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination, they and their donors should consider the extent to which they contribute to the exploitation of sacred and universal principles.

On November 30, Remember the Jewish Refugees Expelled from Arab Lands

On June 23, 2014, the Israeli Knesset passed a law designating November 30 as an official date in the calendar to remember the uprooting of almost one million Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Iran.
The date was chosen to recall the day after the UN passed the 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine. Following bloodcurdling threats by Arab leaders, violence erupted against Jewish communities all across the Mideast. The riots resulted in the mass exodus of Jews from the Arab world, the seizure of their property and assets, and the destruction of their millennarian, pre-Islamic communities. In 1979, the Islamic revolution resulted in the exodus of four-fifths of the Iranian-Jewish community.
Refugees are much in the news these days. Until the mass population displacement caused by the wars in Iraq and Syria, however, the world thought that ‘Middle Eastern refugee’ was synonymous with ‘Palestinian refugee.’ Yet there were more Jews displaced from Arab countries than Palestinians (850,000, as against 711,000 according to UN figures.)
The Jewish refugee issue is more than simply a question to be resolved at the negotiating table. It is a symptom of the Arab and Muslim world’s deep psychosis — an inability to tolerate the non-Arab, non-Muslim Other.
Today, both Muslim sects and non-Muslim minorities are being persecuted in the Middle East, but people are apt to forget that the Jews were one of the first. As the saying goes, “First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people.” And it does not stop there. A state that devours its minorities ends up devouring itself.

PreOccupiedTerritory: UN: Jacob Used Excessive Force In Encounter With Angel (satire)

The United Nations Human Rights Council ordered an investigation into the behavior of the patriarch Jacob this afternoon, saying that evidence raises serious questions over his use of what appears to be unnecessary force in an episode of combat with a man who turned out to be an angel.
In a unanimous vote, the Council decided to conduct an inquiry into the violent encounter, which occurred after Jacob crossed back over the Yabbok River to retrieve some remaining possessions from his family’s previous camp location. The Council noted that it was unnecessary to keep fighting all night, since, as it turned out, the angel only wanted to hurt Jacob’s thigh.
“Defending himself for hours and hours, as alleged – until dawn, according to documentary evidence – constitutes a violation of the principle of proportionality,” said a statement by the Council. “The fact that Jacob’s opponent had to beg to be released at dawn appears to indicate that Jacob used unnecessary force. The goal of self-defense would have been equally well served without the patently vindictive tactic of restraining the angel when he had all but surrendered.”

Report: Increase in Moroccan Jews immigrating to Israel

Over the past few days I've seen a number of articles in Arabic that quote the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics as saying that there has been an increase in the number of Jews immigrating to Israel from Arab countries.

I have not been able to find anything on the Israel CBS site, though.

Hespress (Morocco) reports that according to the bureau, 729 Moroccan Jews emigrates to Israel is 2014, compared to 297 people in the 2013, an increase of about 230 percent.

That sounds somewhat reasonable. There are several thousand Jews in Morocco (6000 according to CIA Factbook, 2500 according to Jewish Virtual Library) . However, an article from Algeria, quoting the same source, makes no sense.

Algeria's El Heddaf says that according to the report, 782 Jews left Algeria for Israel in 2014. However, most experts say that Algeria had less than 75 Jews in total in 2013.

El Haddaf agrees with Hespress in saying that 729 Moroccan Jews emigrated and says that more Jews came from Tunisia in 2014 than both, with 874 Jews making aliya. The Tunisian numbers also make little sense as there were estimated to be only 900 Jews left in Tunisia in 2013.

So I have no idea where El Haddaf is getting these numbers from, and what incentive they have to make them up.

11/27 Links Pt1: Breaking the truth: The mission to demonize Israel; Time to change the narrative

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Time to change the narrative

After Paris, the hope was expressed in Israel that now the west would recognize Israel was suffering from the same war of conquest and extermination. Unfortunately, however, the more obvious this becomes the more viciously the West will seek to defend its delusion.
The need to change the narrative has never been more urgent. In a recent interview with Channel 10, Abbas admitted publicly for the first time that in 2008 he flatly rejected an offer of statehood from Israel that would have given him control of almost all the West Bank and a share of Jerusalem, as well as Gaza. In other words, he wants Israel gone.
For various reasons, however, Israel has chosen not to educate the world in certain basic truths: that this is not a fight over two states but a struggle to prevent the Arab extermination of Israel; that Palestinian identity was created solely to achieve that murderous aim; and that Israel’s ostensible Western allies are complicit in that project by falsely denying the legality of Israel’s actions and sanitizing and incentivizing Palestinian rejectionism.
It is the West’s tragedy that it doesn’t understand it is up against exactly the same Islamic death cult that has attacked the Jews in the Holy Land for almost a century. It will never understand this unless these basic truths now start to be told.

Ben-Dror Yemini: Breaking the truth: The mission to demonize Israel

Maj. Amit Deri (res.), manager at a pre-military program, served as a company commander in Hebron. There he came across the activities of Breaking the Silence, an organization made up of ex-IDF soldiers. Deri started to look into exactly what they were doing. The result was an incendiary tape. Deri recorded shocking stories that Avner Gvaryahu, from the organization's leadership, told journalists, diplomats and foreign visitors. Gvaryahu created the impression that the IDF fired machine guns over a "massive radius" as a matter of routine, killing innocent civilians.
Where did this happen? When was this mass killing? The organization has published testimonies from Yehuda Shaul, the organization's founder, describing incidents like this. Is this really the case? For years in the West Bank, and particularly in Hebron, there have been five cameras per square meter. How is it that no one has photographed these insane shooting incidents?
Gvaryahu talks about IDF soldiers who enter houses and blindfold the family so that they can watch a soccer match. The organization referred to a soldier's testimony in response to Deri's recording. In the testimony there is no mention of most of the details provided in Gvaryahu's story. In order to add an extra sin to the crime, and in order to dodge the heart of the matter, the organization published a message stating that Deri is a "right-winger." And even if we assume that Deri is on the Right: so what? Can right-wingers not make serious claims? I asked Deri, by the way. He has no idea where they got it from. I asked them too. They didn't respond. It's understandable. Their mission is to turn Israel into a monster. And that won't happen without lies. (h/t Yenta Press)

‘Breaking the Silence’ Regret Use of their Work Against Israel

Breaking the silence, a group dedicated to collecting and disseminating testimonies by IDF soldiers about the terrible things they were made to do during their service, was dumbfounded to discover that there are people out there who would miss the point they try to make, namely that there’s a lot of blame to go around in the Israeli-Arab conflict — and conclude that only Israel is to blame. And point to those BTS testimonies as proof.
Here’s what they published on Facebook on Thursday, in what appears, at least on the face of it, to be a sincere expression of shock:
“We were deeply disappointed to come across this video in which our soldiers’ testimonies were not only misused, but also severely distorted.”
But then they conclude with the familiar mantra:
“In manipulating our testimonies, and thus the truth about the reality in the occupied territories, this type of rhetoric fuels the extreme right-wing’s pro-occupation narrative in Israel.

Breaking the Silence Supporter

Hassidic Jews Tackle, Restrain ‘Terrifying’ Antisemitic Assailant Outside Melbourne Synagogue (VIDEO)

A group of Hassidic Jews tackled and held down a man who shouted antisemitic epithets at a passersby and assaulted a congregant outside a synagogue in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday, video footage shows.
The video, posted on Facebook, shows the instigator standing outside the Adass Synagogue and shouting at a group of Hassidic men, “Go back to Israel.” When the assailant grabs hold of the shirt of one of the men, he is tackled and pinned to the ground by the group.
Though he attempts to fight back, he is held down until police arrive.
In a Facebook report on the incident, the local Australian Jewish News described the scene as “terrifying,” and called on members of the public to alert police in the event of an emergency.
A separate video circulating on Facebook shows the same assailant shouting at another Hassid at the entrance to the synagogue. After he is told to “Talk nicely,” the abuser responds by aggressively slapping the man in the face.
The incident began after the attacker, who was drunk at the time, was walking with three others toward a nearby train station when he allegedly stole a child’s scooter from outside the synagogue, the UK’s Daily Mail reported. He then got into a verbal argument with several Jewish men who came out of the synagogue to question him over the alleged theft.

.@UNRWA school principal loves Islamic Jihad terrorists - and their gun-toting mom

Rawdah Hamideh has been an UNRWA school principal in Jordan for 25 years.

There is no doubt that she works for UNRWA.

Last year she posted this on her Facebook page:

The caption says:
In red: “A woman walks with five of her sons behind her”
In black: “What a woman you are… Are you the Khansaa of Palestine? Maybe your femininity will teach the Arab rulers what is manhood, oh mother”

Rawdah obviously feels that terrorists are the only real men in "Palestine."

And her opinions shape the attitudes of everyone in an entire UNRWA school.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Palestine Press Agency reports that Hamas has scuttled a plan worked out between Egypt and the PA to open the Rafah crossing for both people and goods to enter Gaza.

Egypt has long said that it would re-open the crossings if the PA controlled them, rather than Hamas. This plan was for an independent Arab security firm, not affiliated with either Hamas or Fatah, to manage the crossing.

According to the article, Hamas agreed to the idea in theory, and then the PA and Egypt negotiated the plan itself. The two sides announced the agreement on November 18.

Then Hamas quashed the plan. Hamas leaders were upset that they were not part of the negotiations, while Egypt refuses to talk with Hamas. Hamas also insists that some 60 Hamas employees work at the crossing in any plan.

Hamas is said to use the few times that the crossing is open to send their own loyalists through and to extort thousands of dollars in bribes to allow other Gazans to pass through the border.

The Rafah crossing has been open for only 19 days in 2015. Some 25,000 humanitarian cases have been unable to cross into Egypt.

Meanwhile, Israel allows thousands to cross from Gaza into and through Israel every month.

Here is a description of the Palestinian Commission for Refugees Rights Protection written by the Anna Lindh Foundation:

The PCRP is Gaza-based NGO. It works with Refugees Communities, camp based groups all over Gaza Strip. Its mandate based on three interrelated areas namely Research, advocacy and campaign as well as Training and development. Current staff includes 4 full times. 6 part time, and 8 volunteers. The Budget varies yearly depending on the funding available. USAID, NED, QATAR government was the major three donors in the last three years.

I was able to verify at least one grant by USAID, of $37,000, in 2010, as well as over $40,000 in grants in 2005.

The website of the PCRP says that it is a member of the Anna Lindh network as well as of Amnesty International as well as other umbrella NGO networks.

In addition, they work with the UN Development Program. They recently met with a delegation from a Japanese NGO.

So while it is not too well-known, the PCRP gets its share of Western funds and attention.

The president of the organization, Dr Gamal Abdel Nasser Mohammed Abu Nahel, just wrote an article promoted on the PCRP Facebook page about - Jews. It is titled "The largest and most despicable gang in the world."

...Understand that they are the enemies of humanity. They twice tried to kill our Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. But God saved him from their cunning and guile.

Their so-called state is a bloody mess without morals and without religion run by a terrorist gang They are a nation of treachery and deceit and murder.

..."The Hour will not until Muslims fight the Jews, and the Jew hides behind the stones and trees. The rocks or trees will say: O Muslim! O slave of Allah! This is a Jew behind me, come kill him; except for the Gharqad tree which is a tree of the Jews": wait for the promise of God Almighty who will cleanse the holy land of their filth and their crimes.

They are the most despicable gang on the face of the earth and all they do was foretold in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, those documents from a lecture by Zionist leader Herzl to a group of Zionists, to control of the world and its wealth and rulers.

The bloody history of the terrorist Jewish Zionists has been continuous since the dawn of history to this day...

This is the head of an NGO that is respected by Western governments and "human rights" organizations. And his organization was so proud of the article that they promoted it themselves.

You may want to write to these Western organizations - Anna Lindh Foundation, Amnesty, USAID and National Endowment for Democracy, asking if they indeed partner with PCRP and if so what they plan to do about this.

(h/t Shawarma News)

UPDATE: Dr. Nahel has previously been highlighted here for saying that "Zionists' were responsible for the Crusades. (h/t Bob K)

EoZ Black Friday Sale!

For this weekend only, when you donate to EoZ, you will receive double the karma!

For a $50 donation, you will receive the equivalent pleasure of giving a $100 donation!

And the benefits don't end there! Your pleasure for donating to such a worthy cause as EoZ increases with the amount of donations - so $250 will get you $500 worth of brownie points that can never be taken away from you!

(If these huge intangible benefits of giving to EoZ aren't enough, well, I'll throw in a Gaza War e-book for every donation of $25 or more.)

But act fast! These benefits won't last forever!

(Glossary: Black Friday, brownie points)

11/26 Links Pt2: Iran Deal Is Not ‘Legally Binding’ and Iran Didn’t Sign It; Chanukah Song Part 4

From Ian:

State Department: Iran Deal Is Not ‘Legally Binding’ and Iran Didn’t Sign It

President Obama didn’t require Iranian leaders to sign the nuclear deal that his team negotiated with the regime, and the deal is not “legally binding,” his administration acknowledged in a letter to Representative Mike Pompeo (R., Kan.) obtained by National Review.
“The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is not a treaty or an executive agreement, and is not a signed document,” wrote Julia Frifield, the State Department assistant secretary for legislative affairs, in the November 19 letter.
Frifield wrote the letter in response to a letter Pompeo sent Secretary of State John Kerry, in which he observed that the deal the president had submitted to Congress was unsigned and wondered if the administration had given lawmakers the final agreement. Frifield’s response emphasizes that Congress did receive the final version of the deal. But by characterizing the JCPOA as a set of “political commitments” rather than a more formal agreement, it is sure to heighten congressional concerns that Iran might violate the deal’s terms.
“The success of the JCPOA will depend not on whether it is legally binding or signed, but rather on the extensive verification measures we have put in place, as well as Iran’s understanding that we have the capacity to re-impose — and ramp up — our sanctions if Iran does not meet its commitments,” Frifield wrote to Pompeo.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani discouraged his nation’s parliament from voting on the nuclear deal in order to avoid placing legal burdens on the regime. “If the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is sent to [and passed by] parliament, it will create an obligation for the government. It will mean the president, who has not signed it so far, will have to sign it,” Rouhani said in August. “Why should we place an unnecessary legal restriction on the Iranian people?”

Report: Europeans Funded ICC War Crimes Submission against Israel

NGO Monitor has issued a report titled “European Funding for Palestinian NGO Submission to the International Criminal Court on Alleged Israeli War Crimes during 2014 Gaza operation.”
The report notes that on, November 23 four European funded Palestinian NGOs, Al-Haq, Al-Mezan Center for Human Rights, Aldameer and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) submitted a document to Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), claiming evidence and testimonies of alleged Israeli “war crimes” perpetrated during the 2014 Gaza war (Operation Protective Edge).
The NGO Monitor report suggests the “lawfare” campaigns of these NGOs seek to erase the context of Palestinian terrorism targeting Israeli civilians and to obstruct Israeli attempts at defending against it. And, of course, Al Haq, al-Mezan, PCHR and Aldameer all receive extensive direct and indirect funding from European governments. These governments irresponsibly fund and enable political campaigns with the sole purpose of demonizing Israel under a façade of human rights.
According to NGO Monitor, these four NGOs are all leaders in anti-Israel activities (including boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns), and this submission is part of the ongoing “lawfare” campaign exploiting international institutions in general and the ICC in particular for anti-Israel campaigns. This tactic was adopted at the NGO Forum of the 2001 Durban Conference, and is an integral part of the Durban Strategy which seeks to demonize and delegitimize Israel.

Anti-Israel group claims discrimination after Co-op Bank closes its account

The Palestine Solidarity Campaign claims it has launched a legal case against the Co-operative Bank after its account was suddenly closed.
The anti-Israel campaign group said the move amounted to discrimination.
The PSC said the bank had cited its own “risk appetite” as the only stated reason behind the decision.
A statement released by the PSC revealed that at least 20 groups affiliated to or working with the organisation to pursue anti-Israel campaigns had been affected. Accounts were closed last month by the bank, or access to funding was denied.
The Co-op angered Israel supporters in 2012 when its supermarket arm extended a boycott policy against Israel. It had refused to stock products from West Bank settlements since 2009, but implemented a bar on any engagement with Israeli suppliers which worked with the settlements.
PSC branches across the country had lobbied the Co-op for the ban and supported the measures taken against Israel.

An antisemitic Saudi op-ed

From Saudi news site Al Riyadh:

Deceased Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan said in 1967: "I've taken over Jerusalem, and next we're going to Medina and Babylon."

What is happening in Palestine today, especially in the Al-Aqsa Mosque, are aggressive criminal acts of unspeakable cruelty. They are heedless of the laws and UN resolutions for the benefit of the enemies of the true religion by speaking out of international bodies and international organizations and the UN without worrying about the powerless .. The Jews violated rights, covenants and conventions because they are characterized by treachery and treason, they think they are God's chosen people, and they say that others have no right to live life.

They work in order to achieve their desired dream from the Nile to the Euphrates.

What are we Muslims doing? Especially since the target is Islam and its people.

They are still are planning and holding conferences for many years on how to destroy the world and to eliminate their enemies, they have conspired to anyone who stands against them or who impedes the achievement of what they are seeking. They are the most hostile to those who believe in Allah in the Qur'an, and these Jews and the like want to extinguish the light of God with their mouths and say Allah is dead.

Therefore, all members of the Islamic nation should be aware what schemes they are hatching. ... Let us all be aware of the hostility and conspiracy hatched and planned by the Jews to fight Islam and Muslims.

Vic Rosenthal's weekly column:

Yes, I admit it. I started out in life as a leftist. In 1982 I thought that we went too far in Lebanon; we should have stopped at the 40 km. line promised by Sharon. I was horrified by the Sabra/Shatila massacres, and participated with the other members of my kibbutz at a Peace Now demonstration in Tel Aviv, calling for the replacement of Begin’s government. I saw myself as ‘pro-peace’, unlike those ‘settlers’.

By the time Oslo was signed I was starting to have my doubts. Sure, only a two-state solution would bring peace, the settlement movement was made up of religious fanatics, but – Arafat? Would he really become ‘moderate’? At least, I thought, we were on the right track with Rabin rather than a dangerous right-winger.

During the 90s, I became aware that Arafat lied all the time, calling for jihad in Arabic while he talked about ‘peace’ in English. I also noticed that terrorism was increasing rather than decreasing (much later, my son was part of a force that entered PLO headquarters in eastern Jerusalem and found documentary evidence that Arafat was paying the terrorists to kill Jews).

In 2000 the dream of a two-state agreement with the Palestinian Arabs disintegrated in the explosions of the Second Intifada. By the time the intifada had been suppressed by Operation Defensive Shield, I realized that there would not be an agreement. But we had to separate from the Palestinians, didn’t we? I recall a conversation with one of my son’s friends. “We have to build a wall between us and the Arabs,” I said. “We can’t live together with them in places like Hevron.”

“Hevron?” he said. “Davka (especially) Hevron!” where Abraham bought land from Ephron to bury Sarah, and where the Jewish population was brutally murdered in 1929. Davka Hevron. I couldn’t answer him.

But Arik Sharon had a plan, called “disengagement.” We would build walls and unilaterally separate from the Arabs. “Separate,” not withdraw. It would be done from strength, not weakness. It would be our choice, not theirs. If they tried anything, we’d crush them.

In 2005 my son got married. All the cars in the wedding procession displayed orange banners in opposition to the destruction of the Gaza settlements and the expulsion of their Jewish residents. I felt bad for them, but Arik, “the bulldozer,” thought it was the right choice. If we couldn’t trust Arik, whom could we trust?

The Arabs, it turned out, didn’t see it the way Sharon did. They saw it as weakness, a surrender and a vindication of their terrorist tactics, proof that the intifada had been a success after all. An argument to continue the violent “resistance.”

Could Arik have made it work? I doubt it, but we didn’t find out because Arik had his ultimately fatal stroke and was replaced by the common criminal and uncommon traitor Ehud Olmert, the worst Prime Minister in the history of Israel, who bungled a war and tried to give the country away to Mahmoud Abbas. To our great good fortune, Abbas wouldn’t take it.

Several wars and countless terrorist murders later, I began to understand the spiritual dimension to the conflict. I saw that the biblical homeland of the Jewish people in Judea and Samaria was important for more than strategic military reasons. I understood, as Moshe Dayan in 1967 had not, that the Temple Mount was not just of historical importance to the Jewish people. Dayan’s decision to give control over it to the Muslim authorities, just like Sharon’s abandonment of Gush Katif, was seen by the Arabs not as a gesture of strength, but as a surrender. And just like the disengagement from Gaza, it exacerbated the conflict rather than calming it.

But I still clung to the idea that there could be partial solutions. Couldn’t we just annex Area C, where most of the settlements are, and leave the mass of hostile Arabs in Areas A and B? Couldn’t we somehow wall them off and promise to strike them hard if they fire rockets over the walls?

After my long journey, I finally realize that the answer is no. There is no partial solution. To win the physical war we must win the spiritual war as well. We must take full control of all of the historic homeland of the Jewish people, and that includes Hevron, Shechem (Nablus) and of course the Temple Mount.

We need to once and for all show the Arabs and the rest of the world that we are serious that the Land of Israel will remain in Jewish hands. Our compromises only encourage the Arabs and their supporters in the West to fight harder to push us out of the land. The Arab-Muslim ideology doesn’t have room for a sovereign Jewish state in the Middle East of any size and anything we offer them is only the starting point for new demands.

John Kerry is here as I write, to tell us that we need to take steps to give the Palestinian Arabs hope. That way, he says, they will be less likely to stab us or run us over in the street. He has it backwards. They are stabbing us because they have hope – hope that if they make it bad enough for us we will leave. Peace will come when we take away that hope.

There is a simple answer to those who object that we can’t annex Judea and Samaria and still have a Jewish and democratic state. Of course we can. All it takes is that we treat the Arabs there as responsible actors and ask them what they want.

In other words, those Arabs in the territories who will agree to live in a Jewish state, like most of the Arabs within the Green Line today, can be given a choice of citizenship or permanent residency, like the Arabs in eastern Jerusalem.

Those who, for religious or ideological reasons, cannot live under Jewish sovereignty can leave, to Jordan, the Sinai, Gaza, Europe, South America or South Paterson, New Jersey. This also applies to those who presently live within the Green Line or in Jerusalem who also can’t abide a Jewish state, like Haneen Zoabi for example. I don’t object to our providing financial assistance to those who need it. Forcing them to stay in a Jewish state is coercive and undemocratic. Remember that “two-state” plans envision the forced transfer of tens of thousands of Jews away from their homes. Arabs, too, can make sacrifices for peace.

Finally there are those whose ideology requires them to be at war with us. We will be at war with them. The PLO is such an organization. It should be disarmed and outlawed like the Northern Branch of the Islamic Movement.

The one option that we will not give them is to stay where they are and oppose the Jewish state.

This plan will be monumentally unpopular in the West, but unlike all the other plans, it isn’t just a fig leaf placed over the piecemeal destruction of the Jewish state.

This era has been called a historical inflection point. Humanity is poised at the edge of a chaotic descent into a new dark age. Or maybe not. Israel is on the “seam line” where the forces of Islam and the West are contending for control. What happens here will be of great import for the rest of the world, but we have to win the battle to survive by ourselves. If we do, they’ll thank us in the long run.

11/26 Links Pt1: Intentions And Goals Are Everything; Europe and Islam: A clash of failures

From Ian:

IsraellyCool: Intentions And Goals Are Everything

At the risk of boring everyone with another Sam Harris post…. here’s another Sam Harris post. It’s an extract from a long interview he gave to Salon. Despite the fact that he has been attacked by Salon. Funnily enough most of the attention this will get will be because Sam explained what the problem is with Salon and that bit they cut from the interview. Fortunately Sam’s published the whole thing on his site.
But the bit I’m pulling out leads into his views on Israel.
And it starts from the point of view of “intentions and goals” as the interview says. This is a central point I’ve made over and over. It is the root of the asymmetry in casualties and what you can learn from who gets killed here.
When Palestinian children die under IDF fire it was NEVER the intention.
When Jewish children die at the hands of Palestinian terrorists it was the intention.
Sam makes this crystal clear invoking something I’ve said, glibly, many times:
we know that the Israelis aren’t genocidal because it is well within their power to commit genocide today, and they’re not doing it. That’s a very important difference.
As I have said many times, Jews have excelled in so many areas (except professional golf): so why do we suck so badly at genocide! Ever since we started “genociding” the Palestinians their population has grown and grown.
If you ever see anyone quoting numbers killed as basketball statistics without pointing out this fundamentally true imbalance, you have nothing further to learn from that person.

Ben-Dror Yemini: Dangerous lunacy: When the elites scapegoat Israel

“We will conquer Rome and then the two Americas … the Jews, Christians and Communists must all be killed, to the last one …" "...the Jews are planning to blow up Al-Aqsa Mosque.”
This is the propaganda being disseminated in the media, sponsored by Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and sometimes also by the Palestinian Authority, which controls the West Bank. In other words, the ISIS leaders’ idea of conquering Rome is actually shared by all the Islamic Jihad organizations. Hamas actually said the same things long before ISIS. In this sense, there is no difference between the global jihad perpetrating mass murder in Paris and the global jihad trying to kill Jews in Israel.
Yet Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom is supplying explanations, and even rationalizations, for the global jihad. These aren’t murderers. They’re just desperate. And their despair has driven them to carry out mass murder in Paris, Jerusalem, London and Madrid. According to her, these murderers are actually freedom activists. They’re only trying to push forward a settlement between the Israelis and Palestinians, to end the occupation. Well, we can demand that Wallstrom listen to what they are really saying: They do not want peace. They do not want two states for two peoples. They do not want an end to the Israeli occupation. They want an Islamic empire that will rule the entire world.
That includes Sweden. Meanwhile, we should note, they are killing mostly Muslims. They’re doing it in Nigeria, Syria, Iraq, Libya, Pakistan and Afghanistan. Most of the jihadists wouldn’t know how to point to Israel on a map. But Wallstrom claims that they are killing and murdering and sowing destruction in the world because of the Palestinians. Is she serious?

Heartbreaking video shows the faces of Israeli victims

As daily Palestinian terror attacks against Israelis continue - and while many international media outlets choose to downplay Israeli suffering - Israel Hayom journalist Lital Shemesh felt she needed to do something to raise awareness of the 22 Israelis murdered so far in shootings, stabbings and car-ramming attacks.
The short but powerful video she produced in response quickly went viral when she posted it on her Facebook page, garnering nearly 8,000 shares in just one day.
"As an Israeli who lives in the the shadow of the recent wave of terror I decided that this can't go on," she told Arutz Sheva. "People are being slaughtered here in the streets and we don't hear the world media condemn the acts or support Israel.
"I understood that the time had come to show the world how I feel in a short film, without any narration, which shows the pictures of those who were murdered over the past two months."
Towards the end of the film a visibly emotional Shemesh can be seen fighting back tears - a reaction she said was entirely spontaneous, as her sense of grief overcame her.

Israeli journalist Lital Shemesh reveals 22 lives killed by Palestinians

We are coming down to a choice (guest post)

From Jerry Levoritz:

We Are Coming Down To A Choice

Sometimes politics makes no sense to the layman. Israel is a country that exhibits many characteristics of Socialist states like Denmark, Norway, Sweden and much of Western Europe. It originated the Kibbutz system almost 100 years ago, the voluntary collective farms that helped make agriculture a high status occupation in pre-state Israel. It is supportive of gay rights, offers inexpensive university tuition and universal healthcare, subsidizes public transportation, tolerates workers’ strikes every Monday and Thursday, and has an active Communist party that includes many Arabs and some Jews. Why, then, do Leftists abhor Israel to the point of seeking its dissolution? Some people don’t know why, while others know but won’t say. But as it becomes more acceptable to speak openly of the socialist agenda, the reasons for opposition to Israel are becoming clearer.

1) Israel has borders that are heavily protected because of obvious security concerns. Leftists hate borders as a principle of their faith. If the “old” is to be overthrown, then the mixing of cultures is necessary in order to wash out previous values and cultural norms. They sugarcoat this chaotic mixing of diverse cultures by appealing to the empathy that persists in the souls of non-Socialists. To wit, everyone should have unlimited mercy for everyone else. However, real Socialists neither believe in the soul nor do they have any truck with the concept of empathy. So, Israel’s self-enforced physical and social borders motivate Socialists to oppose the Jewish nation. Feelings about borders among Socialists of the most radical ilk are so strong that they have no problem wishing “Death to the Jews!” In their humble opinions, it would be much better to destroy the Jewish State and its citizens than have them remain as an example of a properly functioning country with borders.

2) Many Jews, particularly Israeli Jews, not only have the audacity to show pride and even joy in their tribal membership, they claim as well to be indigenous to the Middle East and to the Land of Israel. The Left reserves the appellation “indigenous” for non-whites. Once your skin is white and you express characteristics of being educated in European, American, or secular scientific culture, there is no longer room for the concept of “indigenous.” Besides, “indigenous” is used to create guilt in the oppressors. When “indigenous” becomes a happy concept, it loses its value and must be discarded. Therefore, Jews can never be “indigenous” anywhere.

3) Jews talk too much and analyze too much. This propensity stems from learning the Babylonian Talmud either deep in the past or perhaps currently. As well, the real complexity of the world forces constant telescopic and microscopic analyses that infuriate the Left. Their ideas are settled science. For the Revolution to proceed apace, discussion must give way to action. It is not even the success of the Revolution that is at the heart of the matter. Making the world a better place might be good public relations, but is nearly irrelevant. Quite the opposite; satisfaction is anathema to the continuance of the Revolution. It is little wonder, then, that the Left abhors free speech for all sides in a dispute. Therefore, Israel cannot be permitted to defend itself, because that causes confusion and places the brakes on actions that are necessary to right all wrongs – as formulated by the Left.

4) Israeli Jews, but not Diaspora Jews, reproduce at a rate higher than replacement. This being the case, Israel will not in the foreseeable future require masses of foreigners to replace aging Jews. A trickle of workers comes to Israel from the Philippines to serve as caretakers for the elderly and Thais and Chinese come to augment the agricultural workforce. Palestinian Arabs used to perform these jobs until they became too dangerous to employ. An occasional murdered Jewish co-worker or real estate developer made the Muslims more persona non grata than not, though many still seek employment in Israeli businesses, because of the wage differential. For example, there are still 12 thousand plus Arabs working in 890 Jewish businesses in Judea and Samaria because they would not do better elsewhere.

African economic migrants, as well, try to slip across Israel’s border, but it is an exceedingly dangerous activity, since they will suffer all forms of abuse including possible death before they even make it to the Holy Land.

http://www.timesofisrael.com/egypt-police-kill-15-sudanese-migrants-at-israel-border/ These folks are not welcomed in Israel and must stubbornly withstand substantial government bribes and a free flight home so as to remain in Israel. Leftists find these bribes to be racist, but Israeli Jews have no need to become a minority in the only country that protects them if they wish to openly practice their religion and flesh out their millennial hopes for restoration to their homeland. Name‑calling by Leftists does not make the accusations so. Israel is as diverse in terms of race as New York City. On the other hand, the Socialists want Israel to be just as diverse in religious culture as New York, thus making it anything but the homeland of the Jews.

5) The attachment of Jews to the land of Israel makes Leftists crazy, since they cannot tolerate the attachment of anyone to any piece of land. They believe with full hearts that land is not a private or group possession, but a government monopoly. The wholesale implementation of eminent domain will ultimately uproot both the peasantry and middle‑class all over the world. “Why?” you may well ask! Because no individual or group can be allowed to hold rights that may interfere with the activities of the Revolution. “Home” is an anti-Revolutionary concept as exemplified by China’s excising millions of people from their ancestral farms and villages for the sake of a massive dam project, paying them pennies on the dollar in compensation.

6) The Jews of Israel represent a brain-trust for the world. Many countries have brilliant scholars, scientists and mathematicians. All one has to do is peruse the names and countries of origin of the authors of scientific research to realize that intelligence and ingenuity are a world-wide phenomenon. However, it is, as well, impossible to look through these same erudite journals without seeing surnames of Jewish and Israeli origins at a percentage that far exceeds their numbers in the world’s population by a very large margin. But intellectual productivity is another reason Leftists oppose the existence of Israel and the survival of Jews as a separate group. If equality of outcome for all individuals is to be guaranteed, then no group should produce more talent than anyone else. So, scientific and technological advances that make Israelis proud and pleased make modern Leftists livid. Any scientific or social progress emanating from the Jewish State must perforce be obtained on the backs of the disenfranchised Palestinian Muslims, according to our Leftist scholars.

Also, it is crucial for the Left to oppose Israel because Israeli military prowess permits them to behave independently in a world where obedience to central governing forces is increasingly expected. Israel has too much power to suit the purveyors of the New World Order. That Israel would be ground into the dust without its technological edge is of no particular concern.

7) Non-estranged Jews, particularly Israeli Jews, are comfortable within their families. They define themselves quite regularly as someone’s close or distant relative. Doesn’t everyone do this? Not as much as in Israel where people most typically only have two degrees of separation from any other Jew. This circumstance is an abomination to Socialists. Families enslave women and produce emotionally needy children. Sexual relations, according to Socialists, can be carried out with anyone, anywhere and at any time. Children should be the wards of the state and detached from their families at the earliest possible moment. Therefore, families are not necessary and must be recognized as an overall destructive social construct. The dissolution of the family will have the additional benefit of reducing birthrates.

At this point we introduce an old-new concept: “Useless Eaters” was and still is a proper topic of conversation among Socialists. If families do not serve the purposes of the State because they dilute government authority and individuals only serve the purposes of the State when their talents reflect well on its glories, then most humans are “useless eaters.” Thus, Jews who may still be raised with the presumption of the benefits of the nuclear or extended family are not-with-the-program. The more family-oriented the Jews of Israel, the less worthy of life they become in the eyes of the most radical Socialists. Socialists want everyone to accept the wisdom about family life that ‘nothing’ is just as good as anything else.

8) Jewish history is long. Major holidays have Biblical origins and there is no more recent minor holiday on the Jewish calendar than Chanukah that occurred just before the Roman conquest of the Middle East. “Old” is an understatement; ancient is a better characterization of Jewish origins. As time goes on, evidence external to the Bible tends to confirm the Biblical narrative.

The hard Left rejects the usefulness of historical experience except as it pertains to the ‘workers’ struggle’ to free themselves from the shackles of the Capitalist oppressors. Recently, to accommodate the changing times, ‘peasant’ and ‘worker’ have been dropped from Socialist parlance, because farmers are middle-class while ‘workers’ are relatively comfortable in America and so these categories have been replaced by the ‘unemployed’, the ‘Black’, and the ‘immigrant’ as appropriate victim classes. The sufferers may change on a dime, but the cure goes on forever, thus immortalizing the Revolution. At this juncture, the conflict between history-driven Judaism and anti-history Leftist ideology becomes unbridgeable. Sooo distasteful are historical references that justify the tenure of Jews on their land that the Left must out of principle oppose Judaism so others can be forced to think ‘clearly’ without being bothered by the ancient Jewish narrative.

9) Most of the six million Jews in Israel and many of the other two million non-Jews are insisting on a national homeland for Jews there, even in the face of 1.5 billion Muslims and 350 million Arabs. Since everyone is equal, according to our dear Socialists, how is it that the Jews can persist in the face of this enormous discrepancy? How is it that the Jews have not been absorbed? It must be that the Israelis are oppressive, totalitarian, apartheid-loving pigs and apes. Oh wait, that’s the Muslim take on the Jews! The Socialists just believe that the Israelis are oppressive, totalitarian, apartheid-loving racists.

The truth is that Jews both love and like their country. They like practicing their Jewish customs whether they believe in God or not. They adore trekking about the hills and valleys of their ancestral homeland. They are deeply grateful for the trust that they may presume between themselves and their Jewish neighbors. They even like the language that they speak. Hebrew is ancient, simple, direct, flexible, and sufficiently expressive for writing both prose and poetry. When a word is missing, they can always retrieve a cognate form from Arabic, Aramaic, Amharic, or American. In fact, all curse words were acquired from Arabic and American, because Hebrew did not come with any. In short, the Jews are pleased with what they have cobbled together out of malaria-ridden swamps and desert dust.

It is fair to conclude that Socialists resent Jewish tribal qualities. They are elitist and divisive, they say. Even the Joie de Vivre of the Jews is a reflection of that elitism. In a world filled with inequality and inequity no one has a right to be happy, and certainly not Jews who perennially perpetrate unhappiness in others just by being there. The Jews do not deserve the Mediterranean coast or the Golan Heights or the unique city of Jerusalem. They should be permitted the practice of their ancient nonsense of a religion in their homes and synagogues anywhere else in the world but Palestine, but only if they remain properly modest and self-effacing, though it would be better for them simply to disappear into the faceless masses of other useless eaters. So say the righteous Socialists!

Jews who care about Judaism do not agree. The equality among all peoples touted by Socialists has been a value in Judaism since the Exodus from Egypt. One always favors one’s kith and kin, but this emotional favoritism has been balanced in Judaism by the principle that since you were strangers in Egypt, you must not oppress the stranger that lives among you. A conscious Jew gets properly bent out of shape when an obvious injustice is done to another community or individual. However, there is not now nor will there likely be perfection in matters of societal organization. Those who expect perfection for society whether as a naïve philosophy or as a vicious chronic tactic of the Revolution need to find a different planet to live on. Alternatively, it would be best for Socialism to learn to live more peaceably with other more satisfying systems of societal organization. Jews, as most people, will not abide by the imposition upon them of eternal Revolution that must result in Nihilism. Average and ordinary people seek peace by structuring peaceful groups and places to inhabit. It is like nest building, quite natural. The Jews of Israel will not suffer revolution, when evolution is good enough, and a lot less painful and bloody. Nor should anyone else! Therefore, it is the very example offered by the Jews of Israel for all its citizens of successful living without Revolution that causes the most gnashing of teeth among the humorless Leftist ideologues. Constant fighting self-justifies the existence of the Left, but for Jews, peace in their homes, in their neighborhoods and in their country is a superior choice. If a peace that includes everyone is impossible, it is better, say the Jews, to provide peace for themselves. That is the heart of the Zionist dream.