Peter Beinart's nonsensical NYT op-ed

Peter Beinart in the New York Times has another incredibly misleading article about - well, you know what its about.

TO believe in a democratic Jewish state today is to be caught between the jaws of a pincer.

On the one hand, the Israeli government is erasing the “green line” that separates Israel proper from the West Bank. In 1980, roughly 12,000 Jews lived in the West Bank (excluding East Jerusalem). Today, government subsidies have helped swell that number to more than 300,000. Indeed, many Israeli maps and textbooks no longer show the green line at all.

In 2010, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel called the settlement of Ariel, which stretches deep into the West Bank, “the heart of our country.” Through its pro-settler policies, Israel is forging one political entity between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea — an entity of dubious democratic legitimacy, given that millions of West Bank Palestinians are barred from citizenship and the right to vote in the state that controls their lives.

For Beinart's thesis to be correct, you must believe that the Palestinian Authority and the PLO has no political legitimacy, or power.

Yet it is recognized as a full state by 129 nations; its citizens vote (at least in theory) to elect their leaders, it has autonomy, a territory that all accept as controlled by its own security forces, a court system, an Olympic team, and its own passports. According to at least one distinguished legal scholar, it is considered a full state under international law. The World Bank is putting out reports about how ready the territories are for statehood. The entire Oslo process - that Israel still supports - was designed to give full self-determination to Palestinian Arabs in the territories, and (more recently) statehood. For Beinart to turn around and state that all of these don't exist, and that for some reason the territories are (as he tries to coin the term) "nondemocratic Israel," is nonsense. Israel has no intention of integrating Ramallah or Jericho into Israel. And as recently as January, Israel tried to hold negotiations with the PLO, and the other side refused.

Beinart, in his attempt to sound an alarm for Israeli democracy, chooses quite deliberately to ignore everything that happened to the Palestinian Arabs since 1994.

It is Palestinian Arab intransigence, not Israeli settlements, that has stopped a Palestinian Arab state. Beinart's willingness to blame only one side shows that he is not being as evenhanded and "pro-Israel" as he tirelessly claims to be.

But, you might counter, what about Area C? Israel does indeed control all aspects of the lives of Arabs who live there, and while they vote in PA elections, they do not have much say in their own political affairs. Doesn't Israel's presence there endanger Israeli democracy?

The number of Palestinian Arabs in Area C is about 150,000 (about 2.5% of all Palestinian Arabs.) Which means that the percentage of people living under Israeli sovereignty who do not have political rights is, today, about 1.9%.

By way of contrast, the percentage of people living in US territories who are not represented in Congress and who cannot vote in presidential elections - those in Puerto Rico, Guam, the US Virgin Islands and elsewhere - is about 1.3%.

So is Israel's control of Area C a danger to Israeli democracy? Not unless you think that US territories endanger US democracy too. The idea is ridiculous. It is an issue, it is not a death-blow to democracy.

To go further, if Israel would decide to annex Area C, wouldn't that solve all the problems? No demographic issue, giving the Arabs there full citizenship - and Beinart's argument is down the drain.

Somehow, I don't think that Beinart would support that solution, or even a modified version of that solution. Because he has bought into the Palestinian Arab narrative that the artificially constructed 1949 armistice lines - which were not considered international borders before 1967 and were always meant to be modified in a final peace agreement between Israel and the Arab world - are somehow special, and that no peace can possibly result from a change in those lines that would include, say, Ariel. (He sort of says that he agrees that some of the border settlements would end up in Israel, and then tells those "settlers" to throw the more "ideological" settlers under the bus. Yay for Jewish unity!)

But there is no proof that this is true. Is is simply an assertion on the part of Palestinian Arabs, who repeat it over and over again so much that people like Peter Beinart believe it. And, whether they realize it or not, "pro-Israel Jews" like Beinart - by writing op-eds that accept this false premise - end up increasing Palestinian intransigence.

They are not helping peace at all.

What does Beinart think about the Clinton parameters, or the Olmert offer? They were clearly sufficient to demolish all of his arguments about a threat to Israeli democracy. Yet instead of slamming the PLO for its rejection of those peace plans, he continues insistence on the 1967 lines. Beinart buys into the Palestinian Arab narrative.  Instead of telling them that they should compromise and bring a lasting peace, he is telling them implicitly that they should buckle down and wait for American Jews like himself to pressure Israel to accept all of their demands.

The eventual border between Israel and a Palestinian Arab state must be negotiated. Moving it a bit to the east does not endanger Israeli democracy nor does it endanger Palestinian statehood. It doesn't even endanger Palestinian Arab contiguity, as any glance at a map would prove. This is self-evident, but repeated Palestinian Arab assertions that it is not "acceptable" are swallowed whole by a lot of otherwise smart people who believe they are pro-Israel.

I'm sorry, but this is not a pro-Israel argument, and op-eds like this do not bring peace any closer. Quite the contrary.

(h/t Avi for some ideas)

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Jerusalem multicultural music festival causes Islamists to gnash teeth

From JPost:

Revel in the sights and sounds of the Old City of Jerusalem at the Sounds of the Old City Festival. A true celebration of all the four quarters’ inhabitants, the alleys, squares and walls of the Old City will come to life with traditional and contemporary Armenian, Arab and Jewish music. Featuring Marsh Dondurma, Dandana, Shaharayer, Ararat Ensemble, Shlomo Bar, Opera Studio, Reim Duo and Joseph.

Runs Tuesday through next Thursday, 6 p.m. – 11 p.m. www.jerusalem-oldcity.org.il

Sounds about as multicultural as possible, doesn't it?

But the wizened minds of the Muslims who pore over every Israeli press release in order to find something to seethe over know better. They look at this festival and see only one thing: Judaization!

The Aqsa Heritage Foundation denounced these celebrations, and confirmed in a statement today that the occupation authorities are ​​only exploiting for the Judaization of Jerusalem and the area around Al-Aqsa Mosque, and most recently announced by the organization of night concerts in Jewish neighborhoods in the Old City of Jerusalem and its walls, and in areas close to the Al Aqsa Mosque.

The Al-Aqsa Foundation said, "The organization of these festivals is contrary to the sanctity of Jerusalem and its Arabism. The Israeli occupation uses these to change the of Islamic Arab religious, historical and cultural character of the city of Jerusalem and the area around Al-Aqsa Mosque, and the organization of these events disturbs the lives of Jerusalemites and disrupts their lives because of the accompanying extensive security measures. "

The statement said that objectives of these concerts are to support the Jewish economy in Jerusalem, and restrict the Palestinian economy.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Arabs have been building their own cultural institutions in Jerusalem. From the Daily News Egypt, an article that reveals the mainstream Arab news bias:

In East Jerusalem, the occupation has affected the city’s cultural landscape. Chronic underinvestment, expanding settlements and a massive wall — which Israel says it has constructed for security purposes and Palestinians allege is a land grab — have had the effect of squeezing the life out of the Palestinian quarter in Jerusalem and shifting the cultural center of gravity to Ramallah in the West Bank. In addition, it seems many Palestinian Jerusalemites have not been able to shake off the curfew mentality of the intifada, which ended almost seven years ago.

In the past few years, however, efforts have been launched to revive and enrich East Jerusalem’s modest cultural topography. The latest of these is the reincarnation of the old Al-Quds cinema, which closed down a quarter of a century ago during the first intifada (which lasted from 1987-1993). Now it is the state of the art, though still unfinished, Yabous Cultural Center. In addition to film screenings, it hosts artistic, theatrical and musical events, including a photo exhibition about the Egyptian revolution and live jazz concerts.

Yabous marked its reopening with Freedom Films Week. The theme is appropriate given the thirst for political, economic and social liberty, evident not only amongst Palestinians but peoples across the region — including in Israel, where a broad-based social protest movement erupted last summer. Israeli protesters declared Rothschild Avenue in Tel Aviv their own “Tahrir Square” and Arab commentators dubbed the movement the “Israeli Spring.”

The films featured at Yabous included “We Won’t Leave,” which chronicles the Palestinian struggle against forced displacement in Jerusalem; “Fallega,” which documents the innovative and inspirational sit-ins organized by Tunisian activists following the fall of dictator Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali; and “Cairo 678,” a taboo-breaking drama about sexual harassment in Egypt.

You mean the evil Jewish Zionists are allowing Arabs to have culture in Jerusalem as well that includes explicitly anti-Zionist messages? That can't be possible! It doesn't fit with what I've been told by the Palestinian Arabs themselves! How can I stop my oncoming brain aneurysm from the cognitive dissonance?

It must be that the Arabs of Jerusalem are doing this despite the Jews' insistence otherwise. It is an act of resistance to the occupation! Yes, that must be it.

Whew! I feel better now.

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I don't think we'll see this video on Al Jazeera

Click on English closed captioning.



Even though it is as quixotic an initiative as possible, it's still a good idea.

(h/t Shraga)

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The lessons from two Jerusalem marathons

From Yair Ettinger at Ha'aretz:

There are some things a person just has to see with his own eyes, and some things can be seen only in the Jerusalem Marathon.

Before the start, in the car parks and assembly points, groups of men wrapped in prayer shawls and tefillin were holding the morning prayers in the painful cold. They obviously didn't skip the part about the one who brings wind and rain, but they didn't take into account the hail that awaited us around the tenth kilometer. And how did they explain the winds that hurled us back in the Armon Hanatziv Promenade?

But, wait; try to forget the stereotypes about religious Jerusalem. The prayers in the car parks, as well the large number of female athletes in skirts and coifs, only underlined the fact that the Jerusalem Marathon is the most cosmopolitan event around.

Add them to the various races that included 13,000 cheerful Israelis in colorful clothes, and 1,600 tourists; consider the fact that the event was meticulously produced according to un-Israeli standards; add the setting and beautiful sites, and the result is an extremely unique marathon. Don't forget how beautiful Jerusalem can be. All this city really needs is a decent dose of endorphins, and some quiet and surprising silence when thousands of people run in the streets.

The weather made fools of everybody. Some athletes showed up in shorts and undershirts, while others arrived dressed in long sweat suits and Windbreakers, while others improvised plastic bags that protected them from the rain. Still, eventually everyone was soaked.

The Jerusalemites cheer you on with cries of "Bravo!" and "Well done!" While in Tel Aviv they cheer you on by saying, "Go on, faster!" The difference points out contradicting points of view concerning ambitiousness and competitiveness, but also the simple truth that in Jerusalem, people are truly amazed by the fact that other people take to the streets, to the difficult slopes, to the pouring rain - and run for the mere fun of it.

As I noted last week, Muslims were livid at the marathon - because they said that it somehow was "Judaizing" Jerusalem.

So, in the time honored fashion, the Palestinian Arabs respond with a stunt.

Today, they are running their own "Jerusalem the capital marathon." However, it seems that the marathon is not exactly a marathon - it is supposed to start at Damascus Gate but there will be a ceremony when the runners pass Qalandia and then they are going towards Ramallah to visit Arafat's grave where there will be another news conference. At one point the runners will even go into a bus to get to the next section of the "race."

The psychological projection is obvious. While the Jerusalem marathon was meant to be a fun way to highlight the city and attract tourists, Arabs said it was all a political ploy to say that Jerusalem was Jewish. So in response, they create their own fake marathon that is wholly political and wholly intended to say that Jerusalem is Muslim, where running is a thin excuse to have a series of press conferences slamming Israel.

What Israel bashers cannot understand is that Israelis just want to live their lives in peace and security. They are convinced that everything that every Israeli does is somehow meant to either oppress Arabs or to cover up for their oppression of Arabs. It is a bizarre psychosis that we see daily. It reflects their own worldview of looking at Israel as uniquely evil, and somehow shoehorning every piece of information into that insane belief system.

And there is no evidence that any of them, from accusers of "pinkwashing" to the +972 fringe to the entire Arab and Muslim worlds themselves, even have the ability to think in any other way. Their obsession with demonizing everything Israel does is total and fanatical.

It would be funny if their goal wasn't to destroy the only Jewish nation in the world.

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Islamists make a political play for Syria

While the Western world watches the horrific daily massacres in Syria without the slightest shred of strategy or planning, the Islamists are twelve steps ahead in their quest to take over the country.

If there is anything we have learned in the past year (let alone the last couple of decades) it is that any Middle East power vacuum will be filled with Islamists, ready to provide social services and a heaping spoonful of Muslim supremacism.

Over the weekend, there were a series of bomb blasts against Syrian targets, killing scores of civilians, that the opposition denied setting off. Some believe that Islamist groups are behind the blasts. Chaos favors the Islamists, and they also happen to be experts on car bombs.

Today, popular extremist preacher Youssef Qaradawi demanded that all Arab countries unite against Iran and Hezbollah, ostensibly because of their support for the Assad regime.

Qaradawi spoke directly to the Syrian people, saying that all (Sunni Muslim) Arab countries are in solidarity with Syria and will not let them down. He called on the Syrian resistance to be strong and to unite to bring down the regime.

While it is possible that some Syrians would be skeptical, the fact is that Qaradawi is the only one speaking to the masses in simple language showing support. Western leaders certainly aren't doing that in a way that Syrians could hear them. He, and other Islamists, are laying the groundwork for the day after, the same way they did in Tunisia and Egypt, while Western nations are giving mixed messages.

Whether the Syrian revolution lasts months or years, eventually Assad will fall -and only the Islamists are planning for that day now.

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Gunman murders 4 at Jewish school in France (UPDATE)

From AP:

A French prosecutor says a gunman opened fire in front of a Jewish school in the southwest French city of Toulouse on Monday, killing four people including a father and his two sons, and another child.

Prosecutor Michel Valet says the 30-year-old man and his 3-year-old and 6-year-old sons were killed in the shooting just before school started.

He said another child, between 8 and 10 years old, was also killed, and a 17-year-old seriously injured.

The shooter drove away on a scooter, a national police official in Paris said. The official did not wish to be named in line with departmental rules.

Police cordoned off the private Ozar Hathora school in the northeast of Toulouse. Some two hours after the shooting children were still in the school.

President Nicolas Sarkozy called the shootings an "abominable drama and a "frightening tragedy."

The shooting occurred about 8:10 a.m. — just ahead of the start of classes in most schools.

JPost adds:

Gil Taieb, a vice president of the CRIF, France's Jewish umbrella group, told The Jerusalem Post he had no doubt the attack was a hate crime.

"For someone to locate this school in a place like Toulouse means he knew what he was doing," Taieb said. "He went there to kill Jews."

Taieb said the community was in a state of shock.

"There are occasional anti-Semitic attacks but they are small, nothing like this," he said. "We haven't had something like this in at least ten years."

The attack on the Jewish school may be linked to two other mysterious shootings that have taken place in southern France over the past week .

Last week an off duty French soldier was shot dead by a motorcyclist in Toulouse.

On Thursday three French soldiers were shot by an unknown man at a shopping mall in Montauban, 50 kilometers north of Toulouse. Two of them later died of their wounds.

French police said similar ammunition was used in both shootings.

Real time updates here, in French.

In 2003, a poll found that over a quarter of French Jews were considering making aliyah because of increased anti-semitism there.

UPDATE: From Israel HaYom:

Victims identified as Yonatan Sandler, 30, from the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood of Jerusalem, along with his two sons Aryeh, 3, and Gavriel Yissacher, 6, as well as the 8-year-old daughter of the school’s principal, Miriam Monsenengo.

A father who witnessed the shooting was interviewed.

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Two more tourists in Egypt kidnapped

Say bye-bye to your tourist trade, Egypt:

Gunmen kidnapped two Brazilian tourists travelling through Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula on Sunday after a visit to an isolated mountain monastery, security sources said.

The gunmen were believed to be Bedouin who wanted hostages to negotiate the release of prisoners held by the government, the sources said.

They stopped a bus carrying a group of tourists to St. Catherine’s Monastery but only took the two Brazilian women. The government was contacting local Bedouin sheikhs to try to negotiate the women’s release, the sources added.

Bedouin tribesmen in the Sinai have attacked police stations, blocked access to towns and taken hostages to show their discontent with what they see as poor treatment from Cairo and to press for the release of jailed kinsmen.

Last month, two American women were held in a short-lived kidnapping until Egyptian authorities negotiated their release a few hours later. Two dozen Chinese cement factory workers were also kidnapped last month and released a day later.

As if things weren't bad enough already.

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I guess Psalms must have been written by a "Palestinian"

From PMW:

Official Palestinian Authority TV has produced and broadcast a music video imitating the Jewish tradition regarding Jerusalem, mimicking the Biblical expression "If I forget thee, oh Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill, may my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember thee," [Psalms 137:5]. This verse from the Book of Psalms expresses Jewish longing for Jerusalem after its destruction and the Jewish exile.

The song broadcast on PA TV and performed by an Egyptian singer includes scenes from the markets in the old city of Jerusalem, Arab children playing, the Al-Aqsa Mosque, the Dome of the Rock and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, blended with scenes of riots, stone-throwing, and clashes with Israeli soldiers in Jerusalem. No Jewish holy sites or landmarks are shown and the only Israelis seen are soldiers.

The song, which mimics the Jewish longing for Jerusalem described in the Bible, includes the following lyrics:

"May my right arm forget me, may my left arm forget me.
May the light of my eyes and the openings of songs forget me, if I forget Jerusalem."

Of course, Muslim interest in Jerusalem has always been proportional to Jewish control.  Under Ottoman and Jordanian rule, Jerusalem was a slum.

To add a tiny bit of truth to this discussion, here is are a couple of amateur videos - among literally hundreds on YouTube - set to the Hebrew verse in Psalms:

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UN Human Rights Council invites Hamas official to speak

From Ma'an:

Senior Hamas official Ismail al-Ashqar is set to speak before the United Nations Human Rights Council on Monday, a statement said.

Al-Ashqar arrived in Switzerland on Sunday, ahead of a talk which will address the issue of Hamas members being held in Israeli jails, the statement added.

Ismail al-Ashqar is perhaps Hamas' foremost expert on human rights.

He has publicly called for Hamas to kidnap lots of Israeli soldiers:

"More of Shalit's kind are coming," Hamas lawmaker Ismail al-Ashqar vowed, adding that the "efforts to kidnap soldiers will continue until all Palestinian prisoners are freed."

That happens to be a war crime, or, as the UNHRC might call it, "proper resistance against the scourge of Zionism."

Another statement that Ashqar has given, that makes him truly a perfect person to testify before the UN Human Rights Council, is that "Jerusalem cannot be liberated through negotiations or dialogue ... resistance and Jihad is the only way to liberate Jerusalem from the dirt of the Zionist occupation."

Obviously, Ashqar is all about human rights. The UNHRC should be honored to add him, and Hamas, to their roster of distinguished supporters and members.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

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Syria blames Israel for deadly suicide bombings

From Israel HaYom:

Israel is behind a set of twin car bombings in Damascus on Saturday, Syrian state-run television said Sunday. The blasts killed at least 27 people, Army Radio reported.

“Israel committed these crimes by use of its agents,” said Sheik Abdul-Kader al-Shehabi from Damascus on Sunday, providing no motive, but adding that Israel was “created by the devil as a product of his sinful thoughts.”

So it must not have been the will of Allah, but of his arch-nemesis that he cannot control. Just trying to keep track of the Islamic theology of Zionism.

Sharing the screen with Shehabi was the Anglican Bishop of Aleppo, Ibrahim Nassir, who shared the sentiment. Army Radio quoted Nassir as saying, “This criminal act gives the Israeli entity a real opportunity to extend its control over the region.”

The two near-simultaneous bombings involved explosives-laden vehicles detonated near heavily guarded intelligence and security buildings in the Syrian capital.

The regime blamed the opposition, which denied having a role or the capabilities to carry out such a sophisticated attack. And after other similar attacks, U.S. officials suggested that al-Qaida militants may be joining the fray.

The early morning explosions struck the heavily fortified air force intelligence building and the criminal security department, several miles apart in Damascus, around the same time, the Interior Ministry said. Much of the facade of the intelligence building appeared to have been ripped away.

State-run news agency SANA said a third blast went off near a military bus at the Palestinian refugee camp Yarmouk in Damascus, killing the two suicide bombers.

That third blast killed a number of Palestinians - and the vehicle that exploded belonged to the "Palestine Liberation Army" which is a division of Syria's armed forces.

A Damascus source noted security forces had threatened the camp just days earlier due to reported dissent.

A security official threatened to raid the camp due to Fatah's alleged support of demonstrations against Syrian leader Bashar Assad, sources in the camp told Ma'an this week.

“Yarmouk is not more precious than (Homs neighborhood) Baba Amro, and it will be raided if the demonstrations which Fatah movement organizes” continue, a security agent was quoted as saying.

There was another car bomb in Aleppo today.

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Gaza fuel crisis continues and Hamas keeps blaming everyone else

Even though there were reports that the Gaza government would allow some power plant fuel from Egypt to enter Gaza via Kerem Shalom, it has not yet happened.

This time, Hamas is blaming "Egyptian intelligence" for the delay.

A Hamas official pretty much admitted that the Gaza government strategy is to put pressure on Arab governments to deal directly with Hamas and give them what they want by using public pressure: He "expressed confidence that the Arab peoples of the Spring would pressure their governments to improve living conditions in Gaza."

Another Hamas official said that Egypt had no reason to insist that fuel go thorough Israel, calling it "political blackmail" and an "attempt to subdue Hamas." Fuel transferred via Israel to Gaza gets taxed by the PA and Hamas is seeking to get fuel straight from Egypt so it can tax the fuel directly to blunt Hamas' own cash crunch.

The Rafah crossing cannot handle large amounts of fuel, as it has no pipelines to Gaza.

Meanwhile, Hamas has also reduced the supply of cooking gas via Israel to Gaza, causing people in Gaza serious problems, but they are still blaming Israel.

Yesterday, Palestinian Arabs protested the energy crisis, but instead of demanding that Hamas allow fuel to enter the area through Kerem Shalom - which they have resisted for over a year - they are demanding that Egypt increase their electrical grid connectivity to Gaza. It has already increased from 17 to 22 megawatts, with plans to increase it to 27 mW in the near future.

Israel directly supplies 120 megawatts to Gaza daily.

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"IDF dogs are crossbred between wolves and pigs" says Pal. "human rights" org

Palestine Times quotes the "International Solidarity Foundation for Human Rights" as saying that the dogs used by the IDF were crossbred from wolves and pigs in order to be especially vicious.

The Foundation was quoted as saying "the use of dogs is behavior that demonstrates the extent of the low-level moral culture of the occupation, and the extent of malice and hatred and violating the dignity of the Palestinian citizens, turning their bodies into pieces of meat for these big dogs."

That sounds like an objective report, doesn't it?

The English-language Hamas site that reported on this story was apparently too embarrassed to mention the charge about the cross-breeding. But since their report also had standard charges against Israel, it is quoted as an authentic human rights organization.

The ISFHR, or "Tadamun Society," has been quoted by rabidly anti-Israel media a couple of times in the past year, but appears to have no website. It seems it is one of those "insta-NGOs" that sprout up in the territories to take advantage of the huge amounts of money that seems to always be available for any anti-Israel organization, especially if they throw the words "human rights" in their title. It is based out of Nablus and appears to have a single member, Dr. Ahmed Al-Beitawi.

Now, who do you think funds the ISFHR/Tadamun Society? Europeans? Gulf states? Iran? The PA?

Too bad there are no real investigative journalists in the territories who would bother to ask these questions.

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