Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, March 09, 2014

"Destroy the hopes of 'Palestinian return'"

From Ben Dror Yemini in Maariv, quoting Mati Golan in Globes:

I used to think that Binyamin Netanyahu's requirement to recognize Israel as a Jewish state is unnecessary, but lately I have heard things that made me see things differently and I've changed my mind. Mostly from Palestinian leaders in responseto this demand.

Now it seems to me that not only is this demand not unnecessary, but it's actually the essence of the negotiations. This is not some quirk or Bibi trick, but the substance. Recognition of the Jewishness of the state defines recognition in all areas - Israel's existence, borders, [everything.]

The more Palestinians oppose recognition, the more necessary it becomes. What does it say when they do not want it? It means that for them there in another country, where there are a majority of Jews today, tomorrow it can (and should) be Palestinian or anything, just not Jewish. That is, the refusal to recognize Jewish state is not just a semantic issue, it means that for them Israel exists for them conditionally.

Once the majority is Arab Palestinian, she will not be the state of Israel. That is, the Arab position is not ethnic, not just religious - is simply a strategy, how to destroy a state without firing a shot, with only patience and forbearance.

Palestinians know and believe that if they are only given time they will become the majority. Not just by birth, but also through the "right of return of refugees." Nabil Shaath said so explicitly yesterday: "Netanyahu is not interested in solving the refugee problem and requires that we recognize the state of Israel as a Jewish state." Here is the Palestinian equation: non-recognition of the Jewish state = return of refugees.

Therein lies the immense importance of the demand for recognition. As long as the Palestinians continue to dream of the "return of refugees" to "their land," there can be no peace and there nothing resembling peace. We in Israel must be assured that they intend real peace, and not giving them time to take over the country.

If they were really aiming for peace, there should not be a problem for them to recognize the Jewish state. But they hope ... and the existence of this hope is basically a declaration of war on us...

Therefore, this hope should be eliminated before giving up land or anything else. We need to know the dream of return is no longer available. Only then can we be "two states for two peoples", and not two countries for the Palestinian people.

(h/t YM, Bob Knot [corrected source])

Moroccan Christian preacher makes fun of Arabs boycotting Jews (video)

From Mida Video Channel:

Brother Rashid, a charismatic and popular Moroccan Christian television preacher, has a few choice words for those who would divest themselves of Jewish inventions and products.

I don't know when and where this was broadcast.

(h/t Avi W)

03/09 Links: Scarlett Johansson- I believe in SodaStream; Do Palestinians Really Want a State?

From Ian:

Scarlett Johansson: I believe in SodaStream

Johansson stirred a vehement debate in January when she accepted the role of spokeswoman for SodaStream, which makes home carbonation machines and operates a plant in Ma’ale Adumim, a large West Bank settlement near Jerusalem.
“I’m not an expert on the history of this conflict, and I’ve never professed to be,” Johansson told the British newspaper the Telegraph in an interview published Friday.
“But it is a company that I believe in, that I think has the ability to make a huge difference, environmentally. [CEO] Daniel Birnbaum has said many times that this factory is one he inherited, and that he doesn’t want to fire people – the majority of those people being Palestinian,” she said.

Mordechai Kedar: Time to put an end to the fantasy of a Palestinian people

Despite the benefits of this ambiguous situation, Israel should adopt a clearer policy: Since the PLO has not abandoned its plan to destroy Israel, it must end the dream of establishing a state under the rule of this organization. The Hamas movement began the process in Gaza, and Israel must continue it in Judea and Samaria in order to establish seven city-states and to leave the rural areas under Israeli control.
The seven city-states will free most of the Arab population in Judea and Samaria from Israeli control and Israel can offer citizenship to residents of the rural space. These city-states based on local clans will be real entities and not the fantasies of some Palestinian intellectuals and tired Israeli souls regarding the existence of a single united Palestinian people in Gaza and in Judea and Samaria.

Hevron Children Tackle Left-Wing Extremists - With Sweets

Chief among those groups is Breaking the Silence, a far-left NGO funded by foreign donors (some 45% of its funding comes directly from the European Union), which encourages ex-soldiers to speak out against the IDF to international audiences. Much of the group's activities center on Hevron, where it conducts regular tours and demonstrations, alleging war crimes by both IDF soldiers and local Jewish residents - allegations based almost entirely on hearsay and which have been emphatically rejected as "slander" by residents and the military alike.
Recently, the organization helped bring some 200 people to the holy city to demand the opening of King David Street - also known as Shuhada Street - which was closed to Arab locals after being used as a launchpad for numerous terrorist atrocities against Jewish residents.
But on Friday, as another Breaking the Silence group entered the city's Jewish neighborhood, they were greeted by an unexpected sight: dozens of Jewish children handing out sweets in honor of the upcoming Jewish festival of Purim.

Recent antisemitic cartoons in Arab media

Yisrael Medad found these at Al Quds al Arabi, a UK-based pan-Arab newspaper that is run by Palestinian Arab expatriates:

But don't call them antisemitic! They are really only anti-Israel! Really! They insist that you understand that clearly!

They have no problem with Jews!

As long as the Jews don't demand actual rights, that is.

American Halloween costumes making Ethiopian kids in Hadera happy for Purim

From the JCC at Durham-Chapel Hill:

Thank you to all of you who donated your Halloween costumes. They have arrived in Hadera, Israel just in time for Purim. As you can see from the pictures below – the costumes have made a lot of kids very happy!

The community held a “costume bazaar” where kids could come by and pick out the costumes (that you donated)! It was a great event- and we hope you enjoy seeing the smiles on their faces as much as we do!

(h/t Jeanette)

Now Egyptians are saying the Muslim Brotherhood are part of the Elders of Zion. Really.

Egypt's Karama Press just started a series, that seems to be based on a new book, claiming that the Muslim Brotherhood is really part of the Elders of Zion.

Here's the cover of the book, showing prominent Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas members entwined in that Jewish web of intrigue.

This is hardly the first time that the Muslim Brotherhood has been accused by Egyptian secularists of being secret Zionists or Jews, as we've seen before.

The Jew is the gold standard as a hate object in the Arab world. All others who are despised must be compared to Jews.

The antisemitism is thoroughly embedded in Arab culture. It isn't only a Muslim thing. The Copts, as oppressed as they are, hate the Jews too.

Yet there are still idiots who pretend that it is all because of Israel. Sorry, it isn't.

The seething hatred of Israel isn't because of anything Israel has done - it is because weak, despised Jews have humiliated the great fictional Arab nation.

So anyone else who is hated must be a secret Jew.

Work accident!

From Ma'an:

The military wing of Hamas said on Saturday evening that a field commander was killed in an accidental "internal explosion" in the Hashashin neighborhood of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, while medical sources said that nine others were wounded.

The Qassam Brigades said that Ibrahim Nagib al-Ghoul, 30, was killed in the explosion.

A spokesman for the Gaza Strip Ministry of Health Ashraf al-Qidra said that the majority of the nine individuals wounded in the explosion were suffering from serious injuries.

Al-Qidra said that five of the wounded were taken to Abu Yousef al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah, while the four others were transferred to the European Gaza Hospital.

No details of the cause of the explosion were released.

Let's all pray for the injured Hamas terrorists to become elevated to the status of martyrs, just like al-Ghoul.

Hamas does have a "training camp" in that neighborhood.

03/08 Links: Chloe Valdary- A letter to the all-knowing Max Blumenthal; Surviving Obama

From Ian:

Chloe Valdary: A letter to the all-knowing Max Blumenthal: Co-written by Daniel Mael

Since you have found us out, we may as well list a few other things the Zionists are planning: We actually work for an organization called ‘The Elders of Zion.’ Perhaps you’ve heard of them? At any rate, we are two of their agents. As you can imagine, we are paid hefty sums of money, $4.6 billion a year to be exact. We are in charge of disseminating information around the globe, regulating U.N. meetings in New York, controlling seagull calls, and sending signals to sharks in the deep blue sea. We elders also work closely with Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, and Cinderella’s stepsisters in controlling things that occur in the world. You see, we were the ones who made Cinderella’s glass slipper come off when the clock struck “12.”
We are also behind the misinformation campaign that mischaracterizes Iran’s regime as evil and sinister. The Iranian regime is actually a democracy ruled by angels and ponies. The images on television of Iranian civilians being persecuted and oppressed is actually a vast conspiracy, a television show put on by Zionist actors and directors. The Iranian people are actually treated with kindness and goodness by their leaders; They are even given cute little treats from Candy Crush every day, and some are even selected to visit Willie Wonka’s Chocolate Factory if they really behave.

Caroline Glick: Surviving Obama

In his speech at the AIPAC Conference on Tuesday, Netanyahu rebutted every position Obama has staked out on the Palestinians and Iran without ever mentioning Obama’s name. By doing so he energized Israel’s supporters while denying Obama the ability to claim that Netanyahu is unsupportive of his policies.
In other words, he humored the White House while staking out an independent Israeli policy for which he secured the support of Israel’s American backers.
But Netanyahu’s skill in maneuvering around Obama is not enough for Israel to safely weather his presidency. Israel needs an overall strategy for securing its interests.

Richard Millett: Bibi declared “most dangerous political world leader today” at Centre for Palestine Studies, SOAS.

Khalidi is the Godfather of “Palestine Studies”. Gilbert Achcar introduced him as “the founder of the scientific study on the question of Palestine”. But at the Centre for Palestine Studies on Wednesday night Ilan Pappe had referred to the “so-called scientific research” of Zionism as nothing more than “marketing” by Israel.
Hypocrisy doesn’t come bigger than that. While the study of “Palestine” is “scientific”, the study of Israel is mere “marketing”!
The glitterati of the Palestine Lobby, including “Ambassador” Manuel Hassassian, were present to hear Khalidi describe the Balfour Declaration as “the single most destructive political document on the Middle East in the twentieth century”. But the 16 million dead of WW1 were not even mentioned by Khalidi.

Another pro-BDS academic conference at CUNY

It takes academics to defend things that are indefensible.

Panelists: Professor Bill Mullen (Purdue), Radhika Sainath (Palestine Solidarity Legal Support), Sherry Wolf (International Socialists Review), Professor Ashley Dawson (CSI/GC, CUNY).

April 2, 2014
7:00-9:00pm
Skylight room, CUNY GC

Following the official endorsement of the American Studies Association of the call from Palestinian civil society for a boycott of Israel, concerns over “academic freedom” have been repeatedly invoked as reasons to oppose academic boycotts. Moreover, official statements by university presidents, attempts by New York, Maryland state legislatures, and now the US Congress, to outlaw such political affiliations demand that the significance of “academic freedom” and its functionality in the US university system be interrogated and reaffirmed.

This panel discussion specifically addresses the question of academic freedom and political affiliation from the different perspectives of academics and activists working with and around BDS in the US academe today. Panelists interrogate how the pursuit of “academic freedom” has been used to both open and close debate, how it frames the call for solidarity with Palestinian students and scholars, structures relationships with dissenting opinions, and how it applies in a US university system increasingly dependent on a contingent workforce of graduate students and adjunct labor.

Co-sponsored by: The Adjunct Project; the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics; Critical Palestine Studies Association; International Socialist Organization at the Graduate Center; Middle East Studies Organization; Post-Colonial Studies Group; and Haymarket Books.

They even created a graphic for the event that apparently portrays people who are against boycotting Israel as imprisoning pro-Palestinian minds:

I do not support any law that would outlaw any form of speech except incitement for violence. But outlawing boycotts is not the same as "outlawing political affiliations."

Even the description of this academic conference proves that the organizers are liars.

By the way, here is an example of "academic freedom" that not one of these academics would ever condemn. It occurred this week at the National University of Ireland Galway as BDS supporters of "academic freedom" cursed and shouted down the evil Zionists who were discussing - how to fight boycotts.

Will any BDS advocate on this panel about freedom of expression condemn this? You know the answer. They make their decisions first, and justify it later using lots of polysyllabic words. Everyone sees through this but the BDS academics themselves.

Next month maybe these brilliant academics will contextualize rape for us and show how it could be a moral act.

It sounds horrible, I know - how can I even think such a thing?

Yet some Arabs have said that they want to use rape as a weapon against Israeli Jewish women. This turns rape from a horrible crime against women into legitimate resistance against the Zionist oppressor. And BDS' intellectual leaders say, quite explicitly, that all forms of resistance are legitimate, even if they are not tactically appropriate at all times. Anything that is part of the struggle to destroy the Zionist regime - even immoral acts - is by definition righteous.

So is it really so far-fetched that a "rape Israeli women" conference could attract the same kinds of moral midgets who are organizing these jokes on campus?

(h/t David L)

(corrected headline; I had mistakenly said NYU)

03/07 Links Pt2: The Obscenity of Blaming Zionism for the Holocaust; Krake Zuckerberg

From Ian:

The Obscenity of Blaming Zionism for the Holocaust: A Response
Wolfgang G. Schwanitz answers Tablet’s review of his and Barry Rubin’s book

In his Feb. 3 review in Tablet, David Mikics misrepresents our book Nazis, Islamists, and the Making of the Modern Middle East. It is not a biography of the grand mufti of Jerusalem Amin al-Husaini, though one is in the making, and Mikics fails to show how it compares to related works. He bit off more than he can chew. Thus, he exaggerates: the book, he alleges, purports to demonstrate that “Zionism caused the Holocaust.” He then calls this invention “their logic, a “flawed conclusion,” as if he were refuting what he has in fact attributed to us. In the light of Barry Rubin’s passing—see the obituary by Lee Smith in Tablet—I will answer here.
Zionists rescued Jews on many occasions: in the attempted genocide in Palestine 1915 to 1917, in the Holocaust of World War II, and thereafter in global pogroms and Middle Eastern conflicts. As we have shown, the seeds of the State of Israel stem from the advent of Zionism and the League of Nations. At its 1922 San Remo conference this world body assigned the mandate of Palestine to Great Britain as 52 states recognized historical ties of the Jewish people with Palestine and favored the “reconstituting of their home” there.

Sarah Honig: Krake Zuckerberg

Most German publications no longer even pretend any wariness about coming off as anti-Jewish. Gone are the days when Germans had to at least appear a tad more cautious than their fellow Europeans. The latter reverted quickly enough to their old Jew-baiting habits but the Germans have willy-nilly caught up.
A cogent example is being consistently provided by Munich’ s left-liberalSueddeutsche Zeitung, which also happens to be Germany’s largest broadsheet daily. It recently featured a cartoon lampooning Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg after his outfit had acquired WhatsApp. The idea was to show Zuckerberg as a voracious octopus that swallows up everything around it. The caption at the bottom left-hand corner of the cartoon clearly read “Krake Zuckerberg” (German for Octopus Zuckerberg.) Up to this point, it’s tolerable criticism.
But the octopus, as drawn by cartoonist Burkhard Mohr, was also given quite a distinctive face. Its function, presumably, was to make sure we don’t lose sight of the fact that young Zuckerberg – innovative enough to have given the world a social network which millions of Germans also use – is a Jew. To that end, Mohr portrayed him with a preposterous hook-nose and thick fish-lips – as per the freakish stereotype sinisterly ascribed to Jews by their tormentors.

Richard Millett: Jews under attack at Centre for Palestine Studies as Ilan Pappe comes to SOAS.

Jews came under fire last night at the Centre for Palestine Studies, based at SOAS and under the chairmanship of Gilbert Achcar. It was irrelevant if you are a Jew in Israel, Scotland, Wales or England. Ilan Pappe, the CPS guest speaker, doesn’t discriminate.
Pappe, a lecturer at Exeter University, started by saying he wished “to answer the riddle of the growing gap between the image Israeli Jews have of themselves and the external image the world has of them”. In North Korea the gap between the view North Koreans have of themselves and that of them by outside world would not be much different, but in Israel there is “genuine difference”.

Saudi Arabia outlaws Muslim Brotherhood - and Saudi branch of Hezbollah

From Al Arabiya:

Saudi Arabia on Friday blacklisted the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, along with three other Middle East-based militant groups, Al Arabiya News Channel reported, citing a royal decree.

The Saudi terrorism list also includes the kingdom’s branch of the Shiite movement Hezbollah and Syria-based militant groups the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) and the al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front.

Hundreds of Saudi fighters are believed to have joined ISIS and al-Nusra in Syria.

The royal decree gives fighters a 15-day ultimatum to return home. The declaration came after King Abdullah announced on Feb. 3 tough penalties for activities deemed as terrorism.

Under the previous decree, Saudi citizens fighting abroad face up to 20 years in jail. Similar punishments will be applied to “extremist religious and ideological groups, or those classified as terrorist groups, domestically, regionally and internationally,” the state news agency SPA reported at the time.

The royal decree also criminalized taking membership in, supporting and sympathizing with any of those groups “through speech or writing.”

Well, it's official. Israel is more tolerant towards Muslim extremists than Saudi Arabia is. In Israel, someone has to make a public speech advocating terror before he is branded a criminal; in Saudi Arabia you can now be jailed for a tweet in support of the Muslim Brotherhood.

At the same time, Mauritania also outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood.

03/07 Links Pt1: Obama's Worthless Guarantees; Erdogan threatens to ban Facebook, YouTube

From Ian:

Sarah Honig: Worthless guarantees

However, the immediate victims are those who trusted American assurances – like, in this case, the Ukrainians.
Of course, they are not the only ones left with guarantees not worth the paper they were printed on. Many of America’s loyal allies were abandoned in the “Arab Spring.” Obama backtracked from the red lines he himself drew for Damascus despot Bashar Assad, leaving Putin and the Tehran axis with yet another victory. Red lines regarding Iranian nuclear ambitions were just as blithely ditched.
Israel is now being coerced to divest itself of all its strategic assets in Judea and Samaria and expose its soft underbelly – its frightfully narrow and heavily populated central region – to terrorist predations.
Israel’s sole safeguards are to be guarantees disturbingly similar to those supplied the Ukrainians. What now unfolds in the Crimea should serve as a thunderous warning against placing ourselves at the mercy of apparent allies. Here, but for the grace of God, go we.

Elliott Abrams: Iran and 'Karine B'

While we talk of outreach to Iran and unclenched fists, Iran continues to be the largest state sponsor of terrorism. During the nuclear negotiations the Obama administration seems to think it must be on its best behavior lest the regime in Tehran become offended and walk away from the table. So, the administration stops Congress from enacting additional sanctions -- even sanctions never to be imposed unless negotiations fail. News reports say that there was administration pressure on Israel to stop its covert action program inside Iran. And we hear endless discussions of how President Hassan Rouhani is a moderate and we have to help the moderates in their struggle against hard liners inside the regime.
But during this period, while the administration says we must carefully watch our conduct lest we offend Iran, Iran ships advanced missiles to Hamas in Gaza. Iran ships arms to opposition groups Bahrain. The regime in Iran continues a brutal campaign of repression at home. Whatever our approach, theirs is to use this period of negotiations to destabilize the entire region and crush all internal opposition.

Ottomans, British Apparently Unaware Palestine Actually Sovereign The Whole Time (satire)

Palestinian historians examining the administration of the Holy Land during the British and Ottoman periods have discovered that the rulers of that land remained completely oblivious to the fact that they were not really the ones in charge. In reality, say the researchers, the Palestinian people were in control of their homeland, which is why the emergence of Israeli control over the same parcel of land was such a disaster.
While the Ottomans took control of the Holy Land in the first half of the sixteenth century, say the historians, they in fact never truly reigned, despite their monopoly on tax collection, land ownership registration, road construction, military recruitment, and the management of commerce, for example. Throughout the four hundred years of Ottoman rule in the Holy Land, an indigenous people called Palestinians were in fact sovereign, despite there being no record of any indigenous sovereignty since the Second Jewish Commonwealth two thousand years ago.