Friday, February 19, 2016

02/19 Links Pt2: Phillips: Two cheers for Britain’s BDS ban; Canada to reject Israel boycott

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Two cheers for Britain’s BDS ban

The British government has done something in support of Israel, and the progressive intelligentsia is in shock. Prime Minister David Cameron is taking action against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.
New government guidance will prevent any public body from imposing a boycott on a member of the World Trade Organization to which Israel belongs.
Local boycotts breach the WTO Government Procurement Agreement, which demands that all suppliers are treated equally.
The guidance aims at preventing publicly funded bodies such as municipal councils or National Health Service trusts from boycotting goods produced by what they believe to be “unethical companies,” such as firms involved in arms trading, fossil fuels or tobacco products as well as companies based in Israel.
Matthew Hancock, the British government’s Cabinet Office minister, revealed the development on a visit to Israel this week. Such boycotts, he said, were divisive, potentially damaging to the UK’s relationship with Israel and risked fueling anti-Semitism.
The enemies of Israel are beside themselves in fury.

BDS: censorship disguised as justice

Central to the demand that academic justice should dominate higher education is a critique of the principles that have shaped scholarship in general and academic freedom in particular. To engage in a meaningful power struggle, BDS-supporting academics argue it is necessary to have concerns that go beyond academic freedom and encompass political positions on a range of issues. Questions as to whose view of justice should prevail and which views are unacceptable are rarely raised.
Qualifying academic freedom with caveats of political judgement negates all that is universal and progressive about the demand. Abandoning objectivity and establishing a political position not only prevents academics from aspiring to contest truth claims — it also enforces a consensus and encourages political conformity in a way that curtails questioning and criticality from the outset. Academic work undertaken to pursue politics rather than knowledge is just propaganda.
Those who believe in scholarship and academic freedom need to call out BDS for what it is: an illiberal, censorious and sometimes anti-Semitic movement. Lecturers who are happy in some circumstances to preach the rhetoric of academic freedom must lead by example in showing students how to engage critically with ideas, policies and politics, rather than resorting to censorship.

Telegraph removes ‘Shylock’ references from article on Jewish hedge fund manager

Last Tuesday (9 February) the Daily Telegraph published an article about the role played by Elliott Management hedge fund, and its founder and President Paul Singer, in ongoing negotiations over debt relief for Argentina. The article was changed following a complaint by CST about its use of antisemitic cultural references from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice.
The article, written by Daily Telegraph assistant editor Jeremy Warner, was critical of Singer for refusing to join other creditors in accepting a deal on debt relief, arguing that “His case for more may be legally watertight, but it is also morally indefensible.”
In its original version, the article opened with this sentence:
“Latter day Shylocks at Elliott Management allowing, Argentina will soon have renewed access to international capital markets.”
Warner returned to this theme near the end of the article, writing:
“Debt restructuring provides a fourth option, yet as both Argentina and Greece have discovered, the trouble with borrowed money is that adjusting its value takes difficult negotiation, frequently obstructed by aggressively litigious hedgies such as Mr Singer demanding their pound of flesh.”
Paul Singer is widely known in Argentina and the United States to be Jewish. His philanthropic and political engagement includes public support for Jewish causes.

New "Apartheid?" poster - Hebrew U

Latest in the never ending series:

(Miriam Alster/FLASh90)

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Hebrew site 0404 points out that it has been two weeks since holy books at a makeshift synagogue were piled up and burned by Palestinian Arabs. In a bitter article, it says "if the security establishment would have invested one percent of what they invested after arson at the bilingual school in Jerusalem, the case would already be solved."

Shamefully, this is probably true. Israel doesn't care about antisemitic attacks nearly as much as it cares about attacks that can be blamed on Jews. I saw this firsthand when I visited the tomb of Shumel HaNavi, a major shrine, right outside Jerusalem in 2007 - hours after it had been vandalized and at least one Torah stolen.

The incident was roundly ignored in the media.

If the purpose of Zionism is to create a safe place for Jews to live, one would expect that the leaders of the Zionist state would act decisively against those who try to take away that safety by attacking Jewish sites.

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02/19 Links Pt1: Writer Houellebecq: Palestinians have lost legitimacy; Israel’s dangerous consensus

From Ian:

Writer Houellebecq: Palestinians have lost legitimacy

Famed French writer Michel Houellebecq defended Israel in an interview he gave to the popular magazine Le Point, which devoted a journalistic project to the Jews of France.
According to news site Walla, Houellebecq – who is not Jewish – has identified as pro-Israeli for several years. He reconfirmed this position in the interview, and explained: "Israel is more moral than the Palestinians. At first I was neutral, but the Palestinian suicide bombings shocked me. Unlike the Israelis, who strike at pre-marked targets, the Palestinian attacks are blind, and that is much less moral. The end does not justify the means, and that is why the Palestinians have lost legitimacy in my eyes."
Houellebecq blamed the French Left for turning Israel into an enemy and inciting French Muslims against it. Intellectuals, journalists and radical leftist politicians, he said, are the ones responsible for the tension between the Muslim and Jewish communities in France.
"What connection is there between Muslims in France and the Palestinians?" he asked. "Why do the Muslims in France not raise a hue and cry about what is happening to their brothers in Africa and Asia, but only (do so) about their Palestinian brothers? It is only the fault of the radical Left's anti-Israeliness and its connection to Islam."

Caroline Glick: Israel’s dangerous consensus

Recently I found myself in a chance conversation with a former head of the Mossad’s Directorate of Operations. The former master spy, whom I had never met before, knew that I am a journalist.
He was aware of my political views.
Directing his remarks at a friend of mine, he declared that 99 percent of Mossad and Shin Bet officers are leftists. He then added triumphantly that according to a former commander of the air force whose name he cited, 99% of the air force’s pilots are similarly leftists.
Initially, I dismissed his comments as obnoxious chest-beating by a man who felt like irritating a group of right-wingers.
But given the source, it is impossible to simply brush off what he said. And to be clear, far more troubling than the prospect that Israel’s security establishment is uniformly leftist is the notion that there is any intellectual or ideological uniformity of any kind in the ranks of our defense community.
But given our defense community’s record in recent years, there is ample reason to believe that there is more than a grain of salt in the spy chief’s boast.
Consider Israel’s handling of Gaza.

21-Year-Old Israeli Killed in Palestinian Stabbing Spree in West Bank Supermarket

Two Palestinian teenage terrorists on Thursday stabbed two Israelis at a supermarket north of Jerusalem.
The Israeli victims, ages 21 and 35, were evacuated to a Jerusalem hospital. The 21-year-old later died from his wounds. The attackers, Bassem Subach and Omar Salim, both 14, were also taken to the hospital after being shot by armed civilians at the scene of the attack—the Rami Levy supermarket in the Sha’ar Binyamin area.
The civilians who stopped the attackers, Ben Hamo and Hanamel Even Chen, recounted the attack in interviews with Israel National News.
“I came to shop at Rami Levy, I was in the aisle of aluminum foil and the like, Shabbat candles, and suddenly I heard shouts and immediately I understood that an attack was happening,” Hamo said.
“I ran in the direction of the shouts, I saw a terrorist in front of me with a knife in hand approaching me,” he said. “I told him, ‘Stop, throw away the knife.’ He took another step, I shot him with a precise bullet to bring him down.”

Damascus Gate terrorist wrote "IDF" as his workplace on Facebook

The terrorist who was killed this morning while trying to stab two Israeli border police officers said that he worked at the IDF on his Facebook page.

Presumably he meant to be ironic.

He is getting lots of congratulatory notes on his "martyrdom" from his friends and admirers.

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Palestine Press Agency has an expose on the huge market in Gaza for fake medical paperwork.

Apparently, this has turned into a huge industry, with doctors and nurses soliciting bribes to write up diagnoses for various illnesses.

Students are bribing doctors to avoid exams. Families are obtaining the faked reports in order to get benefits from social services. The bribes can range from $50 to $3000.

The practice is widespread and everyone in Gaza knows about it, admitting it freely but justifying it because everyone else is doing it.

In September, the New York Times wrote about the phenomenon of Gazans faking injuries in order to get out of Gaza, to see family or attend conferences. This means that some people who are in real need for medical help are not getting it.

The PalPress article adds another aspect, though. The Gaza war in 2014 gave people a wonderful excuse to fake injuries - because they know that NGOs will pay them.

Their investigation found that a large number of those who claimed injury during the Gaza war faked their papers in order to be given monthly payments. There is less scrutiny on that money because those whose injuries can be blamed on Israel are a high priority. The war was an opportunity to claim injuries without any real vetting.

How many of the thousands who were said to be injured in the war simply made it up?

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Can someone who criticizes Israel and Jewish supporters of Israel in harsh terms be called antisemitic? That question may go before the courts in Australia.

From The Guardian:

A defamation suit against News Corp journalist Sharri Markson by a New South Wales MP aims to test when criticism of Israel can be equated with antisemitism, according to a solicitor running the case.

Labor’s Shaoquett Moselmane will on Friday serve Markson, a senior writer with the Australian, with a statement of claim about a column published online on 2 February under the headline “ALP’s antisemitic views behind push for trip ban”. It ran in print on the same day under a different headline.

The piece highlighted a May 2013 speech by Moselmane in which he attacked the Australian’s coverage of Israel and Palestine, referring to a “political lobby group that is cancerous, malicious and seeks to deny, misinform and scaremonger”.

Markson wrote in February that Moselmane, the first Muslim MP in the state, had been referring to “Jewish advocacy groups” and said the speech was “racist commentary” that expressed “antisemitic sentiments”.

She was writing about a debate within the ALP over whether to ban study trips to Israel funded by Jewish organisations.

A letter of concern by Moselmane’s lawyer, Rick Mitry, said the Labor MP “opposes some policies of the government of Israel and some actions of the group that lobbies on Israel’s behalf”.

“But his views in this regard are entirely free of prejudice against or ill-feeling towards Jews,” he said.

Guardian Australia understands News Corp offered Moselmane a right of reply, which he declined. Mitry said the matter aimed to “test whether criticism of the Israeli government’s policies by anyone can be called antisemitic or racist, as often happens, and that’s why my client is pursuing this”.

The statement of claim, obtained by Guardian Australia, accuses Markson of saying or implying Moselmane was a racist, antisemite, “a hypocrite because he decries racism but holds racist views”, and deserved to be expelled from the NSW parliament.

The article he was referring to, which was an op-ed, said:

Jewish advocacy groups are “cancerous” and “malicious” and try to “deny, misinform and scaremonger”.

A NSW Labor politician voiced these incendiary words — the first NSW Muslim MP, in fact, Shaoquett Moselmane.

He didn’t utter them in the privacy of his own home. He felt comfortable enough broadcasting this anti-semitic sentiment within the walls of the NSW Parliament. This is terrifying in itself.

The MP, who ironically decried racism in his first speech to parliament, made the remarks just two years ago, in May 2013. He was not shouted-out of the high office he holds for racist commentary. On the contrary, Labor continues to support him and Moselmane is now a vocal advocate behind a push to ban Labor MPs from visiting Israel on trips funded by Jewish organisations.

A group Moselmane is aligned with, Labor Friends of Palestine, supports the ban on the trips while the Netanyahu government continues settlements, refuses a Palestinian state and “brutally mistreats Arab residents of the West Bank.”

This is one of 39 resolutions critical of Israel submitted to the NSW Labor conference this month.

By comparison, just 17 motions have been put forward that relate to other countries, including Iraq, Syria, China or Libya. There are none on Saudi Arabia or Iran.

Countries that kill women for adultery. That jail writers, like Raif Badawi, for supporting free-speech. That censor the news. That destroy ancient relics. That fund terrorists who kill innocent people as they go to the theatre or draw cartoons.

But no, NSW Labor is most worried about Israel, a tiny Jewish state. A democracy. A country that has lively political debate within its society and media. Where one of its mainstream newspapers, Haaretz, criticises the government daily. Where some of its population complain and campaign loudly about Netanyahu and illegal settlements.

Here is what Moselmane said about "Israel lobby" groups in context:

In a democratic country such as ours there are many ways in which people can express their views - the opportunities are wide open. I am a person who will not shy away from having my say. I will always say and do what is right, even in the face of the trash I have read in the Australian-Israeli media. One or two reporters writing in the Murdoch press - namely the Australian - have been attacking me and denying the truth of Israel's occupation of Palestinian land and the killing and dehumanising of the Palestinian people. This is utter garbage. I accept the right of people to express their views, even when they are wrong, naive, ill-informed, indoctrinated and blinded by the power of a political lobby group that is cancerous, malicious, and seeks to deny, misinform and scaremonger. What I do take exception to is foreigners intervening in the right of Australian politicians to speak out. Therefore, I say to the Israeli ambassador, Yuval Rotem, 'Butt out and stay out. Your perceived right to bully as you do in the Middle East does not extend to the Australian political arena.'

Moselmane is echoing antisemitic stereotypes of a Jewish lobby and a Jewish stranglehold on the media - but he is careful to use the word "Israeli" instead of "Jewish" (as if The Australian is an Israeli paper!)

One person at least is not fooled by Moselmane's use of language to pretend to distance himself from antisemitic attitudes. That person is proud antisemite David Duke, who reported the 2013 story as "A Lebanese-born lawmaker in Australia has attacked the Jewish lobby in that nation as 'cancerous' and 'malicious.'" In other words, Moselmane knows that his fans will understand that he really means "Jews" when he says "Israelis."

This lawsuit will be quite interesting.

(h/t Joe)

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Legal team demands IRS revoke tax exempt status of MSF for supporting Hamas

Israel advocate and New York lawyer David Abrams has filed a petition with the IRS demanding that they revoke the tax-exempt status of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins sans Frontieres USA) for supporting terror.

His argument is compelling.

Here is the letter sent in, accompanied with lots of documentation, much of it from the MSF website itself:

Dear Sir / Madam:

I am respectfully submitting this memorandum in support of an application on behalf of myself and Mr. Sam Abrams of Rochester, New York, for cancellation of the tax-exempt status of the above-referenced organization. I also enclose a completed IRS Form 13909. As set forth in more detail below, my research indicates that the above-referenced organization provides material support to terrorist organizations in violation of American law.

By way of background, Medecins sans Frontieres USA Inc. ("Doctors without Borders") is an organization which provides medical services in poor and conflict-ridden areas around the world. Although there are numerous organizations which provide similar services, Doctors without Borders is among the most prominent.

As set forth in the attached documents, Doctors without Borders has admitted on its own web sites to collaboration with Hamas in terms of provision of medical services. More specifically, Doctors without Borders admits to “collaboration” with the Palestinian Ministry of Health. See Exhibit A. Since this collaboration took place within Gaza, it necessarily refers to Hamas. See Exhibit B.

Similarly, Doctors without Borders admits on its web site that in 2013, it “started supporting the Ministry of Health on intensive care, by implementing training programmes for medical and paramedical staff.” See Exhibit C. (The "Nasser Hospital" referred to by this statement is located in Gaza.) Indeed, Doctors without Borders admits on its web site that in 2011 in Gaza it implemented a series of assessments in “partnership” with the Ministry of Health in Gaza. See Exhibit D. Another story from the Doctors Without Borders web site indicates that "worked with" the Ministry of Health to provide training at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza. See Exhibit E.

A lengthy article from a Doctors Without Borders-affiliated web site, attached hereto as Exhibit F, discusses the transition to Hamas rule in Gaza and how Doctors Without Borders ultimately decided to start collaborating with Hamas. (See page 3). Significantly the same article all but admits that the activities of Doctors Without Borders were in conflict with government policies against supporting terrorism:

The main institutional donors made funding for non-governmental organisations dependent on an undertaking not to enter into contact with Hamas, forcing some NGOs to limit or even suspend their activities. MSF, whose projects were financed from private funds, was not affected by these constraints . . . .

While it may be true that Doctors Without Borders is financed primarily from private funds, the fact is that as a 501(c)(3) tax exempt organization it in effect receives millions of dollars of subsidies every year from the United States government. In any event, the law is clear that a 501(c)(3) organization must be operated "exclusively" for charitable purposes. This obviously excludes providing material support to terrorist organizations in violation of 18 U.S.C. Section 2339B.

Although Doctors Without Borders would no doubt argue that its activities are strictly humanitarian and therefore do not constitute unlawful material support for terrorism, this argument was decisively rejected by the Supreme Court in the case of Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, 561 U.S. 1 (2010) which held that even humanitarian assistance to terrorist organizations violates the statute. Although the statute contains exceptions for food and medical supplies, there is no exception for medical training or medical services. This is entirely consistent with the holding of Holder, since by acting as Hamas' health service provider, Doctors Without Borders frees up resources which can be used for Hamas' direct and regular attacks on civilians in both Israel and Gaza.

As noted above, it is axiomatic that a 501(c)(3) organization’s activities must be exclusively for charitable purposes; openly supporting terrorist organizations cannot be reconciled with this requirement. And of course Hamas has been a Designated Foreign Terrorist Organization since October 8, 1997.

Accordingly, we respectfully request that the Commissioner investigate Doctors without Borders and revoke its status as a charitable organization.

This is worth watching closely.

(h/t Irene for Holder link)

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EoZTV Live 2/18

Chat Software

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02/18 Links Pt2: Majoring in Anti-Semitism at Vassar; Ban Ki-Moon’s Obsession with Israel

From Ian:

Wall Street Journal Op-Ed: “Majoring in Anti-Semitism at Vassar”

Wild charges against Israel have often been aired on U.S. campuses over the past several years, and their moral perversity pointed out. But Ms. Puar’s calumnies reached a new low. She spoke of Jews deliberately starving Palestinians, “stunting” and “maiming” a population. The false accusation that a people, some of whose members were experimented on at Auschwitz, are today experimenting on others is a disgrace.
Yet characterizing Israel and Zionism in ways that anti-Semites formerly characterized Jews has become a stock in trade among anti-Israeli activists on college campuses. And it exposes the real motivation of those who profess to criticize only the Israeli government’s policies with regard to the West Bank, not Jews themselves.
Now there is a resolution before the Vassar student union, in part seeking a boycott of Ben & Jerry’s, on the grounds that the company—founded by two Jews—sells ice-cream “transported on Jewish-only roads to be sold in Jewish-only settlements.” This is part of a broader divest-from-Israel resolution to be voted on this spring, which also includes other U.S. companies.
These events are transforming a prestigious institution into a parody ripe for ridicule—a place embarrassing to prominent alumni and worrisome for prospective Jewish students.

Jews know that a boycott is just the beginning

BDS claims it protests against Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land, and models itself on the anti-apartheid boycott of South Africa.
But polls show that the Jewish community believes it to constitute anti-Semitism. Why?
First, BDS aims to eradicate Israel completely – its founder, Omar Barghouti, openly declared that “we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine”.
Second, the boycotters target the Jewish state alone. BDS does not go after any other liberal democracy or British ally, let alone any dictatorship; only Israel, the Jew among nations.
Third, wherever BDS surfaces, it is accompanied by harassment of Jews – whether it’s Jewish students who retreat from campus life for fear of intimidation, or kosher food being forcibly removed from supermarket shelves, or Jewish trade union members who see their unions become vehicles for anti-Jewish hate, or a Jewish-American reggae performer being booted from a music festival.
Fourth, anyone remotely sensitive to Jewish history will know that boycotts have been the instrument of Jewish persecution for a millennium. The last century taught the Jews full well that what begins with a boycott by a few thugs or unknown academics does not end there. If “never again” is to mean anything, it is that BDS cannot be tolerated in a decent and civilised society.

PMW: Fatah draws map of "Palestine" with blood of terrorist

Abbas' Fatah and the Palestinian Authority never miss an opportunity to demonstrate to their people that their vision of "the State of Palestine" encompasses all of Israel, leaving little meaning to Abbas' claim that he accepts the two-state solution, which he repeats when addressing international forums.
Illustrating "Palestine's" borders, Fatah's official Facebook page sported the macabre photo above, of a dying terrorist and her trickling blood, with the text:
"This is the blood that drew the borders of the State of Palestine" [Official Fatah Facebook page, Feb. 14, 2016]
The photo-shopped image shows the shape of the map of "Palestine" including the PA areas as well as all of Israel, formed by the blood of terrorist Yasmin Al-Zaru Tamimi, a 20-year-old female terrorist, who was shot when she tried to stab an Israeli soldier near the Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron on Feb. 14, 2016. Part of the map is her actual blood, while some was added to the photo. Tamimi later died of her wounds in an Israeli hospital.

"Apartheid?" poster: Ayoob Kara

Latest in the series. I can't believe I hadn't made one for him yet.

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Vic Rosenthal's weekly column:

This may be the worst short-term consequence of the Iranian nuclear deal of all:

Iranian Defense Minister Hossein Dehghan is on a two-day tour of Moscow to meet with his counterparts about the signing of a new $8 billion arms contract, according to Iran’s state-controlled media.

Iranian leaders are said to have provided Russia with what they call a “shopping list” of various arms and military hardware. The visit by Dehghan is expected to “speed up a number of key arms deal[s]” between the countries, according to Iran’s Fars News Agency.

Iran wants to purchase more sophisticated anti-aircraft missile systems and also a new cadre of warplanes, according to the report. The new deals will be in addition to several outstanding arms and military contracts that have already been signed between Iran and Russia.

The troubling part is not that Iran will improve its military capabilities, although of course that will happen in a few years as the arms are delivered and integrated into the Iranian forces. But it’s what happens tomorrow which is worrisome: Iran becomes Russia’s best customer in a very profitable industry.

The same will be true of other countries. Germany and France sent delegations to Iran for dealmaking before the ink on the deal was dry (except that there wasn’t any ink – nothing has been signed except the various documents required to free up at least $100 billion in frozen Iranian funds and to remove sanctions on Iran’s oil industry). Iran is also expected to buy weapons from China. These deals will give Iran the ability to pressure its suppliers for political favors.

I’ve argued that Israel needs to reduce its dependence on the US for military hardware and should develop relationships with countries like Russia, China and (as Caroline Glick recently suggested) India. But this will be more difficult if it becomes important to those countries to keep the Iranian regime happy. It’s already happening:

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday called for establishing a Palestinian state within the pre-1967-war borders amid efforts by Beijing to assert its economic and political clout in the Middle East.

Addressing the Cairo-based Arab League, Xi said the Palestinian problem "should not be marginalized."

"China supports the peaceful process in the Middle East [and] the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital being eastern Jerusalem," he added through an interpreter. …

The Chinese president had arrived in Egypt Wednesday as part of a regional tour that has already taken him to Saudi Arabia.Iran will be the final stop in his three-nation trip. [my emphasis]

The relationship between Israel and the US, which seems to be getting worse all the time, may suffer even more. Recently, the huge General Electric Company sent the head of its oil and gas division to Iran to explore business opportunities.

In international business/politics, the customer is always right – and the big customer gets big influence. Usually it’s expressed by behind-the-scenes lobbying, but in 1973 oil companies doing business in the Arab world went public, with Texaco, Chevron, and Mobil all publicly calling for a change in US Middle East policy.

After the war began, the oil companies lobbied US President Nixon against resupplying Israel (fortunately, fearing that Israel in extremis would be driven to use nuclear weapons, he did not follow their advice). Will GE and other American companies be pressured to support Iranian goals once commerce with Iran becomes an important part of their business? How could they not?

Under the present addict/pusher arrangement, Israel lacks the leverage it would get if there were competition for its business. Israel receives military aid from the US and then is required to use it to buy arms from US companies (and not only weapons – things like boots, which once were produced by Israeli businesses, are imported from the US).

It doesn’t have clout with the Americans either. For example, Israel wanted access to the source code for the F-35’s computer systems, so that it could modify and improve it. The US refused. Not only does this significantly slow the process of integration of the new aircraft with Israel’s systems, but it raises the specter of possible ‘back doors’ into the code which might enable the US to track or even force the plane down.

Think about it. How hard would it be to implant a routine in the aircraft’s software that would provide a position report to an American satellite every few seconds? What if the airborne computer could receive a command to disable certain weapons systems? Or the engine? Or even be instructed to do so automatically when, say, the Iranian border is crossed? This isn’t science fiction — it’s a lot easier than many of the things a flight computer has to do.

After the Iran deal was signed, the administration promised Israel that it would be “compensated” with additional aid. Israel wanted to use it to buy F-15SE aircraft and bunker busters, but according to Caroline Glick, the US refused and told it to buy more F-35s instead.

Iran has been given multiple gifts by the Obama Administration, from billions of dollars up front to permission to ultimately build nuclear weapons (and the de facto ability to build them now without getting caught). It was considered Israel’s number one threat even before the deal, and the deal only made it stronger, militarily, politically and psychologically.

Israel, on the other hand, has been hamstrung by the US. The administration interferes when Israel is forced to defend itself from attack by the Iranian proxies on its borders, prevents it from obtaining the weapons it would need to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, subjects it to constant diplomatic pressure over the Palestinian issue, and now – with the recent decision to enforce a rule demanding special labeling for goods produced over the Green Line – joins Europe in encouraging BDS, in practice if not in words.

$3 billion is a lot of money, but unlike the $100 billion that the nuclear deal has made available to Iran, it comes with so many strings attached that we would be better off without it.

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