Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, June 10, 2016

06/10 Links Pt2: Who Is Threatening Israeli Journalists and Why?; When a truth-teller confronts Diaspora Jews

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Israel rises in the East

Unlike Britain, which was seamlessly replaced by the US as the leader of the free world in the aftermath of World War II, the US has no clear successor. Moreover, despite its self-destructive tendencies, the US remains the world’s biggest economy and most powerful nation. The significance of America’s loss of the will to lead the world is not that the US will disappear. Rather, it will share the stage with other, rising, powers.
For Israel, this means that while maintaining the US as its primary strategic partner, Israel cannot continue to place all of its eggs in America’s basket. As Netanyahu is doing with Putin as well as with China and India, recognizing America’s new limitations, Israel must diminish its dependence on Washington, while developing noncompeting alliances with other powers, based on shared interests.
What Israel’s attractiveness to other world powers makes clear is that as America’s power wanes, Israel needn’t and oughtn’t seek to replace it with another superpower patron. Israel today is fully capable of fending for itself.
Putin courts Netanyahu because Israel is strong. And the stronger it is, the more leaders will beat a path to our door.
The failure of France’s “peace” conference, on the one hand, and the success of Netanyahu’s fourth visit to Moscow on the other hand, were poetic bookends of the week because they were a vivid exposition of Israel’s true diplomatic and strategic position today. Israel is neither weak nor isolated.
It is embraced by the rising powers. And the waning ones that scapegoat the Jewish state are leading their countries into economic and cultural decline and security chaos.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Who Is Threatening Israeli Journalists and Why?

Palestinian journalists are spearheading a campaign against Israeli reporters. They have been taught that any journalist daring to criticize the Palestinian Authority (PA) or Hamas is a "traitor." They expect Israeli and Western journalists to report bad things only about Israel.
"It is very sad when you see that your colleagues on the other side are inciting against you and doing their best to prevent you from carrying out your work. This is harmful to the Palestinians themselves because they will no longer be able to relay their opinions to the Israeli public." — Israeli reporter who has been covering Palestinian affairs for nearly a decade.
For Palestinian journalists, to be seen in public with an Israeli colleague is treasonous.
Many Western journalists turn a blind eye to assaults on freedom of the media under the PA and Hamas. They know they will be unwelcome in these places if they write any story that reflects negatively on Palestinians. Besides, the campaign against Israeli journalists is being waged by Palestinians, and not Israelis. To them, this fact alone makes it a story not worth reporting.

VIDEO: The Death of Free Speech in Europe

Across Europe, cartoonists, artists and writers are forced to live under police protection, and also often face criminal prosecution -- all for the "crime" of offending Islam. "'Respect' means, for them, submission." It starts with censoring cartoons... Here is Gatestone Institute's Giulio Meotti in our latest video:

Benjamin Balthaser is associate professor of English at Indiana University - and a member of Jewish Voice for Peace/Chicago.

He wrote an op-ed for Crain's Chicago Business:

Of all the strange, self-defeating crusades undertaken by Gov. Bruce Rauner in recent months, banning 11 businesses from operating in a state already hemorrhaging jobs and people has to be one of the strangest.

The Illinois legislature, at Rauner's insistence, passed a 2015 bill that forbids the state's pension fund from investing in foreign companies that boycott Israel over its human-rights record. This ban passed by the state legislature also includes companies that boycott "territories controlled by the state of Israel”—a euphemism for illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Until now, the legislation was vaguely understood. What does it mean for a company to comply with the Boycott, Divestment and Sanction movement? Do the shareholders have to take a vote to support international law, back the right of return or demand an end to illegal settlements? What if they decide a company doing business in the occupied West Bank is a poor trading partner?

It's clear now that if a company breaks relations with Israel, it'll end up on the state's blacklist. In the twilight zone that is our state government, our very laissez-faire governor will force companies to continue business with Israel—even in West Bank settlements—whether profitable or not.

No, the bill says no such thing. Only companies that submit to BDS pressure or that admit to following BDS would be ineligible from being invested in by the pension fund.

The governor is not "banning 11 businesses from operating" in Illinois. The bill says nothing like that.

One would think that a professor of English would understand English.

The Middle East may be complex, but the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and international law, are not: Ethnically cleansing territory under military occupation is illegal, and boycotts are protected speech.

Correct. But this academic fraud thinks that a state divesting from companies whose positions it doesn't agree with violates the First Amendment. It doesn't.

He thinks that Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestinians from the territories. It isn't, unless you employ a definition of "ethnic cleansing" that ensures that the population grows unhindered.

The D of BDS stands for "divest." Yet Balthaser is now claiming that divesting from companies for their political positions is a violation of the First Amendment!

Oh, I forgot. The rules that apply to Israel don't apply to anyone else.

I shudder to think of what the future will hold for the Holy Land should all routes for peaceful protest be banned.

Well, perhaps Dr. Balthaser can think about what happens in the territories when real peaceful protests - you know, the type where people go into the street with signs - are violently broken up by both Fatah and Hamas. He is more bothered by his fake concern of the First Amendment than the real oppression being faced by the people he pretends to care about.

Which is just more evidence that Balthaser has no academic integrity whatsoever.

What can explain an English teacher who doesn't understand English and who resorts to half-truths and lies to demonize Israel?

Perhaps because he also teaches creative writing.

(h/t YMedad)

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06/10 Links Pt1: Explaining Palestinian “Heroes”; Tel Aviv Terror Attack Shatters Five Myths; #Stupid_CNN

From Ian:

Explaining Palestinian “Heroes”

The status quo has continued not because more houses or apartments are being built in existing Jewish communities in the West Bank or Jerusalem (almost all of which are in places that peace processers conceded would remain in Israeli hands even if there were an agreement with the Palestinians). Nor does it continue because hard-hearted men who don’t want peace lead Israel. If Palestinians wanted a two-state solution, they could have had one many years ago. They refuse because the price of Israeli acceptance of a Palestinian state is Palestinian acceptance of the legitimacy of a Jewish state alongside it no matter where its borders might be drawn. And that price remains too high for any Palestinian leader or the Palestinian public to accept.
Terrorism against Jews didn’t begin in June 1967. The Palestinians have been waging a century-long war on Zionism and that struggle has become inextricably linked with their sense of national identity. That’s why they cheer people who commit indiscriminate murder against Jews and call them heroes. They were doing that long before the Six Day War, let alone the two intifadas, and it is not illogical to suppose they would continue to do so even if Israel were so foolish as to withdraw its forces from the West Bank as it did in Gaza.
While some Israelis search their souls in vain for enough guilt about winning wars launched against them that would have ended the “occupation” of Tel Aviv, this is a futile quest. The status quo will change when the Palestinians stop thinking of people who kill random Jews as heroes and when they are ready to accept peace with the Jewish state.
That is why it is important that the world react to crimes such as yesterday’s murders by avoiding statements calling on both sides to show restraint or use it as an excuse for more pressure on Israel to make concessions. For too long, Palestinians have been led to believe that they could prevail against Israel if they had enough patience or were willing to shed more blood. When a sea change in the political culture of the Palestinians makes a change in their thinking possible, they will find Israelis willing to accept a deal. Until then, they will continue cheering terrorists and doom themselves to pursuing a hopeless effort to eliminate Israel that keeps a status quo neither side wants in place.

Tel Aviv Terror Attack Shatters Five Myths

The June 8 terrorist massacre in Tel Aviv exposed all five of the major myths that cloud discussions of Israel and the Palestinians.
Myth #1: “The problem is the settlements”
Myth #2: “It was a reaction to the occupation”
Myth #3: “The Palestinian Authority condemned the attack”
Myth #4: “Ordinary Palestinians are against terrorism”
Myth #5: “The major American news outlets are staffed by objective, professionally trained journalists; if their coverage of Israel is unflattering, that’s because of Israel’s own policies, not because of media bias”

Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren Calls for Solidarity With Israel Following Deadly Tel Aviv Terrorist Attack (VIDEO)

The host of Fox News‘ “On the Record” called for the international community to show support for Israel in response to Wednesday’s terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, which claimed the lives of four people and wounded several others.
“Israelis stand always with us. It’s time to make sure they know we do the same,” Greta Van Susteren wrote on Facebook, shortly after it was revealed that two Palestinian terrorists went on a deadly shooting rampage at the restaurant-laden Sarona compound before being neutralized by security guards.
Van Susteren also posted online an “off the record” video, in which she called the terrorists “evil, evil people full of hate.” She also expressed sorrow for the “innocent Israeli victims” who were at the Sarona Market “just out on a nice summer eve in Tel Aviv.”
Van Susteren reminded viewers of Israel’s immediate response to help in international crises, and said she hopes nations around the world will “stand with the Israelis, because they stand always with us.”

The Huffington Post has an article by an ACLU official:

Gov. Cuomo’s BDS Blacklist Is An Affront To Free Expression

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order this week requiring state agencies and authorities to divest from any company or institution that supports the Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions movement targeting Israel. The order not only threatens to punish constitutionally protected political speech but also requires the state of New York to create a blacklist of allies of the movement, which BDS supporters describe as an effort to ensure human rights for Palestinians.

“It’s very simple: If you boycott against Israel, New York will boycott you,” Cuomo said when he announced the order.

The directive requires all agencies and departments over which the governor has executive authority as well as certain public benefit corporations, public authorities, boards, and commissions to divest funds from any company or institution supporting BDS. The entities are also banned from investing in those companies in the future.

The order itself makes clear that the activity the governor wants to punish is political in nature. But, as the Supreme Court made clear, government can’t penalize people or entities on the basis of their free expression, and political boycotts are a form of free expression.

What is the Supreme Court ruling that the ACLU is citing?

In 1966, the NAACP called for a boycott of some white-owned businesses in Claiborne County, Mississippi. The businesses sued the NAACP in 1969 for their lost revenue over the boycott. The Mississippi High Court rejected two of the three arguments for the lawsuit but upheld a third, that black citizens were intimidated into boycotting the stores with threats of violence. Some NAACP members actually engaged in violence and others stood outside the stores to record the names of any black customers.

The Supreme Court said that non-violent free speech cannot be penalized on First Amendment grounds, and that the NAACP cannot be held responsible for the violent or threatening acts by some of its members, so the lawsuit against the boycotters was dismissed.

In short, the Supreme Court ruled that the state cannot penalize people for engaging in nonviolent free speech.

But choosing not to give government contracts with, or invest in, a business that boycotts Israel is not in any way, shape or form a violation of people's right to free speech. There is a huge difference between forcing people to pay a financial penalty for their non-violent speech and saying that you won't financially support their speech. States have the right to decide how to spend and invest their money, and that does not violate the right to free speech. Not until they prosecute someone for what they write on a blog or say on a street corner.

Freedom of speech does not mean the right to be paid for your opinions. It is not the right to have your opinions be respected as much as all other opinions. It is not the right not to feel uncomfortable when others disagree with your ideas.

The BDSers are not being stopped in any way, shape or form from expressing their opinions. Being exposed as idiots and liars is not a violation of their right to be idiots and liars.

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Here are the number of retweets for recent Amnesty International tweets from their @AmnestyOnline account:

-Ireland’s ban on abortion violates human rights – ground-breaking UN ruling - 174
-I fled war in Syria, was attacked in #Germany: Report on failure to tackle hate crime rise - 127
-GOOD NEWS! Torture survivor Yecenia Armenta now free in Mexico - ends 4 years of injustice - 113
-Bahrain shatters façade of reform with persecution of opposition leader @ariel_plotkin oped - 109
-UN: Shameful pandering to Saudi Arabia over children killed in Yemen conflict - 154
-Nowhere safe: Refugee women on the Greek islands live in constant fear - 60
-Malawi: Killing spree of people with albinism fuelled by ritual practices/police failures - 260
-Two Syrian refugees are first at risk of forced return to Turkey under #EUTurkeyDeal: Tell @imouzalas to STOP this! - 124
-Evidence counters UK claims that no British-made cluster munitions used in recent Yemen war - 219

It is very clear that AmnestyOnline can count over a hundred of its followers to pretty consistently retweet nearly every tweet of theirs, no matter how obscure the topic.

With one exception.

Amnesty released a fairly strong statement about the Tel Aviv bombing (although it also couldn't stop itself from warning against Israel engaging in "collective punishment." How many people retweeted that statement from this account since yesterday?

Israel/OPT: Tel Aviv attack displays total disdain for human life - 37 retweets

Amnesty International's Twitter followers apparently care far less about Jews being murdered than any other human rights issue on Earth.

This is not the first time that Amnesty's followers showed a marked indifference to dead Jews. Last November Amnesty tweeted a similar message against killing Israelis, and it received only 46 retweets. Yet a general anti-Israel tweet in the midst of the knife attacks weeks earlier received nearly triple that amount.

During the Gaza war, an Amnesty tweet against the US providing Israel with fuel gathered over 1500 retweets. The daily tweets that Amnesty did last summer on events that happened in Gaza a year earlier routinely gathered 100-200 retweets.

The pattern is consistent: Not only does Amnesty tweet far more against Israel than against people trying to kill Israelis, but its fans don't give a damn about dead Israelis the few times that Amnesty decides to pretend to be "even handed" and condemn the terrorists.

It is hard to escape the conclusion that most of Amnesty International's active online fans either don't care about dead Jews or that they feel that slaughtering Israeli civilians is justified and should not be condemned as much as, say, Bahrain persecuting an opposition leader.

(AmnestyUSA's fans does not show the same overt bias as its international Twitter account followers do, the AmnestyUSA tweet about the attacks garnered 148 retweets, which is about average for that account.)

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This Arab dramatization of the Tel Aviv attack, based on false early reports that the shooters were disguised as religious Jews, was produced and released less than 24 hours after the murders.

It uses the hashtag "Ramadan operation."

Unlike apologists for Palestinian terror speaking to gullible Westerners, this video for Muslim audiences doesn't try to justify murdering Jews in a restaurant as being because of "occupation" or "oppression." The video juxtaposes the murderous rampage with the Ramadan iftar meal and a visual of the Dome of the Rock. it shows that it is religion, not politics, that animates these terror attacks.

Hamas openly associates Ramadan with religious war against Israel. But no analyst at the New York Times or CNN would dare say that.

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A BDS lexicon (Poster)

After reading the ridiculous reactions of the Israel-hate crowd over Governor Cuomo boycotting the boycotters, I created this.

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06/09 Links Pt2: Why Even-Handed Isn’t Pro-Israel; Anthropology and Anti-Semitism;

From Ian:

Anthropology and Anti-Semitism

One of the core principles of modern anthropology is cultural relativism, the idea that researchers must not make value judgements about the societies they study. Anthropologists think of themselves as setting aside their biases and preferences in order to see a society and culture "from the native's point of view." Whether studying the raiding activity of Bedouin tribal nomads, witchcraft by African villagers, or head-hunting by grieving Philippine tribesmen, anthropologists embrace the sentiment that "nothing human is alien to me."
Except when it comes to Jews. Once again, Jews and the Jewish state have been uniquely selected for official opprobrium by the American Anthropological Association (AAA). A motion to boycott Israeli academic institutions, an initiative reminiscent of anti-Jewish boycotts of the 1930s, was presented this spring to the membership, which voted online. The resolution, which claims that "the Israeli state has denied Palestinians – including scholars and students – their fundamental rights of freedom, equality, and self-determination through ethnic cleansing, colonization, discrimination, and military occupation," was defeated, according to the official tally released on June 6, by a vote of 2,423 against and 2,384 in favor.
By the narrowest of margins, AAA will not formally join the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This was surely a great disappointment to its Middle East Section, which has long been obsessed with defaming Israel. While the U.S.S.R. was invading Afghanistan and slaughtering its people in 1979, the Middle East Section discussed only Palestine, and condemned only Israel.

Why Even-Handed Isn’t Pro-Israel

Most Israelis would be overjoyed to accept a peace settlement that ended the conflict for all time even if it meant painful territorial compromises that would result in the eviction of many Jews from their homes in the heart of their ancient homeland. But as the Palestinians have indicated repeatedly, even their supposedly moderate leader Mahmoud Abbas is not willing to accept the legitimacy of a Jewish state no matter where its borders would be drawn. Despite occasional lip service paid to the two-state solution idea for the Western press, neither Palestinian leaders nor Palestinian public opinion is ready to accept Israel. They see all of Israel — not just the West Bank and Jerusalem — as occupied territory. They applaud terror attacks on all Jews. Those dining in Tel Aviv cafes, like the victims in today’s atrocity, are seen by them as extremists as deserving of death as those Jews living in the most remote West Bank hilltop settlement.
The problem with even-handed policies, such as President Obama’s obsession with creating more “daylight” between Israel and the United States, is that they only encourage the Palestinians to continue rejecting peace rather than putting pressure on them to accept the compromises including statehood they’ve repeatedly rejected. That stand seems irrational, but it makes sense when you realize that Palestinians have come to view their struggle against Israel’s existence as intrinsic to their national identity.
Events like today’s attack in Tel Aviv ought to remind all Americans that so long as Palestinians are killing Jews, talk of even-handed policies will not help anyone, least of all Israel. Those who will praise today’s murderers as “heroes” — as both Palestinian moderates and extremists alike will do — don’t deserve support from either Democrats or Republicans. By fetishizing Palestinian statehood and trying to redefine support for that concept as essential to being pro-Israel, J Street and the left are actually harming the cause of peace and strengthening the forces inciting terrorism. If Democrats choose that path, they may claim, like J Street, to be pro-Israel, but that will be a deception. Until the Palestinians show themselves willing to end their century-long war on Zionism, even-handed means putting daylight between their party and the effort to defend the Jewish state.

Reporter Wonders if Israel Suspending Palestinian Entry Permits Akin to Trump’s Muslim Ban

ABC reporter Lana Zak asked the White House Thursday if it likened Israel’s suspension of entry permits to Palestinians in the wake of another terrorist attack to Donald Trump’s proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States.
Two Palestinian gunmen opened fire Wednesday at a popular Tel Aviv shopping complex located near Israel’s defense ministry, killing four. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the terrorists’ “savage crime,” and Israel announced it had suspended 83,000 entry permits for Palestinians on Thursday.
Zak wondered at Thursday’s press briefing whether this was akin to Trump’s controversial proposal that the U.S. temporarily ban Muslims from entering the U.S. in the name of security. Both Palestinian terrorists were in Israel on entry permits.
“What does the White House make of Israel’s decision to suspend entry permits to Palestinians?” she asked. “Does the White House find that an appropriate response? Is it too similar in some ways to the presumptive Republican nominee’s proposal to temporarily ban Muslims from entering the United States because of terrorism?”

From Ha'aretz Hebrew, translated by Yoel:

Lets face it: we Arabs are a violent people by Abed L. Azab*

Why organize conferences against violence in Arab society, Taleb el-Sana and Samah Salaime Agbaria? Our violence has positive sides: it provides work for the Israeli police; research grants for those who want to study the phenomenon; and something to talk about when you're interviewed by the media.

You claim it does harm and that many human lives are lost? But what's a human's life worth for Arabs? Nothing. In Iraq life is more peaceful than in Denmark according to UN reports. Syria is nothing less than heaven on earth. Egypt? Not even one civilian was killed and not one plane blown up since Mubarak the traitor was ousted and replaced by a Saudi puppet. Saudi Arabia and its neighbours in the Gulf? Even the Swedes have much to learn from them on human rights, especially women and minority rights.

Enough with the hypocrisy. In order to solve the problem let us first admit that we're a violent people. That's our mentality. And don't start with your mantras about Islam being a religion of tolerance, kindness and compassion. Have you noticed that today violence among our Christian brothers is much lower than in Muslim society? Second, if Islam is indeed a tolerant religion - which I doubt - it seems that most Muslims aren't practicing their religion.

Lets be frank and admit that when someone is murdered, the family, clan and tribe rally behind the murderer and start raising money for him so he can pay the murdered person's family legal and ransom money, if they are willing to accept it.

Lets admit it is still considered "honorable" to carry arms. And the more so if those arms are illegal. Lets admit Jews carry licensed arms but they still don't shoot at weddings and villages as is the case by us. When we sit in our coffee shops and see "the unknown" shooters all we do is smile and carry on with our business. When a woman is murdered because of so called "family honor" in most cases her murder is justified. We said we'll talk frankly right?

Don't you know the youths who ride around the village on ATVs, endangering peoples' lives and sometimes running them over? Are they from a Jewish village? And when you recognize them what do you do? You wink at them and tell them what men they are. And you say it in Hebrew because it sounds so much cooler. But if they are from a rival family you curse their father, mother and sister, since rivalries are what keeps us going and our sole raison d'etre.

[...]

This is the essence of the cursed Arab mentality: me and my brother against my uncle, and me and my uncle against someone else. And don't start blaming the economic situation and the police for this. True, there is discrimination and racism. But that is exactly why we must unite against violence, not rally in support of it. The cancer of violence in our society will only be eradicated when every father will report his son carrying illegal arms, when every daughter will report her father. Excuse me, I must have been dreaming.

*A chemist and a teacher who lives in Ara

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

Today Israel’s PM Binyamin Netanyahu is concluding a two-day visit with Russian President Vladimir Putin. This is the fourth time within a year that Netanyahu and Putin have met. Russian-Israeli relations now are probably the best they have been since the period immediately after the War of Independence.

Some of the topics that they admit to discussing have been economic, trade, technological and agricultural cooperation and the funding of pensions to Russians who have immigrated to Israel from the former Soviet Union. Military aides discussed communications to prevent accidental clashes between Russian and Israeli forces operating in Syria. Russia and Israel have many interests in common, and both Netanyahu and Putin are happy to talk about some of them publicly.

There are other things that they keep private. The situation is remarkably complicated.

Israel is not happy about Russian sales of sophisticated arms to Iran, such as the S-300 air defense system. Israel wants to break the chain of supplies from Iran, through the Syrian Assad regime, to Hezbollah in Lebanon. It is also worried about the Hezbollah and Iranian forces in the Syrian Golan Heights.

But Hezbollah is fighting alongside Assad, and Putin is supporting Assad. He wants Assad to keep control of at least part of the country in order to protect Russian naval and air bases. Putin also hopes to make Syria a client and embarrass the West, who are supporting some of the anti-Assad rebels.

Meanwhile, Israel is trying to improve relations with Russia’s historic rival, Turkey, while Turkey has been assisting some of Assad’s enemies, and even shot down a Russian plane last November.

Complicated enough? Don’t forget the Islamic State, which more or less everyone opposes, except maybe Saudi Arabia and Turkey (but they don’t admit it). The Saudis are also supporting some of Assad’s other enemies, which puts them in conflict with Russian aims.

Where is the US in all this? Almost nowhere, since it made it clear that it would not intervene against Assad when he used chemical weapons in Syria, probably because it didn’t want to upset Assad’s patron, Iran. It is operating against the IS to a limited extent, and supporting Iranian forces fighting IS guerrillas.

Israel has tried to stay out of the conflict in Syria, but it is the strongest power in the region and is right next door. The rational thing would be for Russia and Israel to jointly decide Syria’s fate in a way that would serve both their interests. Not even the US or Iran would be able to prevent the two from dictating such an arrangement.

Russia has a great deal of influence over Iran, certainly more than the US has obtained from Obama’s sycophantic courtship of the contemptuous regime. It seems to me that there is plenty of room here for cooperation, and for Israel to drive at least a small wedge between Russia and Iran. Suppose Israel agreed to help Russia guarantee Assad’s survival in at least part of Syria in return for Russia pressuring Iran to withdraw Hezbollah forces from the area close to Israel’s border?

Russia’s help would also be valuable in staving off an international agreement on Syria that includes the Golan Heights.

The Russian S-300 system was initially considered a game-changer. Its delivery to Iran was delayed for years, perhaps a result of Netanyahu’s approaches to Putin. But we haven’t heard many complaints from Jerusalem since the first units were delivered. Could it be that Israel has developed countermeasures to render it less dangerous? It is even imaginable that Israel received information from Russia about how to neutralize the version sold to Iran.

The US has protected Iran’s nuclear program from Israel, because the Obama Administration (stupidly) does not consider Iran a threat against the American homeland. Iran recently tested a missile with a range of about 2000 km (Tel Aviv is 1500 km from Tehran). It won’t be long before Moscow, only 2500 km away, will also be in range. It’s hard to believe that the Russians will be comfortable with this. Will they help Israel delay Iran’s nuclear arming?

Finally, there is the Palestinian issue. There have been hints that the US would not veto a UN Security Council resolution declaring settlements illegal or setting a time limit for Israel to withdraw from Judea and Samaria, especially if it is proposed after the American elections in November, when the administration will not have to fear political fallout. Russia is one of the five Security Council members that has the power to veto such a resolution. Even if it didn’t go that far, it could apply pressure to weaken the resolution before the vote.

Russian diplomacy has in the past leaned toward the Palestinians, although there have been several recent statements by Russian diplomats opposing imposed solutions and calling for direct negotiations between the parties. Everything considered, a turnabout in American and Russian votes in the Security Council would be surprising – but it could happen.

Russia wants to increase her influence in the Middle East and reduce that of the US. Putin understands that the Obama Administration has pushed Israel away, and sees an opportunity to step into the gap.

Russia wants to be more involved in Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. It seems to me that at this point it would be more flexible and understanding of our position than Obama has been or Clinton is likely to be (I won’t try to predict the behavior of a Trump Administration), so I welcome this development.

Some have said that Putin himself has a “positive attitude toward Jews.” If this is true, it makes him one of a select few among national leaders. But in any event, it is irrelevant. Nobody in Putin’s shoes, and especially not a chess-playing, Machiavellian ex-KGB officer like Putin, makes decisions based on feelings. Israel has been very careful not to step on Russia’s toes – it did not join in Western criticism of Russia for its actions in Ukraine, for example – and Netanyahu seems to have put together a solid package of inducements for a better relationship.

Israel started off life as a state with the support of the Soviet bloc, which it lost in the 1950s, when the Russians felt that it would be a more effective Cold War strategy to support our enemies, and in the 1967 and 1973 wars they armed and supplied them. In 1975, the notorious “Zionism is racism” resolution at the UN was orchestrated by the Soviet Union. During the 1970s and 80s, the Soviets trained and supported the PLO and other terror groups. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, diplomatic relations with Russia were resumed, and more than a million Russian Jews were able to come to Israel (where I live, I hear Russian on the street as much as Hebrew).

Today Russia is one of Israel’s biggest trading partners. Israel buys oil from Russia, sells military equipment to it, and hosts Russian tourists. Visas are not required for travel between the countries – as opposed to the US, which has refused to waive visa requirements for Israelis – and there is a plan to establish a free-trade agreement.

With the American withdrawal from the Middle East and the increasingly anti-Israel tone of the administration, Israel is finding new partners. The Israel-Russia relationship “is complicated,” as Facebook would say, but it could be critical to our survival.

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06/09 Links Pt1: Tel Aviv victims: professor, mother of 4, ex-commando, engaged woman

From Ian:

Israeli anthropologist murdered in #TelAvivAttack, as American Anthro Assoc censures Israel for security measures

Just three days ago, on June 6, the American Anthropological Association announced that the membership narrowly defeated an anti-Israel academic boycott resolution.
The resolution was opposed by many Israel anthropologists, including Dr. Michael Feige of Ben-Burion University of the Negev:
The boycott, if passed, would have directly affected not only universities like Ben-Gurion, but those who work there like Dr. Feige.
Feige was one of hundreds to sign a statement against the boycott.
Despite the loss of the resolution vote, the AAA Executive Board, led by Alisse Waterston, AAA’s president and an anthropology professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, issued without a membership vote a censure and other steps against Israel.
A key justification for the censure and other steps was Israeli security practices such as checkpoints:

Tel Aviv victims: professor, mother of 4, ex-commando, engaged woman

Police have released the names of the four victims killed in Wednesday’s terror attack in Tel Aviv’s Sarona Market.
Forty-two-year-old Ido Ben Ari from Ramat Gan, 39-year-old Ilana Naveh from Tel Aviv, 58-year-old Michael Feige from Ramat Gan and 32-year-old Mila Mishayev from Rishon Lezion were killed when two Palestinian terrorists opened fire inside a restaurant in the shopping complex in central Tel Aviv, according to police.
All four were Israeli citizens, a police statement added.
Sixteen others were injured in the attack. Three of the victims remained in intensive care Thursday morning at nearby Ichilov Hospital, along with one of the attackers who was shot by a security guard, according to a hospital spokesperson.
Ben-Ari was a father of two. He served in the elite Sayeret Matkal unit during his IDF service and was working in a senior position at The Coca-Cola Company’s Israel branch, his sister told the Ynet news site.

PMW: Abbas doesn't condemn killing Israelis; instead, expresses "opposition to any operation that harms civilians"

Since October 2015, the PA and Fatah have honored and glorified all the terrorists who have carried out lethal attacks. At times, the Palestinian Authority did not immediately glorify the terrorists due to fear of international condemnation.
As of today, the process of public honoring has not yet begun for the Palestinian terrorists who killed four Israelis yesterday in Tel Aviv. However, the PA and Fatah have made their opinions clear in the careful language they have chosen to report on the terror attack.
It should not be forgotten that the Palestinian Authority's clearest affirmation of terror is that the two terrorists who murdered the Israelis yesterday in Tel Aviv and who were apprehended by Israeli police will be rewarded with a monthly salary from the Palestinian Authority starting immediately. This is PA law.
Since the terror attack was immediately condemned in strongest terms by many governments and by world leaders including UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Mahmoud Abbas has issued a statement, not of condemnation of yesterday's terror attack, but of his "opposition to any operation that harms civilians by anybody, regardless of the justifications." [WAFA (the official Palestinian news agency), June 9, 2016] His statement does not even refer directly to the attack.
He also implicitly blamed Israel, as his Fatah party did earlier in the day explicitly, (see below) when he added: "Achieving peace requires everyone stop carrying out operations that are likely to increase the tension and resorting to violence." The implication is that some "operations" forced these people to "resort to violence."

Haters plead to go on NY State BDS list - and admit their goal is destruction of Israel

The BDS movement tries to be coy about its goals, sometimes saying that they only want and end to "occupation" or they seek "equal rights."

But this letter to New York Governor Cuomo, written on behalf of major BDS organizations and meant to be a defiant response to his stand against boycotters, proves his point better than anyone else could. They don't care about free speech or human rights - they simply want to destroy Israel.

Interesting that Paul Larudee is speaking on behalf of all these organizations that share the same EIN number.

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