"We will not recognize Israel because it will inevitably go away. And we will not backtrack on the option of armed struggle until the liberation of all Palestine." — Khalil Al-Haya, Hamas senior official.
The abandonment of Gaza by Israel in 2005 drove the Palestinian vote for Hamas the next year. It also explains why many Palestinians continue to support Hamas -- because they still believe that violence is the way to defeat Israel.
Hamas believes that Israel does not have the right to defend itself against rockets and terror attacks. It even considers Israel's self-defense as an "act of terror."
In yet another sign that exposes Hamas's ongoing preparations to attack Israel, the movement last week held a drill with live ammunition in the northern Gaza Strip.
"What has been achieved so far is a small jihad, and the big jihad is still awaiting us." — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Abbas is convinced that his "diplomatic jihad" against Israel is no less effective than Hamas's jihad of terrorism.
Yet even if Abbas manages to achieve reconciliation with Hamas, this move should not be seen as sign of pragmatism on the part of the Islamist movement. Under no circumstances will Hamas relinquish its policy of the destruction of Israel and its replacement with an Islamist state.
From Abbas's point of view, Hamas's terrorism will only increase the pressure on Israel to capitulate. Here Abbas has an ally in Hamas: to multiply jihads to force Israel to its knees.
MK Haneen Zoabi (Joint List) made a trip to Jordan in June of 2016 that was funded by a Hamas television network, a Knesset Ethics Committee report revealed.
Ministers are required to report all outside funding for travel to the committee for approval, which is later available for public view online.
The document revealed that Zoabi's trip to Jordan between June 16 to 17 of 2016 was funded by the Palestinian terrorist group's Al-Quds TV.
Al-Quds TV is an Arabic language satellite television channel which is both operated by Hamas and serves as a mouthpiece for the terrorist organization.
According to the Anti-Defemation League, Al-Quds TV is used "to spread its messages promoting terrorism and hatred of Jews and Israelis to a wider audience."
Self-described Liberal Democrat and emeritus professor of law at Harvard University Alan Dershowitz said he fears the liberal media in the U.S. will launch a campaign of “demonization” against President-elect Donald Trump using his personal life, saying that attacks on Trump’s wife and family only serve to undermine democracy.
Addressing a 1000-strong crowd on Monday at an event jointly organized by Globes newspaper and Tel Aviv Internationals, Dershowitz slammed the Israeli press for “relentlessly and mercilessly attacking” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his family on a personal level, calling it “intolerable.”
“I’m afraid that the liberal press, which I’m a part of, will start to demonize Trump in the way that Israel does,” the lawyer said, adding that such behavior on the part of the free press undermines the foundations of democracy and is “disgraceful.”
“You can oppose [his] policies, principles, and political actions, but leave alone his personal life, his wife and family.”
Dershowitz also criticized President Barack Obama for being the only president who has managed to alienate so many leaders in the region, remarking: “Obama alienated the Israelis, the Palestinians, Jordanians, Egyptians, and the Saudis. The only country he didn’t alienate is Iran.”
Dershowitz said that during the Obama administration, it became “obvious” that the stalled peace process between Israel and the Palestinians would not be resumed.
“But I believe that during Trump’s administration it certainly could,” he said.
Muslims are upset that the visiting hours to the Temple Mount for non-Muslims has been extended an additional hour in the mornings. Today the hours that "Jewish extremists" could visit were from 7 to 10:30 AM. Sheikh Ikrima Sabri warned that this is very dangerous. The "settlers" attempted to perform "Talmudic rituals," according to the stories.
Israel is expected to allow some Gazans to work in Israel for the first time since 2000. Reports say that the final details are being worked out, such as how many and if they would be allowed to stay overnight.
Mahmoud Abbas has removed the immunity of some Fatah MPs that oppose him, in preparation to prosecute them for various supposed crimes. the MPs are supporters of Mohammed Dahlan.
Islamic Jihad released a peaceful video for the occasion of Mohammed's birthday.
Arab media reported that there has been a marked decrease in terror attacks ("resistance operations") during November compared to the previous month. Here are the Shin Bet statistics:
Egypt closed the Rafah crossing again after three says of allowing certain people to cross both ways between Egypt and Gaza. The crossing has been open a total of 35 days this year.
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The team went to lunch and the terrorist came in through the window under the direction of Hussam. When the police came 'Alaa, the extremeist' told them 'i ask him to remodel.' He took all our personal items, musical instruments, camera equipment, and many computers. They burnt our bibles and made huge fires with our personal items from the church.
They have been digging tunnels in this area of Damascus Gate for awhile. We witnessed them digging under the Nuseibah home at the bus station. When we caught them digging outside- under the church they threatened to kill us all. The chopped up floor as you can see- the militants may use this to access their tunnels. Over the past years we took pictures of them- while in the church they put a board over my window so i would quit watching them in the night hours. a couple years ago they beat me up and left me for dead in front of the church. I was a prisoner inside the church for 5 1/2 months.
Presently, no matter what we do the police appear to be more afraid of Hussam than we are. Even last tribulation when i got a retraining order against him - his men beat me for getting the order. Even to bring a court order when you hand it over to those in lawlessness- they are not going to respond to it.
The property is owned by ten owners in the Dajani family. Hussam won in court 3% and has violently taken over the property. We as Living Bread International Church have a 20 year lease and have paid our rent by bank wire in advance. Sorry, to say being a Christian- makes your case of little value to men in this land. As we know- when our case reaches the courts of heaven our God will fight for us and HE has never lost a battle. We wait on the Lord - what next Lord?
It seems to be a dispute over who has rights to the building.
I have a feeling we are not hearing the full story, but no matter what, this was a major attack that for some reason went below the radar of virtually every media outlet until yesterday.
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I have a few quibbles, but this speech from Theresa May is a very nice and welcome love letter to Israel.
These Conservative Friends of Israel lunches are always special.
But this year feels extra special. Not only is this CFI’s biggest ever lunch, with over 800 people and over 200 Parliamentarians.
It is the first time that I have come here as Prime Minister and Leader of the Conservative Party.
Balfour Declaration
And it is a special time, for we are entering the centenary year of the Balfour Declaration.
On the 2nd of November 1917, the then Foreign Secretary – a Conservative Foreign Secretary – Arthur James Balfour wrote:
“His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”
It is one of the most important letters in history.
It demonstrates Britain’s vital role in creating a homeland for the Jewish people.
And it is an anniversary we will be marking with pride.
Visiting
Born of that letter, and the efforts of so many people, is a remarkable country.
No-one is saying the path has been perfect – or that many problems do not remain.
Of course, people are correct when they say that securing the rights of Palestinians and Palestinian statehood have not yet been achieved.
But we know they can be achieved. We in Britain stand very firmly for a two-state solution. And we know that the way to achieve that is for the two sides to sit down together, without preconditions, and work towards that lasting solution for all their people.
None of this detracts from the fact that we have, in Israel, a thriving democracy, a beacon of tolerance, an engine of enterprise and an example to the rest of the world for overcoming adversity and defying disadvantages.
As most of us here know – and as I realised during my visit in 2014 – seeing is believing.
For it is only when you walk through Jerusalem or Tel Aviv that you see a country where people of all religions and sexualities are free and equal in the eyes of the law.
It is only when you travel across the country that you realise it is only the size of Wales – and appreciate even more the impact it has on the world.
It is only when you meet our partners in eradicating modern slavery – one of the main reasons I visited in 2014 – that you see a country committed to tackling some of the world’s most heinous practices.
And it is only when you witness Israel’s vulnerability that you see the constant danger Israelis face, as I did during my visit, when the bodies of the murdered teenagers, Naftali Frenkel, Gilad Shaer and Eyal Yifrah, were discovered.
So seeing isn’t just believing; it is understanding, acknowledging and appreciating.
That is why I’m so pleased that CFI has already taken 34 of the 74 Conservative MPs elected in 2015 to Israel.
We saw in that video what a powerful experience it can be. We are so grateful to the people in this room for making it happen – but, of course, there is more to do.
Our Global Future
We meet at a moment of great change for our country. In the wake of the referendum, Britain is forging a new role for itself on the world stage – open, outward-looking, optimistic.
Israel will be crucial to us as we do that. Because I believe our two countries have a great deal in common.
As the Ambassador Mark Regev said, we have common values; we work together, on health, counter-terrorism, cyber security, technology; and we can help each other achieve our aims.
Economic (Trade and Investment)
First, we both want to take maximum advantage of trade and investment opportunities, because we know enterprise is the key to our countries’ prosperity.
Our economic relationship is already strong.
The UK is Israel’s second-largest trading partner.
We are its number-one destination for investment in Europe, with more than 300 Israeli companies operating here.
And last year saw our countries’ biggest-ever business deal, worth over £1 billion, when Israeli airline El Al decided to use Rolls Royce engines in its new aircraft.
We should celebrate that, we should build on that – and we should condemn any attempt to undermine that through boycotts.
I couldn’t be clearer: the boycotts, divestment and sanctions movement is wrong, it is unacceptable, and this party and this government will have no truck with those who subscribe to it.
Our focus is the opposite – on taking our trading and investing relationship with Israel to the next level.
That is why one of the first places Mark Garnier visited as a minister in the Department for International Trade was Israel.
It’s why other ministers plan to visit in the New Year.
We have the captains of British business and industry here in the audience, from a range of sectors, who will be vital to that effort.
I can assure them, and everyone here, that the UK is striving to be the world’s foremost advocate of free trade, working with a range of partners such as India, Norway and New Zealand to achieve that.
I am looking forward to adding Israel to the list – once again, working together to achieve our aims.
International (Global Obligations)
Second, we both take our global obligations seriously.
As I have said, Israel does a huge amount for the rest of the world.
I think of the injured Syrians appearing at night at the Israeli border and being taken in and given treatment in hospital.
I think of the Israeli field hospital, which has saved lives from Nepal to Haiti, recently being rated the best in history by the World Health Organisation.
And I think of the project “Save a Child’s Heart”, which, as you saw in that video, conducts heart operations for children who would never be able to afford the treatment.
This is Israel at its best.
And there was one man who did so much to inspire this spirit of service, a man whose death we mourn this year: Shimon Peres.
Britain is proud to meet its moral obligations too, fulfilling our commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of our national income on aid.
Lives are being saved right now because of it.
But part of that duty is making sure the funds go to the right places.
Let me be clear: no British taxpayers’ money will be used to make payments to terrorists or their families.
It is right that Priti Patel has called for an examination of aid spending in the Occupied Palestinian Territories to ensure that every penny is spent in the right places and in the right way.
And she is looking at options for the UK to support co-existence projects in the region – something I know so many people in this room have called for.
We are determined to get the right help to those who need it most – and I pay tribute to Priti for leading that work.
When talking about global obligations, we must be honest with our friends, like Israel, because that is what true friendship is about.
That is why we have been clear about building new, illegal settlements: it is wrong; it is not conducive to peace; and it must stop.
Social (Tolerance and Opportunity)
Third, both our countries are working to build fair, tolerant and meritocratic societies.
Indeed, that is the driving mission of the government I lead: to build a country that works for everyone, not just a privileged few.
As I have said, Israel guarantees the rights of people of all religions, races and sexualities, and it wants to enable everyone to flourish.
Our aim in Britain is the same: to create a better, fairer society, helping everyone to reach as far as their talents will allow.
That is why we should be so proud of the contribution Britain’s Jewish communities make to our country. From business to the arts, public services to education, that contribution is exemplary.
In order to help people of all backgrounds reach their potential, we need to remove the barriers that stand in their way – and that includes bigotry, discrimination and hatred.
Let me be clear: it is unacceptable that there is anti-Semitism in this country.
It is even worse that incidents are reportedly on the rise.
And it is disgusting that these twisted views are being found in British politics.
Of course, I am talking mainly about the Labour Party and their hard-left allies
In fact, I understand this lunch has a lot to live up to after the extraordinary scenes at the Labour Friends of Israel event.
It began, unusually, with Tom Watson giving a full-throated rendition of Am Yisrael Hai.
The audience joined in as his baritone voice carried across the hall.
“Am Yisrael Hai – the people of Israel live.” It is a sentiment that everybody in this room wholeheartedly agrees with.
But let me say this: no amount of karaoke can make up for turning a blind eye to anti-Semitism.
No matter what Labour say – or sing – they cannot ignore what has been happening in their party.
Anti-Semitism should have no place in politics and no place in this country.
And I am proud to lead a party that takes the firmest stand against it.
As a government we are making a real difference.
Indeed, when I was Home Secretary we took what I believe was an important step in gauging a truer picture of the problem, requiring all police forces to record religious hate crimes separately, by faith.
And I made sure we kept extremism – including the sort that peddles anti-Semitic vitriol – out of our country.
That is why I said no to so-called comedians like Dieudonne coming to Britain.
It’s why I stopped Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Pastor Terry Jones coming too – since Islamophobia comes from the same wellspring of hatred.
It is why I kicked out Abu Hamza and Abu Qatada as well.
And it is why I brought together internet companies and government to tear down the poisonous propaganda that infects minds online.
Today I want to announce how we are going even further.
In response to the work of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Britain will be adopting a formal definition of anti-Semitism.
Just last week, we were at the forefront to try to ensure that the definition was adopted across the continent too, at the summit of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.
The result was 56 countries in favour. One country opposed it: Russia. But, as I said, we will adopt it here in the UK.
That means there will be one definition of anti-Semitism – in essence, language or behaviour that displays hatred towards Jews because they are Jews – and anyone guilty of that will be called out on it.
And we have to thank someone who has worked tooth and nail to get that agreed. He’s our Parliamentary chairman; he’s my Post-Holocaust Issues Envoy; and he’s a stalwart of our party: Sir Eric Pickles.
And let us pay tribute to Sajid Javid too, for all his work in this ground-breaking step towards eradicating anti-Semitism.
Of course, as the people of Israel know, there is no better way of stopping the wrongs of the past being repeated than remembering where hatred can lead.
I have visited Yad Vashem. I remember standing in the Hall of Names – gazing up at all those victims’ pictures – and then looking down into the abyss and thinking of the millions more who were murdered.
It is an experience which is unforgettable – the closest thing we have to conveying what happened and why we must never repeat it.
That is why I am continuing David Cameron’s vision to build a National Memorial to the Holocaust next to Parliament, together with an accompanying educational centre, which will include the first-hand testimony of Britain’s Holocaust survivors.
The design competition for the memorial and centre has had almost 100 entries from teams stretching across 26 different countries.
I look forward to unveiling the short-listed designs next month when we mark Holocaust Memorial Day.
For we must honour our promise to Britain’s Holocaust survivors; we must never forget the Holocaust; and we must teach every generation to fight hatred and prejudice in all its forms.
Conclusion
When we talk about our countries achieving our aims together, that isn’t just for the good of Israel and Britain; it’s for the good of the world.
When our scientists come together, they are working to cure diseases that affect millions of people.
When we work together on our mutual security at the highest level, it makes the world safer.
When we increase trade and investment with one another, it brings more opportunities and prosperity to the wider world.
It is that collaboration that this organisation, CFI, so wonderfully celebrates and builds upon.
I want to end by wishing you well for something else Britain and Israel will be shortly collaborating on.
For Christmas and Chanukah fall at the same time this year.
So as we light up our trees and menorahs; sing Silent Night and Ma’oz Tsur; cook the turkey and the latkes, let us look to 2017 with gratitude and optimism.
So Happy Christmas, Happy Chanukah – and a Happy New Year to you all.
Thank you.
I wish Great Britain's voting record in the UN would reflect May's words.
(h/t Yoel)
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Reader Josh K. saw this olive oil at a local store, with pictures of "Palestinian" cities Haifa, Acre and Tiberias.
Not Ramallah. Not Jenin. Not Gaza City. Only cities in Israel.
What a coincidence!
By the way, the company is in Canada. So most of the profits go to Canadian squatters on indigenous peoples' land.
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The video turned over to us by the district (for which I had to pay by court order) did a sloppy job redacting faces and names, so I hired a video editor to do a better job. The video of student discussions below is the result of our more thorough blurring of faces and removal of names, even though that was the district’s responsibility. We went to these efforts, at substantial expense, because we view the children subjected to the Tamimi event as victims of manipulation by the adults involved.
The Court order also said that the school district “may” muffle student voices if the voices revealed identity, but the School District did not do so. The first video turned over by the district was a short video of the Janna Jihad video being played to the class. Bassem Tamimi is sitting to the left of the screen. He starts by stating: “[Janna Jihad in the video is] Eight years old
This is the message for the world and from the Palestinian children”
The second, and main video, is a class discussion after the formal presentation was over. While we don’t have video of the full presentation, you can see the themes mentioned in documents repeated by the students, particularly the “wall” (the security barrier), how families suffer, how Israel is wrong and Palestinians are right, and how only Palestinian children suffer. There was no discussion, from anything we have seen, about the suffering of Israeli children at the hands of Palestinian terrorists, such as Bassem Tamimi’s cousin Ahlem Tamimi. Ahlem masterminded the Sbarro Pizza suicide bombing, is a hero among the Tamimi clan in Nabi Saleh, and Bassem Tamimi has refused to denounce her.
While I think the whole discussion was inappropriate for third graders, if the school was going to hold an educational event, it would have been good to talk not only about Janna Jihad, but also about Malki Roth who was killed in the Sbarro Pizza massacre by Bassem Tamimi’s cousin. It also could have been explained that the “wall” was built only after dozens of other children (and several hundred other civilians) were killed by Palestinian suicide bombers, and that the wall protects children. As to Gaza, the brutality of Hamas could have been mentioned, and the Israeli attacks put in the context of relentless Hamas rocket fire even after Israel accepted an Egyptian ceasefire proposal.
There is no evidence in what has been released of a balanced presentation. That there was no attempt at balance or explanation shows that this was a political propaganda event. The emotions of young children were manipulated by adults in positions of power and authority, and who occupied positions of trust. In the video, you can see how heavily teacher Burnett pushed the students to view Israel negatively and to accept what the students had just been shown.
Activists manipulate third-graders into hating Israel
Conclusion
Through the backdoor of an unreciprocated concern for the "other," educated Westerners have allowed a hostile, bullying, honor-shame discourse to take over much of their public space: "Islamophobia," not Islamism, is the problem; Palestinians continue to save face and regain public honor by besmirching Israel, which, by its very existence and success, shames them; while so many social justice warriors, consumed with post-colonial guilt and fearful of the "Islamophobic" label, join forces with the "honor-brigade" in driving Israel beyond the pale.
In the larger picture of civilizational development, this is lamentable. It took a millennium of constant and painful efforts for Western culture to learn how to sublimate man's libido dominandi to the point of creating a society tolerant of diversity, one that resolved disputes with a discourse of fairness rather than violence, and one where positive-sum encounters are a desired norm. To insist, as many liberals do, that this exceptional achievement be considered the default mode for mankind regardless of how far the "other" is from this cherished goal, and to exempt enemies of democracy from the civic responsibility of self-criticism even while redoubling its burden on oneself, is to undermine the freedoms Western civilization has built up over centuries.
Unless and until academics and information professionals reclaim and till fields like honor-shame dynamics and Islamist triumphalism, Westerners will not be able to understand Arab and Islamic societies and will continue to indict the critic, not the legitimate target of criticism, at great peril to their democratic values and national interests. The inability to engage in self-criticism is the greatest weakness of honor-shame cultures, and the ability to do so is the greatest strength of those committed to integrity. Yet, now, astonishingly, the inability is strength, and our over-eagerness to compensate, our weakness.
Corey Gil-Shuster, 47, is a Canadian-born Israeli who has published over 500 videos on this YouTube channel in the last four years. As the creator of “The Ask Project,” every week he travels in Israel and the West Bank interviewing people on both sides of the conflict. “It’s seeking the truth. It started in that way. It was really about showing, first of all, what people think. And then, for me it’s very important to know what is reality and what isn’t,” said Gil-Shuster.
Gil-Shuster randomly stops people in the street or elsewhere and tries to talk with them. If they consent to being filmed with his small camera, he asks them questions that he receives from his YouTube followers from all over the world.
The funding for the project mainly comes out of Gil-Shuster’s own pocket, and he has no intention of stopping. Since 2012 he has interviewed more than 3,000 Israelis and Palestinians. His aim, when he can afford to, is to create a documentary about the project. “With this project, people have the opportunity to hear from the side they disagree with, and to humanize it,” said Gil-Shuster.
The Fifth Committee of the United Nations is set to decide next week whether to allocate funds to ensure that a motion by the body’s Human Rights Council to create a “blacklist” of companies operating in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights can be implemented.
The Human Rights Council motion had passed in March with no countries voting against. The resolution required UN human rights officials to produce a database of “all business enterprises” that have enabled or profited from the growth of Israeli settlements, Haaretz reported.
The proposal, put forward by the Palestinian Authority and Arab states, included a condemnation of settlements and called on companies not to do business with Israeli settlements.
Haaretz, last Thursday, had a long and laudatory interview with the editor of Palestinian newspaper Al Quds. The article noted that the editorial offices of the newspaper are in the Atarot Industrial Zone in "East Jerusalem."
Palestinians consider Atarot (which was a Jewish community before 1948) to be an "illegal settlement." Yet the Al Quds newspaper has no problem having its offices in this Israeli industrial park, which means that it is profiting from Israeli settlements.
Will the UN go after Al Quds, and the many other Arab-owned businesses in Atarot and similar industrial zones? Will it go after Shweiki Glass which sold products to the Jerusalem light rail project?
Or is it only the businesses that are owned by Jews that fall under this blacklist?
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In the aftermath of the US election, proudly progressive
Israel-haters have been happy to tell everyone who’d listen that they have been
right all along – alt-right, to be precise. About a week after the election,
Ali Abunimah informed
his Electronic Intifada readers that Trump might be “bringing ‘white
Zionism’ to the White House.” He explained what “white Zionism” is supposed to
be by citing the – in my view well-deserved
– criticism of Steve Bannon’s leadership role at Breitbart News, which “regularly
published materials designed to stoke fears about African Americans, Latinos,
Muslims and other groups, and to explicitly normalize white nationalist and
white supremacist beliefs.” Abunimah then declared triumphantly: “This so-called
alt-right ideology has been described by one of its key promoters as a form of ‘white
Zionism.’”
Well, to Ali Abunimah it must have seemed like a golden
opportunity: when half of America was in shock about Trump’s unexpected
election victory and appalled by the prospect
of an empowered alt-right, why not seize the moment and come up with a spin
that might convince all these people that Zionism was just as bad and despicable???
But Abunimah was by no means the only one to demonize
Zionism as the Jewish version of white supremacism: at the hate
siteMondoweiss, Phillip Weiss accused
renowned Holocaust scholar Deborah E. Lipstadt of “advocating a double standard”
if she was denouncing “white nationalism as a white supremacist ideology”
without condemning “Jewish nationalism” in the same terms.
A more recent post at Mondoweissgloats about the
widely reported failure of Hillel rabbi Matt Rosenberg at Texas A&M
University to respond to alt-right leader Richard Spencer’s claim that Jews
refused to assimilate and thus remained “a coherent people with a history and a
culture and a future,” and that he just wants the same for whites. As Mondoweiss
contributor Jonathan Ofir concludes, “Spencer masterfully put Rosenberg in a
checkmate” by exposing “how Zionism and white-supremacy in fact dovetail.”
It’s good to know that alt-left
anti-Israel activists would feel so elated to have their demonization of
Zionism validated by the ‘masterful’ leader of the alt-right… The intellectual
depth displayed here reminds me of Rania Khalek’s excuse when she was caught linking
to a Holocaust denial site and then claimed it had just been “an error,” insisting at the same time
that the book she had recommended from the site was “completely factual.” As I wrote at the time, Khalek was apparently convinced that
a site devoted to minimizing Nazi crimes and defending people “not believing in
the existence of gas chambers” can be trusted to feature a “completely factual”
book that presents Zionist Jews as Nazi collaborators – which is obviously an
idea that deserves as much ridicule and contempt as the notion that a white
supremacist site would be a good place to find a “completely factual” book on blacks.
What anti-Israel activists who feel that the alt-right’s
supposed affinity for Zionism validates their own “anti-Zionism” really tell us
is that their view of Zionism has little to do with realities in the world’s
only Jewish state.
Let’s look first at what Spencer means by “White Zionism”.
This is how he put
it at an alt-right gathering in 2013:
“For us ‘immigration’ is a proxy
for race. In that way, immigration can be good or bad: it can be a conquest (as
it seems now) . . . or a European in-gathering, something like White
Zionism. It all depends on the
immigrants. And we should open our minds to the positive possibilities of mass
immigration from the White world.”
More recently, Spencer told the notorious alt-right
gathering in Washington D.C. something very
similar as he told Hillel rabbi Matt Rosenberg at Texas A&M University:
“The Jews exist precisely because
they were apart, precisely because they had, maybe you could say, a bit of
paranoia about trying to stay away — please don’t quote paranoia,” Spencer
said.”
Right, let’s not quote “paranoia” – it’s perhaps not the
best word to describe the results of more than a thousand years of
antisemitism…
But in any case, others at the gathering agreed that the
Jews provided an excellent example for white nationalists. As one participant
put it: “The opposition to intermarriage. The creation of their own state. The
recreation of their language. This is the greatest triumph of racial idealism
in history.”
So let’s start with intermarriage (and leave aside that I’m
writing this as a naturalized non-Jewish Israeli citizen who “intermarried”
with a Jew). While the alt-right hopes to be able to mainstream their ideas
under President Trump, they presumably know that Trump’s daughter Ivanka
converted to Judaism and married a Jew. So if white nationalists want to
emulate Jews, they’ve surely developed some ideas about how non-Whites can
convert to being white? And another interesting
question: what language do white nationalists plan to recreate?
Anyway, to clarify things a bit more, I thought white
nationalists might find it useful to contemplate this
image before praising Israel for any supposed “greatest triumph of racial
idealism in history”...
Mhm, you think this is how white nationalists would want
their army to look? And, incidentally, how do you think white nationalists would
feel if they knew the story
of former Israeli president Moshe Katsav, who was found guilty of sexual
offenses and sentenced to a lengthy prison term by a well-respected Christian
Arab judge? If white nationalists see Israel as their example, maybe we should
expect that they’ll have well-respected Black Muslim judges in their state?
I could go on, but I agree with Gilead Ini’s recent remark on
Twitter: taking the alt-right’s professed admiration for the world’s only
Jewish state seriously, and trying to show how insincere and uninformed it is,
may not make more sense than countering other libels, like “arguing that
Zionism isn’t Nazism or that Jews don’t drink blood.”
But the alt-left’s eagerness to embrace the alt-right’s
fantasy of Israel as a validation of campaigns aimed at eliminating the world’s
only Jewish state shows how alike both fringes are: the alt-right wants a white
state without Jews, the alt-left wants a world without a Jewish state – and if
their respective visions were to come true, the alt-right couldn’t care less
about the fate of Jews in the diaspora, while the alt-left couldn’t care less
about the fate of Jews in Israel.
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Fatah's official TV station, Awdah, broadcast a terror promoting music video 72 times in the month of November, the same month Fatah held its Seventh Fatah Conference.
The theme of the song is:
“My weapon has emerged. There is no force in the world that can remove the weapon from my hand."
[Fatah-run Awdah TV, 72 times in November 2016] The visuals are from old black-and-white films of Fatah terrorists in training. Former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat is shown handing out rifles and making a declaration supporting armed terror:
“For our movement, ‘armed struggle’ means taking part in an armed revolutionary war of the masses.” In November, a longer version of the video was broadcast four times that included an additional stanza that celebrated death while fighting Israel:
"He who offers his blood doesn't care
if his blood flows upon the ground.
As the weapon of the revolution is in my hand,
so my presence will be forced [upon Israel].”
This music video was first aired on Fatah-run Awdah TV on Feb. 22, 2015. Since then it has been rebroadcast hundreds of times.
Fatah TV broadcasts terror-song 72 times in a month: “No force... can remove the weapon”
…Human Rights Day — which marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Genocide Conventions on December 10 1948 — highlights the failures of the organizations that ostensibly protect and defend these values. Ignoring the pleas of victims around the world, the agenda of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is controlled by some of the worst violators, including and Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Cuba, Russia, Venezuela and China. In turning away from the real suffering, officials of the UNHRC routinely exploit the rhetoric of international law to obsessively target Israel. In addition, hundreds of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) claiming to promote human rights, including superpowers such as Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the French– FIDH (Fédération internationale des ligues des droits de l’Homme), have become accomplices in promoting this immorality.
In 2016, the NGO network expanded the campaigns that exploit human rights and international law as ideological platforms used to attack Western democracies and open societies. The New York-based Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) has joined the fray, providing generous financial support to radical groups. These grantees systematically erase terrorism — the primary threat to human rights – and demonize security measures designed to prevent such attacks, in order to promote a consistently anti-western and anti-democratic agenda. In Europe, human rights organizations and policies are similarly distorted. In a number of cases, taxpayer funds are doled out without due diligence, resulting in millions of euros, pounds, and krona going to groups that mix the language of moral principles with links to terrorist groups.
How ridiculously biased against Israel is the New York Times?
How about this for an answer: The newspaper manages to sneak some Israel-bashing into even a 250-word review of a movie about a 1977 Israeli basketball team. The Times faults the movie, “On the Map,” for being too pro-Israel: “This is an almost relentlessly partisan portrait: Not one player or coach from a team that opposed the Maccabi is interviewed.”
If anyone is relentlessly partisan here, it is the New York Times, which can’t even manage to review a movie about an Israeli sports team without complaining that the other side doesn’t get a voice. The review complains: “The movie makes no attempt to engage any current situation, basking instead in a one-dimensional nostalgia.”
That’s a silly complaint. It’s not a movie about the current situation; it’s a movie about the 1977 basketball team. And again, if anyone is being one-dimensional here, it is the New York Times, which seems to want to view nearly every piece of art that ever comes out of Israel through the New York Times obsession of the contemporary Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Other publications had a different view of it. The Wall Street Journal published a friendly feature about the film, without attacking it as one-sided and without any complaining that it failed to dwell sufficiently on Palestinian grievances against Israeli settlers. The Hollywood Reporter ran a review that called the movie “inspiring” and “compelling,” as well as “moving and amusing.” The Algemeiner had a friendly interview with the movie’s screenwriter and with an executive producer.
- Prohibition against calling the prayer by a bell or a some kind of a Gong (Nakos).
- Prohibition of Christians and Jews against raising their voices at prayer times.
In fact, one reason why the semantron is used in the Middle East as a Christian call to prayer is because Muslims banned church bells! (In some Muslim societies, the semantron was banned as well. One Umayyad caliph destroyed a church after hearing the semantron.)
Yes, eleven centuries before loudspeakers were invented, Muslims banned Jews and Christians from doing anything related to prayer that would be considered offensive to sensitive Muslim ears.
Now, Muslims are crying about how discriminatory it is to demand that they lower the volume of their ear-splitting pre-dawn calls to prayer.
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In late November, Haaretz (Hebrew) published a somewhat satirical letter making an analogy between the bonfires of the Bar Kochba revolt and the arson fires in Israel:
Some 2,000 years ago an event attributed to the Bar Kokhva Revolt and marked by lighting fires accrued in the history of our people. Some 50 years ago Israel conquered the West Bank and since then, via the "Settlements Project", Israeli governments continue to deprive the Palestinians of their lands. This historic move has an existential significance for the fate and future of the Palestinians as a nation. It seems that some Palestinians what to mark this 50th anniversary by lighting fires.
We don't like it, but we can understand them.
Dov Sitton, Omer
Tweeter Amir asked Haaretz publisher Amos Schocken if he thinks it's appropriate to publish such a letter. Here's the full exchange:
Amos: Amusing letter. Certainly worth publishing (even if it agrees with the Right's claim that there was an organized Palestinian arson attack which I totally reject).
Amir: Amusing?! Everything is publishable?
Amos: Read it with a grain of salt. Certainly amusing (but that's just my opinion which you asked for).
Amos: I'll explain: the letter is amusing in it's wording but says what you've already heard: it's the right and duty of the conquered and dispossessed to throw stones (and light fires). [link]
Yonatan Yahav: What about his "right" to blow up buses and shoot babies in the head (Shalhevet Pass)?
Amos: He has no right, but colonialism has shown that the conquered and dispossessed can only achieve freedom via terror, because without that the colonizer will not give up his privileges. I oppose terror but I know it won't be eradicated until Apartheid is eradicated. In a normal country the Ministry of Welfare removes kids from the possession of their parents if they pose a threat to them. If I'd say that this how Shalhevet Pass should have been treated you'd say I'm insane, but at least she would be alive today.
Could you imagine that Schocken would ever suggest that the authorities take away children of Arab terrorists because of the danger that the IDF might bomb their houses?
Moreover, Schocken's pretense that he opposes terror rings hollow. It is difficult to believe that Schocken is against Palestinian terror if he believes that it is the only way to achieve a laudable goal. Obviously if he considers what he calls "apartheid" to be a worse crime than terror, he believes terror is justified, and the victims of terror are the ones who are guilty of being victims.
This is not merely insane. It is criminal.
(h/t Yoel)
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Israel and Turkey are working to eliminate a major obstacle to natural gas deals: their own fractious history.
The two governments are working on a framework for the export of Israeli natural gas to Turkey that would protect contracts between companies if diplomatic ties break down, Israeli Energy Ministry Director-General Shaul Meridor said in an interview in Jerusalem. With such a shield in place, gas could begin flowing from Israeli waters to Turkey as soon as 2019, he said.
“For banks to eventually finance such a project they will have to know that no matter what happens between the countries politically, the business side will be protected,” he said.
The prospect of energy ties helped the countries patch up a six-year rift over a deadly Israeli raid on a Turkish ship that sought to breach Israel’s blockade of the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip. Israel was looking for export markets, while Turkey sought to bolster its status as an energy hub and diversify away from Russian gas.
Israel's new role as a producer and exporter of energy affects its political standing in even more unusual ways.
In Jordan, a Zarqa University student who was protesting the sale of Israeli gas to the kingdom was suspended from his university for a semester for his T-shirt that said "The enemy's gas is occupation."
The university said that the student's protest and T-shirt affected the university's security and violated regulations. (A university spokesperson said that the student had violated regulations previously, leading to the suspension.)
The idea that an anti-Israel protest could lead to a student's suspension from an Arab university would have been unthinkable a very short time ago.
(h/t Ibn Boutros)
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Tuesday, December 13, 2016
