Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

03/15 Links Pt1: The diabolical PA/EU plan for Area C; Does Iran Really Respect Jews?

From Ian:

Now I don’t want to ruin anyone’s vacation, but the next time you are heading for some R&R at the Dead Sea via Jerusalem, pay close attention to the scenery on the sides of the road.
Over the past decade there has been a huge upsurge in the number of structures going up in illegal Beduin villages and encampments on both sides of Highway 1, from the entrance to the city through what is known as the “E1” area between Jerusalem and the “Adumims” all the way down the mountain toward the Dead Sea.
So why should some illegal Beduin structures spoil your trip? Because these aren’t just small herding communities as they would appear, but strategically placed mini-towns set up by the Palestinian Authority and financed by the European Union to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros, with the explicit goal of taking over strategic lands in Area C with the aim of creating a de facto Palestinian state.
This plot is clearly outlined in a lengthy 2009 policy paper by then Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad. Known as the Fayyad Plan, the logic was that by creating substantial facts on the ground, the PA with the support of the international community would lay claim to those areas, and demand that they be part of “Palestine” in any future negotiations with Israel.
And that’s where the EU comes in – to serve as the key financier of the project. Over 1,000 illegal structures – including houses, bathrooms, storage spaces, etc., with more being erected nearly daily throughout Judea and Samaria, now proudly bear the EU flag. The EU’s false claim is that it is involved in these building endeavors for “humanitarian purposes” to provide for the Beduin in these areas.
Ironic though, that the EU symbol can only be seen on structures in Area C; none can be found in areas A or B, nor can they be found in Beduin communities throughout the rest of the Middle East. It makes you wonder.

Does Iran Really Respect Jews?

Praise for having a Jewish representative in parliament is just as misplaced. When I attended synagogue as a student in Iran, members of the Jewish community did not trust the representative. His sole purpose seemed to be to pass pronouncements from the government to the synagogues and to be cited to deflect attention from Iran’s fairly horrendous human rights record.
Beyond that, though, is Iran safe for Jews? It depends. Pogroms—as vicious as any in Eastern Europe—characterized nineteenth century Iran. Then there were the restrictive rules: In 1889, for example, the government prohibited Jews in Isfahan from going outside on wet days lest rainwater spread their impurity. Jews were also forbidden from touching food, speaking loudly, or purchasing any goods in the market. (Daniel Tsadik provides an excellent account of modern Jewish history in his 2007 book, Between Foreigners and Shi‘is; Habib Levy’s Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran remains a masterpiece).
It is true that, at times, Iran was a relative haven for the Jews. The irony here, though, is that it was the regime that Zarif represents not only overthrew an Iranian state that allowed its Jewish minority to thrive, but also sought to close the door on the laudable regimes of the distant past. Zarif now presumes to cite that history for the expressed purpose of demonizing the democratically-elected leader of a state whose existence Zarif refuses to recognize and whose genocidal enemies he arms and encourages.
There is something very wrong in the world when Zarif is taken seriously on matters of communal harmony and religious peace.

Iran’s Jewish lawmaker: Netanyahu an ‘insane vampire’

The Jewish member of Iran’s parliament called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an “insane vampire” for saying that Iran seeks the annihilation of the Jews, just as ancient Persia did in the Purim story.
“Netanyahu is an insane vampire drowned in crimes from head to toe, and the recent remarks made by the racist Israeli prime minister is not surprising to me,” Siamak Mareh Sedq, who represents the Jews of Iran in the government, said Tuesday during an open session of parliament, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.
Mareh Sedq also asserted that in contradiction to Netanyahu’s statements against Iran, anti-Semitism and racism have never been witnessed in the Iranian culture.
On Saturday night, the start of the Purim holiday, Netanyahu visited an Israeli synagogue, where he told children celebrating Purim that Iran seeks to kill the Jews just as the Persians did.
Netanyahu: Iran is responsible for more than 80% of Israel's security problems (credit: GPO)
Mareh Sedq followed his nation’s foreign minister in castigating Netanyahu.
“To sell bigoted lies against a nation which has saved Jews 3 times, Netanyahu resorting to fake history & falsifying Torah. Force of habit,” Mohammed Javad Zarif tweeted in English on Sunday.

Last night I hosted a symposium on the topic, "Donald Trump: Good for the Jews?"

The four panelists who gave talks were Brian of London from Israellycool, Varda Meyers Epstein from EoZ, and well-known media analysts Gidon Shaviv and Adam Levick.

I was fortunate to have in the audience famous British journalist and author Melanie Phillips, who made some cogent points in the discussions.

There was some spirited discussion between the panelists as well as between panelists and the audience of around 35 people who came.

Here is my introduction, where I frame the discussion and say some of my own opinions of Trump. When I get a chance I'll post the other segments but probably not until next week,

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

From YNet:

Six North African bloggers and journalists have arrived in Israel as guests of the foreign ministry at the invitation of the Deputy Spokesman for Arab Media, Hassan Kaabiya.

This is the sixth such initiative undertaken to bring Arabic-language media representatives to Israel.

Until now, journalists from Morocco have come to Israel, but this is the first time journalists from Algeria and Tunisia have paid a visit.

Members of the delegation visited the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount Monday as part of their tour. Additionally, they visited Yad Vashem and are expected to tour the foreign ministry, the Supreme Court and the Knesset on Tuesday.

Arab newspaper Rai al Youm is very upset. It coverage of the story starts off with the lament,

It seems that Arab normalization with Israel has become the rule, while considering it a rogue state is the exception. It is not limited to the Arab regimes at peace with Israel but beyond that, with media missions from Arab countries that have no diplomatic relations. ...Unlike in the past, the Arab media visits to Israel are done openly, and Arab journalists who arrive in Tel Aviv agree to publish their pictures in the official sites of the Jewish state, and specifically on the social networking of Facebook pages and Twitter.

The article goes on to say that IDF's Unit 8200 has soldiers making contact with Arabs worldwide in order to convince them that Israelis are normal people, or, as the article describes it, "psychological warfare."

Based on this article, it is working!

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Let's wish Abu Al-Hawa Ahmad a Mazal Tov

I saw this posted on a bulletin board in the hotel I'm staying in:

"Mazal Tov, 13-3-17, Abu Al-Hawa Ahmad."

Presumably Mr. Ahmad was getting married, or perhaps his son was. (I don't think it is a birth announcement because I saw this sign a few days ago before March 13.)

Jews are wishing a Mazal Tov to their Muslim co-worker.

And it is not the least bit strange - unless you get all your information about Israel from the mainstream media.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Ahlam Tamimi is one of the most notorious and heinous terrorists who drove the suicide bomber to blow up the Sbarro's restaurant in August 2001.

Tamimi, part of the Tamimi clan that is lauded regularly in Western media and by NGOs for their "non-violent resistance," is joyful about her role in murdering 16 people including children.

She was released in the Gilad Shalit deal and now lives in Jordan, working as a journalist.

On Tuesday, the US Justice Department released this statement:

A criminal complaint was unsealed today charging Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi, also known as “Khalti” and “Halati,” a Jordanian national in her mid-30s, with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against U.S. nationals outside the U.S., resulting in death. The charge is related to the defendant’s participation in an Aug. 9, 2001, suicide bomb attack at a pizza restaurant in Jerusalem that killed 15 people, including two U.S. nationals. Four other U.S. nationals were among the approximately 122 others injured in the attack. Also unsealed today was a warrant for Al-Tamimi’s arrest and an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrant. The criminal charge had been under seal since July 15, 2013.

Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary B. McCord, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips for the District of Columbia and Assistant Director in Charge Andrew Vale of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

“Al-Tamimi is an unrepentant terrorist who admitted to her role in a deadly terrorist bombing that injured and killed numerous innocent victims. Two Americans were killed and four injured. The charges unsealed today serve as a reminder that when terrorists target Americans anywhere in the world, we will never forget – and we will continue to seek to ensure that they are held accountable,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord. “I want to thank the many dedicated agents and prosecutors who have worked on this investigation.”

“We have never forgotten the American and non-American victims of this awful terrorist attack,” said U.S. Attorney Phillips. “We will continue to remain vigilant until Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi is brought to justice.”

“Al-Tamimi is a terrorist who participated in an attack that killed United States citizens,” said Assistant Director in Charge Vale. “The bombing that she planned and assisted in carrying out on innocent people, including children, furthered the mission of a designated terrorist organization. The FBI continues to work with our international partners to combat terrorists like Al-Tamimi and hold them accountable.”

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrant, Al-Tamimi was living in the West Bank in the summer of 2001, while attending school and working as a journalist for a television station. Al-Tamimi agreed that summer to carry out attacks on behalf of the military wing of Hamas (the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades), a Palestinian organization designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.

The affidavit states that on Aug. 9, 2001, Al-Tamimi met with the suicide bomber in Ramallah, in the West Bank, and traveled with the suicide bomber by car to Jerusalem. The suicide bomber was in possession of an explosive device concealed within a guitar. Al-Tamimi led the suicide bomber to a crowded area in downtown Jerusalem and instructed the suicide bomber to detonate the explosive device in the area, or somewhere nearby if an opportunity arose to cause more casualties. According to the affidavit, the suicide bomber entered a Sbarro pizza restaurant and detonated the explosive device, causing extensive damage, bodily injury and death. Seven of the dead were children, including one U.S. national.

The affidavit states that Al-Tamimi pleaded guilty in an Israeli court in 2003 to multiple counts of murder arising from the Sbarro suicide bomb attack and was sentenced to 16 life terms of incarceration. The defendant served only eight years of the sentence before being released on or about Oct. 28, 2011, as part of a prisoner exchange between the government of Israel and Hamas.

Al-Tamimi was returned to Jordan upon her release from incarceration. Jordan’s courts, however, have ruled that their constitution forbids the extradition of Jordanian nationals. The U.S. has worked and will continue to work with its foreign partners to obtain custody of Al-Tamimi so she can be held accountable for her role in the terrorist bombing. The FBI also announced today that Al-Tamimi has been placed on its list of Most Wanted Terrorists.

Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki was murdered in the attack and who established a foundation in her memory, told Legal Insurrection:

My wife and I were aware from about 2005 of efforts to have the mastermind of the Sbarro pizzeria massacre released on one spurious basis or another. Our daughter Malki was murdered there at the age of 15. We wrote and spoke against the idea of convicted terrorists being released early dozens of times and in several countries. Then in 2011 the Shalit Deal took shape. Israel catastrophically gave in to Hamas’ demands and Ahlam Tamimi’s name was in the walk-free list.

We were shattered. Even before the deal was done, we predicted what this might mean and, in the years since then, most of what we feared has come to pass. In fact, in some ways, the reality has been even worse than that.

We first approached the Department of Justice via a personal meeting with a large group of its senior people in Washington some months after the Shalit Deal was done. That was in early 2012. We asked for Tamimi to be brought up on charges in the United States. Our daughter was a US citizen, and the Koby Mandell Act requires US authorities in such situations to go after the terrorists wherever they are and bring them to court to face US justice
.
Five years later, it’s apparent that a sealed complaint was already been filed with a Washington DC court within about a year of that first meeting and prior to several subsequent meetings we had with them. We got vague messages that expressed support for what we wanted but no actionable information. We were immensely frustrated. We have a better understanding of why things were done that way.

It’s evident as of today that the government’s lawyers are seriously intent on pursuing the Tamimi prosecution, and have been making vigorous efforts in secret. The obstacle is clear: Tamimi lives in Jordan where she was born, where most of her family lives and where the vast majority of the population call themselves Palestinians. The government of Jordan does not want to see her extradited. Our understanding is they are not co-operating with DoJ’s efforts.

This is about justice in the truest sense of the word. When it affects others and not you, justice can seem an abstract notion. But it’s not an abstraction. Civilized societies cannot function when justice is trampled.

We know there is more work to be done.

I am puzzled by the DOJ's assertion that Jordan’s courts... have ruled that their constitution forbids the extradition of Jordanian nationals." Jordan's constitution says in Article 21(1) that “[p]olitical refugees shall not be extradited on account of their political beliefs or for their defense of liberty."

Tamimi is not a political refugee.

Moreover, the US has an extradition treaty with Jordan from 1995 that specifically includes terrorists like Tamimi. President Clinton described it in his letter of submittal of the treaty:

With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Extradition Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, signed at Washington on March 28, 1995.
Also transmitted for the information of the Senate is the report of the Department of State with respect to this Treaty. The Treaty establishes the conditions and procedures for extradition between the United States and Jordan. It also provides a legal basis for temporarily surrendering prisoners to stand trial for crimes against the laws of the Requesting State.
The Treaty further represents an important step in combatting terrorism by excluding from the scope of the political offense exception serious offenses typically committed by terrorists, e.g., crimes against a Head of State or first family member of either Party, aircraft hijacking, aircraft sabotage, crimes against internationally protected persons, including diplomats, hostage-taking, narcotics trafficking, and other offenses for which the United States and Jordan have an obligation to extradite or submit to prosecution by reason of a multilateral international agreement or treaty.

If Jordan is refusing to extradite Ahlam Tamimi, it isn't because it is against Jordanian law. It is because they don't consider her a terrorist.

The pressure on Jordan to extradite her should be relentless and very public. Force King Abdullah to state publicly that he refuses to cooperate with seeing justice served to a proud terrorist while he pretends that he is a partner in the war on terror. No amount of secret background negotiations will get anywhere - this must be made into an issue that would expose the Arab world's support for murderers of Jewish children.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

03/14 Links Pt2: Israel, the country US liberal Jews love to criticize; When Feminists Were Zionists

From Ian:

Prof. Phyllis Chesler: Israel, the country US liberal Jews love to criticize

As someone who has long been on record as both a feminist and a Zionist, I know how hard it is to maintain both loyalties. Increasingly, what passes for both left-liberal “feminism” and “Zionism,” has been taken over by poisonous, pro-Palestinian propaganda and by a suicidal alliance with Jew-haters, Jew-killers, and barbaric misogynists.
I chose not to write about the faux-feminist Women’s Marches of 2017, but I did give two interviews about the issues involved. I experienced some immediate blowback—all on the same day and within hours of each other.
A feminist artist sent round a spirited defense of convicted Palestinian terrorist, Rasmea Odeh, who joined Linda Sarsour as a feminist leader (!) on International Women’s Day. Based on “false news” at Snopes, she and other left feminists are happily persuaded that the Israelis sexually tortured this woman and her father for 45 days before Odeh issued a false confession. To them, Odeh is a hero of the Resistance.
The idea that feminists might believe that the Israelis did something like this was sickening, but even more so, due to their relative silence about the tortures perpetrated by ISIS, Boko Haram, and the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban on women.

2013: When Feminists Were Zionists

In June 1975, weeks after Saigon fell, Betty Friedan led a large delegation of American feminists to Mexico City for an International Woman’s Year World Conference hosted by the United Nations. The feminist trailblazer—whose legacy is in the spotlight on International Women’s Day today, 50 years after the publication of her book The Feminine Mystique—traveled south “relatively naïve,” she would recall, hoping “to help advance the worldwide movement of women to equality.” Instead, she endured what she called “one of the most painful experiences in my life.”
The conference’s anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Zionism shocked Freidan—and diverted attention from the feminist agenda. Men, political spouses, or “female flunkies,” she noted, dominated most official delegations. Few of the delegates seemed interested in women’s issues. American feminists were mocked as spoiled bourgeois elites raising marginal concerns to avoid confronting more pressing issues of racism, imperialism, colonialism, and poverty. A thuggish atmosphere intimidated the American feminists, especially in the parallel NGO, or non-governmental organization, conference. At critical moments “microphones were turned off” and speakers shouted down. Friedan recalled in notes found in her papers, which formed the basis of her famous article “Scary Doings in Mexico City”: “the way they were making it impossible for women to speak—on the most innocent, straightforward of women’s concerns, seemed fascist—like to me, the menace of the goosestep.” Friedan saw the Israeli prime minister’s wife, Leah Rabin, booed and boycotted, and she watched, horrified, as the “Declaration on the Equality of Women” became one of the first international documents to label Zionism as a form of racism.
When Third World and Communist delegates moved to link the Ten-Year Plan of Action for Women to the abolition of “imperialism, neocolonialism, racism, apartheid, and Zionism,” some feminist voices finally broke the silence. One European woman delegate told Friedan: “That is clear anti-Semitism, and we will have no part of it.” “If Zionism is to be included in the final declaration, we cannot understand why sexism was not included,” T.W.M. Tirika-tene-Sullivan, heading the New Zealand delegation, shouted. Lacking a two-thirds majority, the Arab and Communist delegates forced through a procedural change requiring only a majority vote to approve a declaration so that the anti-Zionist plank could pass.

Pro-Palestinian activist: Support for Israel and feminism are incompatible

Liberal American Jews, many of whom are involved in causes for gender and racial justice, have recently found themselves alienated by those movements’ stances on Israel.
That conflict was seen last year when a platform associated with the Black Lives Matter movement accused Israel of committing “genocide” against the Palestinians and called it an “apartheid state.” The platform drew ire from Jewish groups who had previously expressed support for BLM’s goals of racial justice.
Now the same conflict is playing out with feminist groups whose cause has gained steam since the election of President Donald Trump. A platform for the U.S. affiliate of the International Women’s Strike — a grassroots feminist movement that organized events around the world last Wednesday — calls “for the decolonization of Palestine.”
Responding Monday to critics of the Palestine plank in a platform devoted to women’s rights, Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, an organizer of January’s Women’s March on Washington who also helped plan the Women’s Strike, came forth with a harsh message: feminism and Zionism simply don’t go together.
In an interview with The Nation, Sarsour said those who identify as Zionist cannot be feminist because they are ignoring the rights of Palestinian women.

Dear Linda Sarsour: Feminism and Zionism go hand in hand

Linda, when you mentioned your “Palestinian grandmother who lives in occupied territory” during your speech at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., I was upset. It felt to me that you were using that incredible historical moment and the spotlight that it shined on you as an opportunity to bash Israel. After Black Lives Matter inserted its own delegitimization of Israel in their publicized platform a few months earlier, your speech left me seriously wondering if there could be a single political movement for a positive cause that I and so many other Jews and lovers of Israel support that doesn’t take advantage of its time on the world stage to launch attacks at Israel.
But people told me I shouldn’t react that way, that your statement wasn’t anti-Israel and didn’t make you anti-Israel. That you were just sharing your personal identity and family story and that I shouldn’t let that taint my view of you or the modern women’s movement you are helping to lead.
And then there was the desecration of the Jewish cemetery in St. Louis on in response to which you raised $100,000. And I was humbled. And impressed. Maybe I was wrong, I thought to myself. Maybe you really don’t have that hate in your heart I thought you did.
But you yourself have proven me wrong. You do have that hate in your heart. And it burns for Zion. And Zionism. And anyone who considers herself a Zionist, a lover and a supporter of the one country in our world created to take on the role of safeguarding the Jewish people (because no other country would). Because in your view, if you are a Zionist then you are not and cannot be a true feminist.
That’s funny, because I know plenty of strong women who stand up and demand and receive the equal voice, rights and opportunities that they deserve as women, as human beings, and as part of God’s great creation.
And you know what, Linda, these women are Jewish and they are Zionists. And their Zionism and their feminism go hand in hand.

I had never told him how important it was for us to hug him after the war.

Yesterday I did.

More than two years after, no longer a soldier, he says he sometimes hears explosions all around him.

More than two years later, Lenny’s sons are in the army and preparing for the army. We don’t know if the next war will be with Hamas in Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon (or heaven forbid both). We don’t know when it will happen. We do know that it will …

How many people understand what we go through? Can you?

This is what I wrote, then (August 11, 2014)….

“So tomorrow we can go see him and hug him” I said. Lenny had woken me up to tell me that Haim had come home from Gaza [Operation Protective Edge].

Haim is the son of one of Lenny’s childhood friends. I’ve known Haim almost a decade. Lenny has known him since infancy. He was always charismatic. Even as a small child. Haim has a friendly charm that makes you smile and an exuberant personality that can’t be ignored.

He is a paratrooper and was one of the IDF soldiers on the ground in Gaza. Now he had come home.

Haim is just a few years older than Lenny’s sons and because of this Lenny had a visceral reaction to his life being in danger on the frontline. He imagined more vividly than ever before what it will be like to be in the position of a parent trying to go about his daily life, choked with fear for his son’s life. Every news update, every rumor on social media, every phone call and knock on the door could bring life shattering news: your beloved is injured, or worse, dead. You cannot protect your child or take the danger away. You are left behind, waiting, never knowing until the moment he walks back in the door and you can, once again, wrap your arms around him and hold him tight.

We went to see Haim the next day. It is hard to explain in words but it had become really important to look at him, to hug him. Maybe it was a need to see that he would be ok and in one piece. Too many of our soldiers did not come home. Too many came home not whole – arms or legs amputated, eyes damaged, hearing damaged…

Remembering the child, it was startling to see the man standing in front of us. Young but no longer a boy, Gaza had changed him.

Firstborn and the only boy, Haim had always been the delight of his family. Now they all crowded around him, talking, not really knowing what to say… excited. Watching them, it was like I was seeing two different worlds collide. Haim was in the midst of his loving family but he was also alone. None of them could ever know exactly what he went through in Gaza, only the people who were there with him could really understand.

His mother talked about the horrible heat he had to endure, the powder-like sand that got on and in everything, the inability to take a shower or change clothes. These all were certainly bothersome but they were the least of his worries. What is a sore and itching body compared to coming home alive or getting killed?

Even his father, grandfather or other Israeli men wouldn’t understand completely because the tactics used by the Hamas in Gaza are different from what was in previous wars. This was not the battle of soldiers meeting each other on a battlefield it wasn’t even like previously seen urban combat. The enemy hid behind and amongst civilians, sending children and mentally handicapped to shoot and throw grenades at soldiers. Women suicide bombers were sent to explode themselves in order to kill soldiers. Regular homes were weapons caches and launching pads for missiles. The Hamas hid in their tunnels in attempt to ambush IDF soldiers, to kill and take hostages. Everywhere they went, everything was booby trapped with explosives. Israel gave the Gazans so much advance warning of where the IDF would be focusing their efforts that it became easy for Hamas to prepare explosives in every place they wanted to stop the IDF (tunnel entrances, weapons stores etc.).

Haim told us of bullets flying, RPG rockets aimed at him and his fellow soldiers. He said: “It was like walking in to an American action movie – only real.” He told us of how terrorists tried to ambush them via one of their terror-tunnels (as they did when Hadar Goldin, Benaya Sarel and Liel Gidoni were killed). “We stopped them [unlike those who hadn’t managed to do so before it was too late],” said Haim. “We killed them.”

Haim said: “Gaza is full of miracles. We experienced lots of miracles.” Most people think of miracles as something spectacular that happens. He was talking about all the things that didn’t happen. The bullets that didn’t hit them. The terrorists that failed in their ambushes. The explosives, meant to kill them that simply didn’t explode. He told us of a house they had to enter – the whole ceiling was covered in gas balloons rigged to explode. They were meant to cause an explosion that would have incinerated the building and all the soldiers inside. But they didn’t explode. Haim and all the soldiers with him should have been dead. But they weren’t.

Thank God for miracles!

Haim’s family all had their opinions about the war with Hamas, what should and shouldn’t be done. Haim, the only one who had actually been in Gaza this time around, remained silent. When asked directly he said: “We successfully completed every task given to us. If now we are asked to do more, we will.”

His mother visibly paled at the thought of him having to go back but remained silent. She knew that he had only 48 hours to be at home and that wherever he’ll be sent, it will be dangerous. If he has to go back to Gaza, he will. If not, he will be sent to other, difficult and risky tasks. He will go because it is his turn. In two years Lenny’s sons will also go.

Each soldier has parents, brothers, sisters, wives and children that worry themselves sick each time their beloved is called up. No one wants to go to battle. In Israel it is necessary to do so because the lives of all our people are threatened. We are not protecting political strategic locations overseas. Our soldiers are protecting their own homes, their mothers and fathers, their wives and children.

What does victory mean to you? This image, making the rounds of Israeli social media, clearly shows what we fight for…

People who hate Israel look at IDF soldiers as brutal tools of an aggressive nation. People who love Israel tend to see the strength of our soldiers. Many know of their morality and decency. Few see the gut wrenching pain of the parents (and wives) who send their beloved to protect the nation, knowing he may never return. Few realize how much we need miracles to bring them back home again…

How ironic that the Israeli people, widely accused of war-mongering aggression, so deeply desire to see the day when we will no longer have to fight.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

03/14 Links Pt1: Arab Factions Praise Jordanian Terrorist for Killing Israeli Schoolgirls; Obama's Legacy, a Nuclear Iran?

From Ian:

Arab Factions Praise Jordanian Terrorist for Killing Israeli Schoolgirls

After his release from prison on Saturday, Muslim Brotherhood and Palestinian factions praised a Jordanian terrorist who shot and killed seven Israeli schoolgirls and injured six others in 1997.
“The Islamic resistance movement Hamas hails the Arab hero Ahmed Daqamseh on his release and gaining his freedom. We greet his noble struggle, his historic steadfastness and his heroic positions on Jerusalem and Palestine and the Resistance of the Palestinian people,” a Hamas press statement said, as translated by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
Following his release, Daqamseh said that Israelis were “human garbage vomited into our midst by the world’s nations,” and called for the death of Israelis “whether by burning or by burying,” in comments translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
The Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing in Jordan also rejoiced at Daqamseh’s release.
“The [Islamic Action] Party greets the people of Jordan and the family of the hero Ahmed Damaqseh on his release from prison after his sentence, and welcomes his return to practice his national role alongside the free men of this nation in construction and achievement,” according to a translation of an Islamic Action Party statement.
Even the “moderate” Palestinian Fatah Party glorified the Jordanian terrorist, and justified the murder of Israeli schoolchildren.
“It may be noted that the soldier Daqamseh opened fire on the group of girls because they made fun of him during his prayers, according to his testimony at the time,” a Fatah statement said.

Obama's Legacy, a Nuclear Iran?

Sadly, the American public remained largely oblivious to these blunders as the administration's echo chamber strategy proved extremely effective with most pundits—except a few very notable exceptions—expressing unmitigated support for the JCPOA in line with administration talking points and positions. The arms control and nonproliferation community, which should have been at the forefront of the debate, pointing out all the deal's weaknesses and potential pitfalls, was in the main uncritically lured by the administration's propaganda. On a broader level, Obama's heavy-handed delegitimization of any and all criticism and his aggressive pushing of the deal in Congress have left domestic political scars, including among Democrats, that add to the president's dismal Iranian legacy.
Obama's only achievement lies in kicking the nuclear can down the road to future administrations. But he created a reality in which it will be far more difficult to stop Iran down that road. With its nuclear program legitimized by the JCPOA, Tehran is much better poised to forge ahead at a time of its choosing. For contrary to Obama's emphatic statements, the JCPOA does not end Tehran's nuclear ambitions, nor has it lived up to the president's hope of ushering in a new era in U.S.-Iranian relations.
The challenge for the Trump administration is to try to reverse some of these negative trends. In making the best of a bad situation, the preferred route at this point—after Tehran has already pocketed billions of dollars—would be neither to renounce the deal nor try to renegotiate it but, rather, to enforce it strictly as well as strengthen its provisions. Much can be achieved by reversing the Obama administration's approach to Iran—recognizing Tehran's overt hostility to U.S. interests and responding with firm determination to its provocations beyond the direct context of the JCPOA.
These, however, are but general guidelines for future U.S. policy on this issue. After the damage wrought by the Obama administration, the road ahead will be strewn with difficulties, and there are no shortcuts or magic solutions for redressing the situation.

Do Supporters of Palestine Accept Indiscriminate Murder?

Last week he received in his Ramallah office the family of Muhammad Al-Jallad, who was shot to death while trying to carry out a stabbing. Abbas also met a 14-year-old, Osama Zaidat, who was wounded while attempting to stab civilians. In a widely circulated photograph, Abbas appears to be embracing Osama.
Abbas says that freeing the prisoners convicted by Israel is a major priority for him. At a conference in December he said, “We remember the martyrs, the wounded and the prisoners and their record. We salute our brave prisoners and respect them. We will not forget our fighting comrades.” So official Palestine stands firmly behind erratic, indiscriminate homicide.
In the 1990s Yasser Arafat, the founder of the Palestine Liberation Organization, began providing educational benefits for convicted terrorists to help them find work after their release from jail. Eventually rehabilitation expanded so that the Palestinian Agency paid the convicts generous regular salaries. A recent article in The Jerusalem Post said, “Ironically, what started out two decades ago under the pretense of a PA program to rehabilitate Palestinians convicted of violence against Israelis has become an incentive program for committing acts of terrorism.”
Many of those who admire the Palestinians from a distance must imagine them as likeable victims, people just campaigning for the rights they believe they deserve. But the true story is much more complicated.

One minute they're telling us that the term "antisemitism" is being thrown around indiscriminately, and others claim they consider being called an antisemite as a badge of honor.

Now, the media and the politicians are very concerned about antisemitism in the US, and warn us not only about an unprecedented rise in Jew-hatred, but have also pinpointed the source as being the election of Donald Trump as president.

What's going on?

Bethany Mandel nailed it when she wrote already back in November after the election, that Only Because Of Trump Did The Media Suddenly Care About Anti-Semitism. This was before it became popular to describe an "unprecedented" "wave" of antisemitism bordering on a "pandemic".

Today, the national media seems to report every apparent antisemitic attack. Before the election that same media was far more selective. Back in October, swastikas, the words "SS" and "Heil Hitler" were spray painted at the entrance to the Temple Beth Shalom Cemetery in Westchester. If you don't recall hearing about it, that is because while it was reported in the local media, the national media apparently missed it.

Or perhaps the outrage over antisemitism was not yet in vogue?

Jason Friedman, a security expert dealing exclusively with Jewish institutions for the Community Security Service, is not convinced that there has been “a dramatic increase in antisemitic events, rather than a big increase in the reporting of and on such events.”

Along with the undereported story in Westchester, last year there was a foiled bombing attempt at a Florida synagogue and explosives were thrown at the homes of two Lubavitch rabbis in New York. Despite the property damage and intent to cause physical harm, neither attack received much media coverage.

One of the first to write about the media's selectiveness about reporting about antisemitic attacks is Seth J. Frantzman, who points out that the more than 7,000 antisemitic incidents under Obama were mostly ignored by the media.

He notes that based on ADL data, there were an average of 84 antisemtic incidents each month during the Obama administration, as opposed to 95 incidents between January and February of 2017. Yet, while that is a 10% increase, it does not support the narrative that there has been a wave of antisemitism sweeping the US under Trump.

ADL chart of antisemitic incidents and assaults in the US 2009-2015. Screenshot: Seth Frantzman

Looking at the broader picture, it turns out that during the Obama years from 2009 to 2015, there were:

thousands of antisemitic incidents
210 physical assaults on Jews - and an increase in those assaults during Obama's last years
3,900 threats against Jews and Jewish institutions
2,900 incidents of vandalism
180 incidents of antisemitism on campus

The national media apparently missed the fact that:

In 2015 alone, every 6 days a Jewish person in America was being attacked.
Over the last 8 years, on average there were threats every day against Jews and Jewish institutions.
On average, there were incidents of vandalism every day.

Yet the media liberally tosses around the label "antisemite" at Trump, Bannon and others, while applying it as a warning of an increasing threat.

But there is more than just an issue of exaggeration and alarm. Although he agrees there is an increased threat -- bordering on a pandemic -- Malcolm Hoenlein, head of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations warns:

We have to be very careful — and it’s a warning you cannot exaggerate — about using the label antisemite. It’s a very powerful accusation. If you demean it, if you make it commonplace, you remove the strength of the accusation. It has to be used carefully and only when you can substantiate it. And it should be reserved for occasions when it is really necessary.

It is a warning that neither the media, nor Trump's Democratic opponents, have taken to heart.

But the narrative has been successful. A recent survey showed a surge in the percentage of Americans who see antisemitism as a serious problem, with 70% of Amerian voters seeing it as either a "very" or "somewhat serious" problem. That is a 43% increase from the 49% who saw it as a problem just a month ago.

Yet, the problem is not merely the sudden interest of the media, and of Trump's political opponents, in antisemitism. The problem is that when the media reports on antisemitism, they are actually targeting low hanging fruit -- threats and vandalism.

Liel Leibovitz writes that while decrying attacks against Jews, in polite society, defending 'Jewishness' becomes a cover,

an idea to be celebrated while the actual people who embody it are destroyed. For proof, look no further than Linda Sarsour, one of the organizers of the massive Women’s March, protesting the inauguration of Donald Trump: Having raised tens of thousands of dollars to help rebuild a Jewish synagogue [actually, a cemetery] desecrated by anti-Semitic vandals in St. Louis, she thinks nothing of siding with Islamic Jihad operatives or embracing convicted terrorists who have murdered two young Jewish men. To our progressive betters, this is not a problem: They embrace Judaism but have no problem with those who kill Jews. Platitudes are offered, power is preserved, and the parade of folly goes on.

This is the same Linda Sarsour who describes herself on Twitter as a "racial justice and civil rights activist," except when it comes to those critical of Islam's attitude towards women --

The issue here is Sarsour's defense of the Jewishness of dead, buried Jews while at the same time embracing terrorists dedicated to the destruction of the Jewish state. It is a mentality that allows for a convicted terrorist like Rasmea Odeh to be welcomed by women's groups.

But this reflects a larger problem in the women's movement itself. In a 2013 article, Gil Troy writes about women's activist Betty Frieden, who already noticed in 1975 how the feminist movement was being coopted by anti-Zionists and antisemites during the International Woman’s Year World Conference hosted by the United Nations. The passing of General Assembly Resolution 3379 later that year, labeling Zionism as a form of racism, energized Frieden and others who suddenly saw themselves not only as feminists, but also as Jews and Zionists.

Ten years later, by the time the 1985 conference convened in Nairobi:

In the middle of yet another dreary debate about Zionism and racism, a French woman began chanting: “The women of the world are watching and waiting.” Others joined in, until the PLO and the Iranian delegates finally relented. Representatives of 157 countries, many teary-eyed, many singing the conference’s unofficial theme song “We are the World, We are the Women,” unanimously adopted a final document with, Betty Friedan exulted, “every reference to Zionism gone.” The first major international movement to declare Zionism to be racism, the women’s movement now became the first to denounce that lie. Six years later, in 1991, the General Assembly repealed its infamous resolution.

It was a victory, though not a complete one, as Sarsour's position today as a leading feminist will attest. Today we can see antisemitism and anti-zionism being incorporated in movements such as Black Lives Matter and on college campuses around the country, where Jewish students face various forms of intimidation.

But on this antisemitism the liberal national media is mute.

This is more than an issue of cheapening the meaning of the term by attempting to pin it on the Trump administration. Nor is the problem limited to the sudden focus on antisemitic threats and vandalism only now that Trump has taken office. Just as the UN has been coopted to target Israel, movements dedicated to human rights have been similary hijacked, as well as the colleges -- and this threat still flies under the radar of the media.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

UN gives material support to Hezbollah, sort of

Last month Lebanese president Michel Aoun effectively said that the Lebanese Armed Forces and Hezbollah are working together, stating that if there was a war with Israel the LAF would fight side-by-side with Hezbollah.

How is UNIFIL responding to this?

It's continuing to regard the LAF as a partner to get rid of the Hezbollah army (as UNSC 1701 insists) instead of an ally of the terror group.

In February:

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) today donated a number of UN-owned vehicles and other assets worth US$ 658,000 to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the LAF Intelligence at a ceremony held at the UN Mission’s headquarters in south Lebanon.

In March:

The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) today donated a number of UN assets, including vehicles and information technology equipment, to the General Directorate of the General Security of Lebanon.
The donation is in line with the existing cooperation between UNIFIL and the Lebanese Government’s military and other security institutions, as mandated by the UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which forms the core of UNIFIL’s mandate.

By helping the LAF, the UN is also helping Hezbollah.

And yes, it refers to its mandate to justify it, the same mandate that says that UNIFIL must not allow Hezbollah weapons into southern Lebanon, as Hezbollah smuggles them in by the thousands.

But UNIFIL did remove an Israeli surveillance device, so it is directly helping both the LAF and Hezbollah.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Donald Trump: Good for the Jews? EoZ symposium in Jerusalem TONIGHT

I will be hosting and moderating this symposium/debate in Jerusalem tonight at 7:30 PM.

A roundtable blogger discussion and debate

Moderated by Elder of Ziyon

Brian of London: Explaining left wing US Jews to Trump voters

Varda Meyers Epstein: The Most Pro-Israel President Ever (or is he?)

Gidon Shaviv: From Pallywood to Fake News - a tale of caution

Adam Levick: Why Zionists should reject the Alt-Right

Suggested donation ₪40

TUESDAY, MARCH 14 7:30 PM

PICO JERUSALEM

Poale Tzedek 2, 4th floor

(corrner of Pierre Koening)

Talpiot, Jerusalem

It should be fun! Trump is possibly the most divisive issue in the unapologetically Zionist world and there is a lot of stuff to talk about.

If you are in Israel, come on out and see us!

You can register on Facebook here, or just let me know in the comments you plan to come.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Is it even possible to be a pro-Palestinian feminist?

This article in The Nation is being reported all over:

Her arguments are really nutty, but Sarsour knows how to get publicity.

So let's use her own methodology to ask whether it is possible for Linda Sarsour, or anyone else, to be a feminist while supporting Palestinian Arabs.

According to the UN, there are no specific laws or provisions in the Palestinian Authority or under Hamas rule that protect women against domestic violence and sexual violence.

If women are not able to provide/show evidence of “force”, “threats” and/or “deception” to support rape claims, they risk being criminalized for “adultery.”

The Palestinian Authority has adopted the Jordanian 1960 "rape marriage" law that says that a rapist will not be prosecuted if he marries his victim. These laws often result in rape victims being coerced by family or courts to marry their rapists.

While rape is illegal, the woman is often the one who must defend herself since the rape laws only apply “provided that such a woman is not a prostitute and is not known for her immoral character.”

Murderers who claim to have murdered women in order to ‘maintain family honor’ can be exempted from judicial sanction.

Marital rape is not against the law.

This study showed that Palestinian women only went public about being abused sexually only where the abuse was extremely traumatic, publicly apparent, and the victim absolved of blame. 10% of the women who went public were murdered. Usually the family would respond with measures like hymen reconstruction, marriage to the rapist, and abortion to “nullify” sexual abuse.

Women are not allowed to marry without permission from their guardian, Men may marry up to four wives.

A Palestinian Arab man can divorce his wife for any reason, but Palestinian women can request divorce only under certain circumstances. When a divorce is initiated by the woman it means that she must give up any financial rights and must return her dowry.

Sexual abuse of women and children are rampant but swept under the rug. 37% of married Palestinian women were exposed to some form of violence by their husbands in the previous year alone, nearly 12% exposed to sexual violence in the previous year. 65% of those who were exposed to violence stayed quiet about it because of cultural mores.

20% of Palestinian women are married before they are 18, almost always to older men, which is a human rights violation. Because of child marriages, 10% of all Palestinian women between 15-19 give birth in any year.

The highest rates of violence against women are found where the families tend to be more religious, in Gaza and Hebron.

The Palestinian Basic Law, by saying that ‘the principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be a principal source of legislation’, can be interpreted in a manner which undermines the rights of women according to a UN study.

I'm not even going into Shari'a law here, which is far worse than Palestinian law for women. (Linda Sarsour has publicly defended Shari'a law, which calls into question her own qualifications to be called a feminist.)

Liberal "Pro-Palestinian" activists rarely if ever mention any of the issues listed here. The media is also complicit in its silence on these topics. Yet Palestinians know all about them, and it is likely that Sarsour is quite aware of them and chooses to remain silent, because that would blunt her anti-Israel message.

Her hate for Israel is more important to her than the rights of Palestinian women.

Sarsour says "You either stand up for the rights of all women, including Palestinians, or none. There’s just no way around it." Which means that Sarsour is not a feminist by her own definition because she does not stand up for the rights of Palestinian women who are suffering so badly under a patriarchal, Islamic-based system of laws and customs. In fact, her anti-Israel stance is her way to divert attention from the very real discrimination and abuse that Palestinian women suffer.

Sarsour, with her silence, is actually enabling the daily abuse of Palestinian women from the Palestinian Authority, Hamas and the misogynist Palestinian society that she idealizes for the cameras.

Linda Sarsour, and all so-called "feminists" who use their platform as a means to bash Israel, are in fact anti-feminist and tacitly support discrimination against and abuse of Palestinian women that happen every day.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.