Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, May 03, 2017

J-Street Staffer Unsure Whether To Wish Coworkers Happy Nakba Day (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Washington, May 3 - An aide to a senior executive at an organization that bills itself as pro-Israel and pro-peace expressed relief today that Israel Independence Day was over, as he could not handle the awkwardness in not knowing whether to greet his colleagues yesterday with a "Happy Nakba Day" wish, or what.

Nye Eave, 22, encountered numerous mentions of something called the Nakba yesterday as Israel marked its sixty-ninth Independence Day, and assumed the term referred to some positive event, given the nature of Independence Days to highlight the successes and milestones the country has attained since achieving sovereignty. Since J-Street is pro-Israel, he reasoned, the organization must take a positive attitude toward the Jewish State on the anniversary of the state's founding. However, he recalled, none of the people employing the term Nakba conveyed any sense of satisfaction or pride, causing Eave to wonder what he was missing. Ultimately, he related, he did not utter any such greeting.

"It left me with a feeling of unease, I guess is what you'd call it," explained the recent Georgetown University graduate. "We at J-Street love Israel. We never tire of saying that. It drives everything we do, right? So Israel's Independence Day must be a big deal for such a pro-Israel organization. People kept mentioning this Nakba thing in such solemn terms, I thought they were just still in the whole Memorial Day for fallen soldiers from the day before. But it was everyone, everywhere. It confused me, I admit."

Eave waited yesterday for a statement by the organizational leadership consistent with what one might expect from a pro-Israel group, namely expressions of support for the people of Israel, and appreciation of the achievements Israel as a society has made in sixty-nine years in culture, the sciences, education, and industry, not to mention thriving economically despite the continual need to fight off existential foes. "I must have missed the e-mail that went around," he surmised. "Maybe it's because I'm just an intern and I'm not on all the distribution lists, I guess, even though I get all the other ones. Maybe it was the one we all got from Mr. Ben-Ami about remembering the Nakba? I don't know. It had totally the wrong tone about it for a celebratory message."

Eave hopes to forge strong professional ties during his internship, and to establish a reputation as a person dedicated to the organization's mission. "My calendar says Jerusalem Reunification Day is coming up in a few weeks, so I'll bet they've got something appropriate planned to celebrate fifty years of the Jewish capital returning to Jewish sovereignty for the first time in almost two thousand years," he gushed. "Should I bring in a poster of that iconic photo with the three paratroopers looking at the just-liberated Western Wall, or is that overkill?"

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05/03 Links Pt1: Time to Declare Independence From the UN; Fatah: Paying terrorists promotes peace

From Ian:

Amb. Alan Baker: UNESCO’s Latest Resolution on Jerusalem: Much of the Same

A Non-Binding Resolution with No Legal Status
Nobody should take this resolution seriously. It is nothing more than a non-binding, politicized expression of the political opinion of the extremist, anti-Israel states voting for it. It has no legal status whatsoever.
In a highly transparent and obvious attempt by the Palestinian Authority to “camouflage” in UNESCO language, the motion is nothing other than one more blatantly hostile, Israel-bashing resolution. The Palestinian leadership has, once again, devoted its international efforts at abusing an international organization in order to delegitimize Israel, rather than to instill mutual good faith and seek peace.
Such hysteria and concentrated activity by the Palestinian leadership aimed at delegitimizing Israel, on the eve of the projected visit meeting by Mahmoud Abbas, the head of the Palestinian Authority, with U.S. President Donald Trump, represents a distinct “poke in the eye” of the new U.S. administration. It is a telling sign of the disdain by the Palestinian leadership for any serious attempt to restore a peace-negotiation process.
Hiding behind accepted UN and UNESCO terminology of “safeguarding the cultural heritage of Palestine and the distinctive character of East Jerusalem,” the Palestinian leadership is once again dragging UNESCO – once a credible and reputable professional organization – into the pit of politicization.
Ostensibly, in order to deceive and to recruit the support of the European countries and others for what they claim is a “watered down” text, the Palestinians and their Arab colleagues have devised curious terminology that is tantamount to political and legal acrobatics.

PMW: Fatah: Paying terrorists promotes peace

Fatah: "If we do not do this [pay salaries to prisoners], what will be their fate? They are liable to turn to ISIS... [We] say to the donor states [whose money goes to terrorists] that your donations help the PA bring peace to the Middle East."
"There is a drop in support and funding [of 70%] from all [countries]... [Donor countries are told]: Why are you providing aid to those [the PA] who are paying the prisoners and the Martyrs' (Shahids') families?"
As PA leader Mahmoud Abbas prepares to meet US President Trump today, many are hoping that Trump will condition US aid to the Palestinian Authority on the cessation of the PA payments to terrorists and their families.
Clearly concerned about this, PA leaders have published many statements this month defending their practice of financially rewarding terror. In a strange twist of logic, Fatah is now arguing that donor countries should welcome the PA's paying salaries to terrorists with their money, since this practice promotes peace by keeping the Palestinian terrorists from joining "ISIS or any other extremist party... [We] say to the donor states [whose money goes to terrorists] that your donations help the PA bring peace to the Middle East."

Convergence of US-Israel National Security Interests

In 2017, the national security interests of the US and Israel have converged in an unprecedented manner, in response to the anti-US Arab Tsunami; anti-US Islamic terrorism; the declining European posture of deterrence; drastic cuts in the US defense budget; an increasingly unpredictable, dangerous global situation; Israel’s surge of military and commercial capabilities; and US-Israel shared values.
Contrary to conventional wisdom — and traditional State Department policy — US-Israel and US-Arab relations are not a case of zero-sum-game. This is currently demonstrated by enhanced US-Israel strategic cooperation, concurrently with expanded security cooperation between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other pro-US Arab countries, as well as stronger cooperation between the US and those same Arab countries. Unlike the simplistic view of the Middle East, Arab policy-makers are well aware of their priorities, especially when the radical Islamic machete is at their throats. They are consumed by internal and external intra-Muslim, intra-Arab violence, which have bled and dominated the Arab agenda, prior to and irrespective of the Palestinian issue, which has never been a core cause of regional turbulence, a crown-jewel of Arab policy-making, nor the crux of the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Israel’s posture as a unique ally of the US — in the Middle East and beyond — has surged since the 1991 demise of the USSR, which transformed the bi-polar globe, into a multi-polar arena of conflicts, replete with highly unpredictable, less controllable and more dangerous tactical threats. Israel possesses proven tactical capabilities in face of such threats.
Thus, Israel provides tailwind to the US in the pursuit of three critical challenges, which impact the national and homeland security of the US, significantly transcending the scope of the Arab-Israeli conflict and the Palestinian issue:

Bassam Abu Sharif is a former adviser to Yasser Arafat who was one of the organizers of the series of plane hijackings in 1970 to Jordan. (Time magazine called him "The Face of Terror.")

Sharif is a committed Marxist who admires Mao Zedong and Che Guevara. He is also a conspiracy theorist who claimed that Israel assassinated JFK and Yemenite Jews were going to assassinate President Obama.

Sharif is nervous about how the Arab world is thinking about the Palestinian issue recently.

Abu Sharif: We are facing a war to erase the Palestinian issueBassam Abu Sharif, former political advisor to the late president Yasser Arafat, stressed that the Palestinian people is going through lean years and the hardest stage of the Palestinian struggle, because it is facing a war to erase the Palestinian issue, in the shadow of the worst situation for the political Arab world, the likes of which it has never went through in the history of the Arab nation.
In an interview with the “Filastin” newspaper yesterday, Abu Sharif said: “The Palestinian people is going through a field that is full of mines, and it must prove that it is attached to its land and has deep roots in it, through working towards returning the (Palestinian) issue to the attention of the Arab nation”.

He also expressed bitterness at how the Palestinian issue has been sidelined by Egypt specifically.

It is not all bad news, though. He notes that while Arab countries are abandoning the Palestinian issue, he says that there are 15,000 Palestinian academics in the US and many more in Europe who have pushed the issue (he called them "the long arm of the Palestinians."

The Arab world indeed is sick of the Palestinian issue and has started to break with the longstanding reflexive support for whatever the Palestinian leadership demanded. The bad news is that the center of gravity for this support has moved from the Arab world to the so-called liberal universities, where propaganda has replaced actual thought in many cases.

When Arab leaders make more sense than university professors, you know that something is seriously wrong.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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Two recent articles in The Forward about the Six Day War illustrate how poisonous the false Palestinian narrative has been.

The Forward unearthed a wonderful essay by Elie Wiesel written right after the war. Excerpts:

Future generations will probably never believe it. Teachers will have a hard time convincing their students that what sounds legendary actually occurred. The children will naturally swallow each word, but later on, as adults, they’ll nod their heads and smile, remarking that these were fantasies of history.

They won’t believe that this small state, surrounded by hatred, fire and murder, had so quickly managed a miracle. It will be hard to describe how, amid a sea of hatred, a tiny army drove off and humiliated several well-equipped military hordes of who knows how many Arab countries.

How does acclaimed scholar and Talmudic genius Shaul Lieberman put it? In another 2,000 years, people will consider these events the way we think of descriptions of the Maccabees and their victories.

Did I say another 2,000 years? No, make that: in another year, or even tomorrow.

Last Sunday, the Arabs and their allies were boastfully threatening Israel that if she dared to make another move, she’d pay with her existence. And several hours later, our Jewish heroes advanced, and the entire world, holding its breath, followed their every movement.

You’ll recall the radio broadcasts at the beginning of the week that sounded practically Job-like. Every hour, another Arab government declared war against Israel. Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Yemen, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia. And then: Morocco, Tunisia, Algiers. In Tunisia, an incited mob led a pogrom in the Jewish Quarter. Other Muslim — or part Muslim — countries rushed to sign up in [Egyptian president Gamal Abdul] Nasser’s “holy war.” Malaysia, Sudan, Mali, Guinea and more.

We bit our lips, cracked our knuckles and could find no comfortable spot for ourselves. Quietly, we asked if the test was too hard this time. Was too much being demanded from the Jewish people and from their land? How could we expect to be redeemed, knowing that the enemy numbered tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of people, against a mere 2 million Jews in Israel?

And then, between Passover and Shavuot, the Hanukkah miracle occurred. It didn’t take long before the supposedly mighty enemy was rendered speechless and lost its nerve. Even the Soviet Ambassador to the UN, Nikolai Fedorenko, suddenly changed his tone. Instead of worrying about whether Nasser would finally curb his appetite for power, world leaders began looking for ways to make amends to Israeli Premier Levi Eshkol.

It was as though a theater director, unfamiliar with his cast, suddenly switched the parts of his actors: those who had stubbornly opposed us now asked for mercy, as their former protectors now distanced themselves from them. Overnight, the mood at the UN Security Council seemed unrecognizable.

Compare this to the Forward's editor Jane Eisner writing about her conflicted feelings towards the Six Day War today:

I approach this half-century mark with a confusing mixture of wonderment and dread, joy and despair, pride and embarrassment. The crushing military victory that expanded Israel threefold and brought Jerusalem back to the Jewish people has also turned the Israel I love into a sometimes-brutal occupier of an estimated 2.9 million Palestinians, with no end in sight.

I believe many others share this painful ambiguity. The temptation is to turn away, because it feels too damn hard to reconcile, but that shirks our responsibility as Jews.

Why does she feel this way? Because of the major lie that has permeated the world since 1967:

“From the get-go we didn’t view them as Israelis. We coveted their land. We did not covet them,” Danny Seidemann, one of the nation’s top experts on Jerusalem, told me a few months ago. “And they didn’t view themselves as Israeli. Everything derives from that.”

It was a historic victory for Israel, absolutely. It was also a disaster for another people.

At the time, the Arabs in Judea and Samaria weren't considered "Palestinians." They were Jordanians. They expressed loyalty to Jordan, they were Jordanian citizens, and the word "Palestinians" was hardly ever used to refer to them; at best they were "Palestinian Arabs," even in the Fatah 1964 charter.

Their recent transformation into a people - and I agree they are a people today - was a political decision by the Arab leadership to keep them stateless and miserable.

The entire reason the Palestinian people exist today is to destroy Israel.

This is the fundamental truth that too few dare to mention. It seems cruel. And it is. But the cruelty is from the Arab world and Palestinian leaders, their cynical and systematic use of human lives as cannon and propaganda fodder against Israel, within and without the territories.

Every single political or military move by the Arab world and the Palestinian leadership vis a vis the Palestinian Arabs is to ultimately destroy Israel. Some are meant to do it sooner and some to do it in stages, but this is the one consistent fact that illuminates the otherwise nonsensical history of the past fifty and 69 years.

Why did Jordan choose to turn millions of people stateless in 1988? Why did Arafat sign the Oslo Accords and claim to renounce terror? Why has the Arab world refused to allow Palestinians, and only Palestinians, to become citizens? Why did the Palestinians reject statehood in 2000 and 2001 and start a terror war instead? Why do they spend so much time on symbolic victories at the UN rather than doing anything to actually help their people? Why do Palestinian leaders refuse to accept European initiatives for grassroots peace initiatives like youth soccer games between them and Israeli kids? Why haven't there been any significant new universities or hospitals built under PA rule despite huge monetary support from the West? Why are there still "refugee" camps in areas under Palestinian control? Why does UNRWA still exist? Why do Palestinians insist that Jerusalem, a city that was largely ignored under a thousand years of Muslim rule, must be their capital?

Surveys that bother to ask the proper questions uncover the answers: the "Palestinian state" that the world thinks the Palestinians desire is only meant as a stage to destroy Israel, and Palestinians themselves admit it. This is why the "right to return" is still left as an open issue outside of statehood. This is why Hamas "accepts" a state in the territories. This is why there is such resistance to compromise in any negotiations - because compromise means that the claims must end, while waiting for the world to provide 100% of Phase 1 means that there will be a Phase 2.

The sad fact is that every Palestinian with false "refugee" status, within and without the territories, is a pawn. This was recognized since the 1950s but the desire to eventually destroy Israel is what keeps this issue alive today, not "justice." What kind of justice is it to artificially keep people in misery and to pretend that it is being done for their own good?

50 years of propaganda and lies have had a huge effect. The end of Elie Wiesel's essay is now depressing, because the antisemites of the world have managed to spread their propaganda so thoroughly that it sounds like it was written in a different era:

Do you remember how thousands of Jewish youth besieged the Israeli Consulates, pleading to be sent as volunteers to Israel? Do you recall the mass demonstrations in the streets? And the countless Jews, including the poorest of the poor, donating their meager savings to the pushkes [charity boxes] of the United Jewish Appeal?

This new Jewish awakening is part of that miracle, a part of the Jewish victory. Those who thought Jews were frightened by huge armies were mistaken, and those who thought you could separate the Jewish state from the Jewish people around the world clearly underestimated us.

Unfortunately, over fifty years, they have to an extent succeeded, as too many Jews have drunk the Palestinian State Kool-Aid and regard Israel as not a liberal bastion trying to protect the Jewish state in the Jewish ancestral homeland but as a cruel colonial occupier of "Palestinian land" - a phrase that no one ever uttered in 1967.

If Palestinians wanted a state and peace, they would have a state and peace. It is their desire to use such a state as a launching pad to destroy Israel that has left them stateless.

That is the only thread of consistency to explain the entire past fifty years of propaganda, lies, false "moderation" and terror.

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"Honor crimes" still largely justified in Arab world, especially by Palestinians

A new report on attitudes towards gender equality in the Middle East shows that there are still a significant number of people, men and women alike, who can justify families punishing female members who act in ways that are perceived as a violation of honor, with many excusing "honor killings."

An NGO called IMAGES surveyed people in Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco and the Palestinian Authority. Here are their results on the questions of family honor and honor killings:

35% of Palestinian men say that men who kill their female relatives for "honor" reasons should not go to jail. That is a higher percentage than any other group surveyed.

Worse, 47% of Palestinian men say that female relatives who "act or dress" in ways that they disapprove deserve to be punished. (62% of Egyptian men believe that.)

The survey, called the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (Images), was carried out in the territories by a group at Bir Zeit University, and as a result it downplays the misogynist violence and attitudes to be the result of "occupation." This bias includes a section of interviews with former long-term prisoners, who are a tiny percentage of Palestinian men, about how well well they respect their wives for taking care of their families while they were incarcerated. The Palestinian part of the survey goes to great lengths to blame Israel, with the entire section introduced with "The reality of Palestinian lives – including gender relations and gender dynamics – has been carved by the prolonged Israeli occupation. The occupation has become the central structural framework of analysis for all elements of political, economic, and social life in Palestine. IMAGES findings in Palestine must be understood within this contextual framework."

In other words, even this survey is being twisted to Palestinian political desire to place the "occupation" as the central problem in the Middle East. As a result, findings like the tolerance for honor killings is downplayed and the more progressive findings are trumpeted. Paragraphs like these, with no scientific basis, are sprinkled throughout:

This leaves the pursuit of gender justice objectives in Palestine in a unique place: by
many indicators, quality of life seems to be deteriorating for the majority of Palestinians,
patriarchal structures and gendered expectations persist, and the occupation goes on
seemingly indefinitely. At the same time, partly in spite of and partly because of these
factors, many Palestinian women and men find themselves in truly transformed gendered
spaces. This study has sought to better document these overlapping dynamics and this
moment in the rich story of gender in Palestinian life.

Here is where social science is subverted by politics.

So you have to dig to find out that about one fifth of Palestinian husbands beat their wives, 34% of men believe that there are times that a woman deserves to be beaten, and 67% say women are too emotional to be leaders. These are blamed on high unemployment by men, which are the fault of Israel (and the PA):

These realities are a result of the prolonged occupation’s structural domination of Palestinian lives and the Palestinian economy, as well as the Palestinian Authority’s neo-liberal policies that impoverish the majority of Palestinians. The depressive symptoms, in this case, can be understood as an expression of the failure of society to provide the conditions under which men can fulfil their socially-assigned role as breadwinners.

Yes, a survey on gender equality is so subverted by anti-Israel politics that it accepts the idea of men alone as breadwinners to justify their violence and misogynist attitudes towards women.

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Arab Israeli sings at both Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut ceremonies (videos)

Nasreen Kadri singing at the Day of remembrance ceremony:

And singing to celebrate Israel's independence, a medley of songs about Israel and Jerusalem, with other Israeli singers:

Notice also that some of the dancers are in wheelchairs!

Israel is clearly one of the most progressive and liberal countries on Earth.

Which is exactly what drives the fake "progressives" crazy.

(h/t Yoel)

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05/02 Links Pt2: Fearless Arab woman declares love for Israel: 'Am Yisrael Hai'; The “Occupation” Tour

From Ian:

Edgar Davidson: Tuvia Tenenbom: "The Lies They Tell" review

Tuvia Tenenbom is a writer who manages to entertain at the same time as exposing evil and prejudice (mostly antisemitism). His previous book "Catch the Jew" was a devastating indictment of the antisemitism driving Europe's funding of anti-Zionist organisations in Israel. This latest book is an equally devastating exposure of ignorance and antisemitism in America. Tuvia is especially adept at exposing the hypocrisy of the left. However, contrary to what many people assume, Tuvia is certainly not 'a man of the right' or a conservative in any sense of the word. This is something I return to at the end of my review, along with some criticisms (that I think have been missed despite there having been some very good in-depth reviews of the book already, such as this one by Phyllis Chesler).
Before stating my reservations I want to make it clear that I think this is a brilliant and must-read book for anybody concerned not just with antisemitism but also with the increasingly damaging effects of 'political correctness' which, in America, has eroded free speech and created a highly authoritarian society - a process massively accelerated by 8 years of Obama. A recurrent theme of the book is the lack of critical thought and predictable consistency of leftists: the two things they are invariably obsessed with are climate change and 'Palestine'. Indeed Tuvia notes that there is a perfect correlation between opinions on climate change and opinions on Israel. Those who believe in man-made climate change are anti-Israel while those who don't are generally pro-Israel. Tuvia highlights the obsessive and irrational anger that leftists have for Israel which seems to be based on complete ignorance, such as:

The Quakers in Pennsylvania who love Obama but only worry that he is 'too friendly to Israel' and 'not supportive enough of the Palestinians'. They care deeply about the plight of the Palestinians but not local blacks whose neighbourhoods are more dangerous than Gaza.

Bryan from Texas whose main interest is in foreign affairs and who proves this interest by saying how Israel must 'stop settlement building in Gaza'.

Jason - the first person he meets in Fargo Dakota - who introduces himself as 'pro-choice, pro gay marriage, pro-environment and pro-Palestine.'

The “Occupation” Tour

On my last visit to Israel, I thought it would be interesting to take a tour of the West Bank from the perspective of critics of Israeli government policy. I went with MachsomWatch, an organization of Israeli women who, among other things, monitor checkpoints. The guide, Daniela, said the tour would not be political, but it was essentially a day long diatribe against Israel’s efforts to defend itself against terrorists.
The Orwellian logic of the tour began just outside the Palestinian town of Qalqilya. We could get a good view of the security wall separating the town from Israel. Roughly five percent of the security barrier consists of a wall rather than a fence and the reason for this stretch of concrete is that Palestinians used to shoot at Israeli motorists on the nearby highway. Daniela said there had not been any terror attacks from Qalqilya in years to suggest the wall was unnecessary as opposed to demonstrating its effectiveness.
One of the main messages of the tour, after visiting with three Palestinians, was that the checkpoints and gates inside the West Bank make life burdensome for Palestinians. Some spend an inordinate amount of time waiting at these checkpoints to travel through the area and to get to and from their jobs. Some fences separate farmers from their fields and groves and, according to the guide, are only permitted to pass through the gates at certain times, some of which are restricted to a few times per month or year. On a different tour, I saw an area where the fence separated some farmers from their land and, even though there were specific times when they were allowed to pass through the gates, when they wanted to tend to their crops they would simply shake the fence until soldiers arrived and opened it for them. Also, she also did not mention that Arabs benefited from the fence because it brought quiet and allowed a significant upsurge in economic activity.
During our tour, we did not witness any delays, however, it is true that Palestinians are inconvenienced by these restrictions and many feel humiliated by the way they are treated by soldiers responsible for ensuring they are not carrying weapons or planning a terrorist attack. Unfortunately, this is the price many Palestinians must pay for the decisions of their leaders to support terrorism. Their discomfort is temporary whereas the deaths of the victims of terror is permanent.

Fearless Arab woman declares love for Israel: 'Am Yisrael Hai'

In honor of the 69th anniversary since Israeli independence, an Arab woman has posted a video in which she fearlessly declares her love for the State of Israel and blasts the hypocrisy of the Arab world.
“My name is Sarah Zoabi. I am an Arab, Muslim, Israeli, proud Zionist,” she declares, as she stands in front of the Knesset building in Jerusalem. “I believe with my whole heart in the right of the Jewish people to a sovereign state in the Holy Land of Israel.”
“It is a right that G-d promised and gave to the Jewish people - not a kindness - the right of the Jewish people to the land of Israel.”
“The State of Israel is here to stay,” she says.
“How can I not love you, Israel?” she asks. “Even though you suffer from Arab and Muslim terror from within and without, you do not distinguish between sex, race, and religion. You respect, welcome, and embrace me as an Arab, Muslim woman.”
“Israel, my heart is full of love for you, a tiny country, but huge in the size of its good deeds - and you do a lot of good in the world. I stand proud next to your flag.

Idiots protest for terrorist rights while real Palestinian kids are dying in Syria

About 12 pathetic terror supporters took time out of their meaningless lives to "stand for freedom and dignity for Palestinian prisoners" in front of an electronics store in New York City last Friday.

Passers-by didn't even want to make eye contact as they were badgered to accept propaganda sheets.

Of course, "freedom and dignity" means the right to have more Arab satellite TV channels and the right to cook their own food in prisons. Not to mention air-conditioning.

Since the organizers weren't sure they would get enough people, they added that they were also protesting Hewlett Packard because, why not?

(By the way, I found a list of prisoner demands from 2004. They had even more demands then, like not to be searched and to keep cell doors open!)

There were similar protests in support of freeing Palestinian terrorists to kill more Jews in Brussels and Berlin.

Meanwhile, the Action Group for Palestinians in Syria have counted 220 Palestinian children who have been killed in Syria during the fighting so far from munitions or starvation.

For some reason, the "pro-Palestinian" crowd are more interested in releasing people who kill Israeli children than they are in helping out Palestinian children.

Perhaps their real agenda has nothing to do with human rights. Just a thought.

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.

Last week I came across a video I had stored on my Google Drive that I haven't looked at in years. It is a short clip from 2012 featuring J Street Field Director Carinne Luck answering a question during a J Street training session:

The video has been edited from a slightly longer video here.

The main points to take away from what Luck says are:

A sizable percentage of J Street is not Jewish
J Street responds to "the Hill, the (Obama) Administration" which wants J Street to "move Jews"
The bulk of J Street resources are dedicated to this
There is an uneasiness about those in J Street leadership who are not Jewish who may present themselves as Jews
In the longer version of the video, Luck also talks about how J Street "gives cover" for politicians in terms of the Jewish community - what are the politicians doing right or wrong and what do their Jewish constituents think.
Bottom Line: The goal of J Street is advocacy to the Jewish community--not representing Jewish interests and advocating for those interests in Washington.

The issue of J Street's goal being to "move Jews" on behalf of the Obama Administration seems timely considering the ongoing discussion of the echo chamber used by the White House to market the Iran Deal and discredit those who opposed it. Lee Smith writes about the implementation of the White House marketing strategy and how the Obama Administration echo chamber has now come unplugged:

The things that seemed to make sense last year—like exchanging Iranian crooks and spies for ordinary American citizens—now look ridiculous. And it’s clear why the deliberate urgency with which the administration messaged its Iran policy had the feel of an advertising campaign—because it was an advertising campaign, crafted to convince consumers that something you think is bad for you is actually good for you.

How much of that 'bad is good' way of thinking applies to J Street?

Recall:

Despite their repeated denials to the contrary, J Street is getting funded by George Soros, who has been accused of animus against Israel.
Mort Halperin on the J Street advisory council also wrote the letter that Goldstone circulated as his own on Capitol Hill last year, defending his anti-Israel report against HR 867 condemning his Report.
J Street went so far as to facilitate visits for Goldstone to the Hill -- J Street president Ben Ami said Goldstone met only 2 or 3 Congressmen; Goldstone said it was 10 or 12.
Already in 2009, there were connections between JStreet and NIAC, a pro-Iranian advocacy group.
Just this week J Street brought Breaking the Silence in to speak during Yom HaZikaron and Yom Haatzmaut

As a more recent example of J Street doing something "bad" for Israel's own "good" J Street brought "Breaking the Silence" to speak this week during Yom HaZikaron and Yom Haatzmaut. In their description on their website, J Street makes no mention of the days they picked for this. As for Breaking the Silence, J Street describes them as

an organization comprised of former Israeli soldiers who share testimonials of their experiences serving in the occupied territories. Through a photo exhibition, the soldiers share testimonials and highlight the moral and strategic dilemmas that the occupation creates for Israel and for the Israel Defense Forces.

But according to the NGO Monitor report on Breaking the Silence:

Breaking the Silence (BtS) collects testimonies of soldiers who served in the Occupied Territories during the Second Intifada,” claiming that the “testimonies portray a…grim picture of questionable orders in many areas regarding Palestinian civilians [which] demonstrate the depth of corruption which is spreading in the Israeli military…Israeli society continues to turn a blind eye, and to deny that which happens in its name.
Active in promoting “war crimes” charges against Israel. These charges were based on anonymous and unverifiable hearsay “testimonies.” [emphasis added]
Although claiming to address Israeli society, the NGO’s lobbying and media advocacy focus on international audiences, including presentations in Europe and the United States. Yehuda Shaul, BtS co-founder, defended this practice: “Sometimes, when you want to deliver messages to the inside, you must go outside.”

On the issue of echo chambers -- in 2012, in a New York Times article Jeff Zeleny described J Street as "a Jewish lobbying group in Washington that favors Democratic candidates"

Take a look. According to the J Street website:

In 2010, J Street endorsed 61 candidates -- all Democrats
In 2012, J Street endorsed 41 candidates -- all Democrats
In 2014, J Street endorsed 69 candidates -- all Democrats
In 2016, J Street endorsed 83 candidates -- all Democrats

That's 254 candidates J Street has endorsed over those 4 years.

Since J Street claims to be pro-Israel and pro-peace, are we to assume that there just aren't any pro-Israel candidates around?
Is it possible that in each and ever political race, the Democrat has a better record on Israel than the Republican?

For that matter, do each and every one of these Democratic politicians have a pro-Israel record?

Apparently not.

J Street described Tammy Baldwin as

Rep. Tammy Baldwin (WI-2) is running to replace retiring U.S. Senator Herb Kohl in what figures to be one of the most expensive and competitive races this cycle. Baldwin is the first openly gay woman elected to Congress and has represented this Madison based district since 1998. She is a strong supporter of Israel and two-state peace and proudly took JStreetPAC’s endorsement in 2010. Prior to serving in Congress, Baldwin served in the Wisconsin State Assembly, Madison City Council, Dane County Board of Supervisors, and practiced law for several years.

The Emergency Committee for Israel countered

J Street described Lois Capps as

Rep. Lois Capps is running for her sixth term representing this Coastal California district in Congress. Trained as a nurse, Rep. Capps serves on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, sits on the Subcommittee on Health and is expected to face a competitive re-election contest in this newly re-drawn district that includes much of Santa Barbara. One of JStreetPAC’s earliest endorsees, Rep. Capps has been a public champion of pro-Israel/pro-peace issues since being elected to Congress in 1998. As she has stated: “The vision the President has set forth for two states for two peoples reflects longstanding efforts by the U.S. over several Administrations and is the only viable way to move forward and achieve these critically important goals.”

The Emergency Committee for Israel countered

Keep in mind that this is going on at a time when Pew Research shows that Democrats are now about equally split between sympathizing more with Israel (33 percent) and with the Palestinians (31 percent):

For the first time this century — if not ever — Democrats are now about equally split
between sympathizing more with Israel and with the Palestinian Arabs. Source: Pew Research

J Street may well argue that they are concentrating on electing Democrats to Congress in order to combat that trend. However, the fact remains that this trend is going on at time that J Street is insisting on endorsing only Democrats, some with questionable pro-Israel credentials, for office.

Some echo chamber.

If indeed J Street acted under the guidance of the Obama Administration, not only backing the Iran deal but in general influencing American Jews rather than representing Jews in Washington -- J Street may well have served as a small scale echo chamber. J Street has successfully advocated and supported causes that were sometimes questionable and at other times actually detrimental to the cause of Israel.

Lee Smith notes in his article that the power of the Obama Administration echo chamber has been unplugged now that Obama is out of office.

That may be true.

But that is not going to stop J Street from continuing to try to follow the Obama White House directive to "move Jews."

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.

05/02 Links Pt1: On Independence Day, UNESCO okays resolution denying Israeli claims to Jerusalem; Oslo Doubled Israel’s Terror Toll

From Ian:

On Independence Day, UNESCO okays resolution denying Israeli claims to Jerusalem

The United Nation’s cultural body on Tuesday passed the latest in a series of resolutions that denies Israeli claims to Jerusalem, in a move both forcefully condemned by Israel and touted as a diplomatic feat due to the growing number of countries that opposed it.
Submitted to UNESCO’s Executive Board by Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Qatar and Sudan, the resolution on “Occupied Palestine,” which indicates that Israel has no legal or historical rights anywhere in Jerusalem, was expected to pass, given the automatic anti-Israel majority in the 58-member body.
The vote, which coincided with Israel’s Independence Day, passed with 22 countries in favor, 23 abstentions, 10 opposed, and the representatives of three countries absent.
The 10 countries that voted against the resolution were the US, UK, Italy, the Netherlands, Lithuania, Greece, Paraguay, Ukraine, Togo, and Germany.
Its wording was slightly less harsh on Jerusalem than previous resolutions, in that it does affirm the importance of the city to the “three monotheistic religions.”
In the moments after the vote passed, Israel’s ambassador to UNESCO, Carmel Shama-Hacohen, draped in a large Israeli flag, addressed the meeting.
“Even now, after this miserable vote, this blue and white flag is flying high above the Temple Mount and throughout Israel’s eternal capital city, Jerusalem, waving in the wind, saying to all ‘here we are, and we are here to stay,'” Shama-Hacohen said.
“This biased and blatantly deceitful decision, and the attempts to dispute the connection between Israel and Jerusalem, will not change the simple fact that this city is the historic and eternal capital of the Jewish people,” Danon said in a statement. “Israel will not stand silently by in the face of this shameful resolution.”
Full text of May 2017 UNESCO resolution on ‘Occupied Palestine’

Ahead of UNESCO vote, Netanyahu says Jews closest to Jerusalem

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday harshly criticized a resolution by the UN’s cultural agency that seemingly rejects the Jewish state’s sovereignty over any part of Jerusalem, saying the measure ignores the strength Jewish people’s millennia-long bond to Israel’s capital city.
Speaking at the Bible Quiz held annually on Independence Day, Netanyahu said that despite the text of the resolution, Judaism has deeper roots in Jerusalem that any other religion.
“There is no other people in the world for whom Jerusalem is as holy and important as for the Jewish people, even though a meeting will take place at UNESCO today that will try to deny this historical truth,” he said.
“We denounce UNESCO and uphold our truth, which is the truth,” that “throughout Jewish history Jerusalem was the heart of the nation.”

UN Watch: UNESCO’s Anti-Israel Resolution Gets Least Votes Ever

UN Watch, a Geneva-based human rights NGO, condemned the “hijacking” of UNESCO’s agenda by the Palestinians and Arab states, after the agency’s 58-member board singled out Israel today for condemnation—the only nation to be criticized—as the Jewish state celebrated it 69th Independence Day.
“Israel lost the vote today, but it did score a small moral victory: despite reported fears that Germany’s negotiations with the Palestinians would erode support, Israel in the end won more votes than ever before, including from major democracies like the U.S., Britain, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
“The Palestinians at UNESCO are hemorrhaging support for their ritual anti-Israel resolution: last April they had 33 yes votes, then in October it was down to 24, and today it’s down to 22. The no votes increased substantially from 6 to 10.”
“And once again, India—an increasingly important friend and ally of Israel—has voted to abstain, showing that its recent break from decades of lockstep voting with the Arab states is now a fixed policy.”

Israel is something you have to experience in order to truly understand. This land is both less and much more than people tend to assume.

These are some of the things I learned living in Israel:

In Israel, I learned that “no” means “maybe.”

Rules are for the boring.

There always is a better way, there has to be a better way. It’s just a matter of finding it.

Stubborn isn’t a bad quality (necessarily). Neither is pushy. They are just ways to get things done.

In Israel, I learned that just because people complain doesn’t mean they aren’t happy. Loud doesn’t mean that people are angry. In Israel, loud means that people are passionate, that they care (it may not be what you care about but there is always passion about something).

Israelis love to criticize and complain about politics, the country, “the situation.” They say that there is too much division, prejudice etc. Looking around one discovers a society that is actually extraordinarily egalitarian, where anyone can succeed – if they are willing to work hard enough. Gender, age, race, cultural background, socioeconomic background, and religion are not barriers for those with the drive to succeed. Just ask Golda Meir, Karin Elharar, Rami Levi or Col. Rasan Eliyan.

In Israel, I learned not to “judge a book by its cover”. For example, an impressive looking restaurant is not a sign that it is good. The question is whether or not it is full of people. The person sitting next to you that is poorly dressed may be filthy rich or a Nobel Prize winner. You never know. Israelis always appreciate content, achievements over making sure things look nice. Or organized.

In Israel, I learned the true meaning of generosity. People will smother you with advice, give you the clothes off their back and food from their mouths. There is always room for one more at the table – “pull up a chair, take a plate” – it doesn’t matter that the plates may not match, what matters is being together.

In Israel, food means love. It means life. People whose grandparents starved feel most satisfied seeing other people eat. Lots means that you care. If bread isn’t still hot it’s not really fresh. Israeli food is really good. Especially our fresh fruit and vegetables. Coffee tastes better here too.

In Israel, strangers can become instant best friends and tell you their most private thoughts.

It’s not weird, they are just family you haven’t met before.

In Israel, children are loved. They should be seen and heard. The more, the better. Old people are also appreciated. Just seeing someone old makes Israelis happy, especially if they lucid and still active. Living is an achievement. Knowing that there are new generations, growing strong and free is a source of joy.

(I suppose that what happens when so many of your relatives have been murdered…)

In Israel, I learned that heroes don’t look like action figures. Often it is not their physique that is impressive, it is their strength of character. Interestingly, most true heroes object to being called heroic or even brave. They will tell you: “I just did what I had to do. What else could I do?”

I learned, as inexplicable as this sounds, that just because an Israeli defines him or herself as an atheist doesn’t mean they don’t believe in God or the necessity of the Jewish people to be a “light on to the nations.” They have different ways of explaining why this is so. The concepts are different but the bottom line is the same: morality, decency, personal responsibility, being judged by history.

I learned that miracles are real. They aren’t a thing of the past. Not burning bushes but miracles nonetheless, things that should have happened but didn’t. Things that defy all laws of nature and statistics – like Israel itself. There is no other explanation for this country.

Most of all I learned that other countries might be easier or more comfortable but there is no place like home.

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The Arab reaction to the Hamas document issued yesterday focuses on one specific point: Hamas' seeming break with the Muslim Brotherhood.

The Muslim Brotherhood has become toxic, especially in Egypt but also in other Arab states like Jordan and Gulf states.

Hamas is trying to dissociate itself from the organization that it was originally a branch of (see the similarities of their logos) because it wants to be considered a legitimate representative of the Palestinian Arabs on par with the PA. Its association with Islamists was hurting that goal.

The document itself also reveals that Hamas is trying to appeal to the Arab world at large that has been ignoring it lately:

Palestine is an Arab Islamic land. It is a blessed sacred land that has a special place in the heart of every Arab and every Muslim.
Palestine is at the heart of the Arab and Islamic Ummah and enjoys a special status.
The Zionist project does not target the Palestinian people alone; it is the enemy of the Arab and Islamic Ummah posing a grave threat to its security and interests. It is also hostile to the Ummah’s aspirations for unity, renaissance and liberation and has been the major source of its troubles.
The liberation of Palestine is the duty of the Palestinian people in particular and the duty of the Arab and Islamic Ummah in general.
Hamas believes that the Palestinian issue is the central cause for the Arab and Islamic Ummah.

A number of Arabic articles are discussing whether Hamas is serious about this break or whether it is simply a trick to gain legitimacy.

While Hamas is intending to fool the Western world, its real aim is to regain the legitimacy it had in the Arab world only a few years ago.

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.