Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, October 03, 2017

10/03 Links Pt1: Trump Envoy Calls on Palestinians to Recognize Israel, Adopt Non-Violence; Abbas admits: No Palestinian state in the near future

From Ian:

Outcry After Palestinian School Built With Belgian Aid Renamed for Mass-Murdering Terrorist

The Belgian government is being urged to take action after a Palestinian school that was built with its funding was renamed in honor of a mass-murdering terrorist.

The Beit Awwa Basic Girls School was established in the southern West Bank “through a fund from the Government of the Kingdom of Belgium and through the Belgian Development Agency BTC,” according to a plaque at the school, which was first identified by the monitoring group Palestinian Media Watch (PMW).

Now known as the Dalal Mughrabi Elementary Mixed School, it was renamed by the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) Ministry of Education in honor of the Palestinian terrorist who took part in the 1978 Coastal Road massacre. Thirty-eight people — including 13 children — were killed and over 70 were wounded in the attack, which turned Mughrabi into a venerated hero among Palestinians.

The school’s logo also features a map of Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip, all depicted as a single territory. Its Facebook page has posted pictures glorifying Palestinian attackers, including Adi Hashem al Masalmeh, who was fatally shot after stabbing an Israeli soldier in October 2015.

Daniel Schwammenthal, director of the AJC Transatlantic Institute, told The Algemeiner that “the Palestinian Authority under President Abbas has established a culture of incitement that fuels terror and hatred, making it impossible to see how he can ever lead any serious peace negotiations.”

“By naming schools after terrorists, the PA is indoctrinating even little children, apparently determined to ensure this conflict will last well into the next generation,” he continued.

PMW: Faces of arch terrorists adorn Fatah school diary

Cover of free diary distributed by Fatah's youth movement Shabiba to high school students shows photos of Abu Jihad who was responsible for murder of 125 Israelis and Salah Khalaf, head of Black September and planner of murders of 11 Israeli athletes in Munich Olympics in 1972

Fatah’s youth movement Shabiba in Bethlehem recently distributed a free diary to high school students in which the front cover has a photo of Yasser Arafat, and the back cover displays photos of arch-terrorist Abu Jihad, who was responsible for the murder of 125 Israelis, and Salah Khalaf who was the head of the terror organization Black September, a secret branch of Fatah. Attacks planned by Salah Khalaf included the murder of the 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972 - an attack Fatah still glorifies.

Text on back cover of diary under pictures of the terrorists: "Shabiba is the guarantee of the future and the loyalty to the path of the Martyrs (Shahids)" [Facebook page of the Fatah Movement - Bethlehem Branch, Sept. 17, 2017]

Text on front cover: "Bethlehem branch of the Fatah Movement Shabiba High School Committee Student Diary
When you help Shabiba by belonging to it, you help yourself
as you are helping the Palestinian essence itself
And therefore you are helping the homeland,
and you belong to it and are a sacrifice for it"
[Facebook page of the Dar Salah High School for Girls in the Bethlehem District, Sept., 17. 2017]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented that Fatah’s university student movement -also named Shabiba - sends university students the same message that violence is the proper path. At two Palestinian universities, An-Najah National University in Nablus and Al-Quds Open University, Shabiba's logos advocate dying for "Palestine":

Honest Reporting: Abbas "Condemns" a $203,000 Murder

The headlines said that Palestinian President Abbas "condemned" the multiple murder of Israelis at Har Adar. They left out the part where he also pays for it. Why won't the media report the whole story?

On May 8, 2001, Koby Mandell, a 13 year old Israeli with American citizenship and 14 year old Yosef Ishran, were killed on the outskirts of Tekoa where their families lived. Though the actual identities of the murderers was never determined, the Israeli government determined that Palestinian terrorists were responsible.

Their murders led to Congressional legislation strengthening the US response to the killing of Americans overseas.

Koby Mandell. Source: YouTube video

But it was not easy.

The original version of the Koby Mandell Act applied pressure on the US government to deal with Palestinian terrorists who murdered American citizens in attacks on Israel.

The Koby Mandell Act criticized the US government for its failure to dedicate the necessary resources to apprehending Palestinian terrorists:

Numerous American citizens have been murdered or maimed by terrorists around the world, including more than one hundred murdered since 1968 in terrorist attacks occurring in Israel or in territories administered by Israel or in territories administered by the Palestinian Authority.
Some American citizens who have been victims of terrorism overseas, especially those harmed by terrorists operating from areas administered by the Palestinian Authority, have not received from the United States Government services equal to those received by other such victims of overseas terrorism.
The United States Government has not devoted adequate efforts or resources to the apprehension of terrorists who have harmed American citizens overseas, particularly in cases involving terrorists operating from areas administered by the Palestinian Authority. Monetary rewards for information leading to the capture of terrorists overseas, which the government advertises in regions where the terrorists are believed to be hiding, have not been advertised in areas administered by the Palestinian Authority.

The bill was criticized by Jewish groups for being too narrowly focused on Palestinian terrorism and for being more interested in criticizing the government than in developing more effective terrorism countermeasures.

Other aspects of the bill, seemed to be very relevant:

(7) The Office shall endeavor to monitor public actions by governments and regimes overseas pertaining to terrorists who have harmed American citizens, such as naming of schools, streets, or other public institutions or sites after such terrorists. In such instances, the Office shall encourage other United States Government agencies to halt their provision of assistance, directly or indirectly, to those institutions.

But one of the most important elements of the bill provided for rewards:

(1) The Office shall assume responsibility for administration of the Rewards for Justice program and its web site, www.rewardsforjustice.com, and in so doing will ensure that--

(A) rewards are offered to capture all terrorists involved in harming American citizens overseas, regardless of the terrorists’ country of origin or residence;
(B) such rewards are prominently advertised in the mass media and public sites in all countries or regions where such terrorists reside;
(C) the names and photographs and suspects in all such cases are included on the web site; and
(D) the names of the specific organizations claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks mentioned on the site are included in the descriptions of those attacks.

The key element of the bill is that US victims of Palestinian terrorism receive justice:

To create an office within the Department of Justice to undertake certain specific steps to ensure that all American citizens harmed by terrorism overseas receive equal treatment by the United States government regardless of the terrorists' country of origin or residence, and to ensure that all terrorists involved in such attacks are pursued, prosecuted, and punished with equal vigor, regardless of the terrorists' country of origin or residence.

The result was the creation of the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism (OVT)

Where do things stand now?

On February 2, 2016, Representative Ron DeSantis chaired a hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security addressing the job the OVT was doing in general and in prosecuting Palestinian terrorists in particular.

Representative Ron DeSantis. Credit: Wikipedia

A key exchange between Congressman DeSantis and Brad Wiegmann, Deputy Assistant Attorney General, in the Department of Justice went like this:

Mr. Wiegmann, the committee has counted that since ’93, at least 64 Americans have been killed, as well as two unborn children, and 91 have been wounded by terrorists in Israel in disputed territories.

Mr. DESANTIS. How many terrorists who have killed or wounded Americans in Israel or disputed territories has the United States indicted, extradited, or prosecuted during this time period?
Mr. WIEGMANN. I think the answer is—is none.

Mr. DESANTIS. Okay. How many terrorists who have killed or wounded Americans anywhere else overseas has the United States indicted, extradited, or prosecuted?
Mr. WIEGMANN. I don’t have an exact figure for you.

Mr. DESANTIS. But it would be a decent size number, though, correct?
Mr. WIEGMANN. It would be a significant number, yes.

Mr. DESANTIS. Okay. Does the DOJ plan to prosecute any of the terrorism cases committed by Palestinian terrorism and Israel in the disputed territories?
Mr. WIEGMANN. So we have a number of open investigations. I can’t comment further on the status of the investigations.

Mr. DESANTIS. Do you know how many, though?
Mr. WIEGMANN. I can’t give you that number.

Mr. DESANTIS. Why not?
Mr. WIEGMANN. I don’t have the number, and I don’t think we want to comment exactly, because the more we say about the number of investigations we have, the more we tell the bad guys who we are trying to get.

Mr. DESANTIS. ...In your opening statement, you said that these prosecutions, when Americans are killed by terrorists overseas, including in Israel, that that was the highest priority, and that there should be no stone left unturned. And I understand when you’re talking about foreign jurisdictions, and you alluded to some of the issues that arise, and I think that point is well taken. But when it’s zero for 64, I think you see some people, who have been affected negatively, wonder, you know, what exactly is the Department doing within this particular aspect of terrorism that occurs in Israel?

Another exchange between Wiegmann and Representative DeSantis concerned whether US foreign policy might influence the the Department of Justice pursued terrorists:

Mr. DESANTIS. ...Now, it’s been alleged that the reason that DOJ does not prosecute the Palestinian terrorists who harm Americans in Israel, the disputed territories, is that the Department of Justice is concerned that such prosecutions will harm efforts to promote the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, or that it will actually harm the Palestinian Authority.

So let me ask you straight up, is that a consideration the Department of Justice?
Mr. WIEGMANN. I can assure that is absolutely not the case.

Mr. DESANTIS. And has the State Department ever made arguments to the Department of Justice to handle some of the Palestinian terrorism cases differently than you may normally handle, say, a terrorism case in Asia?

Mr. WIEGMANN. Absolutely not. The State Department has nothing to say about cases that we bring, whether in Palestinian territories related to these cases or not. So it absolutely makes zero difference to us whether the terrorist attack occurred in Israel, whether it’s a Palestinian terrorist group, whether it’s ISIL, Al Qaeda, they are all the same to us. We want to protect Americans regardless of who they are victimized by.

An important issue in the US pursuing and extraditing terrorists in general and Palestinian terrorists in particular is the question of double-jeopardy. Does the US consider pursuit of Palestinian terrorists released from prison, for example in the Gilad Shalit exchange, to be off-limits:

Mr. DESANTIS. ...Now, some have said that if you have a situation where a terrorist who kills Americans in Israel is prosecuted by the Israelis, then they are later released in a prisoner exchange or release, that somehow if we were to prosecute them here, that would trigger double jeopardy. Is that the Department’s position?

Mr. WIEGMANN. Absolutely not. We have prosecuted people who have been released from prison before. Sometimes it takes us a while. One prominent case is an older case, actually a case involving a Palestinian terrorist who hijacked an airliner in Pakistan. He spent, I think, 8 to 10 years in a Pakistani prison. Then he was released, made his way to another country, and was, I think, more, 10, 12, 15 years later that we were able finally to apprehend the person, prosecuted him in 2004, and he’s got a 60-year sentence today.

So we have prosecuted people who have been released from prison before, and certainly, nothing in the Israeli prison release would be any different. We fully intend to pursue charges in any of those cases if we can.

Some of Wiegmann's testimony is positive -- that the prosecution of Palestinian terrorists is not influenced or hampered by foreign policy and that double-jeopardy is not an issue.

But the fact remains that the record of the OVT is horrendous. Some of the parents and relatives of victims made clear they thought the Department of Justice and the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism were not doing their job, undercutting the intent of the Koby Mandell Act. Apart from the clear failure to apprehend even one Palestinian terrorist, other complaints during the hearing were that the OVT was not in contact with them..

Sherri Mandell herself indicated in 2012 that the OVT was not doing its job

When she the head of the American Consulate in Israel to find out about the recent activities of The Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism , she never heard back.
Her family was not informed of key personnel changes in the OVT.
Although Rewards for Justice distributed 100 million dollars to 70 people who have given information leading to the apprehension of terrorists -- the program had not been activated in Israel.

We are approaching the end of 2017 and still the OVT has been a failure.

Most recently, efforts to bring Ahlam Tamimi to justice have been thwarted by Jordan's refusal to honor its extradition treaty with the US. It is unclear what the US is going to do to prevent this from being one more failure in the record of the the Office of Justice for Victims of Overseas Terrorism.

And in the record of the Koby Mandell Act.

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From Haaretz:

At the New York March for Racial Justice on Sunday, hundreds of New Yorkers, many of them Jewish Americans, gathered in solidarity with communities of color and protested against mass incarceration, police brutality, anti-immigration policies and systematic racism.

As the protestors gathered in anticipation of the march across Brooklyn Bridge, the three female organizers behind the Women’s March on Washington - Tamika D. Mallory, Carmen Perez, and Linda Sarsour - passionately urged the crowd to do more to fight white supremacy.

“It is not enough to be here," Sarsour said, adding that what matters is "whether we are doing it in our places of employment, public schools, churches and synagogues and mosques."

"One of the hardest things I have ever done is combating anti-black racism in the Arab-American community, challenging my own people on issues around racism, around anti-Semitism. That is my job to do, not your job to do."

Really? Because when an Arab American looked into Sarsour last year, it was found that she is indeed a racist herself:

It turns out Sarsour is known to harbor an ugly racism towards African-Americans which makes her latching onto the BLM movement all the more galling. She rarely associated with or interacted with African-Americans (this explains why she views African-Americans through the prism of racist, media stereotypes) until the “activist” with political aspirations realized it can be to her benefit. Sarsour’s racism which she is now trying to hide is common knowledge among the Arab-American community in NY.

I would love to find a single article, tweet or shred of evidence that Sarsour has ever said a thing about antisemitsm to her Arab community. In fact, from that I can tell, she has no standing in the Arab-American community altogether. Her claim to fame is among the whites that she regularly disparages as being inherently racist.

I found an old tweet of Sarsour's that, combined with what else we know about her, says a lot: “There’s no such thing as reverse racism. Racism is bigotry + power. The group that doesn’t have power can’t be racist.”

But Sarsour admits that she is (was) white, and enjoyed "white privilege." before she put on her hijab.

Before putting on her hijab, Linda Sarsour admits she was white. Now she claims to be a "person of color." Neat trick! @lsarsour pic.twitter.com/4km7rs0sjj
— ElderOfZiyon (@elderofziyon) September 4, 2017

Sarsour put on a hijab (even though she is not a religious Muslim) in order to deflect people from examining her own anti-black and antisemitic positions!

Because a white girl from Brooklyn who hates blacks is a white supremacist. But when she puts on a scarf she suddenly becomes a protected minority who, in her mind, cannot possibly be considered racist!

Now, the idea that Arabs cannot be racists and Sarsour's claims that she fights Arab racism are, of course, contradictory. But Sarsour changes her message depending on her audience at the time anyway.

Sarsour is a fraud. She is not considered a Muslim leader and she is not a person of color. Her hijab is political, not religious. (She eats on Ramadan, according to the article mentioned earlier.) Her statements show her own hate for white people, for Jews and for anyone who believes that Jews are a nation that predates Islam. She has a known history of being a racist herself in her own community. But the media is too scared to call her on her lies, contradictions and play-acting, out of fear of being labeled "Islamophobic."

Which is what Sarsour has built her entire career on.

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EU-inspired decoration - for the outside of your sukkah

You know how the EU funds all of these illegal buildings in Area A?

I took some photos last year:

Now you can put one of those EU signs on your sukkah!

After all, the sukkah is the epitome of humanitarian aid (having guests) and civil protection (from God Himself!)

(h/t Yosef)

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Rima Najjar is a retired professor of English literature at Al-Quds University who was educated in the US. She often writes for sites like Electronic Intifada, because, you know, she's an intellectual.

Writing at the site "Global Research," Najjar says:

Palestine is the only and last active act of settler colonialism. Since the creation of the UN, “more than 80 former colonies [including several in the Arab world] comprising some 750 million people have gained independence since the creation of the United Nations.”
Why the exception in the case of Palestine? Because the ideological driving force behind the process, Zionism, is the most virulently and insidiously powerful force on the planet.

There you have it. Love isn't the most powerful force on Earth. Neither is gravity or electromagnetism. Not hurricanes or earthquakes. Nor the desire for food or sex or fame. There is no political or ideological or biological or physical force today more powerful than Zionism.

We rock!

Yet somehow Israel still takes up less than 0.004% of the world's surface area. Somehow Israel can't just annex the territories it supposedly controls and expel the Arabs, which people like Najjar know is what Zionism is all about. The most powerful and insidious force on the planet can't do what countless nations have done to far more people in the most barbaric ways without an ounce of guilt.

What is wrong with us Zionists? By now you would have thought we'd have taken over Asia at least, and killed a couple of million Arabs. Especially since we're so immoral and intent on expansionism and colonialism, addicted to destroying other peoples and (probably) poisoning wells and killing prophets and killing gentile children to drink their blood.

Najjar also calls Zionism a "Jewish supremacist ideology that is dismissive of the human rights of non-Jews." This coming from someone whose entire article is dismissive of the human rights of Jews to self-determination.

These Israel haters are unhinged. The question is why they get any respect whatsoever by the world at large. Why are Najjar's rants (such as saying that Jewish nationalism is akin to white nationalism) considered reasoned discourse and not on par with those of David Duke or Richard Spencer?

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The difference between Muslims and Jews encapsulated

Earlier this week, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sent out a Yom Kippur message:

This seems to be sincere, and it is altogether a nice message.

Publicly asking for forgiveness is direct proof that someone lives in a guilt culture, where people take personal responsibility for their actions.

We've noted here many times that the Arab and Muslim worlds live with a different mindset, the honor/shame culture. where what you do it not as important as what others think you do. Your own actions are not relevant.

So how do Arabs look at this message from Zuckerberg?

In Al Quds al Arabi, this message is called an "embarrassing situation" for Zuckerberg! A person who publicly admits mistakes is a person who is shaming himself in public, in the honor/shame world.

The very thing that helps people improve themselves - looking honestly at themselves and trying to learn from mistakes - is anathema to most people who grew up in honor/shame societies, where the primary concern is not to put yourself down but to puff yourself up for appearances sake. The idea of a public apology sounds insane to those in the shame culture. The apology itself is shameful, whether or not it is warranted.

Between Zuckerberg's tweet and Al Quds al Arabi's response, you can learn a great deal about the difference between Arabs and even the most assimilated Jews.

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10/02 Links Pt2: Australians should say sorry to Jews; Is it Time to Boycott Spain?

From Ian:

Rowan Dean: Australians should say sorry to Jews for our lack of understanding

IF YOU bump into anyone today who’s Jewish, do yourself a favour. Reach out, shake their hand and say “I’m sorry.”

When they look at you with a puzzled expression and say “but you didn’t do anything”, you can reply “I know. But I should have.”

You can add: “I should have done lots of things that I didn’t do. I should have stood in silence at the Sydney Olympics for a few minutes to remember the Israeli Olympic athletes butchered by Palestinian terrorists at the Munich games 45 years ago this month, but I didn’t.
Mosab Hassan Yousef said the Palestinian Authority is “the greatest enemy of the Palestinian people”.

“I should have been outraged at the slayings of Jews during the intifadas, but I was told it was their own fault.

“I should have wept tears of grief for Malki Roth, the young Aussie girl blown to bits along with 14 others in a pizza parlour, but it didn’t seem relevant. I should have been incensed when the murderess who organised that bombing was feted as an Arab TV celebrity.

“I should have been less critical of Israel’s settlements and more cynical about the Palestinian Authority’s refusal to agree to any peace proposals, but I condemned the first and merely shrugged at the second.
Netanyahu Blames Deadly Attack on Palestinian Authority's 'Systematic Incitement' Credit - Israeli Prime Minister via Storyful

“I should have spoken out against the BDS campaign against Jewish businesses, but I figured it had nothing to do with me, so who gives a toss?

“I should have been more aware that what Israel has been going through for the past five decades is largely driven by the same fanatical passions and twisted religious fervour that now threatens shopping malls and rock concerts across the Western world, but I never joined the dots.”

Several things happened this month which shine a different light on how we in the West should view the Israel-Palestine “conflict”, and more importantly, how we should respond.

Melanie Phillips: The Faces Said it All

Musab Hassan Yousef is the so-called “Green Prince”. The son of one of the founders of the Hamas, Yousef turned against that terrorist organisation and became such a supporter of Israel that this Ramallah-born Arab served for some years as an informant for the Israeli Shin Bet security service.

Thus much is well known: there is a book and even a movie about this man. Nevertheless, when the campaigning group UN Watch brought him to speak to the UN no-one seems to have expected what was coming.

The reaction was as comical as the underlying situation is unforgiveable. The UN, the crucible of defamatory lies and libels against Israel because of the dominance there of the Arab block and its global allies, rarely hears the brutal truth about the Palestinian leadership – and certainly not by someone with Yousef’s pedigree. Watch this video of what Yousef said – and watch the faces around him as he said it.

Is It Time to Boycott and Divest from Spain?

Like Kurdistan, struggling to free itself from the violence of Arab and Persian imperialism, Catalonia now wishes to realize its national destiny and banish the long shadow of General Francisco Franco’s Spain—a fascist Catholic state that tried to Hispanicize the Catalans and Basques by eliminating their national languages, cultures, and legal rights. Franco’s ostensibly democratic successors in Madrid have hardly been kinder to the Catalan and Basque nations, and have repeatedly repressed their legitimate aspirations for statehood through brute force. The resulting cycle of violence, which has continued for decades, has badly undermined Spain’s own claim to democratic legitimacy.

Historically instrument used to unite the Iberian peninsula—once a “golden land” where Basques and Catalans dwelt peacefully side by side, as did Catholics, Muslims and Jews—was, of course, the Spanish Inquisition. It’s hard to see how an idea of Spanish “unity,” founded in the mass murder and cultural genocide of the peninsula’s Muslims and Jews, is worth preserving as a political idea in the 21st century, especially at the expense of innocent Catalan women, children, and elderly people who are savagely beaten in the streets on the orders of grasping politicians in Madrid. Surely the EU can understand the threat that repressing Catalan nationalism in such an ugly way in front of the entire world poses to its own project of cleansing Europe of the horrors of racism, colonialism, and the Holocaust.

Those of us who are proud Zionists know intimately the hardships of wrestling with colonial forces for independence, and understand just how valiant the struggle of indigenous people can be when they resolve to exercise their natural and historical rights and form a sovereign nation on their ancient homeland. That the European Union stands idly by as Spain violently suppresses these rights is a shame.

In his classic Homage to Catalonia, George Orwell captured the bravery of the local men and women who resisted the Nazi-backed Fascists in Madrid, aided by throngs of Jewish volunteers who came to fight on the side of liberty. “If you had asked me why I had joined the militia,” Orwell wrote, “I should have answered: ‘To fight against Fascism,’ and if you had asked me what I was fighting for, I should have answered: ‘Common decency.’” Those of us who believe in common decency should share the outrage and the wild hopes of the Catalans. If you believe that applying pressure on oppressive and imperialist regimes until they break is the right tactic, begin by boycotting and divesting from Spain.

From Hezbollah's Al Manar:

Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah on Sunday called on the Zionist settlers, especially the Jews, to leave the occupied Palestinian territories into the countries from where they had come, adding that if the US-Israeli command decides to launch a war on Lebanon and other regional countries, they would have neither enough time to escape nor a safe place in Palestine to resort to.

During Hezbollah crowded ceremony held in Beirut’s Dahiyeh to mark Ashura anniversary, Sayyed Nasrallah said that the stupid Israeli command does not have accurate data about the military capabilities that will confront the Zionist army during any upcoming war.

The Israeli political and military leadership does not have a clear view about the battlefields, the participators, and the horizon of the war, according to Sayyed Nasrallah who added that the enemy PM Benjamin Netanyahu in cooperation with the US President Donald Trump is planning to launch a war against Lebanon, Syria and Gaza.

“If this war happens, the Zionist settlers will pay a heavy price, and the entity will reach its demise.”

Do not let your command, which lies to you when it exaggerates its ability to emerge victorious from any war, involve you in a war which may cause your end, Sayyed Nasrallah warned the Israeli settlers.

Sayyed Nasrallah added that the Jews have been used by Zionism to fuel its imperial policies which serve the US-UK interests in the region, stressing that Hezbollah’s war is against the Zionists, not the Jews as followers of a divine religion.

"I call on non-Zionist Jews to leave occupied Palestine to the countries they came from so that they don't be the fuel of the next war, seeing as they might not have enough time to leave," Nasrallah added.

A few points for those who don't follow Hezbollah closely.

When Nasrallah says "settlers" he means all Jews in Israel.

When he says "occupied territories" he means all of Israel.

He is saying that Jews should leave to save their lives in the next war - but strangely he doesn't call for 2 million Arabs to leave. Meaning that either he wants to see them killed or he's blustering.

Since he is so interested in having people go back to their countries of origin, perhaps it is time for Nasrallah - who claims to be a direct descendant of Mohammed through his daughter (that's what Sayyed means) - to return to the areas where Mohammed lived.

Because Mohammed sure never lived in Israel. And the Jews sure did.

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All mixed up about Jerusalem’s Mosques of Omar? (Petra Marquardt-Bigman)

By Petra Marquardt-Bigman

A recent EoZ post quoted an interesting article from the current issue of the Middle East Quarterly (MEQ) that explores the question how the Western Wall came to be seen (mistakenly) as Judaism’s holiest site. But the MEQ article includes a regrettable error, which remains uncorrected at the time of this writing, even though I contacted the publication already a week ago and pointed it out.

As you can see from the screenshot below, one paragraph of the article cites a British report from 1930 that explains that after the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans, “the Jews wailing-place at that time seems to have been the stone on Mount Moriah where the Mosque of Omar [in the Christian Quarter] now stands.”

Quite obviously, the insertion in square brackets – i.e. “in the Christian Quarter” – makes no sense whatsoever, since “the stone on Mount Moriah” can only refer to the rock that is now covered by the Dome of the Rock.

If you check the original British report, you will see that the quoted sentence (from part III. HISTORY) does not have this misleading insertion. Moreover, shortly before the quoted passage, the British report features a “DESCRIPTION OF THE WAILING WALL AND ITS ENVIRONS” that states very clearly that the destroyed Jewish temples have been “supplanted by Moslem Mosques,” naming one of the mosques as the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the other as “the Dome of the Rock (in Arabic, Qubet Al Sakhra), or, as it is usually called, the Mosque of Omar,” which “is situated in the middle of the Harem area.”

Indeed, if you google “Dome of the Rock Mosque of Omar”, you will find plenty of old images that show the Dome of the Rock, but refer to it as “Mosque of Omar” (e.g. here and here); there are also several websites that note the fact that the Dome of the Rock is often mistakenly called “Mosque of Omar” – supposedly because of “a tradition that it was built by Caliph Umar I,” even though in reality it was not built by Omar and it is not a mosque.

This confusion – which is apparently shared by Muslims – is all the more interesting given the fact that there is actually a Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem, which is located opposite the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, i.e. in the Christian Quarter; this is presumably the one mentioned in the misleading MEQ insertion. According to Muslim tradition, this small mosque marks the place “where the Caliph Umar […] performed salah [i.e. prayer] after the conquest of Jerusalem by the Muslims in 638 CE.” The story Muslims associate with this mosque is that the Patriarch of Jerusalem was showing the victorious Muslim leader the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, and when the time for Muslim prayer came, he offered Omar a place to pray in the church. However, Omar declined, “explaining to the Patriarch, ‘Had I prayed inside the church, the Muslims coming after me would take possession of it, saying that I had prayed in it.’” He therefore went outside, and – likely replacing an earlier mosque at a different location – the current Mosque of Omar was built in 1193 to commemorate this event.

The story associated with the Mosque of Omar is arguably very interesting: it shows the victorious caliph as a tolerant man who had no illusions about the intolerance of the “Muslims coming after [him].”

It is interesting to note that this story, as well as the confusion about the Mosque of Omar, is reflected in an article that appeared in the English-language magazine of a United Arab Emirates company some ten years ago. The July-August 2006 issue of the magazine includes a piece on Omar that is illustrated with an image of the Dome of the Rock and presents all sorts of legends and myths as a historic account put together by the company’s “Information & Research Department.”

Here is the relevant part of the story:

“Another incident occurred when Palestine was conquered. Omar came in person to Jerusalem, where he signed the famous Peace Treaty. It ran as follows:

‘From the servant of Allah and the Commander of the Faithful, Omar: The inhabitants of Jerusalem are granted security of life and property. Their churches and crosses shall be secure. This treaty applies to all people of the city. Their places of worship shall remain intact. These shall neither be taken over nor pulled down. People shall be quite free to follow their religion. They shall not be put to any trouble...’

The gates of the city were now opened. Omar went straight to the place of the Dome of the Rock, where he said his prayers. Next he visited the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in the city. He was in the church when the time for the afternoon prayer came.

‘You may say your prayers in the church,’ said the Bishop.

‘No,’ replied Omar, ‘if I do so, the Muslims may one day make this an excuse for taking over the church from you to build a mosque in its place.’

So he said his prayers on the steps of the church. Even then, he gave the Bishop a written undertaking stating that the steps were never to be used for congregational prayers nor was the Adhan (call to prayer) to be said there.

Omar wanted to build a mosque in Jerusalem. He asked the Bishop which place would be suitable for the purpose. The Bishop suggested the ‘Sakhra,’ or the rock on which Allah had talked to the Prophet Jacob. Here the Christians had heaped garbage to bait the Jews.

Immediately the Sakhra was cleared of garbage. Omar himself worked like a labourer with the rest of his men. Jerusalem, the city of David and of Christ, witnessed the equality of Islam. When the Sakhra had been cleared of every trace of dirt, a mosque was built on the site. The mosque stands to this day and is known as Omar’s Mosque.”

So you see: the Christians were really terrible – they “had heaped garbage” on the rock “to bait the Jews;” but the Muslims were simply wonderful and demonstrated their amazing tolerance by building a “mosque” over the Jews’ most holy site…

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10/02 Links Pt1: The Big Middle East Lie; Oslo at twenty-four - Failing the “crystal ball” test

From Ian:

The Big Middle East Lie

Nimer Mahmoud Jamal, the 37-year-old Palestinian terrorist who on September 25 murdered three Israelis at the entrance to Har Adar near Jerusalem, had a permit from the Israeli authorities to work in Israel.

His family and friends say he also had a good life and was considered lucky to have been employed by Jews because he received a higher salary and was protected by Israeli labor laws. The night before Jamal set out in his murderous mission, he spent a few hours at the fitness gym in his village, located only a few miles away from Har Adar.

So, Jamal, the murderer of the three Israelis (two of the victims were Arab Israelis), was not poor. He was not unemployed. In fact, according his friends, Jamal earned much more than what a senior police officer or school teacher working for the Palestinian Authority or Hamas brings home every month.

What was it, then, that drove Jamal to his murderous scheme, gunning down three young men who were supposed to be facilitating his entry into Israel? Was it because he could not provide for his children? No. Was it because his landlord was pressuring him about the rent? No: Jamal lived in a nice place of his own, complete with furniture, appliances and bedrooms that any family in the West would be proud to own.

Jamal wanted to murder Jews because he believed this was a noble deed that would earn him the status of shaheed (martyr) and hero among his family, friends and society. In Palestinian culture in particular, and Arab culture in general, murderers of Jews are glorified on a daily basis.

They are touted as the lucky ones who are now in the company of Prophet Mohammed and the angels in Paradise. Male terrorists are also busy with the 72 virgins they were awarded as a prize for murdering Jews. The murderers -- as Muslim clerics and leaders hammer into the heads of Palestinians -- are also given access to rivers of honey and fine drinks once they set foot in their imaginary Paradise.

Jamal's friends and family are now convinced that he has been rewarded by Allah and Prophet Mohammed in Paradise for murdering three Israelis. They do not care about his children, whom he left behind, and certainly not about the families of the three Israelis he murdered.

Exposé: CNN and NYT ignored US Defense Secretary revelation on Taliban

We are living in a sick,news world, not a “fake news” world. Two of the largest pillars of the American established news media, the New York Times and the Cable News Network (CNN) just happened to omit the central point of US Secretary of Defense James Mattis’,explicit comments during his trip to Afghanistan.

He said that Russia and Iran were arming the Taliban in Afghanistan. The Wall Street Journal ]reported Mattis’ comments accurately, publicizing the declaration referring to Iran and Russia arming the Taliban in Afghanistan, “Those two countries [Russia and Iran] have suffered losses to terrorism, so I think it would be extremely unwise if they think they can somehow support terrorism in another country and not have it come back to haunt them.”

We are living in a truly ‘sick news’ world in which the NYT and CNN, due to some bizarre-world political slant, fail to report that the US Defense Secretary has openly accused Russia and Iran of actively helping murder our troops in Afghanistan.

Unfortunately, this isn’t a new Iranian ‘malign’ development. In fact,as Yogi Berra would say: With the US in Afghanistan, it’s the US Iraqi Military Catastrophe Groundhog Day all over again. In Iraq from 2004-2010, Iran, the ultimate terror-state, and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad (the same genocidal-psychopath that’s still there), armed the Sunni al Qaeda in Iraq to murder thousands of US soldiers and all the while Presidents Bush, and Obama, and the US military did absolutely nothing to stop them.

Israel’s security precautions

Sir, – After reading Mike Murphy’s opinion piece, one would wonder if Mr Murphy had actually travelled to Israel or if he had simply read a guide to the worst slurs against the State of Israel and decided to regurgitate them for the purposes of this article (“Degradation of Palestinians shocking to witness”, Opinion & Analysis, September 23rd).

In a piece littered with mistruths, one of the most heinous has to be his claim that Israel wants the Palestinian people to disappear. Apart from the fact that a fifth of Israel’s own citizens are Arabs, both Christian and Muslim, Israel has repeatedly called for a two-state solution where Israel will stand side by side with a democratic Palestinian state. Since the beginning of peace talks in 1993, we have made repeated and courageous offers of full statehood to the Palestinians, only to be rebuffed. The late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin paid the ultimate price for his courage in pursuing peace with the Palestinians.

Unfortunately, the current Palestinian leadership seems to lack the courage to recognise Israel’s right to exist and move forward in direct negotiations to bring about a Palestinian state. Instead they pursue their quest for statehood in the international arena, seeking symbolic recognition, which does nothing to achieve the objectives of two states for two peoples.

Numerous false allegations about how Israel treats the Palestinians are littered throughout Mr Murphy’s article. I would suggest that if Mr Murphy has an issue with the conditions of the roads around Bethlehem, he take it up with the Palestinian Authority who are responsible for the governance of that area.

Stephen Walt rewrites history to double down on "Israel lobby controls America"

Writing in The Forward (where else?) Stephen Walt - one of the co-authors of the book widely derided as antisemitic, "The Israel Lobby," ten years ago - continues his propaganda, claiming that "history proves us right":

Unfortunately for Israel as well as the United States, the past 10 years provide ample evidence that our core argument is still correct. ...

The clearest illustration of the lobby’s enduring power is the Obama administration’s failure to make any progress on settling the Israel-Palestinian conflict. President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry were strong supporters of Israel, and both believe a two-state solution is, as Obama put it, “in Israel’s interest, Palestine’s interest, America’s interest and the world’s interest.” But even with backing from pro-peace, pro-Israel organizations such as J Street, their efforts to achieve “two states for two peoples” were rebuffed by Israel, working hand in hand with AIPAC and other hard-line groups. So instead of seriously pursuing peace, Israel expanded its settlements in the Israeli-occupied territories, making it more difficult than ever to create a viable Palestinian state.

Given AIPAC’s enduring influence in Congress and its unyielding opposition to any meaningful compromise with the Palestinians, Obama and Kerry ultimately could offer Israel only additional carrots (such as increased military aid) to try to win their cooperation. Like their predecessors, they could not put pressure on Israel to compromise by threatening to reduce U.S. support significantly. As a result, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had little incentive to make a deal. The result is that the two-state solution, which the United States has long sought and Netanyahu has long opposed, is now further away than ever. This outcome is bad for the United States and for Israel.

Haaretz reported last summer that the US proposed a peace plan in 2014 that Netanyahu accepted and that Abbas rejected. They then sweetened it and Abbas never responded.

Walt is, simply, a liar. It wasn't Israeli intransigence that impeded peace - it was Palestinian rejectionism. Netanyahu accepted it. AIPAC would have accepted it.

The facts are clear, but Walt doesn't want you to know the facts. He wants to pretend that J-Street is a powerful movement for peace that assisted Obama instead of an obscure group that Obama raised in order to counter AIPAC and the wishes of most American Jews and Zionists - including those of us who desperately want peace.

He doesn't want to mention Obama's allowing an anti-Israel resolution to pass in the UN Security Council, instead pretending that even Obama was forced to kneel before the all-powerful lobby that he ignored.

He doesn't want to mention that the Obama administration's coddling of Abbas and the PA, offering only carrots and no sticks, is what contributed to Abbas' intransigence - by Abbas' own words.

Later on, showing how Walt is lying when he pretends to want peace and is working in Israel's own interests, he refers to the rabidly anti-Israel "Jewish Voice for Peace" as a "progressive group".

The anti-Israel crowd has no arguments - so they must resort to lies. And The Forward is their medium of choice (along with Haaretz, which has not revisited its own scoop so as not to remind readers that the "extremist right-wing Likud" was the party that wants peace and the "moderate peace-loving Palestinians" are the ones who consistently reject any attempts.

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Varda forwarded to me a message that a friend of hers received from the US Social Security Administration last week:

The Social Security Administration (SSA) has consolidated its overseas operations into several regional offices that provide a full range of SSA services for U.S. citizens residing outside of the United States. Effective this Sunday (October 1, 2017), individuals residing in Israel who require social security services or have questions about SSA benefits must contact the SSA Federal Benefits Unit (FBU) located at the U.S. Consulate General in Jerusalem, rather than the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv or the U.S. Consular Agency in Haifa.

Among the most common Social Security services that the Embassy and the Consular Agency can no longer provide is the acceptance of the SS-5 (Application for a Social Security Card) associated with Consular Report of Birth Abroad applications; applicants will need to submit those directly to the Federal Benefits Unit in Jerusalem. Individuals of any age seeking to apply for a first-time or replacement Social Security card will also need to submit their applications directly to the Federal Benefits Unit in Jerusalem.

Please, be advised that as of this Sunday (October 1, 2017) the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and the U.S. Consular Agency in Haifa can no longer accept telephone calls, emails, or walk-in consultations regarding Social Security issues, including inquiries from individuals seeking to determine whether they have ever been issued a Social Security number.

For more information or any questions about the services provided at the Federal benefits Unit in Jerusalem and how to contact them, please visit their webpage at: https://jru.usconsulate.gov/u-s-citizen-services/social-security/. You can also reach them at FBU.Jerusalem@ssa.gov.

Why would the US move some of its services from its embassy in Tel Aviv to a consulate in Jerusalem only?

This news directly contradicts how the US Consulate webpage describes its historic functions:

The American Citizen Services Unit of U.S. Consulate General Jerusalem provides information and assistance to U.S. citizens in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza. U.S. citizens visiting or residing outside these areas are served by the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv.

Could this be a subtle move by David Friedman to move some of the embassy functions from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem?

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