Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, May 13, 2018

05/13 Links: After Eurovision win, Jerusalem gears up to strut it's stuff on world stage; How Much Effect Does BDS Have? Netta’s Eurovision Results Say None; Ambassadors from Albania to Zambia to fete US embassy move

From Ian:

After Eurovision win, Jerusalem gears up to strut stuff on world stage

Netta Barzilai’s Eurovision win kicked off massive street parties in Tel Aviv Sunday morning, but next year it’s expected Jerusalem will be the city celebrating the song contest.

Israel’s win, its first since 1998, means it wins the right to host next year’s finals, which has transformed in those intervening decades into a massive extravaganza with two rounds, tens of thousands of fans, and millions more tuning in around the world.

Barzilai scarcely had time to change out of her red and black kimono before city officials and politicians in Israel were crowing about plans to host the contest in Jerusalem.

“Next year in Jerusalem,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a congratulatory message, a sentiment echoed by many others, not least Barzilai.

“There is nothing like an Israeli party. You will find out next year,” Barzilai said after her win, yelling “Next year in Jerusalem.”

Speaking to Israel’s Kan broadcaster, she said she looked forward to the world seeing “the Israeli carnival” when Jerusalem hosts the contest.

People will see “how wonderful we are. What a vibe we have. Best people… the best place in the world,” she said.

Despite the win coming in the middle of the night in Israel, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat was among the many to quickly congratulate Barzilai and thank her for giving his city the chance to host the competition.

“The city of Jerusalem will grant any help needed in putting up Eurovision 2019 in the capital of Israel and together we will expose the beautiful face of Jerusalem to the whole world,” he said.

Rejoice with Jerusalem

A hundred thousand people carrying Israeli flags are expected to take part in the traditional Jerusalem Day "Flag Dance" parade around the Old City on Sunday. The procession will be led by veterans of the battle for Jerusalem and victims of terrorism.

For 30 years, crowds have been marching and dancing in the streets of Jerusalem. This year, the dancing started on Saturday and went on all night, with people flocking to the Western Wall.

For the religious Zionist movement, Jerusalem Day is a celebration in every sense of the word, almost like Independence Day. Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews alike pray and wear their Sabbath clothes. The mythological Merkaz Harav Yeshiva – where the enterprise of settling Judea and Samaria began – will be hosting a huge party, and the prime minister is scheduled to speak there. Many of the yeshiva's graduates fought to liberate Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria, including IDF Paratroopers Brigade commander Yoram Zamosh, who immediately after the Western Wall was liberated in June 1967 drove Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook and Rabbi David Cohen there in a jeep, knowing the symbolic power of bringing both these great spirits of Zionism together at the remaining wall of the Second Temple compound.

"Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad for her, all you who love her," said Isaiah the prophet (Isaiah 66:10), who predicted that after the terrible exile the Jewish people would rise again. Who could have thought when Jerusalem was razed that it would rise again like this? But the prophet gave us Divine instructions: When you return to Jerusalem, you must rejoice. In current terms, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it: Don't be sourpusses.

David Horovitz: Israel’s ‘different’ Eurovision winner has a message for Jerusalem too

As it turned out, however, the drama kicked off even earlier than expected, on Saturday night, when Netta Barzilai won the Eurovision Song Contest with a demonstrably irresistible song at least partly highlighting female empowerment amid its chicken noises. Overwhelmed by her victory but still retaining her composure, Barzilai in her moments of triumph proved an admirable Israeli icon, praising her country, showing generosity to her defeated rivals, and hailing the contest and its voters for embracing the difference and diversity she champions.

“Thank you so much for choosing difference,” she enthused to the watching world (an estimated 200 million people). “Thank you so much for accepting differences between us. Thank you for celebrating diversity. Thank you. I love my country. Next time in Jerusalem.”

Unsurprisingly, the backlash was not long in coming. Anti-Israel activists, notably from the BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement, are vowing to utilize the fact that Jerusalem will now host next year’s contest to mount a major campaign highlighting ostensible Israeli “apartheid” policies regarding the Palestinians. (The charge does not withstand serious scrutiny: For all the complexity and argument surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the bottom line is that Israel does not claim sovereignty in the West Bank and Gaza, and its key caveat over partnering the Palestinians to statehood is the eminently reasonable demand that their state not come at the expense of ours.)

But Barzilai’s victory already constituted a stinging defeat for the BDS campaigners, who had urged Eurovision participants to boycott Israel’s entry by giving it zero points. In the event, the juries from the participating nations elevated Israel to an impressive third place, and it was then the viewers’ votes in those 43 countries that lifted Barzilai into top spot — a win by genuine public acclaim.

Haaretz has a list of countries worldwide who will participate in Israel's celebrations of the US embassy move to Jerusalem:

Albania, Angola, Austria, Cameroon, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ivory Coast, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Kenya, Macedonia, Burma, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Romania, Rwanda, Serbia, South Sudan, Thailand, Ukraine, Vietnam, Paraguay, Tanzania and Zambia.

Of course it is disappointing to see that most of Western Europe is so frightened of Arab terror that they pretend that the US is doing something terrible rather than recognize reality, but still this is a pretty nice list of countries who are no longer cowed by the threats (diplomatic and otherwise) of Palestinians.

This list is longer than it would have been only a few years ago.

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Ma'an Arabic reports on the horrible crime of Jews briefly unfurling an Israeli flag during their visit there this morning, on Jerusalem Day.

The article says that the police gave the "settlers" full protection and allowed the heinous act to take place.

In fact, the police detained the people who were so awful as to briefly raise an Israeli flag in the holy spot where hundreds of Hamas flags have been raised in the past with no one saying a word.

And another Jewish man was arrested for the crime of bowing down on the holiest spot in the world.

There were also riots at the site today, as enraged Muslims attacked the Jews, and some Jews responded - by singing songs.

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Salt Lake City Tribune editor denies piece saying Jews are acting like Nazis is antisemitic

Last week, the Salt lake City Tribune published a piece by a Michael Robinson that crossed the line into antisemitism. As mentioned in my critique, Robinson said:

Can the power of the U.S. Jewish lobby really be so strong that we are blinded to Israel’s atrocities? Aside from the votes that are paid for by that lobby, there seems to be a mindless philosophy that, because the Jews have historically suffered so much, we must never criticize them. Even Dr. Spock would frown on this type of parenting. It doesn’t make a naughty child any better when parents decline all discipline, just because little Suzie had a nasty owie two weeks ago.
...Oh, yes, the Jews know all about concentration camps, but they seem unable to muster any human compassion for the suffering of their neighbors. Instead of a normal and healthy outgrowth of empathy, Israel has instead become the monster.

Now, the editor of the newspaper , George Pyle, while not happy that Robinson violated the unwritten rule of saying "Zionist" instead of "Jew" that allows the worst kinds of hate become magically acceptable, still thinks that the piece was not so bad:

He did not deny Jews their humanity. Rather, he accused them, with an excessively broad brush, of exhibiting that most human of traits, the double standard. Of living and governing as if things that are a crime when done by others are an inalienable right when done by your side.

Now, imagine someone writing an essay saying that African Americans haven't learned a thing from being enslaved and having so many of them being lynched, and they are now behind a large percentage of violent crimes. Would that ever be published in mainstream American media?

Of course not. It is pure racism.

Yet when it comes to Jews, somehow such a thought is simply pointing out "double standards."

Of course there is such a thing as the U.S. Jewish lobby, just as there is such a thing as the Cuban expat lobby and the Mexican immigrant lobby and the Iowa corn farmers lobby. There’s naught wrong with any of that. Attacking the expression as some kind of hate speech only makes such an interest group sound nefarious, when it clearly is not.

Pyle seems unaware of the basics of antisemitism where a minority of Jews is accused of pulling the strings of power of the world, including of course the US. Either he tacitly agrees with this, or he has no business talking about antisemitism when he knows so little about the subject.

Many of the comments I received dehumanize Palestinians, labeling them all terrorists and violent Jew-haters, in the same awful way that true anti-Semites work to de-humanize their targets.

Yes, there are idiots on every side of every issue. Equating the pro-Israel bigots who write angry comments - and there are some - with the decision to publish a fact-free, anti-Israel, antisemitic op-ed is disingenuous and an attempt to divert attention from the newspaper's sickening decision to publish hate.

This column was illustrated with a photo of the funeral of a journalist killed in Gaza, in the Tribune's attempt to show that the original piece was merely a criticism of Israeli actions whose wording was sloppy. Yet even that image obscures the truth: that "journalist" was also a member of the terror group PFLP.

Here is my response to this column:

It would be considered the height of gall to say that things that are offensive to blacks, gays, women or any other group really isn't offensive.
Yet this is what you are doing here for Jews..
Criticizing Israel is fine; Israelis have it down to a fine art. But saying that Jews haven't learned from the Holocaust (and are acting like their persecutors) is absolutely antisemitic. Comparing the Holocaust to an "owie" that little Susie got two weeks ago is incredibly offensive to Jews. And while there is a pro-Israel lobby, using the term "Jewish lobby" in the midst of other anti-Israel lies sure sounds like the antisemitic canard of Jews controlling the US and the world.
I pointed out a few lies in my initial response to Robinson, and he chose not to respond to my basic question of whether he felt that any other nation at wartime has ever acted with more morality and care for the civilians of the other side in history. If Israel does more to minimize civilian casualties and yet Israel is singled out as if it is the worst rather than the best in a tough wartime situation, then there is something fundamentally flawed in what is being innocently characterized as being a critic of Israel. Singling out the Jewish state for things that the UK, US, France and others do that are worse indicated a pathology, not a concern for human rights.
I'm all for free speech. But it is the responsibility of a newspaper to prohibit hate speech, which is what this was. Moreover, it is also the responsibility of a newspaper to not allow obvious lies to be published even in an op-ed - fact-checking is a requirement for anything you publish.
The Tribune failed at these basic obligations.

The Tribune has a policy of reviewing comments that contain links, and I added a link to this piece. We will see if they allow their readers to be linked to this post.

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05/12 Links: U.S. Ambassador Friedman: THIS year in Jerusalem; Salt Lake Tribune doubles down on Antisemitic op-ed; IDF destroys 9th Hamas tunnel for this year

From Ian:

Winning big with both Trump and Putin, Netanyahu had a royal flush of a week

On Sunday, Benjamin Netanyahu began his week by meeting his Cypriot and Greek counterparts to finalize the commercial export to Europe of Israeli gas that he has pushed to exploit for about a decade.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from nuclear deal with Iran was widely seen as a coup for Israel’s prime minister, a fierce opponent of the deal.

On Wednesday, he was the only Western leader at the annual May 9 military parade in Moscow as a personal guest of President Vladimir Putin — a patron of Syria and of Iran with whom Netanyahu has nonetheless cultivated a beneficial partnership.

And on Thursday, Netanyahu ordered — with backing from the European Union and Russia’s silent approval — a punishing strike on Iranian bases in Syria. It was a retaliation for the firing into Israel of a barrage of rockets that did not hit thanks to Israel’s advanced projectile interception systems — and even Iran’s allies failed to come to its defense.

All in all, a pretty good buildup for Netanyahu’s grand prize: The inauguration of the US Embassy in Jerusalem, which Netanyahu has celebrated as a historical moment since Trump announced it in December.

This streak of successes for Netanyahu has wowed his critics and supporters alike, who see it as a huge return on several of his most controversial long-term strategies.

JPost Editorial: A modern Jerusalem

Today, marks Jerusalem Day and 51 years of a unified Israeli capital. On Monday, the United States will be the first country to move its embassy to the city, in a sequence of events that demonstrates not only the significance of Jerusalem as the epicenter of the Jewish people, but also of Israel’s growing diplomatic gravitas across the globe.

Ever since Donald Trump announced five months ago that the US would recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a select group of additional countries have followed suit. In the coming weeks, Guatemala, Paraguay and possibly others will follow in America’s footsteps and move their embassies to Jerusalem as well.

This a correction of a historic injustice. No other country has the location of its capital dictated to it by the world. The sole exception has been Israel, for the last 51 years. Even now, after Trump made his decision, the countries of Europe prefer to stick to a fallacy that they know is wrong.

When the president of France comes to Israel, he comes to Jerusalem. When the prime minister of Belgium comes to Israel, he comes to Jerusalem. So why are their embassies in Tel Aviv? It’s due to some fantasy that if they keep them in Tel Aviv, they remain neutral. They need to realize that is doing so, they are taking a stand, and it is the wrong one.

The Palestinians needs to digest this as well. Their continued intransigence is not working. The world is not turning against Israel. On the contrary – it is standing with the Jewish state. Mahmoud Abbas’s strategy of ignoring Israel and hoping the world will solve the conflict for him, is not working. The moving of the US Embassy to Jerusalem is proof of that.

David Harris: May 14, 2018: A historic day

May 14 loomed large in 1948.

It was the date, according to the secular calendar, when the modern state of Israel was born. It was a time of ecstasy. Nearly 19 centuries had passed since the last chance for Jewish sovereignty was destroyed, but the prayers for a return to the ancestral land – and to Jerusalem, the heartbeat of the Jewish people – had never stopped through all the years of wandering, exile, and persecution.

Fast forward 70 years to May 14, 2018.

This day will be remembered, above all, for another celebration – the transfer of the American Embassy from Tel Aviv to its rightful place in Jerusalem.

I am in Israel’s capital city to join in the festivities and express appreciation, on behalf of the nonpartisan American Jewish Committee (AJC), to the Trump administration for its bold decision.

It shouldn’t have had to be so bold. Every country ought to have the right to choose its own capital. But that basic political rule applies to each nation on earth, save one.

Think about it. The other 192 United Nations member states pick the site for their capital and it’s no one else’s business.

No doubt, diplomats assigned to Australia would prefer to be situated in Melbourne or Sydney, but the political choice was Canberra and that was that.

US ambassador gives first glimpse of new embassy in Jerusalem

US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman on Friday gave a first glimpse of the new US embassy in Jerusalem, showing off workers erecting the official seal on the building and preparing for the opening ceremony.

“We are so excited,” Friedman said in a video posted on the embassy’s Facebook page. “We have the official seal of the United States embassy. We have the dedication plaque. They are covered right now, but on Monday they are going to be unveiled.”

The video showed constructions workers setting up scaffolding and busy installing the huge seal. Friedman said the ceremony on Monday would be a “beautiful, inspirational event.”

“This year, thanks to the US administration, the courage, the vision of President Donald Trump we can say ‘this year in Jerusalem,'” he said, referencing the Passover wish of “next year in Jerusalem.”

Trump on Friday hailed the “big week” of the impending move of the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

“Big week next week when the American Embassy in Israel will be moved to Jerusalem. Congratulations to all!” Trump tweeted.

Trump will deliver a video address for the opening of the new embassy, senior administration officials told reporters Friday morning.

Among the administration members attending are John J. Sullivan, the deputy secretary of state, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, US Special Envoy Jason Greenblatt, Trump’s senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner and daughter Ivanka Trump.

Netta wins #Eurovision for Israel - and this video of Lisbon crowds dancing to her shows huge #BDSFail

From Times of Israel:

Israel won the Eurovision song contest for the first time in two decades Saturday as singer Netta Barzilai clucked and bucked her way to the top of the international song contest with women’s empowerment anthem “Toy.”

Backed up by three dancers, her trademark side buns featuring stripes of pink dyed hair to match her pink-and-black outfit, Barzilai busted her way through “Toy” on stage in Lisbon, Portugal, punctuating her singing with her trademark eye rolls and chicken dance moves.

“I’m so happy. Thank you so much for choosing difference. Thank you so much for accepting differences between us. Thank you for celebrating diversity. Thank you. I love my country. Next time in Jerusalem,” Barzilai told the watching world.

She then performed the song a second time.

Interviewed on Israel Kan TV, the state broadcaster, she said she looked forward to the world seeing “the Israeli carnival” when Jerusalem hosts the contest next year. People will see “how wonderful we are. What a vibe we have. Best people… the best place in the world.”

The hate-Israel crowd was very worried about this happening and campaigned hard to get people to vote against Netta.

The video of her victory is not available in the US, unfortunately, but this video of thousands of fans dancing to and singing along with her live performance outside the finals in Lisbon is exactly what the haters didn't want to see - people celebrating music from Israel without a single mention of anything negative.

The BDS movement, above all, wants every mention of Israel anywhere to be associated with "apartheid" or "genocide" or whatever negative words they can dream up.

The Lisbon crowd shows that despite years of efforts, all the haters combined cannot compete with a single talented Israeli woman.

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05/11 Links Pt2: Zionism before Herzl and the Jewish connection to the capital; The embassy move could turn out to be Trumps most enduring presidential achievement.

From Ian:

Zionism before Herzl and the Jewish connection to the capital

Any attempt to deny the Jewish connection to Jerusalem is preposterous, says President Reuven Rivlin, a seventh generation Jerusalemite, whose forebears came to the capital of the Jewish people in the first decade of the 19th century at the behest of the Gaon of Vilna.

Many Lithuanian Jews who were part of the Vision of Zion movement established by followers of the Gaon in 1771 came to Jerusalem hoping to greet the Messiah, Rivlin said on Thursday in a Jerusalem Day interview with The Jerusalem Post.

There were old Sephardi families who had been living in Jerusalem for centuries, he said, listing among others the family of one of his presidential predecessors, Yitzhak Navon. Since 1809, Rivlin added, there has consistently been a Jewish majority in Jerusalem, because the surrounding Arab villages were not actually part of the city, but sat on its periphery.

Rivlin, even before he became the country’s number one citizen, was a walking symbol of Jerusalem, always responding to greetings by radio or television interviewers: “Shalom from Jerusalem, the capital of Israel.”

Born before the establishment of the state, and having grown up in the city, Rivlin knows about its history with the kind of familiarity of the next door neighbor. He was, in fact, the neighbor to some of Jerusalem’s most illustrious personalities – if not next door, then just two or three doors away.

Right at the beginning of the interview, as an outcome of his intimate knowledge of the history of the city, Rivlin put paid to the popular myth that Mishkenot Sha’ananim was the first neighborhood established outside the walls of the old city.

Trump’s Jerusalem Stand

We may never know why he did it. The number of additional Jews who are likely to vote for President Trump because of the embassy move would probably fit comfortably inside a polling booth. The decision, made in December of 2017, wasn’t even engineered to coincide with — or influence — any election. The move won’t win President Trump any peace prizes. Neither is it likely to change the outcome of any peace talks: the administration has specifically said this and reiterated its commitment to a two-state solution. As many of his detractors have pointed out, in this instance, our negotiator-in-chief seems to have given without a corresponding take. That might be an ill-advised tack with an adversary, but with a friend, we would more typically think of it as common decency.

The Trump economy may soon be a distant memory. In the next administration, the tax bill might easily be reversed or much of it allowed to expire, and so much deregulation undone. Every measure achieved by unilateral executive action — the travel ban, the tariffs, withdrawal from various international accords — dispatched as quickly as it was put into place. But the embassy move, accomplished by coordination of two branches of government, is unlikely to face reversal.

The Jewish people’s memory when it comes to Jerusalem is endless. Thrice daily we pray in the direction of its chalky limestone walls. We declare at every Jewish wedding, quoting Psalms, that our right hand should wither if we forget Jerusalem, and tempting the evil eye is not for the insincere or faint of heart. We mourn Jerusalem’s long-ago destructions with rigorous fast days and celebrate its rebirth with a Festival of Lights.

It isn’t hard to imagine that for hundreds of years, Jews will teach their children what I will tell mine when we travel to Jerusalem to watch history being made: On Israel’s 70th birthday, May 14, 2018, President Trump ensured that America, which has long been great, once again kept its word.

Why these Latin American countries support moving their embassies to Jerusalem

US President Donald Trump’s decision in December to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital drew wide international criticism, with 128 countries including the United Kingdom, Germany and Canada voting in favor of a United Nations resolution condemning it.

But several countries saw Trump’s decision in a different light: as an example to follow.

Shortly after the United States officially moves its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Monday, it will be joined by Guatemala and Paraguay. Both countries are planning to make the move this month, and Honduras may be next: Its Congress recently passed a resolution urging its foreign ministry to move its embassy.

Along with the Czech Republic, whose president said last month it will begin the process of moving its embassy to Jerusalem, these countries belong to a small club (albeit one with a superpower). On a visit to Venezuela on Monday, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas urged other Latin American countries not to move their embassies.

So how come? Why do these Latin American countries go where others fear to tread?

Observers suggest a number of reasons, or a combination thereof: The countries are likely motivated by a desire to curry favor with the Trump administration, their leaders’ personal views of the Jewish state and strong historic ties to Israel.

As Israel prepares for Yom Yerusahalyim, Jerusalem Day, celebrating the victory of the Six Day War that freed East Jerusalem from Jordanian occupation and returned Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount I keep hearing Yehoram Gaon describe the terror of the Yom Kippur war when Israelis did not know if the young country would survive, or if it would be the final genocide of the Jewish people.

He had been called to perform for soldiers stationed in the Sinai desert, almost at the border with Egypt. The soldiers requested he sing “Me’al Pisgat Har Hazofim”, a song about Jerusalem.

Think about that. So far from home, in such danger, they wanted to hear the ode to Jerusalem that declares:

“Thousands of generations I dreamt of you, to be granted to see the light of your face, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Shine your face to your sons! From your ruins, I will build you!”

He said: “I must tell you, I sang quite nicely. I was a little offended when they all ran away.” He thought that they were being attacked or were about to be hit by a missile but the soldiers were running to a command-car that had suddenly arrived at their desert position. It was Rabbi Goren, the Rabbi who was there when the Temple Mount was freed, the Rabbi who insisted the holy Tomb of the Patriarchs remain under Jewish administration. This man, a walking symbol of holiness and connection to the land of Israel, had two bags in his hands, full of small books of Psalms.

Yehoram Gaon’s face twisted in anguish as he recounted how the soldiers grabbed the tiny books, shoving them in to every pocket available, as if wrapping themselves in holiness. As if the Psalms would serve as a barrier, as armor, guarding them from the bullets and the bombs.

Today we still wrap ourselves in the dream of Jerusalem and Psalms to protect our soldiers and ourselves from the bullets and the bombs. The ayatollahs of Iran are determined to wipe the Jewish people off the face of the earth. Their religion actually dictates that they must wash the world in blood for their messiah to come. For them this is not a matter of politics, this is about bring the End Times closer.

The danger is very real and yet Iran doesn’t seem to understand the power of dreaming of one thing for thousands of generations, of the promise in this song: “Jerusalem, I will not move from you!”

ABOVE THE PEAK OF MT SCOPUS

Above the peak of Mount Scopus

I will bow down to the ground to you,

Above the peak of Mount Scopus,

Peace [hello] to you, Jerusalem

For thousands of generations I dreamt of you,

to see, to earn the honor of {experiencing] the light of your face.

Chorus:

Jerusalem, Jerusalem

Shine the light of your face [welcome] to your son!

Jerusalem, Jerusalem

From you ruins I will build you!

Above the peak of Mount Scopus

I will bow down to the ground to you,

Above the peak of Mount Scopus,

Peace [hello] to you, Jerusalem

Be blessed with a thousand blessings!

Temple, King, city of royalty [city from which one reigns]

Jerusalem, Jerusalem

I won't move from here!

Jerusalem, Jerusalem

The Messiah will come, will come.

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05/11 Links Pt1: Quds Force’s Bravest Runs Under Israeli Missiles; Gaza: A Failed Experiment by Hamas; After Netanyahu visit, Russia to back off S-300 missile transfer to Syria

From Ian:

Jason Greenblatt: U.S. envoy Greenblatt says Hamas has taken Gaza back to the Stone Age

The Israelis have indicated that they want to do more to help the people of Gaza, if they could be assured that additional things they allow into Gaza will not be repurposed into weapons or used to build tunnels to attack Israel. Israel might choose to ease restrictions on travel, if Israel could be assured that those who are crossing into and through Israel will not commit acts of terror or be smuggling weapons or cash to be used for terrorism.Egypt could also do more to help the people of Gaza, but Egypt shares the same legitimate security concerns as Israel. President Abbas and the Palestinian Authority could restore all salaries and payments in Gaza. But President Abbas also has legitimate concerns, even if the steps he has taken are unfortunate and damaging. Certainly, we would not want see the Palestinian Authority running an above-ground government and Hamas running a shadow government below ground. But neither Israel, Egypt nor the Palestinian Authority are the actual cause of the problems; they can only be part of the solution, if given the right opportunity.

Deep and pervasive donor fatigue has set in. In the 15 months I have been on the job, I have heard only quick, temporary, small fixes for the people of Gaza. Donors understand that none of us can significantly change the situation in Gaza in the current environment. No one wants to spend money building and rebuilding, only to find what they built is damaged or destroyed in yet another conflict. I have met many people from Gaza – impressive, resilient people. But there will be a limit to what we can do for them while Hamas is in charge. Hamas has managed to bring the people of Gaza, a people with a proud history and great potential, nearly back to the stone ages. What an embarrassment, what desolation, what failure.

I believe that given a real choice, the people of Gaza would reject this failed Hamas experiment. The fact is, Palestinians in Gaza need to be re-united with their West Bank counterparts under a single, responsible Palestinian Authority leadership. The future that Mr. Shammalah says he wants for his children – “a chance to thrive”– is the future we all strive to achieve for Gaza and its children.

Melanie Phillips: The elephant in the room is regime change

Amid the brouhaha over President Donald Trump’s decision to pull the US out of the appalling Iran nuclear deal, the elephant in the room is standing quietly all but unobserved.

Trump’s initiative is being either praised to the skies or deplored with dismay. The question being discussed is whether it will force the Iranian regime to abandon its nuclear program in a new deal or precipitate a terrible war.

Following Trump’s announcement, an Iranian missile attack on Israeli military bases on the Golan Heights led to heavy Israeli air strikes against Iranian targets in Syria.

There has been an equivalent, although more muted, flap over Trump’s decision to hold face-to-face talks with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The question discussed here is whether this will produce genuine nuclear disarmament by Kim, or whether Trump will be led by his monumental ego up the same garden path along which America has been lured before.

Both lines of thought are surely beside the point. For the elephant in the room is regime change.

Let’s go back to something approaching first principles. The Iranian regime is a menace to the world going far beyond its nuclear ambitions.

Seth J Frantzman: ‘House of Cards’: a perfect name for Israel’s anti-Iran campaign in Syria

Israel’s airstrikes on Syria overnight on Wednesday has been called “Operation House of Cards,” according to reports. On the surface the reference seems confusing. Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired 20 rockets at Israel and in response Israel carried out a massive and complex retaliation targeting more than thirty sites in Syria.

House of Cards may be a reference to the Netflix series or the saying “house of cards.” Here’s why “House of Cards” is a perfect name for the campaign against Iran’s presence in Syria.

Iran has overplayed its hand in Syria
Iran wanted to retaliate against Israel for months but it couldn’t figure out when and how. Its rockets were targeted in various air strikes which Syria’s regime blamed on Israel. Iran also wanted to wait for Lebanon’s elections to end on May 6 and to see if US President Donald Trump would leave the Iran Deal. Then Iran’s IRGC sought to fire only 20 missiles at Israel. Iran thought that Israel would retaliate in kind, a rocket for a rocket. It didn’t realize that it had badly miscalculated and that a massive response would occur. It has badly mismanaged its hand in Syria. But creating so many bases and infrastructure it left itself exposed. Its footprint grew over time, and at each phase of Iran’s growth in Syria it became more exposed, not less exposed. So like a poker player who thought he had a great hand, only to see the river card and realize all hope is lost, Iran now realizes it has a weak hand.

Because Iran's Syria policy could collapse like a House of Cards
Iran has built up an impressive presence in Syria. It’s militias and tentacles wrap around the regime. It has tens of thousands of fighters it recruited. But because it is stretched thin and has invested so much it also has more to lose. This presents a kind of “house of cards.” Iran has built up its networks carefully over time. Huge investments in men and resources. Construction equipment. Convoys. Missiles. Bunkers. Training. And now that house of cards is at risk. Too many provocative moves and Iran could find itself seriously threatened.

In my last post I invited readers to look at the arguments that Arabs advanced against the UN partition plan that would have granted Jews a tiny, impossible to defend state.

The Syrian ambassador sounds a lot like Mahmoud Abbas today.

...The Arab delegations, as everyone knows, have not failed to point out to their colleagues the real danger involved in the partition plan. On several occasions, we have reminded the world that this Organization cannot trample on its own Charter, to which it owes its existence, without running the risk of dealing itself a very dangerous blow.

We have voiced here the uneasiness of the Arabs in Palestine and in all the Arab countries. In their opinion this plan is contrary to the principles of justice and to their natural rights, since their right to independence is not questioned.

Yesterday, however, certain delegations invoked, in support of the Jewish argument, an alleged "historic right" to Palestine. Even supposing that this right existed, it could not be considered equal to the historic and acquired rights of the Arabs, rights which we have moreover explained to you on more than one .occasion.

By quoting, in the Ad Hoc Committee, whole pages of the Jewish Encyclopedia, we have been able to prove that the Jews of Eastern Europe are not related in any way to Israel and that they are purely of Russian Khazar origin.

The article he is referring to in no way says that.

...As we have already stated in the Committee, if it had been only a question of Jewish refugees fleeing from persecution and terrorism, we should have received them not only in Palestine but also in all the Arab States. However, as everyone has already realized, we are faced, in this case with no more than a political scheme of an imperialist nature in which all ambitions coincide and the two extremes meet.

The Polish delegation, which is usually so punctilious with regard to interpretations of the . terms of .the Charter, is silent when it is a question of violating that same Charter, because that violation is aimed at founding a Jewish State in Palestine which would allow Poland to get rid of its own Jews.

...The United States Government is fighting communism not only in its own country but everywhere; it is attacking communists from Hollywood to the frontiers of Manchuria; it is deporting foreign communists even if they are recommended by very highly placed persons; it is granting all sorts of loans to fight communism in Europe.

But if the Black Sea ports could pour half a million communists into Palestine today, the delegation of the United States of America would be all the happier so long as Palestine was swarming with Jews. They are not satisfied with the one hundred and fifty thousand communists who are already in Palestine.

No plan has ever been more contrary to logic or to social, political and economic laws; no plan has ever been more absurd in its financial and economic difficulties, and in its political and administrative complications; no proposal has been adopted with more misgiving, one might even say repugnance; no plan has been defended with more propaganda and less courtesy. ...

You need only cast a glance at the map drawn up by Sub-Committee 1 to see that the whole affair is only a conspiracy. The southern part of Palestine, inhabited exclusively by Arabs, has been given to the proposed Jewish State on the excuse that a desert region like the Negeb is of no use to the Bedouins. This is a type of logic quite peculiar to the Zionists and their friends; they claim that a desert like the Negeb or Sinai is useless to the Bedouins but can be of great use to the Jews of Warsaw and Riga. What logic!

The truth is that the Zionists and their friends have other aims in mind. That is proved by the fact that they have made the territory of the Jewish State extend to the Red Sea; that is a threat to the Suez Canal, the Islamic Holy Places of the Hedjaz, the interests of all the Arab countries in the Red Sea region, and the interests of Ethiopia. In short, the United States delegation and the other delegations in favour of this plan consider it impossible and unjust to subject six hundred thousand Jews to a decision making Palestine one State; but these same delegations want the Arabs in Palestine and all the independent Arab States, with a total population of thirty million people, to be subject to an illegal decision contrary to the Charter and their vital interests.

I hope that the good people of this great and truly democratic country, the United States, will wake up one day, open their eyes, see things clearly and demand that their country's policy shall be independent of that of the Zionists.

As for us, we will never recognize this proposed partition, and we reserve the right to act accordingly.

One more word. Before concluding, I appeal to your consciences. May I remind you that, in this plan, the Charter's essential principles of justice and the dignity of the United Nations are at stake. I am sure that you will reflect, and that you will bear in mind all the disadvantages and dangers of this plan.

This has it all - antisemitism ("swarming with Jews"), accusations that Jews are all Communist, that they are not really Jews but converts from Russia, that opposing a Jewish state is a principled position, that creating a Jewish state would threaten the entire Arab world with its colonialist aims, that "justice" means no Israel, that the US bends its will to the "Zionists."

This speech is remarkably similar to things Palestinian leaders have said only weeks ago.The same arguments against "occupation" today were used against the very idea of Israel 70 years ago.

Which shows that today's arguments are really not motivated by "occupation" but by Israel having the chutzpah to continue to exist and defend itself.

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I'm shaking my head at an article on the far-Left Israeli site +972 by Orly Noy, about BDS targeting Israeli Eurovision entrant Netta Barzilai:

Israel is buzzing with excitement over the country’s contestant in this year’s Eurovision, and for good reason. Netta Barzilai is talented, has an awesome vibe, and is a strong female character who bucks all of the traits we have become used to seeing in a female performer. If you are a left-wing, Jewish feminist, and even if you’re not, it’s hard not to fall in love with her.

So it wasn’t surprising that a campaign by Israeli boycott activists asking European viewers not to vote for Barzilai managed to rile so many people, including in various left-wing Israeli circles — and no small number of my friends.

I don’t know anything about Barzilai’s political views but I don’t get the impression that she has any special affinity for militarism or that she likes anything about the killing of innocent people. My impression was actually the opposite, and that’s the point.

One of the fundamental truths with which the boycott movement attempts to confront Israeli society is that all of us, even the humanists and human rights lovers among us, are responsible for the crimes of the occupation, whether we participate in them directly or indirectly.

Netta Barzilai is a means for Israel to show the world that we are normal and pretty and creative, and that we send stunning representatives to compete in the Eurovision. In a way, that’s not a false representation of reality. Indeed, we live our lives like any other people trying to make it in the world, and we have a real culture and real musicians to be proud of — like Netta Barzilai. And while it is true that we Israelis do not live the occupation as part and parcel of our daily lives, the occupation is a part of us and who we and our society are and have become. That we have succeeded in creating a conscious separation between our lives and the occupation is our tragedy. The boycott movement is simply trying to stop the rest of the world from making the same mistake.

What a load of crap.

The BDS movement is not based on morality. It is based on hate. Its leaders freely admit that their goal is the destruction of Israel, not the end of "occupation." It is the direct descendant of the anti-Israel movements before the "occupation" that also tried to justify their hate based on the fig leaf of human rights - as did the Arabs who attacked the Jews in 1947 months before Israel declared itself to be a state. Their speeches in the UN also pretended to be concerned with human rights. Read them - they sound eerily familiar, yet it is obvious that their problem was with Jews having political power, not the lofty standards of human rights or protecting the UN Charter as they claimed.

Any objective observer can see that the haters of 1947 were animated by their antisemitism, not their love of justice or peace. BDS is exactly the same. The word "Zionist" elicits the same knee-jerk and violent hate that the word "Jew" has throughout history. BDS supporters who are less careful over their words in social media than their leaders regularly will call Israel "satanic" - they simply substitute "Zionist" for "Jew" but the hate remains the same. Justice and peace and human rights are the excuses to make their hate appear justified. But it is still hate, it is still ugly, and any real supporter of human rights should recognize this and fight against it, not support it.

Orly Noy might want to flagellate herself over the "occupation." Maybe one day she will set herself on fire in support of the Palestinian Arabs she cares about so much. But she knows, deep down, that if Israel would withdraw from every inch of the territory it won in a defensive war, the hate that the BDSers feel for her would not be reduced in the least.

Noy's pathetic desire to show how much she identifies with those who want to subjugate her to living as a second-class citizen in an Arab "Palestine" will not make them want to subjugate her any less. Her eagerness to justify the hate that BDS has for her and her people is pitiful.

There is no moral difference between the irrational hate for Israelis and irrational hate for Jews, or irrational hate for blacks, or irrational hate for gays. Racists and bigots find justifications for their hate that sound just as humanistic as those of BDS. The very term "anti-semitism" was based on a pseudo-scientific theory to justify hate. Most of us can see through the justifications and understand that they are after-the-fact, meant to make the hate that animated the bigotry be more palatable to a larger audience.

Which is exactly what BDS does.

The BDS movement is a hate group just like the KKK, and their arguments can be demolished just as easily as those of any white supremacist group - but only if one is willing to wake up enough to notice that their "human rights" and "justice" and "legal" arguments are mere justifications for hate. It is a shame that so many people who care about human rights can be as deluded as Orly Noy is.

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Syria is so F-ed up - massive Israeli airstrikes are a minor story in the bigger Syria picture

Syrian media, and Lebanese media that follows Syria, has very little objectivity. The best (although not perfect) place to see what is happening in Syria is the Syrian Observatory of Human Rights, which reports on all attacks in Syria from all factions and the casualties.

Reading their website on the day after the massive Israeli airstrikes yesterday is almost unreal. Sure, there were a couple of articles about the raids as they happened, but so many people get killed by so many different actors in Syria every day, the Israeli raids were just considered one event among many.

As of this writing, the SOHR hasn't published the total death toll in Syria from Thursday. On both Wednesday and Tuesday more than 60 were killed throughout the country on all sides of the civil war. The SOHR says that 23 people, apparently all of them Syrian or Iranian fighters, were killed in the Israeli raids - the biggest Israeli air raids in Syria since the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

The Israeli airstrikes are just another story.

As of this writing, here are the stories in the top two news sections of the site:

The Israeli raids are little more than a footnote the next day.

The Observatory's early story on the Israeli raids themselves show how precise they were. Although they say it is possible that two civilians were killed by being at the wrong place at the wrong time during an Israeli raid on Wednesday, the couple might have just died in a car accident.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights documented the death of 23 people at least as a result of the Israeli missile strikes, which targeted several military positions and points of the regime forces and allies in scattered areas in central Syria, near the capital Damascus and Rif Dimashq, the western countryside of al-Suwaidaa and the triangle of Daraa – Quneitra – West of Rif Dimashq just before dawn of Thursday the 10th of May 2018, and the casualties are: 5 members of the regime forces including at least one officer, and 18 others of Syrian and non-Syrian nationalities, and the death toll is expected to rise because there are some people in critical situation, and due to information about other casualties, the Syrian Observatory published that violent explosions rocked the several areas in the Syrian territory just before dawn of today, Thursday, the 10th of May 2018, caused by Israeli missile strikes which targeted scattered sites near the capital, Damascus, Rif Dimashq, central Syria and Quneitra, where the strikes targeted sites believed to belong to the Lebanese Hezbollah southwest of Homs city, and other sites of Hezbollah and fighters loyal to the regime forces in the triangle of Daraa – Quneitra – west of Rif Dimashq, also the strikes targeted a military area of the regime forces in al-Dumayr Airbase area at the Eastern Qalamoun, where the missiles fell near the headquarters where the Iranians are located, also the strikes targeted Muadamiyat al-Sham town west of Damascus, where fighters of Hezbollah, Iran and the 4th Division of the Syrian regime are located, but no information until the moment as to whether the missiles that fell on Muadamiyat al-Sham has targeted military positions or not, also a missile landed in the vicinity of Jaramana south of the capital, and the shelling targeted regime’s Air Defense sites, while the fall of Israeli missiles was renewed after midnight of yesterday on Al-Quneitra province, where the missiles targeted sites of the regime forces and their allies near Hodr town north of Quneitra and near Khan Arnabah town, and in the same context, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights in conjunction with the these intensive targeting operation has monitored explosions in the sky of the areas; caused by regime’s anti-aircraft interception for the Israeli missiles and managed to shoot down some of them, and the Israeli missile strikes caused significant material losses in several targeted locations, amid confirmed information about casualties.

The Israeli shelling came just before the dawn of Sunday after the fall of missiles after midnight, launched from al-Quneitra area and southwest Rif Dimashq adjacent to the occupied territories of Golan, following the Israeli shelling which took place last night and targeted locations near al-Ba’ath city in the central countryside of Quneitra.

The Syrian Observatory published yesterday, Wednesday, that the number of casualties continues to rise as a result of the missile strikes that targeted al-Kiswah area in the southwest sector of Rif Dimashq, which were carried out by Israeli forces targeting Iranian missile warehouses and platforms, where it rose to at least 15 including at least 8 Iranians, the number of members who were killed by the missile strikes on the area, while it is not known yet whether the rest of them belong to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard or if they belong to a militia loyal to Iran, also a man and his wife were killed near place of shelling but the circumstances of their deaths are not known whether they were killed the result of a traffic accident, or it happened that they were there in the moment of shelling which caused their deaths, and the death toll is expected to rise because there are some people in critical situation, and due to the presence of missing persons.

Israel seems to be the only player in Syria that actually cares about avoiding civilian casualties.

What a thoroughly messed-up country.

This raid proves (among many other things) that the world media pretty much ignores Syria unless somehow Jews are part of the story.

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