Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, July 05, 2018

07/05 Links Pt1: Terrorists involved in the brutal murder of Israeli soldiers in 2000 honored as “heroic” by PA TV; Did Israel have a hand in thwarting an Iranian plot in France?

From Ian:

PMW: Terrorists who participated in brutal murder of Israeli soldiers in 2000 honored as “heroic” by PA TV

In October 2000, two Israeli reserve soldiers, Vadim Nurzhitz and Yossi Avrahami, accidentally entered Ramallah. They were lynched by a Palestinian mob who brutally murdered them and mutilated their bodies. Many remember the following photo of one of the Palestinian murderers joyously displaying his bloody hands to the frenzied Palestinian mob.

One of the participants in the lynch, Aziz Salha, displaying the blood of the victims.
Israel released him in the Shalit prisoner exchange deal with Hamas in 2011

Three of the Palestinians who participated in the murders and are imprisoned in Israel were recently honored by official Palestinian Authority TV in an episode of Giants of Endurance - a program about terrorist prisoners. While visiting the families of murderers Habbes Bayyoud, Muhammad Nawarah, and Jawad Abu Qara, the PA TV reporter referred to each of them as “heroic.” A sister of one of the murderers also emphasized how her brother makes the family “raise their heads and feel proud”:

Official PA TV host: “I’m with the family of heroic prisoner Habbes Bayyoud... We are now at the home of heroic prisoner Muhammad Nawarah...”
Sister of terrorist Muhammad Nawarah: “Muhammad is a handsome guy and makes one proud. I am proud that I have a brother like Muhammad... Thanks to him, we raise our heads and feel proud...”
PA TV host: "We have now arrived at the house of heroic prisoner Jawad Abu Qara...”
[Official PA TV, Giants of Endurance, June 16, 2018]
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As Palestinian Media Watch has documented, these murderers are not only honored by the PA in words. Since their arrests, the PA has generously rewarded them each with a salary as is stipulated by PA law. Their salaries, as of June 2018, have reached a combined total of 2,023,600 shekels ($583,606).

The PA policy of honoring terrorists as well as the ongoing PA practice of rewarding them with salaries are two of the many ways the PA supports terror. Earlier this week, PMW's findings and documentation played a central role in the creation and passing of the Israeli law to deduct from PA tax money a sum equivalent to what the PA pays in terrorist salaries.

Did Israel have a hand in thwarting an Iranian plot in France?

A planned Iranian terrorist attack on French soil "wasn't thwarted by chance," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Wednesday, hinting that Israel had a role in preventing the attack.

Iran has set up terrorist and intelligence ‎infrastructure across Europe with the aim of ‎assassinating exiled Iranian dissidents and moderate ‎Arab leaders, particularly those whose countries ‎rival Iran in the Persian Gulf, intelligence experts ‎told Israel Hayom Tuesday.‎

According to both Israeli and foreign intelligence ‎experts, the vast Iranian infrastructure was set up ‎to serve the Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite black-‎ops arm, the Quds Force. ‎

One foreign intelligence official said that a prominent Arab ‎leader had recently canceled a visit to Europe ‎following solid information suggesting that an ‎Iranian terrorist cell was planning to assassinate ‎him.‎

‎Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, meanwhile was visiting the Austrian capital, where his country's nuclear agreement with world powers was drawn up three years ago, in an effort to salvage the deal after the withdrawal of the United States in May.

On Tuesday, Netanyahu criticized European leaders for meeting with Rouhani while his country ‎was plotting against the continent. ‎The prime minister made the comments at an event marking the American ‎‎‎Independence Day, hosted by U.S. ‎‎‎Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.

The truth about Palestinians in Lebanon

A long essay at Synaps Network describes the situation of Palestinians in Lebanon in more detail than anything else I've read.

Highlights:

Despite their degree of assimilation, Palestinian youth suffer from discriminatory measures imposed by the Lebanese government precisely to prevent their gradual—and, it is feared, permanent—integration. They are formally forbidden from work in at least 39 different professions. They are locked out of such essential fields as healthcare, transport, fishing, accounting, engineering and the judiciary. A 2001 law even barred Palestinians from acquiring property on Lebanese soil. These restrictions have knock-on effects for the ability of Palestinian youth to reach a normal form of adulthood, since securing a job and buying real estate are the traditional gateways to marriage.

Perhaps the most oppressive aspect of the environment in which Palestinians live is of a more psychological nature. Lebanon’s various religious sects tend to view their assimilation as a threat. Maronites often seem to nurture the trauma of the civil war, during which Palestinian militias turned Lebanon into a staging ground for their fight against Israel—committing ugly crimes in the process. Shia, for their part, fought bitterly against Palestinian militias, and also worry that integrating a predominantly Sunni Palestinian community would disrupt the country’s delicate sectarian equilibrium. Lebanese Sunnis, for their part, resent increased competition in what is often an intensely sectarian job market, where Sunnis vie against one another more often than they contend with, say, Maronites.

All in all, Lebanese regard Palestinians with overwhelming negativity. This bias is mostly latent but occasionally explosive...

There is no better illustration of the growing apathy among younger Palestinians than their reaction to the American decision, in late 2017, to recognize Jerusalem as the official capital of Israel—a symbolic move widely condemned internationally, given the city’s contested status. Youth groups briefly took to the streets in front of the US embassy, and the Lebanese faction Hezbollah organized a mass protest on its turf in the southern suburbs of Beirut, but Palestinian camps themselves remained eerily quiet.

This doesn’t mean that refugees are willing to surrender the sacrosanct “right of return,” nor the dream of establishing, someday, a sovereign Palestinian state. Young Palestinians, rather, are forced to reconcile their sense of patriotism with current realities, which in turn pushes them toward a more pragmatic rapport with their national identity. Cut off from Palestine and squeezed in Lebanon, many look at emigration as the sole remaining option. “You will hear the same words in every family in the camp,” said a housewife in Beddawi. “All the young people want to leave.”

In December 2017, the results of the LPDC census addressed Palestinian demographics, long perceived as a time bomb. Notwithstanding some disagreements regarding methodology, the figures mostly dispel perceptions of a large, growing Palestinian population that Lebanon cannot possibly assimilate. The census found that Palestinian refugees and their descendants officially represent something like 175,000 individuals, not the half-million previously thought to live in a country with around four million Lebanese.

Despite significant humanitarian involvement, everyday living conditions in refugee camps have deteriorated noticeably in recent years, putting growing pressure on today’s youth compared to earlier generations. Palestinians rely primarily on a dedicated international entity, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East, or UNRWA, for certain basic services, notably education, healthcare and sanitation. This enormous organization also provides steady employment to large numbers of refugees, who in turn support their extended families.

These functions, however, are increasingly under strain. Donors have grown fatigued with the organization’s archaic structures, and indeed with the very premise of a UN agency dedicated solely to Palestinian refugee affairs. ...In 2016, funding shortfalls led UNRWA’s offices in Lebanon to abruptly decrease reimbursements of health expenses from 100 percent down to 90 or 85 percent, depending on the nature of the care or medicine provided. This move sent shockwaves through a community that is excluded from Lebanon’s National Social Security Fund—a form of discrimination made all the more galling by the fact that employers are required, legally, to pay almost 15 percent of Palestinians’ salaries to an NSSF scheme from which Palestinian employees themselves cannot benefit.

(h/t Reuven)

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"Palestinian fetus a proud martyr in his mother's womb"

From Palestinian Media Watch:

"The First Direction of Prayer" by Syrian singer Assala Nasri:
“Our Martyrs are convoys and our bones are mountains
We don’t surrender to the lowly
We aren't deterred by imprisonment
Palestine is etched on the heart of the fetus
A proud Martyr in his mother’s womb
And the Arab state will remain ours - Arab, Arab Palestine...
We [hold] the rifles to our chests and our eyes are raised to you
Our homes are trenches and our souls are the sacrifice for you
O Jerusalem, you will not remain stolen.”
[Official PA TV, June 19 and 26, 2018]

Interestingly, it appears that Nasri first wrote/sang this song in 2011:

Her YouTube page is pretty dead and her website mentioned in the earlier video is no longer around, the domain bought by a Chinese face cream advertisement.

Apparently, Nasri's career has been on the skids and she is using the violent pro-Palestinian song as her way to stage a comeback.

Naturally, the main audience for such an attempt is the official Palestinian Authority TV channel. You cannot even imagine one of them saying "no, this video does not promote peace, it is unacceptable to be shown here."

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani claimed that Iran has always had close and very good relations with the Jews of the world.

At a press event with Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, Rouhai said that it was "Zionists, as an occupying and unjust group," who are persecuting people, imposing a siege on the people of Gaza, bombing innocent civilians, and - in a most ironic statement - intervening in Syria.

"The Iranians have sheltered the Jews in Babylon, so they are always indebted to Iran and the Iranians," Rouhani told the news conference.

Bizarrely, Rouhani is quoted by Iranian media as saying, "Our ultimate goal is to bring security and peace in the Middle East."

For his part, Kurz said in front of Rouhani that he considers it “absolutely unacceptable” to question the right of Israel to exist or call for the state’s destruction, as well as to deny or minimize the Holocaust as Iran has done numerous times.

All of this came as a Vienna-based Iranian diplomat was arrested for his part in planning a terror attack in France against an anti-Iran rally.

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07/04 Links Pt2: Netanyahu Praises Trump, Calls on Europe to Break Relations With Iran, In July 4 Message; Israelis overwhelmingly prefer Trump to Obama; The environmental impact of war

From Ian:

Netanyahu Praises Trump, Calls on Europe to Break Relations With Iran, In July 4 Message

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid tribute to the historic alliance between Israel and the US at a July 4 reception at the newly-opened American Embassy in Jerusalem.

“We’re grateful for America’s independence,” Netanyahu declared. “We’re grateful for America’s strength. We’re grateful for America’s alliance with Israel.”

Netanyahu also singled out US President Donald Trump for special praise. “You remember that Iran nuclear deal? Remember that?” the Prime Minister asked. “President Trump decided to leave this bad deal and he did the greatest thing for the security of the world and for the security of Israel.”

Commenting on the arrest of an alleged Iranian terror network operating in France by French, Belgian and German authorities, Netanyahu remarked: “This Iranian terror plot was planned on the soil of Europe on the same week that the European leaders are supposed to meet the President of Iran about circumventing the sanctions on Iran.”

Netanyahu called on European nations to break relations with Iran.

“Here’s my message to the European leaders: Stop funding the very regime that is sponsoring terrorism against you and against so many others,” he said. “Stop appeasing Iran.”

Israelis overwhelmingly prefer Trump to Obama — poll

Israelis overwhelmingly favor US President Donald Trump over his predecessor Barack Obama, according to a poll released on Wednesday, and are lukewarm in their support for the immigration of American Jews to the Jewish state.

The survey, conducted for Haaretz newspaper to coincide with US Independence Day, found that almost half of Israelis — 49 percent — strongly approved of Trump (and 23% slightly approved), while only 22% disapproved of the US president.

However, when asked about Obama, only 19% of respondents strongly approved of him (while 30% slightly approved), compared to a substantial 46% who disapproved of the former American leader.

Trump came to Israel last year in his first overseas trip as president and visited Jerusalem’s Western Wall, becoming the first American president to do so. In December, he recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and in May the US embassy in Israel was moved from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. In his views vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority, Trump has been seen as more favorable to Israel than his predecessor.

His approval ratings in Israel eclipsed his support at home, where he only enjoys a 41.8% approval rating, according to 538’s poll aggregator.

According to the Haaretz poll, 44% of Israelis believed Trump’s peace plan would be pro-Israel, while only 7% thought it would be pro-Palestinian (31% thought it would be balanced).

Jerusalem’s Past and Jerusalem’s Future

Among his other prominent roles in the public life of the Jewish state, Dore Gold has served as Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations and director general of the Israeli foreign ministry. In conversation with Eric Cohen, he discusses efforts to deny the Jewish historical connection to Jerusalem, 20th-century debates over the city’s fate, America’s decision to relocate its embassy, and the changing face of relations between Israel and some Arab states.

The parents of Naftali Fraenkl asked the courts to reconsider the ridiculously low penalty imposed on Syria and Iran for the kidnapping and murder of their child, a dual American Israeli citizen. Naftali was abducted and murdered along with Eyal Yifrach and Gil-Ad Sha’ar in 2014, as the three were on their way to school. Federal Judge Rosemary Collyer refused their plea, on the grounds that the Fraenkl family lives over the Green Line. Her verdict sets the compensation to $4.1m, though the plaintiffs had requested $340m, an amount comparable to awards in other, similar such lawsuits.

"The Plaintiffs took upon themselves the risks of living in a community built beyond the Green Line in Israel, and sending Naftali Fraenkel another 40 kilometers into the West Bank to a high school in Gush Etzion, 6 kilometers from the city of Hevron," wrote Collyer in her decision.

In other words, Collyer is blaming (and punishing) the victim. Or rather, she’s not blaming and punishing the victim, but the victim’s parents. Sure Syria and Iran are bad. But he got it, Naftali, because his parents are settlers. It’s their fault he’s dead.

Now, based on her decision, one might conclude that Collyer’s thinking runs along these lines: Settlers are bad and need to be punished. Not only to have their kids killed by terrorists but to be hit in the wallet in a big way, as well.

So, according to Collyer, not only do the Fraenkls deserve this thing: the abduction, murder, and mutilation of their son, they need to be punished for living where they do. Lucky for Collyer, the power to punish was in her hands. She made sure the Fraenkls lost out on a big ass financial settlement. Because of where the Fraenkls live and because of where they chose to send their child to school.

Now in saying so, saying that it’s the Fraenkl’s own fault their teenage son was brutalized and murdered, because of where they live, Collyer is betraying a political bias. Because there is no legal consideration to be made here. The Fraenkls have broken no law living where they do, sending their child to school where they did. There is no law on the books, international or otherwise, that says Jews can’t live, build houses in, or go to school in Judea and Samaria.

Since there is no legal impediment for the Fraenkls to live where they do or for their son to attend school where he did, Collyer’s decision is not based on the law, but on her personal political bias. Perhaps Collyer has heard people speak of “illegal settlements” or call settlers an “obstacle” to peace. But there’s no legal basis backing either of these statements or concepts. These ideas are simply not founded in the law and as such are mere propaganda.

Having betrayed a political bias, it is clear that Collyer had a duty to recuse herself from this case.

In fact, the last person who should have ruled on this case was someone like Collyer who appears to believe that Jews have no right to live in their indigenous territory. The word “believe” is important here, since there is no legal basis to this idea. It’s simply Collyer’s personal prejudice.

Not that it matters, but Collyer probably thinks that Jews should live in safer places (Germany, perhaps? Poland?)

Or rather, like Helen Thomas before her, she doesn’t really give a damn where Jews live, as long as they aren’t on “Palestinian” land. (Because she’s obviously never read a bible or a history book.)

Nice to know the judiciary is so well read. And so morally upstanding.

UPDATE: The Fraenkls appealed the decision and the decision has been reversed in part and remanded back to Collyer to decide anew: (see: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/cadc/17-7100/17-7100-2018-06-08.html)

"The District Court [found] that the location of the Fraenkels' home, Naftali's school, and the site of the abduction indicated that Naftali and his family had "accepted the risk" of terrorist attacks. Based on these considerations, the District Court awarded solatium damages to Naftali's family members that were lower than the amounts awarded to the plaintiffs in Gates.

"The Fraenkels claim that the District Court abused its discretion in awarding solatium damages because the court's judgment was based on impermissible consderations and clearly erroneous findings of fact. We agree.

"For the reasons explained below, we reverse the District Court's judgment on the solatium damages awards and remand for further consideration."

h/t IsaacStorm

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Preschool Teacher Censured For Missing Quota Of Crap To Send Home With Kids (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Jerusalem, July 4 - A nursery school educator in the Nahalat Ahim neighborhood of the capital faces disciplinary action this week following a period in which she failed to send the children home with the mandated minimum quantity of kitsch, crafts, and assorted other debris, Ministry of Education sources reported today.

Ministry spokeswoman Inda Boydem told reporters that the teacher, whose name has not been released, missed the monthly average of six kilograms of trash in the guise of crafts and souvenirs that preschool teachers must by law distribute each month to each child to take home. Upon end-of-year review, noted Ms. Boydem, the educator in question was discovered to have met the six-kilo threshold only three times, and failing to crack even the four-kilo mark in April.

"This is a rare instance of consistent failure that we will address in no uncertain terms," she promised. "The guidelines on this matter have never been clearer: each child registered for the preschool for ages three and four must be given no less than six kilos per month of drawings, collages, finger paintings, pinwheels, birthday surprises, ugly picture frames, flags, and other bric-a-brack. Unless those quotas are met, parents will be confronted with the prospect of having usable space in their homes, and that would be a disaster."

Ministry Superintendent for Preschool Education Onda Frijj explained the importance of the materials. "The Ministry of Education has several primary purposes, one of which has always been inconveniencing Israeli families," she commented. "In extreme cases that involves having nationwide strikes so parents must scramble to find arrangements for their school-aged children, but the everyday fulfillment of that purpose attracts far less media attention. From keeping school hours that force parents to miss work to pick up and care for their children in the afternoon, to a system that seldom gets into gear before two months into the school year, to making sure parents must find a place for tons of crap their kids have 'made' or received at some party, lest junior throw a tantrum at seeing the crap chucked in the garbage, there are countless daily inconveniences our educators must foist on parents, and adherence to the mandated minimums is what ensures the foisting remains at appropriate levels."

Ms. Frijj observed that the low April figure also stems from the two weeks each year schools are closed for the seven-day Passover break, but that in general, teachers generally make up for those lost weeks by doubling or tripling the quantity of crap sent home in the two weeks preceding the Passover break.

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07/04 Links Pt1: Foiled Iranian bomb plot overshadows Tehran’s European charm offensive; PA TV: Your fetus will be a “Martyr for Palestine”; Israel Wishes USA a Happy Birthday!

From Ian:

Seth J. Frantzman: Foiled Iranian bomb plot overshadows Tehran’s European charm offensive

On the eve of a visit by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani to Europe, two suspects in Belgium were detained and charged with preparing a terrorist attack. A diplomat from the Iranian Embassy in Austria was arrested in Germany.

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif claimed the arrests were part of a “sinister false flag ploy,” and designed to sabotage Iran’s attempt to court Europe to stick with the Iran Deal.

However, the arrests will overshadow Tehran’s attempts to court European countries as the US pushes sanctions.

The arrest of terror plotters in Europe comes amid increasing pressure on the Iranian regime. Tehran has faced more than a week of protests that cap more than six months of unrest in Iran.

"We strongly condemn the Iranian regime's support for terrorism which clearly continues to threaten out European allies. The recently announced US sanctions on Iran are designed specifically to stop this kind of destabilizing activity," US Ambassador to Germany Richard Grenell said in reaction to the arrests.

Experts: Iran set up terrorist infrastructure in Europe

Iran has set up terrorist and intelligence ‎infrastructure across Europe with aim of ‎assassinating exiled Iranian dissidents and moderate ‎Arab leaders, particularly those whose countries ‎rival Iran in the Persian Gulf, intelligence experts ‎told Israel Hayom Tuesday.‎

According to both Israeli and foreign intelligence ‎experts, the vast Iranian infrastructure was set up ‎to serve the Revolutionary Guard Corps' elite black-‎ops arm, the Quds Force. ‎

One foreign intelligence official said that a prominent Arab ‎leader had recently canceled a visit to Europe ‎following solid information suggesting that an ‎Iranian terrorist cell was planning to assassinate ‎him.‎

Belgian authorities announced Monday that they have ‎exposed extensive infrastructure deployed by the ‎Quds Force and Iranian intelligence. Three people ‎were arrested, including an Iranian diplomat, on ‎suspicion of plotting to bomb a meeting of an exiled ‎‎Iranian opposition group in France.‎

The IntelliTimes intelligence blog said Tuesday that ‎former Prime Minister Ehud Barak was also in Paris ‎during that time. ‎

PMW: PA TV to pregnant Palestinians: Your fetus will be a “Martyr for Palestine”

Pregnant mothers all over the world are busy imagining the future of their unborn child and wishing him/her the best. The Palestinian Authority is promoting a song lately in which mothers are taught to see their unborn fetus as a future “Martyr for Palestine.” The song has been broadcast on official PA radio, Fatah’s Awdah TV, and now official PA TV.

“Our Martyrs are convoys and our bones are mountains
We don’t surrender to the lowly
We aren't deterred by imprisonment
Palestine is etched on the heart of the fetus
A proud Martyr in his mother’s womb
And the Arab state will remain ours - Arab, Arab Palestine...
We [hold] the rifles to our chests and our eyes are raised to you
Our homes are trenches and our souls are the sacrifice for you
O Jerusalem, you will not remain stolen.”
[Official PA TV, June 19 and 26, 2018]

“Martyrs” (Shahids) are those who die for Allah. “Martyrdom” has been presented by the PA as the most honorable status achievable in Islam.

Palestinian Media Watch reported when this song appeared on PA radio together with five other songs all encouraging "Martyrdom."

The “from fetus to Martyr” image has been used in the past by the PA and Hamas. When a Palestinian terrorist murderer, Yasser Hamdouni, collapsed while exercising in an Israeli prison in 2016, PA District Governor of Ramallah Laila Ghannam comforted his mother, using the image:

Text on image: “You carried him in your womb as a fetus to be separated from him as he is raised over your head as a Martyr (Shahid).
How long the separation, [due to] the jailer, and how you dreamed of embracing him in peace and security, and God’s decree arrived, and he left the grip of the jailer so that you will accompany him as a groom to Paradise (i.e., Martyr's funeral is considered wedding to the 72 Virgins in Paradise in Islam).”
[Facebook page of District Governor of Ramallah and El-Bireh Laila Ghannam, Sept. 27, 2016]

By Forest Rain Marcia

Have you ever imagined what it is like to be a farmer?

Any farmer is connected to their land in ways city-folk have a hard time understanding. You feel the rhythm of the land, when it needs to rest and when it is ready to bring forth new life.

There is something magical about communing with the land, being in partnership so that through your sweat and her nourishment you give birth to new growth that will give life to others.

The Jewish farmer in Zion has an even deeper union with the land.

It’s a 3000 year old love story consummated every time he or she goes to work, plants new seeds, waters the lands. It is biblical prophecy fulfilled when he or she walks the land, making it bloom once more.

The land (particularly that in the Gaza area) was dormant, empty. Waiting. When her lover come back she burst into bloom, producing rich fruit, vegetables, anything and everything that could be desired, in thanks, in gratitude for, once again being loved.

The Jewish farmer doesn’t have to consciously think about how the relationship with the land makes him (or her) a more complete Jew. It happens with every breath, with every effort, with the glorious harvest after a year’s labor of love.

And then, in an instant, it’s all ruined.

Melon field, Nahal Oz by Kfir Sivan

One kite, such an innocuous thing, a child’s toy, turned into a weapon, a firebomb burns away a year of love. You aren’t hearing about these attacks on the news. To others this is a non-story – Jews under fire, literally, day after day after day.

Acres of land going up in flames, crops ruined, wildlife burned alive. Greenhouses burnt to the ground, homes drenched in smoke, poisoned air…

This is something else, only the Jewish farmer experiences – people enraged that the land is once again taking part on the centuries old love story that has nothing to do with them. People so full of hate they are willing to burn farmer and land together, just so that no one will benefit.

This is what is happening in Israel now.

Take a look at this field of melons by Nahal Oz. Melons in their prime, ripe and ready to be harvested. Their juice should now be bursting in the mouths of the people they were destined to nourish, their sweetness sliding down throats of people who appreciate this produce of the land.

Instead they lie, burned in ruin. The land that gave them life is now a grave instead of a mother. The farmer that loved them, raised them to be all that they could be, counted on them for the sweet life they would give him is left with bitter tears.

When you hear of kite bombs think of these melons.

Think of their farmer.

Think of this land.

2000 years of yearning, 70 years of hard work, investment of love and labor, livelihood of individuals, food for a nation. THAT is what is under attack.

It won’t work.

We are Zion, home to stay

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From YNet:

The Palestinian Authority strongly condemned the Knesset on Tuesday for passing into a law a bill proposal to deduct terrorists' salaries from roughly $130 million in monthly tax revenues Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinian Authority, defining the move as "a declaration of war on the Palestinian people."

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' spokesman, Nabil Abu Rudeineh, said the PA considered the law a "red line" and threatened that its implementation would lead to "harsh Palestinian decisions."

Sounds like a big deal, right?

In March, the same Nabil Abu Rudeineh said that a proposal in Congress to cut aid to the PA is also a "declaration of war" against the Palestinian people.

In January, he said that a vote in Knesset on Jerusalem residents' voting rights was also a "declaration of war against the Palestinian people."

It isn't only Redeineh.

In December, the Palestinian National Council said that a Likud decision about the territories was a declaration of war against the Palestinian people.

Also in December, the PLO said that Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital was a declaration of war against the Palestinian people.

A PLO member in September said in a general way that there is a declaration of war against the Palestinian people.

In May 2017, a proposed law in Knesset declaring Israel a Jewish state was called a "declaration of war" by the PLO.

In 2014, a brief closure of the Temple Mount was called a "declaration of war" by Mahmoud Abbas.

This is pretty consistent. The PLO has learned that they can manipulate public opinion with hyperbole, so they use it all the time. And too many clueless diplomats and journalists take them seriously, no matter how many times they are shown to be full of hot air.

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From Maan:

The Secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Dr. Saeb Erekat said today that the Palestinian leadership is going to the International Criminal Court to file a complaint against US President Donald Trump's decisions on the city of Jerusalem, stressing that the Palestinian issue is not run by the ideas of real estate men and the managers of casinos.

He also demanded that the ICC take action on previous complaints filed against Israel. The impression I get is that the ICC is putting all Palestinian complaints on the back burner.

At any rate, a strategy of threatening the US, especially with this president, on a complaint that the PLO has zero chance of winning, seems to be truly clueless.

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07/03 Links Pt2: Phillips: Time to leave The question the Jews of Britain and Europe must ponder; Bernard-Henri Lévy: The Honor of Israel; Rescuers working to save boys in Thai cave rely on Israeli tech

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Time to leave The question the Jews of Britain and Europe must ponder

For all these members of the tribe, the idea that it may be time for the Jews to leave Britain is no more than paranoid hysteria. For other British Jews, though, the current situation is deeply, profoundly upsetting and lowering. The antisemitism is bad enough. But it’s not just the antisemitism that’s so devastating. It’s the reaction to those who call it out for what it is.

The same people who claim to see antisemitism in European populism or the political base of Donald Trump regularly accuse Jews of claiming antisemitism just to “sanitize the crimes of Israel” or “bring down Jeremy Corbyn.”

This reaction is worse, far worse, than the antisemitism itself. It’s worse even than indifference. For it imputes to the Jews malicious intent in claiming that Jewish people are being maliciously targeted. It says they are lying. It blames the Jews for their own victimization.

This reaction is the inescapable evidence that the Jews are being abandoned. Those of us who have loved Britain for its gentleness, its tolerance, its decency, its stoicism, its reasonableness and the dampness of both its weather and national temperament feel as if we have been orphaned. But maybe we were living all along in a fool’s paradise.

Some people think Europe is over, that the demographics are against it and that it will become a majority-Muslim culture in a few decades. My guess is that Europe won’t go down without a fight. If that happens, the Jews are likely to get it in the neck from all sides. Whichever way it goes, it’s not a pleasant prospect.

So is it time to leave? It’s very personal, and I wouldn’t presume to advise anyone what to do. I can only speak for myself and say that for some years now, I’ve been spending a great deal of my time in Israel. Because even with 150,000 Hezbollah rockets pointing at us from Lebanon, even with Hamas trying every day to murder us and even with Iran working toward its genocide bomb to wipe us out, Israel is where I feel so much safer and the air is so much sweeter, and it’s where Jews are not on their knees and where no one will ever make me feel I am not entitled to live and don’t properly belong.

Israel is where we have astonishingly renewed ourselves as a nation out of the ashes of the Shoah. Israel is where all those who want us gone meet their nemesis in the political realization of the eternal people. Israel is the ultimate, and ultimately the only, definitive and triumphant repudiation of antisemitism and the true vindication of the millions of us who perished in the unspeakable events that we memorialize on Holocaust Memorial Day.
*This article is based on the Simon Wiesenthal memorial lecture which I delivered in London on Holocaust Memorial Day.

Melanie Phillips: Prince William's Israel visit, Iran protests

Please join me here as I discuss with Avi Abelow of Israel Unwired what actually happened when Prince William visited Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority, as well as the accelerating protests in Iran and what these signify.