Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, October 22, 2018

10/22 Links Pt2: Palestinians' Refusal to Accept the Jewish National Movement Has Been Disastrous for Them; Documents Reveal the Extent of the Soviet Union’s Escalation During the Yom Kippur War

From Ian:

Haaretz: Palestinians' Refusal to Accept the Jewish National Movement Has Been Disastrous for Them

Palestinians commonly describe their conflict with Zionism and Israel as an anti-colonialist struggle. According to the rules of postcolonial discourse, those who fight against colonialism are in the right by definition and are never responsible for anything.

But the Palestinians' ongoing refusal to accept that they are confronting a people and a rival national movement has been disastrous for them.

The anti-colonialist struggles of the 20th century succeeded even though the colonial powers were always much stronger than those who fought them. The colonialist power ultimately gave up the fight and retreated.

But Zionism was a national movement of a persecuted people whose ties to the land have been part of their identity and culture. The people who came here left behind them not a colonial mother country under whose auspices they were acting, but rather Czarist Russia, anti-Semitic Poland or Nazi Germany. Applying the term "colonialism" to such a situation empties this term of most of its moral and analytical significance.

It's a pity that the leaders of the Arab national movement in Palestine did not make an effort to understand how the Jews perceived themselves, their situation and their connection to this land. They assumed that the founding of the Jewish national home was a luxury of sorts for the Jews, and that they could be made to give up their state, just as Britain and France were once "persuaded" to give up their overseas colonies.

Someone who displays such a degree of blindness toward the other side's fundamental character is likely to bring disaster on his own people. The "anti-colonialist" blindness in relation to Israel fostered an expectation that Israel would crumble from within. After all, this wasn't a real people and a real nation-state, but some "invented" artificial entity.

Dennis Ross: Did Camp David Doom the Palestinians?

Seth Anziska's new book, Preventing Palestine: A Political History From Camp David to Oslo, portrays the Camp David Accords as largely responsible for denying the Palestinians self-determination and statehood. But I was present at the meeting between Yasser Arafat and President Bill Clinton in December 2000 when Arafat said no to Clinton's parameters, which went well beyond what then-Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak proposed at the summit in July.

The Clinton parameters offered the Palestinians a viable state with 97% of the West Bank, 100% of Gaza, and a guaranteed corridor connecting the two; this would have been an independent state. Arafat's rejection and the resort to violence in the Second Intifada, in which 1,100 Israelis were killed, left the Israeli public believing that there was no Palestinian partner for peace.

Anziska blames the Camp David Accords, but those of us negotiating the agreements did not see them as denying Palestinian rights. Not only would the Clinton parameters have undone the autonomy noted in the Camp David Accords, had the Palestinians said yes or offered a serious counterproposal. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's offer in 2008 and the Obama/Kerry principles in March 2014 would have done the same.

Yet there was no serious Palestinian response to these proposals. The sad truth is that at critical junctures, Palestinian leaders chose to say no and the Palestinian people have paid the price for their leaders' rejection.

Netanyahu Hails Former PM Rabin as ‘Patriot of the First Rank’ at Knesset Session Marking 1995 Assassination

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed his predecessor Yitzhak Rabin as a “Zionist patriot of the first rank” in a special Knesset session on Sunday marking the leader’s 1995 assassination.

His comments came soon after Rabin’s granddaughter issued a ferocious condemnation of the Israeli right at a ceremony marking the 23rd anniversary of the tragic event.

According to Israel’s Channel 2, at the official commemoration of Rabin’s death on Mount Herzl, his granddaughter Noa Rothman said, “Many of the officials in this country participate in fanning the flames of the bonfire of incitement.”

Speaking of the current situation in Israel, Rothman asserted, “Criticism of Israel is considered treason. If you don’t stop the march of incitement and the deepening of the divisions between us and the inflammatory rhetoric, there will be another spilling of blood here. For my grandfather, it is already too late.”

She also asserted that an official in Netanyahu’s office had published a social media post with a picture of Rabin’s 1993 handshake with Yasser Arafat in the White House under the headline “traitor.”

Denying he ever encouraged the idea that Rabin was a traitor, Netanyahu remarked, “It never happened. This, to my sorrow, is an example of the fact that sometimes, alongside the dialogue on moderation and fighting incitement, they say things that are hurtful and baseless. Not only about me, but about an entire public, that have no basis in reality.”

“I said he was mistaken, not a traitor,” Netanyahu said at the Knesset session. “Rabin was not a traitor, he was a Zionist patriot of the first rank.”

I tend to see a difference between the controversies that arise whenever a major event (such as wars in Gaza or Lebanon) break out in the Middle East, and ones that are more typically triggered by a BDS initiative, such as a campus divestment or retail boycott conflict.

While both types of protests usually involve the same people and slogans, in the case of reaction to a Gaza War (for example), protestors against Israel are taking to the streets in reaction to an actual controversial event. And while those who rally to support Israel might disagree with their opponent’s characterization of the situation (for example, highlighting Hamas rocket attacks that Israel’s critics ignore), both sides are engaged in real politics about genuine, impossible-to-ignore crises.

But when a divestment battle breaks out on a university, for example, it is always the result of a BDS group first deciding to drag the Middle East conflict onto campus, then finding the pretext to do so.

Remember that one of the primary goals of BDS is to get their message that Israel is an Apartheid state, alone in the world at deserving economic punishment, to come out of the mouth of a well-known and respected organization. And, if they can’t accomplish that by actually convincing a college or other institution to divest (which they never have), at least they can brag that hostile accusations against the Jewish state are now part of the fabric of campus life.

Under this formulation, almost anything can be used as a hook to hang a controversy that will immediately divide an institution into armed camps, a dynamic that only serves to heighten tensions still further and make the Arab-Israeli conflict the Alpha and Omega of political/human-rights debate within a community.

Now BDS advocates will claim that a school’s ownership of this share of Caterpillar, for example, or that share of Motorola means they are currently “taking sides” in the conflict, and thus BDS is a proper response to an institution that is already making a political statement by holding such equities in their portfolio. But couldn’t that same argument be made to turn any investing organization of any size into a warzone?

After all, for every dollar these institutions invest in companies that in some way benefit the Jewish state, they invariably invest ten, twenty or even a hundred dollars in energy stocks such as Exxon that (by BDS logic) could be construed as a school or other organization “investing” in the Arab side of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

So why are protests not breaking out on campus to get schools to “divest from Saudi/Arab/Islamic Apartheid,” with posters littering the campus of Islamic slave traders in Sudan buying and selling black Africans, women being stoned to death in Iran or homosexuals being hung in Egypt? Simply because those of us who stand against BDS refuse to ruin the communities to which we belong just so we can score points against our political foes.

It’s the same reason we are not hounding artists to cancel tours to countries hostile to Israel, or placing photos of broken bodies on the sides of public busses, or inviting partisan speakers to present on the perfidy of Israel’s political foes to elementary school classes. For even the most aggressive campaigners on our side, this kind of invasion of public spaces is impossible to sustain for the simple reasons that: (1) we are not ready to make the lives of our neighbors miserable for our own political gain and (2) ultimately, our goal is for Israel to live in peace with its neighbors, which means we don’t want to spend morning, noon and night portraying those neighbors as demons.

BDS advocates take a completely opposite position. For them, setting members of a once-friendly community at each other’s throats is a small price to pay for their own political aggrandizement. And as for “peace” being their end goal, their behavior highlights the fact that just as organizations whose names included “The People” usually involves the smallest number of them, organizations that proclaim themselves “peace groups” while endlessly demonizing their political opponents look suspiciously like the propaganda arm of a war effort.

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10/22 Links Pt1: Jordan terminating peace treaty annexes start of a process, not the end; Amb. David Friedman will now serve all of Jerusalem; Antisemitism: Judas Slur on Jewish Voters

From Ian:

Jordan terminating peace treaty annexes start of a process, not the end

Jordan's announcement on Sunday that it wanted to opt out of annexes from its 1994 peace treaty with Israel that leased two border areas that historically were difficult to delineate to Israel is a sign that not all is well in ties between the two countries. .

More precisely, not all is well in ties between Israel and the Jordanian people.

The government to government ties between Jerusalem and Amman are strong, with both sides recognizing that while the other might not always do what they want, both their interests are supremely served by peace and cooperation. Where there is a problem is at the people to people level, or, more precisely, at the Jordanian people.

In very general terms, it's fair to say that the 1994 peace agreement did not filter down to Jordanian masses. The Jordanians might already be drinking Israeli water, are scheduled to be heating their homes with Israeli natural gas in 2020, and benefit in numerous ways from security cooperation with Israel, but, for the most part, they don't like Israel.

And this is something that King Abdullah II has to take into account.

Jordan's announcement on Sunday regarding the Naharayim (Baqura) area near the Kinneret and part of Zofar (al Ghamar), in the Arava, did not knock anyone off their chair in Jerusalem. There has been talk for months inside Jordan of the need to regain those two areas. There have been debates in parliament, and even protests on the streets – much of it led by Islamic elements inside the Hashemite Kingdom.

Abdullah is in vice. While he needs the peace treaty with Israel for the security of his regime, he has domestic Islamic elements to deal with and at times placate. He is also dealing with Syrian crisis, which has not only inundated his country with refugees, but also put Iran perilously close.

The language Abdullah used in announcing the move – Jordanian land, Jordanian interests– is a bone thrown to the Islamists.

A move that spells weakness

The late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin saw the 1994 peace ‎treaty with Jordan as one of his most important ‎diplomatic achievements, if not the most important ‎one. Unlike the skepticism he expressed over the ‎Oslo Accords and then-PLO Chairman Yasser Arafat's commitment to them, ‎Rabin was sure that King Hussein would live up to his ‎word. ‎

There is something symbolic in the ‎fact that on the anniversary of Rabin's assassination according to the Hebrew calendar, King Abdullah ‎announced that he would not renew one of the annexes ‎his father signed 24 years ago, leasing agricultural ‎borderlands to Israel.‎

The Jordanian announcement is neither a big surprise ‎nor a move that has far-reaching strategic ‎significance. After all, these are Jordanian ‎lands and it stands to reason that Jordan would have ‎reimposed its sovereignty over them at some point, ‎as no country in the Middle East would ever agree to ‎relinquish territories over time. ‎

Saudi Arabia did the same with respect to Tiran ‎and Sanafir islands, which were administered by ‎Egypt for years before Riyadh reimposed its ‎sovereignty over them ‎in 2017.‎

The problem, therefore, is not in the move per se, ‎but in the manner and timing in which the Jordanians ‎chose to declare they were essentially disavowing ‎the spirit of the 1994 peace agreement and turning ‎their backs on the partnership forged between Rabin ‎and Hussein.‎

Jordan nixing of land leases could sow distrust, but some see hope for reversal

Several analysts said that while the king’s decision was likely the result of heavy lobbying by opponents of the peace agreement with Israel, it was still possible for Israel to maintain its access to Naharayim and Tzofar.

“I think that the negotiations between the two sides may result in a different situation whereby the two governments may agree to continue, to extend the validity of this annex concerning to these two pieces of land between them,” said Oded Eran, a senior research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies and former Israeli ambassador to Jordan.

“We have leverage. There are so many interests that we have with Jordan,” said Robbie Sabel, a former legal adviser to Israel’s Foreign Ministry who was involved in the Israeli-Jordanian peace negotiations.

Water and security are just two of the main areas where Jerusalem and Amman cooperate very closely, he noted.

“What we want to do is solve this issue quietly. We’re not going to threaten Jordan; that would not be in our interest. It is in Israel’s interest to have a secure and stable Jordan. Jordan is a strategic ally, though it’s not an ally based on friendship.”

Alan Baker, another former Foreign Ministry legal adviser who played an important role in drafting the 1994 peace treaty, said there was fifty-fifty chance that Israel could get Jordan to rethink its decision to terminate the annex about Naharayim and Tzofar.

While the Hashemite kingdom was perfectly in its right to reclaim these areas, Israel has “sovereign prerogatives of our own that Jordanians enjoy,” such as the right to fly over Israeli airspace.

“This is not a one-way street,” he said. “There are two sides. The Jordanian government, public and security establishment all enjoy various aspects of the peaceful relationship, and they want to continue to enjoy it and even enhance it. Hence, there’s plenty of room to discuss the nature of the bilateral relationship.”

Under Oslo Agreements, PA obliged to ensure "free access" and worship - even bus stops - for 12 specified Jewish Holy Sites. Today, all remain completely unaccessible. Instead of free access & worship, they are just free of worship. Hello @UNESCO @UNHumanRights @hrw @AmnestyCIJ? pic.twitter.com/s08kBlR9WW
— Eugene Kontorovich (@EVKontorovich) October 22, 2018

Allah must love the Jews and hate the Palestinians

From Palestinian Media Watch:

A preacher on official PA TV taught that Hitler was one of a series of people sent by Allah throughout history to punish the Jews because of their evil behavior, and to teach them a lesson. However, the preacher taught in Friday's sermon, in spite of all these punishments the Jews "have not learned from the events of history," and continue their evil ways.

The Jews deserve their punishment, he assured his listeners. Their mentality is one of "arrogance... superiority over other people... seclusion." Jews are "planning and systematically working to incite wars and strife in the entire world." Because of this behavior the Jews have been punished. First Allah sent the Babylonian Nebuchadnezzar to destroy the First Temple, then he sent the Roman Titus to destroy the Second Temple, and then Hitler and the kings of Europe, and still the Jews did not learn their lesson:

"They didn't learn from what Hitler did to them, and the kings of Europe, and Spain - they didn't learn."
[Official PA TV, Oct. 19, 2018]

Seven times in this short excerpt (see below) the unidentified preacher repeated and emphasized his antisemitic message that Jews refuse to learn from Allah's punishments:

"They didn't learn. They have continued to behave the same way... Those [Jews] have not learned from the events of history."

The preacher opened his condemnation of the Jews citing a verse from the Quran to prove his point that the Jews' suffering is not coincidental but is a punishment from Allah because of their bad behavior. He quoted a verse saying that Allah's punishment can be seen "throughout the earth":

"Proceed throughout the earth and observe how was the end of those who denied." [Quran 3:137, Sahih International]

Let's follow this logic.

If this is true, then Allah must really hate Palestinians and Arabs. After all, he punished the Palestinians with the "Nakba" which we are told is as bad as the Holocaust. By their own account, they live in open-air prisons, or as third and fourth generation refugees, in a stateless limbo.

And yet they haven't learned their lesson.

On the other hand, Jordan and Egypt, who both lost wars to Israel thanks to Allah, did learn their lesson and now they have peace treaties. Allah has rewarded them with no more wars, and Israel even assists them with getting gas and water.

Also, Allah has rewarded the Jews with a state of their own. He rewarded the Jews with victories in 1948, 1967 and (yes, Egypt) 1973. The borders with Egypt and Lebanon and Syria are much quieter than they were in decades past.

That seems to indicate that Allah rather likes the Jews and dislikes Palestinians and others who try to destroy the Jewish state, doesn't it?

Yet, somehow, Israel's enemies don't usually learn their lesson.

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Even Palestinians now ignore prisoner hunger strikes

A prominent Islamic Jihad activist has been on his third hunger strike for the past 50 days. On Sunday he is said to have vomited up blood.

Even Palestinian media is downplaying this story.

It was only a couple of years ago that hunger strikes by prisoners were huge, front page news in Palestinian media for weeks at a time.

Khader Adnan is an Islamic Jihad leader whose 2012 hunger strike was a cause celebre, with his face plastered over posters and his "heroic" story published in pan-Arab and Western media. People made political cartoons about him. Masses rallied for him.

His 2014 hunger strike did not receive nearly as much publicity.

Adnan's current hunger strike is so under the radar that no one has even updated his Wikipedia page. Islamic Jihad publications will put in an article about him pretty often but Palestinian media as a whole and Arab media altogether are all but ignoring this hunger strike.

The Arab world, and even Palestinians, are getting sick and tired of publicity stunts that give them nothing.

Maybe one day someone will have the bright idea that perhaps negotiating with Israel and being willing to give concessions for peace might be the best thing for Palestinian Arabs.

That day is still very far away.

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Palestine Times reports that a car owned by a Jew who lives in the Kfar HaShiloah (Silwan) neighborhood was attacked by Arab youths with a Molotov cocktail last night.

These sorts of attacks happen literally every day, and they are so prevalent that no one reports them.

The latest Shin Bet statistics shows that in September there were 61 firebomb attacks, eight IEDs (including improvised grenades and pipe bombs), three stabbings, one shooting and seven cases of arson in Jerusalem and the territories.

It is a little insane that 80 major attacks a month, all with deadly potential, get so little media coverage.

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Cairo International Film Festival caves to pressure, rescinds honor to a Jewish director

From Egypt Independent:

The Cairo International Film Festival (CIFF) will no longer be honoring French film director Claude Lelouch during the festival’s 40th edition, which runs from November 20 to 29.

The CIFF came under harsh criticism by artists and intellectuals who rejected the festival’s recognition of Lelouch, as said he had cooperated with the Israeli army during its occupation to Lebanon.

They also said that the director was previously honored by an Israeli university.

Around 150 people signed a document demanding the CIFF to back down on its plan to award Lelouch, threatening to boycott the festival in case the CIFF didn’t respond to their demands, which comes in support for the Palestinian case and a rejection to celebrating artists who cooperated with Israel.

President of CIFF Mohamed Hefzy told Al-Masry Al-Youm that he would issue an official statement clarifying the reasons behind the decision in canceling Lelouch’s honoring.

Arabic media shows what happened behind the scenes, and it is clear that Lelouch was criticized by being Jewish as much as being pro-Israel.

Immediately after the announcement of the honor to Lelouch, a number of filmmakers objected to the presence of the French director in Cairo and to celebrate it, saying that not only is he a Jew, but also a supporter of Israel's political positions. He said he loved Israel.

Festival president Mohamed Hafez defended Lelouche in a statement last Tuesday. he noted hat many of the world's filmmakers are Jews, many are sympathetic to Israel. He said that Lelouch he did not have a hostile attitude to Arabs or peace. "Not every director or artist who has visited Israel considers himself an enemy of the Arabs. If we acted in this way, we would end up in isolation and only addressing ourselves, especially since Claude Lelouche loves Egypt and welcomed the honor and wants to attend the Cairo Festival," Hafez said.

The pressure mounted though and very quickly the Supreme Advisory Committee of the Cairo International Film Festival issued a statement on Wednesday urging anyone to provide any proof whatspever that would prove that Lelouch was a Zionist or was against Palestinian or Arab rights. They pretty much begged for a reason to turn down the honor, knowing that they didn't have enough, and the prestige of the festival was on the line.

Meanwhile the antisemitic filmmakers and "intellectuals" issued another statement Wednesday evening, announcing their objection to this honor. They also declared their rejection of all forms of "normalization" with Israel "or support for anyone who supports the brutal Zionist enemy until the Arab lands are liberated."

The film festival organizers, meanwhile, found the "smoking gun" evidence that they were seeking giving them cover for rescinding the honor. In 1990, Lelouche visited Israel along with 250 Russian Jewish immigrants and 250 French donors to the Keren Or organization that helps kids with multiple disabilities. During that visit he, along with violinist Ivry Gitlis did "parachute training" with the IDF, and were captured in this picture while clowning around.

That was the excuse that the festival organizers were looking for. On Thursday night, the news was leaked that the honor was canceled.

It is clear that Lelouche's Judaism was the main reason for the initial complaints. After all, Sylvester Stallone - who is a supporter of Israel - was honored at a different Egyptian film festival recently without any objection.

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10/21 Links: Farrakhan’s termite problem; PA TV: Israel stole the Palestinian falafel and hummus; Iran, Assad Regime Using Palestinians to Train Bahraini Terrorists

From Ian:

Farrakhan’s termite problem

How long, we wonder, did it take for Farrakhan to come up with that quip, about his not being an anti-Semite, but rather “anti-termite.”

Words to choke on, you would think.

Lucky for him, had he indeed choked, the Heimlich Maneuver would have saved him, as it has already saved millions around the world, thanks to Jewish scientist Henry Heimlich.

But no thanks from Farrakhan and the multitudes who think like Farrakhan…and who know not the debt they owe to such “termites” for their longevity.

Or maybe we can chalk it up to willful ignorance. They know, but would rather ignore the laboratory work that keeps them ticking.

Asking them to appreciate the enormous Jewish contribution to medical science, why that would be asking for an end to the disease of anti-Semitism.

As we can see, for that, even our finest minds have yet to find a cure.

Doctors for mind and body, Freud and Salk, never asked for gratitude. Jewish scientists just get back to work.

It is the kind of work that surely keeps Farrakhan going. He is 85 years-old, this leader of the Nation of Islam, and he seems healthy enough. Quite vigorous, in fact.

We wonder what ailments and diseases would have cut him short, if not for medicines that were developed by Jewish doctors against syphilis, polio, cholera, diphtheria and smallpox.

PMW: PA TV: Israel stole the Palestinian falafel and hummus along with the rest of the Palestinian heritage

One of the more flavorful accusations against Israel by the Palestinian Authority is that Israel has "stolen the falafel and the hummus." This "theft," according to official PA TV, is part of a "brutal attack" against the entire "Palestinian heritage":
Official PA TV reporter: "We are talking about a brutal attack against the Palestinian heritage in general, including Palestinian foods. There has been theft of the Palestinian falafel, the Palestinian hummus, and some popular foods by the occupation. Holding [food] festivals like these is essential in order to preserve the heritage and also the Palestinian foods." [Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, Oct. 3, 2018]

This particular accusation is part of the overall PA lie that there is no Jewish history anywhere in the Land of Israel in general and in Jerusalem in particular. The PA falsely claims that everything in the land testifies to a "Palestinian history," and to justify this goes to great lengths to falsify such a Palestinian history. The accusation that Israel has "stolen" the falafel and the hummus, which is Middle Eastern in its origin, is part of the PA's denial of the existence of anything that can be associated with Jewish or Israeli history, and at the same time presenting everything as part of "Palestinian history."

One of the more flavorful accusations against Israel by the PA is that Israel has "stolen the falafel and the hummus." This "theft," according to official PA TV, is part of a "brutal attack" against the entire "Palestinian heritage."
Read more here: https://t.co/a79OSE5Yiz pic.twitter.com/JPEEDGZaDT
— Pal Media Watch (@palwatch) 21 October 2018

Hamas rejects Egyptian demand to stop Gaza border protests

Hamas has rejected an Egyptian request to halt the weekly demonstrations along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, Palestinian sources said on Saturday.

The sources said the Egyptian intelligence officials who met with Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City last Thursday also demanded that the protesters stay at least 500 meters away from the border. However, Hamas also rejected this demand, the sources told the London-based Al-Hayat newspaper.

But it did appear to have called for restrained action at Friday’s weekly demonstration, which left the IDF and Hamas in a tense standoff, but failed to ignite a major escalation.

The weekend events were expected to have a significant impact on whether Israel would launch a military operation in Gaza. But the low level of activity kept the situation’s status quo.

On Friday, 10,000 Palestinians again demonstrated near the border, burning tires and hurling stones and Molotov cocktails at IDF troops. There were three attempted infiltrations, in which Palestinians crossed into Israel and then went back to Gaza, the IDF said.

Sources in the Gaza Strip said approximately 130 Palestinians were injured by gunfire and tear-gas inhalation.

Jordan wants Naharayim land. Only one problem...

I mentioned last week that today was the deadline for Jordan to decide not to renew Israel's 25 year rights to land in the Naharayim (Baquoura) and Zofar (Ghamar) areas as stipulated in the 1994 peace treaty.

Jordan's King Abdullah announced on Twitter that he will seek not to renew the agreement.

“Baqoura and Ghumar were at the top of our priorities,” the King tweeted. “Our decision is to terminate the Baquoura and Ghamar annexes from the (1994 Jordan-Israel) peace treaty out of our keenness to take all decisions that would serve Jordan and Jordanians,” said the King in his tweet.

There may be a legal wrinkle in the case of Naharayim, however.

The peace treaty explicitly recognizes that this area is privately owned by Jews:

For the purpose of this Annex the area is detailed in Appendix IV, Recognizing that in the area which is under Jordan's sovereignty with Israeli private land ownership rights and property interests ("Land Owners") in the land comprising the area ("the land").

If Jordan wants the land, it will have to pay. The fee will have to have an amount acceptable to the heirs of the owner.

Netanyahu said that he will renegotiate the agreement. This will get more interesting.

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Ninth-rate academic Juan Cole calls a student going to university in Israel a "BDS WIn"

I haven't looked at idiot academic Juan Cole for a while, but here's his blog headline for a Ma'an story:

Ma'an's headline also called it a "BDS victory" but Cole rewrote it - and he still considers this a "win" for BDS even though the BDS movement is explicitly against students coming to Israel to study.

To think that Cole still tries to pass himself off as a Middle East expert....

(h/t Dan)

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Official PA news agency Wafa reports on an "intellectual seminar" in Tunisia where "experts" discussed Israel's nation-state law.

The seminar apparently called the law "racist" before the meeting occurred.

One of the "experts" who spoke at the seminar shows how "intellectual" the event was.

The President of the Solidarity Society of the Palestinian community in Tunisia said that the main aim of the law was to expel one and a half million Muslim and Christian Arabs to the West Bank. Phase 2 is to expand the border of Israel to reach from the Nile to the Euphrates.

It's a good thing we have Arab experts to explain things for us.

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10/20 Links: Ben-Dror Yemini: An unreasonable ruling; Is Canada Knowingly Funding Extremism and Terrorism — Including Through UNRWA?; Nikki Haley Jokes About Getting ‘Shiksa’

From Ian:

Ben-Dror Yemini: An unreasonable ruling

It is possible, it is definitely possible, that the State of Israel should've allowed Lara Alqasem to enter the country from the outset. The damage that may have been done to Israel by denying her entry, as quite a few articles argued, sometimes exceeds the benefits of enforcing the law.

But with all due respect to the writers of these articles, article D(2) of the Entry Into Israel Law clearly states that: an entry permit will not be granted to someone who is not an Israeli national "if he, the organization or the body he acts on behalf of knowingly issues a public call for boycotting Israel."

Alqasem headed a local chapter of the Students for Justice in Palestine, the body that leads the boycott against the State of Israel, and whose heads reject the very existence of the State of Israel.

There is no argument that the government's ministers acted in accordance with their authority. But the Supreme Court reversed the decision on Thursday because, in the opinion of the honorable justices, it is unreasonable: "Alqasem's desire to study in Israel is in contradiction with the idea of boycotting Israel." Excuse me?! Do these judges live in Israel? After all, Israel's universities have both lecturers and students who support the boycott movement. And the boycott movement's most prominent leader, Omar Barghouti, was, and perhaps still is, a student at Tel Aviv University. He's travelling around the world and preaching for the eradication of Israel. Is his or Alqasem's insistence to study at an Israeli university an indication of anything?

I could go on with more and more arguments mentioned in the decision, but there is not enough space to cover all of them. Because the problem with the ruling was and remains in the determination that the decision to deny Alqasem entry was unreasonable.

The range of reasonable responses is supposed to be broad. Very broad. Otherwise, the executive branch's discretion should be revoked and transferred to the jurists. Some citizens would disapprove of the decisions made under the executive branch's discretion. But if everything citizens—mostly if they belong to the media and academic elite—disapprove of becomes unreasonable, we could declare democracy dead. (h/t IsaacStorm)

Is Canada Knowingly Funding Extremism and Terrorism — Including Through UNRWA?

Canadian taxpayer money may be finding its way to Hamas, a known and documented terrorist group. The Criminal Code of Canada forbids funding terrorism, as well as the facilitation of those funding terrorism.

But last Friday, Minister of International Development Marie-Claude Bibeau announced that Canada would send $50 million in the next two years to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). This is in addition to the $110 million that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has committed to UNRWA since 2016. UNRWA has been repeatedly accused of supporting extremism, promoting violence, and not checking beneficiaries against a list of known terrorists provided by the police.

The Canadian announcement made no reference to UNRWA’s alleged connections, and said the money is meant to help provide education and health services to Palestinians.

Funding UNWRA is not illegal in Canada, although given the agency’s reputation, it is a questionable use of taxpayer money. For instance, in August President Donald Trump withdrew $300 million in UNRWA funding. The US government would no longer “shoulder the very disproportionate share of the burden of UNRWA’s costs,” a US State Department press release said, calling it an “irredeemably flawed operation.”

In addition to funding UNRWA, the Trudeau government gave millions of taxpayers’ dollars to Islamic Relief Canada. Some of this money is forwarded to Islamic Relief Worldwide (UK), which has been repeatedly linked to Hamas.

UK: Anjem Choudary Released from Prison

"I believe we are underestimating the potency and danger of the radicalizers who don't carry knives, guns and overtly plot terrorist attacks but who pollute the minds of young Muslim men." — Richard Walton, former head of Scotland Yard's counter-terrorism command.

"I asked the guy who spoke to him if the de-radicalization program had worked and he said, 'No, he's got worse. He's hardened. He speaks in the mind-set of the victim. He sees himself as a martyr the state tried to silence.'" — Fiyaz Mughal, head of the anti-extremist group Faith Matters.

Choudary is now considering mounting a legal challenge to the strict conditions of his release, according to the Telegraph. It reported that he has applied for legal aid funding, at taxpayer expense, to bring his action against government ministers, and arguing the parole conditions breach his human rights.