Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, October 28, 2018

10/28 Links: Podhoretz: The Slaughter in Pittsburgh; Shapiro: Why We Cling To The Tree Of Life; In first, ‘Hatikva’ anthem played at UAE contest as Israeli judoka wins gold

From Ian:

John Podhoretz: The Slaughter in Pittsburgh

The shooter is to blame.

The synagogue in Pittsburgh is called the Tree of Life. The name is a translation into English of the Hebrew phrase etz chaim. We sing those words as the Torah is put away on every Shabbat. They are words from the Book of Proverbs: “She is a tree of life for those that cling to her and all who do are happy.” The “she” in that sentence is “wisdom,” and the verse that precedes it is especially poignant in light of what has happened: “Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.” Today the paths of peace were befouled by a monstrous anti-Semite who stormed the Tree of Life shouting something about Jews needing to die as he murdered and injured and then shot at some cops for good measure.

In every generation they rise up against us to destroy us. In a classic act of anti-Semitic violence, which is what this is, Jews hear the echoes of every violent anti-Semitic act that has preceded it in history. And we hear those echoes because they are there. That which motivates Jew-hatred today is what has motivated it from time immemorial—the poisonously attractive idea that Jews need to be extirpated because our existence is an offense or a threat to an existing larger order. The blessing of Jewish life in America is that this notion has largely been consigned to the dregs from which today’s human malignancy rose. Despite the fact that most hate crimes in America are aimed at Jews, the actual number is vanishingly small—especially compared to France, from which Jews are now fleeing, and England, whose Labour Party is in the hands of an actual Jew-hater.

Because we are obliged by the sickness of our political culture to analyze every despicable event in a manner designed to confirm our priors, we have already, mere hours after the barbarity, sunk into a nauseating discussion about how much blame to assign to the president for this unspeakable act. The obvious answer is: None. Donald Trump should be assigned no such blame, even if the shooter were the president of the Donald Trump Fan Club, because he pulled no trigger and committed no crime. Period. To do that, to assign blame, is to whitewash the crime itself and the criminal’s responsibility for it. He becomes a cultural robot, seized by an evil collective unconscious that drove him to his crimes.

Based on the early evidence, the shooter was not only consumed with a hatred of Jews but possessed a kind of sneering contempt for Trump on the grounds that Trump was basically a Jewish agent or a Jew-lover himself. Trump can only be blamed for the murderous Jew-killing actions of someone who thought of him that way by people who are so consumed by hatred of him that there is nothing they won’t blame him for.

Ben Shapiro: Why We Cling To The Tree Of Life

In that Pittsburgh synagogue on Saturday morning, the Jew-hating murderer rushed into a room in which a brit milah was taking place: a circumcision ceremony, a ceremony as old as the Jewish people, a ceremony welcoming an eight-day-old child into the community of the Jews. In other parts of the synagogue, different minyanim were reading the story of Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac on a mountain.

Why would Jews continue to inaugurate children into the most targeted community in human history? Jewish destiny may be inescapable, but why embrace that destiny? The members of the Tree of Life Synagogue were shot to death in a synagogue. So why continue to cluster in synagogues, fulfilling age-old commandments, the elderly passing down their traditions to infants?

Because, as the Tree of Life Synagogue’s name attests, the Torah – the Jewish destiny – is a “tree of life for all those who cling to it.” (Proverbs 3:18) And we are enjoined to choose life. That, after all, is the story of Abraham and Isaac: a story not of God asking Abraham to kill his son, but a story of God asking if Abraham is willing to place his son in mortal danger in service to God – and God’s grace in saving Isaac thanks to Abraham’s commitment. That is the story of the Jewish people. That is the story members of the Tree of Life Synagogue were reading as they died al kiddush Hashem, in the sanctification of God’s name.

And that is the story of our civilization. An attack on the Tree of Life is an attack on all of us – those of us who wish to imbue our own children with a sense of Godliness in a dark world, a sense of eternal value in a society eating away at itself. Inside the sanctuary, all was peaceful on the Sabbath -- until the gunshots rang out.

The only proper response is the same response Jews have given throughout time: to fight back. To stubbornly cling to that which stamps us with the image of God. To fight darkness with light, untruth with truth, and death with life.

Victor Rosenthal: Thoughts after a mass murder of Jews

I lived in Pittsburgh’s Squirrel Hill neighborhood for a few months when I was in grad school. It was a nice, safe, relatively friendly neighborhood.

Now it will be known as the site of the worst mass murder of Jews in US history.

Eleven are dead and numerous others wounded, including four responding police officers. The terrorist, Robert Bowers, as shown by this archive of social media posts, is apparently an obsessed Jew-hater, a Holocaust denier and a Nazi admirer. He appears to have become inflamed by the idea that liberal Jews were supporting uncontrolled immigration into the US (he mentions both Hispanics and Muslims), in particular the “migrant caravan” that is presently making its way through Mexico. Interestingly, Bowers criticized Donald Trump for being “a globalist, not a nationalist,” said that Trump was surrounded by Jews, and that he did not vote for him.

His decision to act seems to have been triggered by an event held in Pittsburgh by the HIAS (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society), an organization that once brought Jewish refugees out of Europe, but now works to resettle refugees from Syria, Central America, and even Africans in Tel Aviv.

There have been various, mostly predictable, popular responses to this atrocious act. Many, if not most, miss the point. So here is what I think:

This is nothing new. Synagogues and other Jewish institutions around the world and in the US are attacked all the time. Attacks in the US have been carried out by both neo-Nazi and Islamic extremists, and their number has been increasing along with polarization and anger in the country.

Bowers was “ideologically insane.” One common theme among extreme right-wing conspiracy theorists is that Jews, especially George Soros, are trying to destroy the “white race” in America by introducing non-white immigrants. They will then take over (although they are already in charge by means of controlling politicians, even Trump), or they will somehow make a lot of money out of the collapse of the nation. Bowers seems to have believed some version of this. Social media seems to feed this kind of insanity, which often erupts into violence.

Hatikva plays in Abu Dhabi (video)

Israel won the gold medal in Abu Dhabi for judo.

One doesn't see the Hatikva played in an Arab country too often - or hearing it get applause.

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The news from Gulf countries continues to astound:

Oman described Israel as an accepted Middle East state on Saturday, a day after hosting a surprise visit by its prime minister that Washington said could help regional peace efforts.

Oman is offering ideas to help Israel and the Palestinians to come together but is not acting as mediator, Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, the sultanate’s minister responsible for foreign affairs, told a security summit in Bahrain.

“Israel is a state present in the region, and we all understand this,” bin Alawi said.

“The world is also aware of this fact. Maybe it is time for Israel to be treated the same (as others states) and also bear the same obligations.”

His comments followed a rare visit to Oman by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which came days after Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas paid a three-day visit to the Gulf country. Both leaders met with Oman’s Sultan Qaboos.

“We are not saying that the road is now easy and paved with flowers, but our priority is to put an end to the conflict and move to a new world,” bin Alawi told the summit.

Oman is relying on the United States and efforts by President Donald Trump in working toward the “deal of the century” (Middle East peace), he added.

Bahrain’s foreign minister Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa voiced support for Oman over the sultanate’s role in trying to secure Israeli-Palestinian peace, while Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said the kingdom believes the key to normalizing relations with Israel was the peace process.

For all the people who love to demonize Netanyahu as a warmonger, how do you explain that Israel has warmer relations with Arab states than at any time in its history?

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Over the weekend, 3 Israelis won bronze medals at the Abu Dhabi Judo Grand Slam. This was the first time they were allowed to compete under their own flag in Abu Dhabi; the International Judo Federation had temporarily suspended the Abu Dhabi Grand Slam after it refused to acknowledge the nationality of the Israeli athletes last year.

On Friday night, the athletes welcomed the Shabbat along with Sports Minister Miri Regev who was the first Israeli minister to officially visit Abu Dhabi.

This was picked up by Palestinian Arab media. Al Resalah was disgusted by the scene, saying that the Jews had brought alcohol into the Muslim country for "so-called 'Holy Saturday'":

In all probability, the kiddush was made over grape juice, not wine. (Muslims are divided as to whether grape juice that is older than three days old is allowed under sharia law, but if it isn't fermented, it should be allowed at least theoretically.)

(h/t Yoel)

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If you’re blaming one person, one party, one movement for anti-Semitism, you really don’t understand the problem.
Jonathan Schanzer, Twitter

This past Shabbos a vicious Antisemite entered the Tree of Life Synagogue - where he shot and killed 11 Jews.

Tree of Life Synagogue, Pittsburgh. From their website

At issue is the spread of rabid Antisemitism, not only globally...

but now in the US

The attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue Saturday morning is the worst on worshiping Jewish people in American history, according to a Cincinnati professor and director of the American Jewish Archives.

"This is the first time in all American history that Jewish people apparently have been murdered while worshiping," said Gary Zola, who also teaches the American Jewish experience at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Cincinnati [emphasis added].

The ADL has also described the "Pittsburgh shooting likely deadliest anti-Semitic attack in US history" the deadliness of Antisemitism has now reached the level of Europe, and he talks about the "Europeanization of American Jewry":
according to Joel Rubinfeld, president of the Belgian League Against Anti-Semitism,

Relatively lax security at American synagogues “simultaneously impressed and worried me,” said Rubinfeld, who visits the United States frequently and whose community and country have seen several major deadly terrorist attacks in recent years.

“In Europe, the prospect of deadly expressions of anti-Semitism is a part of life that we grow up with,” said Rubinfeld, who was present at the Grand Synagogue of Brussels when a terrorist shot four people there on Rosh Hashanah of 1982, wounding two of them seriously and the other two lightly. “I used to think this was a fundamental difference to the United States, but no more.”

The Pittsburgh shooting “will be a turning point for American Jews, who will need to reevaluate the vulnerability of their institutions” Rubinfeld said. “I think we’ll see a Europeanization of American Jewry in this respect.”

Currently, Jewish institutions are guarded by soldiers toting machine guns in Belgium and France, among other European countries, making an attack like the one in Pittsburgh “quite difficult,” Rubinfeld said. [emphasis added]

Meanwhile, in New York City...

This is a sight we are used to seeing elsewhere.

In France

French soldiers guard the entrance to a Paris synagogue. Source: Arutz Sheva. Credit: Serge Attal / Flash 90

In Denmark:

Danish soldiers replace the police guard outside the Jewish Synagogue in Copenhagen, Denmark, on September 29, 2017. Source: The National. Credit: Mads Claus Rasmussen / Denmark OUT/AFP

In Great Britain:

Protection: Thousands support calls for armed security outside Jewish buildings in the UK. Source: The Evening Standard. Credit: PA

Condemnations of the attack were not slow in coming.
Jews, of course, were among those condemning the attacks.

But just who were they condemning?

Here is just a sampling of whom some Jews held responsible for the murder of 11 Jews:

From The Forward, on the very same day:

o  What Has Trump Done To Us, America? by Jane Eisner, Editor-in-Chief of The Forward
o  How Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Hate Led To A Synagogue Shootingby Ari Ne'eman, described as a writer and activist
o  Will Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting Be A Wakeup Call For Jews Who Enable Trump? by Ben Faulding, described as a writer and social activist

But Trump wasn't the only target.
Here are Tweets by Jews who blamed other Jews -- and some even suggested going after them:

Here is a tweet by Julia Ioffe, a correspondent for GQ:

Here is a tweet by a Rabbi Mivasair, who describes himself as "Active in peace, justice; 4 yrs in Israel-Palestine" -- in response to Naftali Bennett announcing he is traveling to Pittsburgh to show solidarity:

Here is a tweet by Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East analyst and negotiator in both Republican and Democratic Administrations, who is normally more level-headed.

This is from Franklin Foer, a staff writer at The Atlantic, who offers a prayer for the murdered Jews -- and then suggests going after other Jews.

Rabbi Jill Jacobs, Executive Director of Truah, took the opportunity to tweet she agrees with Foer about shunning Jews who support Trump and even thanked him for the idea -- but then thought better of the idea and deleted the tweet, with neither comment or apology.

Here is a tweet from Rebecca Vilkomerson, Executive Director of Jewish Voice for Peace which is responsible for so much of the anti-Jewish hatred that permeates college campuses.

Regardless of her motives, even she knew better:

The anti-Trump rhetoric has already reached fever pitch, so naturally, it feeds on tragedies like this.

We expect it.

But when a tragedy that should lead Jews to unite instead leads Jews to turn against other Jews, that is worse than a tragedy; it is a disaster.

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10/27 Links: 11 killed in shooting at Pittsburgh synagogue; gunman in police custody; Hamas fires 30 rockets at Israel's south, IDF strikes 80 targets in Gaza; The Day Free Speech Died in Europe

From Ian:

Yelling ‘all Jews must die,’ gunman kills 8 at Pittsburgh synagogue

Eight people have been confirmed dead in a shooting on Saturday at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, according to CBS Pittsburgh.

The gunman is said to have yelled “All Jews must die” as he entered the Tree of Life Synagogue, a Conservative congregation, in the city and began firing, local media reported. He engaged in a shootout with responding police officers and barricaded himself inside the building before reportedly surrendering. He is said to be injured.

KDKA-TV, a local news stations, said its sources identified the suspect as Robert Bowers, a white male in his 40s. He is said to have written anti-Semitic and anti-immigrant conspiracies on Gab, an alt-right social network similar to Twitter. His last reported message read: “HIAS likes to bring invaders to kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in.”

HIAS is an American-Jewish nonprofit organization that provides humanitarian aid to refugees and immigrants.

Bowers’ Gab bio read: “Jews are the children of Satan.”

An unknown number of people were also injured in the shooting, among them police officers, according to authorities.

The synagogue is located at the corner of Wilkins and Shady Avenues in the Squirrel Hill neighborhood, about 10 minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. The neighborhood is heavily Jewish.

Netanyahu: ‘Heartbroken and appalled’ by Pittsburgh synagogue shooting

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Saturday evening that he was ‘heartbroken and appalled by the murderous attack on a Pittsburgh synagogue today,” in which eight people have been confirmed dead.

“The entire people of Israel grieve with the families of the dead,” Netanyahu said in a video message. “We stand together with the Jewish community of Pittsburgh we stand together with the American people in the face of this horrendous antisemitic brutality and we all pray for the speedy recovery of the wounded.”

President Reuven Rivlin, as well as ministers and politicians from across the political spectrum, also responded with shock and outrage at the news of the mass shooting.

“Our thoughts and prayers are with those affected by the events in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. We are thinking of the families of those who were murdered and praying for the quick recovery of those who were injured” Rivlin said in a statement.

“I am sure that the law enforcement agencies and the legal authorities in the US will investigate this horrific event thoroughly and that justice will be served to the despicable murderer,” he added.

A shaken Pittsburgh Jewish community grapples with shooting tragedy

Michael Eisenberg was walking from his home in the leafy Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill Saturday morning to synagogue services to the Tree of Life Congregation, where he is a past president. Then his cellphone rang.

It was one of the synagogue’s vice presidents who works for the city’s emergency management. “He said he just got word that there’s an active shooter scene at Tree of Life,” Eisenberg told reporters. “‘Go up there and see if this is true.’ I only live a block away from the synagogue. I tried to get up Shady Avenue. There were police cars everywhere. There were guns drawn, rifles. It was surreal.”

Around 10 am local time, a gunman entered the Pittsburgh synagogue during Shabbat services and opened fire, killing multiple people and wounding three police officers. The suspect surrendered an hour later and was in custody by noon, according to the Associated Press.

Police warned neighborhood residents to stay indoors. The local broadcast station KDKA reported that officers confronted the gunman outside the synagogue. During the standoff, the suspect spoke multiple times about killing Jews, according to KDKA. “All Jews must die,” he yelled.

News of the tragedy immediately sparked national outrage. US President Donald Trump tweeted that the shooting was “far more devastating than originally thought.” He said he told the Pittsburgh mayor and Pennsylvania governor that “the Federal Government has been, and will be, with them all the way.”

Meanwhile, members of Pittsburgh’s Jewish community were still processing the reality of nightmare they long prepared for but never thought would happen.

Eisenberg told a televised press gaggle outside the synagogue that, when he was president of Tree of Life, they collaborated with federal and local law enforcement for the possibility of an attack.

Synagogue shooter identified as 46 year-old Robert Bowers

The man responsible for Saturday's grisly shooting at Pittsburgh's Tree of Life synagogue has been identified as 46-year-old Robert Bowers.

Bowers reportedly yelled "All Jews must die" during the attack. Before entering the synagogue, Bowers tweeted that "I can't wait while my people are getting slaughtered....I'm going in". Bower's social media was rife with anti-Semitic comments.

Over 80 people were in the building during the shooting, which happened during a Jewish circumcision ceremony. Eight people were killed and three police officers were injured. Bowers later surrendered to law enforcement.

The attack was condemned by President Trump, who tweeted that he is "Watching the events unfolding in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Law enforcement on the scene. People in the Squirrel Hill area should remain sheltered. Looks like multiple fatalities. Beware of active shooter. God Bless All!"

Diaspora Affairs Minister Naftali Bennett condemned Saturday's grisly shooting, tweeting that "The State of Israel and the Israeli government received with shock and pain the reports of the terrible attack on the Jewish community in Pittsburgh. We anxiously follow the reports and pray that the event will end soon."

Hamas fires 30 rockets at Israel's south, IDF strikes 80 targets in Gaza

Thirty Hamas rockets were fired on Israel and 10 were intercepted by the Iron Dome system, IDF Spokesperson reported. Two rockets fell in the Gaza Strip and 18 landed in open areas.

Sirens sounded 11 times in the area over Friday night and Saturday morning. Following the sirens, medics and MDA paramedics gave medical treatment to seven victims at the site. A 53-year-old man and a 14-year-old boy were in very mild condition after being injured on the limbs while running to a bomb shelter.

According to reports received during the night, the IDF attacked 80 targets in Gaza.

Palestinians reported attacks by the Israeli Air Force in the south of Rafah and at Hamas' naval base west to Gaza City. An explosion was heard in Khan Yunis.

In Gaza, Hamas headquarters were evacuated in anticipation of another attack by the Air Force.

"The IDF has acted with force against terrorist activity and is determined to defend the residents of Israel and will continue to act in their defense," the IDF Spokesman said.

The Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, threatened Israel in a statement, "Al-Qassam is ready to strike at all of occupied Palestine with thousands of missiles if the campaign begins."

Jew-hatred is different from other hates

I'm reading various account and commentaries of the horrific shooting and massacre of Jews in synagogue in Pittsburgh today, and everyone is putting up their own political spin on the event. It is expected - and disgusting.

The suspect didn't target Jews because of "occupation" or because he was a Trump supporter (he wasn't) or because he had access to guns or because any Jews did anything to him personally. He is just an antisemite who is not sophisticated enough to couch his hate in terms like "anti-Zionist" or "anti-capitalist" or "pro-justice" or any other of the dozens of terms used nowadays to make Jew-hatred a little more palatable.

There are more crimes targeting Jews in America than crimes targeting all other religions combined. There is no common thread - the far-Left hates Jews, the far-Right hates Jews. Muslim Jew-hatred is "understood" and downpedaled by the Left. And people will be gleeful that today's murderer identifies with the far-Right, just as the Right will disavow their role in emboldening the hate on their side.

Antisemitism is not like other hates. There is no logic behind it, no justification for it. Jews aren't allowed to be in "our country" but are not allowed to be in their own country either. Assimilated Jews are as much targeted as religious Jews. Jews are vilified by extremists of all stripes.

Stop using this massacre as an excuse to pin this on ideological and political enemies. Every group has Jew-hatred associated with them in one way or another. If you truly care about Jew-hatred, root out antisemitism from among the groups that you identify with.

Don't pretend it isn't there....because it is.

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10/26 Links Pt2: Phillips: How the West has created antisemitism denial; Glick: What was Rabin’s legacy?; Liberation, Not Colonization, Motivated the Creation of the Jewish State

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: How the West has created antisemitism denial

Among Democrats, it is commonplace to compare US President Donald Trump to Hitler and the Republicans to Nazis.

Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price produced an ad for the mid-term Congressional elections next month in which he compared Trump to Hitler.

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Democratic Representative Yvette Clarke stood in front of the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Manhattan and declared: “We are standing in front of a building that has become the headquarters for the Gestapo of the United States of America.”

Even Jewish Democrats are guilty of this. Democratic Representative Stephen Cohen was forced to apologize after he likened the Republicans’ promotion of healthcare policy to the propaganda of Hitler’s henchman Joseph Goebbels.

If everyone’s a Nazi, the real Nazis stop being uniquely evil. They become instead Everyman. Thus the Holocaust is traduced, bad people get a free pass and the innocent are demonized.

The impulse behind Holocaust education and memorializing was noble and understandable. But it missed something crucial.

This was the need to teach the world about Jewish history in both the land of Israel and the Diaspora; to teach the world what it has done to the Jews over the course of recorded time; to teach the world how Judaism itself embodies a unique and unbreakable connection between the people, the religion and the land.

Judaism lies at the heart of western values. Yet it has been misrepresented and demonized by Christianity, Islam and secularism. It is that continuing ignorance and bigotry over Judaism itself which fuels the demonization of Israel, the misreading of the Holocaust and the return of open antisemitism.

In a culture framed by Holocaust memorializing, the West has itself become the avatar of antisemitism denial.

Caroline Glick: What was Rabin’s legacy?

In his speech before the Knesset, Rabin detailed his view of where things would lead. He did not believe that the end result of the Oslo process would be the establishment of a Palestinian state, much less a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital in control of all or the vast majority of the land in Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Rabin not only opposed any compromise on sole Israeli sovereignty over Jerusalem: He called for extending Israeli sovereignty to Ma’aleh Adumim and Givat Ze’ev, two major Israeli communities in Judea just north of the city.

He also called for extending Israeli sovereignty to Gush Etzion and other major Israeli communities south of Jerusalem, and for building settlement blocs throughout Judea and Samaria. He committed to take no action to curtail the expansion of Israeli communities, and specifically ruled out any construction freeze in those communities throughout the interim period. He also praised the Israeli communities in Gaza, signaling strongly that they would never be forsaken.

Rabin said that Israel’s eastern border would remain the Jordan Valley in perpetuity and defined the frontier in the broadest possible terms.

In short, depending on how you interpret his phrasing, Rabin was either expressing his support for Netanyahu’s vision of a demilitarized Palestinian state, or for Education Minister Naftali Bennett’s plan to apply Israeli sovereignty to all of Area C.

Either way, Rabin’s actual vision tells us something important about how the Left’s draconian restrictions on freedom of speech have harmed Israel. By shunting aside what Rabin actually stood for, and reinventing him as a leftist ideologue, the Left has cheapened and distorted the true significance of what he stood for while preventing Israel from correcting his mistakes and building on his successes.

Liberation, Not Colonization, Motivated the Creation of the Jewish State

If your child came home from college and said she was challenged by a classmate who claimed that Palestine is Arab land stolen by the Jews, could you provide her with a response?

For the 400 years before World War I, Palestine was part of the Ottoman Empire, so it was owned by the Turks, not by the Arabs, let alone by the Arabs of Palestine. There was never a country called Palestine ruled by its own Arab inhabitants.

The original Zionists came to Palestine without the backing of any imperialist or colonialist power. They bought the land on which they settled.

Colonialism didn't bring Britain to Palestine. It conquered the land in World War I not from the Arabs but from Turkey, which had joined Britain's enemies in the war. The Arabs in Palestine fought for Turkey against Britain. The land was enemy territory.

Supporting Zionism appealed to Prime Minister David Lloyd George, Lord Balfour and other officials not just on strategic grounds, but also for moral reasons. They sympathized with the Jewish national cause. Zionism was an answer to the historical Jewish question, a way to remedy some of the harm shamefully done to the Jewish people over history.

And it would give Jews an opportunity to normalize their place in the world, by building up a national center and a refuge, a country in their ancient homeland where they could become the majority and enjoy self-determination as a people.

In 1919, the first Palestinian Congress declared that Palestine had never been divided from Syria and that Palestinians and Syrians were one people. Palestine's Arabs were not viewed by their own leaders as a separate nation.

Today, Israel announced that PM Netanyahu had made a "secret visit" to Oman to meet Sultan Qaboos and discuss regional issues.

It was covered pretty extensively in Oman's media:

Notably, Mahmoud Abbas also visited the Sultan earlier this week.

Oman released a statement about the two visits, saying "The visit of Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas to the Sultanate (October 21-23) and the visit of the Israeli Prime Minister, and His Majesty the Sultan’s audience to both of them have many positive implications about the role of the Sultanate in serving peace through dialogue, whether in the case of the Palestinian issue or in the case of Yemen, Libya and other Arab and regional issues. It reflects a deep faith in peace and efforts for stability and prosperity in all countries and people of the region and their aspiration for a better future."

But Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party doesn't see it that way.

Mohamed Shtayyeh, Fatah Central Committee spokesman, said sadly, "Normalization has begun and the Arab peace initiative ended. The system of values and Arab political and social contracts also collapsed. And we have no one but ourselves. "

At the same time, Fatah also condemned the UAE and Qatar for hosting Israeli athletes at international competitions.

The Arab world is changing, yet the Palestinian leaders are still acting as if the Arab world is still fully behind them and will be ashamed to be within a hundred miles of an Israeli.

They are more afraid of the Trump peace plan than ever.

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10/26 Links Pt1: Netanyahu makes secret visit to Oman; The “Moderate Sunni Camp” – Does it Really Exist?; Jordan Renews Its Request to Build a Fifth Minaret on the Temple Mount

From Ian:

In dramatic sign of warming ties, Netanyahu makes secret visit to Oman

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made a secret visit to the Gulf nation of Oman on Friday — the first by an Israeli leader in over two decades, and a sign of warming ties between the Jewish state and the Sunni Arab world.

On Friday afternoon, his office surprisingly announced that Netanyahu and his wife Sara had just returned from an “official diplomatic visit” to Muscat, during which they met with Sultan Qaboos bin Said al Said.

“The Prime Minister’s visit is a significant step in implementing the policy outlined by Prime Minister Netanyahu on deepening relations with the states of the region while leveraging Israel’s advantages in security, technology and economic matters,” his office said in a statement.

The last visit by an Israeli leader to Oman took place in 1996, when Shimon Peres visited.

The Netanyahus were invited to Oman by the sultan, who has been ruling the Gulf state since 1970, “after lengthy contacts between the two countries,” the statement said.

A joint statement issued by Jerusalem and Muscat said the two leaders discussed “ways to advance the peace process in the Middle East as well as several matters of joint interest regarding the achievement of peace and stability in the Middle East.”

Netanyahu and his wife were accompanied to Muscat by Mossad Director Yossi Cohen, National Security Adviser Meir Ben-Shabbat, Foreign Ministry Director-General Yuval Rotem, the head of the Prime Minister’s staff, Yigal Horowitz, and the Prime Minister’s Military Secretary, Brig.-Gen. Avi Bluth.

PM Netanyahu returned from an official diplomatic visit to Oman where he met with Sultan Qaboos bin Said.
This visit is a significant step in implementing the policy outlined by PM Netanyahu on deepening relations with the states of the region while leveraging Israel's advantages pic.twitter.com/basy7da7JS
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) October 26, 2018

This is a conflict over narratives. Israel needs to tell ours to Palestinians.

Yossi Klein Halevi is senior fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and the author of the recent New York Times bestseller, ‘Letters to my Palestinian Neighbour’. In conversation with Fathom deputy editor Calev Ben-Dor, he sets out the main themes of his book: the need for both sides need to stop the war on the legitimacy of each other’s narrative, and the need for a radically new kind of Israeli-Palestinian conversation about the conflict based on respect and deep mutual recognition.

Telling our story

My book originated in the 1990s when I undertook a year-long journey into Palestinian society, specifically into its religious life, going to mosques and monasteries looking for shared devotional language with my neighbours. I was exposed to the Palestinian narrative and to Palestinian stories which deeply moved me and helped shape my thinking about the conflict. And in this book I’m asking my neighbours to hear my story – not through a tit-for-tat argument, but because minimal respect of the right of each side to tell its story is, I believe, a prerequisite for peace. This isn’t primarily a conflict over tangible issues like borders and settlements – those are the consequences of a deeper conflict over narratives. We’ve been fighting a hundred-year war of clashing narratives.

I felt the time had come for someone on the Israeli side to try to explain our story to our neighbours, to tell a story about who we are. So I told my own story – an American-born Jew who moved to Israel as part of a people returning home to a land that has been at the centre of its identity for 4000 years.

The book also came out of the realisation that the other side doesn’t know our story. The Palestinian media and school system overwhelmingly convey the message that Israelis and the Jewish people are not only thieves but also liars. They say we’ve invented our story, or that we have no story. That’s the message Palestinians receive on a daily basis. A young man in Hebron, the city with the longest Jewish history of any city anywhere, once told me that there were no Jews in the city until after 1967. But he was simply repeating what he’d been told his whole life.

One part of the Jewish community defends the Israeli, Zionist narrative which is under growing assault. Another part of the Jewish community defends the two-state solution and the hope for peace. The implicit premise of my book is that both these approaches are necessary and, more, they are complementary. If we don’t defend the integrity of the Israeli story and the legitimacy of the Jewish presence here, we’ll never reach peace. If the other side is convinced we have no story or roots here – which is what they hear over and over – peace will not be possible. How do you make peace with a non-existent illegitimate people?

A court ruling from the European Court of Human Rights today has very troubling implications.

I will try to keep as much context as I can from their press release:

Principal facts

The applicant, E.S., is an Austrian national who was born in 1971 and lives in Vienna (Austria). In October and November 2009, Mrs S. held two seminars entitled “Basic Information on Islam”, in which she discussed the marriage between the Prophet Muhammad and a six-year old girl, Aisha, which allegedly was consummated when she was nine. Inter alia, the applicant stated that Muhammad “liked to do it with children” and “... A 56-year-old and a six-year-old? ... What do we call it, if it is not paedophilia?”.

On 15 February 2011 the Vienna Regional Criminal Court found that these statements implied that Muhammad had had paedophilic tendencies, and convicted Mrs S. for disparaging religious doctrines. She was ordered to pay a fine of 480 euros and the costs of the proceedings. Mrs S. appealed but the Vienna Court of Appeal upheld the decision in December 2011, confirming in essence the lower court’s findings.

Relying on Article 10 (freedom of expression), Mrs S. complained that the domestic courts failed to address the substance of the impugned statements in the light of her right to freedom of expression....Lastly, Mrs S. submitted that religious groups had to tolerate even severe criticism.

The ruling is a little nuanced, and requires analysis:

The Court noted that those who choose to exercise the freedom to manifest their religion under Article 9 of the Convention could not expect to be exempt from criticism. They must tolerate and accept the denial by others of their religious beliefs. Only where expressions under Article 10 went beyond the limits of a critical denial, and certainly where they were likely to incite religious intolerance, might a State legitimately consider them to be incompatible with respect for the freedom of thought, conscience and religion and take proportionate restrictive measures.

In general, I agree with this. I don't like the "certainly" being in there because the only case where criticism goes beyond the limits of criticism is when it is incitement - without qualifying that the definition can become subject to political and not objective measures. Which is apparently what happened:

The Court observed also that the subject matter of the instant case was of a particularly sensitive nature, and that the (potential) effects of the impugned statements, to a certain degree, depended on the situation in the respective country where the statements were made, at the time and in the context they were made. Accordingly, it considered that the domestic authorities had a wide margin of appreciation in the instant case, as they were in a better position to evaluate which statements were likely to disturb the religious peace in their country.

Here's the crux of the question: Would the statements cause people to hate Islam and therefore be incited to violence, or would the statements upset Muslims and cause them to become violent?

If it is the latter, then the court is ruling that Muslims are unable to control themselves and to stop themselves from being violent, and they have special protection against people saying things that upset them.

The Court reiterated that it has distinguished in its case-law between statements of fact and value judgments. It emphasised that the truth of value judgments was not susceptible to proof. However, a value judgment without any factual basis to support it might be excessive.

Whatever the context, Muslims themselves admit that Mohammed had sex with a nine year old girl. No one should be precluded from talking about that and criticizing it unless they say "Attack Muslims because they support pedophilia." Nowhere does it appear that E.S. said anything close to that. She pointed out that his actions would be considered unacceptable today - and one can say the same about many things in the sacred texts of major religions.

The Court noted that the domestic courts comprehensively explained why they considered that the applicant’s statements had been capable of arousing justified indignation; specifically, they had not been made in an objective manner contributing to a debate of public interest (e.g. on child marriage), but could only be understood as having been aimed at demonstrating that Muhammad was not worthy of worship.

Here the formula for "statements were likely to disturb the religious peace in their country" is more clearly defined, and indeed it is protecting the feelings of the victims that is the deciding factor in whether speech is allowed.

This is a terrible mistake. Free speech is not free if one does not have the right to offend. I can find lots of web pages and cartoons ridiculing many organized religions; the court seems to say that freedom of expression is not defined by the speech itself but by the people who might be offended. This is discriminatory.

If someone would call Isaac a pedophile because of a Jewish midrashic story that he married Rebecca at the age of 3 - a direct analogy to the Mohammed story - there is no way that the ECHR would have said that the person should be fined. Because Jews wouldn't riot over that!

The Court found in conclusion that in the instant case the domestic courts carefully balanced the applicant’s right to freedom of expression with the rights of others to have their religious feelings protected, and to have religious peace preserved in Austrian society.

If people who are offended can quash speech, then it is not free speech. I do not know if there is a human right to have one's religious feelings protected; if there is then Muslims violate Jewish human rights every day that they worship in Jewish holy places that pre-date Islam.

This is a fundamentally flawed, and dangerous, decision that gives any religious group the right to limit their opponent's free speech rights by claiming that their feelings are being hurt. No, that is not what free speech means.

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Sadly, many shirtless Gaza protesters never get famous

Today, there is a new set of victims in Gaza.

As I mentioned yesterday, this photo of a "heroic" Gaza protester has gone viral.

The young man, improbably trying to use his sling when he has a flag in the other hand (how does he put the stone in while holding the flag? How can he avoid the sling hitting the flag? Why is he facing towards the sea, where the wind comes from, instead of towards Israel?) has become famous.

But what about the poor bare-chested protesters who did not get the viral treatment? How do you think they feel?

"Why didn't I think of having a sling?"

"The photographer could have waited until I stopped coughing"

Guy on right: "Teach me how to gain muscle tone."

"I thought the helmet made me look macho."

"I stepped on a nail!"

"Maybe the executioner look didn't work."

But at least the protesters have a good time:

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