Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, March 28, 2019

03/28 Links Pt2: Collier: The Israeli – Arab conflict in context – how you have never seen it before; Ben Shapiro Speaks With Ted Cruz About His Anti-Semitism Resolution

From Ian:

David Colier: The Israeli – Arab conflict in context – how you have never seen it before

There have probably been more words written about the Israeli -Arab conflict than any other post WW2 military dispute. I have no way to highlight this in a graph, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the words written about the Israeli – Arab conflict didn’t outweigh the words written about the largest ten or so of the global conflicts that have taken place in the same time period – combined. Too many words are written and the truth becomes lost in a tsunami of distortion. One death near Bethlehem yesterday became headline news about a teenage medic being killed, despite doubts about his innocence. The Guardian ran no such headlines about the lawmaker shot whilst on a peace-making pilgrimage in Sudan – a conflict that has taken 400,000 lives in just five years. Conflicts have different values, which is what this blog is about.

The conflict as a refugee crisis:
The Arab Israeli conflict created refugees. During the early civil and regional conflict of 1947-1949, many Arabs fled and some (especially those in openly hostile villages) were evicted. Some were offered rehousing inside Israel but still chose to leave (this puts paid to the ethnic cleansing accusation). After the conflict ended, some outside Israel were offered a return but refused (as it meant recognising Israel). Jewish communities also suffered throughout the region. Events in British Palestine were used as an excuse by rising national and Islamist ideologies. A trickle turned into a flood, the flood into a tsunami. Within a few short years the ancient Jewish Arab communities had been almost completely ethnically cleansed. Most of the Jewish refugees settled in Israel. These are the comparative numbers of refugees created by the Israeli/Arab conflict:

Arab Israeli conflict refugees
For the Arabs, I used the UNRWA figures even though these are without doubt exaggerated. It doesn’t matter – even when the Arab refugee numbers are artificially inflated, the conflict clearly created more Jewish refugees than Arab ones. This is what real ethnic cleansing looks like:

We’re Jews, We’re Not White, We Define Ourselves

Nearly a dozen studies published in the past decade show that Jews — Ashkenazi, Sephardi Mizrahi — are more biologically related to one another than they are to their local populations. In particular, a 2009 study found that Jewish populations share a high level of genetic similarity and a common Middle Eastern ancestry, and over their history they have undergone varying degrees of admixture with non-Jewish populations.

It’s time to refocus on our identity, not just because it will be good for us and our children to fully come to terms with who we are. We need to do this to firmly and definitively show that Jews are indigenous to Israel.

“It is part of a carefully managed agenda in the United States to not permit Jews to be part of the discussions about ‘people of color’ or racism,” Frantzman writes. And the goal of that agenda is to make the case that Israel is a European colonial enterprise, so that it can then be destroyed.

The bottom line: We can no longer let others define us. We need to start defining ourselves. And the only way to do that is through learning about our ancestry, our genetics and our indigenous connection to the land, culture and language of Israel.

“The designation of being a Hebrew probably meant something similar to ‘one who crossed over,’ ” Ergas told me. “The term captures the concept of language, history and experience of eternal otherness — and potentially points toward us always being in the process of transformation.”

We are the Hebrews, the Israelites, the Jews. We create, innovate and transform — ourselves and the world. This is who we are: eternally other; eternally lit.

PMW: PA Ministry of Education names sports event for girls after terrorist murderer who led killing of 37

One of the days marked fervently by the Palestinian Authority is the anniversary in March of the most lethal terror attack against Israel - the Coastal Road massacre in which Palestinian terrorists murdered 37 civilians, among them 12 children. The attack was led by female terrorist Dalal Mughrabi who the PA since has turned into a role model and hero for Palestinian children and society in general.

To celebrate the anniversary this year, the PA Ministry of Education arranged a sports festival for girls named after the terrorist:
"The Dalal Mughrabi Sports Festival"

The sports festival was held at the Beitunia Upper Elementary School for Girls and participating girls wore shirts featuring the image of the murderer and the text "Dalal Mughrabi Festival":

[Facebook page of the Beitunia Upper Elementary School for Girls, March 13, 2019]
PA officials were also present at the festival honoring murderer Mughrabi, among them Bassem Erekat, director of the district's Education Directorate , which is a branch of the PA Ministry of Education, and Ribhi Dawla, mayor of Beitunia, where the festival was held. In addition, the District Governor of Ramallah and El-Bireh Dr. Laila Ghannam spoke at the event, stating that Palestinian children "are determined to continue on the path." Ghannam also praised Palestinian women for having "brought children into the world, fought, and built glory that will not be erased" - indicating that murderer Mughrabi had created lasting "glory" with her attack killing 37:

New "Apartheid?" Poster: Samah Shihadi, Muslim artist

Continuing my series of prominent counter-examples to the lie that "Israel is an apartheid state"...

Here's an example of her work and a brief bio:

As the recipient of the 2018 Haim Shiff Prize for Figurative-Realist Art, a prestigious award given each year by the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Samah Shihadi is headed toward the spotlight. In addition to the $10,000 prize, Shihadi will show her work in a solo exhibition at the museum in June 2019.

Born in a small Muslim village in the Western Galilee, 31-year-old Shihadi thought she would return to her village after her studies to become a teacher and raise a family, like other women in her life. Instead she started to draw, depicting Arab women and giving them a voice.

Her delicate pencil-on-paper drawings are often centered around the female body, exploring feminism and the identity of the Arab woman. In a work evocative of Leonardo da Vinci’s masterpiece “The Vitruvian Man,” currently exhibited at Jerusalem’s Museum of Islamic Art, Shihadi depicts a woman rather than a man, whose body is mostly covered by a sheet of cloth, suggesting exclusion or repression.

Shihadi now lives and works in Haifa, where she completed a master’s degree in art. Her work has been shown in shows and galleries across Israel, from Tel Aviv to Haifa, Umm el Fahem and Ramallah.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

Moshav Mishmeret is an agricultural community about 21 km. north and slightly east of Tel Aviv. It is about 125 km. north of Rafah, which is at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip, on a line that passes almost directly over Tel Aviv. The moshav was founded in 1946 by demobilized British soldiers and workers from the Ashdod port.

At 5:20 in the morning this Monday, a rocket fired from Rafah by terrorists associated with Palestinian Islamic Jihad made a direct hit on a house in Mishmeret, destroying it, and injuring eight people. They were saved by the mamad, the reinforced concrete safe room now required in all Israeli construction. The most seriously injured person did not get to it in time, and the others had left the door open for her. Several dogs that were in or around the house were killed, and if not for the safe room, probably the human residents would have been seriously injured or killed as well.

I made a mental note on reading this: always make sure to close the door of the mamad. Rehovot, where I live, is only about 85 km. from the launch point of this rocket, and half that from the northern tip of the strip. They have only to turn their dial a couple of clicks to the east.

Initially, Hamas claimed that the firing was a “mistake,” but later on a Hamas official said that the attack was ordered by Iran and carried out by its Islamic Jihad proxy. Israel holds Hamas responsible for any attacks from Gaza, and responded with the usual bombing of military targets, after waiting for Hamas to evacuate so as to not hurt anybody. Hamas then fired some 85 rockets at the Gaza Envelope area, which were intercepted by Iron Dome or landed harmlessly in open areas. Sometime early Tuesday morning, the shooting on both sides stopped; but on Tuesday evening Hamas went back to sending balloons carrying explosive and incendiary payloads over the border fence. And firing rockets.

The claim that the rocket that hit Mishmeret was fired on Iran’s instructions is believable. It’s not impossible that it was aimed at Tel Aviv. Rockets fired from Gaza are notoriously inaccurate, often falling short and landing inside the strip itself. Given the amount of damage done by the blast, the fact that the rocket hit a single-family home in a moshav and not an apartment building in Tel Aviv, Ramat Gan, or Herzliya, can be considered very good luck.

Incidentally, for once and for all we can put aside the ridiculous statements by Hamas supporters that the rockets fired from Gaza aren’t dangerous. The number of Israelis killed by these weapons is relatively small because of the huge investment Israel has made in shelters and the Iron Dome antimissile system. I don’t know if the rocket that struck Mishmeret was built by the industrious Orcs of Gaza, or if it was made in Iran and smuggled into Gaza in pieces; regardless, it is only a matter of luck that this rocket didn’t kill dozens of people.

Which raises the following questions: what are Iran and Hamas thinking, and what do we do now?

My guess is that Iran, which has been greatly hurt by Netanyahu in Syria, wants to see him defeated in the election. Rocket attacks against the center of the country demand a response, and they calculate that whatever he does now will damage him. Although some say that the government values citizens in the center more than the periphery, the truth is that the population density in the center is so much greater that the potential for mass casualty events is higher. For that reason, the recent attacks cross a red line.

PM Netanyahu cut short his visit to the US, where he was present as President Trump signed an order recognizing Israel’s sovereignty in the Golan Heights. He returned Tuesday morning, exactly two weeks before the hard-fought election that will determine whether he will continue as PM. This attack and the previous “mistake,” in which two rockets fell in open areas near Tel Aviv, have put him between a rock and a hard place.

On the one hand, if he doesn’t respond aggressively enough he will be pilloried for not protecting the population, his most basic job. Israelis are rightly sick of the daily and nightly riots and incursions at the border with Gaza, the incendiary and explosive balloons and kites, and of course the rockets and mortars that drive the inhabitants of the northern Negev into shelters over and over again.

We are also sick of terrorism carried out by Hamas operatives in Judea and Samaria, and of security prisoners rioting and stabbing jailers because Israel has blocked their illegal cell phones. We are tired of Hamas, period. Netanyahu’s political opponents, some of whom are former Defense Ministers and Chiefs of Staff who understand precisely the dilemma he’s facing, happily suggest that he’s a weakling and they would know how to deal with Hamas.

On the other hand, if he launches an operation to take down Hamas and destroy the Islamic Jihad organization, he risks escalation into a war in which IDF soldiers could be killed, wounded, or (perhaps worse) captured, and the civilian population placed at risk from the expected rocket barrage. It could even expand into a multi-front war including Hezbollah and its massive rocket arsenal. Such a war would entail many more casualties and a great deal of destruction on our home front. Israel would not be the same for many years.

Even if the worst could be avoided, Netanyahu would be accused of starting a war to divert attention from his legal issues, to improve his chances for reelection, and so on. And then there would be the atrocity propaganda and the coordinated diplomatic attacks by the “human rights” industry, the UN, hostile governments in Europe and elsewhere, and the international Left. And of course, if we did get rid of Hamas and the others, what then? Who would rule Gaza? The IDF?

The temptation to practice restraint and respond with minimal force is great. On a national scale, the danger from Hamas rockets and terrorism is small, even if on a personal scale – if your house is hit by a rocket – it can be enormous. There is an element in Israeli character which is highly pragmatic and responds to the argument that we can afford to accept a certain amount of terrorism, a teeftoof (drizzle) of rockets, a few stabbings every other week, and a few fires in our agricultural fields and nature preserves. Meanwhile, we put out the fires, develop anti-rocket and anti-balloon systems, and find more ways to defend ourselves without hurting anyone.

The danger of this approach is twofold. First, our frog is slowly being boiled. Our deterrence is evaporating. This is what happened in the north, where we treated Hezbollah with restraint since the Second Lebanon War in 2006, and then suddenly woke up and found that its deployment of more than 100,000 rockets in civilian areas had deterred us from taking action against it, almost no matter what it does. We don’t have an answer for its rockets other than to incinerate much of southern Lebanon, along with whatever part of the population that doesn’t succeed (or isn’t allowed) to flee. Not that we won’t do it if we have to, but meanwhile we have no leverage to prevent the introduction even more dangerous weapons, to the point of Hezbollah becoming, if it is not already, an existential threat.

Second is the psychological dimension. It becomes understood throughout the world that anyone is permitted to strike at Jews. We’ll try to ward off the blows, but we won’t respond aggressively. We won’t do anything disproportionate. We won’t punish our enemies as they deserve. We’ll show ourselves as a people without honor. And we’ll come to believe that our enemies are right. Maybe we deserve to be shot at; because if we didn’t, wouldn’t we hit back? Maybe the endless contempt that is heaped on us in international forums is justified?

As I’ve written before, honor is of utmost importance in the Middle East. Deterrence is important everywhere; and self-respect is especially essential here in Israel. In the past several years, all these things have been eroding. Netanyahu must find a way to protect his people, and to reverse the trend. Of course there are risks. But what else is new?

I still have faith that he understands this. Now, just before the election, is a great time to find out.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

03/28 Links Pt1: Israel’s Sovereignty Over the Golan Heights Is Legal and Justified; Meretz nixes campaign ad that used Auschwitz gate to portray occupation; 'Paramedic' caught on film attacking IDF soldiers during riot

From Ian:

Israel’s Sovereignty Over the Golan Heights Is Legal and Justified

The spoils of the aggressed against.

There is no question that Syria attacked Israel in 1967 (and again in 1973). And there is no question that, by the end of both conflicts, Israel was firmly in control of the Golan Heights. In fact, following legendary tank battles on the Heights in ‘73 (which are studied at West Point), the Syrian army had collapsed, and Israel was primed to push on and capture Damascus. A ceasefire agreement was in everyone’s best interests.

Since 2011, Syria has been ravaged by civil war, in which President Bashar al-Assad attacked his own citizens with chemical weapons on several occasions. Large swathes of Syria were controlled by ISIS until very recently, including areas directly abutting the Golan Heights’ border with Israel. Today, the Syrian state barely exists. It is an utterly dysfunctional, violent tinderbox of some of the most brutal regimes and movements on Earth. Syria can no more reclaim sovereignty over the Golan than it can the Eastern Bank of the Euphrates River. Even if it could, it isn’t in the interests of any responsible nation to see such an outcome.

Syria violated international law in 1967, 1973, and many other occasions by attacking Israel without provocation and pledging to destroy the country. Not only did Syria fail to accomplish its bellicose goal but it was forced to agree to a ceasefire to avoid total humiliation: an Israeli conquest of Damascus.

Welcome to the Middle East.

There are consequences to military attacks, particularly when the attacker loses. International law is silent on this point, and for good reason. Because it was, on a logical basis, incomprehensible.

People may hate president Trump and PM Netanyahu. They may be contemptuous of the timing of America’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. But it is not contrary to international law. And it does not impact the outcome of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict one iota.

Douglas Murray: Donald Trump is right about Israel and the Golan Heights

Since Syria lost control of the Golan Heights the area itself has blossomed with vineyards and much more. But Israel is not holding the territory simply to make wine. It is holding it because since 1967 it has not been possible for Syria to rain down rockets and other munitions onto the Galilee, as it could – and did – before.

But as of this decade the third and equally powerful reason for Israel to hold onto the Golan has become irrefutable. For the last eight years the British Foreign Office and others have continued to claim that Israel should hand the Golan back. But to whom? As the civil war in Syria has raged, and up to half a million civilians have lost their lives there is something preposterous about the British government and others continuing to insist that Bashar al-Assad should be gifted the Golan Heights. Of all the territory over which the Assad dynasty aspires to rule, the Golan is the only place which it and its allies have not been able to barrel bomb, mortar and otherwise decimate with impunity. As the Syrian nation has fallen apart – largely aided by Iran, Turkey, Russia and the Gulf States – it should be a source of international relief that the Golan is being carefully looked after by the Israelis. There is something not just belligerent but perverse in this pretence that despite everything in Syria the Assad family should still be given the Golan Heights in order to further extend their apparently inadequate slaughter of recent years.

If the Israelis were ever going to return the Golan – and there has been no reason since 1967 why they should have done – then there is infinitely less reason now. Who knows what the workings of President Trump’s mind are? But his actions this week show that he is doing no more than recognising reality, while all the wise heads in the chancelleries of Europe continue to pursue a fool’s goal.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinian Leaders Punish Gaza, Blame Israel

Rather than demanding that Hamas cease and desist from endangering the lives of Palestinians by sending them to clash with Israeli soldiers, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and its leaders are condemning Israel for perpetrating "crimes" against Palestinians. According to the logic of the PA, the conflict started when Israel fired back.

Abbas and his officials have apparently not heard of the arson kites and booby-trapped balloons that have been launched from the Gaza Strip towards Israeli towns on nearly a daily basis over the past few months. They also apparently have not have not heard of the rockets and mortars that are fired from the Gaza Strip at Israel almost every day. The PA further appears unaware that Hamas has been sending thousands of Palestinians to attack Israeli soldiers with explosive devices, firebombs and rocks.

Abbas and the PA are simply doing the one thing they are good at: trying to frame Israel for Palestinian crimes against their own people. Clearly, the PA leaders are afraid to condemn the rocket attacks on Israel. They evidently do not want to be accused by their people of betraying the Palestinian "resistance" against Israel.

The New York Times strange policies on datelining Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria

The New York Times policy on referring to Jerusalem and the rest of Judea and Samaria over the years is a good indicator of the subtle anti-Israel bias that US leaders and pundits would be reading every day.

Before 1967, the New York Times recognized Jerusalem and the entire West Bank as being part of Jordan, and the Israeli side of Jerusalem was merely an "Israeli sector" but not part of Israel. This is even though the international community did not recognize Jordan's annexation of the territory.

1966:

Then after 1967, its policy evolved.

For the first few years, it still considered the West Bank to be Jordan, but occupied by Israel.

1972:

The idea that it was "Palestinian land" was not considered. Israel occupied Jordanian territory. not Palestinian territory.

Slowly, the Times started to realize that calling it "Jordanian" didn't make sense as Jordan wanted less and less to do with it. Suddenly, Israel wasn't occupying Jordanian land, but merely an area whose legal status that had yet to be defined - the West Bank.

1976:

What about Jerusalem? That was too complicated. Almost immediately, it went from being part of Jordan to being not part of any state. Best just to refer to it as Jerusalem without mentioning any country - perhaps it can still become an international city now that Israel controlled all of it?

1968:

That policy remained in place for decades. 1986, for example:

Back in Judea and Samaria, the Times apparently decided during Oslo that referring to cities that were controlled by the PA as being "Israeli-occupied" made no sense, so that area just became the "West Bank" - still a Jordanian term.

1995:

That is still the policy today.

There is a similar policy for the Golan Heights - no state is mentioned.

The question is - when did the "West Bank" become "Palestinian territories" as a given? When did it magically leave the Jordanian orbit, and when did Israel start occupying a completely different area without moving a single soldier?

Even Jordan's 1988 declaration that it was giving the territory to the Palestinians had no legal weight, since it was never Jordan's to begin with and it had no authority to do so.

This is only one small piece of the puzzle on how the world moved from Israel occupying another sovereign state - which is a requirement for territory to be considered legally occupied - to occupying an area called the West Bank that has no legal owner?

If the "occupation" is the major issue to be resolved, the question of what exactly Israel is supposedly occupying, and when, is surprisingly never asked.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Saeb Erekat, secretary of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, met with diplomats yesterday in Ramallah where he complained about President Trump's decision to recognize Israel's control over the Golan.

Erekat claimed that Trump's move would increase violence, chaos, extremism and bloodshed.

He then railed against Trump's "disregard for the dignity of the Arab people" which he says has reached an unprecedented level. "The Arab countries are being treated in an unacceptable manner. The dignity of the people can not be measured by the balance of real estate traders and deal makers. "

In other words, Saeb Erekat is defending the "dignity" of Syria, a country that has killed more Palestinians in the past eight years than Israel has. By saying that the Golan is Israeli territory, Erekat is aggrieved for the tender feelings of a Syrian regime that has killed a half million of his fellow Arabs.

This is what the honor/shame dynamic looks like. Arabs might fight each other constantly, but their dignity must be upheld to the Western world no matter what. As bad as treat each other, Arabs are still entitled to more respect and "dignity" than any non-Arab is.

Palestinians have consistently sided with the worst dictators and murderers in history. This apparently is not going to change any time soon.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

From the Meir Amit Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center:

Instructions were posted to a Hamas forum regarding the terminology that should be used in the media. According to the instructions, media workers should avoid the use of terminology that indicates a recognition of the existence of Israel (the "Zionist entity"); care should taken to designate all sites attacked by Israel as "civilian targets" and not as military targets; the cities in Israel which are attacked should be referred to as occupied Palestinian territories, and not as cities; and there is no such thing as "the residents of Israel's south" because [the Israelis] are thieves who took the Palestinian lands by force.

The specific instructions from one of Paldf.net's administrators, apparently relaying instructions from Hamas, are:

Reminder to members [i.e., forum members]:
When you claim that the Zionist response is not appropriate for a state, by implication you recognize the [Zionist] entity as a state.
There are no civilian and military targets in the Gaza Strip, all the sites the enemy [i.e., Israel] attacks are civilian. The enemy is the aggressor and an occupier, while the resistance defends its people and its right.
The resistance [i.e., Hamas and the other terrorist organizations] attacks our [Palestinian] occupied lands and not Israeli cities.
There is no such thing as "the residents of the south" , because they are thieves [who took the Palestinian lands by force] and will remain thieves.

He also wrote this:

If an escalation takes place, I hope that we will not lose sight of the media war and global opinion.
Must use all means of modern communication and expose the Zionist criminality
1 - Unification of the hashtags of Twitter
2 - Translation of tweets in all languages
3 - Use of the term terrorism to describe the enemy
4 - Assertion that the resistance is a reaction to the occupation and siege
5 - The dissemination of pictures and videos from the archives and statistics of the number of martyrs, wounded and prisoners and of destroyed houses

This is more sophisticated than most hasbara is.

More importantly, Hamas has the means to enforce these rules in Gaza, and too many Western reporters rely on Hamas news sources for their information.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

03/27 Links Pt2: Anti-Israel Lobbyists Dwarf Pro-Israel Lobbyists; Poll: Dems’ sympathies now evenly split between Israel and Palestinians; Hero pilot from hijacked Entebbe flight dies at 95

From Ian:

Anti-Israel Lobbyists Dwarf Pro-Israel Lobbyists

According to Open Secrets, AIPAC spent $3.5 million on lobbying in 2018, slightly more than the $3.4 million it spent in 2017. This is a relatively small number compared to the anti-Israel Open Society Foundation (OSF) which spent $31.5 million in 2018 – NINE TIMES what AIPAC spent. That figure is also almost four times the $16 million that OSF spent on US lobbying in 2017. This huge jump in lobbying dollars may coincide with George Soros’s transfer of $18 BILLION into OSF, making it the second largest “charity”/ largest lobbying group in the United States. (By calling itself a charity instead of a lobbying group, Soros was able to avoid paying any capital gains on the billions of investment dollars in his hedge fund.)

In addition to its work lobbying the US government, the OSF directly funds many anti-Israel organizations according to NGO Monitor, including Adalah, Breaking the Silence, Ir Amim and Al-Haq.

That’s just one giant far left-wing lobbying group countering most of AIPAC’s agenda.

The left-wing J Street has likewise repeatedly fought the current Israeli administration and lobbied aggressively against it, and spent more money lobbying Congress in 2018 than AIPAC, a total of $4 million. Not one dollar of J Street went to Republican candidates, which is not surprising as it is really an alternative to the Republic Jewish Coalition, not a broad-based bipartisan group like AIPAC.

When it comes to foreign countries lobbying the US government, the number one country was South Korea, spending $82.5 million in 2018. I do not recall hearing any of the Democratic candidates for president who ran to the defense of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s remarks about AIPAC talking about South Korea.

Perhaps that is because foreign governments and their companies are mostly lobbying about trade deals which are critical for their economies.

Alan M. Dershowitz: Jews Must Never Be Afraid to Use Their Well-Earned Power

No other group is ever accused of having too much power and influence. That false claim – dating back to times and places where Jews had little or no influence – is an anti-Semitic trope that tells us more about the anti-Semites who invoke it that it does about the Jews.

History has proven that Jews need more power and influence than other groups to secure their safety. During the 1930s and early 1940s Jews had morality on their side, but they lacked the power and influence to save six million of their brothers and sisters from systematic murder.

"The truth is that if Israel were to put down its arms there would be no more Israel. If the Arabs were to put down their arms there would be no more war." -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

When Jewish power and influence are used in the cause of peace and justice -- as it is today -- there is nothing to be ashamed of. It should be a source of pride.

Poll: Dems’ sympathies now evenly split between Israel and Palestinians, down from +19 two years ago

Two years ago, on the eve of Trump’s inauguration, just 20 percent of Democrats thought the U.S. was too supportive of Israel versus a combined 72 percent who thought current levels of support were about right or not enough. Today they’re at 38/41. Something has changed.

What is it?

There are two obvious possibilities, not mutually exclusive. One is that partisanship has infected this issue just as it’s infected every other. Democrats are less sympathetic to Israel because they hate Trump and are letting their contempt for him alter their view of the Jewish state. Trump hasn’t done anything dramatic to affect the balance of power between Israel and the Palestinians but he’s made some bold symbolic gestures of support towards the former, ordering that the U.S. embassy be moved to Jerusalem and just a few days ago recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Democrats might be looking at that, reasoning that “the friend of my enemy is my enemy,” and deciding that Israel should bear some of the brunt of their anti-Trumpism.

If you doubt that partisanship matters here, note that two years ago 63 percent of Republicans said that the U.S. isn’t supportive enough of Israel. Two years later, with Trump having succeeded Obama in office, 67 percent of Republicans now say U.S. support of Israel is “about right.” Some of that is a reaction to the embassy and Golan Heights — and some of it is certainly approval of Trump’s decision to exit the Iran nuclear deal — but I think in the main it’s a reflection of Republicans trusting Trump more on all matters. Saying current support is “about right” is really a vote of confidence in Trump. By the same logic, Dems’ dwindling sympathies for Israel might be a vote of no confidence in him.

In fact, Yair Rosenberg makes a fair point about why Democratic views of Netanyahu really might have changed in year 10. What if they hate Trump so much that Bibi’s very chummy relationship with him has belatedly soured them on Netanyahu and, by extension, Israel?

Interesting, but I’m not sure how to square that with strong-ish Democratic support for Israel prior to 2017 despite the often hostile relationship between Obama and Netanyahu. If Bibi’s warm embrace of a president whom Dems hate is enough to sour them on Israel, why didn’t his cold shoulder towards a president whom they love do the same?

Dr. Einat Wilf is a former Labor MK, which makes her center left. You’d think that means we’d have profound and fundamental disagreements regarding just about everything. As it turns out, this is not the case. Wilf doesn’t trumpet a center left party line, but is an original thinker with brilliant, nuanced opinions. Wilf, moreover, expresses those opinions in way that is both eloquent and persuasive.

When I listen to Wilf speak, for instance her remarks at the recent UN Watch rally against Anti-Israel bias, I am positive that we are on the same side: that the schism between right and left is not insurmountable. That we are all one people.

But then, inexplicably, Wilf gets it all horribly wrong, as she did while serving on a panel at the 92^nd Street Y. In summarizing how she sees the “conflict” between Israel and its enemies, Wilf describes a race for mutual exhaustion, in other words, a game of chicken. If we just keep at it, keep fighting, the other side will exhaust itself and decide to accept us (Israel), just not on all the land. Israel, on the other hand, will eventually become so tired of fighting that it will give up Judea and Samaria just in order to be accepted as a legitimate, sovereign presence in even a part of the land.

The conflict will end based on the outcome of the race we're currently engaged in which is a race for mutual exhaustion. At the core of the conflict remains the idea that the Jewish people are a foreign, and therefore temporary presence in the land. And that is at the core of it and that explains the repeated refusals to accept anything that would legitimize the Jewish people as a legitimate, indigenous, sovereign, powerful presence.
So what we are engaged in and have been engaged in for over a hundred years is a race of mutual exhaustion whereby the Arab world more broadly is trying to exhaust the Jewish people into basically leaving and thereby legitimizing the notion that Israel is the second crusader state: a foreign, temporary presence, and we are trying to exhaust the other side into finally letting us be, into accepting, that as crazy as it is, we are an indigenous people who have come home, that this is our homeland. We are not foreigners. We are not some white settler European colonialists. This is our home.
We don't need all of it. There are two peoples in this land. But we do need to know that we are secure and accepted in part of it, and accepted as equals.

To the war-weary center left, like Wilf, the land is, in some respects, an albatross. We can’t have all of it and have peace. From her purview, then, it is only reasonable to consider that we might trade some of it for primary Western values like security, acceptance, and equality. The left calls this “land for peace.”

But Wilf, et al, miss the point. The land is not a commodity. It cannot be traded, bought, or sold. It is simply ours. Everything else is a fiction, a lie. And even primary Western values such as security, acceptance, and equality look pale when measured alongside the shining treasure that is our birthright, the Land.

Roni Kissin of Kibbutz Kerem Shalom understands this principle. Here is what she said about what it is like to live on the Gaza border, in hearing distance of the daily violent protests (emphasis added). “The children come home in the afternoon and then the noises begin — the screams from the fence, the bombs being thrown, the army’s retaliation.

“We live this confrontation every day,” she said. “We’re not whiners. I will not give up my kibbutz, this is my country. I love the country. I will not give up my house, and if I do not live here, they will live here.”

Kissin knows an open secret that Wilf does not: someone will live on this land. Will it be the people it belongs to, or the people who merely covet the land?

Some things are important. The land is one of them. More important than a game of chicken, than acceptance, equality, security. There can be no exhaustion. It is not in our hands.

This is where Wilf gets it all utterly and inexorably wrong. She thinks that peace comes before everything. She thinks that the attainment of peace is more important than holding onto our birthright, the land.

It is not.

This is not a game of chicken. It is not about winning or losing. It is not about being so tired. Tired of death, blood, terror.

It is about understanding that the Land of Israel is the primary value of the Jewish people. This is something that is forever. And no human can change that dynamic.

Wilf thinks that any reasonable human will agree with her. She goes so far as to put forth a thought experiment about the “right-wing settlers,” certain that they will put peace as a value, above the land.

If you will allow me for a minute, I do a little thought experiment for right-wing settlers, for all those who think that Israel has gone to the right, and that there will never be peace, and so forth. Tell them, “Look, let's imagine this scenario: the Saudi King, sick and decrepit, does a Sadat. He comes to the Knesset flanked by the King of Jordan and the King of Morocco and they give this speech: ‘We're done. We thought you were foreigners. We fought you with military invasion, terrorism, economic boycotts, UN Condemnations, intellectual warfare, but you stuck it out. You seem to have really gotten into your heads that this is your home. So: welcome home.
“‘We recognize that you are, indeed, you belong to this land; that you are a tribe of this region like other tribes, that your language Hebrew is a sister to our own. You belong here and we will fight you no more. We will no longer try to get you to leave. You will have your state but you got to get out of the West Bank.’”
At that split second, Jews who are living in the West Bank will run so quickly into Israel that the few settlers who think that their way of life is the only one will look back and when I tell that to settlers they say, “We know.”

We know that if Israel finally faces a real, true opportunity to be accepted in the region as equal and sovereign and the price of that would be to hand over the West Bank, to forego the settlements, we know they'll pay it just like they did in 37, and in 47, and after 67, in 2000, and 2008. We know they'll do it, we just don't think that such a speech is forthcoming any time soon. So we're safe.

But it really shows you that at the core of it, the Jews are a small, tiny minority in the region and the conflict will end at the moment that we know that we have finally been accepted and can rest as an indigenous people who have come home and been accepted as equal, sovereign, and masters of our fate.

Wilf’s thought experiment shows that she understands not the smallest thing about the settler mindset.

She speaks the language of Western values, and of compromise. But Wilf doesn’t seem to understand that when it comes to the most important things, there can be no compromise. That one can be willing to sacrifice life, blood, and sons, for the things that are most dear. That there can never be any question of compromising when it comes to a birthright, something from God. Something that belongs not only to us but to our children and our children’s children, not merely because it is precious, but because it is ours by Divine Fiat. And we are supposed to use the land and live on it.

I don’t think that Einat Wilf is hopeless or that the chasm that yawns between the left and the right cannot be bridged. Dr. Wilf is an intelligent person. It should be easy to explain to her that alternative values systems exist. What may be difficult to absorb is that Western values and the Jewish values system are not synonymous: in fact, they are at odds. In particular this is so in regard to prioritizing the land, which is eternal, over peace, which is ephemeral, and in this case, moreover, dependent on satisfying the whims of a people sworn to exterminate the Jews.

It's not that peace is not a primary Jewish value. Of course it is. Jews pray for peace thrice daily. Jerusalem means "City of Peace." We greet each other with the word "shalom" and wish each other a Shabbat Shalom. We want peace more than anything. But how does one define peace?

A lull in violence is not peace. It is the calm before the storm.

Refusing to serve in the army does not bring peace. Might is a deterrence to violence.

Staying away from parts of our territory in order to prevent violence is not peace. If our presence in our indigenous territory will be met with violence, it means we have not yet attained true peace.

It is possible that every human being defines peace in his own way, but it is certain that peace at any cost, is not really peace.

And yet, the promise of peace is something the enemy holds out to the Jews like cheap baubles offered to Native Americans. The glitter attracts, but others know that the land is worth far more than shiny trinkets and a promise.

Not that the enemy will ever give up. Perhaps it will never be exhausted in its battle against the Jews. For the enemy, in fact, the battle is the entire point, while for die hard right-wing Jews, the entire point is the land. Peace enters the equation only in the minds of the left, who do not see beyond the borders of their quite limited viewpoint, because ahead of them they see only the glimmer of the promise. They believe that the promise of peace rather than peace itself is, in fact, the nadir: a supreme value to seek and attain no matter the cost, an eminently sane idea.

It does not occur to them that the situation can reasonably be seen in any other way. The concept that land is more important than the promise of peace seems to them ridiculous, foolish and foolhardy, the idea of a fanatic--someone who will die for no good reason and put his children's lives in danger, too.

But perhaps Wilf will someday follow through on her thought experiment and ask a real settler: “Would you willingly abandon the land for the promise of peace?”

Instead of hearing the answer she expects, if she listens with an open mind, she might learn the truth: that to some of us, the promise of peace is ephemeral, but the land is eternal, a supreme value. Some of us may, God forbid, die in the effort to live a full life in the land. But for us, that will have been a life that is worth having lived.

There can be no higher goal.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Gaza City, March 27 - For the third time this week, the Islamist terrorist group that runs this coastal territory sought to assure the international community that their latest declaration of intent to rid Palestine of all Jews by whatever violent means necessary occurred in error.

"It was the bad weather that made it happen," a Hamas spokesman stated. "We didn't mean for it to happen like that."

"These things are sometimes beyond our control," he added. "We're trying to figure out that technical malfunction that brought this about."

Hamas's organizational charter calls for cleansing Palestine of Jews, and the movement's educational, political, diplomatic, and other literature echo the call for genocide against the Jews in myriad ways. The latest trumpeting of that aim, however, did not receive prior approval from Hamas leaders beforehand.

"It might have been one of the smaller militant groups in Gaza, over whom we have almost no control," suggested the spokesman. "Yeah. That also sounds plausible."

Analysts disagreed whether the threat to kill millions of Jews between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea indeed emerged by accident. "Despite their public statements, Hamas exercises tight control over all activity in the Gaza Strip," explained Jenn Ninn. "It's difficult to believe even the smallest 'We will slaughter all the Jews and feast on their livers' remark could happen without Hamas's knowledge and approval, even tacit. The façade of the weekly demonstrations at the border fence being 'spontaneous' collapsed long ago. No one publicly espouses genocide in Gaza without Hamas's say-so."

Others remain cautious in their assessment. "There are literally hundreds of radical groups, some numbering only a few dozen people," argued Bridget Uselya. "There's no shortage of surplus genocidal antisemitism in Gaza, and Hamas can't keep tabs on all of it. It's certainly plausible, even likely, that some other group has its own stockpile of 'From the River to the Sea Palestine Will Be Free of Jews' and 'Khaybar Khaybar ya yahud jaish Muhammad saya’ud' that it can deploy whenever it feels so inclined. Hamas indeed might not be behind this most recent bout of attempts to pick up where Hitler left off rhetorically. Or otherwise."

Hamas sympathizers, meanwhile, insisted that the movement does not target civilians with its genocidal rhetoric, but that it simply lacks the technological precision necessary to ensure that its threats to wipe out an entire people only hit the military population of Israel.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

03/27 Links Pt1: What to make of this pro-Israel presidency; Trump Could Replicate Golan Heights Decision in Judea and Samaria; Hamas: "Scatter the enemies’ body parts, make the skulls fly in the sky”

From Ian:

Jonathan S. Tobin: What to make of this pro-Israel presidency

Some have argued that Trump's "America First" beliefs will undermine America's position in the world and ultimately weaken Israel. But while that was a reasonable argument to make in 2016, before we knew how he would govern, it no longer makes sense in light of Trump's strong stance on Iran or his desire to persuade NATO allies to strengthen their defenses. Indeed, with France and Germany – whose leaders are supposedly the epitome of true Western values – bent on appeasing Iran, that argument now falls flat.

Nor has his inconsistent policy toward Russia – a combination of weak talk and strong policies that are much tougher than those of our European allies – endangered Israel, given that it was then-U.S. President Barack Obama who punted Syria to Moscow, not Trump.

Trump has done more than merely reverse Obama's goal of creating more "daylight" between the United States and Israel. He has promoted policies that have discarded decades of foolish conventional wisdom about the Middle East and replaced it with stances on the conflict that are rooted in realpolitik and recognition of Israel's rights and security needs.

That doesn't mean Trump is perfect and, as whoever wins the April election in Israel may find out, his peace plan may cause more harm than good. But it's past time that his critics acknowledge that what he's done with respect to Israel places him above any other American president with respect to friendship for the Jewish state, including Harry Truman (whom many Jewish admirers also spoke of in religious terms), Ronald Reagan or George W. Bush.

That doesn't make Trump Queen Esther. But whether or not you intend to vote for him next year, it is past time to stop pretending that this administration's policies toward Israel can be depicted as anything but a historic breakthrough that should be properly noted and applauded.

PMW: 2 PMW op-eds explaining why Hamas is launching rockets at Israel

Again using the PA's constant messaging and indoctrination that the terrorist prisoners are legitimate "freedom fighters", Hamas also had to prove its bona fides as the protector of the terrorist prisoners.

Accordingly, here again, notwithstanding the "official" excuse the underlying motive for the launch of the rocket, has nothing to do with Israel, but rather the internal Palestinian power struggle to win the hearts of the Palestinians.

As if the internal Palestinian power struggle was insufficient, in the last few weeks the PA and Hamas received what they perceive to be additional, albeit expected support, from the international community, specifically the UN.

In the last few weeks, Hamas and the other Palestinian "factions" in Gaza have continued to launch rocket attacks against Israel, including two long range rockets (criticized by Qawasmi) that targeted Israel's heavily civilian populated Dan region. While often quick to condemn Israel, the UN Secretary General's Special representative to the Middle East, Nikkolay Mladenov, issued no condemnation of these attacks.

Last week, the UN Human Rights Council adopted several resolutions condemning Israel after adopting the PA and Hamas narrative that the violent clashes, organized and orchestrated by Hamas, on Israel's border with Gaza since March 30th 2018, are nothing more than peaceful demonstrations and that the Israeli response to them was excessive.

The combination of the internal Palestinian power struggle with the "stamp of approval" of the UN that Palestinian terrorism will constantly be downplayed and even ignored in order to serve the goal of vilifying Israel made the launch of the rocket attack inevitable. Now, when Israel responds, the PA and Hamas will again play their all too successful "victim card", in the hope of diverting attention from their own pugnacious policies in favor of condemning Israel.

David Singer: Trump Could Replicate Golan Heights Decision in Judea and Samaria

Trump could well turn his attention now to recognising the legal right of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria.

The United Nations'

designation of Judea and Samaria as “The Occupied Palestinian Territories”and
retention of the term “West Bank” – first used in 1950 – rather than “Judea and Samaria” -used since biblical times
has similarly signalled the UN’s rejection of the Jewish peoples’ right to “close settlement” in Judea and Samaria – expressly recognised in article 6 of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine and preserved until today by article 80 of the United Nations Charter.

Another Trump proclamation acknowledging the legal right of Jews to live in Judea and Samaria could happen at any time – irrespective of whether Israel has passed any law similar to that passed on 14 December 1981 declaring that ”the law, jurisdiction and administration of the state shall apply to the Golan Heights.”

Such a Trump proclamation would blunt the rising tide of rabid Jew-hatred within the United Nations, UNESCO, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the European Union resulting from these institutions having failed to acknowledge such vested Jewish rights under international law.

The Jewish people worldwide owe President Trump a huge debt of gratitude for championing and defending their right to reconstitute the Jewish National Home in the Golan Heights – and hopefully soon – in Judea and Samaria.

Sometimes, Arabs can't take the political correctness of pretending that they are OK with Jews and only oppose Zionists, and they explode.

From Egyptian news site Saaa25:

Unite with Gaza, oh Arabs, in the face of the accursed blood-shedders

The crimes and the unbearable bombing that the Zionist enemy is doing to the unarmed civilians in Gaza is nothing but a new crime that joins the other crimes committed by the Zionists in the region. So come, oh Arabs, the opportunity is here to liquidate Israel for good and uprooting it from the region.

I know that I am dreaming, and I know that my scream will fall on deaf ears, but I will keep dreaming, although I am torn on my inside because of what I see and what I hear, the brutal bombing of our people in Gaza, with the blessing of Trump, the agent of the Zionists, who is basically a Jew. All American presidents, regardless of their color or form, are hateful Jews, and deceitful foxes. What happened in Israel (to merit) all these bloody lethal preparations? What weapons and (military) equipment does Gaza have, in order to oppose the deception of the treacherous, blood-spilling, treaty-violating Jews. Citizens in Gaza do not have food, while Arabs are spending their nights in Tel-Aviv every day, among the pleasures, lust, drunkenness and clamor. The Palestinian civilian in Gaza does not have his freedom on his and his grandfathers’ land. The occupying, low-life, blood-sucking and blood-spilling foreigners came to occupy our lands. They are removed from the mercy of Allah. Everybody hated them and hates them today, because they violate treaties.

Is any one of the Arab kings brave enough to tell Israel to back off? And why is all this Arab silence, cowardice, feebleness in the face of the most heinous crimes committed against humanity? Where are all the human rights’s committees in the face of this hateful and bloody bombing by these accursed Talmuds, these treacherous spillers of blood? Netanyahu is the grandson of Sharon, who committed the most heinous crimes against this people, as you all know, as you all remember the massacres in Sabra and Shatilla, Deir Yassin, and Bahr Al-Baqar.

These are all the same scenes over and over again, only the faces are different. The thing that is left is revenge, and Allah is capable of everything. Unite, oh Arabs, in the face of the accursed Jews, they are weak and despicable. The land is not theirs. Unite, oh Arabs, what is happening is not acceptable by any religion or people, or anyone. Unite, oh Arabs, in order to protect the honor of your women in Gaza, Deir Balah, Deir Yassin, Tul-Karem, Haifa, Jaffa. Unite, for the Blessed Land knows its (rightful) owners. Glory belongs to those who stand against tyranny, arrogance, killing, and blood-shedding. Unite, oh Arabs, there is an accursed Zoroastrian (Iranian) and Jewish pre-planned attack against you. Unite, oh Arabs, what is it that makes you stay put????

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.