Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, July 04, 2019

07/04 Links Pt1: Three Noes That Set the Mideast On Course of Conflict; 2nd ‘son of Hamas’ leaves terror group, exposing corruption, Turkish spy ring; 'Al-Quds' Editorial: Conditions Are Ripe For A New Intifada

From Ian:

Honest Reporting: Three Noes That Set the Mideast On Course of Conflict

While the world has pressed Israel for years to accept a land-for-peace formula, Dov Lipman explores the Arabs’ three noes in response to Israel’s peace offer immediately after the Six-Day War.

Demands from the international community that Israel remove its military and citizens from areas it took control of during the Six Day War ignore a simple fact: Immediately following the war, Israel was willing to do just that.

And the Arabs refused. With three noes.

In June 1967 the combined armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan planned to attack Israel from the north, south and east. While Arab leaders made grandiose declarations regarding the imminent destruction of the Jewish state, Israelis prepared themselves for mass casualties and to fight for their lives.

Israel managed to defeat these massive armies in just six days, starting with a preemptive strike that destroyed the Egyptian air force on the ground. In just six days Israel not only fought off these armies but also won control of land which these countries previously held – the West Bank, (from Jordan), the Gaza Strip (from Egypt), the Golan Heights (from Syria), and the Sinai Desert (from Egypt).

Israel never had plans to gain control over these areas and immediately following the war was prepared to remove its forces from these regions in exchange for peace with its Arab neighbors. Moshe Dayan, Israel’s then minister of defense remarked that “Israel is waiting for a phone call from the Arabs.” Abba Eban, Israel’s foreign minister made an open declaration at “everything is negotiable.”

Rabbinate chiefs meet with heads of Ethiopian community to end violence

Israeli chief rabbis, rabbi Itzhak Yosef and rabbi Dabid Lau met with the chief rabbi to the Ethiopian community and heads of the Ethiopian community in Israel on Thursday to bring an end to the riots following the death of Solomon Tekah, who was killed by an off-duty police officer.

The rabbis claimed that members of the Ethiopian community have the right to demonstrate and that the discrimination against the community must not be brushed aside, and added that the police must show restraint and allow the protesters to demonstrate.

In exchange to working to calm the spirits around the police forces, the rabbis requested that the community heads promise to call upon the protesters to cease the violence and demonstrate in a lawful manner.

"We call upon the members of the Ethiopian community to hold their demonstrations peacefully, as well as call upon the police forces to show restraint towards the pained protesters," commented rabbi Yosef at the end of the meeting.

Rabbi Lau joined in with Yosef's comments and added that "We are all brothers and the correct way to settle the issues is in conversation while holding mutual respect."

‘Millions share your grief,’ Erdan tells family of slain Ethiopian-Israeli teen

Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Thursday paid a condolence visit to the family of an Ethiopian-Israeli teenager who was shot dead by police, sparking widespread protests this week, and said the entire nation was grieving with them.

“Millions of citizens are sharing your grief,” Erdan told the parents of Solomon Tekah, 19, who was killed in Haifa on Sunday. “What happened with Solomon is sad and tragic, and I hope this is the last [such] case.

“No words can truly comfort you, but you should know that your pain and the pain over what happened to Solomon is the pain of us all,” he added, expressing condolences on his behalf and on behalf of the government.

Since Monday, protesters across Israel have blocked roads, burned tires and denounced what they say is systemic discrimination against the Ethiopian-Israeli community, after an off-duty police officer fatally shot Tekah. The demonstrations escalated after the funeral on Tuesday, and some protesters set vehicles on fire, overturned a police car and clashed with officers and others who tried to break through their makeshift roadblocks.

According to police, more than 110 officers were wounded in the clashes, including from stones and bottles hurled at them, and 136 protesters had been arrested for rioting.

What you need to know about J-Street's "Birthright" style trip (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

The Birthright program is often in the news, mainly because of the tremendous work it does to strengthen the Jewish sense of identity of young Jews by creating the opportunity for them to visit Israel for free.

The Birthright trips have expanded over the years and now you can choose your own theme/itinerary:

o Active: Dive-in to the ultimate outdoor adventure and get ready to hike, bike, and climb your way through Israel
o Professional: Delve deeper into your professional industry by experiencing the best of Israel through an occupational lens
o Culinary: Savor the flavor of Mediterranean cuisine and develop your palate and culinary skills alongside some of Israel's finest chefs
o Spiritual: Embark on a meaningful quest through mystical Israel. Connect with the land, the people and yourself
o Cultural: Get lost in Israel's thriving city centers and explore music, theatre and award-winning film
o LGBTQ: Join like-minded peers on a curated tour of Israel's thriving LGBTQ culture
Study Abroad: Make the country your classroom and travel Israel for 12-14 days. You will experience all the best parts of our Classic trip and master a topic of your choosing earning 3 credits in the process

The goal of Birthright is

Birthright Israel seeks to ensure the future of the Jewish people by strengthening Jewish identity, Jewish communities, and connection with Israel via a trip to Israel for the majority of Jewish young adults from around the world.

Our hope is that our trips motivate young people to continue to explore their Jewish identity and support for Israel and maintain long-lasting connections with the Israelis they meet on their trip. We encourage our alumni to take active roles in Jewish organizations and to participate in follow-up activities worldwide.

But Birthright also gets into the news because of the attempt by left-wing groups to politicize what the program does. These groups offer suggestions -- if not outright demands -- that the Birthright 10-day program includes a 'balanced' introduction to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

J Street is among those left-wing Jewish groups, under J Street U, that want to tinker with the program

The J Street U campaign emphasizes that it is important for American Jewish students to be well-informed and to receive a full and nuanced picture of the challenges facing Israel today, including the threat that the occupation presents to its long-term future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people. The petitions warn against the damaging consequences of excluding and omitting Palestinian voices and narratives from the conversation.

So now J Street has started its own alternative to Birthright trips.

Why is this a concern?

Because of J Street's controversial agenda to use the US to impose its politics on Israel.

As J Street puts it:

Israel’s supporters have the right and the obligation to speak out when the policies or the actions of the Israeli government are hurting the long-term interests of Israel and the Jewish people.

J Street presents itself as a more liberal alternative to AIPAC. But it is more than that. Unlike AIPAC, which advocates for Israeli policy independent of politics and who leads the Israeli government, J Street actively pushes its own agenda in the US in order to influence the policy in Israel. For example, unlike AIPAC, J Street actively involves itself in US elections and supports only Democratic candidates. Considering how Democratic candidates are moving the left and are less supportive of Israel, that is a major concern that needs to be addressed.

As the J StreetPAC site puts it on their About Us page:

While J Street notes the overwhelming Jewish support for the Democratic party, that does not explain J Street support for anti-Israel Democrats.

o On its website, J Street supports Representative Mark Pocan, who in 2017 anonymously reserved official Capitol Hill space for an anti-Israel forum organized by pro-BDS groups.
o  J Street supports Representative Hank Johnson, who referred to Israelis living in Judea and Samaria as 'termites'.
o  J Street also supports Dan Kildee, who along with Pocan and Johnson met with Shawan Jabarin, a member of the terrorist group PFLP.
o  Just last year, J Street endorsed Rashida Tlaib, despite her support for Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh and criticism of Kamala Harris for discussing cooperation between California and Israel on water management, agriculture, and cyber security. J Street did eventually withdraw its support for Tlaib -- but only because Tlaib withdrew her support for a two-state solution.
o  All this is consistent with past J Street activities, such as actively supporting the biased Goldstone Report, working for the Iran deal alongside the pro-Iranian group NIAC and bringing "Breaking the Silence" to speak at Princeton in 2017 during Yom HaZikaron and Yom Haatzmaut.

While J Street U has put together its own "Birthright trip, this is not the first time J Street has tried this.

The blog Mystical Politics has a copy of the original press release from J-Street posted by J Street U director Daniel May on January 25, 2011, announcing a trip in conjunction with Birthright. (The press release has been removed from the J Street site):

J Street U is very happy to announce that we will be leading a free, ten-day Taglit-Birthright trip this summer titled, "Explore Israel: Progressive Zionism and Social Justice."

This trip is an incredible opportunity to connect with the Israel that isn't on the front page or in the guide books. Move beyond the headlines, and see what's really happening on the ground.

If you're Jewish, age 18 - 25, and have yet to take a peer group trip to Israel, we strongly encourage you to sign up and be the first to know when registration opens.

The trip is a chance to appreciate the vibrancy of Israel's history, culture and landscape from a perspective that acknowledges your Jewish and progressive values.

The best way to discover the richness of Israeli society and the full contours of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to travel around Israel and meet people from the diverse groups of the region. There is simply no substitute for seeing the land and connecting with the people.

On the trip, we'll speak with members of Israeli civil society working to advance the goals of democracy and human rights. Our itinerary will provide a cross-section of Israeli opinion.

This trip is a gift of Taglit-Birthright Israel and will be provided by The Israel Experience, Ltd. [emphasis added]

The intended focus of the trip was political -- from a 'progressive' perspective, focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and meeting representatives of human rights groups -- as opposed to Jewish identity and connection to Israel. That was, and is, their prerogative. However, the description does not seem like it would mesh with the Birthright goals of identity and connection

And mesh it didn't.

The blog FresnoZionism sounded the alarm: Action alert: Don’t let J Street exploit Birthright:

In other words, the phony ‘pro-Israel’ organization J Street, a group that takes money from people associated with Saudi Arabia, the Arab-American institute, Iranian interests, anti-Israel billionaire George Soros, a mysterious woman associated with the guy who beat the Hong Kong horse-racing track, and the Turkish producer of anti-Israel propaganda films; whose co-founder [Daniel Levy] called the creation of Israel ‘an act that was wrong’; and which facilitated meetings between members of Congress and Judge Richard Goldstone, author of the notorious Goldstone report that accused Israel of deliberately murdering civilians in the Gaza war — this organization has the chutzpah to use funds provided by Taglit-Birthright to sabotage its purpose!

He contacted Birthright and encouraged others to as well, and in the end, the Birthright trip was canceled.

Moriel Rothman, President of the J Street U student board, issued a statement which read in part:

J Street U had planned our trip in order to forge an avenue through which liberal-minded college students – who may otherwise not engage – could develop a deep and lasting relationship with the Jewish homeland. The trip was to include the traditional highlights of a Taglit-Birthright experience – visits to Masada, the Kotel, and Yad Va’Shem – as well as opportunities for students to engage with Israeli human rights advocates, journalists, and politicians involved in the struggle to preserve the democratic future of the Jewish homeland.

...Despite their initial approval for a trip that would provide just such an experience, Birthright’s leadership has now decided that it is inappropriate for JStreetU to organize a trip because we are politically oriented. Nonetheless, comparable organizations with different politics than ours participate and help organize trips every year. For instance, AIPAC’s “Capital to Capital” Birthright trip is designed for Jewish political activists who are “significantly involved in the American political process.” Given that other such trips are regularly offered, we were surprised and saddened that our trip was suddenly deemed inappropriate. [emphasis added]

Again, there are politics and there are politics. FresnoZionism in the same post makes reference to the politics of Moriel Rothman:

What is J Street U? Its National Board President U is a Middlebury College student named Moriel Rothman. Here is how he explains the controversy around the Sheik Jarrah / Shimon haTzadik neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Pay attention not only to his words, but his tone:

…the Jerusalem municipality has been bending to the will of fanatic Jewish settlers, and producing - based on archaic documents from the Ottoman period and manufactured Israeli law - eviction notices to a number of Palestinian families, and in some cases - such as with three families in Sheikh Jarrah- acting on those eviction notices by force and removing those Palestinian families from their homes. The municipality’s actions are hugely problematic from a moral standpoint: not only are Jews buying up and/or stealing Arab land in East Jerusalem, but Arabs are moreover unable to buy land in the primarily Jewish West Jerusalem… These policies are also hugely problematic from the standpoint of peace, as East Jerusalem must be the capital of the future Palestinian state, and the Clinton Parameters, which state that Palestine will get control of Arab neighborhoods and Israel will control Jewish neighborhoods, are made harder and harder to implement with each infiltration of Jewish settlers into Arab neighborhoods like Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah. [emphasis in the original]

This is the example set by a head of J Street U at the time.

In the end, it appeared that the provider J Street U was working with, Israel Experience, did not clear the arrangement with Birthright in advance.

J Street U's statement gave a hint of things to come:

J Street U students are petitioning Birthright CEO Gidi Mark to “provide more Birthright trips that speak to the values of social justice, democracy, and peace that are so important to young, progressive Jews. [emphasis added]

An article from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at the time explained the Birthright position on politically oriented trips and why trips coordinated with AIPAC are different from what J Street proposed:

“We said such a trip, as described in a brief conversation with the Israel Experience, would likely be out of keeping with our longstanding policy of not conducting trips with a political orientation,” Birthright said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Birthright subsequently confirmed that the policy was adopted in 2009, when the organization decided not to partner any longer with groups that are “overtly political.”

Prior to 2009, Birthright trips were run in conjunction with the Zionist Organization of America and the Union for Progressive Zionists, the precursor to J Street U.

Birthright continues to partner with AIPAC, though references to the pro-Israel lobby group were scrubbed recently from the website of the Israel Experience. Birthright said AIPAC did not fall under the 2009 policy change because the organization does not generally seek to influence Israeli policy. [emphasis added]

Birthright further explained the

For years, we have run a Capital-to-Capital trip through another trip provider, which focuses on the Israeli political system. The provider has been running this trip, with input from AIPAC, a mainstream Israel advocacy group, long before JStreet was established. It focuses on Israel’s political structure, with an approach similar to a political science class; the trip has never been tilted to one side of the political spectrum. [emphasis added]

In the end, J Street went on the trip on their own.

How did it go?

In a J-Street U mailing no longer online, Daniel May, Director, J Street U, wrote on June 21, 2011

I can tell that these two weeks are making a life-long impact on the participants. And amidst the painful stories of this conflict, that fact is giving me tremendous hope. But I don't want you to hear it from me. I want you to hear it directly from the students...

Simone Zimmerman, Berkeley ‘13 – Read her whole post here.

As aspiring peacebuilders, we have already been given so much to challenge us, and we have barely chipped the surface. I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility already, and a tremendous amount of privilege for being able to participate in this journey with J Street U. I’ve been to Israel many times in many different capacities, but this is my first trip where I am finding that I can, without contradiction, bring together my deep love for this country with my deep commitment to exploring the toughest challenges facing Israel today. [emphasis added]

Here is a picture of Simone Zimmerman from during the J Street U trip

From J Street U Facebook Page

Zimmerman has since made a name for herself in expressing that "deep love" and "commitment":

Bernie Sanders staffer fired for anti-Netanyahu rant hired to run B’Tselem USA

After Zimmerman, a former J Street student activist, was hired by the Sanders campaign, it was discovered she previously wrote on Facebook, “Bibi Netanyahu is an arrogant, deceptive, cynical, manipulative asshole,” according to the Washington-based Free Beacon.

She continued: “F— you, Bibi, for daring to insist that you legitimately represent even a fraction of the Jews in this world, for your consistent fear-mongering, for pushing Israel in word and deed, farther and farther away from the international community, and most importantly, for trying to derail a potentially historic diplomatic deal with Iran and thus trying to distract the world from the fact that you sanctioned the murder of over 2,000 people this summer.”

She edited the post on March 3, 2015, changing “asshole” to “politician” and the second expletive to “shame on you.” She was dismissed by the Sanders campaign after being its Jewish outreach coordinator for only two days.

Simone Zimmerman. Screengrab from Haaretz video on YouTube

Considering the example of J Street's past activities against Israel, the attitude demonstrated in the past by J Street U leaders like Moriel Rothman and the activities of the products of J Street U leadership such as Simone Zimmerman -- who is one of the founders of the virulently anti-Israel If Not Now -- suspicions of J Street "Birthright-style" trips are natural.

According to the itinerary of the current 9-day J Street trip:

Day 6: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Occupation 101
Morning: Settlement Tour and Palestinian Village
Afternoon: Hebron
Evening: Group conversation
Overnight: Jerusalem

Day 7: Israel and Palestinian Perspectives Over the Green Line
Morning: Ramallah–Palestinian self-rule under occupation.
Afternoon: Conversation with Settlers
Evening: Israeli and Palestinian Peace Activists
Overnight: Ein Gedi

There is nothing wrong with criticism of Israel.

The issue is not criticism but rather J Street's record of undercutting Israel and its subversion of support for it.

o  We see it reflected in J Street statements
o  We see it reflected in J Street's actions.
o  We see it reflected in J Street's support for anti-Israel Democratic candidates
o We see it reflected in J Street 'graduates'

J Street is a special interest group with its own agenda.

It is a political agenda that contrasts with AIPAC, just as its politicized idea of an Israel trip contrasts with Birthright trips that encourage Jewish identity and connection with Israel.

Neither AIPAC nor Birthright have a particular agenda that it imposes or politics it is trying to push onto others.

The same is not true of J Street.
The goal of its trip is just one more way for J Street to push its agenda.

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.

Photo of Muslim and Jew praying together upsets Arabs

The Israel in Arabic Facebook and Twitter pages showed this photo with the caption "Differences in religion and belief in one God. #Israel Pluralism and freedom of worship. "

Pretty innocuous, right?

Wrong.

The Twitter responses in Arabic for a picture showing coexistence were really, really angry. There are angry responses to every post by @IsraelInArabic but these were especially vitriolic.

One person even responded with a photo of Hitler saying "We rejoice in killing you."

The Arab media picked up on this, with this article calling it "propaganda" and saying that Israel is guilty of religious and ethnic cleansing.

The responses on the Facebook page were not nearly as bad. Many were supportive of the image. The article claims that Israel is censoring the negative comments, but there are still some that joke about Jews going to ovens.

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.

Explicit antisemitism continues in Arabic language media.

Felesteen.ps, which is associated with Hamas, has an article about how Jews have always been punished by Allah for their terrible traits, and those traits are immutable.

Allah has always known that the Jews will continue to do the same behaviors in the same way as their predecessors, and will continue towards the deviation and the stubbornness and the disbelief of their parents, not taking into account their fate and punishment, without attempting to alter their own debauchery and tyranny inherited from their ancestors; Therefore, Allah has ruled that punishments should be imposed on them until the day of resurrection, in order to punish them for encroaching on their borders, and for overcoming their orders.

The article notes that the Jews were punished through the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and Romans, and claims that Mohammed's massacres and ethnic cleansing of Jews were similarly part of Allah's will:

In the era of prophecy the corruption of the Jews was punished by the prophet (peace be upon him), the Jews of Beni al-Naqr and Bani Qayqaa were killed, and the Jews of Beni Qaraidha and the Jews of Khyber were besieged until they surrendered and left the Arabian Peninsula.

For some reason, though, the "Nakba" and repeated defeat of Arab armies by Israel are not considered to be Divine will.

On the contrary; this article tells us that the Jews are the ones who are losing today, not the Arabs in Gaza that this article represents:

In our times, we are witnessing the sowing of corruption by Jews, as they occupy the land of Palestine, and kill its people, jail them, or treat them with injustice.

It may look to some people as if this (divine) threat (of retribution) against the Jews is suspended, because of the state and the power that they have, but we believe that this is not so, because mujahideen and people waging ribat (voluntary defense of Islam) from among the "triumphant group" are still on the battlefields of jihad, confronting this Jewish enemy with all the power they have. The strikes of the Mujahideen still hurt this enemy and shake its entity, hurt its soldiers, and the enemy lives in fear and anxiety, and it doesn't enjoy peace and quiet. This is the continuation of the promise Allah made, and on its path towards the destruction of the state of the Jews, and then the Believers will rejoice at Allah's bringing them victory.

There has been an uptick in explicitly antisemitic articles in Arabic media recently. My guess is that this is a frustrated reaction to the diplomatic gains Israel is making in the Arab world whose opponents must go back to the tried and true methods to incite hate as they attempt to disrupt those ties.

(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.

Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

Nine out of 10 of the Democratic presidential contenders in the first debate raised their hands when asked if they would return to the JCPOA, the nuclear deal with Iran that Donald Trump removed the US from in May.

At more or less the same time, there was an announcement of the creation of a new “think tank” called the Quincy Institute (after John Quincy Adams, who said that America “goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy”). The organization received pledges of half a million dollars each from George Soros on the left, and Charles Koch on the right. Apparently these politically diverse billionaires agree with Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian-American Council and one of the founders of the institute, that the Iranian revolutionary Islamic regime is not a monster that the US should destroy.

Another voice calling for a return to “engagement” with Iran as opposed to the policy of economic sanctions followed by the Trump administration is National Security Action (NSA), the foreign policy lobby of the former Obama Administration. NSA is co-chaired by Ben Rhodes, one of the architects of “engagement” (which in practice meant payoffs, appeasement, and a guaranteed path to nuclear weapons).

One of the pillars of the Rhodes policy, which was detailed in the 2006 Iraq Study Group proposal of which he was one of the authors (my 2006 analysis is here), is the trading of Israel’s security for concessions from Syria and Iran. At that time, Syria was facilitating the transit of insurgents and Iranian weapons, including advanced roadside bombs that were killing US soldiers, across its border with Iraq. The idea was that the US would force Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria (as well as create a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria), and in return, Syria would close its border with Iraq.

Although Israel’s worst (or second-worst) Prime Minister ever, Ehud Olmert, made an overture to Syria in 2007, almost certainly at US prompting. But Bashar al-Assad wasn’t interested, preferring his alliance with Iran.

The idea of trading Israel’s security for the friendship of Iran continued through the Obama Administration. The Iranians reacted cynically, taking what they could get while still chanting “death to America.” Obama’s Defense Department applied pressure to the Israeli defense establishment in 2012 to scuttle a plan to bomb the centers of Iranian nuclear development, at a time when the window of opportunity to seriously set back the program was significantly wider than it is today.

It’s unfortunate to see that the policy of appeasement, reversed by President Trump when he re-imposed sanctions on Iran, is still championed by the Democratic opposition. But I suppose that “opposition” means opposition to everything Trump does and says, regardless of its merit. And it fits with the anti-Israel wind blowing from the left in America, where the Iranian threat is seen as an Israeli problem, not an American one. Indeed, one sees a congruence of the isolationist right and anti-American left – as illustrated by the supporters of the Quincy Institute – who find it useful to blame Israel for dragging the US into conflicts that it could otherwise avoid.

I’m convinced that most of those who want the US to rejoin the JCPOA – at least those who have given it serious thought and have the background to understand the situation, which excludes most of the democratic candidates – understand that it will lead to Iran building nuclear weapons. This is because the agreement has a sunset date for its restrictions, and compliance with some of the most important of them, like the prohibition of research into military applications, is impossible to verify (the Iranians refuse to permit inspection of military sites). All the JCPOA really does is protect Iran while it finishes developing its weapons. But people think, “So what? Even Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and the US has a massive nuclear deterrent.”

This is a mistake. Unlike Pakistan, Iran is aggressively proceeding with a plan whose first stage is to eliminate American influence in the Middle East, seize control of approximately one-third of the world’s petrochemical resources, establish a Shiite caliphate across the region, and eliminate Israel. Iran already effectively controls Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and is on the verge of establishing a land bridge to the Mediterranean. If it is allowed to succeed, it will become a threat to the West unmatched since the Soviet Union.

Today, according to Michael Doran in the Wall St. Journal (paywalled article here), Iran’s in-your-face violation of JCPOA requirements as well as sabotage of tankers and pipelines, and its downing of a US military drone, are intended to pressure the Europeans (who are seriously affected by disruptions in the oil supply). Iran wants them to lobby the US to re-establish waivers, removed by Trump, that allow Iranian-European cooperation on supposedly “peaceful” nuclear projects. Great.

The Iranian regime thinks it can survive economic sanctions, at least until the end of the Trump Administration. It controls the allocation of resources in Iran, and will brutally suppress popular attempts at regime change. It also believes that it can hold Israel hostage, as shown by its recent threat that Israel would live only half an hour after an American attack like the one that Trump ordered – and then recalled – after the drone incident. It believes that that ultimately the view that a nuclear-armed Iran is preferable to the alternatives will prevail in the US and Europe.

It might, in the US. It is not possible in Israel, where it is understood that a nuclear Iran will have the ability to destroy the country, either with nuclear weapons or with conventional ones under a nuclear umbrella. And there is absolutely no doubt that destroying Israel is one of Iran’s major objectives. The fact that Israel has a protected retaliatory capability gives us some comfort, but not enough to justify inaction.

It could happen that the sanctions will cause Iran to end its program (but this is unlikely). It could happen that the US will bomb the Iranian nuclear installations (even more unlikely). Or, I suppose a meteor could land on Tehran and wipe out the regime (the most unlikely). But, as long as something is possible short of war, Israel will wait – until the last moment, the moment before Iran builds its bombs. Once this point is reached, there will be no alternative. Netanyahu and Gantz are agreed on this, if on little else.

The Saudi king once said that the only way to end the conflicts in the Middle East was to cut off the head of the snake, meaning Iran. He was right. When time runs out, the snake will lose its head.

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.

07/03 Links Pt2: DNA study solves ancient riddle of origins of the Philistines; George Galloway lecturing about antisemitism; Synagogues are now conducting active shooter drills during services

From Ian:

Know thine enemy: DNA study solves ancient riddle of origins of the Philistines

A groundbreaking new study of DNA taken from the bones of ancient residents of the coastal city of Ashkelon has put to rest a centuries-old debate surrounding the origins of the Kingdom of Israel’s most reviled foes, the Philistines. According to a paper published Wednesday in Science Advances, the ancestors of Goliath of Gath emigrated from Southern Europe.

In “Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines,” an interdisciplinary team of scholars from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the Leon Levy Expedition Ashkelon proves that coinciding with the arrival of the Philistines in Ashkelon in the 12th century BCE, there was an influx of Southern European genetic material in the local population.

DNA analysis was completed on samples from three periods within the Bronze and Iron ages (~3,600-2,800 years ago) from remains of Canaanites and early and late Philistines, which were taken from three sites: a Philistine cemetery discovered in 2016, graves discovered in the 1990s, and infant burials uncovered under Philistine homes.

Through analysis of ten ancient individuals’ DNA, the study suggests that Philistines reached Ashkelon from Europe by the early Iron Age. After two centuries, however, the European genetic markers were dwarfed by the Levantine gene pool, suggesting intensive intermarriage. The Philistine culture and peoplehood remained distinct from other local communities for six centuries.

“With this study we finally have direct evidence that fits and builds upon the hypothesis of Philistine origins from the western Mediterranean,” Daniel M. Master, director of the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon and head of the archaeological team, told The Times of Israel this week.

George Galloway defends Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, Chris Williamson

Former British MP George Galloway has defended disgraced Labour MP Chris Williamson after he was suspended in February for insinuating that the Labour party has been “too apologetic” over antisemitism.

However, Williamson was reinstated last week with just a warning for his behavior.

Since then, at least 90 Labour MPs and colleagues have called on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to remove Williamson.

In a video published by RT on Tuesday night, Galloway charged that antisemitism is being weaponized to attack people like Corbyn and Williamson.

“The danger is, if you’re calling everyone antisemitic - the whole Labour party, the whole Labour movement, the whole [Jeremy] Corbyn movement - then the real antisemites can go about their evil, fatal business unnoticed,” he claimed.

He said that the analogy of the “boy who cried wolf” is useful, adding that “we are so far down the rabbit hole now of the weaponization of antisemitism as a political issue that it has become not just unjust, not just immoral but positively dangerous and dangerous to Jewish people themselves.”

Galloway called the idea that Corbyn, “who I have known since the 1970s,” is an antisemite “absurd” and “offensive.”

Going on to defend Williamson, the former Labour MP said that there was not a “scintilla of antisemitism or any other form of racism...present in his mind [or] in his soul.”

He said that allegations against Williamson are “dangerous, reckless and irresponsible.”

During his address, Galloway insinuated that people like Corbyn and Williamson are accused of antisemitism for just having books of Noam Chomsky, Prof. Norman Finkelstein, Karl Marx and others, who too have been accused of antisemitism for sharing their views.

.@Georgegalloway lecturing about antisemitism, folks. What next? @LSarsour lecturing about tolerance? @AOC lecturing about sensitivity? @LouisFarrakhan lecturing about a love of the Jewish people? https://t.co/lRBoAQQ7MG
— Ozraeli Dave (((דיויד לנג))) (@Israellycool) July 3, 2019

Labour MP faces no-confidence vote for criticizing party on anti-Semitism

An MP is facing deselection for signing a statement criticizing the UK Labour party’s decision to readmit a lawmaker who was suspended over anti-Semitism allegations, the Guardian reported Wednesday.

Ellie Reeves, who is 22 weeks pregnant, was one of 121 MPs and members of the House of Lords who called on opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to take away the whip from Chris Williamson MP.

The Labour Party last week reportedly reimposed Williamson’s suspension two days after it was lifted, amid an ongoing furor over the party’s handling of complaints of anti-Semitism.

Chris Williamson, a Corbyn ally, was filmed in February telling a meeting that the party was “too apologetic” and had “given too much ground” in its response to anti-Semitism allegations.

The chairman of Reeves’ constituency of Lewisham West and Penge has received notice from a party member who requested a motion of no confidence in the lawmaker, the Guardian reported.

We’re a couple of weeks into a shiputz (renovation) of the larger home above and to the side of our rented “grandmother’s apartment.” I’m fine with that. Or rather, I was fine with that. Until the other day. When ten days had turned into two weeks and counting.

Don't get me wrong. The necessary precautions are all in place. There is a shomer on guard for the duration of the renovation. (There has to be, by law.) Dov locks me in every morning as he leaves. But still, this is a country where many of my people are killed by people who look and sound a lot like these workmen. It is disconcerting to hear their language, Arabic, all around me as I sit at my virtual desk in my home.

This street is quiet. If sound comes through my window, it is generally birdsong. When it is not, it is children playing in Hebrew, or adults speaking in Hebrew or English, depending on where they were born. If an Israeli neighbor is in on the conversation, we speak Hebrew, for we are in the Jewish State.

The shiputz, however, has stirred the air of the neighborhood, and changed my milieu. Instead of the quiet, calm sounds of my street coming through the window, I hear the workers, above and around me, shouting one to the other. Instead of “Chanah” or “Avi,” I hear, “Raed, Raed,” followed by a guttural flow of Arabic, unintelligible to me.

A workman will call down from the rooftop to another workman inside the kitchen. Someone will call from a car to the people on the roof. This is a lot of shouting for my street. And it is shouting in Arabic, the language of the people who kill us.

For a moment, this is disconcerting. And then it is not. For this is life in this country, after all.

It’s my life, at any rate, and this is just how it is a lot of the time. Maybe if it been our shiputz, we would have hired Jews. You pay more, but you help your own people and it’s a safer choice. It is not, however, my shiputz. It is cheaper, moreover, to hire Arabs, so that is what people do.

At least that is what my landlord did.

It is upsetting, but as there is nothing we can do about this, we just get on with life. I with my work at home, my husband out and about with his work as a handyman, which leads him to no regular location.

As for my fleeting moment of agitation, I knew what had brought it on. It was my chance meeting with a neighbor. The caterers had called to ask if she wanted a security guard at her son’s bar mitzvah party. She hadn’t thought about it, but now wondered if she should have thought about it. Would my husband be carrying, she asked, and I said he would. She’d ask a few more people just to be sure, and I thought that was fine and told her so: “Nothing will happen.”

And I really meant it.

But since I am a writer, I am susceptible to any suggestion: my imagination can go a little crazy. This means that six hours later, once work and chores are over, the loud construction workers having gone home for the day, I have time to think. That is when the “what ifs” begin inside my head.

The what ifs go something like this:

What if an Arab worker walks down the staircase leading to my mamad (reinforced shelter), sneaks through the open window, and grabs me by the throat?

What if, like Dafna Meir, I am cooking supper, when he walks straight in through the front door with a knife?

What if he comes into the house while I am in the shower, and when I open the door, he is there, and covers my mouth with his hand?

The scenarios flash by and fear takes hold. For a moment it is fierce. But only for a moment. And then, like the workers who have knocked off for the day, it is gone.

I play a stupid game on Facebook and forget all about it.

That is until the next time.

For instance tomorrow morning when the workers spill out of the truck to begin the day, puttering and drilling all about me. Shouting, “Raed, Raed,” as I fold the laundry and the what ifs flash by. What if he comes up from behind? What if he has a gun?

I think these thoughts for a moment. Then I put them away with the laundry, where I cannot see them.

Hidden out of sight and out of mind.

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.

This is what desecration looks like

Yesterday I noted that Palestinians were saying that Jews who were reverently and quietly praying on the Temple Mount were "desecrating Al Aqsa."

Obviously, treating a holy place with respect isn't desecration.

However, StandWithUs tweeted a photo that is one of desecration:

Back in time: #Jerusalem during Jordanian occupation before Israel reunited the city on June 5, 1967: when Jordan destroyed the entire Jewish Quarter of the Old City, including 52 synagogues. Pictured is a Jordanian soldier standing on the remains of Hurva Synagogue. pic.twitter.com/G7qda8GFye
— StandWithUs (@StandWithUs) July 3, 2019

Let's look closer at the photo:

The Jordanian soldier is inside the main sanctuary of the destroyed Hurva synagogue. You can see the mural of the Ten Commandments behind him.

And he is posing triumphantly holding an unrolled Torah Scroll, splayed across the rubble.

This is what desecration of a holy site, and holy object, looks like.

Thank God the Hurva has been rebuilt and is now a permanent part of the Jerusalem skyline. Keep in mind that the people who claim to support peace consider that rebuilt synagogue to be an illegal settlement structure.

Meaning that they are far more upset over repairing the desecration than they ever were over the desecration itself.

If Tikun Olam has a meaning nowadays, it is rebuilding the Jewish presence that was ethnically cleansed in Jerusalem in 1948.

(h/t Lenny)

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.

07/03 Links Pt1: The Palestinian Authority Failed to Block the Bahrain Conference; PA salaries to terrorists rise by 11.8% in 2019 - amidst self-inflicted financial crisis

From Ian:

JCPA: The Palestinian Authority Failed to Block the Bahrain Conference

The PA was unable to pressure Saudi Arabia, Egypt, and Jordan to stay away from the Manama workshop and failed to organize an effective Arab-Islamic rejectionist camp against it.

Moreover, while the delegation of Palestinian businessmen headed by Sheik Ashraf Jabari of Hebron went to the Bahrain conference despite the rage of the Palestinian Authority, only one of them was briefly arrested and interrogated. Even though most of them live in the PA territory, the PA only made threats against them while taking no practical measure to prevent them from going – even though the PA said that doing so was “national treason.”

Senior Fatah officials claim that the PA chairman feared to clash with Arab states that sent representatives to Bahrain. The PA’s difficult financial crisis, precipitated by the cutoff of American aid and PA’s refusal to accept tax revenues from Israel, is having its effect. Abbas is pinning his hopes on the Arab League’s fulfilling its promise to provide him with an economic safety net for a few months that will enable him to recover and prevent the PA’s collapse.

The officials say Abbas is trying to stall for time to concentrate on a political effort against the Deal of the Century in November, after the Israeli elections and close to the date when the political part of the American peace plan will be published.

Until then, Abbas will mount a diplomatic campaign to organize an international conference that will include representatives of Russia, China, and the European Union, which oppose the Deal of the Century.

David Friedman: Lessons from the Golan

In the aftermath of President Trump’s momentous proclamation of March 21, 2019, many rose to applaud while words of criticism emanated from the usual corners. But as the noise dissipated and the sun rose the next day, two new realities were beyond dispute: America’s stature in the world had risen and the security of its ally Israel had been enhanced.

Now, I look back at some of the lessons learned:

1. Foreign policy must evolve with changed circumstances. Many who criticized the president’s decision noted that Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, of blessed memory, negotiated with Syrian President Hafez Assad in 1994 to return portions of the Golan in exchange for peace and they urged that this failed process remain open.

But almost nothing about the circumstances that existed then are relevant today. In particular, the Syrian civil war, in which the Assad regime has murdered or displaced more than one million of its own people and became a client state of Iran, is a seminal event that cannot be ignored. By affirming Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, President Trump has sent a clear and moral message to the world that Syria has forfeited any legitimate claim to the Golan Heights.

2. Brains without courage make for a weak foreign policy. All presidents are smart. If they weren’t, they never would have attained their lofty positions. Past presidents all grasped the need for Israel to retain sovereignty over the Golan. But only President Trump had the courage to give practical effect to this undeniable truth. Courage matters.

3. Right makes might. Some have criticized the president’s decision as one of “might makes right” — a euphemism for the erroneous proposition that a nation as strong as the United States can pursue a policy devoid of any moral foundation. Here, exactly the opposite is true: The United States is stronger because it has acted justly.

The United States has sided with Israel, a nation that at great risk opened its border every night to provide emergency health care to Syria’s sick and wounded, and against the Syrian regime which has inflicted unspeakable trauma upon its own people.

PMW: PA salaries to terrorists rise by 11.8% in 2019 - amidst self-inflicted financial crisis

The Palestinian Authority has finally publicized its monthly financial expenditures for the first 5 months of 2019. They show that the PA has paid no less than 234,172,000 shekels (over $65 million), or, on average, 46,834,400 shekels/month in salaries to terrorist prisoners (including released prisoners) in spite of its self-imposed financial crisis.

Based on this monthly average, the PA expenditure on the “Pay-for-Slay” salaries to terrorist prisoners in 2019 should reach 562 million shekels, as compared to 502 million shekels in 2018. This amounts to 60 million shekels or a 11.8% rise in PA salaries to terrorist prisoners in 2019.

Since 2014, the PA Ministry of Finance had been publishing an annual anticipated budget in the first part of the year as well as monthly reports of actual expenditures in each budget category. Based on the monthly budgetary updates, Palestinian Media Watch exposed that the PA expenditure in 2018 on salaries to terrorist prisoners and released terrorist prisoners was no less than 502 million shekels.

Immediately after the Israeli cabinet implemented Israel’s Anti “Pay for Slay” Law and started deducting from the 2019 tax income the amount PMW had shown that the PA spent in 2018 on salaries to the terrorist prisoners, the PA decided to disregard its donor countries’ demand of full financial transparency and hid all its budgetary data. In place of the monthly budget expenditure updates, the website of the PA Ministry of Finance carried a notice saying "Due to the contingency law and legal dependencies with the Israeli side, the financial reports were temporarily suspended." This note appeared for almost three months.

I am actually stunned at this "video op-ed" from the New York Times attacking the idea that America is great.

The myth of America as the greatest nation on earth is at best outdated and at worst, wildly inaccurate. If you look at data, the U.S. is really just O.K. pic.twitter.com/pFrWBH0Zfl
— New York Times Opinion (@nytopinion) July 2, 2019

The title indicates that the authors are practically in pain when confronted with people who believe America is great. "Please stop telling me America is great. It hurts my delicate sensitivities!"

The blurb for the video:

America is the greatest country on earth. It’s a phrase, a slogan, a dogma for patriots. And as we stare down the barrel of an upcoming election, we’re prepared to hear this refrain echo.

In the video Op-Ed above, we argue that the myth of America as the greatest nation on earth is at best outdated and at worst, wildly inaccurate. Comparing the United States of America on global indicators reveals we have fallen well behind Europe — and share more in common with “developing countries” than we’d like to admit.

There are two major problems with this video.

One is its tone. It does not look like a "video op-ed" from the New York Times; it looks like a Saturday Night Live skit. Its use of old movies and videos shows not a sober argument about America's real problems, but rather it is making fun of anyone who actually thinks that the USA is great. The objective of the video, including the narrator's voice, is to make anyone who disagrees with its premise into a buffoon. While the authors might believe that it violates their safe space when people call America great, they have no problem directly mocking those people.

This is not an op-ed at all: it is propaganda.

Perhaps this is to be expected from a newspaper that had an editorial yesterday that tried to spin the longest economic growth period in America's history as a bad thing.

However, the video is not primarily an analysis, despite its cherry picking of statistics. It is just snark. It is trolling anyone who loves this country.

The second problem with the video is that it tries to rank the USA's "greatness" according to specific metrics where the US doesn't lead, or is woefully behind.

No one is arguing that America is perfect or that it doesn't have problems. No one is arguing that the US doesn't lead the world in many key indicators. But saying that this is what "great" means is sophistry.

When one asks potential migrants from around the world what country they most want to move to, the US is by far the top choice.

Either they are all idiots for preferring the US to Sweden, as this video would have you believe they should because of literacy rates, or there is more to America than its problems.

This is the point. America represents something that most other nations do not: it is the Land of Opportunity. France isn't.

In America, despite its problems, people of any origin and any race and any socio-economic class can dream to reach the greatest heights. There will be obstacles, but in America those obstacles can be conquered - and there is a track record where those obstacles have been conquered by others.

The mindset from our Founding Fathers that anyone can do anything remains a part of the fabric of the nation. This is what makes America great. And this is exactly what the New York Times is actively trying to destroy.

Cynicism is the enemy of idealism. America is built on ideals; the people behind this video - and those who funded them, and who promote them, including the New York Times - are motivated to ridicule, demean and destroy those ideals.

This video is not meant to inspire Americans to do better, which we most certainly need to. It is meant to satirize those who believe in the American dream. It is meant to insult America itself.

Ironically, the US is the only country in the world that can create a New York Times that can make such an attack. And you are not seeing any significant numbers of Americans rushing to move to Europe where things are supposedly so much better.

There are reasons for this, and this video is meant to obscure those reasons.

I know that this is not my usual topic. However, the methodology used here (and elsewhere) to attack America follows the same playbook as those attacking Israel: Compare your target against a mythical perfection and then hammer at not reaching that goal, cherry pick statistics that suport your thesis and ignore any counterexamples, demean the good and highlight the bad as if that is representative - or, in Israel's case, fabricate the bad.

Both the US and Israel are built on the idea that ordinary people can do extraordinary things against the odds. This is what makes both countries great and it is the reason that there is such an affinity between the two nations. Weakening either weakens both and ultimately makes the world a much more dangerous place.

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 Times of Israel:

A senior Palestinian official Monday condemned the participation of US envoys in the unveiling of an archaeological site in East Jerusalem and scoffed at the “fake” account of Jewish history attributed to the subterranean road.

Saeb Erekat said he believed the tunnel was a project being used by Israeli right-wingers to further Israel’s claim on East Jerusalem and advance settlement growth there.

“It has nothing to do with religion, it is fake,” he told journalists at his office in Ramallah in the West Bank.

He cited reports by two Israeli NGOs questioning the archaeological methods used.

One of the organizations, Peace Now, also says cracks emerged in multiple houses in Silwan after the digging began.

Erekat said: “It’s a settlement project. It’s based on a lie that has nothing to do with history."

This is a person regarded as a "moderate." This is a person that was a lead negotiator for, ahem, "peace."

And this is a person who is actually more reasonable than most other Palestinian leaders!

"Questioning archaeological methods" does not mean that the road discovered that leads up to the Temple Mount is not real. It was clearly used by hundreds of thousands of Jewish pilgrims to visit the Second Temple. No archaeologist in the world denies this.

But Saeb Erekat does.

Which means that (yet again) Erekat is proven to be a liar. You literally cannot believe a word he says.

The Western media, unfortunately, doesn't hold him to the same standards that any Western politician would be held to when they are shown to be knowingly lying. On the contrary, they are eager to interview him. The Forward published an op-ed from this liar just this week (claiming that the US supports "Greater Israel" based on the Bahrain workshop that didn't talk about politics or borders at all.)

A number of years ago, Erekat issued a quote referring to Israel's prime minister, with a saying I never heard and couldn't find anywhere else. Perhaps it is an Arabic saying, but it is clearly Saeb Erakat's personal motto:

“There’s a saying that if you don’t stop a man who is lying after 24 hours, the lies turn into facts."

Who can stop Erekat's lies? Only the media and politicians, but they refuse to. He has been proven a liar too many times to count - claiming a "massacre" in Jenin*, claiming that Israel killed nearly 12,000 civilians in Gaza in 2014, claiming his family was in "Palestine" for 9000 years, on and on.

That's how his lies become facts.

______________
*Electronic Intifada published a letter in the Economist in 2002 claiming that Erekat never used the word "massacre" in describing Jenin. Yet the Irish Times quoted him directly:

"How many civilians must be killed to speak of a massacre?" asked Mr Erakat. "The Israeli massacre in Jenin's refugee camp clearly happened and this is a war crime and crimes against humanity also took place".
Mr Erakat had accused Israel during the battle of killing up to 500 people in Jenin, a figure the UN report dismissed, saying 52 Palestinians and 23 Israeli soldiers died in the fighting.
"The UN should have used the word "massacre" or "war crime", especially because the Jenin's camp is managed by the UN," Erakat said.

He also used that word on CNN.

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.

Ethiopian Jews refer to themselves as "Beta Israel" and consider the term "Falasha" to be derogatory.

"Falasha" means stranger, exile, wanderer or landless person. Wikipedia notes: "The derogatory term Falasha, meaning 'landless, wanderers', was given to the community by the Emperor Yeshaq I in the 15th century, and is to be avoided as extremely offensive. "

It was already known to be offensive in 1988 as mentioned in this Washington Post article. The BBC noted its offensiveness twenty years ago.

Yet Encyclopedia Britannica still has an entry for "Falasha." It doesn't even note that this is an offensive term. Its online entry was edited earlier this year, so they don't have the excuse of, say, the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1906.

Perhaps worse, the Britannica students site also has an entry for "Falasha," teaching children that this is an acceptable term.

This is racism enshrined in the most prestigious encyclopedia in the world.

(Palestinian Arab websites routinely use the word "Falasha" transliterated to Arabic, and the current violent demonstrations in Israel by the Beta Israel are being followed closely as the Arab media. The Palestinians are anxious to call Israeli society racist, without noticing that their very terminology is racist. But no one expects Arabs to hold by Western standards of not referring to people by names they find offensive. The question as to why Arabs are held to lower standards than Westerners, and why people would be more upset at Britannica than Palestinian Arab media for using the offensive term, is a topic for another day.)

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.