Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, August 03, 2019

08/03 Links: Swastika raised with Palestine flag during weekly Gaza riots; White House demands info on any misuse of American funds by UNRWA; Time to Stop Feeding the ‘Crocodiles’

From Ian:

Swastika raised with Palestine flag during weekly Gaza riots

Approximately 6,000 Palestinians gathered on the Gaza border fence on Friday, holding the weekly March of Return demonstrations, while a swastika was raised along with a Palestine flag on the fence.

In a tweet posted by the IDF Spokesperson's Unit, the swastika could be seen underneath the Palestine flag. The IDF tweeted a response – in poetry form – that: "In the face of this hatred stand IDF soldiers, alert and determined; ready to defend lsrael, today and every single day."

During the demonstrations, the rioters threw explosive devices at the border fence and at IDF forces, as well as hurdled stones.

According to reports, 51 Palestinians were injured, 24 of them by IDF live fire.

White House demands info on any misuse of American funds by UNRWA

The White House is demanding information on whether the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees misused American funds, as part of an investigation into its conduct.

In a letter to the UN on Thursday, US Mideast envoy Jason Greenblatt said reports of misconduct at the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) were “deeply concerning” and called for the UN probe to be as transparent as possible.

Noting that Washington was previously the largest donor to UNRWA, providing billions of dollars to the agency, including nearly $3 billion over the past decade, Greenblatt wrote that the administration was “strongly committed to ensuring fiscal transparency and accountability to the United States taxpayer.”

“If the investigation should yield any findings of impropriety — including…any related to potential misuse of US funds — we request immediate notification and access [to the findings],” he wrote.

In 2018, the United States suspended and later cut all funding for UNRWA, causing a financial crisis that threatened to see its schools and hospitals closed.

Greenblatt said that the US move was “in part due to UNRWA’s unsustainable business model and fiscal practices.”

Trump’s former UN envoy, Nikki Haley, took to Twitter earlier this week to say, “this is exactly why we stopped their funding.”

Human Rights Watch's EU Director Lotte Leicht lobbied incessantly to fund UNRWA. (See: https://t.co/1nlq62kHIe)

Now that we learn corruption & bullying were rampant—and that UNRWA chief @PKraehenbuehl pressured his employee to become his mistress—why is she silent?#MeToo https://t.co/LoX2YPidhU
— Hillel Neuer (@HillelNeuer) August 3, 2019

What attacks on Israel’s embassies really mean

THE ISRAELI government would do well to remind the 180 states that are party to this treaty of their responsibilities, starting with Finland. If states hosting Israeli missions do not abide by the articles of this treaty, Israel should invoke the relevant mechanisms under international law to ensure they do.

Likewise, we must also understand the effect that attacks on Israeli missions have on local Jewish communities. Obviously, many Jews worldwide identify closely with Israel and Zionism, seeing it as a physical manifestation of their Jewish identity. It must be terrifying for these communities to witness attacks on their religious and national identities. These perils could potentially lead to internal fractures within those communities.

The international community must recognize that these attacks are not merely vile and cowardly attacks on innocent Israelis, but on the Jewish people as well. And make no mistake, these attacks are not anti-Israel (if such a concept even exists), they are full-blown antisemitic. Sketches of swastikas, antisemitic slurs and Hitler are not critiques of Israeli policy, they are expressions of Jew-hatred.

Being separated by state borders does not sever the universal bond that Jews everywhere share with one another. An attack on one is an attack on all. We in Israel must ensure that Jews in the Diaspora feel their voices of concern are being heard, even in the smallest and most remote communities. More importantly, we cannot allow for an environment in which Jews in the Diaspora are afraid to express their Zionist ideals.

Helsinki is home to roughly 1,800 Jews. The community dates back to the early 19th century and has long been a steadfast ally of Israel. Finnish volunteers in the Israeli War of Independence represented the highest per-capita participation of any Diaspora Jewish community. We cannot afford to lose this community to the fear and hate of our enemies. The Israeli government ought to use the full force of its influence to elicit a more effective, proactive response to these antisemitic attacks from Helsinki’s law enforcement, and we in Israel should make sure that the Jews of Helsinki know they have not been forgotten.

08/02 Links Pt2: Lyn Julius: No place for blind spots on Muslim anti-Semitism; Richard Landes: How radical Islam taught the progressive left to blame the Jews; 120 years after trial, Alfred Dreyfus may be promoted to general

From Ian:

Lyn Julius: No place for blind spots on Muslim anti-Semitism

The failure to acknowledge Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism is a peculiarly leftist blind spot. Twentieth-century Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism resulted in the ethnic cleansing of almost a million Jews in a single generation, but its roots lie in an ancient system of exploitation of the wealth and talents of Jews and Christians known as dhimmitude, where other religious minorities have second-class status. This system, punctuated by the odd pogrom or forced conversion, cemented a concept of Muslim supremacy over non-Muslim peoples reminiscent of colonialism.

Underlying the Labour campaign against anti-Semitism is the assumption that Israel is to blame for ruining the pre-existing state of harmony and peaceful coexistence between Arabs and Jews. This, of course, is a myth. Jews in the Muslim world were always viewed as inferior and had few rights, their fate utterly dependent on the munificence of the ruler of the day to whom they had outsourced their right to self-defense.

This truth is a vindication of Zionism. Even if oriental Jews were not prominent in the modern Zionist movement, they remain eternally grateful that Israel—where they comprise half the population—has ended their historically weak, inferior and defenseless status. Israel is the envy of other indigenous non-Arab and non-Muslim groups, like the Kurds or the Assyrians, who would dearly love to throw off the yoke of Arab supremacy to achieve self-determination in a sovereign state of their own.
This is the contradiction at the heart of Corbyn’s Labour. It sees itself as the party of the downtrodden and the abused, when in truth, it champions the abusers.
It denies that non-Arabs and non-Muslims in the Middle East were ever victims of oppression. In its (at best) ambivalence to Zionism and (at worst) hostility towards Israel, it is effectively supporting the re-imposition of Arab and Muslim domination over a dhimmi people.

Spectator PodCast: How radical Islam taught the progressive left to blame the Jews

It's less than four years since Jeremy Corbyn's hard-left sect seized control of the Labour Party, and yet already its anti-Semitic views – so alien to Labour tradition – seem too deeply rooted to eradicate.

Today's 'Holy Smoke' podcast puts this sinister development in the broader context of the 'Red-Green' alliance – the love affair between the progressive Left and the Jew-haters of jihadist Islam.

On the face of it, this is an unlikely, even surreal, relationship. But as Damian's guest, the historian Richard Landes, argues, the two have something in common: millennialism, the belief that some sort of Heaven on Earth, is not only imminent but historically inevitable.

In theory, progressives believe that this transition to a new era will be peaceful; Jihadists, by definition, don't. But, as Landes explains, it's not as simple as that...

JCPA: American Liberal Jews: Strong Concern about Anti-Semitism, Strong Support of Israel but Less for under 60s – Part 1

For Americans and for American Jews in particular, the Israel-America relationship is thought of as something special. But that special relationship has come with periods of perceived stress and strain and tension, and that is something we see reflected in the media, often with some bold headlines and in some polls which show some softening of support among more liberal Americans, such as what we find among Democrats.

The conventional wisdom out there is that Democrats, as a mostly liberal group, have a political or ideological orientation that creates at least some of the tension with what is considered currently a right wing government in Israel. And since Jews are mostly democrats, that tension would extend to them as well.

Are these perceptions accurate? Are American liberal Jews becoming alienated or disconnected with Israel? Is it accurate to say, as some polls have suggested, that concerns about Israel are a very low priority for American liberal Jews?

So, we looked for evidence by both examining data already collected in previous studies and by collecting some data of our own.

Palestinian gays protest against anti-gay violence. In Israel. (update)

This was tweeted this morning by Harry Reis, Director, Policy and Strategy at the leftist New Israel Fund:

Wow (via friend who took part): Yesterday Palestinians staged first queer protest, demanding acknowledgement of pioneering role in reshaping/leading Pal society, offering a vision of a unified progressive, inclusive Palestinian society that is strong because of its diversity.
— harry reis (@harryreis) August 2, 2019

No, that is not what happened.

There was no protest in the Palestinian controlled territories. There was a protest by Arab Israelis, who call themselves Palestinians, in Haifa.

Israel.

The protest was against a 16 year old gay Arab from Tel Aviv being stabbed recently - by his brothers. (UPDATE: The Arab was transgender and was from the Israeli Arab town of Tamra.)

Even so, the Arab gays in Israel are using this as an example of how Israel does not protect gay Arabs despite hasbara about how gay Palestinians often flee to Israel to save their lives.

But how can Israel defend a gay 16 year old from his brothers, if he didn't seek protection from the police?

The linked article accuses Israel of "pinkwashing." Moreover, the article claims that Israel only provides a curriculum of tolerance for sexual orientation for Jewish schools, not Arabic-speaking schools in Israel, and therefore it is responsible for Arab violence towards gays. I find this hard to believe - more likely the Arab schools refuse to teach tolerance.

The original tweet was knowingly deceptive as to where and for what purpose this protest was. He was trying to make Palestinian society look tolerant and progressive for suggesting that a pro-gay protest was allowed in the territories. Rather than showing Arab support of gays, as it pretends to, it highlights the intolerance of Arabs towards gays. In fact, this story proves that the only safe place for Arab gays to protest is in Israel.

Moreover, the only safe place for such a protest is in a Jewish-majority town in Israel - they didn't protest in an Arab community.

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08/02 Links Pt1: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: When Concessions Are Impossible; Phillips: The incendiary balloon of international law; Holland and Belgium Freeze Funding to UNRWA

From Ian:

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: When Concessions Are Impossible

One of the issues of consistent consensus in Israel is that the government should not concede on issues of its citizens' security. Therefore, it was no surprise that Israel acted to demolish structures illegally built in proximity to the security barrier, which has saved hundreds of lives since its construction, to prevent terrorist groups from compromising its efficacy.
Although the Palestinian Authority maintains a somewhat hostile position toward Israel, it is able to cooperate more closely on issues of security with the "Zionist regime" than with its Palestinian brethren in Hamas. A decision by PA President Mahmoud Abbas to end security cooperation with Israel would reduce his own capability to deal with threats from his Hamas rivals at a time when his administration is wildly unpopular.

As for the prospects for the U.S. peace deal, the long-term factors impeding an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians include the political, geographical, and ideological divide among Palestinians, and the inability of the Arab Quartet (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain and Egypt) to "deliver" the Palestinians.

As long as the West Bank and Gaza remain separate political entities under different leadership, any peace agreement would necessitate a prior Hamas-PA reconciliation agreement. There have been countless failed efforts over the last 12 years to broker such a deal.

While Israelis should root for the U.S.-led peace effort to succeed, a backup plan should include the following components: maintain security by rejecting any compromise of Israel's operational freedom to counter terrorism in the West Bank; promote capacity-building and economic development for Palestinians; and seek to revive bilateral negotiations with a credible Palestinian counterpart.

Ben-Dror Yemini: There might be something to 'deal of the century' after all

There is no Palestinian statehood in the "deal of the century," only autonomy, as U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, a silent member of the administration's Mideast peace team, has revealed.

Friedman warned the Palestinians that the Clinton, Olmert, Kerry and Obama proposals are no longer on the table.

This is a blow to Saeb Erakat's vision of Israeli-Palestinian peace as told to the Jordanian Ad-Dustour daily newspaper in 2009: "At Camp David (in 2000) we were offered 90% (of the West Bank) and Olmert offered 100% (in 2008)."

Now the architects of the peace plan are making clear that all those proposals are a thing of the past and there is no better deal on its way.

When Arab countries are disintegrating because of jihad on one hand and Iran on the other, no stable Arab government would see the formation of a new Arab state as a dream come true. A bold new peace plan should propose taking a completely different direction.

Given all of the above, there may be some logic to holding a summit at Camp David as a continuation of the Bahrain conference. And maybe, just maybe, some Arab states would be supportive of that.

Jordan will continue to release statements in support of a Palestinian state, but it is actually the last thing Abdullah's kingdom needs. Such an entity would be prone to expansion to its east as well as its west and could threaten Jordan.

Additionally, Hamas would try and most likely succeed in seizing control of such a state.

Netanyahu's plan to build 700 housing units for Palestinians in Area C can be seen as a gesture of good will, if a proposal of autonomy is considered.

Regardless of whatever left-wing or right-wing political views its population may hold, a proposed peace settlement that would ensure Israel's continued existence as a Jewish and democratic state - and prevent a bi-national state down the road - is the best option.

Melanie Phillips: The incendiary balloon of international law

For months now, Israel has been attacked by aerial incendiary weapons launched by Hamas during riots at the Gaza border fence.

These weapons – balloons or kites attached to flammable material – are driven by the winds off the sea towards southern Israel.

In just one week in June, they started nearly 100 fires in farmland and forests, in playgrounds and private yards. By last month, Hamas had burned more than 7,400 acres of Israeli land.

At the same time, Israeli communities near the border are also routinely attacked with rockets and mortars from terrorist groups stationed inside the Gaza Strip.

An American lawyer, Col. Matthew Aiesi, an associate professor at the Judge Advocate General’s Legal Center and School in Charlottesville, Va., was among a group of national security lawyers who recently witnessed these attacks for themselves.

As he has written, these are indisputably war crimes, violating numerous rules of warfare by deliberately targeting civilians and using indiscriminate weapons.

Aiesi says the United Nations or countries like Egypt working towards peace in the region should seek the surrender of those committing these war crimes to stand trial before a fair and competent jurisdiction.

Yet beyond Israel, these attacks are scarcely reported at all. And virtually no one is even stating that they are self-evidently war crimes.

This week there was a conference in Jordan sponsored by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on the topic of “Green Technology Transfer, Adaptation and Investment Required for Implementing SDG 12: Sustainable Consumption and Production.”

ESCWA is perhaps the most antisemitic commission of the UN. All of its members are Arab states, despite its name. It specifically excludes Israel from its Arab-only "Western Asia" agenda - while it includes African Arab states.

It has written insanely anti-Israel reports, and routinely refers to Israel as an "apartheid state" using criteria that would mean that nearly every member of ESCWA is also an apartheid state.

In 2014, ESCWA posted 181 "facts" on Twitter and Facebook for the International Year of the Palestinian People, many of which were simply untrue. (They have since taken them down.)

ESCWA's hate for Israel is not a question.

Just imagine, though, that the UN wasn't so insanely hateful. Imagine is ESCWA actually wanted to work for peace instead of war with Israel. Imagine if ESCWA adhered to the actual principles of the UN.

Specifically, imagine if ESCWA had invited Israel to this conference on green technology in the Middle East, a topic that no one is more familiar with than Israel.

Would the Arab members have walked out? Probably Syria, maybe Libya and Lebanon. But if ESCWA had any actual interest in peace, it would be censuring the members that can't abide Israel's existence rather than allowing them to set the anti-Israel agenda for the entire Commission.

The entire purpose of the UN is to help keep world peace. ESCWA could do that by inviting Israel to relevant meetings.

But of course Middle East peace is not a priority of UN ESCWA. Quite the opposite.

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Agricultural exports from Gaza going up, not that you would know that from the news

The UN's Food and Agricultural Organization puts out statistics each week on Gaza's exports of fruit, vegetables and fish to the rest of the world.

Here's where the exports this year have gone so far:

Jordan's imports of Gaza goods have gone down sharply, but Israel's and especially the GCC's imports have risen a great deal.

It appears that Israel and the Gulf are putting their money where their mouth is as far as helping the Gaza economy, although these are token amounts. The vast majority of Gaza exports go to the West Bank.

To the best of my knowledge, unless something has changed since I last spoke to Israeli officials about this, there are no restrictions on Gaza exports outside the number of willing buyers.

In the past, and perhaps now as well, the IDF's COGAT unit would provide seeds and expertise to Gaza and West Bank farmers to grow new crops and improve their quality.

Another new thing is that Gaza now exports fish. From reading the news one gets the impression that Gaza fishermen can't even provide enough fish for local consumption, but in fact they are sending hundreds of metric tons of fish to the West Bank.

Something else that the news media won't bother to report.

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Every day there are stories in Arabic media about Jews "storming" the "Al Aqsa Mosque," meaning Jews visiting the perimeter of the Temple Mount. So, naturally, the writers need to find some new angle to make the stories appear more interesting.

They are mostly press releases from the antisemitic Muslim authorities on the Temple Mount, the Waqf.

Today's variant, as headlined in Arab48 news, was that Jewish children visited the Mount.

According to the story, an organization called Women for the Temple has now organized tours of the most sacred place in Judaism specifically for children, where they are taught about the history of the site. (Or as the hateful Arab media puts it, "they carried out provocative tours of the Haram al Sharif and received explanations about the alleged 'Temple.'")

This is perhaps more frightening to Muslims than the daily screaming headlines of Jews "breaking in" to the site. Children, after all, are the next generation, and if they consider visiting the Temple Mount to be normal, then it will be that much harder to stop them from visiting when they are adults and want to bring their own kids.

Meanwhile, the Jordanian Waqf issued a statement that "stressed that the sanctity of all parts of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, equivalent to the sanctity of the Sacred House in Mecca, and that any infringement on part of it is an attack on every Muslim on earth."

Just some more every day incitement against Jews.

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Jordan closes Aaron's burial place because Jews performed "rituals" there (UPDATE)

Tonight is the traditional anniversary of the death of the Biblical Aaron.

Jordanian media is filled with stories of a group of Jews who visited the "shrine of the Prophet Aaron," as the Muslims characterize it. There they performed "religious services."

The video showing the supposed services is only 8 seconds long, and it looks like they are singing but not praying, from what I can tell.

Jews have gone there before, as in this video from last year shows:

As a result of Jews actually treating a holy place as a holy place, the Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs in Jordan, Dr. Nasser Abu Al-Basal, decided to close the building and not to allow any visitor to enter the shrine without obtaining the ministry's approval.

The ministry also said that it will open an investigation into how Jews managed to enter and chant without knowledge of the locals.

As far as I can tell, there is no mosque on the site (yet.) So Jordan's objections to Jews praying there isn't because it is desecrating a mosque, but because they simply don't want to extend any basic rights to Jews.

UPDATE: The Jewish Press has more, and more video. (h/t Irene)

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08/01 Links Pt2: Seth Mandel: Al Sharpton is not a lifelong fighter for justice; 30 Years Ago, Activists And Intellectuals Told The Left To Hate Israel. They Are Still Obeying.

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Al Sharpton is not a lifelong fighter for justice

And that’s the most galling part of the mainstreaming of Al Sharpton. He never sought absolution. He simply got away with it.

So at Wednesday night’s Democratic presidential debate, no one asked Warren about Sharpton’s record or the message she might be sending with such fulsome praise. Nor was South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg — who has struck up a very public alliance with Sharpton in an attempt to burnish his standing with black voters — prodded about the hypocrisy on display. Republicans, Buttigieg lectured, “are supporting naked racism in the White House, or at best silent about it. And if you are watching this at home and you are a Republican member of Congress, consider the fact that, when the sun sets on your career and they are writing your story, of all the good and bad things you did in your life, the thing you will be remembered for is whether, in this moment, with this president, you found the courage to stand up to him or you continued to put party over country.”

What would Buttigieg say about his own support of a public figure with a long history of bigotry? We don’t know, because no one thought to ask him at the debate. (I have repeatedly asked his campaign for comment, to no avail.)

We are routinely told that harsh criticism of minority members of Congress amounts to incitement to violence. What of Sharpton, who initially made his career out of explicit incitement to violence? This is no idle concern. “The increase in the number of physical assaults against Orthodox Jews in New York City is a matter of empirical fact,” reports Armin Rosen at Tablet. “Anti-Semitic hate crimes against persons, which describes nearly everything involving physical contact, jumped from 17 in 2017 to 33 in 2018, with the number for the first half of 2019 standing at 19, according to the NYPD’s hate crime unit. … And yet, many believe the attacks are even more widespread than has been reported.” De Blasio claims anti-Semitism is a right-wing phenomenon, but in New York, Rosen writes, “the perpetrators who have been recorded on CCTV cameras are overwhelmingly black and Hispanic.”

You can believe that Jewish lives matter, or you can pepper your public career with slavish fan fiction about Al Sharpton. When the sun sets on the careers of this crop of Democrats and their stories are written, what will the record show about the choice they made?

Forward: 30 Years Ago, Activists And Intellectuals Told The Left To Hate Israel. They Are Still Obeying.

Five years ago, I was sitting in my office trying to figure out options for a desperate Palestinian woman. Her family had found her and her boyfriend together in his apartment in Queens, and they were threatening both of them with physical harm. I had been told that the young couple feared for their lives.

To help them, I reached out to an organization that was working to train the New York City police force about the difference between honor killings and murder (the former is often perpetrated by a close family member who would not be a suspect in a murder). While I was speaking to the liaison about the couple, I happened to notice an email update from a former classmate at Barnard with some news: A Columbia student organization formed to support victims of sexual assault, called “No Red Tape,” was aligning itself with Students for Justice in Palestine, a virulently anti-Israel, pro-Palestinian group.

The irony of the moment was powerful. Here I was, a Zionist Jewish woman trying to protect a Palestinian woman from violence, while a campus group that is supposed to be devoted to protecting women had attached itself to a group known for hateful tactics that target Jewish students, rhetoric that veers into anti-Semitism and a total refusal to engage with Zionist groups.

It’s not just ironic; it’s mysterious. How did social justice warriors, committed to liberal values, find themselves using hate speech, intolerant boycotts, and demonizing tactics towards a fellow minority group?

The answer they would no doubt give themselves — that it is Israel’s occupation of the Palestinians that drives their actions — can’t possibly account for things like the a-historical nature of their critiques, the tolerance and excuses for violent resistance against civilians, and the sheer vitriol unleashed on Jewish students. For this reason, the mystery of the social justice movement’s embrace of radical pro-Palestinian groups and their corresponding rejection of Israel is usually explained as nothing more complicated than anti-Semitism, albeit cloaked in the new language of anti-Zionism.

Camera: “Hamas Appreciation Month” at NY Times

In May 2019, the New York Times and its Jerusalem bureau chief David Halbfinger excused deadly Hamas rocket attacks as an expression of “impatience” with Israeli bad behavior, suggested the group mistakenly hits Israeli civilians with “stray” rockets, and described Hamas gunmen killed while shooting Israelis as mere “demonstrators.”

Why does the newspaper conceal the ugly truth about the internationally designated terror organization and its war crimes?

Poster: Look how progressive Palestine is!

Since supporting "Palestine" is considered a pre-requisite for being progressive and woke, here's a short list of what these "progressive" people are supporting and protecting:

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Discreet Ear Buds A Real Boon To People Who Hate When Others Talk In Shul (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Discreet Ear Buds A Real Boon To People Who Hate When Others Talk In Shul

Giv'at Sh'muel, Aug 1 - Technological innovation has come to the synagogue in the form of wireless, hard-to-see, in-ear speakers that users can wear to block out the age-old nuisance of other worshipers disrupting the service with idle chatter.

Adopters of the technology praised its developers for their attentiveness to shul-goer needs and their willingness to tackle what sources indicate represent an ancient problem: people who deem their conversations more important than the integrity and flow of the synagogue service, when a human must view himself as standing before the Creator, or at least preparing to do so.

Spiritual leaders used to devote more energy to discouraging chatter during services, with one towering seventeenth-century authority blaming the phenomenon for the Chmielnicki massacres in which tens of thousands of Jews were killed by Cossack marauders. Through the years, however, as Rabbinic positions became subject to synagogue boards, Rabbis became less willing to call out congregants for sinful behavior, out of fear for their livelihood lest they displease members with influence. Software developments saw an opportunity for shul-goers to maintain adherence to proper standards while avoiding the tension and unpleasantness inherent in rebuking others for problematic behavior that has come to be viewed as unremarkable.

Kol D'mamah Dakkah - "the sound of silence" - as the first such app is known, uses a smartphone's camera to track the movement of the shatz's - the prayer leader - lips to identify where in the liturgy the congregation has reached, and adjusts its pre-recorded sound files to match the shatz's speed, while canceling out other ambient noise. Thus, say the developers, a davener can remain focused on his "service of the heart" and not get distracted as anyone around him taking the proceedings less seriously than they should.

"No one knows how to give rebuke properly anymore," explained chief app creator Elazar Azariah. "My colleagues and I saw a need to forestall the tension and enmity that would come of improper attempts to correct sinful behavior - so we did the next best thing and found a technological solution that makes the user unaware of any such behavior. As far as the user is concerned, the other guy is also davening or saying T'hillim. Not only does Kol D'mamah Dakkah reduce tension, it promotes fulfillment of the commandment to give fellow Jews the benefit of the doubt, to judge them favorably."

Kol D'mamah Dakkah currently exists in Nusach S'farad, Edoth HaMizrach, and Nusach HaAri of Chabad-Lubavitch, but Mr. Azariah revealed that focus groups has determined little interest among Nusach Ashkenaz adherents, who found the app got in the way of following the latest sports, stock, and real estate developments.

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.

08/01 Links Pt1: NYPost: Corruption on top of failure at the UN’s Palestine agency; Reasons Why Peaceful Resolutions for the Arab-Israeli Conflict Always Fail

From Ian:

NYPost Editorial: Corruption on top of failure at the UN’s Palestine agency

President Trump cut off US funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees last September because UNRWA is “irredeemably flawed.” In fact, it’s worse than he thought.

An internal ethics report leaked to the press this week exposed a corrupt UNRWA “inner circle.”

Hah! Other nations, mostly in Europe, had been stepping up to replace the $360 million hole that Trump blew in UNRWA’s $1.2 billion budget. Switzerland was the first to announce it would suspend future payments until the scandal’s resolved.

All this, on top of the larger issues that prompted Trump’s move: UNRWA workers have been caught with bomb-making materials and even throwing firebombs at an Israeli bus; its buildings have stored Hamas weapons.

It’s really no surprise to find that so politicized an agency is also thoroughly corrupt. As Trump’s former UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, put it: “This is exactly why we stopped their funding.”

Why is the UN so biased against Israel?

Last week, the United Nations against singled out Israel for condemnation and accusations of human rights violations, while regimes with lengthy histories of abuse and well-documented violations of human rights – like Iran – were ignored.

The UN's Economic and Social Council voted last week to condemn Israel – and Israel alone – as the only country in the world that violates women’s rights. The resolution passed with 40 out of 54 member-countries backing the move, including Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan, the most notorious violators of women’s rights.

Nothing was said about the fact that millions of Arab women endure corporal and even punishment for the way they dress or behave; genital mutilation, honor murder, even in European countries.

By contrast, Arab women in Israel enjoy access to education, jobs, and political freedoms like any woman in any developed liberal democracy has come to expect.

Not many people around the world are aware of this, because the media conceals it from them, pushing the anti-Israel line instead.

The fact that this UN resolution is anti-Semitic goes without saying, but it is also an assault against oppressed women in Arab countries who continue to suffer away from the world's attention because everyone in the civilized world is busy condemning Israel.

MYTH – Palestine was heavily populated with Arabs before the Zionists arrived.

For many centuries, Palestine was a sparsely populated, poorly cultivated, and widely neglected expanse of eroded hills, sandy deserts, and malarial marshes. This was Mark Twain’s description when he visited in 1867:

A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds—a silent mournful expanse.

A desolation is here that not even imagination can grace with the pomp of life and action.

We never saw a human being on the whole route.

There was hardly a tree or a shrub anywhere. Even the olive and the cactus, those fast friends of the worthless soil, had almost deserted the country (Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad (London, 1881).

As late as 1880, the American consul in Jerusalem reported the area was continuing its historic decline. “The population and wealth of Palestine has not increased during the last forty years,” he said (Melvin Urofsky, American Zionism from Herzl to the Holocaust (Bison Books: 1995 p. 29).

Take a look at some of the photos from the late 19th and early 20th century to see the desolation Twain talked about.