Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, March 02, 2020

Video from gay Tel Aviv Arab Likud voter shows that Israel is much more complex than the media claims

Last week, Matti Friedman wrote an amazing article in the New York Times about Israel's number one pop star, an Arab convert to Judaism who sings modern Mizrahi music.

In China it’s the Year of the Rat, but here in Israel it’s the year of Nasrin Kadry, who began life on rough Arab streets near the docks in Haifa and has now, at 33 years old, ascended to the pinnacle of pop in the Jewish state. The biggest concert venues, the judging dais of “The Voice,” A-list duets — all belong to Nasrin. Her improbable rise has much to say about this society and specifically about the way it operates in the places where highbrow experts don’t look.

In a similar vein, here is a video showing a gay Tel Aviv Arab who hates the "Joint Arab List" and will vote for Netanyahu's Likud today, another person who simply doesn't exist if you read the Western media about Israel.

(h/t Yoel, @LikudnikTLV for the video, @MoranT555 for the translation, errors in placing the translation on top of the corresponding Arabic are mine.)

UPDATE: Sorry, I uploaded the video without the subtitles, fixed.

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It is midday here in Israel and the third time Israelis go to the polls to try to elect a majority after two earlier, unsuccessful attempts. This, in many respects, is the proof that Israel is a democracy: We have equal numbers of people on the right and on the left. We are split straight down the middle. And that is allowed!

How wonderful is that, after centuries of repression in Russia, Poland, Germany? Syria, Morocco, and Spain?? We get to disagree. With the government and with each other. With anyone we damned well please!

That is what we express with our vote: that it’s good to have an opinion and it’s even better to be able to express it with your vote.

And I vote to use this liberty to strengthen the right.

It’s not yet time for someone to take over from Bibi. And Gantz is capable of great damage on a scale of which I do not even want to dream, God forbid.

So I got up early and I voted for Bibi.

Because the alternative is Gantz.

In Israel we have a saying, “Hold your nose and vote for Bibi.”

That’s what I did.

And that is my right.

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Mahmoud Abbas, meeting with members of his Fatah movement on Sunday, reiterated that he will never negotiate with Israel as long as the "Deal of the Century" is on the table.

Of course, he hasn't negotiated since he rejected Obama's parameters so his lack of negotiations has nothing to do with Trump. It is simply Abbas' rejectionism, holding on to positions that the PLO has held since 1988.

He did say that he would participate if the negotiations are done under the auspices of the Quartet - remember them? - and if UN resolutions are preconditions, what he calls "international legitimacy."

Abbas also put forth a novel theory, saying that he doesn't believe that Jared Kushner or Jason Greenblatt wrote the plan. He thinks it was Israel's Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, that dictated it to the Americans. His "evidence" is that the Peace to Prosperity Plan mentions knafeh from Nablus and (I think) something about Palestinian ice cream, something the Americans wouldn't have possibly known about.

The Peace to Prosperity plan mentions nothing about Nablus knafeh or ice cream. Apparently Abbas never actually read the plan and had some underling summarize it for him, badly.

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Hate and antisemitism outside AIPAC (video, screenshot)

Some tweets that show the hate outside AIPAC on Sunday:

Things got a little intense as some #AIPAC2020 attendees confronted them. Police seperated what looked like it was about to be a fight.

"This is America, not Israel," one protester said. "You will get fucked up badly, motherfucker!" pic.twitter.com/gCrLaYt5n5
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) March 1, 2020

Police formed a line separating the two sides.

One activist held a peace sign✌️ and said into my camera, "Let them know, this doesn't mean peace. This means victory. That's what's coming!"

"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!" they chanted on. pic.twitter.com/2s1C0dhnEq
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) March 1, 2020

"The Holocaust will come back to you," one yelled at AIPAC attendees. "You're going to get burned if you don't give us the land!"

"Hitler will come back! Burned, all of you!"

Others tried to cool him down and keep him away from the frontlines a bit during this. pic.twitter.com/gpQIkFNJ0x
— Ford Fischer (@FordFischer) March 1, 2020

I couldn't see anyone trying to stop the person threatening Jews with another Holocaust in the longer footage.

Also heard at the rally was a chant, "Resistance is justified when people are occupied" - a call for terrorism.

It is interesting to see the same people chant against the "occupation" and in the next breath saying "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free." It is obvious that when they say "occupation" they mean all of Israel.

I also sat this antisemitic sign saying that voting is rigged by Jewish media - along with someone walking through with a sign saying that the Vegas shooting was a hoax.

Again, I couldn't see anyone objecting to the explicit antisemitism shown here.

The reason? Because people who hate the Jewish state also hate Jews.

This is more obvious when you look at these signs outside the Holocaust Museum on Saturday:

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If Palestinians were a nation, why did they accept Ottoman control?

I am looking at the beginning of Rashid Khalidi's "The Hundred Years' War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917–2017."

Khalidi exaggerates the influence of the tiny number of Arab nationalists, specifically Palestinian Arab nationalists, before 1917. He doesn't mention that the Arab nationalism that did exist was a result of Christian missionary influence and British attempts to subvert the Ottoman Empire - it was never a native Arab desire, and most Arabs were loyal Ottoman subjects.

When one sees a paragraph like this, it brings up some questions:

So rule by the British was "alien rule" but by the Ottoman Turks wasn't. Why not? If Palestinians wanted independence so much, shouldn't they have been equally upset at the Ottomans as they were the British? Wasn't the Ottoman Empire every bit as colonialist as the British?

Questions like these are glossed over when people like Khalidi make up their history. He says the Palestinians were nationalists in one paragraph and in the next he says they were satisfied with foreign rule. The only way to reconcile these is to note that the entire point of the book is to blame Zionists for the Palestinian plight: noting that their nationalism was nonexistent before Zionism proves that it was in fact a reaction to Zionism and not organic. So Khalidi must exaggerate the nationalism before the Ottoman empire fell and also pretend that the only colonialism they suffered under was from the West.

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03/01 Links: Israel's Sheba Medical Center named world's ninth best hospital; Israeli MDs give free counseling to coronavirus patients worldwide

From Ian:

Israel's Sheba Medical Center named world's ninth best hospital

Sheba Medical Center at Tel Hashomer has been named the ninth best hospital in the world by leading US magazine Newsweek, climbing one place since last year's rankings.

The hospital, located east of Tel Aviv, is Israel's largest medical facility and cares for approximately 1.6 million people annually. The hospital is also home to more than one-quarter of all Israeli clinical research.

The weekly magazine cited the hospital's collaborations with biotech and pharmaceutical companies worldwide to develop new drugs and treatments, in addition to research specialities including cardiology, cancer, brain diseases and genetics.

The Rochester-based Mayo Clinic led the global rankings for a second year, followed by Cleveland Clinic and Massachusetts General Hospital. Tel Aviv's Sourasky Medical Center, also known as Ichilov Hospital, was named the world's 34th leading hospital.

Tens of thousands of medical professionals were invited to participate in the survey ranking the world's best hospitals, which also took into account results from patient surveys and other medical performance indicators.

Other leading hospitals included Toronto General Hospital, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Johns Hopkins Hospital, University Hospital Zurich and Singapore General Hospital.

Israeli company develops rapid diagnostic kit for COVID-19

Israeli company BATM of Hod Hasharon announced that its biomedical division has developed a diagnostics kit to detect coronavirus from saliva samples in less than half an hour.

CEO Dr. Zvi Marom tells ISRAEL21c that the test is compatible with the current hospital-based method for diagnosing COVID-19, reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) – a type of gene sequencing that takes about eight hours.

“This kit has undergone testing by several central laboratories and hospitals that have now verified its ability to diagnose COVID-19,” says Marom, referring to the disease caused by coronavirus infection.

Marom, who has degrees in medicine and in industrial electronics, said BATM already has an advanced diagnostics kit that detects SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) and MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome). The COVID-19 aspect will be added to that kit.

“BATM is working with academic and research institutions, mainly in Europe, to progress the kit to make it at a price point suitable for large-scale production,” says Marom. “The kit, which supports all the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations, has already received interest from customers in several countries.”

By next year, BATM expects that the test will be commercialized as part of its NATLab doctor’s office solution using artificial intelligence and individual disease cartridges to diagnose bacterial, viral or fungal infections within 90 minutes. For now, only meningitis can be diagnosed with NATLab, produced by BATM subsidiary Ador Diagnostics in Rome.

Israeli MDs give free counseling to coronavirus patients worldwide

Thanks to a new social-action project, Chinese coronavirus patients were able to ask Israeli primary care physician Dr. Rachel Libenson Vansh how to maintain proper health and hygiene while confined at home.

Using a Zoom video link over China’s Weibo social network, Libenson Vansh answered their questions in English with immediate translation into Chinese.

This remarkable setup, which took place over a week ago, was the first in a series of interactive video broadcasts spearheaded by Israeli organization Innonation, which links talents, companies and organizations across borders through its hubs in Israel and China.

One hundred Israeli physicians have volunteered to speak remotely with quarantined COVID-19 patients on topics of concern — such as family and children; dermatology (including sensitivity to protective masks); diet; psychology (as well as dealing with anxieties); pregnancy; and signs of serious illness that require immediate attention.

Figures today show the COVID-19 virus has infected 86,584 people in more than 60 countries and caused 2,976 deaths. Many people who have been put into quarantine, or are self-isolated at home, are worried and fearful and have many questions about their situation and how to look after themselves.

“The health systems in countries affected by the coronavirus are under tremendous pressure. They find it difficult to deal with the medical needs of people living under quarantine and with the general population that fears going to clinics and hospitals,” says Amit Gal-Or, who cofounded Innonation in 2016 with his father, Amir, and brother, Raz.

Hamas delegation to Cairo

Today, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh is traveling to Cairo.

According to The New Arab, this trip was requested by Israel.

Gaza suffers from a severe shortage of medicines. This is not because of Israel but because the PA has limited transfers of medicines to Gaza for years.

Israel does not limit medical aid to Gaza at all.

In the face of the coronavirus outbreak, Israel is asking Egypt to provide large amounts of medical aid to Gaza, and to help improve Gaza's health infrastructure. This would of course help Egypt as well in case the virus breaks out in Gaza.

Hamas and Islamic Jihad members routinely travel to Iran which has been hit hard by the virus, and the concern is that they can become a conduit for bringing the virus into the sector, which is ill-equipped to handle it.

Once again, Israel is showing more interest in the health and welfare of Gaza than the Palestinian Authority is.

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From MEMRI:

Iraqi political analyst Muhammad Sadeq Al-Hashemi said in a February 26, 2020 interview on Al-Ayam TV (Iraq) that in the 1981 thriller novel titled The Eyes of Darkness, American author Dean Koontz had written about the coronavirus. Al-Hashemi argued that this proves that coronavirus is an American plot and he said that the goal of the plot is to reduce the world's population. He said that in the past 10 years, two patents have been filed in the United States for the development of virus strains with the name "corona" and he compared this American "conspiracy" to when the Jews used blankets infected with anthrax to wipe out 86% of the native population in what is today the United States in order to have a real Jewish homeland. He said that the Zionist lobby similarly cleansed one third of the population of Scotland and that the Rothschild family has a monopoly of laboratories that develop biological and nuclear weapons. Al-Hashemi added that the Rothschilds had been the ones who decided to use nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

In Koontz's book, he created a fictional bioweapon caleld "Gorki-400" but he renamed it "Wuhan-400" after the fall of the Soviet Union. (Wuhan does host China's main advanced virus research facility, and some people are claiming that COVID-19 may have come from there.)

Hashemi isn't the only one to come up with a way to blame Jews for the virus. This enterprising tweeter said it too:

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More bogus claims of "settlers" cutting down Palestinian trees - on Shabbat

The official Palestinian Wafa news agency says:

Settlers continued for the third day in a row, cutting down trees in the lands of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem , raising the number of trees that were targeted cutting to 780 trees.

The youth activist in Al-Khader, Emad Da`dou, told our correspondent that today, Saturday, the settlers cut down 200 vine trees in the "Fagur" area belonging to Mohammed Ibrahim Abu Al-Kata'a .

All of the Jewish communities near Al Khader are religious - Givat Eitam, Givat HaDagan, Givat Hatamar.

The residents there would not be cutting down trees or vines on the Sabbath.

The photo that accompanies this story in one local Palestinian news site shows what are obviously pruned olive trees, not destroyed or uprooted trees.

The lies continue.

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02/29 Links: US, Taliban sign historic deal aimed at ending war in Afghanistan; Israeli who recovered in Japan develops coronavirus again

From Ian:

US, Taliban sign historic deal aimed at ending war in Afghanistan

The United States signed a peace agreement with Taliban militants on Saturday aimed at bringing an end to 18 years of bloodshed in Afghanistan and allowing US troops to return home from America’s longest war.

Under the agreement, the US would draw its forces down to 8,600 from 13,000 in the next 3-4 months, with the remaining US forces withdrawing in 14 months. The complete pullout, however, would depend on the Taliban meeting their commitments to prevent terrorism.

President George W. Bush ordered the US-led invasion of Afghanistan in response to the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Some US troops currently serving there had not yet been born when the World Trade Center collapsed on that crisp, sunny morning that changed how Americans see the world.

It only took a few months to topple the Taliban and send Osama bin Laden and top al-Qaeda militants scrambling across the border into Pakistan, but the war dragged on for years as the United States tried to establish a stable, functioning state in one of the least developed countries in the world. The Taliban regrouped, and currently hold sway over half the country.

The US spent more than $750 billion, and on all sides, the war cost tens of thousands of lives lost, permanently scarred and indelibly interrupted. But the conflict was also frequently ignored by US politicians and the American public.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo attended the ceremony in Qatar, where the Taliban have a political office, but did not sign the agreement. Instead, it was signed by US peace envoy Zalmay Khalilzad and Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Pompeo called on the Taliban to “keep your promises to cut ties with Al-Qaeda.”

Martin Kramer: The Trump Plan Will Be "Transformative" for Palestinians

Martin Kramer, chair of the Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies Department at Shalem College in Jerusalem and the Koret Distinguished Fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, spoke to Middle East Forum Radio host Gregg Roman on February 5 about President Trump's "deal of the century" plan for resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

According to Kramer, the importance of the Trump proposal "transcends whether either of the parties accept it" because "it's not a peace plan, it's a partition plan ... the proposal of a third party, looking from the outside, that has some authority." The Palestinians refused to accept partition plans put forth by the British in 1937 and by the United Nations in 1947, yet both had "historic effects," notably culminating in the establishment of Israel. The details of these plans were largely irrelevant – it was their underlying assumptions and core principles that proved enduring.

The same is true of the "deal of the century." Details of the plan are flexible and sure to be superseded by future negotiations. The important focus should be on the assumptions and principles of the plan.

A key assumption of the Trump initiative, according to Kramer, is that "history only goes in one direction." Previous peace plans, he noted, were based on expectations of "massive movement of peoples" as part of a final settlement – removing thousands of settlers from their settlements in today's Israel and absorbing a large number of descendants of Palestinian refugees from other countries into the West Bank and Gaza – which "is not going to happen."

A core principle of the Trump plan is that "everyone stays in place" – a reality that Palestinians must eventually come to accept. "Much of the responsibility for the predicament of the Palestinians today relies not just on them, but on their ... supposed friends who ... promised they would deliver to them on fantasies which were completely detached from reality."

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: No secret talks with Trump administration

The Palestinian Authority on Saturday denied having any contacts with the US administration regarding US President Donald Trump’s recently unveiled plan for peace in the Middle East.

The denial came in response to remarks by US Ambassador David Friedman, who told the Qatari-owned Al-Jazeera network that the Trump administration has “back channels” talks with some Palestinians.

Friedman did not reveal the identity of the Palestinians involved in the alleged talks with the US administration.

He also said there is recognition that some parts of the Trump plan are good for the Palestinians, such as the two-state solution, a Palestinian capital in east Jerusalem, connecting the West Bank with the Gaza Strip and investment in infrastructure and increasing the size of land offered to the Palestinians.

The PA, which has been boycotting the Trump administration since December 2017, when the US president recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, reiterated its rejection of the Trump plan and denied having back channels with the US administration.

“I dare Friedman to reveal a name of a single Palestinian official who is in contact with President Trump’s administration,” said PLO Secretary-General Saeb Erekat.

Referring to Friedman’s talk about a Palestinian capital, Erekat said that the Trump plan “specified that Abu Dis and Kufr Aqab can be named as Palestine’s capital.”

Erekat added: “East Jerusalem, the capital of Palestine, is the Old City of Jerusalem, including Haram al-Sharif (Noble Sanctuary), Church of the Holy Sepulchre, Musrara, and Salah Edin Street. Lies and distortions of one of the authors of the conspiracy of the century are doomed to failure.”

Knowing the Palestinian Auth. and how well they treat those who do not agree with party line, revealing such name would almost certainly put this person / s life in jeopardy. https://t.co/xnbu2jOxJw
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) February 29, 2020

.@IfNotNowOrg echoes neo-Nazis by accusing member of Congress of "pandering to Jews"

IfNotNow tweeted:

In a tweet that accused the Republican party of inciting white nationalist violence, the purportedly Jewish organization parroted neo-Nazi talking points of politicians "pandering" to all-powerful Jews to gain politically.

Because, obviously, no sane Gentile would ever support a position most Jews support unless they are politically forced to.

Usually posts like this will substitute the word "Zionists" for "Jews" to maintain the fiction that the anti-Zionists are animated by the exact same hate that antisemites have had for millennia. In this case, the mask slipped off, and IfNotNow showed not only that it is a deeply antisemitic organization itself but that its pretense of being a Jewish organization is a sham.

As of this writing, IfNotNow has not removed the tweet, nor has it apologized, 25 hours after it was posted.

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02/28 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: The post-modern, anti-Jewish reconfiguration of the WestCaroline B. Glick: Gaza, elections and the Corbynization of the Democratic party

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: From Aalst to America: The post-modern, anti-Jewish reconfiguration of the West

This eruption hasn’t been created by Bernie Sanders or Jeremy Corbyn; nor, as some believe, by the populism of Donald Trump or Hungary’s nationalist prime minister, Victor Orbán.

Populism is not in itself an extremist movement (although some bits undoubtedly are). It is rather a response to the extremism that has overtaken the entire progressive movement, and which represents the idea of the West as intrinsically evil and sinful.

Sanders and Corbyn, who are both undoubtedly extreme, are not the cause of the phenomenon, but the product of a broad cultural shift. When Bernie Sanders called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “a reactionary racist” in Tuesday’s Democratic presidential candidates’ debate, the audience broke into applause.

The real cause of the descent into anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist hatred is secular liberalism, and the cultural fissure that has opened up along fault lines stretching back to the 18th-century Enlightenment.

This proclaimed the death of God and the enthronement instead of the autonomous individual freed from biblical moral codes. This led to the destruction of hierarchies of values without which there can be no morality, the replacement of duty by man-made and highly contingent human rights, and the collapse of truth and reason.

The result is the moral and philosophical carnage we see all around us. There’s the psycho-pathological unmooring of individuals caused by the undermining of the family. There’s the abolition of objectivity in the universities by moral and cultural relativism.

And there’s the apocalyptic environmental movement, which mirrors the belief by medieval, Jew-massacring Christians that fallen humanity must be punished for its sins to bring about the perfection of the world—and which has sanctified as its prophet a psychologically damaged child.

Better advocacy for Israel, necessary as that is, will not address this anti-Jewish derangement. That’s because what’s driving it is the repudiation of the Jewish precepts at the heart of the Christian West. And the problem—and tragedy—for the Jewish people is that so many of those subscribing to this liberal onslaught are themselves Jews.

The Aalst Carnival shows how quickly we forgot 'Never Again'

When I look at disturbing displays like those at the Aalst parade, I don’t just see modern-day antisemitism; I see a societal willingness to ignore religiously motivated hate, akin to that shown in the Weimar Republic and elsewhere throughout pre-war Europe. The promise of “never forget” means that we must remember the Nazis’ violence against Jews, and also those non-violent tactics which enabled the Holocaust.

We must keep in mind that hatred toward Jews quickly morphs into hatred toward other minority groups. Hate has no borders, and those with antisemitic beliefs can easily target other vulnerable people. If we turn a blind eye to antisemitic tropes today, there’s no telling what we might permit tomorrow, and soon, violence is at hand.

Indeed, antisemitic beliefs similar to those widespread in Western Europe are responsible in part for motivating some of the worst mass violence against Jews in recent years. The Pittsburgh Tree of Life Synagogue shooter shared Holocaust-denial memes, and posted about Jews exercising control over major world events, like immigration.

The Poway shooter published a manifesto espousing the white genocide conspiracy theory, and one of the Jersey City shooters was connected to the Black Hebrew Israelites, many sects of which have been designated hate groups for their antisemitic beliefs and practices.

Antisemitic tropes and stereotypes do not always lead directly to murder, but there is an inescapable correlation between their perpetuation and violence targeting Jews. It is for this reason most of all that the international community, as well as leaders throughout Belgium, both national and local, must not afford antisemitism any public forum, whether in the name of free expression, humor or any other excuse used to justify hate.

Only by taking decisive and immediate action can we fulfill the promise of “never again.”

The Gay Rights Movement Has an Anti-Semitism Problem

My identity as a Jew and my identity as a gay man are inseparable. Contrary to traditional beliefs regarding religion and sexuality, I believe these two parts of myself enhance each other rather than compromise each other. The LGBTQ Jewish community carries a long history of excellence. We are writers, activists, artists, politicians, academics and teachers. The convergence of identity and the greatness that has been born from this community are special to me. From Rabbi Sandra Lawson to Troye Sivan to Efrat Tilma, queer, Jewish expression seems to be stronger than ever.

Yet, despite this representation, blatant anti-Semitism currently wreaks havoc in the LGBTQ community.

The first time I heard the word “pinkwashing” was when I mentioned to a friend that I was interested in attending the Tel Aviv Pride Parade last summer. My friend supported me but warned me against posting any photos of the parade online, as I would be accused of pinkwashing. I asked her what she meant. “Pinkwashing?” she said. “When Zionists pretend that Israel is the pinnacle of human rights because of how they treat gays? To distract from the way they treat Palestinians?”

This was the first time I heard this term, but it certainly was not the last.

The “anti-pinkwashing” movement is gaining traction in the gay community. My friend was correct in her description: Its mission is to end government-sponsored exploitation of gay constituents so as not to distract from inexcusable corruption or wrongdoing. On paper, the movement seeks to separate nationalism from queer liberation and to honor the voices of queer, oppressed people worldwide. But in reality, the movement tethers the identities of gay Israelis to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and undermines their autonomy simply because they are citizens of the Jewish state. To the devout gay rights activist, any display of Jewish gay pride is now conditional; it must totally and officially distance itself from the Jewish state to be valid.