Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

07/22 Links Pt1: Dutch Gov’t Halts Funds to NGO Linked to Terrorists; China to UNSC: Palestinians can count on us to back their just rights; Phillips: China's persecution of its Muslim citizens

From Ian:

Dutch Gov’t Halts Funds to NGO Linked to Terrorists

As a direct result of NGO Monitor research, the Dutch government is halting €8 million in funding, over three years, to the Palestinian NGO known as “UAWC.” The Dutch announced that it will also conduct an external investigation into UAWC’s ties to the PFLP terror group.

NGO Monitor has long warned of UAWC, a major recipient of Dutch funds, and its ties to the PFLP terror group. Our research shows that since 2013, UAWC has received nearly $20 million from the Netherlands. During the past year, NGO Monitor researched and published its findings in a detailed report, briefed officials, and wrote a number of open letters to Dutch officials on this issue. The evidence we provided led to a number of parliamentary questions.

The Dutch government initially denied the allegations. However, after an internal review in the framework of parliamentary discussions, the Minister of Development confirmed NGO Monitor’s findings. She admitted that its funds were used to pay the salaries of two senior UAWC employees who were arrested for the murder of a 17-year-old Israeli in August 2019.

NGO Monitor applauds the Dutch decision. We hope that the belated funding freeze will be followed by serious sanctions, a demand for return of Dutch funds, and the implementation of strict guidelines to prevent future misuse of public money.

PreOccupiedTerritory: European Gov’ts Aghast At Notion They Shouldn’t Fund Palestinian Violence(satire)

Continental states voiced shock today upon encountering the criticism of their providing money to Palestinian groups and individuals who engage in terrorism against Israel, and asserted that objections to those aid policies constitute a violation of the countries’ sovereign right to violate the sovereignty of Israel.

Various figures in the national governments of the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, France, Sweden, and several individual German states, as well as of the European Commission itself, expressed outrage this week at mention of the notion that they must not fund violent activities against Israel, Israeli Jews in particular. The figures gave indignant responses to questions highlighting the provision of European aid money to convicted Palestinian terrorists, to organizations run by Palestinian terrorists, and to Palestinians who have supported terrorism against Israel either in material or rhetorical form.

“What an absurd suggestion,” spat Anne Tijsemeit, a deputy minister in the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “Why would anyone think it improper to support Palestinian national self-determination by any means, including but not limited to paying Palestinians who murder Jewish teenage girls? It’s almost as if the parties suggesting it think it not coincidental that the Netherlands boasted the highest percentage of its Jews killed in the Holocaust among all Western European countries.”

“Impudence, that’s what it is,” remarked a German official in the state of Hesse. “It is the height of arrogance to tell Europeans they may not contribute to the curtailment of Jewish rights, as if such rights even exist in the European psyche. Whoever argues for us to take into account the concerns of Jews about their safety and security must have forgotten whom they’re addressing.”

Mladenov warns: PA at risk of total collapse due to COVID-19, annexation

The Palestinian Authority is on the verge of “total collapse” due to the twin combination of COVID-19 and Israel’s pending annexation plans, UN Special Coordinator to the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov warned on Tuesday.

“May salary payments were delayed due to an 80 per cent reduction in Palestinian revenues,” Mladenov said. “It is unclear whether the Palestinian Government will have sufficient resources to make any future salary payments or, indeed, to continue to carry out its governing functions in the coming months,” Mladenov told the UN Security Council during its monthly meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

During the first wave of the virus Mladenov praised the joint Israeli-Palestinian efforts to combat the disease. Now that the second wave has hit, Mladenov said, the two sides were more at odds.

“We are far below the level of coordination that existed in the beginning of the year,” Mladenov said.

“This situation could have serious repercussions on the ability to control [COVID-19’s] spread and its impact on people’s lives,” he added.

Steps to combat the second round of the pandemic have been hampered by the PA’s response to Israel’s pending annexation plans, Mladenov explained. This has included the PA’s decision to “end” its security coordination with Israel and its refusal not to accept tax revenues from Israel.

UN official, in recording, talks of getting US ‘off the UN's back,’ preventing cuts with whistleblower system

A recording of a U.N. investigator talking about a system to speed up U.N. investigations that “gets the Americans off the U.N.’s back” and avoids the U.S. reducing its financial contribution is sparking fresh calls for the Trump administration to do exactly that.

Emma Reilly, a United Nations whistleblower who has faced retaliation for reporting illegal practices that she said put the lives of activists and their families in danger at the U.N. Human Rights office, has called on Secretary of State Michael Pompeo to implement a law that calls for the U.S. to defund the U.N. by 15 percent for noncompliance of its whistleblower protection policy.

Her letter includes a transcript of an undercover recording, which has been reviewed and verified by Fox News, where the head of U.N. investigations talks about cutting down investigative times while keeping the U.S. from complaining.

Ben Swanson, the director at the Investigations Division at the U.N. Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS,) is heard in the December 2018 meeting of his staff discussing an updated system to speed up investigations of staff accused of retaliating against the complainant.

Swanson, a U.K. national, starts by saying that “this whole thing of retaliation has got the potential to cause us massive, massive problems if we get it wrong.”

The United Nations will always be anti-Israel but it is still refreshing when a UN official notes that the Palestinian leadership is failing its people.

Yesterday, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nikolay Mladenov delivered an address to the UN Security Council. Here are excerpts where he is critical of the Palestinian leadership or complimentary towards Israel.

Regrettably, the situation on the ground is rapidly being affected by the dramatic increase in COVID-19 cases in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and in Israel.

The challenge of confronting the rapid increase in cases in the West Bank and boosting prevention efforts in Gaza has been significantly compounded by the ending of coordination between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. The PA’s refusal to accept any clearance revenues transferred by Israel has exacerbated an already concerning fiscal crisis and impacted service provision. It has effectively blocked the ability of patients to travel from Gaza for treatment outside of the Strip and has led to delays in delivering humanitarian assistance and materials intended for the COVID-19 response and other health support and services.

On the economic side, the Palestinian Ministry of Finance announced on 2 July that it would pay partial Government salaries for the month of May. The May salary payments were delayed due to an 80 per cent reduction in Palestinian revenues stemming from the economic impact of COVID-19 and from the PA’s refusal to accept the monthly transfers of its clearance revenues. It is unclear whether the Palestinian Government will have sufficient resources to make any future salary payments or, indeed, to continue to carry out its governing functions in the coming months.

The suspension of coordination between the PA and Israel has also impeded the ability of Palestinian Security Forces (PSF) to move through Areas B and C of the West Bank, undermining their capacity to enforce COVID-19-related restrictions.

Mladenov is being careful with his words but he is clearly putting the blame on the Palestinian Authority for disregarding the health and well-being of the people it supposedly is meant to protect.

He also gave rare kudos to Israel:

I note that the latest information available from Israeli authorities indicates that, as of 31 May, the number of Palestinian detainees, including minors, in Israeli prisons is at its lowest level in years. The number of Palestinian minors in Israeli prisons has declined by some 30 percent, from 201 in February to 142 in May. While still too high, I welcome this development, particularly in light of the recent calls to release detainees and reduce their numbers during the COVID-19 crisis.

Do Black lives matter to Palestinians? Only when speaking to Western audiences.

The US Palestinian Community network posted a letter, supposedly written by the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions – Gaza Strip, supporting a general strike in the US Monday in support of Black Lives Matter:

This letter was not posted on the website of the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions – Gaza Strip.

It was not posted to their Twitter account.

It was not posted to their Facebook account.

The organization changed its name from the Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions – Gaza Strip (as can be seen in this letter that they tweeted in January 2019) to the “Gaza Palestine General Federation of Trade Unions.” This letter from yesterday shows that their official communication has dates, a stamp and a signature.

110313185_3652760244752198_1480191488827481440_n

Either there is a tiny offshoot that still uses the old name – which cannot be found anywhere on the Web – or this letter was forged.

Either way, I cannot find any statement of support for Black Lives Matter in the major Palestinian trade union websites. They only pretend to care about Black lives for propaganda purposes.

More Palestinian lies: “Israel destroyed a COVID-19 testing center!” (UPDATE)

Middle East Eye makes up a story:

Israeli authorities have demolished a Palestinian drive-through coronavirus testing centre in the city of Hebron, south of the occupied West Bank.

Raed Maswadeh, a 35-year-old engineer whose family owns the land in which the drive-through test service was being built, told Middle East Eye that three months ago the municipality had appealed to Palestinians to raise funds to build the facility.

“My family decided to donate our land at the northern entrance of Hebron for the purpose of constructing a Covid-19 test clinic,” Maswadeh said.

It was built in the memory of his grandfather, who died recently due to coronavirus, and Maswadeh said the project cost his family around $250,000.

The land is located in Area C, a part of the West Bank totally controlled by Israel, which almost never gives out building permits for Palestinian residents. Israeli settlers in the area, however, face no such problems.

Maswadeh said that they started building the centre without a permit, like many properities in the area.

“If we applied for a permit, we would not have gotten it. We thought maybe during Covid-19, there would be some exceptions,” he said.

Maswadeh told MEE that construction had been ongoing for two months, while Israeli soldiers patrolled the area. The soldiers watched bulldozers and building equipment enter the site, but said nothing, according to Maswadeh.

However, on 12 July, they received a military order to stop the construction, which was handed to them by an Israeli army commander.

Nothing adds up. Someone would spend $250,000 to build a COVID-19 testing center without a building permit in Area C when they know ahead of time that it would probably be demolished? 80% of Hebron is in Area A, where such a center could be built with no permission needed from Israel.

In another article, Maswadeh changes his story to makes the issue sound even more dramatic. The testing center is no longer a drive-through facility but it was also a regular testing center and a residence for people to live while in quarantine before entering Hebron. It is no longer recently built after two months of construction but:

“The building has been fully equipped for three months, and it was in the final stages before its opening, it did not matter to the Israeli occupation, which seems to be seeking to increase the spread of the epidemic in the country. The center has been destroyed, and this is evidence that the Israeli occupation is not concerned with curbing this epidemic, which does not distinguish between Israelis or Palestinians, but Israeli arrogance ignores that.”

The center is now much more expansive, already built and equipped for three months (meaning it was already completed in April, and therefore the building must have started before a single Palestinian was diagnosed.)

An interview with the mayor of Hebron shows that this story is false.

At the northern entrance to Hebron, which connects it with Halhoul and with villages to the north, west, and east, the municipality began to build a center for taking samples (corona testing) from those coming to the city from this entrance, but the occupation authorities lied in wait, because the center received a (notification about its) demolition, even before the work on it (i.e. building it) was finished, or before it was equipped, according to what the mayor of Hebron, Taysir Abu Sneine said to “Al-Arabi Al-Jadid”.
Abu Sneine said: “We began working eleven days ago on this plot of land, that was donated by the citizen Ra’ed Masawdeh, and after the groundwork, we erected a structure that resembled a center or a clinic, but the citizen received a notification from the occupation about the demolition of the center that was being equipped, while the occupation never misses a chance to commit violations against Hebron and its sons, even when the governorate (of Hebron) is facing the coronavirus.”

According to Hebron’s mayor, the municipality only barely started construction of the building when Israel informed them that it was illegal – not, as now is claimed, while watching the construction for two or three months.

This is a classic case of Palestinians deliberately building in Area C for purely political purposes – if Israel enforces the law, it makes Israel look bad for demolishing what Palestinians claim is essential infrastructure; if Israel does not enforce the law, they have successfully stolen land from Israel. Maswadeh’s changing story and eagerness to cast Israel as a devil proves this.

Meanwhile, there is a resurgence of COVID-19 in Hebron. Instead of concentrating on that, too many Palestinian leaders are spending money and time playing these sorts of anti-Israel political games.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

UPDATE: As I suspected, the entire story is made up. COGAT issued a statement five days ago that the illegal building was only retroactively called a COVID-19 facility after Israel issued orders to demolish it. That’s when they created a sign claiming it was meant as a medical facility. No one claimed it was a COVID-19 test center while it was being built.

You can also see from this photo that the building was not ready to open, as Maswadeh claimed.

Rabbi Abraham Cooper missed his opportunity as a guest with @NickCannon

The first rule for any public speaker is to know your audience. It is a shame that Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the very knowledgeable Associate Dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center who was a guest on Nick Cannon’s show, thought that his audience was Nick Cannon himself.

Cannon was not the audience. His tens of thousands of fans are the audience. And Rabbi Cooper did not think enough about how his words would be understood by them.

The conversation was convivial and concentrated on what Jews and Black people have in common. Rabbi Cooper referenced the Holocaust and Simon Wiesenthal numerous times. He had spoken to Cannon the days before and they were in many ways continuing a private conversation in public.

But that is not what was needed.

What was needed was a frank discussion, and even argument, over the specifics of what was offensive and wrong about Cannon’s previous podcast with Professor Griff. Those issues were barely alluded to and papered over in this video. But if you look at the comments from Cannon’s fans, they are essentially unanimous – Cooper didn’t prove that anything Cannon (or Farrakhan) said was wrong and therefore Cannon’s apology was simply his bowing to the white people that pay him.

The tragic thing is that Cannon seemed to want to have that conversation. An acrimonious debate on the basic topics, not softened with jokes and asides, is what was necessary – and it didn’t happen. Cooper seemed to prioritize commonality over hard truths, and his desire to be respected by Cannon caused him to be disrespected by Cannon’s audience.

It could have been done.

Why is it wrong to say that Blacks are the real Jews? Because it means that Jews aren’t the real Jews, which is offensive. Jews can trace our history back in great detail and we have been killed and expelled numerous times because we were Jews. Now someone else wants to come along and say we aren’t real? That we were mass murdered for no reason? That a group that has no tradition of Judaism is the real thing? The burden of proof is on the Blacks who say that they are the real Jews – let’s see the evidence of their history since Jerusalem fell in 70 CE.

Why is it wrong to say that the Jews control the banks? They touched on it but they didn’t attack the issue. Cannon tried, saying that to him the real problem is capitalism (with Cooper gently pointing out the Cannon has benefited greatly from it) but Cooper spent too long on talking about the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and he went off on a tangent about Japan and China that again ignored the audience. The truth is that some Jews became bankers because of their oppression, but to say that there is a Jewish conspiracy to control the world is absurd and hate speech. And Cannon admitted that he believes some conspiracy theories, when the vast majority of them are ridiculous and a way to blame others for one’s own problems.

Not a word about the melanin theory, possibly the most offensive thing Cannon said. How difficult is it to say that a theory that white people are naturally violent is exactly as wrong and racist as saying that black people are naturally violent because of the levels of melanin in their skin?

Cooper could have gone into detail on Louis Farrakhan’s lies about the supposed Jewish control of the slave trade, or about his pretending to know what real Jews are, or his Synagogue of Satan themes. Cannon’s audience doesn’t care that he liked Qaddafi or Iran’s ayatollahs.

It’s wonderful that Cooper likes Motown. That is not what the audience needed to hear. Even if Black people would disagree, they would respect a Jew who says exactly why Cannon and Griff and Farrakhan are wrong, in plain language, highlighting the lies more than the insults.

It is more respectful to Nick Cannon to have an honest discussion of the actual topics than to try to be his pal. Cooper quoted the Talmud a couple of times (again without context) but he should have kept in mind the Talmudic expression that says (paraphrased) two people who study Torah together start off as enemies and do not leave until they love each other.

Rabbi Cooper might be good at his job, but he missed a big opportunity here.

07/21 Links Pt2: Amar’e Stoudemire offers to bridge the gap between Blacks and Jews; Oxford optimism: In early test, UK coronavirus vaccine triggers immune response

From Ian:

Amar’e Stoudemire offers to bridge the gap between Blacks and Jews

Former NBA All-Star Amar’e Stoudemire said there is a “lack of leadership” in the Black community that has led to expressions of anti-Semitism, and he has offered to bridge the gap between Jews and Blacks.

Stoudemire, who lives and plays professionally in Israel for Maccabi Tel Aviv, was reacting to a number of recent antisemitic social media posts by Black sports figures and celebrities.

He told the TMZ website that the Black community needs an education.

“I do think, I know with me being in the position where I am where being an African-American Jew who’s learning at a high level, I think there’s a narrative shift that’s happening,” he said. “We have to figure out a way to now, you know, teach the next generation on, you know, positivity.”

Stoudemire said that due to the leadership vacuum, many Black people have turned to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan for inspiration. Farrakhan has a long history of antisemitic comments, including comparing Jews to termites and denouncing what he calls the “Synagogue of Satan,” and has praised Adolf Hitler.

In January, Stoudemire in an Instagram post called for an end to antisemitism among Blacks in response to a stabbing attack on a rabbi’s home in Monsey, New York, days earlier during a Hanukkah celebration.

Oxford optimism: In early test, UK coronavirus vaccine triggers immune response

Scientists at Oxford University say their experimental coronavirus vaccine has been shown in an early trial to prompt a protective immune response in hundreds of people who got the shot.

British researchers first began testing the vaccine in April in about 1,000 people, half of whom got the experimental vaccine. Such early trials are usually designed only to evaluate safety, but in this case experts were also looking to see what kind of immune response was provoked.

In research published Monday in the journal Lancet, scientists said that they found their experimental COVID-19 vaccine produced a dual immune response in people aged 18 to 55.

“We are seeing good immune response in almost everybody,” said Dr. Adrian Hill, director of the Jenner Institute at Oxford University. “What this vaccine does particularly well is trigger both arms of the immune system,” he said.

Hill said that neutralizing antibodies are produced — molecules which are key to blocking infection. In addition, the vaccine also causes a reaction in the body’s T-cells which help to fight off the coronavirus.

He said that larger trials evaluating the vaccine’s effectiveness, involving about 10,000 people in the UK as well as participants in South Africa and Brazil are still underway. Another big trial is slated to start in the US soon, aiming to enroll about 30,000 people.

A couple of days ago, “Women of Palestine” tweeted this:

They probably meant “citrus” fruits.

This is in fact a Yemenite Jewish boy selling etrogim and myrtles, two of the four species Jews use for the holiday of Sukkot.

Here’s an advertisement for etrogim from the Land of Israel from the 1920s:

But in fact the etrog is the perfect Zionist symbol. Etrogim were prominent in the coinage of Jews during both the First and Second Jewish Revolts against Rome:

Here’s a Byzantine-era pendant with a menorah, shofar, lulav and etrog.

The more people look for Palestinian history -the more they uncover Jewish history in Israel.

Baidu Maps (Chinese Google) shows 1947 UN Partition lines(!) as Israel’s borders

Baidu is China’s top search engine. Here is what it shows when you look for Israel.

The borders are the 1947 UN Partition proposal (without Jerusalem as a separate entity.)

This is bizarre. The 1947 partition lines were unanimously rejected by the Arabs and therefore never had any legal validity. Why would China or a Chinese Internet company put them there?

It shows the 1949 armistice lines as a lighter dotted line.

07/21 Links Pt1: Lyn Julius: The Wisdom of Peter Beinart’s Grandmother; Netherlands admits to paying terrorists who killed 17-year-old Israeli

From Ian:

Lyn Julius: The Wisdom of Peter Beinart’s Grandmother

In progressive Western circles, Zionism has become decidedly un-cool. Self-declared Zionists, like the writer Bari Weiss, complain of bullying at the New York Times. In the vogue for identity politics, Jews are framed as white oppressors.

This postmodern conceptual straightjacket perverts historical truths. It dictates that only ‘people of colour’ can be victims, while the oppression of one million Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews, resulting in the ethnic cleansing of pre-Islamic Jewish communities, among other minorities, from the Arab Muslim world from the 1940s, the subject of my book Uprooted!, must be passed over in silence.

The long history of oppression of Mizrahi Jews in the Arab Middle East is the key to understanding the main drivers of the conflict with Israel – an Arab and Muslim inability to tolerate difference, to co-exist with minorities, and an abhorrence for any exercise of Jewish power.

Yet in the Western progressive mind, bound tight as it is by the postmodern conceptual straitjacket, only Palestinians can be victims. The Mizrahi Jews are airbrushed out of public discourse. In the current jargon, they are ‘cancelled’. In this topsy-turvy world, merely to draw attention to Arab and Muslim antisemitism invites accusations of racism or ‘Islamophobia’.

Progressive orthodoxy even denies Jewish indigeneity, as one woke Manhattan rabbi recently tried to do, perhaps because it conflicts with the false settler-colonial paradigm which the left habitually applies to Israel. The fact that over 50 per cent of Israeli Jews have roots in the Middle East is simply ignored.Most Israeli Jews found refuge in the only state that would defend them unconditionally from persecution. By empowering Palestinians at the expense of Jewish Israelis, Beinart and other anti-Zionists would once again put Jewish destiny in the hands of others.

Someone who did appreciate the absolute need for Zionism was Peter Beinart’s Egyptian-Jewish grandmother, Adele Pienaar. Born in Alexandria, she was driven out by Arab nationalism. In an 2014 elegy, he wrote: ‘The lessons she drew from her experience of vulnerability and dislocation were straightforward: Jews should be on the lookout for trouble and should take care of each other since no one else would … her nightmare for Israel was that Arab nationalism would imperil its Jews in the way that Arab nationalism had imperilled Alexandria.’

Beinart’s essay, in effect, disparages his grandmother’s ‘tribal’ and instinctive Zionism in order to virtue signal to a narrow liberal intellectual milieu. It is a tragedy that he thinks the imperilment of Israel is a price worth paying for that, as the ‘vulnerability’ and ‘peril’ his Grandmother knew has not gone from this world. As for the Middle East, only a fool would think the Jews will continue to thrive without a state of their own.

Beinart's guilt damns a nation

Moreover, while many Israelis support the Palestinians' right for self-determination, as exemplified by the multitude of peace deals offered by the Israeli government representing them, what is the Palestinian objective? Beinart quietly omits the many times that Palestinian leaders rejected peaceful opportunities for resolution and statehood. Their leaders rejected the Peel Commission partition plan in 1937. They rejected the UN partition plan in 1947. They rejected former Prime Minister Ehud Barak's offer of 94% of the disputed territories in 2001 and former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's more generous offer in 2006. Presently, Palestinian leaders reject even a peace negotiation. Their message is clear: There is no plan short of the end of Zionism (Israel) to which they would assent.

The Jewish state, like any other state in the world, is imperfect. However, Beinart fails to mention that the surrounding Arab and Muslim countries are even less perfect. These countries are, by and large, authoritarian and unfree, and make little effort to integrate their Palestinians, improve their conditions or offer them citizenship. Even in Tunisia, which Beinart marshals as a singular example of Arab democracy even though it has only existed since 2011, one must be Muslim to be president; Islamic education is mandatory in schools; homosexuality is criminalized; spousal rape is legal; corruption is rampant both in the government and among the police; property rights are scant; the judicial branch doesn't fully exist; the legislative branch is defunded; and the executive branch has declared a permanent state of emergency since 2015. But Beinart doesn't suggest dismantling any of these countries.

Only his guilt drives him to hold Israel to an unattainable standard. Its inability to reach his bar implies its ultimate elimination. This is because for Beinart, the ongoing conflict is entirely the fault of Israeli Jews. The Palestinians' plight has nothing to do with their actions or decisions. They are unwitting pawns merely reacting to Israel's stratagems. Yet how is this outlook anything other than the racism of low expectations?

Perhaps most glaring, Beinart fails to discuss Jordan in his proposal. In Jordan, some 50% to 70% of the population is Palestinian. Wouldn't a one-state solution work better for the Palestinians in the West Bank and Jordan, who share language, religion, culture and even relatives, than in Israel where the Jews and Palestinians share distrust?

In presenting his solution, Beinart pushes many half-truths and inaccuracies to further his narrative. For example, "Israel is already a binational state. Two peoples, roughly equal in number, live under the ultimate control of one government." But Israeli Arabs represent only 20% of Israel's population. Beinart intentionally blurs the line between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which has control over most of the Palestinians in the West Bank, because it serves his position; his solution is a few modifications away from reality.

There’s nothing moral about Peter Beinart’s ‘Cancel Israel’ project

Beinart’s argument is essentially that Israel has to be done away with as a Jewish state because that is the only way to alleviate Palestinian suffering. As it happens, Beinart’s call comes on the 20th anniversary of the Camp David Summit, when a US president and Israel’s government desperately tried for two weeks to cajole the Palestinians into accepting a state of their own on most of the West Bank, Gaza, and in parts of East Jerusalem. Soon afterwards – and while negotiations were still going on – the Palestinians unleashed the murderous Al-Aqsa intifada.

Five years later, Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza; and in 2008, Israel offered the Palestinians once again a state based on even more far-reaching Israeli concessions – but the Palestinian leadership again declined. As Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas would tell The Washington Post in 2009, there was no rush because “in the West Bank we have a good reality.… The people are living a normal life.”

Like every anti-Israel activist who campaigns for doing away with the Jewish state for the sake of the Palestinians, Beinart downplays and whitewashes Palestinian terrorism while demonizing Israel as a monstrous evil whose existence inevitably means cruel oppression for the Palestinians. One example from the podcast is Beinart’s preposterous claim that “mass population expulsion … is after all in Israel’s political DNA” (after 42 minute mark).

There’s a term for this kind of demonization: antisemitic anti-Zionism – and the British academic Alan Johnson once provided an excellent definition:

“Antisemitic anti-Zionism bends the meaning of Israel and Zionism out of shape until both become fit receptacles for the tropes, images and ideas of classical antisemitism. In short, that which the demonological Jew once was, demonological Israel now is: uniquely malevolent, full of blood lust, all-controlling, the hidden hand, tricksy, always acting in bad faith, the obstacle to a better, purer, more spiritual world, uniquely deserving of punishment, and so on.”

Ten years ago, Peter Beinart might well have agreed: as he told Jeffrey Goldberg in May 2010:
“There certainly are leftists (and for that matter) rightists who focus so disproportionately on Israel’s failings as to raise questions about their true motives.”

Now, however, Peter Beinart hopes his efforts to mainstream antisemitic anti-Zionism among American leftists will earn him admiration as a moral leader.

The untold story of hundreds of thousands of Jews who perished in the Russian Empire (Michael Elgort)

Lately everyone is talking about #JewishPrivilege and how “white Ashkenazi Jews” benefited from such privilege. I have decided to take a step back and to look closely at those “white Ashkenazi Jews.”.

Since the majority of Jews who are talking about such privilege are from the US, I want to share with them something that they may not know about their own ancestors.

Of course you all heard about numerous atrocities that Jews had to endure throughout centuries, inquisition, expulsions, genocides, raping, libels and many others. You name it. Later in the 20th century we had the Holocaust and various atrocities that are unparalleled.

But what if I tell you there was a gigantic industry of oppression that specifically abused Jews and Jewish children a century before it? Sounds weird, how can we not know about it, right? Something that killed tens of thousands and had 2.5 million Jews who went through it? That includes my ancestors,probably your ancestors and almost any other Ashkenazi Jews alive. And no, I am not referring to pogroms that you definitely heard of, but this also happened in the Russian Empire.

In the 19th century the largest Ashkenazi Jewish groups lived in the Russian Empire and Austro-Hungarian Empire, mostly spread within what is now Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, Hungary, Czechia and Slovakia.

Jews lived in Muscovy (and before that in Kievan Rus) relatively sporadically, occasionally coming as merchants or high level specialists (teachers, doctors, scientists). Examples include some prominent figures like vice-Chancellor Baron Shafirov – a good friend and coadjutor of Peter the Great.

However until the 18th century there were almost no Jews living in Russia as Peter’s daughter – Queen Elizabeth - prohibited them from settling in and even ordered an expulsion of Jews. It has changed during the reign of Catherine the Great who participated in Poland's partition. In 1772, 1793 and 1795 the Poland Commonwealth was divided between three empires: Prussian, Austro-Hungarian and Russian. So you can correctly say that it is not the Jews who came to Russia, but it is Russia who came to the Jews (see this Wikipedia article).

It was in 1772 when the Pale of Settlement rule was enacted – it was a legal limitation imposed on Jews and Jews only – they were not allowed to settle in the areas to the East of an artificial border line, however were allowed to be mobile within these borders. When Russia expanded to the West during the 2nd partition in 1793, the Pale of Settlement was expanded to include Jews who lived in former Poland – around 5 million Jews became Crown's subjects which is estimated to be 30 to 40% of all world Jews at that time.

Fast forward to the year 1825. A new Russian emperor - Nicholas I was crowned. Shortly after that in 1827 a new law was passed – Jews for the first time were subject to the Russian imperial army service. Jewish shtetls within the Pale of Settlement were ordered to provide 10 recruits per 1,000 men which is 30% more than any Christians were supposed to provide (7 recruits per 1,000 men).

The service was for 25 years and those “unlucky 10” were chosen by a recruitment lottery. The age of conscription was from 12 to 25 years old inclusive, but sometimes covered even 7-8 year old children. When the recruits were younger than 16, they were sent to special military school to become a so-called “cantonists”. I will make a thread on cantonists separately in a few days, as this atrocity deserves a separate coverage. I will elaborate on how Jewish children were abused, tortured and traumatized to become soldiers and how they were forced to convert, but for now you can read some basics about Jewish juvenile soldiers.

By the way, a small extra here – it is worth mentioning that Jews back then didn’t have proper surnames, so majority of Jews who were recruited were named after shtetls from where they came from. Hence so many Jews now bear Russian/Polish/Ukrainian sound surnames that are actual names of towns, cities and villages with a suffix “sky”, “ski, “skie” – Brodsky, Mogilevsky, Milikowski, Slutzky, Lansky, Gorsky and the like. Any time you hear people saying Jews are not real, because they have Slavic surnames, remember why they really have them.

Now back to our topic. The period in a cantonist school was not counted towards those 25 years of service. These schools for Jews existed for exactly 30 years from 1827 to 1857 and were abolished by Emperor Alexander II, the son of Nicholas I. Peer pressure on any Jewish soldier including adults was especially hard, and many ended up converting to Christianity, choosing suicide or running away. However for every Jewish soldier who managed to run away or decided to take his own life, their own shtetl was supposed either to bring 3 new recruits younger than 20 years old as a direct substitution or to pay a huge fine. Up until 1850 the Jews were not even allowed to become warrant officers – only low rank soldiers. Each case of heroic act by a Jewish soldier was considered by the Emperor personally and there were very rare examples of Jewish making military career before Crimean war (1854-1856). Any such career required a specific consideration by the Emperor himself. In addition to recruiting, Qahals (local shtetl municipalities in Emperor’s Russia during Nicholas’ reign until 1840s) were obligated by Russian Imperial Senate to pay large monetary contributions as taxes. In order to reduce such an enormous burden, for any recruit of 16 or older each Qahal received a discount of 1000 rubles and for any recruit between 12 and 16 - 500 rubles discount. During the Crimean war (1854-56) the conscription of Jewish soldiers tripled, meaning that shtetls were ordered to provide 30 men per 1,000 instead of 10. During the famous Sevastopol battle between 500 to 1000 Jews were killed, protecting the city from the British and French invasion.

Ironically, as Jews they were protecting the city in which they were not allowed to settle as Sevastopol was excluded from the Pale of Settlement. Almost no one among them was awarded or distinguished for their heroic acts.

Many Jews served as volunteer doctors, including, for example, Dr. Yehuda Leib (Leon) Pinsker – later to become one of the leaders of Hovevei Tzion movement. Overall, medical careers were among the most popular for Jews then as it allowed to avoid army services and still contribute.

During the Crimean war Nicholas I suddenly died and his son was crowned – Alexander II, known as The Liberator. Unlike his predecessor (and two emperors who will come after him), he is considered the most liberal and “enlightened” emperor in Russian history. One of his biggest achievements is that in 1861 he abolished a practice of serfdom - an official slavery that existed in Russia when nobility owned peasantry as actual slaves. It happened in February 1861 just 2 months before the beginning of Civil War in the US. Simultaneously he had canceled brutal cantonist schools in 1856 (the last one was closed in 1857), and from 1858 Jews (and Muslims) were allowed to be awarded medals and honors in a similar way the Christian soldiers were allowed before. He canceled the practice of recruiting children younger than 16, reduced the ratio of Jewish recruitment and made it similar across all groups of population, reduced a term of service from 25 to 15 years, allowed Jews to become officers, in 1867 for any soldier who served in Russian Army the Pale of Settlement rule was canceled as well. In 1874 he canceled conscription for different age groups completely - now only grown up adult in the age of 21 was supposed to serve in the army. Following actions of emperor, many people were unhappy about Jews getting the rights similar to them and a wave of pogroms ran across the Empire in early 1870s, creating the first large wave of Jews leaving to Ottoman Empire and USA. Many decided it is time to run away from the military conscription.

In spite of all hardships thousands of Jews fought in the 1877-78 Russian-Turkish war; there were many war heroes and distinguished officers. For example in the Dubniak Gorka Fortress assault more than a quarter of 16th division of famous Russian general Skobelev army was Jewish (Skobelev was known as a general who promoted people based on merits, not religion or nationality) and officer Fainerman called his soldiers to a melee fight with Shma Yisrael. During the reign of Alexander II there were cases when Jews became high rank officers in Russian army. However Alexander II was killed by a revolutionary youth in 1881 and since then his son - Alexander III was surrounded by antisemites, the life of Jews in Russia went gradually south. He began to return to the practices of his grandfather – Nicholas I. Jews were not allowed to be promoted, the army had quotas for warrant officers and officers for Jews set in 1882 (5 and 3% respectively).

When the son of Alexander III – Nicholas II was crowned in 1894, he continued his father's practice.

In 1904-1905, approximately 30 thousand Jews fought in the Russian-Japanese war. Numerous Jews became selfless heroes, but only a handful of them were awarded. Two prominent examples are Trumpeldor and Stolberg who became full cavaliers of St. George Order (of all 4 degrees). But they were exception, rather than the rule. Simultaneously when Jews were fighting and dying for Russia, the empire faced the largest pogroms in its history - throughout Moldova and Ukraine. And then in 1910 Nicholas has decided that Jews cannot be trusted and they were again not allowed to become officers of any kind. Many of them retired and left Russian empire completely. Between 1905 and 1922 thousands and thousands of Jews left Russia and moved to USA; the majority of what is now known as American Jewry originated from this wave, partially due to pogroms, partially due to conscription or discrimination in military careers. When the First World War came, Russia had an enormous mobilization of about 500,000 Jews. They fought with valor and thousands of them died, however in spite of all their heroic acts, they were still treated as second class people by their military peers. Due to that fact, many of Russian Jews ended up in the Red Army during the Russian Revolution, but plenty still decided to serve in the White Army (the remnants of Imperial forces). Almost all those Jews from White Army left the Russian empire. But Russian revolution and Soviet time is a different story and it deserves a separate story.

To sum it all up: between 1827 and 1917 around 2.5 million Jewish men and boys went through the abusive machine of Russian Imperial Army. It is estimated that at least 10% died in the battles, from malnutrition, bullying and constant abuse. The exact number is hard to count, as no one was running the statistics and also many deaths were not even registered.

The Bottom line: please do not say that Ashkenazi Jews were historically privileged. They were not. Ashkenazi Jews (as any other Jewish group on Earth) had their slice of hardships and our history does not deserve to be whitewashed. The Jews of Russian Empire suffered from a lot - abuse, tortures, forced conversion, pogroms and from institutional exploitation of Jewish men by Russian Imperial Army.

The Huffington Post reported:

Progressive activists are making a last-ditch effort to convince the Democratic Party and its presumptive presidential nominee Joe Biden to denounce Israel’s occupation of the West Bank, disputed territory where the U.S. ally administers military law over millions of Palestinians.

In a new statement, advocates say the Democratic platform should use the word “occupation” for the first time in reference to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Campaigners argue that approach would be in keeping with Democrats’ commitment to social justice, growing sensitivity to Palestinians’ concerns and increasing skepticism of hardline Israeli policies encouraged by President Donald Trump.

Win Without War, IfNotNow, Justice Democrats, Demand Progress and eight other organizations signed a joint message exclusively shared with HuffPost on Thursday.

“Condemning the Israeli occupation by name should be the bare minimum for any leader of the Democratic Party,” the coalition wrote. “We urge the [Democratic National Committee] Platform Committee to have the courage to correctly name the situation on the ground — a necessary precursor to taking meaningful action that can hold the Israeli government accountable for ongoing violations of human rights and international law.”

The message comes after the Democratic National Committee’s platform drafting committee voted to advance the language for the platform on Wednesday. It has not yet been made public. But a draft platform viewed by HuffPost does not mention “occupation.”

Jewish Insider adds:

The platform’s Israel plank — a draft of which was obtained by Jewish Insider on Wednesday — includes language that expresses support for the U.S.-Israel alliance, a commitment to security funding for Israel and support for the two-state solution “that ensures Israel’s future as a Jewish and democratic state with recognized borders and upholds the right of Palestinians to live in freedom and security in a viable state of their own.” The platform also notes opposition to “unilateral steps by either side — including annexation — that undermine prospects for two states” and opposition to “settlement expansion.”

…On the issue of Jerusalem, the Israel plank states, “We believe that while Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations, it should remain the capital of Israel, an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths.” The language expresses opposition to “any effort to unfairly single out and delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement, while protecting the constitutional right of our citizens to free speech.”

The Daily Beast adds another detail:

The draft platform, which was approved out of committee before a final vote, states that Democrats “recognize the worth of every Israeli and every Palestinian” and support a “negotiated two-state solution.” It staunchly opposes the boycott, divest, and sanction movement, but also says it qualifies as constitutionally protected speech.

The current language is very close to J-Street’s position, although that group expressed concern over the lack of language about “occupation.”

The 2016 DNC platform said this about Israel:

A strong and secure Israel is vital to the United States because we share overarching strategic interests and the common values of democracy, equality, tolerance, and pluralism. That is why we will always support Israel’s right to defend itself, including by retaining its qualitative military edge, and oppose any effort to delegitimize Israel, including at the United Nations or through the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement.

We will continue to work toward a two-state solution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict negotiated directly by the parties that guarantees Israel’s future as a secure and democratic Jewish state with recognized borders and provides the Palestinians with independence, sovereignty, and dignity. While Jerusalem is a matter for final status negotiations, it should remain the capital of Israel, an undivided city accessible to people of all faiths. Israelis deserve security, recognition, and a normal life free from terror and incitement. Palestinians should be free to govern themselves in their own viable state, in peace and dignity.

This means that the new platform has still gone significantly Leftward on Israel, by adding language opposing “annexation” and “settlement expansion” and explicitly opposing laws that call BDS discriminatory.

It is also unclear what the proposed new platform says about Iran. the Democratic Majority for Israel, which has been lobbying for the more Zionist side of the new platform, has written in an email to supporters that they want language to “work to ensure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons through diplomatic means” which implies removing sanctions and downplaying Iran’s violations of the JCPOA.

Questions about whether the Democratic Party supports keeping the US Embassy in Jerusalem, or Israel’s control of the Golan Heights, or even the IHRA definition of antisemitism and including antisemitic discrimination as a reason for schools to lose federal funding – all important Trump initiatives – are apparently not addressed.

Jewish and Zionist voters need to know the Democratic Party position on these matters.

On July 4 – the same day that Louis Farrakhan gave an ugly, antisemitic speech to a nationwide audience – Madonna posted an excerpt of another Farrakhan speech on her Instagram.

It wasn’t just an excerpt – it was a Nation of Islam advertisement for that antisemitic speech.

At that point, Madonna could not have been unaware of the controversy over Farrakhan’s speech being pulled from Fox Soul TV.

And even if she could credibly claim to be blissfully unaware of Farrakhan’s hate, there is no way she doesn’t know the contents of that same speech today.

Yet she has kept her promotion for an antisemitic speech on her Instagram, which according to JTA has racked up over 700,000 views.

There is no excuse for a person who claims to be in the vanguard of anti-racism to support and help promote the views of an ugly antisemite.