Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, October 14, 2020

Stupid academic paper of the day: A gay tourist trip to Masada/Dead Sea (pinkwashing, naturally)

After reading the title and abstract of this article in Social and Cultural Geography, you have no more idea of what it is about than before:

Touring and obscuring: how sensual, embodied and haptic gay touristic practices construct the geopolitics of pinkwashing

Gay tourism is commonly studied through pride events in cities. Rethinking the role gay men’s bodies and politics play in the context of tourism to Israeli heritage sites, this paper contributes to debates on geopolitics and geographies of sexualities and the embodied approach to tourism. Analyzing daytrips through the Occupied Palestinian Territories, I argue that sensual, embodied and haptic practices, which are immanent to gay men’s travel cultures, play into a pinkwashing geopolitics in this specific circumstance. Thus, this paper conceptualizes pinkwashing mechanisms operation through heritage tourist sites just as much as they are produced via the presentation of Tel Aviv as a modern space of acceptance of LGBT sexualities, albeit obviously in different ways. Moreover, tourists’ notions of place and non-place construct how (urban) space is produced as meaningful while other (heritage) space is marginalized. Methodologically, I present a reflexive embodied ethnography, which relies on my researcher’s reflexivity to produce an analysis through a story.

The actual article is about the experience of the author, Gilly Hartal, of the Gender Studies Program, Bar-Ilan University, a lesbian who joined a day trip of gay males to Masada and the Dead Sea during Tel Aviv Pride Week a few years ago.

Based on this single trip, Hartal makes some sweeping conclusions about gay male tourism in Israel - for example, that gays are more interested in photographing themselves, hooking up, dancing and drugs than in learning about the sites they are visiting. If a straight male would make this observation he would be called a homophobe, but apparently a lesbian can say this in an academic paper.

Hartal is also upset at the group because, as a lesbian in an all male gay group, she is invisible. The encourage one of the reticent males to jump into the Dead Sea but none of them ask her to join them.

Part of her conclusion based on a sample size of one trip during which she was pissed off:

In this article, I have shown that looking closely at the negotiation of Israel/Palestinian politics in juxtaposition with gay men tourist bodies outside Tel Aviv’s urban space reveals the centrality of the body in gay tourist culture. Gay tourism literature has tended to limit the centrality of sensations and bodies to urban settings or to gay tourist sites. Obviously, bodies play a major role in gay tourism, within which identities and subjectivities are produced (Waitt & Markwell, 2006). The present analysis, however, questions the sharp distinction between ‘gay’ and ‘non-gay’ tourism spaces and shows that gay tourist bodies play a major role even outside commonly discussed gay urban spaces such as pride parades and parties (Johnston, 2005; Waitt & Markwell, 2006). The day tour described above reveals an epistemology of gay tourism that is beyond the destination itself, produced by the tour organizers and most importantly by the participants as a tool for igniting sensations, for enriching haptic experiences.

This paper conceptualizes pinkwashing mechanisms operation through heritage tourist sites just as much as they are produced via the presentation of Tel Aviv as a modern space of acceptance of LGBT sexualities, albeit obviously in different ways. This is formed through the well-proven practices of promoting Israel as a liberal and modern state – a gay dream come true – combined with the envisioning (but not actual experiencing) of Palestine as a homophobic nightmare way beyond the wall. Another twist is added with less expected practices such as visualizing Jewish settlements and the occupation as a rational practice available even to a non-heteronormative logic.

If you think that an entire supposedly scholarly paper based on a single day trip with gay men is irresponsible social science, check out this other paper where the writer describes her renting an AirBnB in Tel Aviv and makes more sweeping conclusions based on her experience.

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Security chaos in Gaza and the West Bank that Western media ignores

Two incidents in the past 24 hours highlight the contempt for law in the Palestinian territories.

This morning, a group of Islamic Jihad militants entered a mosque near Khan Younis and (while wearing shoes) forcibly abducted three worshipers, while shooting their guns in the air.

Islamic Jihad later apologized, saying that the kidnappers were not authorized. But the fact that masked members of Islamic Jihad feel free to abduct men from a mosque during prayers shows how little regard they have for both the law and for Islam.

Over in the West Bank, people forcibly broke into the International Committee of the Red Cross headquarters in Ramallah in solidarity with an Islamic Jihad hunger striker in prison.

Palestinian Authority forces went in and brought the protesters out, because it doesn't look good fo Palestinians to attack the Red Cross. (This is hardly the first time the ICRC has been attacked by Palestinians.)

I did not see anything in Palestinian Authority media about the incident. But Hamas and Islamic Jihad media bitterly complained about the eviction, saying that the PA was collaborating with Israel in detaining the protesters who were braking and entering the ICRC.

Of course, the PA police went too far, also breaking up what appear to have been peaceful sit-ins outside ICRC offices in Jenin and Al-Bireh. Their respect for human rights is no better than those of the terror groups.

Western "pro-Palestinian" activists pretend that an independent Palestine would be a human rights paradise and as safe as Paris or Munich. In reality, it would soon enough look more like Kabul with armed groups competing with each other for power.

Which is why stories like this are not seen. The narrative is that Israel is the oppressor of Palestinians, not their fellow Palestinians. Sympathy for the Palestinians would be reduced if Western media reported on these kinds of daily incidents.

This is a major reason the Arab world is losing their own sympathy for Palestinians - they can read these stories in Arabic.

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Felesteen reports that the "National and Islamic Forces" - a committee with Fatah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad as members - have called on the "Arab masses" to reject normalization with Israel.

The terror groups issued a statement, after a meeting held by their forces' leadership in Ramallah on Monday

Their statement said that Arab normalization "constitutes a betrayal of the Palestinian cause and the issues of the nation," stressing "the importance of keeping the masses of our Arab nation standing by the central issue of the Palestinian issue and rejecting the official Arab normalization policy."

The group also rejected the "false accusations directed against the Palestinian people, their leadership, factions and symbols," referring to recent statements by Saudi officials and others.

The thing is, the Arab street doesn't exist. As I showed, within two months of the Israel/UAE announcement, some 30% of Arabs changed their mind about normalizing with Israel. The rest are not nearly as interested in making noise as they were when they knew their leadership was on the same page.

For years, and even now, Palestinians have been assuming that the lip service paid to their cause by Arab leaders represented something tangible. But all it was good for was to get them anti-Israel votes in the UN and Arab League. Now even that is in jeopardy.

So they are desperately appealing to the "Arab masses," hoping that they will revolt or at least march for the Palestinian cause.It is now easier for them to get a demonstration in London than in Riyadh.

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10/13 Links Pt2: David Collier: Exclusive – hacking a Palestine Action induction event; Harris’s Ties the Anti-Israel CAIR Org Draw Scrutiny; Peter Beinart’s Grotesque Utopia

From Ian:

David Collier: Exclusive – hacking a Palestine Action induction event

My key strategy has always been to go where others do not. I sit with the liars and the haters and then report on what I find. This week is no different – This is the story of a Palestine Action induction event.

The Palestine Action induction The Zoom induction starts with Huda Ammori appearing on camera alongside another activist called Richard Barnard.

Listeners are welcomed and then told there is a form they need to fill in, so they can later be added to a relevant ‘chat group’.

Location is key, and you will only be added to groups relevant to the area you live in. Palestine Action operate in small cells. This Zoom event is all about finding recruits and it is made clear from the outset, that if you are not interested in what they describe as ‘direct action’, you are watching the wrong event.

We are shown the Palestine Action ‘launch video‘ and we hear that Elbit ‘build weapons to test on Gaza civilians’. The video includes all the usual smears about Apartheid, war crimes, mass killings and through graphic imagery, leads the viewer to believe that Israel is a brutal war zone. It is difficult to reconcile this with the fact that the total casualty count for the entire year stands at about 21 – almost all of them engaged in acts of terrorism.

Their argument is simple. The UK is complicit, Elbit are in the UK, Elbit tests weapons on children, therefore anyone who disagrees with them attacking Elbit is a supporter of war crimes and Apartheid.

Ammori’s Horrible History No anti-Israel event is complete without a total rewrite of history and Ammori soon launches into her own fictional tale. Apparently the ‘Balfour Declaration’ was where the UK ‘basically mandated that is was okay to ethnically cleanse the Palestinian people‘. She also grossly understates the Jewish percentage of the population of the time. She then quickly jumps to 1948, when the ‘Zionist’ Militia‘ backed by ‘Western countries‘ – ‘went in and ethnically cleansed 750,000 Palestinians from their homes‘. The Zionists also ‘killed many, many, Palestinians in the process‘.

That is absolute ahistorical bunkum. Balfour didn’t mandate anything and 1948 was a bloody and desperate civil war that saw equal casualties on both sides. By January 1948 Arab irregular forces had already invaded the British mandate and had begun attacking Jewish settlements – all this long before the May invasion by several Arab states. In addition, every Jewish village that fell into Arab hands was entirely emptied of its Jewish inhabitants. These facts however do not sit well with Ammori’s lies. If she tells the truth, her entire movement falls apart.

But Ammori is all about the lies. Having laid out the history she then reinforces the *fact* that the UK are profiting from Israeli war crimes and as UK citizens it is our responsibility to bring this relationship to an end.

The far left is trying to hijack Muslim minds in the West

What unites the Squad? These American lawmakers represent three trends.

First, they are an intersection of interests and opinions that seeks to undo the intellectual scaffolding of the modern West and the civilisational alliances it has with its allies in the Middle East.

America is an idea. It is about the free individual, powered by human reason, and citizenship based on the content of one’s character, and not the colour of one’s skin, as Martin Luther King, Jr beautifully encapsulated it. No religion or collectivist interest is paramount above the nation state and its laws.

This settlement that makes America so special is being slowly uprooted by poisonous identity politics, some of which the Squad represent. When they are under fire for their policy positions on the economy or immigration, rather than engage in reasoned debate, they will often hide behind protest politics of being “women of colour”. To question Ilhan Omar is to be accused of “Islamophobia”. Labels trump logic.

Second, the Squad are the tip of an iceberg that has been building among the far left on campuses and communities across America and Europe since 9/11. A strategic alliance between supporters of political Islam has found common cause with the political far left. This intersection has put aside their deep divergences on God, religion, family, homosexuality and the role of women and united their activist base on campuses and community hubs in their shared hatred for Western history and capitalism.

This counterintuitive union, which I have called the “Red-Green Alliance”, is similar to the revolutionary mindset that saw Iranian left-Islamists come together before 1979 with the encouragement of the French philosopher Michel Foucault. In Britain, Jeremy Corbyn, the former Labour party leader, had a similar Red-Green alliance last year with a view to winning the general election with 30 Muslim-influenced constituencies – only to lose disastrously.

But when push comes to shove, Islamism and “wokeness” do not mix. Iran’s Islamists killed thousands and exiled leftists. In Gaza, Hamas hanged leftists from tall buildings. Ask Egyptian feminists how the Islamists in Egypt treated them after the 2011 uprisings. Islamists debated in Parliament to reduce the age of consent for marriage for women from 18 to nine.

Third, the Red-Green Alliance wants to tear down the alliances of safety and stability that America and the West have supported in the Middle East. Ms Omar has repeatedly attacked Egypt and the Gulf states. Yet the real risks of a Muslim Brotherhood-led sexist, homophobic and anti-Semitic government in Libya or Sudan have not seemed to trouble her and her allies.

Harris’s Ties to Leading Anti-Israel Group Draw Scrutiny

Democratic vice-presidential candidate Kamala Harris’s ties to a leading anti-Israel group are generating scrutiny among Jewish voters, particularly in Florida, a perennial swing state populated by a large number of staunchly pro-Israel voters.

As California’s attorney general and then as U.S. senator, Harris forged a relationship with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), one of the nation’s top anti-Israel groups and advocates for boycotts of the Jewish state. CAIR advised Harris on community issues during her time in California politics, and she later offered the group her "gratitude and admiration" in a 2018 personal letter to the group.

Harris’s association with CAIR is drawing scrutiny ahead of the 2020 presidential election. While Jewish voters overwhelmingly lean Democratic, the party’s recent embrace of anti-Israel causes and activists could make the critical voting bloc think twice. Biden has promised to be a mainstream pro-Israel president, but the Democratic Party’s alliance with anti-Israel leaders threatens to pull the candidate leftward, as evidenced by Biden’s campaign pledge to confront Israel over its continued building of Jewish homes in disputed areas. Recent national polls show around 30 percent support for Trump among Jewish voters, a number that ranks on the high end historically. And CAIR’s support for the Democratic ticket could prove to be a lightning rod for team Biden in states such as Florida, local GOP officials say.

"Every Jewish American should be concerned about a potential vice president who aligns herself with groups that support terrorists," said Randy Fine, a former Republican Florida state politician who went toe-to-toe with CAIR on several initiatives. "I don’t think we want people in the White House to invite anti-Semites to have a seat at the table."

As California’s top cop, Harris partnered with local CAIR officials and relied on them to advise her about community matters. In 2015, for instance, Harris hosted CAIR for an interfaith community event following a deadly terrorist attack in San Bernardino. In 2016, as Harris ran for the Senate, CAIR’s political action committee donated $1,750 to boost her campaign. CAIR PAC also has donated to prominent anti-Israel voices such as Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.).

I just came across this interesting curiosity.

Originally a 1921 Austrian silent film called "Theodor Herzl, der Bannerträger des jüdischen Volkes," it seems to have been renamed "The Wandering Jew" when translated to English.

I found it when researching a tweet that purported to show a video of Herzl's meeting with the Ottoman Sultan Abdel Hamid. The video came from this film.

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Palestinian Authority prime minister Mohamed Shayyeh spoke to the EU Committee of Foreign Affairs yesterday and took questions. He made a lot of ludicrous claims, like how "Palestine" is committed to democracy, how Israel has been stopping them from having elections, how not a penny of foreign aid goes to terrorist organizations.

He claimed that there was not a single Palestinian member of ISIS. That is a bald-faced lie.

He claimed at the very end that Palestinians do not have access to the Dead Sea. Another complete lie.

He claimed that Palestinians do not have access to the Mediterranean Sea. What about everyone in Gaza? What about the thousands that visit during Ramadan every year? Or the many that came last August?

Here is where he insists that the EU funds are not misused and that Palestinians cannot swim in the Dead Sea (he mentioned the Mediterranean earlier.)

Palestine Times quotes him in an especially nonsensical claim:

The prime minister in Ramallah, Muhammad Shtayyeh, expressed the Palestinian side's readiness for a dialogue with "Israel" as soon as possible, but pointed out that the "Israeli side's actions do not reflect an intention for dialogue."

"The Israeli president always talks about that Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and others, which suggests to us that it has no intention of ever reaching an agreement with us," Shtayyeh said during a meeting of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee.

Apparently, Israel saying that Jerusalem is its capital shows that it is not serious about peace talks, but the Palestinians insisting that Jerusalem is their capital shows that they are serious about peace talks.

Perhaps someone should come up with a list of rules that are different for Palestinians and Israelis. It would be a long list.

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10/13 Links Pt1: Palestinian PM: God help us if Trump wins; Why does BBC promote my daughter’s murderer?; Israel's coronavirus death toll exceeds 2,000

From Ian:

Palestinian PM: God help us if Trump wins

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh told the European Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday that voting US President Donald Trump out of office is critical for the Palestinians.

“The election is very important. God help us, the EU, and the whole world if there are four more years of Trump,” he said.

Shtayyeh spoke out against Trump’s peace plan, presented earlier this year.

“Trump has wasted four years of everyone’s time,” he said. “The ultimate deal was not delivered. [Trump’s plan] was rejected by the Palestinians, the Arabs and Europe… The US is just too biased.”

Shtayyeh called for Europe to recognize a Palestinian state, saying it would help bring about a two-state solution and called for a full association agreement to be drawn up between the EU and the PA in preparation for statehood.

The PA prime minister lamented Trump’s “unilateral measures,” such as moving the US embassy to Jerusalem and the US cutting aid to the Palestinians.

Among other reasons, the US slashed the aid because of the Taylor Force Act, which halts American funding to the PA until it stops paying terrorists and their families through its Martyr’s Fund. In 2019, the PA spent NIS 517.4 million ($152.6m.) on salaries to terrorists, in and out of prison.

MEP Charlie Weimers of Sweden, a member of the European Conservatives and Reformists, challenged Shtayyeh on this front, asking: “Can you look European taxpayers in the eye and promise that none of their money - directly or indirectly - will be used for terrorism? Can you promise them that you will cease the support for terrorism and embrace peace?”

Weimers highlighted “loopholes in EU counter-terrorism financing legislation, which lead to EU funds to the PA being funneled to EU-listed terror organizations.”

MEP Charlie @weimers to #Palestinian PM @DrShtayyeh:

"Can you look European taxpayers in the eye and promise that none of their money - directly or indirectly - will be used for terrorism?"

Of course @PalestinePMO could not. Question is, what will #EU do next? @JosepBorrellF https://t.co/EdK197hhPB
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) October 13, 2020

According to former French ambassador to Israel @GerardAraud, Arafat launching a 5 year campaign of suicide bombings, lynchings, stabbings and mass shootings which killed 1000's of Israeli civilians and foreign nationals was simply him "waiting for better people to talk to." https://t.co/EoP1Ff8He5
— The Mossad: Zionists and Loving It (@TheMossadIL) October 13, 2020

Poll: Ahead of US Elections, 63% of Israelis Say ‘Trump Better for Israel’

A clear majority of Israelis favor the reelection of US President Donald Trump come November’s presidential elections, a new poll conducted for i24NEWS showed Monday night.

Answering the question, “which US presidential candidate do you think will be better for Israel?” 63.3% of respondents chose the Republican leader.

In contrast, Democrat candidate and former vice president Joe Biden came up with a mere 18.8%.

Moreover, 53.2% said they thought the Israeli right would be significantly harmed if Trump was not reelected. A little over 21% replied that “Israel acts independently,” and therefore won’t be influenced by a change in the White House.

Almost half of Israelis (48.2%) thought that US Jews are “mistaken” to support the Democratic Party, versus 35.5% who thought they were “correct” in doing so.

On the question of whether a rift has grown between American Jewry and the State of Israel in recent years, 47% replied that it could be mended, 35.3% said there’s “no rift, only debate,” and 12.4% answered the rift could not be mended.

i24NEWS Poll: Ahead of US Elections, 63% of Israelis Say Trump Better for Israel

MEMRI: Saudi Journalist: Peace With Israel Is A Necessity, Not A Choice; Turkey And Iran Are A Greater Threat Than Israel

In an article titled "Peace Is A Necessity, Not A Choice" in the Saudi state daily 'Okaz, published one day before the signing of the peace agreements between the UAE, Bahrain and Israel, Saudi journalist Fahd Ibrahim Al-Dughaither welcomed these agreements as harbingers of coexistence, economic growth and constructive competition in the region. Al-Dughaither added that Saudi Arabia not only does not oppose the agreements, but has future development plans of its own that require peace and stability; therefore, it has the right to make decisions that serve its supreme interests, at a time of its choosing.

Al-Dughaither wrote further that the Arab states have supported the Palestinian cause for years and have sacrificed for it, yet the Palestinian leaders have been stubborn and corrupt, filling their own pockets with the aid money provided by the Gulf. Responding to Palestinian claims that normalization with Israel is an act of betrayal,[1] Al-Dughaither stressed that the Arab countries that have signed peace agreements with Israel, starting with Egypt and Jordan, have continued to support the Palestinians and their rights. However, he said, the recent decades have seen vast changes in the region, chief of them the growing threat to the Arabs posted by Turkey, Iran and their regional proxies, which is much greater than the threat posed by Israel. These changes have caused the Arab countries to reassess their priorities and to advance towards peace with Israel.

The following are translated excerpts from his article:[2] "After the signing of the peace and normalization agreement between Israel, the UAE and Bahrain we have begun to see, even if from afar, a new future, different from the past 70 years: a future that contains some hope of coexistence, development, constructive competition and the avoidance of war and military conflicts -- even if it does bring about the realization of all the aspirations related to the Palestinian issue. This is a trend that can isolate the rogue regimes and organizations, which support violence and benefit from the rivalry in our region. This future is very different from the destructive future that former U.S. president Barak Obama envisioned for our region, [namely] the so-called 'Arab Spring'…

"Saudi Arabia certainly does not oppose the trend of peace and has impressive development plans for the future, whose implementation required an environment of stability and mutual interests vis-à-vis all the countries of the world. Therefore, Saudi Arabia has the sovereign right to make decisions according to its supreme interests, whenever it wants and without paying attention to populist rumblings [that are heard] here and there. Let me just remind [the readers] that it was Saudi Arabia that laid down the foundations for the Arab peace initiative, known already in the 1980s.[3] [And] what have I said about Saudi Arabia and its development ambitions is also true for Israel and of all the Arab states…

Gal Gadot: Famous Movie Star -- And Lightning Rod For Anti-Israel Haters (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

Movie star Gal Gadot is not a controversial movie actress, but she has attracted some controversy.

It started with Gadot's title role in the 2017 movie Wonder Woman, when it became an issue whether Gadot was white or a woman of color.

For its part, ComicBook.com alerted its followers that There IS A Person Of Color In The Lead Role:

Wonder Woman hits theaters tonight in some places, but there seems to be a misconception out there about the film's lead character, and it's frankly a bit absurd. So consider this a PSA -- if you will -- for those who have called out concerns about there being no person of color in the film.

It might come as a shock, but there are people of color in the film, and one of them is in the lead role.

Yep, with a quick google search, it turns out that Gal Gadot is not actually Caucasian, but is in fact Israeli. [emphasis added]

Gal Gadot. Youtube screencap

Now Gadot is taking on a new and very different role -- and again there is controversy, this time over her being cast in the lead role of a movie about Cleopatra.

Here is one typical reaction:

Typical of the response to the mistaken impression that Cleopatra was an Arab is an article in The Jerusalem Post -- which notes that Cleopatra was Greek, not Arab.

(On a side note, the article also points out that the above Sameera Khan is a former journalist for RT, who left the network after her enthusiastic praise for Stalin’s gulags)

But for me, the interesting part about the outcry for an Arab to portray Cleopatra is that it illustrates the lack of awareness of the actual connection of Egypt with Arabs and Islam -- and of Arab conquest and colonization both inside and outside the Middle East.

In his book, The Crisis of Islam, Bernard Lewis, touches upon the change in Egyptian identity after the Arab conquest:

There can be few, if any, nations with a better claim to nationhood--a country sharply defined by both history and geography, with a continuous history of civilization going back for more than five thousand years [than Egypt]. But Egyptians have several identities, and for most of the last fourteen centuries, that is, since the Arab-Islamic conquest of Egypt in the seventh century and the subsequent Islamization and Arabization of the country, the Egyptian identity has rarely been the predominant one, yielding pride of place to the cultural and linguistic identity of Arabism and for most of their history, to the religious identity of Islam. [p. 19]

In another of his books, What Went Wrong? Lewis outlines in more detail the many other Muslim conquests:

o Seventh century: Muslim armies advancing from Arabia conquer Syria, Palestine, Egypt, and North Africa, all then part of Christendom

o  Eighth century: Muslim forces conquer Spain and Portugal and invade France

o  Ninth century: Muslims conquer Sicily and invade Italy, sack Ostia and Rome

o  Thirteenth century: the Tatars of the Golden Horde conquer Russia. After the Khan of the Golden Horde and his people convert to Islam. Russia, and much of Eastern Europe, are subject to Muslim rule -- until the late fifteenth century. Meanwhile, the Ottoman Turks conquer Anatolia, capture the ancient Christian city of Constantinople, invade and colonize the Balkan peninsula, and threaten the very heart of Europe, twice reaching as far as Vienna. [pages 4, 6]

That's some list:

Syria (then under Christendom)
Palestine (then under Christendom)
Egypt (then under Christendom)
North Africa (then under Christendom)
Spain
Portugal
France
Sicily
Sacking Rome
Russia
Anatolia
Constantinople
Balkans
Vienna

We know that the Muslim invasion of Europe was turned back, as Lewis himself describes tongue-in-cheek:

But again European Christendom was able to oust the invaders and again, now more successfully, to counter-attack against the realms of Islam. By this time the jihad had become almost entirely defensive--resisting the Reconquest in Spain and Russia, resisting the movements for national self-liberation by the Christian subjects of the Ottoman Empire, and finally as Muslims see it, defending the very heartlands of Islam against infidel attack. This phase has come to be known as imperialism. [Crisis, p35-36. emphasis added]

Apparently, Zionism is not the first nationalist self-liberation movement to be labeled 'imperialist' by the Muslim world.

As for the movie itself, will there be nearly as much excitement when they announce who will play the part of Marc Anthony?

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Most Arabs still oppose normalization with Israel - but their numbers are shrinking VERY fast

Pro-Israel media mistakenly reported on a recent poll by Zogby Analytics, which was misreported by Sky News Arabia, saying that a majority of Arabs in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Egypt support Arab countries having normalized relations with Israel.

The actual results were flipped from what was reported. Only in the UAE itself was there a majority support for the Abraham Accords.

While the majority of Arabs are still against normalization, the number that support it is amazngly high, considering how much opposition there has been over the years.

The 2019-20 Arab Opinion Index, a massive survey of 28,000 Arabs throughout the region sponsored by the Doha-based Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, was released last week. Practically the entire survey was done before the announcement of an agreement between Israel and the UAE.

In that survey, taken between November 2019 and September 2020, the overwhelming majority of Arabs throughout the region - 94% of those who expressed an opinion - opposed recognizing Israel. Note that the question was not about normalization but mere political recognition, a far lower bar.

These numbers opposing any diplomatic relationship with Israel have remained steady over the years:

Which means that in only two months, the percentage of Arabs in Saudi Arabia and Jordan who support Arab relations with Israel skyrocketed from 6% to 41%; in Egypt (which already has relations) it zoomed from 13% to 42%.

These are astonishing numbers.

Once again, it is difficult to overstate how earth-shattering the Israel-UAE agreement is, even though too many "experts" continue to absurdly downplay it, like this New York Times foreign desk editor.

Mr. Trump's transactional approach to the Middle East hasn't blown up in his face as some experts had predicted. But aside from a few more Arab recognitions of Israel, he doesn't have much to show for it. @halbfinger @NYTBen @farnazfassihi https://t.co/iG5pR0jWZi
— rickgladstone (@rickgladstone) October 11, 2020

(h/t Tomer Ilan)

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Palestinian Authority warns it will prosecute any NGO that agrees NOT to hire terrorists as a condition for funding. Really.

One of the lesser known Palestinian Authority sections is the Civil Society Organizations Commission, an attempt to centralize administration of the huge number of foreign-funded NGOs and "civil society" organizations.

It is headed by Major General Sultan Abu Al-Enein.

Al-Enein just instructed all of the Palestinian NGOs not to cooperate when foreign funders, mostly European, want to put anti-terror clauses on their funding. And if any Palestinian NGO signs a clause that says that they will not hire or fund terrorists, they will be prosecuted under Palestinian law!

You read that right.

From the official WAFA news agency Palestine Today (and other Arabic news sites):

The head of the Civil Society Organizations Affairs Authority, Sultan Abu Al-Enein, warned the private sector not to be an entry point for normalization or marketing of liquidation plans for our national project, represented by the "deal of the century", or normalization agreements, through their acceptance of conditional funding or politically oriented programs to put pressure on our leadership and our people.

Abu Al-Enein said that there are intense contacts that some countries or international institutions are making, through civil work, to sign documents that harm the fundamentals of our Palestinian people, in return for financing their programs and societal and cultural activities.

He said that the acceptance by some civil institutions of this conditional funding would be a blow to the steadfastness positions announced by the Palestinian leadership at the level of the Palestine Liberation Organization and the national and Islamic action factions.

He renewed the warning that accepting this funding is national betrayal and a departure from the national ranks, and will not pass without punishment, stressing that the competent authorities will work to prosecute these institutions legally and nationally, and expose those in charge of them in front of the Palestinian public, which rallies around its national constants.

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10/12 Links Pt2: Facebook bans posts that deny or distort the Holocaust; Apologize for Columbus? Let Islam apologize for Temple Mount; CUNY’s Systemic Jew-Hatred

From Ian:

Facebook bans posts that deny or distort the Holocaust

Facebook said Monday that it will be banning posts that deny or distort the Holocaust and will start directing people to authoritative sources if they search for information about the Nazi genocide.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the new policy in a post on Monday, in the latest attempt by the company to take action against conspiracy theories and misinformation ahead of the US presidential election next month.

Zuckerberg said that he believes the new policy strikes the “right balance” in drawing the lines between what is and isn’t acceptable speech.

“I’ve struggled with the tension between standing for free expression and the harm caused by minimizing or denying the horror of the Holocaust,” he wrote. “My own thinking has evolved as I’ve seen data showing an increase in anti-Semitic violence, as have our wider policies on hate speech.”

In a separate blog post, Monika Bickert, vice president of Facebook’s content policy, said that the company was “updating our hate speech policy to prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust.”

The move, Bickert said, “marks another step in our effort to fight hate on our services. Our decision is supported by the well-documented rise in anti-Semitism globally and the alarming level of ignorance about the Holocaust, especially among young people.”

Surveys have shown some younger Americans believe the Holocaust was a myth or has been exaggerated.

Jpost Editorial: UN makes mockery of its Human Rights Council

The shameful charade of the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council is continuing. Tomorrow, the UN is scheduled to hold elections for the 47-state membership of the UNHRC and the list of countries running for a place on the body supposedly dedicated to fighting human rights abuses includes some states better known as abusers than defenders of freedom and justice. Among those likely to be elected are China, Cuba, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan.

This makes a mockery of the whole purpose of the UNHRC.

UN Watch, an NGO dedicated to monitoring the work of the United Nations and promoting human rights, distributed material ahead of the vote and has pointed out the absurdities. It also held a webinar with human rights dissidents persecuted by these very regimes to call on governments everywhere to oppose the election of the states with a record of abuse.

“Electing these dictatorships as UN judges on human rights is like making a gang of arsonists into the fire brigade,” said Hillel Neuer, the executive director of UN Watch.

Disconcertingly, despite the valiant efforts of UN Watch and other groups dedicated to fighting human rights abuses, the report shows how Cuba and Russia, which are the only candidates in their respective regional groups, are almost certain to be elected.

In the Asian regional group, where there are five candidates vying for four spots, the election of China, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia is almost assured, according to Neuer.

“It’s logically absurd and morally obscene that the UN is about to elect to its top human rights body a regime that herded 1 million Uighurs into camps, arrested, crushed and disappeared those who tried to sound the alarm about the coronavirus, and suffocated freedom in Hong Kong,” said Neuer.

Adolph Ochs’ Legacy at The New York Times

A taxi passes by in front of The New York Times head office, Feb. 7, 2013. Photo: Reuters / Carlo Allegri / File.

The New York Times’ Jewish problem is more than a century old. It dates to 1896, when Adolph S. Ochs, publisher of The Chattanooga Times, purchased the failing New York newspaper. A proud Reform Jew, Ochs insisted that Judaism was a religion, not a national identity that might compromise the patriotic allegiance of American Jews and prompt the dreaded charge of dual loyalty.

Constant criticism of Israel in The New York Times — usually focused on Jewish settlements or its failure to reach a peace agreement with the unmovably resistant Palestinian Authority — is not random. It reflects an enduring, by now embedded, discomfort with the very idea, let alone the reality, of a Jewish state in the Biblical homeland of the Jewish people.

It began with Joseph Levy, the Times’ first Jerusalem-based correspondent. He became a partisan advocate during the 1929 Arab riots in Palestine when hundreds of Jews were murdered and the centuries-old Hebron Jewish community destroyed. Levy’s primary sources were the Grand Mufti (who incited rioting with the lie that Jews intended to endanger Muslim holy sites on the Temple Mount) and Hebrew University Chancellor Judah Magnes (formerly a New York Reform rabbi) who advocated a bi-national state of Jews and Arabs.

The Times’ nadir came during the Holocaust. By then Arthur Hays Sulzberger, Ochs’s son-in-law, was the publisher. When the slaughter of six million Jews was even noticed, it was buried in the inside pages lest the Times be portrayed as a “Jewish” newspaper. Instead, the Times became the sounding board for the vehemently anti-Zionist American Council for Judaism. The subsequent birth of the State of Israel could not be evaded, but it took the Times five years to finally recognize it as “an outpost of democracy in the Middle East.”

Its belated embrace was short-lived. The Times condemned the trial of Nazi war-criminal Adolph Eichmann in Israel, lest the Jewish state be perceived as representative of the Jewish people. After the Six-Day War editors focused on the plight of Palestinian refugees, while ignoring Jewish refugees from the Middle East and Africa who found a home in Israel. The Jewish state was depicted as a malevolent occupying power.

Times of Israel reports:

Israel’s Gabi Ashkenazi and his UAE counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan bumped elbows instead of shaking hands in line with measures to halt the spread of the coronavirus, as they met face-to-face for the first time after their countries signed a US-brokered deal in mid-September to normalize relations.

It was the UAE foreign minister’s idea to visit the site alongside his Israeli counterpart, the Walla news site reported.

In a handwritten message in the visitor’s book at the memorial, the Emirati top diplomat commemorated the “European Jewish victims of the Holocaust.”

“A whole group of humanity fell victim to those calling for extremism and hatred,” he wrote, adding that the visit to the memorial “underscored the importance of human values such as coexistence, tolerance and accepting the other… as well as respect for all creeds and faiths. These are the values upon which my country was founded.”

“I salute the souls of those who fell victim to the Holocaust,” Al Nahyan wrote, before quoting from a Jewish prayer translated into Arabic: “May their souls be bound up in the binds of life.”

“Never again,” he wrote, in both English and in Arabic.

Morocco's Akhbar Ona found the use of the phrase "never again" by an Arab to be "strange and weird:"

The newspaper said that the phrase is "a slogan often used by Holocaust survivors of WWII to justify actions to protect Israel and the Jews."

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