Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, January 06, 2021

Cartoon of the Day: Balancing the story

Continuing my series of recaptioning cartoons...

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01/06 Links Pt1: Sudan officially joins Abraham Accords to normalize Israel ties; 2021: The Year Israel and Iran Go to War?; Israeli NGO accuses UN agency of distorting data on terrorism

From Ian:

Sudan officially joins Abraham Accords to normalize Israel ties

Sudan signed the Abraham Accords, officially agreeing to peace and normalization with Israel on Wednesday.

Sudanese Justice Minister Nasredeen Abdulbari signed the document with US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin present. Mnuchin is expected to visit Israel on Thursday. Mnuchin continued to Israel for "important meetings," as he characterized them on Twitter.

Sudan became the third of four countries to agree to sign on to the Trump administration-brokered accords, following the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, and before Morocco.

Though Khartoum announced its willingness to join in late October, its government waited to proceed until the US removed Sudan from its list of state sponsors of terror last month, following the overthrow of dictator Omar al-Bashir in early 2019. Sudan paid $335 million in compensation for American victims of terror and their families as part of the removal process.

During Mnuchin’s visit, the countries also settled Sudan’s World Bank debt, a further step towards economic recovery for the African state, which has over $60 billion in foreign debt.

Mnuchin was in Khartoum “at a time when our bilateral relations are making historic leaps towards a better future. We plan to take concrete steps today to inaugurate the entry of our bilateral relations,” Sudanese Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok tweeted.

The path to Sudan joining the Abraham Accords began in February 2020, when Sudan’s transitional leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Uganda.

The expansion of the Abraham Accords to include Sudan is a significant step that will further enhance regional security while creating opportunities for Sudan and Israel to deepen economic ties and improve the lives of their people. https://t.co/2OnazrKSJq pic.twitter.com/kecd1Diwod
— Department of State (@StateDept) January 5, 2021

Come for the peace accords, stay for the vaccinations! #AbrahamAccords #COVID19 #VacciNations 🇮🇱🇦🇪🇧🇭🇺🇸💉 pic.twitter.com/tUqob6TAbe
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) January 6, 2021

This, like the Abraham Accords, could not have happened without U.S. leadership, and in particular, Jared Kushner’s determination and diplomacy! https://t.co/3Y1noOnQ1R
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) January 6, 2021

Yesterday, Shomrim of London released this video taken Saturday of a man threatening and chasing religious Jews of Stamford Hill, London, with a large stick:

The people making the video are laughing at the attack.

Police were eventually called and arrested the 29-year old man:

According to the experts on antisemitism like Linda Sarsour and Marc Lamont Hill, this cannot be an case of antisemitism because - after all - it doesn't appear like this gentleman is a white supremacist, based on his voice.

Similarly, these twins from Gaza who decided to harass any religious Jews they could find in Antwerp are clearly not antisemitic, because they are from Gaza! They must be just anti-Zionist.

Adham & Amjad are twins from #Gaza. They are avid rollerbladers, currently in Belgium. Watch them visit the Jewish neighborhood in Antwerp during the night curfew.
Uploaded to YouTube on 31 Dec 2020 https://t.co/sLXefXyj20 pic.twitter.com/SZstZzL3h9
— Imshin (@imshin) January 5, 2021

The video has over 250,000 views on YouTube and over 28,000 Likes from Arabic-speaking people who cannot possibly be antisemitic.

It is interesting that the people who claim to care the most about antisemitism don't seem to be upset over most forms of antisemitism.

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Over the past four years, the US embarked an a completely new and novel strategy for peace in the Middle East, one that has had infinitely more success than any administration since the 1970s.

But that strategy has been hated by people who claim to want peace above all.

This is because the new policies contradicted the orthodoxy of the old model, which had become nothing less than a religion. Most politicians, pundits and professional "peacemakers" were emotionally invested in the fantasy that if only Israel gave Palestinians more land, they would be satisfied, terror and incitement would cease and only after that would other Arab nations join in.

This religion was created during the 1990s and, like all religions, the facts of what has happened since then cannot shake the true believers. A deadly intifada followed a decade later with a smaller terror spree, multiple Palestinian rejections of peace offers and frameworks, thousands of rockets from Gaza, an enduring political split between rival Palestinian groups, increased disenchantment with Palestinian actions in other Arab countries, the rise of Iran as a nuclear threat - none of these could disturb the absolute Truth that the Oslo process was the only one that could bring peace.

These true believers hate for anything that Donald Trump did buttressed their convictions that they were right. Israel's accords with four Arab countries were dismissed as some sort of anomaly.

And now that Trump is going away, they are anxious to return the US to the failed models of Trump's predecessors.

Haaretz reports that J-Street is salivating to reverse practically everything Trump and Kushner did: It wants to drop the "Peace to Prosperity" plan that is far more realistic than anything ever proposed beforehand, it wants to criminalize any Jews living in Judea and Samaria and even prohibit US funding of scientific research that is done by Jews across the Green Line, it wants to reward Palestinian intransigence by re-opening its diplomatic mission in Washington, it wants the US to open a separate consulate in Jerusalem just for Palestinians, it wants Biden to declare ahead of any negotiations that the US will recognize east Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state, it wants to end the US position that Palestinians shouldn't join international organizations (which has only served the purpose of using those platforms to attack Israel,) it wants the US to consider boycotting Israel as legitimate, it wants to have the US abandon the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and it wants to bring in the international community which is historically antipathetic towards Israel in to help create a peace plan that would force Israel to return to having only nine miles from its eastern border to the Mediterranean.

Yes, J-Street still claims it is "pro-Israel."

The problem is that Biden has supported J-Street. He seems to believe that the failed policies of every previous administration just needs to be tweaked a little while the massive successes of the Trump administration are anomalies or terrible mistakes.

Trump understood that appeasement doesn't work for Palestinians. They didn't only reject Israeli peace offers but also a framework from Obama and Kerry that went beyond Israel's flexible positions. he gave them a chance to restart talks with Israel, and when they said no, he didn't beg them as Obama/Kerry did - he said, fine, we will go on without you. This is the only way to act in the Middle East.

Speaking of faith, it isn't only J-Street that is anxious to party like it's 1999. This op-ed in Religion News Service by Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) and Rev. Dr. Mae Elise Cannon (Churches for Middle East Peace) shows how widespread this way of thinking is:

Last year, Israel’s illegal occupation of Palestinian lands in East Jerusalem and the West Bank and its blockade of Gaza brought increased misery and property violations to the Palestinians: home demolitions, expansion of settlements, detention of Palestinian children, continued restrictions on movement and access and (particularly in Gaza) fears of annexation.

The recent agreements between Israel and Arab states benefit these countries’ respective economies, but little or no consultation took place with the Palestinians, and the agreements did little to help end the conflict.

A new year, a new Congress and a new administration, however, offer an opportunity for the U.S. to play a constructive role to reach a just peace between Israelis and Palestinians.

Mae Elise Cannon, had actually written an article opposing the accords between Israel and the UAE. Both the CMEP and the ELCA support the antisemitic and virulently anti-Israel Kairos Palestine document, which shows that their interest in "peace" is nil - they want a single Arab state and no Jewish state.

But they, like J-Street, hide their hatred of Israel behind the pretense of wanting "peace." And too many Westerners are blinded by the wonderful use of the word "peace" that they cannot see that the results of previous peace initiatives have resulted in anything but.

There is a real way to peace. The past four years proved that. The Trump peace plan is the most realistic way forward, providing Israel with the security it cannot compromise on while giving the Palestinians a path not only to a state but also to economic prosperity.

The only people who cannot see that are the ones blinded by their faith in a 27 year old process that has been rejected by Palestinians time and time again.

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We have been inundated the past couple of weeks with the claim that Israel must, under international law, provide vaccines to Palestinians at the same time it is providing them to Israelis.

One example is the new letter from 15 "human rights" NGOs which says, "Article 56 of the Fourth Geneva Convention specifically provides that an occupier has the duty of ensuring 'the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics'. This duty includes providing support for the purchase and distribution of vaccines to the Palestinian population under its control."

If we assume that the Palestinian areas are occupied - something that I disagree with - the question is, are these critics accurate? What exactly does international law say?

The Fourth Geneva Conventions, Article 56, says:

To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory, with particular reference to the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics.

The bolded part is not in the NGO letter, and for good reason: it is critical and contradicts what Amnesty, B'Tselem and the others claim.

To understand why, here is the 1958 interpretation of that article from the ICRC, which is generally accepted as international law:

The reference in the Article to "the co-operation of national and local authorities" ...shows clearly that there can be no question of making the Occupying Power alone responsible for the whole burden of organizing hospitals and health services and taking measures to control epidemics. The task is above all one for the competent services of the occupied country itself.

This is crystal clear - even in cases of belligerent occupation, the primary responsibility of health care goes to the local medical professionals. In this case, obviously, that would be the Palestinian Authority.

It is possible that in certain cases the national authorities will be perfectly well able to look after the health of the population; in such cases the Occupying Power will not have to intervene; it will merely avoid hampering the work of the organizations responsible for the task.

Which is exactly what is happening. The Palestinian medical infrastructure is decent. If they need help from Israel, there is no reason to think that Israel wouldn't help out. Israel was praised even by the UN on how well it has cooperated with the PA during the pandemic even while the PA spread conspiracy theories, why would anyone besides antisemites think otherwise?

It will be remembered that Article 55 requires the Occupying Power to import the necessary medical supplies, such as medicaments, vaccines and sera, when the resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.

In this case, the local resources have been making arrangements to buy their own vaccines. They will probably have to wait until February, but in that sense they are no worse than most of the nations of the world. Israel paid double or triple the regular price of the vaccines it has procured specifically to get to the front of the line, any nation could have done the same, but practically the entire world has chosen to wait and purchase them at regular prices. (Plus, logistically, the PA couldn't use the Pfizer vaccine that Israel is vaccinating its citizens with anyway because they don't have the proper refrigeration equipment.)

If the Palestinians waiting for a few weeks for the Moderna or Astra Zeneca or Sputnik vaccines is a violation of human rights, then most of the world is having their human rights violated.

At any rate, claiming that Israel is somehow responsible for bringing the vaccines to Palestinians at the same time as Israelis is not supported at all in international law. Nor does any international law say that an occupier must prioritize taking care of the citizens in occupied territories before providing for its own citizens.

Obviously, if there is a major breakout of a much deadlier strain in the Palestinian territories, it is in Israel's self-interest to work with the Palestinian Authority to help them - just as they cooperated with them last spring, before Mahmoud Abbas decided to cut all ties - including medical! - with Israel.

The bottom line is that international law of belligerent occupation says that if Israel is the occupying power, it must act with the local authorities to ensure the health of the population. Which is exactly what Israel has been doing since the initial outbreak. The only party that refused cooperation was the Palestinian Authority from around June to November. If they ask for help, they will get it.

And anyone who implies otherwise is either ignorant or bigoted.

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01/05 Links Pt2: Jewish unity is the answer to the EU's kosher slaughter ban; How Germany tricked Jewish organizations worldwide

From Ian:

Jewish unity is the answer to the EU's kosher slaughter ban - opinion

Let’s not be fooled into thinking that banning kosher slaughter is the end of the story. In fact, many have noted that this decision represents a ‘slippery slope,’ bringing about the question of, ‘What next?’

Building a united strategy which combines effective use of the law, messaging, bottom-up and top-down activism, and local and global support will ensure that we do not have to find out what could have been next.

Israel’s Diaspora Affairs Ministry sees itself as a convener in this work. Jewish communal leaders, institutions, government officials and legal professionals – both in Europe and around the world – must work together under a shared plan of action, which includes:
• Calling out the hypocrisy of banning kosher slaughter – which shows mercy for the animal – while allowing hunting to continue
• Working effectively with governments
• Bringing together individual European countries and government leaders and offices from around the world, along with the Israeli government, to use diplomatic channels to engage with the European Union and other bodies
• Creating an effective media strategy
• Generating a shared voice to engage the public and leadership
Now is the time to join as a united Jewish coalition to ensure the strength and viability of European Jewry.

How Germany tricked Jewish organizations worldwide

When the German parliament labeled the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement as anti-Semitic, it garnered the praise of Jewish organizations worldwide.

But despite the importance of the move, which influenced more European countries to adopt similar decisions, what remained hidden was the fact that the resolution had no legal and practical validity. It was merely a recommendation.

Besides the fact that many left-wing parties in the Bundestag voted against the decision, the initiative's very purpose was to block a more radical right-wing proposal that demanded a complete ban on BDS activities in Germany.

The vote drew immediate public criticism from BDS supporters, including Israelis, Jews, journalists, and the former Israeli ambassador himself. They claimed the decision was a violation of the principle of freedom of expression. It was also alleged that Israel forced the German government to silence the critics of government policy in Jerusalem, an argument that is anti-Semitic at its very core.

A week later, the Bundestag's Research and Documentation Services issued an opinion that the parliament's decision is legally invalid.

And that is how German authorities pulled off an ingenious move: on the one hand, they presented themselves as pioneers in the fight against anti-Semitism and the de-legitimization of Israel; on the other hand, their decision is void of any practical capability to fight the anti-Semitic boycott movement.

This is how good-old Germany has always operated: its official policy states that the existence and security of Israel is part of the nation's national interest; at the same time, it supports anti-Israel organizations with known ties to terrorists and consistently votes against Israel at the United Nations.

The BBC’s ‘Black Christmas’ is the least of our problems

As the late Rabbi Lord Sacks warned in speeches in the House of Lords in 2018 and 2019 on British anti-Semitism and global anti-Semitism: when anti-Semitism moves from the political fringes to a mainstream party – and when anti-Semites don’t think they are anti-Semites – we are all in serious trouble.

Anti-Semitism starts with Jews, but it never ends with Jews. And I’m afraid to say the churches on the whole are returning to their anti-Semitic traditions, particularly those represented by the World Council of Churches. See this piece by Melanie Phillips on the anti-Semitism of the WCC, and the pusillanimity of the senior clergy of the Church of England – my own faith community – towards BLM. As I wrote in a piece for The Algemeiner, the Anglican Communion, in cahoots with the Jihadists, is now leading what it calls Palestinian ‘Liberation Theology’, a Marxist movement that Pope John Paul II had the good sense to proscribe when it first appeared in the Sandinista movement and Roman Catholics of Nicaragua. Communism/Socialism is not the Way.

In 2004, the BBC commissioned a formal report – the Balen Report – following persistent accusations of anti-Israel bias. To date the BBC has spent about £330,000 of public money in legal costs to hide the report from the public. This cover-up is itself scandalous. The reasons for the BBC’s anti-Israelism, like that of French state TV (France 2), are multifarious, but one reason is that Western institutions are easily duped by Islamist propagandists fluent in the old colonial languages, and expert in feeding the liberal egocentrism of the West. Hence the BBC and France 2 report what their Arab hosts tell them, but fail to report the commonplace preaching and incitement of genocidal antisemitism in Arabic and Persian by clerics, politicians and media. Similarly, Qatar state TV, Al Jazeera, broadcasts democracy in English, but gives a weekly perch to the intellectual head of the Muslim Brotherhood Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi to broadcast genocidal anti-Semitism in the form of fatwas against Israel, including advocating the use of Muslim children as suicide bombs.

I recently wrote a joint essay with the historian and Jerusalemite Dr Richard Landes partly on the dangers of this ‘lethal journalism’. Islamists are winning the cognitive war, and this results in an existential threat to us all, especially if the anticipated Farrakhan-loving Biden administration is lenient with Islamism and the nuclear ambitions of the Ayatollah. As it is, through its political proxy Hezbollah, Iran already has about 150,000 rockets hidden within the civilian populations in south Lebanon, all pointing at Israel to bring on the Shiite Apocalypse.

Richard Landes and I are frustrated that these really serious problems – the ticking time bombs – are being ignored by Western intellectuals and legacy media alike. Even many who claim to be battling anti-Semitism – including some Jewish leadership – get bogged down in pedantry and political correctness.

In sum, anachronisms and the colour of Jesus’s skin are not worth worrying about, rather we have some profoundly serious battles against anti-Israelism that we must take to BBC and the wider world. We must win, and we will.

Cartoon of the Day: Peace drives one to drink

Continuing my series of recaptioning cartoons....(I've been on a streak lately)

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Before the Trump administration changed the rules for what peace in the Middle East could look like, Obama also tried his hand at opening ties with problematic countries based on the invitation he made in his 2009 inaugural address that "we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist.” This led to improving relations with Myanmar in 2012 and Cuba in 2014.

Unlike the Abraham Accord, there was not a lot of excitement and fanfare, and not much in the way of a ripple effect. But Obama did consider something more substantial in the Middle East during his last year in office.

In April 2016, he tried to play broker, but not between Israel and the Arab world. Instead, Obama tried to negotiate peace between Saudi Arabia and Iran:

The White House is pinning its hopes for a more stable Middle East in years to come on the uncertain prospect that it can encourage a working relationship—what Mr. Obama has called a “cold peace”—between Saudi Arabia and Iran

...“You need a different kind of relationship between the Gulf countries and Iran—one that’s less prone to proxy conflicts—and that’s something that would be good for the region as a whole,” the official said. “Promoting that kind of dialogue is something the president will want to speak to the leaders about.”

...But the strategy requires at least some buy-in from highly skeptical Saudi leaders and other Persian Gulf states

All you need do is substitute Israel for Iran and you have the basic outline for the Abraham Accords, based on the goal of a "warm peace" between Israel and those same Gulf states -- and other Arab states as well. But by focusing on Iran instead, not even a cold peace was achieved.

Obama's failure to bring Iran and the Saudi's is not surprising.

After all:

The Saudis are Sunni, Iran is Shia.

The Saudis are Arabs, Iran is Persian.

(The fact that Iran is a global sponsor of terrorism and working on making a nuclear bomb didn't help.)

Don't underestimate the rift between Sunnis and Shiites.

In his book, The Closed Circle, David Pryce-Jones writes about the turmoil following the death of Mohammad, whose only family heir was his daughter, Fatima. There was no agreement on how Mohammad's successor was to be chosen:

Leadership of the community might pass through her and her descent, or through the Prophet's companions who were best qualified. A majority, known as Sunni, preferred election. A minority, known as Shia, preferred the principle of heredity, devolving through Ali, the cousin and husband of the Prophet's daughter, and those descendants of his specifically designated for the succession by their own immediate predecessor. Disputed authority made for the fragmentation of Islam. Three of Muhammad's four immediate successors [including Mohammad's son-in-law, Ali], known as caliphs, were murdered. Turning upon legitimacy, the quarrel between Sunni and Shia became irreconcilable. [emphasis added; p. 28]

This fighting among Muslims has never stopped. The situation in Syria is just one example of many of how divided the Arab/Muslim world is against itself.

But in addition to the Sunni-Shiite rift, how does the Arab-Persian rift play out?

Back in June 2019, Mordechai Kedar -- who served for 25 years in IDF military intelligence -- gave a talk to
EMET, the Endowment for Middle East Truth on the Middle East.

One of the topics Kedar touched upon was the roots behind the hatred between the Saudis and the Iranians (starts at 36:05).

He traces this tension back to the 7th century, when the Arabs were spreading Islam from the area that is today Saudi Arabia -- starting with Syria, Lebanon and what is today Israel, spreading out to the east (to Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan) and to the West (Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria Morocco and Northern Africa) and then up north (Spain).

In the year 636CE, the Arabs defeated the Persia army, despite the larger Persian army. Their forces were worn down both by wars with Byzantine as well as by moral and political corruption within.

But the differences between the two armies was more than a matter of size. Kedar points out the erudition of the Persians, many of whom were adept at mathematics, chemistry, physics and astronomy, having made great contributions in these areas -- but because of their corruption, they ended up being defeated by the Arabs, who in those days were illiterate.

Following their defeat, many of the Persians were sold into slavery, a degrading and humiliating procedure --
all the more so for academics being sold into slavery.

The Persian slaves freely converted to Islam, knowing this would get them out of slavery -- only to find that the Arabs put taxes on them, taxes they could not pay so that they were forced instead to work for the Arabs.

And so they were cheated a second time.

As Kedar puts it:

Till this very day, the Persians have not forgotten and did not forgive what the Arabs did to them. And this underlies the enmity between the Persians and the Saudis.

The Saudis are the descendants of those who did this to the Persians.

Mordechai Kedar also spoke about this in Hebrew at BESA in March of that same year, starting at about 15:45 (video will automatically start there.)

Jews are not the only ones with long memories.

Considering the nature of such enmity, it is no wonder that Obama's attempt to bring the Iranians and the Saudis together failed.

But by the same token, this hatred casts doubt on the wisdom of Obama's Iran Deal as a whole, on the direction it was taking prior to Trump taking office and on Biden's declared intention to resurrect the deal.

If anything, this background verifies the need for a Middle East coalition against Iran.

01/05 Links Pt1: Esther Horgen’s killer can count on Abbas; Saudi Arabia and Qatar reconciliation: What might change in the region; The Soleimanification of the Middle East

From Ian:

Ruthie Blum: Esther Horgen’s killer can count on Abbas

Cabha, who has served time in prison for terrorism-related activities—told Israeli security services that he had been planning such a killing for six weeks. The idea for the location, he explained, came to him one day when he climbed through a hole in the security barrier in the Reihan Forest, near the northern Samaria settlement of Tal Menashe, and saw Israelis strolling there.

One reason he gave for wanting to commit the heinous act was to avenge the death of a friend, a Palestinian prisoner who died of an illness in an Israeli jail.

In the warped world of Palestinian terrorists, this is sufficient cause to come upon an innocent 52-year-old woman jogging through a forest and bash her head in with a rock. It didn’t occur to Cabha, of course, that the woman’s husband and children would be frantic when she failed to return home after her daily run, or that their lives would be forever marred by her absence, not to mention by the horrific manner in which she died.

No, all that was on his mind was fleeing from justice. He was abetted in this attempt by four other Palestinian paragons of virtue, who themselves are now in custody for helping him hide. All are likely to be tried by the Samaria Military Court.

If and when convicted, Cabha can expect to receive a life sentence. Once in jail, he will be put on Abbas’s payroll in accordance with “[P.A.] Government Decision Number 23 of 2010, Regarding the Regulation of Payment of the Monthly Salary to the Prisoner.”

The amount that he will get—as the murderer of an Israeli—will reach 12,000 shekels ($3,800) per month or four times the average earned by residents of the P.A. Even more extraordinary and disturbing is the process that he will undergo in order to receive the money, as it requires his signing over power of attorney to the Red Cross. Yes, as PMW has documented, the international humanitarian movement is actively involved in facilitating the payment of P.A. salaries to terrorists.

Because the anti-terror law was implemented in Judea and Samaria on Friday, Cabha and his cohorts may have to wait quite a while before being properly remunerated. After all, the money that Abbas pushed through on Thursday is earmarked for prisoners already behind bars, and future funds will have to wait until the “Independence Bank” is operational.

But leave it to the head of the P.A. to figure it out. Cabha’s literally counting on it.

Widower remembers wife killed in W. Bank terror attack

Widower of Esther Horgen raises funds for memorial park after his wife was killed in a terrorist attack in the West Bank: 'This is the place that she loved and we want to make it available to all,' says Benjamin Horgen.

MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh: Prompting a paradigm shift between Israel and the Diaspora

Michal Cotler-Wunsh is an Israeli-Canadian member of Knesset currently serving within the Blue and White Party, though just announced that she will not run with Blue and White in the upcoming elections—Israel’s fourth round in two years—slated for March 23. She entered the Knesset in June as a replacement for Alon Schuster, who resigned his seat under the Norwegian Law after being appointed to the cabinet.

Though she was born in Jerusalem and returned to Israel eight years ago with her spouse and four children, Cotler-Wunsh spent her formative years in Canada and made aliyah to join the IDF as a lone soldier, serving as an officer in various training and command positions.

An international-law, human-rights and free-speech expert, she earned degrees from the Hebrew University Faculty of Law in Jerusalem and at McGill University Faculty of Law in Montreal. She has held a number of legal positions, and during her years in Canada worked in mediation, formal and informal education, and extensive public activity. Her other experience has included bridging the religious-secular divide, countering terrorism and anti-Semitism, increasing legal services to nonprofits and preventing sexual harassment in the workplace.

In her Knesset role, Cotler-Wunsh has headed efforts to plan, develop and strengthen connections between Israel and the Diaspora, raising awareness and providing exposure of both challenges and opportunities for new immigrants (olim) to Israel.

Click below to watch the entire video ⬇️https://t.co/J9ujLuewXR
— BrookeGoldstein (@GoldsteinBrooke) January 5, 2021

Al Jazeera reports:

Israeli security forces committed “heinous killings” throughout 2020, shooting dead at least 27 Palestinians across occupied Palestinian territories and in Israel, according to Israeli rights group B’Tselem.

“Over the course of 2020, Israeli security forces killed 27 Palestinians, seven of them minors: one in the Gaza Strip, 23 in the West Bank [including East Jerusalem] and three inside Israel,” B’Tselem said on Monday.

The B'Tselem press release likewise says:

Over the course of 2020, Israeli security forces killed 27 Palestinians, seven of them minors: one in the Gaza Strip, 23 in the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and three inside Israel.

What B'Tselem doesn't mention is that according to its own statistics, this is a huge drop in killings from 2019 (133, 80% drop) and 2018 (290, 91% drop.)

Why doesn't B'Tselem give even a little bit of context? Surely, it is happy to see an 80% drop in Palestinian fatalities in one year!

If B'Tselem and Al Jazeera were honest and cared about Palestinians, they would want to encourage Israel to continue in the direction it is going in reducing casualties. It could still write about the deaths that should not have happened but it would add needed context. It might even investigate what the IDF did that was successful in reducing casualties, and share that information with other armies.

Why wouldn't B'Tselem and al Jazeera mention a simple fact that this is so much of an improvement over previous years?

The reason is obvious. B'Tselem doesn't want to pollute its anti-Israel agenda by publishing anything that could show context that makes Israel look like it is actually succeeding in significantly reducing the number of Palestinians killed.

And proof can be found from another section of the B'Tselem report:

Israel demolished 273 homes in 2020, leaving 1,006 Palestinians – 519 of them minors – homeless. By comparison, Israel demolished the homes of 677 Palestinians in 2019, 397 in 2018, and 528 in 2017.

Suddenly, B'Tselem is eager to compare 2020 with previous years - when that comparison makes Israel look bad. But for killings, comparisons would make Israel look good, so that information must be hidden from the public.

Instead, we are told it is "heinous" - a word not used in their 2018 or 2019 press releases.

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When does the media call Israeli Arabs "Palestinians" and when not? Whichever makes Israel look bad.

Most Arab Israelis do not identify as Palestinian.

Despite that fact, and in opposition to the politically correct thinking that people should be able to define how they are labeled, most media refer to Arab citizens of Israel as "Palestinian" by default.

The Guardian:

The Washington Post:

Al Jazeera:

I don't agree with this terminology, and neither should any liberal. It makes it sound like some citizens of Israel are not really Israeli. It promotes division and discrimination. People who prize equality should abhor "otherizing" certain parts of the population.

So why does the major media consistently use this terminology that is both wrong and offensive to most Arab Israelis?

They do it exactly because it helps promote an anti-Israel narrative that Arab citizens of Israel are discriminated against. It pushes the agenda that Israel hates Palestinians both within and without Israel. It subtly tells readers that Arabs in Israel are not really Israelis and one day they will be free o fbeing forced to live in a Jewish state.

Yet recent headlines from these same major media outlets, about COVID-19 vaccinations in Israel, have flipped the script. They use the word "Palestinians" to refer only to Arabs under Palestinian rule, and not Israeli Arabs who are obviously getting vaccinated in Israel.

The Guardian:

The Washington Post:

Al Jazeera:

Suddenly, Palestinians are only a subset of what these newspapers usually call Palestinians!

If these newspapers were consistent, these headlines would be outright lies - no one denies that Israel is working hard to inoculate "Palestinians" who live in Israel. Clearly, in this context, "Palestinian" cannot mean Arab Israelis.

But there indeed is a consistency here.

When it helps them to bash Israel, Arab Israelis are "Palestinian." And when it helps them to bash Israel, only Palestinians under Palestinian rule are "Palestinian."

Media bias is sometimes subtle and insidious, but once it is pointed out, any fair person would see how outrageous it is.

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On Monday, Hamas sponsored a memorial service for the first anniversary of the assassination of Iran's Quds Force leaders Qassem Soleiman by US forces.

Prominent personalities from Hamas and Islamic Jihad spoke and praised Soleimani, emphasizing how much he gave those groups support in weapons and paying their salaries.

Hamas elder statesman Mahmoud al-Zahar let some antisemitism slip in his statement. He said, “[Soleimani] was killed by a Christian Zionist, an enemy of God and His Messenger, an enemy of Islam and Muslims, loyal to the Jews, and an enemy of his people and world peace.”

In the middle of a list of insults about Soleimani's killers, between "enemy of Muslims" and "enemy of his people," comes "loyal to the Jews."

It would be hard to argue that this is anything other than derogatory.

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