Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

01/13 Links Pt2: Pres. Rivlin: Sheldon's contributions to Israel and the Jewish people cannot be overstated; The Durban Conference: A Hateful Anti-Israel Legacy

From Ian:

Sheldon Adelson has a special place in the golden book of Zionism and the Jewish people

Montefiore, Rothschild, and Adelson's names are written in the golden book of the rise of Zionism in the new era. And I had a privilege of knowing Adelson. And so did you: Each and every one of the readers of Israel Hayom, which he founded 13 years ago with his life partner, Dr. Miriam Adelson, the paper's publisher.

I first met him in 2008. A month ago, at his home in Las Vegas, we had what turned out to be our last discussion. In both instances he was sharp, wise, precise, but mostly concerned about our future. Even when his health started to betray him, it was important to him to stay updated and know what was happening in Israel and to the Jewish people who were so dear to his heart. Our first conversation focused on the country, and so did the last. Everything else was everything else – add-ons that served the goal.

People liked to affiliate my dear boss with various and sundry politicians, but his real, deep, emotional connection was to Zionism. He admired every Jew who contributed to the holy mission. I was always amazed at how modest the man was. He could wonder at a kid who arrived in Israel as part of the Taglit-Birthright program and wanted to tell him a story; be moved by a conversation with a Holocaust survivor at Yad Vashem, one of the institutions to which he donated. A rabbi, a farmer, a doctor, or a bus driver – he would treat them all exactly the same way, listen to them the same way, pay attention to the little details. And it always amazed me, every time. Simplicity and honesty, qualities that are given to the truly great.

A huge donor who was an expert at giving in secret
Let's not make any mistakes, he also knew how to be tough. His philanthropic activity, some of which I saw from up close, was no less important to him than his business activity. Sometimes I felt as if the genius businessman in him was destined to serve the great donor he was. At various opportunities, when he was in various moods, I looked at him and saw he was focused only on excellence and helping others. Only recently, his private plane flew Jonathan Pollard to Israel. A few other such flights were never reported. Because aside from the billions he gave away, he was also an expert at donating in secret.

December, 2015, Las Vegas, at one of the drug rehabilitation centers managed by Dr. Miriam Adelson. It was the eve of a holiday. The Adelsons were wearing their best clothes and arrived for a meal with the center's patients, about 100 men and women, all of whom were in recovery from drug addiction. These were poor people who needed help. Mr. Adelson sat at the head of the table, talking to them, shaking their hands, taking pictures with each of them, taking an interest, joking, hugging.

I was there, and that same evening, some very high-ranking politicians came to see him. The US had just gone into an election year. One of Mr. Adelson's staff members went up to him and reminded him that a few of his grandchildren were waiting outside, and he told her, smiling, "You don't see that I'm with my friends right now?" That might be the strongest memory I have of him, and it includes so much of the man, as he truly was.

President Reuven Rivlin: Sheldon's contributions to Israel and the Jewish people cannot be overstated

Aside from his global businesses, in the last few decades Sheldon used his abilities to influence public life. It would be hard to count the many and varied philanthropic initiatives to which Sheldon contributed his wealth, most of which deepen the ties between the Jewish people to their land and legacy.

Sheldon fostered links between Diaspora Jewry and the state of Israel by giving to Yad Vashem, Taglit-Birthright, Garin Tzabar - Israeli Lone Soldier IDF Program, and medical and academic projects. The Innovation Center at Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya and the Adelson School of Medicine at Ariel University, where we met last Hanukkah, were an investment in Israeli research, medicine, and development. The importance of founding such an institution at this time cannot be overstated. Generations of doctors and other medical workers will thank him for the initiatives, and we will all benefit from the fruits of the investment and the belief that beat in Adelson when he was determined to launch an excellent new faculty of medicine that opened its doors to all Israelis and everyone who wants to learn.

In places where there were no men, Sheldon "strove to be a man," to invest his wealth and time, to be there, to help and offer support.

More than anything, Sheldon believed in the strategic alliance between Israel and the US, and saw deepening the ties between the two countries as the surest investment in the future of the Jewish people and the state of Israel.

I extend my condolences to Miriam, the love of his life, and his partner on the path of contributing to building up the nation and the land, as well as to the entire family.

May his memory be a blessing.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: An enormous patriot, a huge donor, and a man of keen intelligence

It is difficult to describe what Sheldon did for the Jewish people and for Israel. Sheldon was one of the biggest donors in the history of the Jewish people. He gave to Zionism, to the settlements, and to the state of Israel. He made enormous financial contributions to many institutions – to medical and scientific research, to higher education, to Ariel University, to Taglit-Birthright, and to his immense projects in every field. With his wife, Miri, he gave generously to many enterprises that save lives and brought Israel renown throughout the world. Sheldon was a huge Jewish patriot. He worked to strengthen Israel, bolster its standing in the United States, and strengthen ties between the Jewish people in Israel and the Diaspora.

Sheldon grew up poor, in a Boston suburb, and become one of the biggest entrepreneurs and philanthropists in the world. He did so through his keen intelligence, his honest thinking, his powerful personality, and his courage. Sheldon could face down anything and did what he believed. And what he believed in, more than anything else, was the promise of the Jewish people and their state.

Sheldon truly loved America – America, which gave him every opportunity he could dream of. He wanted everyone in the world to have those opportunities and that freedom.

I have to say that I've met many wonderful people in my life. But this giant, a personality like Sheldon, comes along once in a generation. We will forever remember Sheldon and his enormous contribution to the Jewish people and the state of Israel. His influence will remain with us for generations to come.

May his memory be a blessing.

Galilee Gold is the kind of book you can’t put down. I started reading the book on a Friday night after supper, read late into the night, picked up where I’d left off the next morning, and had read the entire book—cover to cover—by 11 AM, just in time to sit down for Sabbath lunch. Not bad for this first effort—a novel that is part historical fiction, part romance—from author Susie Aziz Pam.

The story outlined in Galilee Gold takes place in the 18^th century and is based on the life of Daher el-Omar, a powerful figure of the time. El-Omar was a self-proclaimed Bedouin king who encouraged Jewish settlement in the Galilee. In Pam’s skillful hands, el-Omar’s tolerance for the Jews leads to romance when el Omar falls hard for the niece of a Syrian Jewish family under his protection.

The Jewish heroine of the book, Tamar, is of course, beautiful, with a fiery nature and golden hair. It’s no wonder that el-Omar is smitten, though I admit I was discomfited by the concept of a Bedouin-Jewish romance—especially since this is fiction: it never actually happened.

That being the case, why imagine a romance between a Jewish woman and a Bedouin king? Because it makes for darned good reading, even if I didn’t like the concept in theory. And make no mistake: I devoured this book and hope that Galilee Gold is only the first of many books to come from the pen of Susie Aziz Pam.

I spoke to Susie Pam to learn more:

Varda Epstein: Can you tell us a bit about your upbringing, your family, and how and when you came to make Aliyah?

Susie Aziz Pam

Susie Pam: My family were kind of nomads. Both my parents were Persian Jews, from the Mesh'adi community. Mesh'adi Jews were known for keeping the mitzvoth inside their homes, while practicing Islam on the outside—but that is the subject of my next book.

My father's family lived in the Bukharan Quarter in Jerusalem, where their house stands to this day. My mother's family lived in London. After seeking their fortune in London, New York, South Africa, and New York again, my parents settled in Kew Gardens, Queens. We are a very Zionistic family and all of my father's family remained in Israel. So a few years after the Six Day War, in the wave of pro-Israel sentiment, my parents moved to Jerusalem, giving me just enough time to finish high school in New York.

1925 photo of the ancestral Aziz home in the Bukharan Quarter of Jerusalem

Varda Epstein: Can you talk about how you came to write this story? How did you come to hear about Daher el-Omar? Why did this story beckon to you?

Susie Pam: We first met Daher el-Omar when we visited the Yehiam Fortress. The little I found out about el-Omar then, made him stand out like a Disney character: he traded with pirates, he fought off the Ottomans, and he crowned himself the King of the Galilee. But after I began to read up on him, I discovered an amazing fact—el-Omar invited the Jewish communities from Turkey and Syria to settle in the Holy Land. "Return and inherit the land of your forefathers!"

Yehiam Fortress

Inside Yehiam Fortress

Varda Epstein: Who was el-Omar? What was he like?

Susie Pam: Daher el-Omar was the son of the local tax-collector in the Galilee. His vision of Moslems, Christians, and Jews living together and prospering in the eighteenth century, made him a very tolerant and pluralistic leader.

Varda Epstein: Is there any evidence that el-Omar had a romance with a Jewish woman or took a Jewish wife?

Susie Pam: Not to my knowledge. He had many wives and many sons. I only deal with two of his wives in my novel. At the very end of his life, when he was in his 80's, he had a young wife from Russia, who was blond and blue eyed. Legend has it, that the Ottomans attacked Acco (Acre) and he went back to save this wife, and he was killed. But I do not cover that part of his life in my book.

Susie with her two daughters, this past summer. The author also has two sons.

Varda Epstein: How long did it take you to write Galilee Gold, your first novel?

Susie Pam: Well, when I first started I had brown hair and now it’s gray! It took me a good many years—mainly because I wrote most of the chapters in my writing group in Jerusalem, and we only met once a week! Also, when I started writing, there was not a lot of available information about that period—now there is a lot more.

The whole Pam family (see what I did there?)

Varda Epstein: Can you tell us about some of the research involved in writing this work of historical fiction?

Susie Pam: Let's just say that over the last few years, I sent a lot of $5 donations to Wikipedia. My husband is a tour guide and he had a few books in which el-Omar is mentioned. I wrote about herbalism during that period, so I had to read up on plants and their uses, and which were available in the Middle East. My daughter studied herbalism, so I was also able to ask her questions. When I reached a point where I had a lot of questions, we went back up to the Galilee and I found a tour guide whose specialty is Daher el-Omar.

We arranged to meet Sharif Sharif, a heritage and conservation expert of Nazareth. He introduced us to Ziad Daher Zaydany—an architect and artist who drew a portrait of el-Omar and is one of his many descendants. Of course, I imagined him a little more handsome and dashing in his younger days than he appears in the portrait.

Daher el-Omar portrait painted by Ziad Zaydany in 1990

Varda Epstein: Without giving away too much in the way of spoilers, your fictional Jewish heroine Tamar, is depicted as el-Omar’s captive. Do you think it likely that if the story had been true, the Jewish community would have made an effort to ransom and reclaim her? How important is the concept of ransoming a captive in Jewish law?

Susie Pam: Traditionally, ransoming a captive is a very important concept, even today—and I believe the Jews of Aleppo would have made an effort to raise the funds needed to rescue Tamar, had it been feasible.

Varda Epstein: What’s next up for Susie Pam?

Susie Pam: I have another three books in the works—at different stages of completion. Two are historical fiction, and one is a story about an American girl who volunteers on a kibbutz—a traditional kibbutz from the old days—and decides to stay.

***

Galilee Gold is currently available at Booklocker and Amazon.

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Cartoon of the Day: B'Tselem embarks on a fundraiser

This cartoon is in response to B'Tselem's new initiative to call Israel an "apartheid state" complete with a brand new website with animations.

I don't know B'Tselem's full budget, its USA fundraising arm gets around $450,000 a year.

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01/13 Links Pt1: Michael Oren: The Death of the Arab-Israeli Conflict; The Vaccine Blood Libel; UNRWA's education filled with hate, calls to jihad and violence

From Ian:

Michael Oren: The Death of the Arab-Israeli Conflict

The Abraham Accords merely dealt a coup de grace to this myth, but it had in fact been dying for decades. The process began with the Egypt-Israel peace treaty of 1979, the 1993 Oslo Accords between Israel and the PLO and the following year, Israel’s peace agreement with Jordan. Two Gulf wars, in 1991 and 2003, proved once again that the Arabs had faced bigger threats than Israel, and the Arab Spring of 2011 demonstrated that Middle Easterners had other things on their minds, such as democracy and freedom.

Yet still the myth persisted, albeit in a pared-down form. If, in the past, regional stability was only attainable through Arab-Israeli peace, now that peace could be achieved solely through Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation and the creation of a Palestinian state. This notion was enshrined in numerous organizations such as the U.S.-based Alliance for Middle East Peace and the European Union’s Middle East Peace Projects, which were not really dedicated to regional peace but almost exclusively to an Israeli-Palestinian accord. “Recognizing that the Israeli-Palestinian issue was at the core of the Arab-Israeli conflict,” the Foundation for Middle East Peace was established in Washington.

Not surprisingly, then, Palestinian-Israeli linkage became official American policy. “Of all the problems the administration faces globally ... This is the epicenter,” President Obama’s National Security Adviser, Jim Jones, declared in 2010. “If God had appeared in front of the President and said he could do one thing on the planet it would be the two-state solution.” Six years later, Secretary of State John Kerry insisted that “There will be no ... Separate peace with the Arab world without ... Palestinian peace. That is a hard reality.”

Like the Arab-Israeli linkage concept, the reduced Israeli-Palestinian version was disproved by the Abraham Accords and the agreement between Israel and Morocco. Though the Arab signatories continued to pledge fealty to the Palestinian cause, they effectively sidestepped the issue and even hinted that the Palestinians themselves were to blame. After rejecting three offers of statehood in the West Bank and Gaza—in 2000, 2001, and 2008—and then failing to take advantage of the eight years of Barack Obama’s highly sympathetic presidency, the Palestinians could no longer wield a veto power over peace. Eager to access Israeli technology and to ally with Israeli military strength, many Arabs states were ready to move on.

Their decision has irrevocably changed the region and created numerous opportunities. In addition to wedding the world’s most innovative state with some of the most affluent, the treaties will help erect a united front against common threats. They will also alter the peacemaking paradigm. If, in the past, the assumption was that Arab countries would first sign peace agreements with Israel and then only gradually normalize their relations with it, now normalization comes first with peace rendered largely a formality. If formerly Israel enjoyed peace with the leaders of Egypt and Jordan but not with their citizens, now the peace is not only between governments but peoples.

But there is one achievement that these diplomatic breakthroughs have not produced: an end to Middle Eastern conflict. On the contrary, such disputes will continue to plague the region and even proliferate. In place of the Arab-Israeli conflict, there is now a broader and potentially more explosive showdown between the Sunnis supported by Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and the Gulf states, and the Shiites backed by Iran. There is battle between moderate Sunnis and Islamic extremists, many of them embraced by Turkey. And there will still be civil wars in Syria and Yemen and chronic instability in Iraq. And there will be an unresolved conflict between Israel and the Palestinians waged in the U.N. and in the international courts but also, occasionally, on the battlefield.

UNRWA's education filled with hate, calls to jihad and violence - report

Educational content produced by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) is filled with hate and encouragement to jihad, violence and martyrdom, and entirely devoid of any material that promotes peace and peace-making, according to the research institute IMPACT-se based out of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

IMPACT-se describes itself as a “research, policy and advocacy organization that monitors and analyzes education,” according to “international standards on peace and tolerance as derived from UNESCO declarations and resolutions.”

According to the report, children in the Gaza Strip are called upon to "defend the motherland with blood."

It can take the form of a math problem asking students to identify the correct number of martyrs from the First Intifada, to the complete eradication of Israel, a UN member state, from any maps featured in UNRWA-created books, with the entire territory being labelled as a modern-day Palestine with no demarcation lines.

When it is mentioned, Israel is usually referred to as “The Enemy” or the “Zionist Occupation,” a clear violation of the UN’s principles of neutrality that UNRWA is expected to prioritize, explained IMPACT-se in the research.

JCPA: An Israeli Official’s Meeting with Moroccan King Hassan II in 1993

From 1992 to 1994, I served as political advisor to the late Israeli Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin, In that capacity, I was sent by Rabin to brief the King of Morocco, Hassan II, on Israel’s positions on the peace talks in 1993 with PLO leader Yasser Arafat after a bitter crisis over security responsibilities in the Judea, Samaria, and Gaza territories.

In view of the renewal of relations between Israel and Morocco, it is important to recall the 1993 encounter with the King and to take notice of his attitude towards Arafat and the Palestinian issue. The following appears in the book Between Rabin and Arafat, published by the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs in 2016.

On December 15, 1993, while Prime Minister and Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin was touring Gaza, Military Secretary Danny Yatom called me from the front and informed me that I was supposed to travel the next day with Member of the Knesset Rafi Edry to Morocco – and possibly to Tunis – in order to enlist the support of the King of Morocco and the President of Tunisia in the Israeli position in the negotiations with the PLO.

The meeting with King Hassan II of Morocco took place on December 18, 1993, at his Rabat palace. The King received us cordially in his grand chamber, and the conversation lasted about an hour – that is 20 minutes beyond its allotted time. The meeting was also attended by General Qadiri and Morocco’s Foreign Minister Abd al-Latif Filali. The conversation flowed, mostly in French and a bit of Arabic.

MK Edry opened and gave the King the Prime Minister’s blessing and explained that we had been dispatched to update His Majesty on the latest developments in negotiations with the PLO. He noted that the Prime Minister regularly briefs world leaders, especially President Clinton, President Mubarak, President Mitterrand, and him.

King Hassan II said, “Let me tell you first all I know. I met yesterday (December 17, 1993) with Mahmoud Abbas and told him that I was going to meet MK Edri and Dr. Neriah tomorrow. Abbas expressed warm words about Neriah and said he was a serious interlocutor. In truth, the Palestinians are frustrated with Arafat’s positions.

The clock is ticking.

The Iranian regime and Ayatollahs are waiting and watching.

Patiently, watching, as the pattern of a Persian rug is spun and woven to completion.

Let's imagine: Iranians in the United States conducting online reconnaissance of university professors, then sending “phishing” emails to get their credentials to obtain unauthorized access to victim professor accounts to steal intellectual property, research, and other academic data.

Only this is not the plot of a new best-selling fiction novel or cable tv thriller. It has happened in the United States and around the world.

In Section 117 of the Higher Education Act (HEA) of 1965, the United States Congress requires U.S. colleges and universities to report twice a year to the U.S. Department of Education all foreign gifts and contracts over $250,000. While Section 117 does not prohibit institutions from taking foreign money, it does mandate accurate and transparent disclosures of amounts and sources.

In June 2020, the Section 117 information reporting portal was upgraded. It yields significant information on compliance and showed 7,000 transactions and approximately $3.8 billion of foreign gifts and contracts from institutions, including 60 institutions previously not reporting.

Twelve compliance investigations revealed $6.5 billion in previously unreported foreign money to the following twelve institutions: Georgetown University, Texas A&M University, Rutgers University, Cornell University, University of Maryland, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and recently, Harvard University, Yale University, University of Texas, Case Western Reserve University, Fordham University, and Stanford University.

"For at least two decades, the industry has been on direct notice that at least some of these foreign sources are hostile to the United States and are targeting their investments...to project soft power, steal sensitive and proprietary research, and spread propaganda," stated a 34-page report of the US Department of Education General Counsel, published in October 2020.

The concern is that foreign money buys influence or control over teaching and research.

Donations from Arab countries for a Center for Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University was one of the reasons for the HEA statute. Other concerns at the time included Japanese companies partnering with the U.S. The idea was transparency in reporting could counteract the distorting influence of foreign money on teaching and research. The Chinese influence has grown over recent years. Beginning in 2009, the flow of foreign money, sourced from the governments of Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and China rose substantially.

In 2008, a Senate committee expressed new concerns over national security and domestic policy impact with post 9/11 Saudi Arabian conditional and substantial donations to Middle Eastern studies centers. However, the Education Department and Congress did not take action.

The FBI has warned, "Foreign adversaries and competitors take advantage of” the American higher education and research enterprise to “improve their economies and militaries by stealing intellectual property to gain advantages over the United States.” These nations “use varied means to acquire information and technology to gain political, military, and economic advantages” including recruiting individuals for “espionage,” exploiting the student visa program for “improper purposes,” and spreading false information for “political or other reasons.”

The higher education sector self-reported over $6.6 billion from Qatar, China, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, with the most recent July 31, 2020, reporting period yielding an additional $1.05 billion reported from these countries alone, concluded the US Department of Education.

Returning to Iran, in March 2018, the Justice Department charged nine Iranians affiliated with a Tehran-based company, the Mabna Institute, with hacking into 144 American universities to steal sensitive data and intellectual property on behalf of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Gholamreza Rafatnejad and Ehsan Mohammadi, two of the defendants, founded the Mabna Institute in 2013 to assist Iranian universities and scientific and research organizations in stealing access to non-Iranian scientific resources. The defendants targeted data, including science and technology, engineering, social sciences, medical, and other professional fields around the world. Approximately 31 terabytes of US academic data and intellectual property was reported stolen according to the Indictment. United States v. Rafatnejad et al., No. 18-cr-00094 (S.D.N.Y. Feb. 7, 2018).

After multiple examples of serious breaches of political and intellectual security with a lack of oversight, the DOE report concludes: "U.S. institutions are technological treasure troves where leading and internationally competitive fields, such as nanoscience, are booming. For too long, these institutions have provided an unprecedented level of access to foreign governments and their instrumentalities in an environment lacking transparency and oversight by the industry, the Department, and our partner agencies."

"Iran's decision to continue violating its commitments, to raise the enrichment level and advance the industrial ability to enrich uranium underground, cannot be explained in any way except as the continued realization of its intention to develop a military nuclear program. Israel will not allow Iran to manufacture nuclear weapons," announced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Will a Biden administration monitor foreign government influence in the US? Will the US be prepared for future cyber attacks from Iran and other hostile regimes?

Should we hold our breath for the new US Congress to follow up on the important issues affecting institutions of higher learning and demand full disclosure of foreign funding as Section 117 requires?

Haaretz reports:

Israel has provided coronavirus vaccines to the Palestinian Authority, the government said on Tuesday, rolling back its previous claim that the Palestinians have not received any vaccines.

The government told the High Court of Justice that a shipment of 100 vaccine doses was provided in response to the Palestinians' request and that another shipment is expected to arrive in about a week and a half. The delivery was approved by Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, according to the government.

According to Ma'an, the vaccines went to medical workers in Palestinian hospitals.

Which means that Israel is acting exactly as international law demands under the laws of belligerent occupation, which Israel's High Court uses as a basis for its rulings.

Israel doesn't have to provide vaccines unless the local authorities ask. When they asked, Israel responded and gave it to them.

Practically every article about Israel not providing vaccines, and everything that NGOs accused Israel of, are lies.

The Palestinians don't want to publicly ask for vaccines, and they are set to get large quantities over the next two months. Israel transferring the vaccines publicly is also politically sensitive - the family of Hadar Goldin is suing for Israel not to provide any aid to Gaza until his body is returned by Hamas.

And the Palestinian political leaders are taking propaganda advantage of the worldwide condemnation of Israel scrupulously adhering to international law. This article in Palestine News Network shows that their primary concern isn't actually procuring vaccines, but castigating Israel and recruiting celebrity Westerners to help:

Secretary-General of the Palestinian National Initiative Movement, Dr. Mustafa Barghouti confirmed that, thanks to the Palestinian efforts to expose Israeli policies, a major global campaign was launched against the Israeli policy of apartheid and racial discrimination aimed at denying Palestinians access to vaccines against Corona disease.
Barghouti confirmed the launch of a global signature campaign against the Israeli policy of “ Medical”, demanding the immediate provision of safe vaccines for the Palestinian people.
Tens of thousands of internationals have signed the campaign petition so far, including prominent international doctors and scientists, thinkers and artists such, including Judith Butler, Daniel Barenboim and Noam Chomsky.
He affirmed that the solidarity committees with the Palestinian people have been mobilized in various parts of the globe to participate in this campaign, which is taking place under the slogan of condemning this type of apartheid.
Dr. Barghouti added that the gravity of the Israeli crime of racial discrimination in the matter of providing vaccines and protection from the dangerous Corona disease revealed the reality and truth of the Israeli apartheid regime, which will pay dearly for its criminal denial of human rights and for the necessity of unity and solidarity with humanity in facing epidemics.

Does this sound like their priority is Palestinian lives, or attacking Israel?

All lies. And none of the "progressive" groups that claim to "care deeply about Israel" will apologize for spreading these lies.

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"Progressive" Jewish groups are against IHRA working definition of antisemitism because it could be "misused"

A progressive Jewish coalition of Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, Habonim Dror North America, Hashomer Hatzair World Movement, Jewish Labor Committee, J Street, New Israel Fund, Partners for Progressive Israel, Reconstructing Judaism and T'ruah issued a statement against the IHRA working definition of antisemitism that has been accepted by much of Europe, many universities in the US and Canada and the US Government:

As organizations that care deeply about the State of Israel and about the wellbeing of the Jewish people, we are deeply committed to the struggle against antisemitism. We are thus obligated to share our concerns about ways in which the effort to combat antisemitism is being misused and exploited to instead suppress legitimate free speech, criticism of Israeli government actions, and advocacy for Palestinian rights. In particular, the effort to enshrine in domestic law and institutional policy the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, with its accompanying “contemporary examples,” risks wrongly equating what may be legitimate activities with antisemitism.

This effort has created opportunities for abuse and politicization by the outgoing Trump administration and others, undermining the moral clarity of the effort to dismantle antisemitism.

We respect the original creation of the IHRA Working Definition as an illustrative tool and as part of a larger and ongoing conversation about the nature of antisemitism. While we maintain no substantive objection to the core definition itself, our concern with its adoption as a legal tool is with the IHRA definition’s “contemporary examples,” which have been included as integral to the definition. We fear its adoption in law or policy at the state, federal and university level and in corporate governance has the potential to undermine core freedoms, and in some cases already has. For this reason, the Progressive Israel Network opposes the codification in US law or policy of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism.

This is disingenuous. If they really cared about antisemitism, they would lobby to modify the definition and examples, not throw it out.

This next sentence proves it:

There can be no doubt that some anti-Zionists and critics of Israeli policy can sometimes cross the line into antisemitism — and they must be confronted when they do.

If the definition doesn't include any examples of anti-Zionism crossing the line into antisemitism, then how can people who cross the line be confronted? They will just say they are merely anti-Israel and no one can touch them! (And these "progressives" will happily defend them!)

After all, when so-called progressives are confronted with antisemitism from their political allies, they aren't in the forefront of condemning it - they are almost always silent.

Yet, Secretary Pompeo’s State Department’s unambiguous declarations that “anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism” and that “the Global BDS Campaign [is] a manifestation of anti-Semitism” represent a harmful overreach. This overreach, which is primarily aimed at shielding the present Israeli government and its occupation from all criticism, is made possible by the use of the Working Definition’s “contemporary examples.” The examples regard as antisemitic the claim that “the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor” and the application of “double standards” to Israel “by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”

Here we see how the "progressive" groups are knowingly lying. They cannot find an example of how the IHRA working definition has been used for overreach, so instead they quote Pompeo, who was expressing his opinion, not a definition.

Practically every single time a critic of the definition writes their objections, they ignore the critical part of the definition that proves they are wrong: "Criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic." No one defines any other nation as racist, or apartheid. Comparing Israel to Nazis is only done because the accusers are aiming at hurting Jews.

Here, these people are explicitly saying that Israel should be judged more harshly than other nations who do the same or worse.

And it is what they believe!

The fact is that they are against virtually every example in the working definition that mentions Israel, because they admire the people who say those antisemitic tropes.

Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

They don't want this example because that would show that Norman Finkelstein spouts antisemitism.

Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.

This would show that Ilhan Omar spouts antisemitism.

Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

The entire staff at Mondoweiss, +972, Electronic Intifada, IfNotNow, Jewish Voice for Peace, Peter Beinart....

Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

Everyone who ever claimed that Gaza was a concentration camp. Carlos Latuff. Eli Valley.

These "progressives" don't want to tar Finkelstein and Omar and Mondoweiss, so they justify treating Israel with double standards, comparing it to Nazis, saying that Jews have no national rights.

But one thing the critics never do - they never put forth their own "better" definition.

If the working definition is flawed, then fix it. If they are afraid it can be misused, then add verbiage to ensure that doesn't happen. Show which examples you would remove and justify how those examples don't single out the Jewish state for special opprobrium.

They can't. They know they can't.. They know they are lying when they say the definition equates criticism of Israel with antisemitism. So they write essays filled with doubletalk to hide the fact that in the end, they want to justify and support people who demonize Israel.

They know - and everyone knows - that the only reason that Israel is demonized and treated with double standards is because it is the Jewish state.

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01/12 Links Pt2: What the world can learn from Israel's vaccination drive; Israel to provide COVID vaccines for Holocaust survivors around the world

From Ian:

Seth Frantzman: What the world can learn from Israel's vaccination drive

Where Israel gambled — and where it has succeeded so far — is in investing in vaccines. It scrambled to acquire Pfizer and Moderna vaccines by the millions of doses, enough to provide the necessary two doses to the entire adult population. This process has put the country far ahead of its neighbors, with the exception of wealthy Gulf states Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). There are still questions about how Israel will vaccinate public sectors that are suspicious of the vaccine. This has been an issue throughout the campaign against the virus. Local media have reported that Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Israelis and some in the Arab minority are either ignoring guidelines or suspicious of the vaccine. In general, though, the national effort has not met with conflict, despite Israel being a divided society in other ways. Every country has minority groups and making sure they feel confident in health guidelines is important.

Perhaps the main lesson from Israel is to deal with the pandemic as if it is a national security issue, not just a health issue. This has reduced problems because it has been viewed as an across-the-board fight. Not every country has the conscript army that Israel has to do things such as this, but many have civil emergency forces. Countries can prioritize health as a national security issue for the future. Second, Israel has been flexible, self-critical and willing to change. That means not discarding vaccine doses just because you don’t have precisely the right set of people waiting in line, and instead giving them to people waiting on stand-by. Flexibility, combined with a mass effort, works wonders.

Where Israel and other countries still need to improve is in explaining what comes next. When will the airports facilitate tourism again, and when will costly quarantines end? What is the exit strategy? In December, 50,000 Israelis flew to Dubai because the UAE, which just signed a peace deal with Israel, was labeled a safe country to travel to. Weeks later, the government reversed course and started quarantining those returning. People are hungry to travel again, and opening up corridors of safe travel with clear and efficient testing is necessary.

The battle against the virus has been viewed as a war effort in Israel, and the battle to get things back to normal should be launched with the same urgency.

Israel to provide COVID vaccines for Holocaust survivors around the world

Israel will work to provide coronavirus vaccinations for Holocaust survivors both in Israel and in the Diaspora, according to Israel Hayom.

The complicated, international logistical operation is only in its beginning stages. Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevitch tasked the Shalom Corps organization with coordinating bureaucratic procedures.

The organization has approached several large medical shipping companies about the logistics of the project, and the Diaspora Affairs Ministry is working with the Health Ministry to coordinate with Pfizer and Moderna.

The campaign will be conducted through vaccination centers in a number of different countries. Survivors who cannot leave their homes will have medical staff and volunteers come to them.

The Ministry intends to recruit Jewish philanthropists to help fund the operation and intends to order additional vaccines for the survivors and not take from the quota allocated for the State of Israel.

"In a time of acute global crisis in the face of the coronavirus, we have the privilege to repay, if only slightly, Holocaust survivors who survived the inferno of the Nazi oppressor and, thanks to their courage, managed to protect the embers of Judaism," Yankelevitch told Israel Hayom. "We have the privilege to provide them with protection against the coronavirus. This is the moral order that every Jew carries in his heart - to make sure that they never walk alone."

Col. Richard Kemp: Media: Israel Must Be Denigrated for Its World-Beating Vaccination Programme

The same negative policy [by the press and many purported human rights groups] extends to other major benefits that Israel has brought to the world, including scientific innovation, medical technology and life-saving intelligence. It goes against editorial agendas to report on the Jewish state in a positive light unless they can somehow twist a good story to turn it bad.

Under the Oslo Accords between Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990s, which created the Palestinian Authority (PA), it alone and not Israel, is responsible for their health care, including vaccinations. Nearly 150 UN members recognise "Palestine" as a state, yet these media and human rights bodies, displaying deplorably predictable bias, cannot bring themselves to allow it agency.

Contradicting allegations of a racist or "apartheid" policy, Israel has been vaccinating its Arab citizens since the programme began. Given some reluctance to be vaccinated among these communities, the Israeli government, in conjunction with Arab community leaders, have been making concerted efforts to encourage them, including a visit by Prime Minister Netanyahu to two Arab towns in the last few days for this purpose.

The same approach can be seen over the Abraham Accords of 2020, historic achievements in a hitherto elusive peace between Israel and the Arabs. These have often been received with callous cynicism in the media as well as among veteran peace processors, whose own prescriptions have repeatedly failed.

[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu is the driving force behind the Abraham Accords, whose origins date back to his speech to a joint session of Congress in 2015, when he made a stand against Iran's nuclear ambitions. Netanyahu's solitary stance was seized on by Arab leaders, who began to realise they had common cause with the State of Israel, which could lead to a brighter future for them than one encumbered with unnecessary animosity.

Well done BBC NEWS stopping Rachel Shabi Guardian from getting away with Guardian vaccine Jew hate lible . pic.twitter.com/9dAsf4aFYM
— Jewish Human Rights Watch (@jhrwatch) January 11, 2021

Cartoon of the Day: It's only a war crime if....

Continuing my series of recaptioning cartoons....

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Major US BDS group seems to have gone silent

The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, the major US BDS group, seems to have gone virtually silent.

Its last press release was from July 1, 2020. Its last news update on its website was a couple of weeks before that.

It still has a Twitter account but it shows almost all of its posts are retweets.

In December, it created a new website for its annual report that seems to cover 2019-2020. There is very little there; it discusses some online lobbying initiatives.

It pays its executive director Yousef Munayyer about $95,000 a year on total donations of a million dollars.

It will be interesting to see its 2020 tax forms to see where its money is going.

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01/12 Links Pt1: Sheldon Adelson, Iconic Jewish Philanthropist and Political Donor, Dies at 87; Guardian op-ed Israel is a 'Jewish supremacist' state with no right to exist; Abbas rival oversees UAE medical aid to Gaza

From Ian:

Miriam Adelson: With Great Sorrow: Sheldon Adelson, 1933-2021

It is with unbearable pain that I announce the death of my husband, Sheldon, of complications from a long illness.

Sheldon was the love of my life. He was my partner in romance, philanthropy, political activism, and enterprise. He was my soulmate.

To me — as to his children, grandchildren and his legions of friends and admirers, employees and colleagues — he is utterly irreplaceable.

Much has been written and said about how Sheldon, the son of poor immigrants, rose to the pinnacle of business success on the strength of grit and genius, inspiration and integrity. His was an all-American story of entrepreneurship. When Sheldon launched a new venture, the whole world looked on with anticipation.

In our amazing 32-year adventure together, I was fortunate to witness the beauty of Sheldon’s private side.

He was an American patriot: a US Army veteran who gave generously to wounded warriors and, wherever he could, looked to the advancement of these great United States. He was the proudest of Jews, who saw in the State of Israel not only the realization of a historical promise to a unique and deserving people, but also a gift from the Almighty to all of humanity.

And Sheldon was kind. He gave readily of his fortune to charitable causes that may literally be countless, as he expected no credit and often preferred anonymity. Although bluff in build and speech — and, in the last two decades, beset by painful sickness — Sheldon was always sensitive to the needs of others.

Visit any of our hotels and you will immediately notice the extraordinarily high ceilings, exquisitely designed by Sheldon at a sacrifice of lucrative story-space. He wanted all of our guests — no matter their means — to feel like kings, to breathe free in gorgeous tranquility. When the COVID-19 crisis hit and those hotels went dark, he insisted that our tens of thousands of team members continue getting their wages and medical insurance.

Each of those people, and millions of other beneficiaries of Sheldon’s largesse, are his testimonials.

Sheldon Adelson, Iconic Jewish Philanthropist and Political Donor, Dies at 87

Sheldon Adelson, a casino-resort billionaire who funded Jewish charities and political causes in both Israel and the United States, died on Monday night of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, at the age of 87.

The son of a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant, Adelson became one of the world’s richest men as the founder of the Las Vegas Sands Corporation, with an estimated net worth of $35.9 billion. He donated huge sums to causes like Birthright Israel, which finances trips to Israel for young Jews, the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jersualem, and medical research into cancer and other diseases.

He also spent heavily on politics, becoming one of the largest backers to President Donald Trump and the Republican Party in the US, and to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In 2007, he created the Israeli daily Israel Hayom, and also owned the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

American and Israeli officials and Jewish leaders began commemorating Adelson’s life Tuesday.

Netanyahu mourns Adelson as ‘champion of the Jewish people,’ as tributes pour in

The death of Jewish-American billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson at the age of 87 drew a flood of eulogies Tuesday, as politicians and other public figures in Israel, the US and elsewhere remembered the powerful political donor and philanthropist as a prominent champion of the bond and alliance between Jerusalem and Washington.

Adelson, who used his vast fortune to push conservative policies in both countries, was also remembered for his support for West Bank settlements and right-wing Jewish organizations.

A major patron of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump, Adelson was confirmed by his company, Las Vegas Sands, to have died from complications related to treatment for non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma.

Netanyahu said in a statement that he received the news of Adelson’s death with “deep sorrow and heartbreak.”

“Sheldon’s tremendous efforts to strengthen Israel’s position in the United States and to strengthen the connection between Israel and the Diaspora will be remembered for generations,” said Netanyahu, calling Adelson “an incredible champion of the Jewish people, the Jewish state and the alliance between Israel and America.”

“Along with his wife Miri, Sheldon was one of the greatest contributors in history to the Jewish people, Zionism, settlements and the State of Israel,” he said, listing among those causes his support for Taglit-Birthright, which funds trips to Israel for young Jews from around the world, and Ariel University in the West Bank.

President Reuven Rivlin also expressed sorrow and condolences to the family, saying that Adelson was “a great American patriot who saw it as his mission and goal to strengthen the alliance between Israel and the US” and made “groundbreaking” contributions.

Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer tweeted that Adelson was a “true giant” who “devoted himself to strengthening his people, his homeland and the bonds between his beloved America and Israel.”

Saddened by the passing of Sheldon Adelson, who loved the Jewish people and Israel, was a great American patriot, and who strengthened the bonds between Israel and America with boundless generosity.
Condolences to Miriam and to the whole family.
May his memory be a blessing. pic.twitter.com/8BR3QfCot7
— Reuven Rivlin (@PresidentRuvi) January 12, 2021

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
"Sara and I are heartbroken by the passing of Sheldon Adelson.

He was a wonderful friend to us personally and an incredible champion of the Jewish people, the Jewish state and the alliance between Israel and America.
— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) January 12, 2021

Before @RVilkomerson regains a shed of decency and deletes this abominable tweet, here is screenshot of what a sick, disgusting, truly vile person she is, rejoicing in the death of #SheldonAdelson, who passed away from cancer, as 'birthday present' she calls! pic.twitter.com/PSKhg7er9T
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) January 12, 2021

One of the things Adelson dealt with was the nauseating hypocrisy of the political class. When anybody said anything remotely like this about Soros, they were accused of rank antisemitism by anyone who could find a mic. But Buttigieg could say the same and get crickets. pic.twitter.com/ltBElMVpiV
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) January 12, 2021

Palestine Today reports that Palestinian social media has shown practically no interest in the announcement that Hamas and Fatah have agreed on elections later this year.

Why? because they've been lied to for so long, they don't believe a word that their leaders tell them. They don't believe that there will be elections, they don't believe that Hamas and Fatah have any interest in respecting the results, they don't believe that there will ever be unity between the West Bank and Gaza.

The article listed all the previous failed attempts to get Hamas and Fatah on the same page:

Cairo Declaration Agreement, 2005
The Prisoners Document, 2006
The Mecca Agreement, February 2007
Sana'a Declaration, March 2008
Talks after Gaza war, 2009
2010 talks
Cairo Agreement, May 2011
Doha Agreement, February 2012
Cairo Agreement, May 2012
Talks after Palestine's being called a "state" at the United Nations, January 2013
Beach Agreement 2014
Talks in Doha, 2016
Cairo Agreement, 2017
Al-Arouri and Rajoub agreement, May 2020
Istanbul meeting, September 2020
Cairo meeting, November 2020
January 2021 Hamas agrees to Abbas' terms

The Arab world is sick of Hamas and Fatah. Palestinians themselves are sick of Hamas and Fatah. No one regards either group as being capable of any leadership.

And yet the EU, the UN and the US Democrats keep pretending that they can be peace partners.

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