Friday, January 15, 2021
Elder of Ziyon
COVID-19, ElderToonsPLO official: We did not ask Israel for vaccines.
— Khaled Abu Toameh (@KhaledAbuToameh) January 15, 2021
Palestinian Authority official: We asked Israel for vaccines.
Friday, January 15, 2021Elder of ZiyonCOVID-19, media biasAnd as you know the United Nations and many human rights groups not to mention the Palestinians themselves have complained bitterly that they are not getting a fair shake when it comes to vaccinations as well. And the Palestinian political leader, also a physician, wrote this in the New York Times."The Israeli government's decision to make the vaccine available only to Israeli citizens is not just a moral injustice, it is self-defeating. Herd immunity will not be achieved for Israelis without vaccinating Palestinians."
I wonder if you were prime minister you would make sure Palestinians on the occupied west bank and in Gaza did actually get fairly treated in these vaccinations as well. It is part of the Oslo accords. It is part of the Geneva Conventions for an occupying power to take care of the medical needs of those citizens.
Christiane, as you know after the Oslo accords and after our withdrawal from the Gaza Strip the vast majority of Palestinians are under Palestinian control. It is the responsibility of the Palestinian authority and the Hamas regime to take care of their residents.We would like to help but we will be able to help only after taking care of our own citizens.CA: Well, I guess that's a pretty severe message to the Palestinians. Do you not think that actually, you know, you are also -- it is a pandemic.GS: I think it is a good message. I think it's a good message. Because I said we are ready to help. We are ready to help. But we will be able to help after taking care for our own citizens. I think that the Palestinian Authority has enough money in order to pay salaries, to terrorists, to murderers, to those who are getting according to the crimes against Israel. They are getting more money.CA: These are different issues.GS: If they have money for that they can take care of their residents.CA: Mr. Saar, these are two different issues These are two very different issues This is a global pandemic.GS: No.
They aren't different issues, because the Palestinian Authority has the cash and the means to get its own vaccines. As such, Israel's responsibility is to make sure that there are no impediments to that happening (which is what Amnesty and other NGOs are actually against!)
Friday, January 15, 2021Elder of Ziyon
January 12, 2021
Dear President Elect Biden,We are writing on behalf of, and as members of, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, which is the umbrella organization of fifty-three national Jewish organizations that span the political and religious spectrum of American Jewry. We again congratulate you upon your victory, and look forward to working closely and productively with you and your Administration over the corning years.One area of great concern among our constituents and throughout our community is the significant rise of antisemitism across the United States. The FBI's recently released annual report on hate crimes documented that in 2019, the number of antisemitic hate crimes increased 14 percent, and made up over 60 percent of hate crimes based on religion. We know that you share this concern, as you have many times identified the appalling display of antisemitism in Charlottesville as an essential factor in your decision to run for presidentThree consecutive administrations, representing both political parties, going back to that of President George W. Bush recognized that antisemitism on college campuses is a serious problem. Each has taken the position that Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act applies to such biases in the college setting. Each of these Administrations has taken the position that some anti-Israel activity is simply a modern form of antisemitism. That is a position the US State Department has recognized since 2005, in its endorsement of what is now called the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition at antisemitism, and has urged other countries to adopt as well. Many have, such that the IHRA definition is now the standard used by governments around the world to identify antisemitism as they combat it.We note too that the IHRA definition has enjoyed widespread bipartisan Congressional support as evidenced by legislative sponsorship of the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act in both the Senate and the House of Representatives over the last two Congresses.The IHRA definition is now the most comprehensive and authoritative definition of antisemitism and as such ought to intones the enforcement of Title VI throughout the government. The Executive Order on Combating Anti-Semitism, which was Issued on December 11.2019, was an important and impactful step forward in protecting the rights of Jewish students and identifying antisemitic acts as a form of discrimination through the application of Title VI.We believe that all federal departments and agencies should, in their work, corolder the IHRA working definition of antisemitism (with examples), which states, "Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews. which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities..Them are essential tools for the federal government to combat the scourge that is aptly called the world's oldest hatred." We urge your Administration to maintain and build upon these policies of the last three Presidents, and we welcome the opportunity to collaborate on potential ways to implement this definition that responsibly safeguard freedom of speech.We request an opportunity for representatives of our community to meet with members of your transition team and incoming Administration in order to discuss ways in which the Jewish community can work with you on these pressing issues.Sincerely yours,
Thursday, January 14, 2021Elder of Ziyon
A Jan. 7 letter in the Guardian, signed by eight experienced lawyers, misrepresents what the IHRA definition says about Israel and anti-Semitism. They claim that "the majority" of the IHRA definition's "illustrative examples" of potentially anti-Semitic speech "do not refer to Jews as such, but to Israel." This is simply not true. Of the 11 "illustrative examples" of potentially anti-Semitic speech listed in the IHRA definition, 9 explicitly mention Jews or the Jewish people (7 mention Israel, of which 5 mention both Jews and Israel).JPost Editorial: IHRA definition is useful - antisemitism must be fought on all forms
The examples that mention both Jews and Israel include "Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust"; "Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel"; or "Using the symbols and images associated with classic anti-Semitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis." Do the signatories of this letter really intend to claim that these examples suppress legitimate, non-anti-Semitic criticism of the State of Israel?
They further claim that the examples in the definition "have been widely used to suppress or avoid criticism of the state of Israel." Widely used? Treating the suggestion that criticism of Israel is widely suppressed, either in our universities or elsewhere, is a laughable fantasy. Anti-Israel events still take place at British universities on a regular basis. Meanwhile, anti-Semitic incidents at British universities are at record levels.
The Jewish groups’ reasoning is a concern that the IHRA definition would be used to “suppress legitimate free speech, criticism of Israeli government actions, and advocacy for Palestinian rights.” They cite as “a harmful overreach” US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s declaration that “anti-Zionism is antisemitism” and that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel and Israelis is a form of antisemitism that the State Department will make sure not to support.Albania Academy of Sciences Adopts IHRA’s Definition of Anti-Semitism
The groups also claimed that this use of the IHRA definition is “primarily aimed at shielding the present Israeli government and its occupation from all criticism.”
An examination of the above definition and of the examples provided by IHRA – which are too many to present here, but are accessible online – finds that it in no way calls to limit criticism of Israel’s government or any others.
Unless, that is, these organizations mean to say comparing Israelis to Nazis is legitimate criticism of government policies – comparisons which are a way of denying the abject horrors of the Holocaust; or, in their zeal to advocate for Palestinian self-determination, they’ve decided that Jews are uniquely unworthy of the same rights.
As journalists, we share in these organizations’ vigilance about free speech and believe open debate is important.
Yet, the full IHRA text states that it is not a legally binding document, which means that it is not codifying limits to free expression. The US Constitution has broad protections for free speech, perhaps the broadest in the world. Hate speech is not illegal in the US, for example. But even in America, one cannot discriminate based on race, color, national origin, religion, gender, disability, age, or citizenship status in hiring practices.
BDS is, by definition, discriminating against Israelis due to their national origin, and antisemitism is discrimination based on religion. For Pompeo to ensure funds do not go to BDS-supporting groups is a reflection of existing protected categories in US law.
No one is taking away these Jewish groups’ or their Palestinian allies’ right to criticize Israel as sharply or as harshly as they wish. What governments around the world have sought to do is to combat antisemitic speech, discrimination and other behaviors by identifying them.
The Academy of Sciences confirmed the decision in a letter addressed to Robert Singer, Senior Advisor to the Combat Anti-Semitism Movement and Chairman of the Center for Jewish Impact, and Noah Gal Gendler, Israel’s Ambassador to Albania. In the letter, the Academy said it “reconfirms its attitude on the historical crimes committed against Jews during the Shoah (Holocaust)” and stated that “the inhumane acts they suffered during World War II, due to racism are not phenomena belonging to history, but it appears in a form of a danger reviving collective crimes and racism, ethnic, religious and cultural hatred.”Israel hits 2 million vaccinated with 1st dose; police to up closure enforcement
The Academy said that as an institution that has historically promoted the study of the Holocaust and its lessons, adopting the IHRA working definition is “a completely natural step and in coherence with its own past, as well as its legal and civil mission.” The Academy of Science will issue its own statement on the adoption of the IHRA working definition on January 26.
The Academy’s decision follows October’s landmark unanimous vote by the Albanian parliament to adopt the IHRA working definition, making Albania – well-known for its interfaith coexistence – the first Muslim-majority country to do so.
Israel on Thursday marked the milestone of having inoculated 2 million people with the first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, as the country pushed forward with the national vaccination drive amid record daily infections.
The person declared as the two-millionth Israeli to get the first dose was a kindergarten teacher from the central city of Ramle. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Health Minister Yuli Edelstein, both of whom have received the second dose, were on hand at the Maccabi Healthcare Services clinic in the city.
“It’s already become routine… It’s something we’re happy to grow accustomed to, but mostly we want to finish this,” Netanyahu said. “We’ll continue — to the next million.”
The prime minister said the government was working on rolling out the “green passports,” which will grant those vaccinated or who have recovered from COVID-19 access to certain gatherings and events that are currently banned.
Netanyahu urged Israelis to adhere to government-mandated virus restrictions and said no decision had yet been made on extending the third nationwide lockdown, which health officials have signaled will last beyond the original January 21 end date.
Israel kicked off its vaccine drive last month and on Sunday began administering second doses. It is currently first in the world in the number of people vaccinated per capita, according to the Oxford University-based Our World In Data.
According to television reports Thursday, Israel could begin vaccinating all citizens in their 40s next week, after opening up the vaccine drive this week to all Israelis over 50.
Coinciding with the launch of the vaccination campaign has been a surge in coronavirus cases, with over 9,000 daily new infections diagnosed in recent days.
Thursday, January 14, 2021Elder of Ziyoncartoon of the day, ElderToons
Thursday, January 14, 2021Elder of Ziyonhumor, PreoccupiedOur weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.
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Jerusalem, January 14 - Proprietors of a neighborhood establishment specializing in pastries, breads, and various confections has to date not voiced opinions on behalf of the enterprise regarding the ongoing political turmoil in the US, thus defying a recent trend that has seen business after business jump onto the political stability concern bandwagon.
Political observers noted with surprise today that the Mahane Yehuda franchise of the English Cake chain has placed no signs or placards in its windows denouncing or expressing worry over the developments in Washington over the last week, nor has its social media presence devoted even a single tweet or Facebook post to the violence in and around the US capitol building, the president's apparent encouragement of that violence, mutual right-left recriminations over treatment of the violence versus the various social justice confrontations over the last several years, the mass purging of conservative voices from said social media, or other burning issues of tremendous political or societal import.
"It's just business as usual," noted a shocked Haaretz journalist. "The folks running this place don't seem to feel the visceral, dare I say universal, or at least it should be universal, drive to filter everything through political biases and interpret every development in a way that confirms those biases. I confess I don't know how they do it without fear of being totally crushed on Twitter, or at least left behind when everyone *I* know can tell what political basket they should put their eggs in."
Others noted that the establishment's previous political behavior aligns with its current silence on Trump. "This isn't anything new for this branch of English Cake," observed Israel Democracy Institute fellow Dunning Kruger. "They remained mum during the first Trump impeachment brouhaha as well. And I can find in their social media history not a single mention of Black Lives Matter, the Proud Boys, the wall with Mexico, the Muslim ban, or any other pivotal issue of our time. Not even the Iran nuclear deal. One wonders how a business can even function if it focuses only on production, quality control, marketing, management, and accounting, and totally ignores its relationship with the Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone in Seattle."
Perusal of the franchise's Instagram account bore out that claim; it also revealed a troubling lack of diversity among the few staff members whose photos feature there, none of whom appear to be transqueer Muslim immigrant women of color.
The real story here is that this is all part of a broader agenda. The notion that Israel exists as one state, encompassing Gaza and the West Bank, is increasingly being used by anti-Israel activists in the West in an effort to promote it as a solution. Their goal is to force Israelis and Palestinians into a single country that both sides have already rejected.
Dr. Sara Yael Hirschhorn, author of City on a Hilltop, recently noted that “B'Tselem needs to be honest about the fact that its endgame here is a one-state solution between the river and the sea, and the erasure of the Jewish character of the State of Israel.”
When the Left-wing writer Peter Beinart argued last year in favour of a “one-state solution”, he didn’t seem to have consulted with Palestinians. In July 2020 Beinart, together with other prominent progressives, debated the “viability of a binational state of ‘Israel-Palestine’ as an alternate path forward.”
No Palestinians took part in this all-Jewish panel. In an irony of the “apartheid” discussion, there is often an apartheid on left-wing panels discussing the matter: Palestinians are systematically excluded from expressing their needs by the Israel-bashing radical left.
The evidence shows that Palestinians don’t want to vote in Israeli elections, no matter how many times activists claim that Israel excludes them from voting. They want to vote for their own representatives. Only two percent of Palestinians in East Jerusalem make their voices heard in Jerusalem municipal elections. And there is no evidence that people in Gaza want to governed by Israel and vote for members of the Knesset.
The fact is that despite B’Tselem’s claim, one government does not rule everything between the river and the sea and Israelis and Palestinians don’t want to live in one state. They may have trouble divorcing from each other – and Israel’s military rule in the West Bank may be imperfect – but Israelis and Palestinians will link arms to resist an attempt to impose a single state upon them.
In essence, the Left’s support for one state is a throwback to the colonial era of the British mandate, which ruled the entire area. The discussions about it are paternalistic, rarely including Hebrew-speaking Israelis or Arabic-speaking Palestinians. Almost no one from Gaza to Ramallah, from Haifa to Ashdod, actually wants to be forced to live together after years of working to be separate. Especially by Western liberals.
Hi @CNN, @Independent, @guardian! It's me again...
— יוסף חדאד - Yoseph Haddad (@YosephHaddad) January 14, 2021
Since you guys all had trouble separating fact from fiction in @btselem's propaganda, I, as an Israeli Arab myself, decided to help you out and show you the Israeli "apartheid" that exists here on the ground. https://t.co/375AV6Zg4V
Previously, B’Tselem for the most part limited its criticism to Israeli policies that apply to Palestinians living beyond the pre-1967 borders (i.e. the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and the eastern part of Jerusalem). Now, the organization appears to have ventured into new territory: claiming that Zionism — namely, the right of Jewish people to self-determination — has produced an apartheid regime, even within what is regarded as Israel proper:
Israel is not a democracy that has a temporary occupation attached to it; it is one regime from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea, and we must look at the full picture and see it for what it is: apartheid.
Yet, facts are stubborn things, and in Israel, unlike the past situation in South Africa, national law guarantees equal rights for all.
And while the situation in the West Bank is more complex, Israel has on multiple occasions offered the Palestinians generous peace deals to end the prevailing status quo. Indeed, every Israeli prime minister since Yitzhak Rabin over a quarter century ago has publicly accepted in principle the eventual creation of a Palestinian state, only to be rebuffed by Ramallah.
Whereas the ultimate fate of the West Bank is a matter of robust debate even amongst Israelis, what is certain is that the media has spread an outright falsehood by suggesting that Israel is an apartheid state. Arab-Israeli citizens have the same freedom of movement and speech as their Jewish counterparts; receive an education and health care; are able to vote; and can work in whatever professions they choose. They also serve throughout the government, in the Knesset, and on the Supreme Court.
But the news coverage of B’Tselem and its latest report paints a distorted picture. As a result, opponents of the Jewish state can more readily discharge a loaded word that is not only totally inaccurate, but also used as ammunition by those who want to see Israel eradicated.
And the media is seemingly all-too-eager to jump on the bandwagon.
Thursday, January 14, 2021Elder of Ziyonanalysis, Daled AmosFor 15 years and more, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas conducted peace talks with Israel in the absence of a freeze on Jewish settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Now, it appears as likely as not that his newborn negotiations with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu -- and their goal of agreement on a Palestinian state within a year -- will die because of Abbas's refusal to continue without such a freeze.Whether Obama deliberately pressed for the freezing of settlements in the hope of pressuring Israel into a concession or blundered into creating a deadlock -- either way, Obama's interference changed the Palestinian story, turning a freeze of settlements into a new demand.
...So why does Abbas stubbornly persist in his self-defeating position? In an interview with Israeli television Sunday night, he offered a remarkably candid explanation: "When Obama came to power, he is the one who announced that settlement activity must be stopped," he said. "If America says it and Europe says it and the whole world says it, you want me not to say it?"
The statement confirmed something that many Mideast watchers have suspected for a long time: that the settlement impasse originated not with Netanyahu or Abbas, but with Obama -- who by insisting on an Israeli freeze has created a near-insuperable obstacle to the peace process he is trying to promote. [emphasis added]
Nov. 21, 2020:
PA meets with WHO, UNICEF, UNRWA “to ensure that Palestine is provided with adequate Coronavirus vaccines” (Israel not invited)
Dec. 12, 2020:
PA orders “four million doses of the Russian vaccine… expected in Palestine by the end of this year” (Israel's help not requested)
Jan. 9, 2021:
PA announces: “Four vaccine producer companies [will deliver for] 70% of the Palestinian people… the WHO will provide for 20%” (Israel's help not needed)
Jan. 9, 2021:
PA announces: “Two million doses were ordered [from AstraZeneca]… we received an official response from the company… [Also] the Russian company Sputnik, and a vaccine was ordered… We are not just waiting… we are working…” (Israel's help not needed)
Jan. 10, 2021:You can almost hear Abbas now, "If American media says it and European media says it and the whole world says it, you want me not to say it?"
PA Foreign Ministry demands that Israel “supply the Palestinian people with Coronavirus vaccines… [Israel is] racially discriminating against the Palestinian people, and negating its right to health [services]… an apartheid against the Palestinian people in the field of health”
Thursday, January 14, 2021Elder of Ziyonunrwa
Exercise 2 —determine what is the verb and what is the subject in the following sentences.[Top row, right to left] Sentence—Verb—Tense—Subject. . . The Palestinian died as a martyr to defend his motherland.Underline nouns preceded by the definite article and the preposition “as” or “in”3. We shall defend the motherland with blood.
Seventh-grade UNRWA educational materials claim that the “Zionist Occupation” is using the same methods used by the Spanish Inquisition in the Middle Ages to interrogate “Palestinian prisoners.” Furthermore, there is no mention that victims of the Spanish Inquisition included many Jews; whereas only Muslims are mentioned. The passage is taught in a section about the downfall of Islamic rule in Spain, where expulsion of Muslims by the Spanish rulers is compared to “Zionist Occupation policies”; drawing this comparison is a lesson assignment. Students are given an artist’s illustration of Muslims leaving Spain in 1492, and are asked to compare it to a modern photo that shows Arabs leaving Palestine in 1948; the image does not appear in the original PA textbook (Social Studies, Grade 7, Vol. 2, 2019, p. 29).
Thursday, January 14, 2021Elder of Ziyon
Warplanes, believed to be Israeli, targeted a number of Assad forces and Iranian militias' positions in Deir Ezzor last night, according to Deir Ezzor 24 network correspondent.Our correspondent said that the raids targeted positions of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Militia (IRGC) in al-Thalath area of al-Bukamal badiyah eastern Deir Ezzor, positions of the IRGC and the 47th Regiment militias in Bir al-Hammar in al-Bukamal badiyah, and IRGC positions in al-Seiba area.The raids also targeted positions of the Zainabiyon militia on Hamdan airport road and al-Hajjanah Street in al-Bukamal city, positions of the Iraqi Hashd al-Shaabi militia about 3 km from al-Bukamal border gate, and a position of Hezbollah militia near Aysha hospital in al-Bukamal.In al-Mayadeen city, the raids targeted positions of the IRGC militia in al-Mazari'e area on the Deir Ezzor-al-Mayadeen international highway, and positions of Fatimiyeon militia near al-Makif and the vicinity of al-Rahba castle.In Deir Ezzor city and its surrounding, the raids targeted weapons depots of Fatimiyeon militia, military positions in Tal al-Hajif (the Radio station building), a position near the Faculty of Education in al-Omal neighborhood of Deir Ezzor city, a headquarters of the military security branch in Ghazi Aiyash neighborhood, posts near the military hospital, the water corporation, the perimeter of the automated bakery in Port Said Street, and the Tharda Mountains, and the regiment in the military airport and on the international highway.
Wednesday, January 13, 2021Elder of ZiyonOpinion, Vic RosenthalVic Rosenthal's weekly column
This morning I received a robo-call from the Rehovot city government to tell me that, as a senior
citizen, if I had trouble getting an appointment for my Coronavirus vaccination, they would help me, and here is how to contact them. I remembered that some months ago I got a call from a human social worker employed by the city, who wanted to know how I was, how we were getting our food (this was during our first full lockdown), did we have local family to help us out, and so on.
I’ve had my differences with the city from time to time, but I am really impressed by this. They are using our tax money (Israelis pay local taxes based on the size of their homes and other factors) to provide services to the citizens! I realized how little I’ve come to expect from government, so this seemed like a big deal to me. But it’s still remarkable that they have programs in place to help those of us who are no longer “productive citizens” in an economic sense.
And then there is the vaccination program itself. The State of Israel paid a premium price for vaccines, and set up a system to distribute them. The logistics are complicated because the Pfizer vaccine, the first to arrive here, must be kept at -70 degrees C (-94 F) and then used within several hours of being warmed. As of Tuesday, 1,700,000 Israelis had received their first vaccination, including my wife and me.
We went to the designated location, where the four HMOs that all Israelis belong to had set up stations to give vaccinations; waited only a few minutes in an open area, and received our shots (for those who speak British, “jabs”). Information was immediately entered into the nationwide computer networks of the HMOs, and our appointments for the second dose set. This was much more efficient than anything I have ever experienced in any bureaucratic setting either here or in the US, even in the IDF.
Of course Bibi is taking credit for the whole thing, as our next expensive, unnecessary election approaches. But in truth he does deserve credit for making the deals with the pharmaceutical corporations that got us large quantities of vaccine early, even while the HMOs put together the system which is expected to vaccinate the entire population by the end of March.
So this morning I have a feeling that this country cares about me, and about the rest of its citizens. The institutions like the national and local governments and the HMOs are doing their jobs, at least in this connection. They government has not done so well in managing the lockdowns, especially the last, partial one, which seems to have hurt small businesses badly while doing little to slow the spread of the virus. There are plenty of other things to criticize, but still, I am proud of my country.
But the response of the world media to Israel’s relative success in fighting the epidemic has been more hostile than anything I recall since the last time Israel was forced to defend herself against deadly rocket attacks from Gaza. “What about the Palestinians,” they screamed. Why aren’t we vaccinating them, too? “It’s because Israel is an apartheid state!”
The accusation is everywhere, in mainstream and social media, from the human rights organizations, and even from Jewish groups like J Street.
And it’s nonsense. First, Arab and Jewish Israelis, as well as Palestinian residents of Jerusalem are treated precisely the same. Second, the PA and Hamas are responsible under international law for vaccinating their citizens. The PA has said they have ordered vaccines from several manufacturers and are awaiting their arrival. Israel has promised to give surplus vaccine to the PA after our campaign is over. Israel’s public broadcaster KAN reports that Israel already gave the Palestinian Authority some 100 doses of the vaccine for “hardship cases” (probably the big shots in the PA). And Elder of Ziyon has debunked some of the accusations against Israel made by “human rights” NGOs here and here.
One of Israel’s greatest national concerns is the question of how it can become a better state, one that better performs the basic function of a state, to protect its citizens against man-made and natural dangers, and to provide economic and cultural opportunities for them. This is the purpose of our health care system, the IDF, and our Knesset, judicial system, central bank, and so forth. Although there is a certain amount of corruption it is incidental to the functioning of the overall state.
The vaccination project has been a positive force in our lives, illustrating that we need not always be passive and accept the blows that fall on us. And it shows that our big institutions (the HMOs are independent organizations, but closely controlled by the Health Ministry) can work smoothly when they have to.
The Palestinian Authority and Hamas are entirely different. Although they have government ministries, a health-care system, and many other services, they do not exist to protect their people and enable them to fulfill their economic and cultural potential. They have two functions alone: to enrich those Palestinians who are “connected,” and to fight the war against Israel with which they are obsessed. Corruption is essential, not incidental. Funds that don’t go into the pockets of the rulers go to prepare for war or to pay the soldiers. Palestinians know this and hate their rulers, but there is little they can do because the dictatorships under which they live don’t hesitate to use force against them. And in many cases, they are also slaves to their obsessive hatred of Israel.
Palestinian governments continue to encourage, pay for, and perpetrate terrorism against Israel, while “ordinary Palestinians” throw rocks at cars containing Jews, a pastime that has caused several deaths and countless serious injuries. A few weeks ago, an “ordinary Palestinian” viciously beat an innocent woman to death. Right now the concern in Ramallah is not how to vaccinate millions of Palestinians, but rather how to ensure that terrorists will continue to get paid despite Israeli restrictions on Palestinian banks.
Israel struggles to be better. Palestinians struggle to be worse. And yet, which side do the media, the Jewish Left, and the human rights industry take?
***
Sheldon Adelson died on Tuesday. He was one of Israel’s greatest supporters. He loved this country, and contributed massive amounts of his own money to make it better and to help improve its relationship with the diaspora, including hundreds of millions of dollars to Birthright, which has probably done more to counteract the hate campaign against Israel in the universities than all other PR initiatives put together. He also gave large sums to AIPAC, the Friends of the Israel Defense Forces, Yad Vashem, and the Israeli-American Council. He and his Israeli-born wife, Miri, were the major donors to a new medical school at Ariel University. He donated several Magen David Adom ambulances and mobile ICU vehicles, including some that were armored to protect them against terrorist attacks. He started the free newspaper Israel Hayom (Israel Today), which is today the paper with the largest circulation in the country, shattering the almost total monopoly on news media in Israel held by the Left. His influence on Donald Trump was partly responsible for Trump’s pro-Israel policies.
Miri Adelson will certainly continue his philanthropy, but the Jewish people and the State of Israel have lost a friend that won’t easily be replaced. BDE.
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