Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, April 26, 2021

04/26 Links Pt2: Israel enters top 20 club with highest GDP per capita; Jews, Muslims in Gulf hold festive event as holidays coincide; Human Rights Watch Endorses Palestinian Terrorism

From Ian:

Amid COVID, Israel enters top 20 club of nations with highest GDP per capita

For the first time in its history, Israel ranks among the top 20 economies based on GDP per capita, Forbes Israel reports, based on International Monetary Fund data.

GDP per capita breaks down a country’s economic output per person and is a global measure for assessing the prosperity of nations. Small, rich countries and more developed industrial countries tend to have the highest per capita GDP.

According to the data compiled by the publication, with GDP per capita of $43,689 for 2020, Israel ranked 19th out of the top 20, above No. 20 Canada, with per capita GDP at $43,278; No. 21 New Zealand, with $41,127, and the UK with $40,406 at No. 22.

Luxemburg tops the ranking with GDP per capita of $116,921, followed by Switzerland, with $86,849, and Ireland with $83,850. Norway comes in fourth at $67,176, and the US fifth, at $63,416, the data showed.

In 2019, Israel ranked 21st, and a decade ago it wasn’t even in the top 30 leading economies, Forbes said. In 2010, Israel was ranked 32nd globally for per capita GDP.

Israel seems to be emerging from its battle against the deadly coronavirus pandemic with a battered economy and massive unemployment, but still in better shape than other developed nations. The nation’s gross domestic product shrank by 2.5% in 2020, its worst contraction on record, compared to an average 6.6% drop last year for the European Union, a 3.5% decline in the US, and a 5.5% contraction on average in OECD countries.

French Magazine Devotes Cover Story to ‘Post-COVID’ Israel

Israel’s success in beating back the COVID-19 pandemic continues to attract attention in international media outlets and this weekend, the French magazine Le Parisien devoted a cover story to Israel as an example of life “after” COVID.

The feature article, which interviews numerous Israelis and includes colorful descriptions of a busy Tel Aviv and Israel’s unprecedented national vaccination operation, is titled “A Taste of Life After [COVID].”

“Tel Aviv is no longer hiding its face behind a mask. It is now open to the air and to people on the street, even though sometimes a mask hides under a chin,” the article informed readers.

The article attributed Israel’s success to its digitized healthcare system, the relative discipline of its population, and efforts by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who the magazine said “Fought tooth and nail for the vaccines … harassing the Pfizer CEO 30 times with phone conversations into the night.”

A separate article posted on the magazine’s website reported that Israel had marked the first day in months without a single COVID-19 fatality and said that since January, Israel had the lowest percentage of serious COVID-19 cases in the world.

Jews, Muslims in Gulf hold festive event as holidays coincide

A joint interfaith event celebrating both the Jewish holiday of Lag B'Omer and the daily breaking of the fast in the Islamic holy month of Ramadan (Iftar) will be held this week in Dubai, marking the first occurrence of such a collaboration. The event was announced by the Association of Gulf Jewish Communities (AGJC), the people-to-people network of Jewish communities from the Gulf.

"The event will include a panel discussion with Jewish and Muslim ambassadors focusing on how interfaith and co-existence is propelling the GCC region forward," the organization said.

Israel, the UAE and Bahrain have recently signed peace deals known as the Abraham Accords as part of a larger normalization process orchestrated by the Trump administration in 2020. This has paved the way for official ties between Israel and those countries, as well as with Morocco and Sudan, and has improved Arab-Jewish relations in the region.

During the event, the AGJC will host a webinar moderated by the American Jewish Committee's International Director of Interreligious Affairs Rabbi David Rosen featuring Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United States Abdulla Rashed Al Khalifa; Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates to the United States Yousef Al Otaiba; and Ambassador Marc Sievers, who is the former Ambassador of the United States to the Sultanate of Oman. Bahrain's Ambassador Houda Nonoo will speak during the program as well.

"Both Sefirat HaOmer and Ramadan share a common theme as they are a time for reflection. As we celebrate the Lag B'Omer holiday and Iftar dinner together as the AGJC with our Muslim neighbors, it's a time for us to reflect on where the region is today and the role that interfaith diplomacy has played in getting us here," AGJC's Rabbi Dr. Elie Abadie said in a statement.

"Interfaith dialogue and co-existence is the catalyst for change in the Gulf and it was very important for us to host a program during this time when both Jews and Muslims celebrate holidays in order to further this important conversation," AGJC President Ebrahim Dawood Nonoo added. "Living in the Gulf, we are blessed to share and experience many holidays with our Muslim neighbors and to host them at our tables for our holidays. This virtual celebration will continue to bring us all together."

In biggest-yet Israel-UAE deal, Delek to sell stake in Tamar gas field for $1.1b

Israeli energy giant Delek Drilling announced Monday that it had signed a memorandum of understanding to sell its entire stake in Israel’s Tamar offshore gas field to the Abu Dhabi government-owned Mubadala Petroleum, potentially handing the United Arab Emirates a major share in one of the Jewish state’s key strategic and economic assets less than a year after the countries established diplomatic ties.

The deal for the 22 percent stake is worth $1 billion, with an additional $100 million conditioned on certain terms and goals being met, according to a notification about the agreement sent by Delek Drilling to the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and the Israel Securities Authority. The companies said they aim to finalize the deal by May 31.

If completed, the deal will be the biggest commercial agreement made so far since Israel and the UAE signed a normalization pact in August 2020, brokered by former US president Donald Trump.

“This transaction has the potential to be another major development in our ongoing vision for Natural Gas commercial strategic alignment in the Middle East, whereby Natural Gas becomes a source of collaboration in the region,” Yossi Abu, CEO of Delek Drilling, was quoted as saying in the statement. “The development is not only a significant endorsement of the quality of the Tamar reservoir and the Levant basin but also a major support for the East Mediterranean Natural Gas sector.”

Under the terms of the so-called gas framework, drawn up by the Israeli government in 2015 to regulate the domestic natural gas market and allow a competitive and decentralized structure, Delek — owned by tycoon Yitzhak Tshuva — was required to sell off its non-operated stake in Tamar by the end of 2021.

A columnist at Jordanian news site (that is popular in Egypt) Sawaleif showed yet again that anti-Zionism and antisemitism are identical.

The wicked, unclean Jews, God cursed them in many verses, their ancestors were monkeys and pigs metamorphosed physically, and their offspring was metamorphosed as a moral metamorphosis, they all have the characteristics of monkeys and pigs. F

Then Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, described them in the Great Qur’an that they have no covenant, and despite that, you find among us those who pledge to them, trust them, and coordinate with them. We know from the Noble Book of God that they are the killers of the prophets like Yahya (John the Baptist), peace be upon him, as they tried to kill Jesus, the son of Mary. peace be upon him and his mother. These demoralized Jews who were planted by Britain in our country and supported by America with money and arms, they kill Palestinian children and burn them with gasoline and fire while they are alive and attack women and defenseless sheikhs and uproot olive trees and they defame the sanctities morning and evening.

It is known to all that the Master of Creation and Beloved of Truth Muhammad, may God’s prayers and peace be upon him, the prophet of all humanity and the gifted mercy, he and his companions moved with their weapons against the Jews of Banu Qurayza by order of God Almighty brought by Gabriel, peace be upon him, to punish them for their treachery and breach of the covenant, and we all know how their punishment was, and God bequeathed the Muslims their lands and homes.

The Companions and Followers agreed to expel all the Jews from all of the Arabian Peninsula for their misfortune and treachery, and in the age covenant it is written that they have no place in Palestine, according to the testimony of the bishops of Jerusalem, who handed over its keys to the Commander of the Faithful.

With all this being brought up, how do Muslims today accept Palestine, in which a Muslim people live from the sea to the river, to be ruled by a Jewish state ? Woo! From Zion's neck ... let the red blood come.

The author seems like such a likable chap.

As is always the case, there is not a peep of anger or annoyance from Arab media at this explicit antisemitism.

As is always the case, Arab antisemitism is not considered antisemitism by the self-declared experts on the topic from the Left.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Mahmoud Abbas' "political party" Fatah, took credit for some of the rockets that were shot to Israel over this past weekend.

These are the "moderates" who are eagerly taking credit for war crimes.

“Redeem you, Jerusalem.” The leadership of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades - Palestine, the Brigade of the Martyr Commander Nidal Al-Amoudi, is following the escalation of events in the city of Jerusalem, moment by moment, and instructing its fighters to avenge the attacks of the Zionist enemy against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy sites.
The video documents the launching of the blessed rockets by our triumphant brigades towards our occupied towns last Saturday night, in response to the enemy's continuing violations in the city of Jerusalem, and the next is greater.

Sorry, did I call it a war crime? I think the people who call Israel an apartheid state refer to these as blessed resistance rockets.

04/26 Links Pt1: Israel Issues Ultimatum to Hamas: ‘Stop the Rocket Fire or We Will Hit You Hard, Tonight’; Biden’s Team of Israel-Haters; Iran FM: Kerry informed us of hundreds of Israeli covert actions

From Ian:

Jpost Editorial: How can Israel respond to rocket fire? - editorial

Jerusalem is a handy battle cry and rallying point in the Muslim world. As The Jerusalem Post’s Khaled Abu Toameh noted yesterday, both Fatah and Hamas are seeking to use the issue of Jerusalem to distract from the internal problems and challenges they are facing ahead of the PA elections scheduled next month.

Israel so far has refrained from stating outright that it will not permit the Palestinian elections to take place in east Jerusalem, but this possibility is already being used as a way to justify both the current violence and Abbas’s possible postponement of the balloting altogether.

Hamas has a history of using rocket attacks on Israel to get what it wants, be it a cash inflow from Qatar, to divert attention from domestic problems, or this time, as an election ploy.

The situation is a tricky one for Israel. On the one hand, it does not want to risk an escalation that could so easily spiral out of control into a full-blown war; on the other, if Israel does not respond to a massive rocket barrage on its sovereign territory, it will lose its deterrence.

Hamas needs to learn that terrorism doesn’t pay, and the international community needs to convey that message. There is no excuse for firing 40 rockets on a civilian population; not riots in Jerusalem and not the Ramadan festival.

Residents of the Negev cannot be held hostage in the political battle between Fatah factions and Hamas in their election campaigns.

Similarly, the renewed protests on the Gaza border must be halted at this early stage. As we enter into the hot summer season, care must be taken also that the “balloon” fire attacks and “incendiary intifada” are not resumed.

The peace agreements recently signed between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco and Sudan show that Israel has no argument with the Muslim world. It seeks peace, not war. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of terrorist organizations like Hamas. They should not be rewarded for their constant threats and belligerence.

Israel Issues Ultimatum to Hamas: ‘Stop the Rocket Fire or We Will Hit You Hard, Tonight’

After days of absorbing rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, Israel’s military and political leaders finally seem to have lost patience, presenting the terrorist group with an ultimatum.

“If the rocket fire from the Strip does not cease,” it warned, “we will hit you hard, tonight.”

Jihadist groups in Gaza — not all under the control of Hamas — have fired more than 40 rockets toward Israeli territory since Friday. Most have landed in open areas, the Iron Dome aerial defense system has shot several of them down, and the rest did not make it out of the Strip

Israel has retaliated with limited airstrikes on Hamas targets as well as the rocket launching sites. Jerusalem reiterated that although not all of the groups firing rockets may be connected to Hamas, they rule the Strip and will be held accountable.

According to sources from Hebrew outlet Walla!, Israel passed the message to the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Tor Wennesland to transmit to Hamas and the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah.

Israel does not want to deal with a Gaza battle right now, and Hamas knows it

The IDF has also been fighting Iran at sea, conducting strikes and raids on its oil tankers, delivering fuel to Syria in violation of international embargoes. On Saturday, one such ship was reportedly attacked off the Syrian coast, though it was not immediately clear if Israel was involved.

In addition, Israel has its gaze fixed on Vienna, Austria, where US President Joe Biden is negotiating with Tehran through European intermediaries over a mutual return to the 2015 nuclear deal, a move that Jerusalem vehemently opposes.

On Sunday night, an Israeli security delegation — now not including Kohavi — took off for Washington to meet with American counterparts over the course of the week in a highly improbable effort to keep the United States from rejoining the Iran nuclear deal or at least to make the agreement more robust, with improved oversight.

The Gaza-ruling Hamas, which has for years worked out precisely how far it can push Israel before it triggers a major response, likely knows that Jerusalem is not interested in getting roped into a conflict in the Strip — meaning it can afford to allow terror groups to launch some 40 rockets at southern Israel, knowing that the IDF will keep its retaliations limited.

And indeed this was the case this weekend. After 36 rockets were launched toward Israel on Friday night and early Saturday morning, several of which actually struck inside Israeli communities, the IDF responded with a tank strike on an unmanned Hamas observation post and air raids targeting launchpads and other infrastructure — far from a major blow to the terror group. When four more projectiles were fired at southern Israel on Saturday night, the Israeli military refrained from retaliating at all.

Since then, both sides have put out both reassuring and threatening messages to one another, publicly and through the Egyptian military, making it clear that neither side wants a larger conflict but that each was prepared to fight if one were to break out.

It is a situation that Israel has found itself in many times before, often resulting in multiple days of intense fighting and with little to show for it at the end.

Report: Hamas rejects ceasefire offers, threatens 'major conflict' over Jerusalem

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said overnight that he would not agree to hold Palestinian legislative elections, scheduled to take place on May 22, if Israel will not allow east Jerusalem residents to participate.

"We will not agree to hold elections without Jerusalem and without its candidates, because it is our eternal capital. We are calling on the international community to pressure Israel to live up to the agreements," Abbas said.

Meanwhile, mediated attempt to deescalate violence from the Gaza Strip, led by a senior official in Egypt's security apparatus and diplomatic officials in the US, continued over the weekend.

The Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, identified with Hezbollah, said Hamas officials had told it that there had been contact between Hamas and Israel in the past two days, via a third party, and that Hamas had rejected any proposal to reinstate calm as long as Israel continued its "current policy" in Jerusalem.

Al-Akhbar reported that Hamas wants to "prevent any incursion by settlers to Al-Aqsa mosque, and stop the plans to 'Judaize' the city, and [for Israel] to allow Palestinians in east Jerusalem to take part in the Palestinian elections."

According to the sources quoted, Hamas issued a warning to Egypt that if Israel continued its current policies, it would "lead to an explosion in various areas, especially Jerusalem, the West Bank, and Gaza, even if that drags down the situation in Gaza and things develop into a major conflict."

Marc Garlasco, relaxing in Nazi Iron Cross sweatshirt

Marc Garlasco was the Human Rights Watch researcher and supposed expert on military matters who was forced out of his job in 2009 when a group of bloggers, myself included, publicized his obsession with collecting Nazi memorabilia - to the point that he wrote an entire book on the subject.

Garlasco had already used his vaunted "expertise" to blame Israel for the deaths of Palestinians who were killed by hidden Hamas ordnance on a Gaza beach. The extent of his military experience was to identify "high value" military targets for the US in Iraq, and he admits that the attacks to kill those people had a zero percent success rate - but killed about 200 civilians!

He spent his entire time at HRW blaming Israel for being infinitely better at hitting targets then the US military while he was there.

Anyway, this supposed expert on human rights and military matters - who once said, "That is so cool! The leather SS jacket makes my blood go cold it is so COOL!" - seems to have found quite a career after leaving HRW.

The Nazi memorabilia enthusiast naturally went to the UN - and also consulting with the US Defense Department!

I guess that hanging out with Nazis isn't enough to cancel you when you are a human rights researcher.

(h/t MtTB)

Times of Israel reports:

The Palestinian Authority has decided to postpone the upcoming elections and has informed representatives of the international community as well as Egypt of its decision, Army Radio reported Monday.

It is expected there will be an official announcement from Ramallah in the coming days, and the Kan public broadcaster reported that the Palestinian leadership was set to meet on the matter on Thursday.

Army Radio reported that the official reason to be given for the delay was Israel’s refusal to allow East Jerusalem residents to vote in the May 22 elections, the first Palestinian legislative elections in 15 years.

Let's remind everyone of some facts.

First of all, Israel hasn't refused to allow Arabs in East Jerusalem to vote. In previous elections, Israel allowed "ballot boxes" to be placed in some post offices, where they would be transported to the West Bank to be counted. It has not yet made a decision on whether to allow them in this election, although given that this is included in the Oslo Accords, chances are very good Israel would have allowed them in the end.

Secondly, those "ballot boxes" are purely symbolic. Every single Arab in Jerusalem who wants to vote needs only to travel a short distance to the suburbs where they can vote freely. Only some 6000 Arabs in Jerusalem are served by those post offices, out of around 150,000 of voting age who live there. If Palestinians are interested in a democratic election, there is no difficulty in everyone being able to vote.

Thirdly, Fatah is now split into three parties, weakening its chances of winning the election. It is convenient that this issue is suddenly considered important enough to postpone the vote (although Abbas has been threatening this from the beginning.)

Interestingly, a recent poll by a group I had never heard of before put the Fatah list way ahead of all others with 32% of the vote, while Hamas and the Fatah offshoots each had about 10%. A March poll by a much more respected organization gave Hamas about 30% of the vote, so my guess is that the methodology of the new poll is suspect.

On Sunday we began our look at Human Rights Watch's latest anti-Israel screed.

The 223 page Human Rights Watch report that is being published Tuesday completely hinges on defining Israel as being guilty of apartheid. In order to do that, it has to become very creative in its definitions.

It says, accurately:

The Apartheid Convention defines the crime against humanity of apartheid as “inhuman acts committed for the purpose of establishing and maintaining domination by one racial group of persons over any other racial group of persons and systematically oppressing them.” The Rome Statute of the ICC adopts a similar definition: “inhumane acts…committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.”

But HRW has a problem. Both definitions are very specific that the crime of apartheid depends on one racial group oppressing another, which means that the liberals of HRW are saying that Jews are a different racial group from other humans. That is a little problematic for those who know a little history of what happens when Jews are considered a distinct race.

HRW therefore tries to fudge things:

Both the Apartheid Convention and Rome Statute use the term “racial group,” but neither defines it. The development of the Apartheid Convention against the backdrop of events in southern Africa in the 1970s, as referenced in the text of the Convention, as well as the non-inclusion of other categories beyond race, and the rejection of proposals by some states to expand the treaty’s scope, could lead to a narrower interpretation focused on divisions based on skin color. While discussion of the meaning of “racial group” during the drafting of the Rome Statute appears to have been minimal, its inclusion in the definition of apartheid, after the end of apartheid in South Africa and when international human rights law had clearly defined racial discrimination to include differences of ethnicity, descent, and national origin, indicates that “racial group” within the Rome Statute reflects, and would likely be interpreted by courts to reflect, a broader conception of race.

HRW makes an assumption that the definition of apartheid not only includes racial groups but also groups that share descent, national or ethnic origin. It's entire argument rests on the idea that Israel discriminates against Palestinian Arabs based on their national origin, which is interesting for a people who have literally no national origin.

For HRW to make its argument, it further has to prove that Israel systematically oppresses Palestinian Arabs.

Now, let's look back at the definitions of apartheid, and do a test based on HRW's assumptions.

Is Lebanon guilty of apartheid based on its laws that limit where Palestinians can live and what jobs they can have? Sure it is.
Is Jordan guilty of apartheid based on how it treats Palestinians who never lived in the West Bank, denying citizenship and its benefits? Sure it is.
Is the PLO guilty of apartheid based on its laws that anyone who sells land to a Jew is liable to the death penalty? Sure it is.
How about Kuwait, which expelled over 400,000 Palestinians because they were Palestinian? Or Libya,
Is Hamas guilty of apartheid for shooting rockets (inhumane acts) with the purpose of destroying Israel and replacing it with an Islamic state (committed with the intention of maintaining that regime)? Sure it is.
What about the US, with its spate of police killing people of color? HRW's American friends would be the first to say that this is systematic oppression and domination meant to maintain the US racist regime.

So not only is everyone racist, but everyone is guilty of apartheid!

Yet only Israel is given that description by Human Rights Watch.

HRW needs to go through additional rhetorical hoops in its zeal to pretend that Israel is guilty of apartheid. It needs to prove that Israel is discriminating against Palestinians who live under the government of the Palestinian Authority, which is recognized as the "State of Palestine" by 138 members of the UN. Since it is obvious that people who live under a completely different national government are not victims of apartheid by a different government, HRW needs to airbrush the Palestinian Authority out of the story.

Indeed, it does - the PA is not mentioned once in terms of Palestinians living under that authority.

Then HRW has to pretend that Arabs who live in Israel are discriminated against because they are Arabs. As we showed yesterday, like many nations, Israel gives preference to its own people for citizenship, but HRW twists that into discrimination against Palestinians - and implies that any state that does that is racist. (Sorry, Italy!)

The rhetorical knots the report is forced to tie itself in gets almost humorous:

Israeli policies have also denied residency rights to thousands of Palestinians in East Jerusalem and left many without nationality. Since its annexation of East Jerusalem in 1967, it has applied its 1952 Law of Entry to Palestinians from there and designated them as “permanent residents,” the same status afforded to a foreigner who wants to live in Israel. Permanent residents may live, work, and receive benefits, but that status derives from their presence, can be revoked at the Interior Ministry’s discretion, and does not
automatically pass to one’s children or non-resident spouse even if they have lived in Jerusalem for years. A path to citizenship exists for Palestinian Jerusalemite permanent residents, but the vast majority have chosen not to pursue it, as it involves recognizing Israel, the occupying power, as the legitimate sovereign.

So first HRW says it is terrible that they are not citizens, then says they can become citizens if they want to, but most don't want to, and who can blame them for not wanting to?

It goes on:

The vast majority of those who applied did not receive citizenship. Authorities rejected many applicants for failing to demonstrate that Israel, and not the West Bank, was their “center of life,” or for their having a criminal record, insufficient knowledge of Hebrew, or “lack of loyalty [to Israel].”

Does any other country allow people to become citizens without a vow of loyalty to the state? Only for Israel does the ordinary become criminal.

Of course, HRW doesn't address the fact that if Israel allows thousands of Arabs to become full citizens even today (and it doesn't mention the many Arabs in the Golan Heights that are now seeking citizenship,) then Israel clearly does not discriminate against Palestinians as a national group!

Its historic review likewise does not mention that Israel gave citizenship in the early 1950s to tens of thousands of Palestinians who managed to get back to their previous homes and offered citizenship to 100,000 more, and some 20,000 more in the 1990s and 2000s under "family reunification." This again is inconsistent with "systemic oppression and domination."

This report characterizes itself as a "detailed legal analysis" on the question. However, any real legal analysis looks at both sides of an issue. This report most emphatically does not do that - on the contrary, it tries mightily to lead the reader away from any other arguments, let alone debunkings.

In summary, Human Rights Watch will grab onto the most tenuous threads to pretend that Israel is guilty of apartheid, and it will go to great lengths to avoid any proof that shows it isn't.

Which makes this book-length report nothing but propaganda.

HRW's new report, accusing Israel of apartheid, a perfect example of the new antisemitism

Human Rights Watch is releasing a new report on Tuesday that is over 220 pages long, all meant to demonize Israel.

The report, called "A Threshold Crossed: Israeli Authorities and the Crimes of Apartheid and Persecution," tries to prove that Israel is guilty of apartheid - by both twisting what Israel does and what apartheid means.

I'm only starting to go through it, but its intellectual dishonesty is stark and clear.

Here's only one example, where HRW attacks the very reason for Israel's existence:

The 1950 Law of Return, which guarantees Jews the right to immigrate to Israel and gain citizenship, defines “Jew” to include “a person who was born of a Jewish mother,” embracing a descent-based, as opposed to a purely religious, classification.

Of course, the Law of Return says "For the purposes of this Law, 'Jew' means a person who was born of a Jewish mother or has become converted to Judaism and who is not a member of another religion."

In other words, the Law of Return is echoing the definition of a Jew in Jewish law. HRW, in its zeal to call Israelis racists, refers to the beginning of the definition but not the entire thing.

Most significantly in demonstrating Israel’s demographic goals is the 1950 Law of Return. It guarantees Jewish citizens of other countries the right to settle in Israel, and its 1952 Citizenship Law entitles them to citizenship. 96 The same Citizenship Law, by contrast, denies Palestinian refugees and their descendants, 5.7 million of whom were registered as of February 2021 with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), 97 the ability to enter and live in areas where they or their families once lived and have maintained links to.

Every nation has the right to determine who is eligible for citizenship, and many countries favor those whose ancestors belong to the same nation. This is not racism.

Throughout the report, HRW asserts that Israel's laws that give preference to Jews - as one would expect in the world's only Jewish state, especially when most of its neighbors are irredeemably antisemitic - are not pro-Jewish laws, but anti-Palestinian laws. This is absurd, because no non-Jew can receive automatic citizenship. The entire basis of the report is that Israel is discriminating against Palestinians and it simply does not allow that it is moral for Jews to have and maintain their own state where they can be safe from persecution.

This law creates a reality where a Jewish citizen of any other country who has never been to Israel can move there and automatically gain citizenship, while a Palestinian expelled from his home and languishing for more than 70 years in a refugee camp in a nearby country, cannot.

And every single Arab country has laws banning Palestinians from becoming citizens - laws that were on the books since the 1950s, ostentibly to "support" Palestinians. Unlike Israel's laws that give preference to Jews becoming citizens and that do not discriminate against Palestinians specifically, the laws in all Arab League states say that all Arabs can become citizens except Palestinians. For over 70 years, they have been languishing in the countries they were born in and have not had a path to citizenship.

If Israel's laws giving positive preference to Jews (similar to laws in Spain, Italy, Poland and many other nations) is "apartheid" and "racial discrimination," then most certainly every Arab country whose laws specifically discriminate against Palestinians is guilty of the same.

But HRW never says that. Isn't that interesting? The epithet "apartheid" only applies to the Jewish state. Isn't that a super interesting coincidence?

HRW has a problem with the entire concept of a Jewish state, and by extension with the idea of a Jewish people:

Demographic considerations, in particular the quest for a strong Jewish majority, have long underlined Israeli government policy. The key declarative line of Israel’s Proclamation of Independence proclaims the “establishment of a Jewish state in Eretz-Israel.” The proclamation largely narrates the history of the Jewish people and twice in the short document underscores the centrality of Jewish immigration. While the proclamation does commit itself to “complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants,” it presents the newly established state as belonging to the Jewish people, describing Israel
as “their state.”

And here is the best evidence that Human Rights Watch has a problem with Jews. Throughout its mentions of the Law of Return and Israel's Citizenship Law that favors Jews, not once in 220-odd pages does it mention a possible reason why Israel might want or need to have a state of its own. It goes through the history of these laws without once mentioning the word "Holocaust." Not a single mention of "antisemitism." The word "persecution" is only mentioned as an accusation against Israel of persecuting Palestinians. To HRW, the entire purpose of the Jewish state is to discriminate against Palestinian Arabs.

Yes, that is antisemitism. There is not even a pretense of being even-handed, of explaining things from Israel's viewpoint, or even pretending to care that perhaps Jews have a reason for wanting to be free from antisemitic hate - hate that Palestinian Arabs have had throughout their own brief history of nationalism.

As I hope to show more clearly in future posts, HRW twists laws and definitions to put Israel in the worst possible light, ignoring any other interpretation or context. Any counterexample, or any example that shows that Israel is acting like other nations, is ignored or downplayed.

Because Human Rights Watch has a problem with Israel - and a problem with Jews who dare to assert their own national rights on par with every other people.

04/25 Links: Protesters mass in France, Israel, UK to demand justice for Sarah Halimi; Palestinian factions call to escalate Jerusalem ‘intifada’; Rashida Tlaib lies about Jerusalem riots

From Ian:

Protesters mass in France, Israel, UK to demand justice for Sarah Halimi

Protesters gathered in Paris, Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and London on Sunday to demonstrate against the ruling of France’s highest court that the killer of a Jewish woman in the French capital was not criminally responsible because he had smoked marijuana before the crime.

Sarah Halimi, a 65-year-old Orthodox Jewish woman, was pushed out of the window of her Paris flat to her death in 2017 by neighbor Kobili Traore, who shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic).

But in a decision earlier this month, the Court of Cassation’s Supreme Court of Appeals upheld rulings by lower tribunals that Traore cannot stand trial because he was too high on marijuana to be criminally responsible for his actions.

Thousands of protesters, many of them Jewish, gathered in Paris to demand justice for Halimi.

Under the banner of “Justice for Sarah Halimi,” the rally at Trocadero Square overlooking the Eiffel Tower reflected the widespread indignation of many French Jews at the April 14 ruling by their country’s highest court.

It was held under tight security arrangements in a cordoned-off enclosure where the Jewish umbrella group CRIF played a video on a giant screen in which French Chief Rabbi Haim Korsia demanded another “trial of facts,” even if it ends without sentencing of Traore.

The rally Sunday was the first time in decades that a large number of French Jews gathered to protest against organs or actions of the French state.

#JeSuisSarah: Social media campaign launched demanding justice for Sarah Halimi

The Combat Anti Semitism Movement launched a social media campaign Sunday to protest what it called the “unfathomable” decision of France’s highest court that the murderer of Sarah Halimi was not criminally responsible because he had smoked marijuana before the crime.

The umbrella organization of various groups tacking anti-Semitism said that the campaign, which utilizes the #JusticeForSarah and #JeSuisSarah hashtags, is aimed at showing solidarity with Halimi’s family and France’s Jewish community, whose leaders have called for a mass public rally in Paris Sunday afternoon in protest of the ruling.

Halimi, an Orthodox Jewish woman in her sixties, died in 2017 after being pushed out of the window of her Paris flat by neighbor Kobili Traore, who shouted “Allahu Akbar” (“God is great” in Arabic).

But in a decision earlier this month, the Court of Cassation’s Supreme Court of Appeals upheld rulings by lower tribunals that Traore cannot stand trial because he was too high on marijuana to be criminally responsible for his actions.

Traore, a heavy pot smoker, has been in psychiatric care since Halimi’s death. The court said he committed the killing after succumbing to a “delirious fit” and was thus not responsible for his actions.

“The recent legal ruling in France sets a dangerous precedent that murderous anti–Semitism can go unpunished. It is a shocking blow not only to the family of Sarah Halimi and to French Jews, but to anyone who cares deeply about combating racism, anti–Semitism and intolerance. It must not go unchallenged,” said Sacha Roytman-Dratwa, director of the Combat Anti–Semitism Movement.

“By bringing our voices together and speaking in one unified voice, we can make a powerful statement to the world that anti–Semitism will not be excused or tolerated,” she said.

#JusticeforSarahHalimi:

How many more rallies do we have to see until the French Authorities understand the message: 'Enough is enough,' says Arsen Ostrovsky @Ostrov_A, CEO of The International Legal Forum pic.twitter.com/Xe12zyn7xn
— i24NEWS English (@i24NEWS_EN) April 25, 2021

Massive Protest in Paris Over Ruling in Murder of Sarah Halimi

Massive rally in Paris, where the Jewish communities are demanding justice for Dr. Sarah Halimi (65) who was murdered in her sleep and thrown out of the window by an assailant screaming Allahu Akbar. Kobil Traorw (27) was later released due to “mental disorder. “ pic.twitter.com/rVEVqQN4yA
— Adam Milstein (@AdamMilstein) April 25, 2021

Rally for #SarahHalimi in Tel Aviv: 'French Jews Feels Abandoned'

So inspiring, so moving! The #JusticeForSarahHalimi rally in Tel Aviv, outside @ambfranceisrael, ends with the singing of ‘Hatikvah’, Israel’s national anthem. #PourSarah 🇫🇷 ✡️ @Le_CRIF @CombatASemitism @CotlerWunsh @michaeldickson @Le_Figaro @HaimKorsia @JoelMergui @The_ILF pic.twitter.com/IcKK3OCTim
— Arsen Ostrovsky (@Ostrov_A) April 25, 2021

A video is being shared showing members of a Jewish organization giving out food packages at a synagogue to a long line of destitute Moroccans for Ramadan, under police supervision.

Most of the comments in YouTube are quite negative. While a smattering praise the Jews, most of the commenters say that they are ashamed that these people are taking charity from Jews and that the people accepting the aid are filled with shame and humiliation.

Oh God, hunger and humiliation 😂😂😂
The culture of humiliation and begging of foreigners is entrenched among groups in society.
The deadly person has made his people a prey for the people of Zion
There is an old Algerian proverb that says: Shame is longer than life Lives perish, but shame is passed on to generations 🤮🤮🤮
My Algerian brothers, as Muslims, we must send planes packed with Ramadan stands to our free Muslims fasting brothers in Morocco. So that Allah's enemies would not humiliate them.

The themes of the critics are that Jews are not true Moroccans, and that their intent in handing out food is to shame and humiliate Muslims.

It is interesting that accepting charity from Jews is utterly humiliating but accepting aid from UNRWA or the EU is not at all problematic for people who are supposedly so sensitive to shame.

Since the Jews were in Egypt, there has been Jew-hatred. The entire time, the Jew-haters justified their hate with reasons that sounded reasonable to that generation.

Pharaoh said Jews would be a fifth column. Haman said Jews didn't respect the King's laws. Antiochus said the Jews refused to assimilate. Christians said Jews killed their god. Jews were accused of killing Gentiles, especially their children. Jews charged interest on loans. Jews lived apart. Jews tried to assimilate and take over nations. Jews represented capitalism. Jews represented communism. Jews were a subhuman race.

Practically no one said that they just hated Jews for no reason. They always had a reason. But later generations could easily see that each reason wasn't a reason at all - it was an excuse to justify the hate.

In each case, the hate came first - and then the excuse.

At the time these things were happening, some Jews would believe the reasons were valid, and they would try to distance themselves from the "bad" Jews to ingratiate themselves with their oppressors. Hellenists, early Jewish Christians, the medieval apikorsim and minim, the German Reform movement, all sought to some extent to escape persecution as Jews by identifying with the antisemites of each era. To a large extent, they accepted as fact the criticisms of Jews and felt that they can escape that hatred by identifying with each era's antisemites.

In this sense, the new antisemitism is indistinguishable from the many old versions.

People don't hate Israel and Zionism because of Zionist philosophy or Israeli government actions. They hate Israel because it is Jewish. The many reasons they give to justify that hate is all ex post facto. This was very obvious in the early days of Zionism through the rebirth of Israel, but in the wake of the Holocaust explicit Jew-hatred was no longer fashionable so it was replaced with hatred of the Jewish state, which remains today. The class of people who say they hate "occupation" hated Israel before 1967; the people who call it "colonialist" hated it before that word became an epithet.

Their reasons are excuses, and this is obvious because their hate doesn't extend to other nations that have the same supposed traits.

Today, no one can seriously read the objections to a Jewish state given by Arab leaders before 1948 and think that they are anything but excuses for their desire to ethnically cleanse Jews from the region. No one can look at the history of Jews in Arab nations in the 20th century and believe that their leaders were really only against Zionism and not against Jews.

In a generation or two, the same will apply to today's arguments against Israel - but they will be replaced by others.

The new antisemites are keen on separating Zionism and Israel from Jewishness. They want to hang onto their excuses and pretend that the reasons for their hate are legitimate. When one truly sees that today's anti-Zionism is an elaborate fiction and nothing more than a new manifestation of the "oldest hatred," it is easier to see how their arguments mirror those of the antisemites of old. Jews/Zionists have too much power! Jews/Zionists relish killing non-Jews! Jews/Zionists think they are better than everyone else! The world would be better off without Jews/Israel! It is a new label on a very, very old bottle.

Just as we've seen so often through history, there are plenty of Jews who are enthusiastically taking up the arguments of today's antisemites. Jews who, like their Hellenist and Reform forebears, hope to not be the objects of today's antisemitism by identifying with the new haters - and even surpassing them.

The new minim are as proud of their hate as the old ones were. They use their Jewish background to buttress their arguments against Jews as generations of Jewish converts to Christianity did. They generalize the actions of a few Jews to stereotype all the Jews of Israel in a classic display of pure bigotry and claim that they are anti-racist.

The hypocrisy that proves that their arguments are worthless doesn't stop there. People who often have only the most tenuous connection to Jewishness pretend to define Jewishness. People who justify modern antisemitism pretend they can define antisemitism. People who are quick to justify violent riots by people they support are even quicker to condemn far less violent demonstrations by Jews.

The excuses for antisemitism have always morphed over time in relation with whatever is considered most offensive in every generation. The Holocaust didn't end antisemitism - it merely prompted antisemites to come up with new justifications for the same hate, and Israel is the perfect target for that hate.

The antisemites always have reasons. You need to look at the history of antisemitism to realize that their justifications for their crazed, irrational hate are as grotesque as the excuses of their predecessors were.