Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, May 20, 2021

05/20 Links Pt1: The myth of the Al-Aqsa 'siege' continues to ignite Palestinian violence; Caroline Glick: "Media are Agents of Israel's Enemies in the War Against Israel"

From Ian:

The War Between Wars Heats Up

IN CONFLICTS PAST, senior American officials often stepped in and compelled both sides to see the wisdom of a cease-fire. Sometimes Israel wanted to keep fighting. Sometimes it was ready to quit. But it always acquiesced to Washington, in a nod to the special relationship that the two countries share.

This time, the Biden administration dispatched Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Hady Amr in an effort to “deconflict,” as the neologism has it. This decision was a curious one. Protocol dictates that Amr, a relatively low-ranking official, would not enjoy access to Israel’s top decision-makers.

It’s also unclear how much Israel wants to talk to U.S. officials about Iranian-backed terror these days. Tensions are running high owing to the Biden administration’s ill-advised decision to reenter the flawed 2015 nuclear deal with Iran. America’s side of the deal will almost certainly include billions of dollars in cash incentives to the regime in exchange for temporary nuclear concessions. In other words, America is set to fund Hamas indirectly, given the terror group’s patron-client relationship with Iran.

Finally, there is the question of what exactly America seeks to achieve in the region. The Biden administration has repeatedly stated that it seeks to pivot away from the Middle East. But at the same time, it is investing significant time and effort to revive the nuclear deal—which will empower Iran while weakening Israel and the Gulf Arab states. Hamas knows this. And that is likely one reason the Hamas leadership felt sufficiently emboldened to launch this latest conflict.

In other words, this latest round could be an early indicator of the Biden administration’s new Middle East. It’s not a good one.

Commentary Magazine Podcast: Gaza, Commissions, and Pipelines

Today’s podcast goes over the latest in the ideological war of the Left against Israel, the political hijinx over the January 6 commission, and what on earth is going on with the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

David Friedman: The myth of the Al-Aqsa 'siege' continues to ignite Palestinian violence

On Aug. 24, 1929, an Arab mob massacred 69 Jews and wounded many more in Hebron, Judaism’s second holiest city which hosts the Cave of the Patriarchs, the burial place of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sarah, Rebecca and Leah. The motivation for this unconscionable assault was a false rumor that Jews in Jerusalem were laying siege to the Al-Aqsa Mosque, located on the Temple Mount, the third holiest site in Islam and Judaism’s most holy location.

Those seeking to rid the Jews from British Mandatory Palestine, as the land was then referred to, and to override the League of Nations Mandate which established within that territory a national home for the Jewish people, took notice of the extreme emotional reaction they had provoked with the rumor of an Al-Aqsa siege. It became institutionalized within their antisemitic playbook and remains a potent weapon to this day.

It’s not as if anyone really believed that the Jews were interlopers in Jerusalem, where they had lived for thousands of years. Indeed, in “A Brief Guide to the Al-Haram Al-Sharif” published by the Supreme Muslim Council in 1935, the authors, referring to the Temple Mount (“Al-Haram Al-Sharif” in Arabic), acknowledged that “its identity with the site of Solomon’s Temple is beyond dispute. This, too, is the spot according to the universal belief, on which ‘David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.’” But in spite of, or perhaps because of, this undisputed biblical connection of the Jewish people to the Temple Mount, Arab extremists have played upon the fear and hatred of the Arab street to cause countless acts of violence against Jews throughout the past century.

I saw this first-hand when I was U.S. ambassador to Israel. On July 14, 2017, three Arab Israeli men exited Al-Aqsa and opened fire on two Israeli border police officers, killing them both. It was the first time that weapons apparently had been stored at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, necessitating a brief closure and search of the building. Once the Israeli police had swept the premises, the Mosque was reopened and metal detectors were installed to prevent further dangerous incidents.

The mere placing of the security devices at the entry points — common now to almost all public places (including the Western Wall, where Jews come to pray) — created a huge opportunity for Mahmoud Abbas, the aging and unpopular head of the Palestinian Authority, to establish himself as the “defender” of Jerusalem. Abbas encouraged dangerous violence for nearly a week until the metal detectors were taken down for the Muslim worshippers (but not for those entering through the single gate earmarked for non-Muslims). He knew full well that the Al-Aqsa Mosque was not under attack, but he played up the false rumor to advance his own needs. Lives were lost on both sides by the violence he promoted.

Caroline Glick: "Media are Agents of Israel's Enemies in the War Against Israel"

Eli Lake: A Cease-Fire Is Not Enough When It Comes to Hamas

Today the Palestinians of Gaza are hostages to Hamas. Biden should devise a political strategy aimed at freeing them.

A first step should be in the negotiations for the cease-fire. Biden should avoid the mistake of former Secretary of State John Kerry, who in 2014 tried to negotiate a cease-fire with friendlier patrons of Hamas, such as Qatar and Turkey. Biden should deal primarily with Egypt, whose leader has no love for Islamists such as Hamas and is trusted by the Israelis.

Biden should also demand that any reconstruction aid for Gaza bypass Hamas entirely. This could be done by empowering elements of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank, for example, or by working with Arab allies that have already reached diplomatic agreements with Israel, such as the United Arab Emirates. Gazans need aid desperately — but none of that aid should go to the coffers of Hamas.

Biden should also reconsider his decision to renew U.S. funding for the U.N. Relief and Works Agency. Since 2007, when Hamas took over Gaza, the agency has acted as an unofficial arm of the local government in Gaza. At the very least, U.S. aid should be conditioned on purging Hamas members from its payroll.

In the medium term, Biden should seek to revive Palestinian civil society and electoral politics. There have been no Palestinian elections since 2006. Last month, the octogenarian leader of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, canceled scheduled elections to hardly any protest from the U.S. and Europe. Abbas probably has only a few years left. Biden should begin planning now for elections once he leaves office.

The Joshua and Caleb Network: Israel & the War With Gaza (full update on the current situation)

2 Things to remember about the current situation in Israel. Israel is not responsible for this war with Gaza, and their response has not been disproportionate. Find out why on today’s episode.

Nearly 4,000 rockets have been fired into Israel from Gaza over the course of the last week. More than 400 of them landed back inside Gaza and on their heads of their own people.

The Associated Press is upset that Israel bombed the building that they shared with Hamas. They claim that they didn’t know Hamas was there. Are they just incompetent or is the Associated Press collaborating with terrorists?

On today’s episode, we cover all of the stories, details and facts on the ground from the situation here in Israel over the last week and a half. You don’t want to miss it.

How Cynical Must You Be To Support Hamas? (Daled Amos)

By Daled Amos

The Hamas deliberate disregard for human life -- Gazan, as well as Jewish -- is not a secret, though this indifference never dissuades Hamas's admirers.

Last week, The Algemeiner reported on blatant examples of Gazans killed by Hamas:

The volleys of over 600 missiles fired into Israeli territory by Palestinian terrorist groups since fighting began Monday has included at least 150 errant rockets — falling short within the Gaza Strip and causing casualties that Hamas officials have wrongly blamed on Israel, according to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

“We know that one third of the rockets fired from the Gaza Strip did not reach Israel and fell inside Gaza,” [IDF Spokesperson Hidai] Zilberman said. “What we can learn from this is that many Gaza residents who were injured or killed were not hit by Israeli airstrikes but the civilians were hit by rockets from the terrorist groups themselves.” [emphasis added]

These statistics come from Israel.
But you don't have to take their word for it.

Elder of Ziyon points out that corroboration for Gazans being killed by Hamas rockets comes from a pro-Palestinian group too. The anti-Israel NGO, Defense for Children International-Palestine, admits that Gazans -- with no place to take shelter -- are being killed by Hamas rockets:

In a second incident around 6:05 p.m., initial investigations suggest a homemade rocket fired by a Palestinian armed group fell short and killed eight Palestinians, including two children. The rocket landed in Saleh Dardouna Street near Al-Omari Mosque in Jabalia, North Gaza, according to evidence collected by DCIP. Mustafa Mohammad Mahmoud Obaid, 16, was killed in the blast, and five-year-old Baraa Wisam Ahmad al-Gharabli succumbed to his injuries around 11 p.m. on May 10.

Palestinian security sources and explosives experts indicated the cause of this explosion was a Palestinian armed group rocket that fell short. Another 34 Palestinian civilians were injured in the blast, including 10 children, according to DCIP’s documentation.

And as more and more rockets are fired by Hamas in the direction of Israeli cities, more and more rockets fall short, landing in Gaza, causing destruction and even death.

A group on WhatsApp that provides updates from the IDF noted on Wednesday:

This is not the first time Gazans are dodging Hamas rockets.
These faulty rockets were documented in 2014, even before the start of Operation Protective Edge that year.

The blog My Right Word posted documentation by the Gaza Strip NGOs Safety Office (GANSO) from March 2014:

The website no longer exists, but a cached copy of the complete report as a PDF is still accessible online.
The link to the site now forwards you to the American Friends Service Committee.

Hamas rockets crashing into Gaza was recognized as an ongoing occurrence, as mentioned in an earlier report in January, indicating the number of Hamas rockets crashing into Gaza rose from 30% to 50%. Here is a copy of the first page of that report. The cached copy of the complete report is here.

But Hamas-inflicted casualties in Gazan has never dampened Hamas enthusiasm for firing faulty rockets.
Instead, 2 years later -- in 2016 -- Hamas offered to sell their rockets to any Arab country interested in using them to kill Jews:

According to the MEMRI translation:

Fathi Hammad: "This army has its own industry. Incidentally, we are now ready to sell our missiles to Arab countries. These are advanced missiles. If you look into the missile or weapon industries of developed countries, you will find that Gaza has become the leading manufacturer of missiles among Arab countries - I'm not saying Islamic countries. We are prepared to sell them (to Arab countries) - so that they will launch them against the Jews, not for infighting among themselves."

There was no word of any Arab takers, but then again that is not the point. This was all about bragging rights, just as Hamas now claims to be the defenders of Al Aqsa against encroachment by Israel.

Casualties are irrelevant.
They mean nothing to Hamas.
They certainly mean nothing to Iran.
And they don't mean anything to Hamas supporters on social media.

As for Hamas, on May 12, they bragged that they were using up their older, outdated rockets and getting ready to use newer, more efficient ones. That would be a conscious choice to knowingly fire faulty rockets that were sure to cause damage and even death, before using newer rockets that supposedly would avoid damage and death to their own people.

Maybe it was one of those newer rockets that Hamas fired on May 15 -- and landed in the West Bank town of Azzun.

Even Lebanon is getting in on the act. On May 18, six rockets were fired towards Israel -- and all 6 rockets fell short and crashed into Lebanon.

And all the while, social media is thick with the cynicism of anti-Israel attacks against Israel's self-defense against terrorist rockets, ignoring not only that unarmed civilians are the targets but also that the people of Gaza are themselves the victims of Hamas.

Is the support for Hamas 'resistance' any more genuine than the support for BDS that never seems to lead to genuine assistance for the Palestinian Arabs themselves?
Or is this just one more tactic for publicly undercutting Israel in the media?

The AP/Al Jazeera building appears to have been a cyber and signal intelligence hub

The Alma Research and Education Center, which normally does original intelligence analysis of threats on Israel's northern border, takes a look at Israel's bombing of the Al Jalaa towers that housed several media outlets including AP and Al Jazeera.

The roof of the building had a stunning amount of antennas and dishes there:

This is not normal for a media building. These are sophisticated military intelligence gathering tools.

The IDF at the time of the bombing announced that it "contained military assets belonging to Hamas military intelligence." The array of equipment visible indicates that this is an understatement.

Analyst Tal Beeri notes that a week before the bombing, Israel asked that residents of communities near Gaza turn off and disconnect all home security cameras they have inside and outside their houses.

The only reason that makes sense is if Hamas has a way of intercepting the video signals (whether by direct access to the camera or through wi-fi) from miles away, which is certainly possible, especially if the signal is unobstructed - Gaza towers could easily have a direct line of sight into Israeli communities.

Beeri takes an educated guess that Hamas used the building to grab video signals to effectively turn security cameras into their own spy equipment to see where they can plan drone attacks or kidnap attempts.

He says, "The Hamas military intelligence technological research and development unit is accountable for carrying out terrorist activities against Israel and operated inside of a military compound situated within the building. In our assessment, this unit activated offensive cyber or SIGINT capabilities or a combination of both. The antennas on the roof of the building were utilized by this unit to carry out its operations against Israeli targets, both civilian and military."

This is more than plausible. Civilian media hubs do not have that type of array of equipment on their roofs.

And when you understand the potential danger that such an intelligence operation would pose to Israeli civilians - undoubtedly built with Iranian expertise - tweets like this from Ben Rhodes shows how little supposed "experts" know - or in his case, how they try to gaslight everyone.

It's hard not to conclude that Obama's top aide is actively shilling for a terror group.

This is sort of unreal.

On a Flemish public TV show, which appears to have aired even before the current Gaza war, there are four segments:

The first, with the Bishop of Antwerp defining Judaism and telling Jews what their moral obligations are. Obviously, Palestinians have no such moral imperatives.

When the Jewish people/nation say it is the oldest in the area, then it must also use the most sense/intelligence. And then certainly as the chosen people of God to which it relies/ refers to , it must set/give an example that most refers to God.

(“volk” = nation as a people, not as a state)

Segment 2 shows Meryem Almaci, head of the Green Party, also telling Jews what they need to do in order to gain the approval of enlightened antisemites like her:

But for a people/nation who have been so oppressed and had such a painful history of pogroms and extermination it is incomprehensible that they themselves oppress another people as an occupier.

Jews, by stint of their history of suffering, should have learned not to inflict pain on other people. Jews are the only ones who must learn the lessons of history while preening gentiles who stood by as Jews were slaughtered can point out their flaws.

Then there is a panel discussion about Sophie Wilmès, Belgium's Foreign Minister, and whether her mother's Jewish background disqualifies her on issues related to Israel. Even though she was brought up Catholic, she has those Jew genes that means that you might not be able to trust her.

- Phara:Sophie Wilmes has a ... Jewish mother? She is herself jewish.
- de Borsu: It is more complicated. She also said it very clearly in Le Soir, that it is absolutely true, that her mother comes from a Jewish family
- Phara: it has also been picked up by an Israeli newspaper (Times of Israel, article by Cnaan L.)
- de Borsu: She recently made it very clear in Le Soir and what does she say? Indeed Sophie Wilmes' grandparents, one branch, were Jews but they converted to Catholicism. Her mother is really Jewish on paper but was raised as a Catholic

- Phara: Does it play a role?
- de Borsu: Look, it is impossible to say, everything plays a role
- Phara: yes but said is Minister of Foreign Affairs
- Phara again stressing: yes but said is Minister of Foreign Affairs
- de Borsu: That is also the case, that is also clear but that is the position of the MR what she defends, I don't think it defines/decides a position on her own in that area

Finally, we have a classic blood libel, where Jews are spreading the plague among goyim while they remain secure in their ghettoes.

Again Meryem Almaci:
Take the example of the vaccination we will talk about in a moment that Israel vaccinates its own Jewish citizens but not the Palestinians. These are matters that are provocative day after day and that mainly violate the human rights of Palestinians.

This is just regular, garden variety antisemitism on normal Belgian TV. And the antisemitism, in four separate areas within a single program, is so much a part of Belgian culture that no one even considers that they are engaging in the world's oldest hatred.

(h/t Rudi Roth)

EoZTV: The new antisemitism is not new

Recent reports of antisemitism have been upsetting me, so I decided to go on a rant about antisemitism today.

What’s Next? (Vic Rosenthal)

Weekly column by Vic Rosenthal

Unless something unexpected happens – Hezbollah joins in or Hamas succeeds in creating a mass-casualty incident in Israel – the war between Israel and Hamas will be over in a few days at most, ended by a cease-fire encouraged by the US. The “grass will have been mowed,” Hamas will remain in power, licking its wounds and rebuilding its infrastructure and replenishing its stock of rockets. Its leaders will be occupied for some time rebuilding their mansions, swimming pools, and malls, which have been hit hard by the IDF. There will be a next time.

The disturbances on the home front, both in Judea and Samaria and inside the Green Line, that were incited by Hamas supporters and other elements in the Palestinian political firmament, will not fade away so quickly. In Judea and Samaria, the imminent departure of Mahmoud Abbas (he’s 85 years old) has the various factions that would like to replace him, including of course Hamas, positioning themselves for the expected mêlée that will determine his successor. As always, the prize will go to the most ruthless and brutal, but in the contest for popular support, the challengers will each try to demonstrate that they are the best suited to “resist occupation,” which will keep things hopping from our point of view. There have already been several incidents of murderous terrorism.

That struggle will also be reflected within the Green Line, where the Palestinian factions have their auxiliaries. The idea that Jews and Arabs can coexist as “Israelis” has been severely strained by the unprecedented riots in cities with mixed Jewish/Arab populations like Lod, Ramle, Acco, Yafo, and Haifa. I say “unprecedented” because while there have been disturbances by Israeli Arabs before – notably at the start of the Second Intifada in 2000 – today’s riots appear less like spontaneous expressions of rage at Israeli authorities and more like planned antisemitic pogroms.

In the city of Lod, ten synagogues were burned by Arab rioters. I repeat: ten synagogues. Hundreds of cars belonging to Jews and Jewish homes and businesses have been burned or looted. Lod is currently under curfew, and Border Police have been sent to help restore order. Jews who have driven into Arab towns have been dragged from their cars and beaten. Jews have been attacked in the streets, and one man beaten by the rioters has died. In Acco, a firebomb was thrown into a home and a 12-year old boy seriously burned. The boy was an Arab, but so were the perpetrators, who apparently erred, thinking the home was occupied by Jews. There has been a systematic attempt to ethnically cleanse the Old City area of Acco of Jewish residents and businesses.

An Arab politician, Mansour Abbas, visited one of the burned out synagogues in Lod and offered to help rebuild it. He was immediately faced with a wave of criticism from his supporters.
Yesterday there was a general strike by Arab workers:

[The strikers call for] the end of the massacre in the Gaza Strip and aggression against Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa Mosque and Sheikh Jarrah, withdrawal of settler gangs and repressive forces from our cities and villages and solidarity with hundreds of detainees [arrested during the riots]

Most Arab workers honored the strike, although some hospital personnel did not.
From the international media, you will “learn” that what is happening here can be described as “Jewish/Arab clashes.” This is misleading. There have been a handful of Jewish extremists that have beaten up a few Arabs, and a few more cases of Jews defending themselves against attack. There is no comparison to the violent aggression, much of which appears systematic and planned, that is coming from the Arab communities.

These events have shocked Israeli Jews, for whom they are reminiscent of Jewish life in the Arab world or Europe before the founding of the state. About 20% of the citizens of Israel are Arabs, and despite a degree of friction, the ideal of coexistence has seemed attainable. Although there would always be differences, most Arabs were believed to be loyal to the state. Now it seems to many Jews that they may not be.

Right now, Israelis are hoping for a return to normalcy. The Covid epidemic is essentially over (one hopes, for good), and those of us who live south of Netanya would like to stop sleeping with our pants on, ready for a dash to the shelter. We would also very much like an end to the political crisis that has spanned at least two years and four elections (and counting). When we finally get a real government, one of its first priorities must be the development of a coherent strategy to finally end the threats from Hamas, the PLO, Iran – and the hostile elements among our own Arab citizens.

05/19 Links Pt2: Melanie Phillips: Britain slides into an antisemitic sewer; Dershowitz: Why does the hard left glorify the Palestinians?; Martha Gellhorn Loved Hemingway and Israel

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Britain slides into an antisemitic sewer

This is what British and American so-called “progressives” — including, appallingly and tragically, many “progressive” Jews — are actually supporting when they endorse the Palestinian cause. But the point is that this horrific collusion has been going on for decades. And there’s a direct line connecting the west’s systematic incitement against Israel and incitement against Jews.

Over the years, demonstration after demonstration against Israel on the streets of London and elsewhere has featured mobs of Muslims marching shoulder-to-shoulder with leftists, liberals and other useful idiots behind the banners of Hamas — whose charter is committed to the genocide of the Jews, whom it dementedly accuses of every perceived ill of the world from the French Revolution onwards.

Such pro-Hamas demonstrations therefore represented a threat to British Jews. No-one ever did anything about this.

For years, such mobs have screamed on the streets of Britain the genocidal jihadi war-cry: “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” — in other words, a call for the eradication of Israel. This represented at the very least intimidation of British Jews for whom Israel is intimately bound up with their identity. No-one ever did anything about this.

These mobs have also screamed in Arabic, as they did again on Saturday: “Khayber Khayber Ya Yehud jaish Mohammed Sauf Ya’ud”. This means, “Khayber Khaybar oh Jews, Mohammed’s army is returning” — and is an inflammatory reference to Mohammed’s seventh century slaughter of the Jews of Khybar, and a threat to replicate it.

This represented an unmistakeable menace against British Jews. Not Israelis. Not Zionists. Jews. But no-one ever did anything about it. And unabashed western “progressives” continue to support these people’s cause.

But the threat isn’t limited to this chilling alliance. It’s deepened yet further by the fact that the murderous lies about Israel, which are so dangerously inflaming emotions against Israel and the Jews, are never repudiated by those who shape British political discourse.

Alan M. Dershowitz: Why does the hard left glorify the Palestinians?

The Palestinian people have suffered more from the ill-advised decisions of their leaders than from the actions of Israel.

Back to the present: Hamas commits a double war crime every time it fires a lethal rocket at Israeli civilians from areas populated by its civilians, who they use as human shields. Israel responds proportionally in self-defense, as President Biden has emphasized. The Israel Defense Forces go to extraordinary lengths to try to minimize civilian casualties among Palestinians, despite Hamas’ policy of using civilian buildings — hospitals, schools, mosques, and high-rise buildings — to store, fire and plan their unlawful rockets and incendiary devices. Yet the hard left blames Israel alone, and many on the center-left create a moral equivalence between democratic Israel and terrorist Hamas.

Why? The answer is clear and can be summarized in one word: Jews.

The enemy of the Kurds, the Tibetans, the Uyghurs and the Chechens are not — unfortunately for them — the Jews. Hence, there is little concern for their plight. If the perceived enemy of the Palestinians were not the Jews, there would be little concern for their plight as well. This was proved by the relative silence that greeted the massacre of Palestinians by Jordan during “Black September” in 1970, or the killings of Palestinian Authority leaders in Gaza during the Hamas takeover in 2007. There has been relative silence, too, about the more than 4,000 Palestinians — mostly civilians— killed by Syria during that country’s current civil war. It is only when Jews or their nation are perceived to be oppressing Palestinians that the left seems to care about them.

While the United States provides financial support for Israel, we also provide massive support for Jordan and Egypt. Even if the United States were to end support for Israel, the demonization of Israel by the hard left would not end.

The left singles out the Palestinians not because of the merits of their case but, rather, because of the alleged demerits of Israel and the double standard universally applied to Jews. That is the sad reality.

David Collier: Sky News and Mark Stone – the anti-Israel propagandists

The recent reporting from Sky News in Israel has been shameful, and their Middle East Correspondent Mark Stone has been leading the charge off the cliff. It wasn’t always this way – something seems to have broken in Stone, and his reporting seems to have recently deteriorated into one-sided anti-Israel activism.

Because of the sense of normality Israel tries to retain, despite rockets raining down around it – conflict in Israel is like nowhere else. It presents reporters with a unique challenge – an imbalance and distortion that they must contextualise to remain professional. The very fact they are there, walking around and able to witness these type of protests in a conflict zone – is repeated nowhere else on earth. This context is everything, and Mark Stone has lost it.

Mark Stone and the ‘peaceful protest’
Although this has been deteriorating for days, the public Mark Stone ‘jump the shark’ event occurred yesterday. Stone got shaken and angry. It is visible in both his online posts and Sky News reports.

There was a ‘Day of Rage’ called for by Palestinian leaders. Both Fatah and Hamas asked for violence, and the ‘Palestinian Street’ was called upon to rise up and confront Israeli security forces. The day started with guns paraded in Ramallah and a thwarted terrorist attack in Hebron. Stone was based in Jerusalem as crowds gathered.

Stone’s reports were all about ‘entirely unnecessary, provocative behaviour by Israeli police/military.’ Stone produced several tweets of the same nature.

The articles went viral online – as of course, they would. But the key issue in all this is not what his partial understanding of what was occurring might have been, it is in his description of the protestors as a ‘peaceful Palestinian group’. He refers to it as a ‘peaceful protest’ several times.

What on earth does he mean? This group literally turned up to a violent ‘Day of Rage’ protest.

It might be possible to have suggested that the protest ended peacefully – had it done so. It is also legitimate to suggest that the Israeli police reacted badly – if this is what Stone felt that he saw. What no journalist trying to report the truth can do in this circumstance, is refer to a group who turned up to a ‘Day of Rage’ in the middle of a conflict – as ‘peaceful’. If they were peaceful – they would have stayed at home. Period.

Our small apartment is, at present, full to the brim with refugees: children and grandchildren from Israeli towns and cities under bombardment by rocket fire. It is noisy, crowded, and messy, and still, we are urging yet more of our many children to leave their homes in cities getting the worst of it, to seek refuge with us—we can always accommodate one more.

The horrible people shooting rockets at my children and grandchildren find the town where we live to be too small to be an interesting target. They aim for maximum casualties and we’re just not enough people for them to bother with (for now). As such, it is a relief to have the ability offer my family refuge, as inconvenient and hectic as that may be for all of us.

As my home overflows with people, my inbox fills with notifications of anti-Israel Quora questions, or rather propaganda not very well disguised as questions. I answer some, and decline to answer others, as the mood strikes, just a surgical in and out of the Quora interface. Those who seek a genuine understanding of what is happening on the ground in our region always thank me, however they are few and far between. The others either ignore my responses or attack and insult me.

That’s fine. Once the haters get out of bounds, I report them, and then they are banned from Quora. Of course, these baduns proliferate like cockroaches, so I just don’t get too caught up in the (mean and snotty) repartee. I have a job and a life.

People are always asking me to supply a source for their side of a debate, or worse yet, to jump into the fray of a debate when they’ve lost their way. But I don’t do debates. Debates on subjects specific to this region are always about who hangs in the longest, and not about either facts or history. They get ugly and ad hominem and keep you up at night gnashing your teeth, thinking, “I should have said this. I should have said that,” and seriously, there’s no point. It doesn’t persuade. It doesn’t end the rockets or the hate. It’s just people bumping egos one against the other online, just zeroes and ones.

But hey. If debate is your thing, knock yourself out, and I’ll even supply some grist for your mill—just don’t ask me to take over when you lose steam—I’m too busy wiping noses, changing diapers, and serving as a short-order cook and entertainment center, while holding down a fulltime job. Not to mention grinding my teeth down to the nubbins in my sleep in my fury at the nasty people of Gaza.

Varda’s Primer on Some Basic Anti-Israel Questions and How to Answer Them (but you probably shouldn’t bother):

Q. Why does Israel complain about Hamas? Hamas is weak and doesn’t have advanced weapons. Most of its rockets fell short.

A. Children and grandchildren have been made refugees by rocket fire. They’ve taken refuge in “safer” smaller towns because the rockets have made their lives a living hell. Adults cannot work. Children cannot go to school. Schools and synagogues have been hit. We witness, on a daily basis, preschool boys and girls completely traumatized by having their sleep interrupted by sirens, booms, and broken glass, the rush into safe rooms, the nervous adults, and reports of a child they know, or close to their age, who lives close to their home, dying of a direct rocket hit. They hear sirens and their homes shake at all hours.

To even ask this question is insane. How would you feel if your town was targeted with rockets day and night? Are “only” 10 Israeli deaths, including that of a 6-year-old child, not enough for us to have the right to “complain” about Hamas? Are rockets that kill and traumatize, not advanced enough for us to respond?

Clearly, those who want us to put up and shut up are antisemites, full stop.

Q. Why can't the Middle East become peaceful? Who should be blamed?

A. Blame those who will not accept a Jewish State on Jewish indigenous territory within any borders—those who won’t stop targeting Jewish Israeli civilians.

Q. Why is Israel reluctant to grant the Palestinians full rights and representation in the Israeli government? Why won’t they end apartheid and attempt to unite all people of their country?

A. Your question has a flawed premise. “Palestinians” don’t want full rights and representation in the Israeli government, which is why we gave them autonomy in their villages in Judea and Samaria, and in Gaza, from which, by the way, Israel expelled thousands of Jews from their homes in 2004, in order to offer the Arabs self-rule on Jew-free Israeli territory. But does this make them peaceful? No. Because they want all the territory and will not stop targeting Israeli civilians, because they cannot have all of the territory, which is, by the way, Jewish indigenous territory.

In other words, in the PA-ruled areas of Judea and Samaria, and in Hamas-ruled Gaza, Arabs have their OWN representation by their OWN democratically elected governments.

In Israel, there is no apartheid. Israeli Arab citizens of Israel have full rights. The same rights as Jewish citizens of Israel.

None of this unites all the people of the country, because the Arabs of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza want the country to be totally expunged of any Jewish presence.

Q. Why did Israel embark on the unjustifiable policy of evicting Palestinians from their own homes in Gaza and stoop down to the level of grabbing and occupying those houses for themselves, thus causing the present war?

A. It didn’t. The Arabs residing in this Jewish-owned property agreed in court to pay rent for the privilege of living there, and then refused to follow through. They have lived there without paying rent to the Jewish owners for years and years and years, and this is against the law, as it is in every country in the world. The eviction hasn’t even happened, and there is still an appeal pending.

The land has been Jewish-owned since before 1948. No one wants to “grab it” or occupy it. They want the effing tenants to pay the rent.

Q. Considering Israel’s strong defense system, the rockets launched cause very little damage. Aren’t these attacks a waste of resources? In business it’s called a “loss making venture.” Damage caused is not as desired. Why do they still continue to do this?

A. If you call the loss of ten lives, including a 6-year-old boy “very little damage,” then you have checked your morals at the door.

Q. In its latest large attack, the Israeli military leveled a building that housed many media outlets including The Associated Press. What reasons might Israel have for doing this?

A. Hamas terrorists were embedded in this building with the AP’s consent. Thus you have a case of the media establishment wearing its antisemitism on its sleeves by colluding with terrorists who have the sole goal of killing Jewish civilians. Oh, and by the way, the Israeli military gave the AP and others in the building a full hour’s warning to evacuate. All the staff had sufficient time to leave and were unscathed. Can you think of any other nation that gives warning before bombing terrorists who are shooting rockets at and killing its citizens? The better question is: why must Israel alone warn terror targets before taking them out?

Q. All the countries surrounding Israel are populated by Arabs. How can anyone thus make the claim that Palestinian Arabs never existed?

A. Israelis certainly know that the Arabs of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza exist. But these have no nationality, because no existing Arab country has absorbed them and they can’t be “Palestinian” if “Palestine” doesn’t exist. And if “Palestine” exists, there would already be two states, in which case, why would anyone still be speaking of a “two-state solution?” And if there is a “Palestine” and two states, why has that not solved the problem of Arab terror against Jewish Israeli citizens?

Q. What are some good ideas to stop Hamas from firing rockets, yet not blow up any buildings in the process?

A. How about this? America, the EU, the UN, and other Hamas allies can stop funding the terror machine. That will stop the rockets quickly enough, and without any need for blowing up buildings.

Q. When will the time come to end the Palestine and Israel war? What are the solutions to end war?

A. Every time this question is asked, one must marvel at the chutzpah of anyone suggesting that there must be a two-state solution. It seems obvious that if “Palestine” existed, there would already be two states (or more if you count Jordan, for instance). As such, either the existence of two states is not a solution, or there is no such thing as “Palestine.” Because surely Israel exists, which is the entire reason for the war. Israel exists and the Arabs don’t want her to.

Q. Why can't Palestinians in the West Bank relocate to other Arab states and let Israel enjoy peace in its traditional biblical land? I see that Bethlehem, Jericho and other biblical sites like Hebron are located in the West Bank?*

A. That’s what should happen, just as the expulsion of Jews in Arab countries led to their absorption by the Jewish State. But the Arab nations don’t want to absorb the Arabs of Judea and Samaria. They’d rather keep them as pawns. They want these fellow Arabs to retain their refugee status in order to force Israel to negotiate. The negotiations are for the purpose of chipping away at the territory that is the Jewish State of Israel, bit by bit, until such time as the entirety of the Jewish State ceases to exist and comes under Islamic domain as part of the wider Islamic Caliphate. This won’t happen. Israel is here to stay, as the bible also foretells.

*This last is to be cherished: the rare question from an actual truth seeker wanting information, clarification, and understanding.

05/19 Links Pt1: Bassem Eid: Hamas, not Israel, is to blame for the latest bloodshed; The War You Aren’t Seeing: A Clear-Sighted View; Ami Horowitz: My interview with Hamas.

From Ian:

Amb. Dore Gold: Hamas is Acting as an Arm of Iranian Power

The Israeli disengagement from Gaza in 2005 was supposed to produce a more stable outcome and not four Israeli-Palestinian wars. The Israel Defense Forces pulled out of Gaza, together with the 9,000 Israeli civilians who lived there.

It is hard to find the basis of outstanding grievances that could justify Hamas launching salvo after salvo of rockets at Israeli population centers and devoting scarce resources to an endless war with the Jewish state. It makes sense then to look elsewhere for Hamas' motivation.

It was reported last week that Ismail Haniyeh, the head of the Hamas political bureau, spoke by phone with Esmail Qaani, commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the man who replaced the notorious Gen. Qassem Suleimani. A senior Hamas official described a visit by a Hamas delegation to Tehran in 2006 with $22 million stuffed into suitcases, and claimed that Suleimani had agreed to transfer an even larger sum. In 2017, Ali Baraka, Hamas' representative in Lebanon, said, "Iran is the only country that supports the resistance with money and weapons."

The current Hamas offensive against Israel should be placed in a broader context of Iranian ambitions. An illuminating study published by the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change this February asserted that "the premise that Iran would moderate its commitment to creating and sponsoring militias due to the thaw in U.S.-Iranian relations after the 2015 nuclear deal and sanctions relief for Tehran was false....The number of militias created by the IRGC surged after this period."

It is imperative that Israel defeat Hamas in this round of conflict. It is important that Iranian expansionism through Middle Eastern militias is halted.

Moreover, the mistake of the 2015 nuclear deal must not be repeated, with billions of dollars going to Iran, fueling the next wave of terrorism - including the terror of Hamas. Not only is the security of Israel at stake but the security of the wider Western alliance.

Bassem Eid: Hamas, not Israel, is to blame for the latest bloodshed

I was born in the Jordanian-occupied Old City in Jerusalem and lived in a UN refugee camp from 1966 until 1999. During the First Intifada, I worked for B’Tselem, the Israeli Information Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, and in 1996 I founded the Jerusalem-based Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring group. With my background in Palestinian campaigning and as a resident of East Jerusalem today, you might assume that I am against Israel’s current military actions. But this could not be further from the truth. The blame for this month’s bloodshed lies solely at the feet of Hamas.

Those who wish to divert attention from Hamas’s war crimes would like to blame the latest conflict on a complicated legal dispute in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood. But this was a private matter between Jews who have a property deed from the 1800s and the residents of four homes who have refused to pay rent. This cannot be framed as ‘ethnic cleansing’. It is little more than a landlord-tenant squabble. It should have been a matter for the local courts, but instead this small-time event wound up in an appeal at the supreme court, and hit the press. Hamas quickly saw an opportunity.

Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the Fatah party, is at his weakest point in many years. He had just cancelled parliamentary elections because he knew he would lose. Hamas saw Sheikh Jarrah as an opportunity to show Palestinians in Jerusalem and elsewhere that they could ‘do something’ while Fatah could not. They spread lies and propaganda on social media, deliberately inciting violence among Palestinians in East Jerusalem. Hamas then ‘responded’ to the riots by firing rockets indiscriminately towards Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, guaranteeing an Israeli military response.

Hamas does not care where these missiles land: as many as one in seven, in fact, have been reported by the Israel Defence Forces to have crashed down within Gaza during this latest round of fighting, resulting in 20 casualties. They see a lopsided body count as a positive development, as it allows them to claim that Israel is the aggressive party in the conflict they started. This Islamist terror group is dangerous for our people: we cannot continue to be a conduit for their work.

Khaled Abu Toameh: How President Biden Emboldened Hamas, Islamic Jihad

Second, was the Biden administration's offer to resume negotiations with Iran to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, enabling Iran, in a few years, to have unlimited nuclear weapons -- while ignoring Iran's continual breaches of the deal. The administration also apparently ignored Iran's harassment of American naval vessels. In fact, as if the US is about to reward Iran for all that.

Earlier this year, the Gulf Cooperation Council expressed deep concern over the Houthi terrorist attacks on Saudi Arabia and called on Iran to stop its efforts to destabilize the security and stability of the Arab countries by supporting terrorist groups. This appeal, however, appears to have been ignored by the US and other Western powers.

"The Houthis and their Iranian backers think that the American move was the result of their military perseverance and a reflection of their superiority in the field. Moreover, the two sides (the Houthis and Iran) understood the measure as an indication of the new American administration's soft position towards them and bias against Saudi Arabia... Such messages enhance Houthis conviction that force is the key factor.... Revoking the Houthi designation without receiving anything in return raises the question about the efficiency of decision-making in this administration. In addition, revoking the designation of Houthis sends a message that Biden might return to Obama's hesitant and weak policy." — Emirates Policy Center (EPC) report, March 13, 2021.

Buoyed by the decision to resume the financial aid with no conditions attached, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas are now convinced that the Biden administration's next move will be to rescind Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. That is why the Palestinians have chosen to call the current wave of attacks on Israel as the "Jerusalem Uprising."

"Moderate" terrorists attacking goods crossing in Kerem Shalom, @UNRWA blames Israel for closing it

UNRWA issued a statement that is the best reason why UNRWA should be dismantled.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) urgently calls on the Government of Israel to enable humanitarian supplies and its staff timely access to Gaza, in accordance with its obligations under international law.

The Agency has not received approval for critical access to Gaza for essential humanitarian supplies meant to provide relief to the distressed population, including particularly vulnerable persons such as pregnant women, children, persons with disabilities and serious medical conditions, and the elderly, despite immense needs following nine days of conflict. Approval has also not been received for its highest official to assess and support UNRWA emergency operations.

“UNRWA is urgently awaiting approval through established mechanisms to cross into Gaza,” said UNRWA Director of Strategic Communications, Tamara Alrifai.

Here is what actually happened yesterday:

Israel today coordinated a complex operation to transfer humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza. The transfer was hindered by repeated Hamas mortar fire launched at the crossing, in which civilians were killed and injured, and an IDF soldier was wounded
The timeline of events:

This morning, the Keren Shalom crossing was set to open to allow for the transfer of humanitarian aid, and the exit of foreign nationals.

There were 40 trucks loaded with food, medical equipment and humanitarian aid on their way to the crossing from Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Tel Aviv, donated by OCHA, UNICEF, the Red Cross and Doctors without Borders.

Close to 11AM, Hamas fired mortars at the crossing, preventing the transfer of humanitarian aid. At 13:30, there was another attempt to allow the convoy to go through. While 8 trucks managed to enter, there was another mortar attack in which an IDF soldier was injured.

At 14:45, a third round of mortars was fired at the crossing, killing two Thai workers and injuring another 10 people.
Israel remains committed to ensuring the transfer of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

The Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades of Fatah (the supposedly "moderate" rival of Hamas) has been bragging on its website about how many mortars it has shot towards Kerem Shalom, which they call Karm Abu Salem. It lists 15 separate attacks of some 30 mortars and missiles.

But UNRWA does not call on Palestinian terrorists to stop attacking the crossing, only some generic

Fauxtography returns in Gaza, eagerly published by the NYT

Photojournalists in Gaza stage photos.

You can see the series of photos taken by Shaban Elsousi on his Instagram account - and some of these ended up being used by media outlets.

It is very obvious that he posed the little girl with a toy and, sometimes, her Palestinian flag. None of this is real.

The New York Times also hires freelance photographers in Gaza who have every incentive to show Israel in a bad light and ignore Hamas war crimes like shooting rockets from populated areas. The NYT is highlighting obviously staged photos as well, like this one, with a bassinet that somehow landed right side up, meters away from the demolished building that supposedly housed it - and without a speck of dust on it. The photographer was also amazingly lucky to find a photogenic, sad boy who just happened to be walking right in front of it, but to the side, so we could see both.

Or this one, where elderly women climbed over dangerous rubble where they could fall and break their hips so they could sit (one on a convenient plastic chair) and look sad in this supposedly candid shot:

Note the colorful toy truck in the background, again suspiciously dust free:

Seeing the beach in the background, this airstrike may have been at the Shati camp, where Israel said Hamas leaders were meeting - but the New York Times won't mention that.

Speaking of toys, we are seeing plenty of them, always pristine, just as we've seen in previous wars.

Western media has no choice but to rely on local Gaza photographers, but Western editors are eagerly choosing photographs that fit their anti-Israel bias.

(h/t Michael)