Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, June 18, 2011

US consulate rescinds invitation to anti-semitic PalArab cartoonist

A Palestinian Arab political cartoonist, Majed Badra, had been invited by the US Consulate to go to the US and participate in an international political cartoonist convention.

At the last minute, the US Consulate rescinded the invitation, when they became aware that some of his cartoons were, pretty explicitly, anti-semitic.

Badra objects to this, saying that he has nothing against Judaism and that his cartoons are only against Israel, not Jews. He is complaining that he had already cleared his schedule to go to the US.

Interestingly, in the past two weeks, he pulled all content from his website. Perhaps he is not as convinced that his work can stand up to scrutiny as being purely political.

Luckily, some of his cartoons can still be found elsewhere on the web.

A grab-bag of links

I have too many windows open and I'm not sure who recommended all these pages, plus I don't have time to do a normal linkdump, so....

http://www.israellycool.com/2011/06/13/pro-israel-blog-off-final/ Vote!

http://www.melaniephillips.com/unscrupulous-optimists-and-the-harm-they-cause-us

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-truth-should-be-taught-about-the-1948-war-1.368167

http://www.giyus.org/2011/06/these-are-the-faces-of-the-new-anti-semitism-please-report.html

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/egyptian-judge-denies-plans-to-charge-american-israeli-accused-of-spying-1.368134

http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/06/unrwa_protesting_too_much.html

Syrians getting shot today - last second shows two with legs blown off: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RcVBfEohpRQ

http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/269836/israel-palestine-and-brthe-peace-pieties-barbara-lerner?page=3

http://freeisraelnow.blogspot.com/2011/06/genocidal-racist-arab-leader-ahmad.html

How come "peace activists" only pressure one side for peace?

There is a new advertising campaign in various US cities on public transit:

This organization, the Committee for a Just Peace in Israel and Palestine (which carefully does not disclose the names of the people behind it and launders its charitable contributions through the Illinois Justice Foundation)

It claims that it is for "peace" and that the only way to get there is to stop US aid to Israel. This will, they say, force Israel to be more flexible in its approach to peace with Palestinian Arabs.

This is a recurring theme with so-called "peace" organizations. Their entire existence is only to pressure one side to make concessions.

If they are so interested in peace, shouldn't they be demanding that both sides make compromises?

Has Americans for Peace Now ever called to pressure Congress to reduce aid to the PA when Abbas walked away from negotiations?

But the problem is even worse than the bias that all these so-called "peace" organizations exhibit. The deeper problem is the absolute lack of pressure from any source demanding that Mahmoud Abbas and his cronies to make peace.

Where is the Palestinian Arab equivalent of Peace Now? Where are "Muslims for Peace" who are writing Arabic op-eds demanding "peace now"? Where's "A-Street" - the Arab equivalent of J-Street, an organization that claims that the US is coddling the PA with too much aid? Where are the leftist Arab newspapers slamming Saeb Erekat for yet more excuses to keep Palestinian Arabs in misery?

Why do European states fund so many "pro-peace" organizations whose entire purpose is so one-sided? Why aren't they searching out and encouraging peace-minded Arabs to do equivalent pressure on the PA and Hamas that so many dozens of organizations are dedicated to doing for Israel?

The sad fact is that Arab intransigence has paid off. The very idea of pressuring the Palestinian Arab leadership to make necessary compromises for peace is viewed as a non-starter. Years of sloganeering that "the settlements" are the "obstacle to peace" without acknowledging daily incitement, refusal to negotiate and all the other shortcomings of the PA position has resulted in a huge victory for the Arab side. Those who might try to call for pressuring the PA to negotiate with (as opposed to demand things from) Israel in Arab countries and the PA would be putting their very lives in their hands by even bringing up the topic.

Jews, on the other hand, are endlessly willing to give, and give more, and then give even more. So it is easier to demand that they be the only side to make substantive and concrete concessions.

This is not because Israel "holds all the cards," as the other side would claim. This exact same mindset of only pressuring one side was obvious before Israel was founded, as the British happily acceded to Arab demands about Jewish immigration and land purchasing, when the Jews held no cards whatsoever. The logic then was the same as it is now: Jews are reasonable and can compromise; Arabs are crazy and cannot be pressured without risking riots and bloodshed.

That is the real calculus of "peace." If we pressure Israel, maybe there will be peace. If we pressure Arabs, there might be bombs in our cities next month.

It is no contest.

So now anti-Israel organizations like this one can take advantage of this implicit Western mindset and cloak their hate in nice, liberal terms like "peace."

(The question of how reliable a local peace treaty might be when one party is widely but silently recognized as a threat to world peace is a question that no one dares to tackle.)

Palestinians attend Friday prayers at a new constructed mosque in the former Israeli settlement of Netzarim which was dismantled in 2005, close to Gaza city on Jun 17, 2011

Palestinian Prime Minister in Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniya delivers speech during Friday prayers at a new constructed mosque in the former Israeli settlement of Nate Sarim which was dismantled in 2005, close to Gaza city on Jun 17, 2011

There was once a beautiful synagogue in Netzarim:

Within minutes of Israel's evacuation, the Arabs burned it down and celebrated its destruction:

It looks like there is no problem finding building materials in Gaza, when the desire is there. And what greater purpose can be served in Gaza than building a brand new mosque in the place that hundreds of Jews lived a few years ago?

I haven't seen any new housing complexes built in the destroyed Jewish communities of Gaza. Mostly they have been used for terrorist training, some agriculture, and now this.

This new mosque was not built because of a pressing humanitarian need. It was built to insult Jews.

The "humanitarian aid" of "The Audacity of Hope": Letters!

Via a great article in The Telegraph, you can see a link to an interview with nutcase Alice Walker who will be on the US flotilla vessel called "The Audacity of Hope."

In the preface to that interview we find the exact contents of what the moonbat Americans and Canadians will be bringing with them to Gaza: letters from Americans to Gazans.

And from looking at the web page of US to Gaza, which is sponsoring the ship, we find out that the letters have already been emailed to Gaza for Gazans to make a public display out of them.

I'm sure that the starving Gazans will chew on the letters thoughtfully.

(h/t Israel Muse)

Palestinian Arabs celebrate even when Jews die in accidents

The horrific gas explosion in Netanya last night that claimed four lives is being covered by the Palestinian Arabic media - and the commenters are overjoyed.

From the pro-Fatah Palestine Press Agency we have "Allah is great" and "Prasie be to Allah."

At Firas Press Agency we see a person who wanted to repeat "Praise be to Allah" 9 times, plus someone who adds "Good news!" and another who called the victims "Jewish oppressors."

Egypt's Al Ahram obsessed with "spy" story

Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram, which is the most popular Egyptian daily, has been obsessed with the story of Ilan Grapel.

Every day there are multiple stories with new and more bizarre accusations.

Today we have:

An analyst who tries to prove that Grapel's actions could only be explained by his being a spy, as tourists would never act the way he did. (Of course, Arabists and adventurers would act exactly the way he did.)

Another article claims that a US embassy staffer told Grapel "You are in big trouble" and that Al Ahram obtained documents that Grapel filled out requesting a renewal of residence saying he was a Muslim.

A third is a lengthy interview with a security officer giving details on how the brilliant Egyptian security team managed to track down this spy who was using his own name and freely talking to everyone without trying to hide anything.

Al Ahram confidently publishes a disclaimer of sorts at the end of one of the articles:

Pending completion of investigations

Al-Ahram will continue to publish all information and documents about the Israeli spy case, as it has been doing in recent days. The days after the conclusion of the investigation and the start of the trial will determine whether the Al-Ahram has been truthful and accurate or otherwise.

Other Egyptian papers are allowing at least a small degree of skepticism. But in poker terms, Al Ahram is "all in" and will now ensure that the most bizarre rumors will be plastered all over its pages to make sure that any possible "trial" will support its yellow journalism.

I don't know what the US is doing to get Grapel out of there, but this is a case of life and death, with Arab pride on the line. Every day that is wasted can literally be a death sentence for him. It is time to mobilize and write to the State Department to insist that this is the highest priority.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian woman in this photo with Grapel was interviewed on Egyptian TV. She revealed that Grapel told her he fought in the Lebanon war, that he studied in Tel Aviv and in the US, that his Arabic accent was Lebanese, he invited her to Israel but warned that "there was racism there."

He once told her that they will be allies one day. She asked, "Against whom?" He said "Iran." She replied, "forget it, that's impossible."

UN Watch again blasts the UN's hypocrisy

From UN Watch:

UN Watch's Hillel Neuer's speech after the usual "human rights" advocates - including Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Venezuela, and Iran - slammed Israel this week, as usual, at a UNHRC meeting in Geneva.

Mr. President,

History will record that the highest human rights body of the United Nations met today for no objective reason. Nothing in recent events, nothing in logic, nothing in human rights justifies today’s debate.

Our meeting is automatic—the consequence of a decision adopted four years ago, shortly after this council was created, to keep a permanent agenda item on one country only: Israel.

History will record that at a time when citizens across the Middle East were being attacked by their own government—by rifles, tanks, and helicopters—the UN focused its scarce time and attention on a country in that region where this is not happening; the only country in the region which, despite its flaws, respects the right to peaceful assembly, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and freedom of religion; the only country in the region with free elections, an independent judiciary, and the equal treatment of women; the only country where gays are not persecuted, arrested or stoned to death, but, on the contrary, march in their own annual parade, as they did in Tel Aviv three days ago.

Mr. President, that is why the logic of this agenda item represents the opposite of human rights, and why it embodies the pathologies that so discredited this council’s predecessor.

Indeed, this item is so unjust, so biased, so selective, so politicized, and so contradictory to this council’s own principles of equality and universality, that it was condemned by the Secretary-General himself, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, on 20 June 2007, the day after its adoption.

And so we ask: In its recent 5-year review, despite everything happening in the Middle East, why did the Council decide to perpetuate this item, an act that will be finalized this week by the General Assembly?

Mr. President,

History will record that when citizens were being persecuted or massacred by their own governments—in Syria, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain and elsewhere—the UN chose to turn a blind eye to the victims, and instead endorsed the cynicism, hypocrisy and scapegoating of the perpetrators.

Thank you, Mr. President.

Gazans protesting UNRWA, threaten to shut "Summer Games"

Protesters in Gaza are blocking people and vehicles from entering the UNRWA headquarters in Khan Younis.

They say that UNRWA has failed to rebuild their homes after Cast Lead.

Israel has been allowing building materials into Gaza for UNRWA and other approved projects since last year.

The protesters say that they might block UNRWA's "Summer Games," where hundreds of thousands of Gazan children attend free UNRWA-run summer camps.

As we mentioned before, it is a strange logic that Palestinian Arabs have - "if I don't get what I demand, then nobody gets anything."

That's a sure path to a successful state!

The Economics of Settlement (George Gilder)

A must read article at the American Spectator (thanks to all those who sent it in.) Excerpts:

The root cause of Middle Eastern turmoil, according to a broad consensus of the international media and the considered cerebrations of the deepest-thinking movie stars, is Israeli settlers in what are described as the "occupied territories" on the West Bank of the Jordan River. Even such celebrated and fervent supporters of Israel as Alan Dershowitz and Bernard-Henri Lévy put the settlers beyond the pale of their Zionist sympathies. Remove the settlers, according to these sage analyses of the scene, and the problems of the region become remediable at last.

Lester Brown of the Worldwatch Institute adds to these political concerns a coming environmental catastrophe, also presumably aggravated by the Israeli settlers and their hydrophilic irrigation projects. He sees the Middle East as severely threatened by the growth of population and the exhaustion of water resources. The Institute explains: "Since one ton of grain represents 1,000 tons of water, [importing grain] becomes the most efficient way to import water. Last year, Iran imported 7 million tons of wheat, eclipsing Japan to become the world's leading wheat importer. This year, Egypt is also projected to move ahead of Japan. The water required to produce the grain and other foodstuffs imported into [the region] last year was roughly equal to the annual flow of the Nile River."

Although these two concerns might seem unrelated, they converge in the history of Israel, created by several generations of settlers and constrained at every point by the dearth of water in a mostly desert land. In the mid-19th century, before the arrival of the first groups of Jewish settlers fleeing pogroms in Russia, Arabs living in what became the mandate territory of Palestine -- now Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza -- numbered between 200,000 and 300,000. Their population density and longevity resembled today's conditions in parched and depopulated Saharan Chad. Although Worldwatch might prefer to see the Middle East returned to these more earth-friendly, organic, and sustainable demographics, the fact that some 5.5 million Arabs now live in the former British Mandate, with a life expectancy of more than 70 years, is mainly attributable, for better or worse, to the work of those Jewish settlers.

...Many people imagine that the new and larger influx of Jewish settlers after World War II perpetrated an injustice on the Arabs. What they did, in fact, was to continue the heroic and ingenious pattern of development depicted by Lowdermilk in 1939. With the Arab population growing apace with the Jewish population in most neighborhoods, and indeed faster in some, there could not possibly have been any significant displacement. The demographic numbers discredit as simply mythological or mendacious all the literature of Palestinian grievance and eviction from the likes of Ilan Pappe, Avi Shlaim Rashid Khalidi, and the other divas of the naqba narrative.

By 1948, the Arab population in the Mandate area had grown to some 1.35 million, an increase of 60 percent since the 1930s, and up by a factor of seven since the arrival of the creative, far-seeing cohort of pioneering Jews from Russia in the 1880s. Mostly concentrated in neighborhoods abutting the Zionist settlements, this Arab population was the largest in the entire history of Palestine. Only the 1948 invasion by five Arab armies -- and a desperate and courageous Israeli self-defense -- drove out many of the Arabs, some 700,000. These Palestinian Arabs were evicted or urged to flee by Arab leaders in 1948 in a war that the Jews neither sought nor invited. But the creation of the State of Israel and its growing economy accelerated a renewed immigration into the area to today's level of some 5.5 million Arabs.

The only real Palestinian naqba came not in 1948 at the hands of Zionists, but rather in 1949, at the hands of foreign aid bureaucrats in the form of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). In a desire to compensate the Palestinians for their alleged victimization by the creation of the State of Israel, the international bureaucracies perpetrated and created a genuine and permanent victimization among the 1.4 million refugees who live in UNRWA's 59 camps and the millions more who reside in the surrounding ghettoes.

...The spurious ideology of Palestinian victimization by Israel blinds nearly all observers to the actual facts of economic life in the region. No one reading the current literature could have any idea that throughout most of the three roughly 20-year economic eras following 1948, the Palestinians continued to benefit heavily from Israeli enterprise and prospered mightily compared to Arabs in other countries in the region.

During the era of Israeli "occupation" that ran from after the war of 1967 to 1993, for example, the number of Arabs in the territories tripled to some 3 million, with the creation of some 261 new towns, a tripling of Arab per capita incomes, and a rise in life expectancy from 52 to 73 years. Meanwhile, the number of Israeli settlers in this area stripped of Jews by Jordan rose only to 250,000. Again, far from effecting any displacement of Arabs, the Jewish settlements enabled a huge increase in both the number and wealth of the Palestinian Arabs.

IHH is out of the flotilla (updated)

From YNet:

The Turkey-based IHH group, considered the driving force behind the Gaza flotilla announced Friday its ship the Mavi Marmara will not be taking part in the Strip-bound sail.

IHH Chairman Bolant Yilderim called a press conference and told reporters that "due to technical problems, the Mavi Marmara will not sail this time and we are deeply sorry for that."

The international vessel convoy, which currently consists of 10 ships, will sail to Gaza nonetheless, he added, saying that the fact that the sail will be devoid of the Marmara would negate the notion that the flotilla was an "Islamist idea by Turkey."

The planned flotilla has been hit by setbacks as organizers have been finding it hard to meet their goal in regards to the number of ships participating in the sail; as well as calls from the UN and the Turkish government to cancel or postpone the planned sail.

The IHH, which organized the first Gaza flotilla, is heavily involved in the second sail, alongside the "Free Gaza" Movement" and the "European Campaign." These three are joined by several smaller groups, which are trying to stage a united international front.

No doubt, the flotilla organizers can make up for it because they claim to have 500,000 volunteers who applied to be on the ships.

UPDATE: The flotilla organizers insist that IHH is still in the flotilla, even if the Mavi Marmara is not. (h/t israelinfo)

Palestinian Arab prisoners using Facebook

From Ma'an:

Trying to show that Palestinian prisoners in Israel’s custody enjoy VIP treatment, the Israeli daily Ma'ariv published Wednesday a report by Amit Cohen who monitored the Facebook accounts of some prisoners.

Ma'ariv says that a Hamas-affiliated prisoner, Haytham Battat, uploaded on his Facebook page three weeks ago a short YouTube film he entitled "Take me to Jihad." The film, according to Ma'ariv, included a song in Arabic dedicated to the Chechen rebels. A few minutes after the film was uploaded, his mother wrote a comment saying, “Oh my beloved son. This is a great song. I hope you and all prisoners will be released tomorrow morning."

The strange part of the story is that Battat updates his Facebook page from his prison cell. Battat is 27 and he is serving three consecutive life sentences after he was convicted of masterminding a bombing in Beersheba. He posted on his page photos shot inside the prison in one of which he is sitting with Sa’id Shalalda, who was convicted of abducting and killing an Israeli man, Sasson Nuriel, in 2005 near Ramallah.

Ma'ariv highlighted that Shalalda was on the list of Palestinian prisoners Israel approved to be released if a prisoner swap deal for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is to be agreed on.

Battat is not the only Palestinian prisoner who updates his Facebook page from his prison cell. Ma'ariv’s report says many prisoners have state-of-the-art cell phones which help them access the Internet easily and even make video calls.

Another Palestinian prisoner, Saed Omar, posted on his Facebook page several photos of the lavish meals he and other prisoners are served, the paper reported. Omar is from the Nablus district, and he is affiliated to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. He is serving a 19-year sentence. He was said to have posted photos of prisoners preparing stuffed chickens before they gathered around a luxurious table to eat their meal.

"I would rather die with my weapon in my hand than the stay alive with my weapon in my enemy’s hand," Omar was quoted as saying on Facebook.

After Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was detained in Gaza, the issue of living conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails surfaced as an issue, with hardliners advocating the abolition of prisoners rights. There were attempts to toughen prison conditions.

Ma'ariv's article also mentions the prisoners doing on-line shopping (picking out clothing and having their families deliver it).

This was originally written about in Al Arabiya a couple of weeks ago. I cannot find the article now but the price for smuggled cellphones was pretty high - if I recall, about 20,000 shekels. Ma'ariv reports that the prisoners say that prison administrators turn a blind eye to the cell phone use as long as the prisoners are behaving and not using the phones to violate security. The Israel Prisons Service denied that.

(h/t Joel)

Arab Facebook group: kidnap Israeli girl "to marry Shalit"

From YNet:

For five years now, Hamas has been holding Gilad Shalit but failed to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the abducted IDF soldier. As it turns out, Gaza radicals are fed up with this failure, yet instead of making do with a more minor release of detainees they prefer to boost the "loot" in their possession.

Accordingly, a new Palestinian Facebook group has been launched in recent days titled "The people want a bride for Shalit."

The intention behind the slogan is clear: A call for the abduction of an Israeli female solider who will serve as yet another Hamas bargaining chip in a future prisoner swap with the Jewish state.

Yet beyond the disturbing message, group organizers resorted to particularly sickening "humor" to further their cause, posting a doctored photograph showing a chained Israeli soldier held by an armed Palestinian woman belonging to Hamas' military wing, Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades.

By the way, from reading terrorist websites, it is clear that Hamas is more proud of the Shalit kidnapping than anything else. They know that Cast Lead was not a victory, but they happily point out that Shalit has been held for five years without Israel figuring out where he is.

(h/t Folderol)

Gazans shoot rocket into Israel, ending lull

From YNet:

A Qassam rocket exploded Thursday evening in an open field in the Eshkol Regional Council.

No injuries or damage were reported in the strike, the first of its kind in southern Israel in recent weeks.

Shortly before 9:30 pm, the Color Red rocket alert system was activated in region. A few moments later, an explosion was heard in the area.

"From the eve of Passover until today we had a calm period that we are not familiar with by any standard," Eshkol Regional Council head Haim Yalin told Ynet. "We are not surprised that the lull ended, we're surprised by a month an a half of quiet. Qassam fire is not an unusual thing, because we know who's living on the other side,"

While it was an unprecedented period of calm, it is not true that no Palestinian Arabs fired rockets to Israel - just that they didn't succeed.

Between May 22 and June 4, one mortar and three rockets were fired. The mortar and one of the rockets fell short, and two other rockets were shot into the sea as experiments.

On May 19th, another rocket fell short.

Again, this is much better than in any previous "lull." Even during the supposed Hamas cease fire in the months before Cast Lead - the one that Israel bashers never fail to say that Israel broke in November 2008 - there were rockets every month.

"Birthright" criticized in The Nation

Kiera Feldman writes an article criticizing Birthright Israel in The Nation. Excerpts:

The seekers are young, just beginning to face the disappointments of adulthood. Their journey is often marked by tears. They may weep while praying at the Western Wall, their heads pressed against the weathered stone, or at the Holocaust Museum, as they pass the piles of shoes of the dead. Others tear up in Jerusalem’s Mount Herzl military cemetery, while embracing a handsome IDF soldier in the late afternoon light. But at some point during their all-expenses-paid ten-day trip to a land where, as they are constantly reminded, every mountain and valley is inscribed with 5,000 years of their people’s history, the moment almost always comes.

When Julie Feldman (no relation), then 26 and a Reform Jew from New York City, arrived at Ben Gurion Airport in December 2008, she called herself “a blank slate.” She returned as the attack on Gaza was under way, armed with a new “pro-Israel” outlook. “Israel really changed me,” she said. “I truly felt when I came back that I was a different person.”

It was mission accomplished for Birthright Israel, the American Zionist organization that has, since its founding in 1999, spent almost $600 million to send more than 260,000 young diaspora Jews on free vacations to the Holy Land.

Barry Chazan, a Hebrew University professor emeritus and the architect of Birthright’s curriculum, explains in a celebratory 2008 book, Ten Days of Birthright Israel, that the trip is designed so travelers “are bombarded with information.” The goal is to produce “an emotionally overwhelming experience” that “helps participants open themselves to learning.” On my own Birthright trip last year, I experienced the Chazan Effect. Chronically underslept, hurled through a mind-numbing itinerary, I experienced, despite my best efforts to maintain a reportorial stance, a return to the intensity of feeling of childhood.

“This is not a vacation,” a Birthright employee pronounced the first evening, before shooing us to the hotel bar. “You are embarking on a journey.” Just four nights later, my steel trap of a heart was overcome by emotion upon seeing my new Birthright crush dancing with another girl. I fled to my room and cried.

To apply for a Birthright trip, participants need just one Jewish grandparent—and to pass a screening interview. (Practicing a religion other than Judaism is an automatic disqualifier.) After their ten days on Birthright, participants may postpone their return by up to three months to travel in the region, and it is not unheard of for progressives to “birth left” in the West Bank afterward (as I did)—though Birthright policy is that anyone discovered to have a “hidden agenda” of “exploiting” the free trip “to get access to the territories” to promote “non-Israeli” causes can lose her spot. Birthrighters planning anti-occupation activism with the International Solidarity Movement have been dismissed.

“Welcome home” is a predominant message, a reference to the promise of instant Israeli citizenship for diaspora Jews under the 1950 Law of Return. (About 17,000 Birthright alumni now live in Israel, according to the Jerusalem Post.) It serves as a pointed riposte to the right of return claimed under international law by the 700,000 Palestinians expelled in 1948 upon the creation of the Jewish state, and their descendants.

Birthright’s boosters seem strangely unaware of the tribe’s more visible woes, the forty-four-year illegal occupation of Palestinian lands and the racism and legal discrimination that underpins Israel’s ethnocracy.

Birthright tour providers are allowed to take tourists anywhere between the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean. Mark, the CEO, explained that “as an apolitical organization,” Birthright does not concern itself with the Green Line, the internationally recognized border separating Israel proper from the illegally occupied West Bank. “If security allows it, we allow for our participants to see the beginnings of where the nation started.” Theoretically, a visit to a Palestinian town in the West Bank would be within the boundaries of acceptability—but Chazan said no trip provider has done it. Birthright funders and officials see Palestinians as best avoided, for “security” reasons. On my trip, we were given maps of Israel that referred to the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria”—biblical terminology typically favored by settlers and their sympathizers.

“I trust that they’re doing the right thing,” Jewish Federations president Jerry Silverman told me, when asked about Birthright’s support of settlements. Such was the predominant sentiment of the funders on this matter, and on the overt racism expressed on some trips: Birthright, like Israel itself, can do no wrong.

It’s pleasure as a medium for Jewish nationalism. In Birthright, dissent is for fun-suckers. “Just enjoy the experience,” a tour mate told me when I denounced the remarks of one Birthright employee, Gia Arnstein, who had said, apropos Palestinian suicide bombers, “If I impose a holocaust on them, what can I do?” In American discourse, the logic of Jewish victimhood and Israeli militarism is rarely articulated so clearly.

This article goes to the very heart of the matter of hasbara - and anti-Israel propaganda.

Logic rarely makes people change their minds about something. It is emotions that win.

This has been a winning strategy for the anti-Israel crowd for decades. The fake "checkpoints' they set up on college campuses, "die-ins," BDS song and dance routines - they are not trying to give reasoned arguments, but to appeal to emotions.

I recently pointed out that there are thousands of people who visit Israel every year who are on tours specifically designed to push an anti-Israel narrative, where they sleep over at Palestinian Arab houses and stay away from all Zionists except for a token "settler" who gets an hour with them after they have already been force fed anti-Israel propaganda for a week.

Are there any exposes in The Nation about these trips? Is anyone infiltrating them to find out what lies are being said and what subconscious or conscious bigotry is propagated there? Are there any teary articles from participants who felt that they were being brainwashed?

Of course not! Emotions are OK when they are done for the right reasons, not when they are done for "Right" reasons. When Jews try to strengthen their connection to their homeland, it must be exposed and ridiculed. When Arabs and anti-Zionists try to create an impression of Arab attachment for Palestine, however, it is fine and dandy - they are just showing their love.

Now, if Birthright trips do push a bigoted or false narrative - it is hard to know how much of this piece to believe - then they should be fixed. There is no reason to lie when showing the Jewish connection to Israel, or even of the historic Arab apathy towards Palestine. But in the end, this is a battle of emotions, of getting to young people before they make up their minds, and the way to get to them is through the heart and then with the truth.

On that same theme, I recently made this poster for an organization that is doing Zionist education for teens:

Teaching Jewish kids Jewish history and Zionist songs should not be considered subversive: it should be normal.

The fact is that it is sad that Birthright is necessary to begin with. It proves that the majority of today's Jewish kids are ignorant about Israel, don't understand the basic issues, and couldn't put together a cohesive pro-Israel argument if they tried. The week-long experience is meant to make up for the terrible ignorance about Israel that they suffered from for their first twenty years. How much will they get out of three hours a week of Hebrew school oriented to teaching them to barely mumble blessings for their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs? How much do their parents know about Israel to begin with?

Birthright is a success because Jewish and Zionist education has been an abject failure. It shows that Jewish kids are hungering for meaning that they are not receiving from home or Hebrew school. It is a wonderful band-aid, but it is still only a band-aid that needs to be reinforced and strengthened (something that Birthright is doing, thankfully.)

Propaganda? Perhaps. But in a world where your television and web browser and mobile phone are filled with advertisements that are meant to change your mindset about various causes and products by playing on your emotions, why is it illegitimate for Zionists to use the same tools? As long as the facts can back it up, then emotions are a legitimate means to get people to the truth.