Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Friday, May 03, 2013

Egypt to Palestinian Syrian refugees: "Drop Dead"

More details on a story about anti-Palestinian Syrian discrimination in Arab countries I posted April 28:

Fatemah El-Taweel, 31, left war torn Syria where she was born and raised for Egypt. Yet when she attempted to send her three children to school here she met with an unexpected response.

“A Palestinian, and you want to enroll your children for education here?” asked an employee of the ministry of education whose shocked face made it clear he thought her request audacious.  “I told him yes, I do,” says Fatemah. “Just like Syrian refugees who are given these rights in Egypt.”

A presidential decree issued last September grants exceptional rights to Syrian refugees in Egypt, including access to government schools. It did not, however, make any mention of Palestinians who had fled Syria..

Under the threat of missiles, bombardment from tanks and trigger-happy snipers Fatemah’s family fled to Egypt last December. They have since been joined by 1,900 families, an estimated 10,000 Palestinians who moved from Syria to Egypt to escape the conflict.

None are given residency permits. The Palestinian embassy doesn’t follow their cases, monitor their arrival or seek to register them.

The luckiest receive short term tourist visas. Scores are turned away at Cairo airport. If they are between the age of 18 and 40 and traveling alone they are sent back to Damascus, returned to the life threatening situation they had sought to escape but faced with the added burden of the suspicion of the Syrian authorities towards asylum seekers rejected by Egypt. 

Denied refugee rights Syrian Palestinians must grapple with a bureaucracy that either doesn’t recognize them or lacks the flexibility to do so and negotiate a decades long mentality that considers them a threat to national security.  

Very few managed to flee with their savings. Most didn’t have time to take anything. Lacking any support in a country they barely know, they are left to battle for healthcare, education and housing. Those who did manage to bring money find it soon runs out.

The constant threat of deportation is unsettling. They face an uncertain future in the absence of any institutional support. 

“I'm fighting and struggling to be recognized as a refugee,” Abdeljabar Bilal, a 42-year-old Palestinian lawyer who moved to Cairo from Syria last October with his family, told Ahram. “I’m not a tourist.”

They are demanding equal status with Syrian refugees in Egypt, who not only have educational and health rights but the option of registration with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, which provides financial assistance, educational grants, food coupons, protection from deportation, health care and counseling. But this can only happen if Egypt – the host country – gives UNCHR permission to work with Syrian-Palestinians.

According to a UNHCR source who spoke on condition of anonymity, the commission has repeatedly applied for the necessary permission from the ministry of foreign affairs only to be turned down.

...In Egypt, unlike Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank where refugee camps were built especially for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA only operates a liaison office.

The level and the nature of relief provided by UNRWA elsewhere cannot be replicated in Egypt without a change in its mandate here. And that requires both Egypt’s approval and a vote by the UN General Assembly. Yet Cairo’s position is that only UNRWA, and not the UNHCR, is authorized to address the problems facing Palestinian refugees coming from Syria.

Officially, Egypt is maintaining its commitment to preserve Palestinian identity so long as there is Israeli occupation, preventing the “erosion” of that identity by refusing to allow the refugees to be registered by UNHCR which does not distinguish Palestinians from the rest of the world’s refugees.

The most significant difference between other refugees and Palestinians, as per UN resolution 194, is that descendants of Palestinians keep their refugee status, giving them the right to return to their homeland. [That is not in UNGA 194 - EoZ}

But technically, registering with UNHCR would not strip Palestinian refugees of their inalienable rights to their homeland. And given the limitations of what UNRWA’s liaison office can do in Egypt, temporary registration with UNHCR would offer the fastest and most practical, albeit partial, solution to the problems facing Syrian Palestinians in Egypt.

Critics argue that Egypt’s logic of preserving the Palestinian identity is being abused to justify political, racist and security motivated practices against refugees.

There is a lot more there, including the fact that Mahmoud Abbas is also ignoring the problem.

Outside of the UNHCR, I cannot find any mention of this severe discrimination in Egypt against Palestinian Arabs by any human rights organizations. (HRW did mention one specific case of two men being sent back to Syria in January, but is silent about Egypt's refusal to let UNHRC help the Palestinian Syrian refugees.) For some reason, Palestinian Arabs aren't nearly as important when they are being abused by other Arabs.

Report: Hamas stopping Salafi attacks to Israel

Palestine Press Agency reports that Hamas is stopping various Salafi groups from "revenge attacks" against Israel.

Hamas security forces have deployed throughout Salafi strongholds, mostly in eastern Rafah, to try to stop

rocket attacks.

Hamas is also said to have stopped a planned attack at the Kerem Shalom crossing, where most of Gaza's goods are brought in. Any such attack would have closed the crossing, perhaps for many days.

The report goes on to say that Hamas security has been evident in many other areas of Gaza that are popular for launching rockets, and that they are also stopping people from approaching the security fence around Gaza.

Yesterday, Hamas arrested six Salafis, claiming that they were stealing rockets from other groups and responsible for internal explosions.

Al Ayyam reports that Hamas warned the Salafist groups that they are not to shoot rockets towards Israel without a national concensus on the matter. The Salafists rejected that statement.

Two rockets were fired towards Israel yesterday, causing no damage.

Dear Imam: Help! My husband treats Jews and Christians with respect!

An Arab Israeli woman wrote a letter to the fatwa department of Islamweb yesterday, asking advice.

Her husband likes to befriend Christians, Jews and Druze, and bring them into the house. He also wants to teach his children about the differences between Islam and other beliefs, and for them to offer greetings to Christians and Jews on their holidays. Other things he does are even worse, like drinking alcohol with his non-Muslim friends and making fun of Islamists. She is afraid his actions will corrupt the children. What can she do?

The answer refers to many other previous fatwas from the site:

Christians and Jews cannot be considered believers. They are infidels, in every sense.
It is forbidden to greet them on their festivals (i.e., to say Merry Christmas.) If you ask, but they greet us during our festivals - shouldn't we reciprocate to show that Islam is tolerant? The answer is simple: Islam is the correct religion, they are kuffars, and tolerance does not extend that far.
Mocking Islamists or other Muslim religious leaders is a great sin. It is kufr even if it was only meant to be a joke.
It is better not to hire non-Muslims as employees, or to give charity to non-Muslims, and certainly not if you are at war with them. However, inviting the peaceful ones to partake in Ramadan breakfasts is OK because then you are showing them how wonderful Islam is and you might convert them.
Serving alcohol to non-believers is also forbidden even if you do not drink it yourself.
Even though he is your husband and you must obey him, it is forbidden to obey him in these matters.
If your husband does not repent, then you must ask him for a divorce and take full custody of the children.

And Allah knows best.

(UPDATE: It should be mentioned that some prominent clerics in Egypt also forbade greeting non-Muslims on their holidays, and they came under attack by many other Egyptians, including officials and other clerics.)

Who wants to work on an action-oriented resource list?

In response to my earlier post on how to complain to Google News when antisemitic articles (in the Arabic media, usually) get published, a couple of people asked me to create a resource page for things like this.

I think it is a great idea. I picture a page with specific information on how to contact people and organizations with suggestions, complaints or tips; giving out their Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, email addresses and phone numbers as appropriate. Also, specific links and instructions on how to flag offensive content in Facebook, YouTube and other social media, and tools to help generate letters to politicians and newspapers.

This page can easily get too big, so I want to prioritize contacts and links that are action-oriented.

Detail of the skeleton spreadsheet

I would rather crowdsource this than do it all myself. So if you want to be involved, I created a skeleton Google Docs spreadsheet. If you want to contribute and do some research, just email me your Google account/email address, or place it in the comments, and I will share it with you. When it gets fully populated, I will put it on as a page in this blog so you can always find the contact information you need!

Thursday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Honest Reporting: No Sugarcoating BDS Ignorance

According to the paper, PAG’s promotional material claimed that Max Brenner supports Israel, the IDF, and the torture and genocide of Palestinians.
"But Mr Harrison appears in the video saying: “Max Brenner itself is a franchise. So financially speaking there isn’t really any connection between this Max Brenner store in particular and Israel. It’s become really a kind of cultural ambassador for Israel, this store . . ."
By that logic, other foreign companies with operations in Israel, like, Intel, Microsoft, IBM, and McDonalds, are also “ambassadors” for Israel on some level, if not financially supportive of the Zionist entity. Which begs the question: Can the BDS supporters wash off their Windows and Whoppers?

Unis tolerating intolerance

As a pluralistic democracy that provides for the security and well-being of Palestinians, Israel is not remotely comparable to apartheid South Africa. For decades Arabs have had greater democratic and human rights in Israel than in any Arab country. They make up about a sixth of Israel's population and Palestinian Muslims hold seats in the Knesset on a platform of creating a viable Palestinian state. Israel is not perfect and the Palestinian issue must be resolved. But demonising Israel and Jews is not only wrong because it is racist, it is also an incorrect and deceptive interpretation of reality. (PM) Julia Gillard is right to condemn the BDS campaign, now so marginalised it has been disowned even by the Greens. We are entitled to expect our universities to take a stronger stand both against racism and in favour of facts.

Stand With US: StandWithUS to counter anti-Israel posters in Metro-North with Pro-Israel posters May 13 until June 9

StandWithUs [SWU] is placing seven posters in 25 New York (Westchester) Metro-North locations from May 13 until June 9, 2013. The ads counter the misinformation in anti-Israel posters currently on display at these sites. This is the third time the non-profit Israel education organization has countered anti-Israel posters in New York’s metro system. In July-August 2012, SWU placed six different ads at 75 Metro-North locations, and in 2011 it posted a billboard on 25 New York subway platforms.

How UC Berkeley killed BDS

For years now, the BDS movement in the United States has failed to enact any boycott against, or divestment from, Israel. Not once has it harmed Israel’s pockets or stature. Not once has it benefitted Palestinians, let alone the cause of peace, because it rejects entirely the concept of peace between a Jewish state of Israel and an Arab state of Palestine. Two weeks ago, the student government of America’s most radical student body rejected it outright, explicitly and repeatedly. If it cannot succeed at Berkeley, how can it ever hope to succeed elsewhere? It cannot. Berkeley killed BDS.

Can You Be Sued for Boycotting Israeli Companies?

New York-based legal think tank The Lawfare Project and Israeli civil rights organization Shurat HaDin were among the first entities to recognize the applicability of section 296(13) to anti-Israel discriminatory business practices perpetrated by New York companies. In March 2012, human rights attorney and Lawfare Project Director Brooke Goldstein briefed the Brooklyn-based Park Slope Food Co-op on the potential legal implications of its proposed boycott of Israeli products, which contributed to the Co-op's overwhelming vote against enacting the boycott.

The closing of the academic mind in Ireland

When seen through the prism of what is taught in Israeli and in Palestinian schools, can anyone doubt that there is hypocrisy at play in Ireland? When the Irish Teachers Union picks out one set of teachers and loathes them above all others, when it simplifies politics and history to fit a biased ideology of victim and oppressor, or imposes a twisted view of good and evil on events that defy such categorization, academic thinking has been abandoned. As such, such actions should have no place in any academic union purporting to represent scholars and teachers.

Newseum and Freedom House Smear Israel

The report claims that the appearance on the scene of Israel Hayom, a relatively new Israeli newspaper, is a threat to press freedom because it is a success that has hurt the business prospects of its competitors. No, you didn’t misread that sentence. Freedom House is taking the position that the fact that Israel Hayom has claimed an impressive share of the hyper-competitive newspaper market is undermining the freedom of the press. The justification for this ridiculous claim is that Sheldon Adelson, the casino mogul and well-known contributor to Republican candidates, has “subsidized” the paper and that its editorial line favors Prime Minister Netanyahu. The paper, which is distributed free of charge, is now the most-read paper in Israel, a state of affairs which Freedom House not unreasonably connects to the demise of Maariv, a longtime mainstay of the Hebrew daily press. But the question readers of this report have to ask is what in the name of Joseph Pulitzer does the ability of Adelson’s paper to succeed where many other print papers are failing have to do with freedom of the press?

A lesson from Martin Luther King

In his 1968 speech to the Rabbinical Assembly, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said “peace for Israel means security, and we must stand with all our might to protect its right to exist, its territorial integrity. I see Israel as one of the great outposts of democracy in the world, and a marvelous example of what can be done, how desert land can be transformed into an oasis of brotherhood and democracy.” Less than two weeks after giving that speech, Dr. King was assassinated.
Unfortunately, since Dr. King’s passing, some high-profile African-American individuals have embraced anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism. Rather than building upon the strong ties forged between Jews and African-Americans during the struggle for civil rights, some African-American leaders have damaged both communities with their demagoguery.
This was not Dr. King’s dream.

Israeli translation tech promotes ‘understanding’

Before Google Translate, there was Babylon. Although the Israeli translation software and service has long been eclipsed in numbers of users by Google’s product — due, for the most part, to Google’s Internet ubiquity — Babylon is now getting its shot at mass web usage. The company has signed a four-year cooperation agreement with Yahoo to provide online translation services for web users and mobile devices. The two companies will share advertising revenue.

Buffett: Israel a Top Place for Ideas, Investments

“Israel needs to continue doing what it does,” Buffett said. “You are a nation of entrepreneurs with fantastic capabilities. You need to continue providing the best and most comfortable conditions for investors. This is the responsibility of the government, which ensures a positive climate for investors.

Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway pays $2 billion for Iscar

American business magnate says Israel is the best place to invest outside the US.

Sephardi Stories, on the Record

Stanley Urman, executive vice-president of Justice for Jews From Arab Countries, says that just as Spielberg documented the stories of survivors in order to negate Holocaust revisionism, Sephardi Voices can ensure that nobody can deny the legacy of Jews from Arab lands. “Arabs say that Jews weren’t discriminated against in their countries and that they left from their own free will,” he said. “They try to expunge the legacy of Sephardi Jews from the history of the Middle East. Jews lived in the Middle East for over 2,500 years—1,000 years before the advent of Islam. Jews are the indigenous people of the Middle East, and their story must be told and recognized.”

Amnesty "human rights" group goes out if its way to mitigate a terror attack

From Amnesty:

The Israeli authorities must immediately remove a new outpost set up yesterday by Israeli settlers in the Nablus district of the occupied West Bank, Amnesty International said today.

The new outpost was set up following the killing of Evyatar Borovsky, a resident of the illegal Israeli settlement of Yitzhar, on Tuesday.

Borovsky, a civilian who was carrying a gun at the time of the attack, was stabbed and killed by a Palestinian man who was wounded and later arrested by Israeli forces.

By any definition, the murder of Evyatar Borovsky was a terror attack.

But look how Amnesty tries to mitigate it:

It was a "killing," not a murder
He lived in an "illegal settlement" - implying that he was somehow more deserving of death than someone else
He was "carrying a gun" - implying that he was a violent person, also more deserving of death than someone else

They also pointedly ignore that the attacker seized Borovsky's gun and shot at others. To Amnesty, this was not a terror attack - it was merely an incident and the evil Jewish settler got what was coming to him, although Amnesty likes to point out that "We deplore all deliberate attacks on civilians, including settlers. But..."

Wow - even settlers? Thanks, Amnesty, for being so generous!

Of course, Amnesty would not mention that this gun-toting illegal usurper of Palestinian land that no Arab ever lived on was a father of five, or a well-loved and respected member of his community, or an actor working to help people overcome emotional trauma. Those facts, you see, are irrelevant. No, the only extraneous facts they mention are those that make him vaguely evil.

No such biased language is associated with Evyatar's murderer.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

The Church of Scotland has big problems with the Old Testament

The Church of Scotland just released a pseudo-scholarly paper called "The inheritance of Abraham? A report on the ‘promised land’".

As the JC writes:

A discussion document compiled by the Church's church and society council suggests that Jews’ claim to the land of Israel could be invalidated by their treatment of Palestinians.

The report will be voted on by the 700 Church members who attend the annual general assembly - the Church's sovereign body - when it meets later this month. If it is passed by a majority, it will become "the considered view of the Church", a spokesperson said.

The goal of the report is to use the mirage of Biblical scholarship to deny Jewish rights to historically sacred Jewish lands.

Since 2003, two new insights have been noted by the General Assembly: in 2007, in the report What Hope for the Middle East?2 the Church of Scotland responded to a declaration from Church leaders in Jerusalem, and endorsed their criticism of Christian Zionism and encouraged members of the Church of Scotland to reject it, and in 2009 Christians in the Holy Land came together and produced Kairos Palestine: a moment of truth, offered as a word of faith, hope and love from the heart of Palestinian Suffering.

With the co-operation and support of the World Mission Council, we present this report in 2013 as our latest reflection on the ‘questions that need to be faced’, as the political and humanitarian situation in the Holy Land continues to be a source of pain and concern for us all.

According to the paper:

In general terms there have been three main ways of understanding the promises about land in the Bible:
1. A territorial guarantee
2. A land held in trust
3. A land with a universal mission.

After quoting a number of Hebrew Bible verses that support the first idea literally, where God unconditionally promises the Land of Israel to the descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the Church has no real response - only "questions:"

i) How do we understand biblical texts that tell us that occupation of the land must go hand in hand with obedience to God’s law and God’s concern for justice?

ii) Did the prophets not warn that pursuit of power and wealth would lead to inequality, injustice and the loss of land, as it did in the Exile?

iii) What land is being discussed? Is it the land claimed by Joshua, or the land of David and Solomon, or Judah, or the Northern Kingdom of Israel?

iv) How do we view the narratives on the occupation of the ‘promised land’ in Joshua and Judges? (Violent ethnic cleansing was apparently condoned by God in some passages, while others suggest assimilation.)

v) Do any of the Hebrew Bible accounts really sanction future occupation of the land and the driving out of the people already there? For example, the occupation of the land by Jewish immigration in recent times and the violence used to deprive some 750,000 Palestinian people from their homes at the time the State of Israel was established in 1948? (This is known by the Palestinian people as Al Nakba – the catastrophe).

vi) Clarence Wagner describes the creation of the modern state of Israel as a ‘miracle’. What is meant by ‘miracle’? Was Al Nakba a ‘miracle’ – driving people from their ancestral land and property with no right of reclaim; the creation of the Gaza Strip; all the refugee camps; the occupied Palestinian territory with the destruction of community life; and the impoverishment of the Palestinian people?

vii) Justice is a major theme in both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. For example “What does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8) and “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness…” (Matthew 6:33). Are these not a challenge to the policies of the State of Israel?

viii) How can Christians support the violation of human rights in the name of alleged divinely conferred exclusive rights to a specific area of land?

9/11 "Truthers" and others use a similar appalling lack of logic - they simply "ask questions" to cast doubt, without providing any alternative explanations. Has any Church of Scotland member ever asked a Christian Zionist how to answer these questions, let alone a knowledgeable Jew?

Beyond that, these questions are not meant to honestly find out answers, but they are loaded questions that presuppose lies:

They assume a mass expulsion of 750,000 Arabs in 1948, which is a lie.
They bizarrely blame Israel for the creation of the Gaza Strip, which was where Egyptians dumped all Palestinian Arab refugees in 1948-49 to keep them out of Egypt proper.
They blame Israel for the existence of "refugee camps" 65 years after the fact - when in fact every other refugee population gets assimilated into their host countries, and the Arab nations are the ones that have kept them stateless and miserable for so many decades.
They assume that Israel, by its very existence, is a violation of human rights.
They also skirt close to antisemitic stereotypes by claiming that Zionist Jews today are only engaged in the "pursuit of power and wealth." This is a perverted and thoroughly offensive description of modern Israeli priorities and accomplishments.

All of these "questions," therefore, are not quests for the truth, but attempts to promulgate lies under the rubric of "simply asking questions" - just like 9/11 "truthers" and Holocaust revisionists.

If they can explain how their disgusting "questions" are any different than those other immoral haters, I'd love to hear it. As it is, this section of the paper proves how dishonest and sickening these people are.

The second idea, that Israel is given to the Jews conditionally on their performing God's will, is dismissed by the Church - by arrogantly deciding that Jews are doing the opposite, and that the "Zionist project" is invalid, without a single proof-text:

As long as Zionists think that Jewish people are serving God’s special purpose and that abuses by the state of Israel, however wrong and regrettable, don’t invalidate the Zionist project, they will believe themselves more entitled to the land than the Palestinian people.

Again, the Church is assuming guilt and then twisting the facts to fit their preconceived ideas. They even give the following quote, calling it a "difficulty":

“Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain and said, ‘This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel: You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I have carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you here to me. If only you will now listen to me and keep my covenant, then out of all peoples you will become my special possession; for the whole earth is mine. You will be to me a kingdom of priests, my holy nation. Those are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.’”

From a theological perspective, it is a difficulty for the anti-Zionist Christians, not to anyone else. Assuming that God controls the world, He apparently has given the Land to Jews, at least at the moment. Whether it is a test or a precursor to Messianic times no one can say for sure, but to dismiss the current miraculous Jewish state - only a vague idea a century ago - as nothing more than an excuse to oppress Arabs who lived there at the same time is not exactly theologically supportable. Indeed, it is another perversion of the truth.

Finally, the Church comes to what it believes is the true meaning of Israel - that the entire idea of Zion is symbolic and universal, with nothing at all to do with Jews.

I cannot speak for the New Testament concepts written in the paper to support this idea, but their interpretation of the Hebrew Bible is laughable.

The prophetic writings especially were developing a different understanding. In Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings, force is used to achieve Israel‘s nationalistic goals. This is continued by the Maccabees in the 2nd century BC and the Zealots in AD 1st century. That exclusivist tradition implied Jews had a special, privileged position in relation to God. But the prophetic tradition stood against this. Narrative of the Babylonian captivity demonstrated that God was not confined to ‘their’ land, or was concerned only for ‘them’.

How exactly were prophets such as Samuel against war? David was also a prophet - as well as a warrior. Was he, and the Psalms he wrote, not part of the "prophetic tradition"?

And why should God's promises towards the Jews imply that God ignores them when they are in the diaspora?

The book of Jonah is a key text for understanding the Hebrew Bible’s promise of the land to Abraham and his descendants. Written at a time when Jewish people were turning inwards, the book presents Jonah as a Jewish nationalist to drive home the point: God‘s universal, inclusive love is for all. God in Jonah is merciful, gracious, a liberator of the oppressed and sinful who looks for just living. The people of God even include the hated Assyrians. So Jonah suggests a new theology of the land, because God was not confined within the land of Israel, but also embraced the land of Assyria.

God's special relationship with the Jews in the Bible in no way implies that He has nothing to do with the other nations, as the Church bizarrely implies here, any more than a father would ignore his neighbor's kids. Jewish tradition teaches that all people - not just Jews - can be rewarded by God. God spoke directly to Balaam, a non-Jewish prophet - as well as to at least one Pharaoh. There is no "new theology" in Jonah.

If the Church simply wanted to argue that the Hebrew Bible is outdated by the New Testament - which is in fact its strongest argument - then why try so hard to twist the Old Testament to support their anti-Zionist thesis?

Obviously they feel that the Hebrew Bible is their biggest challenge, one that does not fit in the least with their political theology, and this embarrasses them. The result is ten pages of hand waving to misdirect their readers away from the problems posed by the Hebrew Bible, and to discount the actual words of God - in their own theology - in order to justify their hatred for Israel.

This is not exactly how one would expect a religious institution to act.

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

Why the French court decision is significant

I mentioned last week that a French appeals court has apparently ruled that Israel's occupation of the territories was not illegal.

The Times of Israel interviewed some legal experts who claimed that there was very little new legal ground broken here:

Legal expert Frances Raday, the president of the Concord Research Center for Integration of International Law in Israel, likewise said the court decision is only marginally significant for a debate about the legality of Israel’s actions in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

“It’s only talking about transport infrastructure,” she said. “I don’t think they actually say anything new, except that an occupying power is not prohibited from putting in place transport infrastructure.”

However, Eugene Kontorovich writes in Opinio Juris:

Crucially, the Court held that only the Government of Israel, and not private parties, can violate the relevant provisions of the Geneva Conventions. The arguments that Israeli communities in the West Bank violate international law start with Art. 49(6) of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which provides that “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer its civilian population into the territory it occupies.” The provision was also relied on heavily in the lawsuit. The Court ruled that 49(6) only speaks to and applies to action by the Israeli government (“the Occupying power”), and does not regulate Alton’s activities in the occupied territory.

This is an extraordinarily important holding in light of the decades old-debate about the meaning of 49(6) in the context of Israeli civilian migration into the West Bank. It is in direct opposition to the political and international law position on settlements. In the standard narrative, any migration of Israeli Jews past the Green Line, or the expansion of their residences and communities once there, is a war crime. Thus when private citizens decides to buy or build a house across the Green Line, or even expand an existing one, it is a war crime.

Moreover, Israeli citizens who migrate to the West Bank are often said to be guilty of war crimes themselves as aiders-and-abettors. The Versailles decision would seem to reject such a position.

Israel’s critics often claim that “everyone agrees” that international law bans all “settlement activity” as it is broadly called, and that only Israeli apologists could believe the arguments to the contrary. (In the Human Rights Council’s recent report on Israel’s settlements, light rail is itself called a settlement.)

He elaborates in the comments:

[The ruling] does not deal with the liability of the Gov’t – but discussions of settlements usually lay the blame much wider:

1) It clearly says private action is not governed by 49(6).

2) It suggests it is wrong to speak of settlements as “illegal.” Settlements are a mix of private and public action, with the amount of public action most would require being quite thin, and certainly not necessary

3) Compare this the Human Rights Council report, which called all activities whatsoever in the WB “settlements” that are “illegal.” That got report got more play than this decision.

4) Under the Court’s ruling, cases where 1)Israelis buy preexisting Arab houses, usually in Jerusalem or Hebron, and without the government knowing; 2) build additional structures on their houses; 3) are born in WB; 4) make “illegal” settlements, i.e., not recognized by gov’t — would all be clearly legal. There would be nothing to protest about these actions – one could still protest some background government role, if one thinks it is significant enough, but one can’t say these actions themselves are illegal. That itself would be a big change.

5) Yes, much of the issue would still remain – how much state action is required....The reading that 49(6) requires the occupying power to not “enable” people moving to the WB means the provision actually means “shall not deport, and shall prevent individuals from moving,” which is rather different language from that chosen [by Geneva.]

Did you catch the irony? Outposts considered illegal by the Israeli government would not be illegal under Geneva 49(6) - by virtue of Israel's opposition to them!

Another important point: the ruling makes clear that businesses operating east of the Green Line are not violating international law, and all the BDS proponents are lying when they say otherwise.

The UN has been calling Israeli presence in the territories "illegal occupation" for over a decade, and the UNHRC recently reiterated that settlements are "illegal" as well, based on their reading of Geneva 49(6). They are essentially making up international law as they go along. This French ruling is one of the very few actual court cases that addresses these issues that "everyone knows" - and their reasoning is at odds with what the UN and anti-Israel groups have been claiming for years.

(The UNHRC statement that Israel must dismantle the Jewish communities across the Green Line is a huge legal leap beyond anything Geneva states, and in fact I would argue that it would be considered ethnic cleansing and tantamount to a war crime itself.)

By the way, national court decisions are at least as important for their legal arguments as any international court, even for international law issues.

Thursday Links Part 1

From Ian:

Israeli Checkpoints Stop Terrorists, not Elections by Khaled Abu Toameh

It is worth reminding those people who profess love the Palestinians that there are no Israeli checkpoints inside the Gaza Strip to foil either Palestinian elections or democracy, and that those in the West Bank do not foil elections or democracy, either.
But the anti-Israel spokesmen in the U.S., Canada and Europe are not going to let facts get in their way. They seem determined to continue spreading lies that are harmful not only to Israel, but also to Palestinians, who want see an end to tyranny and corruption in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

NGO Monitor: B’Tselem Condemns Terror Attacks, Other NGOs Silent

In response to the murder of an Israeli on April 30, 2013, B’Tselem released a statement “strongly condemn[ing] the stabbing attack” (“Israeli civilian killed in stabbing attack, northern West Bank,” April 30, 2013). B’Tselem emphasized that “There is absolutely no moral or legal justification for attacks that deliberately target civilians. Civilians must be kept separate from the fighting. This applies to countries, organizations and individuals.”

Muted Response to Hamas Jihad Program for School Kids

Western nations need to consider this indoctrination in any discussion of a prospective Palestinian unity deal, or of whether to accept Hamas as an acceptable player in peace efforts, Abu Toameh wrote. “By poisoning the hearts and minds of schoolchildren,” he wrote, “Hamas is raising an entire generation of Palestinians on glorification of suicide bombers, jihad and terrorism.”

Hamas leader dismisses Arab peace initiative

Khaled Mashaal claims Kerry-backed plan will benefit Israel while harming the Palestinian cause

Dumbing down terror for BBC audiences

For the BBC, this is a simple story of a “Palestinian militant” on a motorbike killed by an Israeli air strike. It apparently does not believe that its audiences need to know anything more than that.
So much for the BBC stated mission to “build a global understanding of international issues” and to “enhance UK audiences’ awareness and understanding of international issues”.

A letter to the Labour Party (Ken Livingstone et al)

Continued membership of Ken Livingstone (and other antisemitic, terrorist supporters) in the Labour Party

UNIFIL: Hizbullah Replacing Lebanese Troops Near Israel

According to the report, UNIFIL patrols are finding paths blocked and former temporary observation points suddenly out of bounds in what is being interpreted as Hizbullah seeking to flex its muscles on the ground.
UNIFIL officers are privately expressing frustration at the often humiliating confrontations with Hizbullah members, in which the peacekeepers feel compelled to back down.

Saudi Journalist Calls Hezbollah a “Tool of the Mullahs”

Opinion Editor Mshari Al-Zaydi says Hezbollah’s “resistance” slogan has been deceitful for “more than ten years” since the organization takes direct orders from the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Its blatant fighting on behalf of dictator Bashar al-Assad makes this clear.

Turkey: Iran Behind Syria’s Use of Chemical Weapons

A source in Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development party told Kuwait’s Al-Seyassah newspaper that Iran’s Revolutionary Guard were overseeing Syria’s chemical weapons and monitoring their use.

Iranian Officials: Iran Transferred Fajr-5 Missiles To Gaza, Which Were Fired At Israel

Iranian officials recently publicly acknowledged that Iran had sent military aid to Palestinians in Gaza, specifically Fajr-5 missiles with a range of up to 80 km, and expressed satisfaction with the damage they had caused to Israel during Operation Pillar of Defense in November 2012.

BRING IT ON - Iran declares war on VEXNEWS

The extraordinary attack – and claimed litigation – by the notoriously vengeful regime comes as the Edwina Storie saga becomes an international embarrassment for Press TV, with dozens of reports appearing around the world based on our initial revelations. The story has been widely reported in Europe, in Greece, Spain, France, Australia’s Herald Sun, Daily Telegraph and Courier-Mail, the Sydney Morning Herald and perhaps sweetest of all, in too many Persian free-Iran websites and forums to list that it warms the heart that we might have contributed just a little bit to those who yearn for Iran to be free.

Greece’s Golden Dawn Neo-Nazi Party Blasts Prime Minister’s Planned AJC Speech

Greece’s neo-Nazi political party, the Golden Dawn, posted an article on its website condemning Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras for a planned visit to Washington, DC, next month, during which he will address the American Jewish Committee’s (AJC) Global Forum.

Turkish-Muslim TV Commentator Goes to Bat for Israel

Unfortunately, Ozbudak and her group in Istanbul that supports peaceful coexistence within Israel have been targeted by radical Islamists for their beliefs. Evidently, al Qaeda had a list of targets within Istanbul. The first on the list was a synagogue, yet Muslim scholar Adnan Oktar, with whom Ozbudak is affiliated, was number two on the list.

Abbas says Fayyad might head next government

The resignation theatre continues...

Mahmoud Abbas told an Austrian newspaper that Salam Fayyad, who attempted to resign last month, might be the head of the next PA government anyway.

According to Arabic translations of the interview, Abbas said "The [unity] government will be composed of independent experts and should not be an alliance between Fatah and Hamas, and Salam Fayyad has the right to keep his job in the next government."

As far as I can tell, Fayyad is still "caretaker" prime minister while Fatah and Hamas bicker over how to pretend they are working towards the next government.

The next moves will be an outcry from Fatah and Hamas who hate Fayyad, with quiet backroom deals to keep Fayyad in office to keep Western aid dollars flowing.

As usual, all Palestinian Arab politicians try to put on a progressive face while speaking to the West and when they speak to each other it is an entirely different universe. The West has far more influence on them than it realizes - after all, they need Western money - but diplomats shrink back from outright hostility, which is the Arab game to keep pressure at bay. This is why we haven't made any progress towards a real peace since Oslo.

Both Abbas and Hamas' prime minister Ismail Haniyeh are now past their four-year terms from previous elections, and Fayyad was never elected to any position. But Jimmy Carter certified that "Palestine" has a vibrant democracy so everything is fine.

Report: Hamas ready to chop off thieves' hands

Arabic media are reporting that Hamas is drafting a new penal code for Gaza, separate from the one under the PA, and plans to adhere more closely to Sharia punishments.

According to the (anti-Hamas) Palestine Press Agency and others, the proposed penal code Article 290 says that if someone steals goods worth more than 100 Jordanian dinars (about $140) they will have their right hand chopped off. A second offense brings an automatic jail sentence of at least seven years.

The proposed code is also said to enforce a literal interpretation to "an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth," meaning that the court system will be inflicting injuries. In addition, it is said to punish adultery with lashes.

The report adds that human rights institutions in Gaza have been silent about this matter so far.

Using Google to help fight Arab anti-semitism

Two days ago I revealed that an Egyptian newspaper published two articles claiming, in lurid detail, the charges that Jews ritually drink Christian (and Muslim) blood on Passover and Purim.

This is hardly the first time Arab newspapers descend to pure Jew-hatred.

Exposing their hate is important, but unlike doing that for English-language articles, it rarely would cause a change in behavior. Ultimately, the goal is to shame the haters into not wanting to publicize their hate and poison the next generation, even if only a little.

I managed to embarrass the Palestinian NGO Miftah into removing a similarly offensive article, even if they attacked me for pointing out their hate. How can we do the same for an Egyptian newspaper?

Some six years ago, I routinely highlighted Jew-hatred in a bizarre ultra-left wing site called The People's Voice. I asked my (then much smaller) audience to complain to Google News, because their site was indexed there as a legitimate "news" organization, and Google News has a policy not to link to offensive articles.

Complaints to Google News causes Google to contact the publisher of the sites asking them to remove the offensive article, and if they make a habit of it, Google will pull the source altogether from Google News.

The People's Voice freaked out over this, much like Miftah did, attacking me in a long rambling article claiming I was "censoring" them.

But, in some ways, they changed their behavior. Some articles were silently removed. While they still routinely publish crazed anti-Zionist articles, 9/11 conspiracy theories and the like, they generally stay away from direct attacks on Jews and Judaism as they had been doing, or they at least mask their Jew-hatred by replacing the word "Jew" with "Zionist." Even though this is only a small step, it is an important one.

There is no reason this would not work for Arabic-language hate as well. Letters to the editor would be ignored, but Google has clout. (Chances are, as with The People's Voice, they will misinterpret contact from Google into thinking that Google will stop linking to them even in its general search engine, not only Google News. This will scare them.)

So whenever I highlight Arab anti-semitism - generally from newspapers indexed in Google News - the proper thing to do is to go to this Google News complaint page. This page is not easy to find, so bookmark it. From previous experience, one complaint is not always enough to get Google to act.

In this case, you would need to note the offending article's URL (in this case, http://www.misrelgdida.com/Investigations/112946.html) and the name of the news source, which in Arabic is جريدة مصر الجديدة .

Britain's Zionist Federation lobbies EU to designate IRGC as terrorist

From EJP:

Britain's Zionist Federation (ZF) has launched a petition aimed at rallying its activists to lobby the British and EU institutions to designate the Iranian Revolutionary Guards (IRG) as a terrorist organisation.

According to Paul Charney, Chairman of the UK-based ZF, “the EU and the UK must take practical steps to deal with international terrorism. By proscribing the IRG, it would show its commitment to fighting terrorism and protecting the security of EU citizens”.

The ZF calls on its activists to use its campaign to directly lobby EU institution heads including foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, EU Commission head Jose Manuel Barroso, European Parliament President Martin Schulz and EU Council head Herman Van Rompuy, based on the reasoning that by employing such a united and uncompromising action, “Iran will find it much harder to ignore efforts by both the EU and the US to stop Iran gaining nuclear weapons”.

Iran's PressTV noticed it, and if they are ticked off, then you know you are doing something right:

The IRGC, which was formed by the late Imam Khomeini after the victory of Islamic Revolution in 1979, is internationally popular for its expertise in defending the ideals of the Revolution.

The IRGC’s growing and modern capabilities to defend Iran’s territorial integrity have made Zionist regime and its western allies furious.

For the same reason, Zionist regime’s patrons in the UK are pushing their respective governments to impose unilateral sanctions against Iran’s security forces on the pretext that the force is defending the Islamic Revolution.

Zionist Federation of Britain, which is a staunch supporter of Israeli regime’s atrocities in the occupied Palestinian territories, has demanded that the EU and UK blacklist an official force of a sovereign country on unfounded, baseless allegation of posing a threat to international security.

This is while that Iran’s IRGC forces have been engaged in various humanitarian operations both domestically and internationally whenever they have been required in cases of killer quakes, storms and other humanitarian catastrophes.

Ah, so the Revolutionary Guards is a human rights organization!

Harry's Place has more:

The IRG (Iranian Revolutionary Guards) is a vile terrorist organisation, which exports terrorism abroad including attacks on UK soldiers in Afghanistan. It brutally oppresses the Iranian people at home including the crushing of The Green Revolution. I wouldn’t exactly call that humanitarian!

The Guards helps fund Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah-, and helped them carry out suicide bombings, car bombs, rockets and mortar attacks and much more against innocent Israelis. The IRG helped provide Hezbollah with the expertise for the killing of five Israelis and 1 Bulgarian in the Bulgarian sea resort of Burgas. Yet according to Press TV the IRG is just a poor humanitarian group targeted by the big bad West.

The IRG is a vicious terrorist organisation that is one of the major protagonists of global terrorism. The group and all its associates are awash with the blood of innocent civilians. It operates worldwide including in Europe, The USA and Asia. It simply cannot be ignored and yet that has been the policy of the UK Government and the EU in recent years. For all their harsh words against the Iranian Regime, somehow the IRG has escaped censure. It is almost as though, to the EU and UK Government, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards is invisible. Whether the EU and UK like it or not, to deal with international terrorism means dealing with its sources, whether it is Hezbollah, the Iranian Revolutionary Guards or both. One of the best ways of doing this is through cutting off the financing and support to the IRG through listing it as a terror group across the UK and EU. In doing so, the UK and the EU would be putting their words on fighting International terrorism into action.

If like me you believe we need to stand up to terrorism sign the ZF’s campaign petition on the IRG here and for further information on the IRG read this campaign briefing here.

The article also points out that the IRGC, rather than helping earthquake victims, tried to confiscate aid and arrested Red Crescent workers trying to help quake victims.

Wednesday Links Part 2

From Ian:

Opposing radical Islamist terrorism is a moral duty
Terrorism will only cease to be a threat when extremist ideology is marginalised.

Meanwhile, some are now arguing that terrorism should be accepted as a normal hazard of modern life, like traffic accidents. Others draw false comparisons between terrorist acts and the rampages of mentally ill gunmen tragically endemic in the US. These sentiments fail to acknowledge the unique characteristics and goals of terrorism. Terror attacks are perpetrated by immoral ideologues, not the mentally ill. This is true whether the terrorist is acting alone or as an operative in an organised network.
As the instigator for terrorism, radical Islamism is not the only global actor, but it is a major player, and to deny this is to deny reality.
A terror attack is intended to send a message that civilians are not safe in public places. The fear that is created by terrorism is leveraged by the indiscriminate nature of the attacks. More than an atrocity, it is an assault on the social contract underpinning society. Moreover, successful terrorist attacks tend to encourage others and touch off a savage game of one-upmanship in a drive to capture global media attention.

Daniel Pipes: Lessons from the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist List

The Federal Bureau of Investigation's list of "Ten Most Wanted" fugitives dates back to 1950 but the list of "Most Wanted Terrorists" dates back to just after 9/11 and a sense that terrorism had become a strategic threat. Today, the list includes 31 individuals, all of them male and with a single exception (Daniel Andreas San Diego, an animal rights extremist), all of them Muslim:

Brendan O'Neill: The 10 stupidest Islamic terrorists

The atrocious Boston marathon bombing was a reminder of the hurt and sorrow that can be caused by Islamic terrorists. It was also a reminder of how fantastically stupid and inept such terrorists can be. Who are the stupidest Islamic terrorists of all?

Saudis said to have warned US of Boston bombing

Saudi Arabia in 2012 sent the United States a written warning naming alleged Boston bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev as a security threat, a British newspaper reported on Wednesday.

Bolton: US Should Resign from 'Clown Convention' at UN

Bolton said that simply firing Falk, who was appointed in 2008 to a six-year term as U.N. special rapporteur on human rights in Palestinian territories, wouldn’t solve the problem.
“I’m all in favor of firing him sooner rather than later. But here’s the sad news: He will be replaced with somebody else and it won’t make a bit of difference,” Bolton said. “I think the culture at the United Nations is such that merely firing one guy will not change anything.”
Bolton said the problem is that the entire U.N. human rights mechanism is fundamentally directed against Israel, adding that more resolutions are passed dealing with Israeli human rights violations than “the rest of the world combined.”

Max Brenner exposes the haters to the light

There was a pleasingly vigorous response to recent BDS supported activity to boycott a new Max Brenner chocolate shop at UNSW. Julia Gilard was very clear in her condemnation – as reported in the Australian
“Julia Gillard has denounced the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement ahead of anti-Israeli protest action planned at the University of NSW today.
The Prime Minister said yesterday through a spokeswoman that the government had always been firm in its opposition of the BDS movement, which equates Israel with apartheid-era South Africa.

Israel ads perverted in battle for public opinion in Ireland

An advertising campaign in the Irish city of Cork urging people to visit Israel was defaced almost immediately on its unveiling by anti-Israeli activists. The ad campaign, which featured colourful images of Israeli society with the slogan “Visit Israel,” was overwritten with the slogan “Boycott Israel” and other messages critical of Israeli policy. The vandalism was clearly well organized and photos of the defacement were posted on the Internet and the Facebook page of the Cork Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

UN Watch: Tweets for Terror: Mona Seif, Nominee for 2013 Martin Ennals Human Rights Award

UN Watch today called on the jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, comprised of Amnesty, Human Rights Watch and eight other NGOs, and chaired by Hans Thoolen, to cancel its nomination of Mona Seif, an Egyptian activist who openly advocates terrorism and war crimes, as a top contender for the 2013 prize. She openly incites to violence against civilians, terrorism and war crimes:

Anti-Semite and war criminal Dr. Erik Fosse awarded commandership of the Order of St. Olav

This is the same Dr. Fosse who allowed armed combatants to take refuge at the Shifa Hospital in Gaza in the Cast Lead operation in December 2008/January 2009. At no point did he protest how the same combatants put the lives of the patients in his care in further damage, but also tolerated that acts of terror and war crimes were planned and executed from this compound.

Pope Francis Accepts Peres’s Invitation to Visit Israel

Israeli President Shimon Peres formally invited Pope Francis to visit Israel during a meeting between the two leaders at the Vatican.
Pope Francis accepted the invitation “with willingness and joy,” a Vatican spokesman said, Reuters reported.

Old Spice Ad Man Finds Hit in Israel With Maccabee Beer Commercial (VIDEO)

Isaiah Mustafa, recognizable as The Man Your Man Could Smell Like in Old Spice deodorant ads, is also making a name for himself pitching beer in Israel.

Regina Spektor coming Israel’s way

Acclaimed alternative folk singer, who can list the Obamas among her fans, to perform in August

From Iraq to Israel, for life saving heart surgery

Three Iraqi children have arrived in Israel for life-saving heart surgery and were received by representatives of the Ministry for Regional Cooperation and members of Save a Child’s Heart charity.
Although Iraq is defined as an ‘enemy state’ to Israel, the Knesset approved the entry of the three children and their mothers on humanitarian grounds.