Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, June 07, 2014

06/07 Links: J Street: Anti-Israel, Pro-Lying; Brussels Attack Claims 4th Victim

From Ian:

The liberal fringe group J Street is facing renewed questions over its purported dishonesty to journalists and editors after one of its top campus officials penned an op-ed that was so thoroughly riddled with factual errors that a leading Israeli publication was forced to delete the piece and apologize.
Jacob Plitman, the president of J Street U’s National Student Board, recently attacked several pro-Israel groups in an editorial published by the Times of Israel (TOI). However, TOI editors quickly removed the piece after at least four major factual errors were discovered, according to an explanation of the incident provided to the Washington Free Beacon by sources close to the incident.
This is not the first time that J Street has come under fire for misleading reporters and editors at major publications.

MAEL: Unpacking J Street's 'Myths and Facts' Page

J Street suffers from one major problem- an inability to tell the truth. Again and again the organization misleads both the public and its constituents on matters of policy, funding, and co-sponsorship. In its attempt to ignore the film the J Street Challenge and other critics, J Street often relies on its 'Myths and Facts' page, even claiming that "the Myths and Facts page offers a more comprehensive address of the film’s catalog of spurious allegations."
The fact that the leftist lobby group has a need for such a page should be cause for concern in itself. The Orwellian contents on the page only confirm the widespread concern that J Street misrepresents the truth. Rather than address any of the issues that J Street's critics has raised, the George Soros-funded group resorts to double-speak to "diffuse" the situation. Here are four such examples of J Street's public relations spin, with J Street's "Myths and Facts" followed by commentary:

Is the International Consensus on Jerusalem Fracturing?

If Israelis have not been willing to vocally and uncompromisingly assert their rights to their own undivided capital before the court of world opinion, then it is hardly surprising if those who don’t have much love for the Jewish state have taken this as a cue to further delegitimize Jewish rights in Jerusalem. Both the Europeans and the Obama administration insist that they are friends of Israel, but if Israelis want to know what real friends look like then they can look to Stephen Harper’s government in Canada and now to Tony Abbott’s in Australia. The decision to no longer refer to East Jerusalem as “occupied territory” is a bold and brave move that displays a degree of moral clarity that one could barely imagine coming from Obama’s State Department and certainly not from London’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
Ideally, the move by the Australians will be repeated by other governments, but if nothing else it calls into question the attitude in Europe that holds the illegality of the Israeli presence in north, south, and east Jerusalem to be an open and shut case.

Australia just made an enormous contribution to the Middle East peace process

So why has the Australian announcement advance peace, if it has angered the Palestinians?
Because the history of Middle East peace negotiations is the refusal to speak the truth to the Palestinians, and instead, to cower at false claims of illegal occupation and Apartheid. Such diplomatic cowering, evidenced by John Kerry’s futile shuttle diplomacy, simply encourages even more unreasonable and unrealistic Palestinian demands.
If peace ever is to be achieved, it will be when the Palestinians accept that they can get no more from international boycotts and pressure than they can get through direct negotiations and meaningful concessions. The Australian announcement brought that moment a little closer.
The U.S. finally moving our Embassy to Jerusalem would move the peace process even closer still.

First the Jews steal the keffiyeh, hummus and falafel. But now: Kenafa!

We've seen many times that Palestinian Arabs claim that Jews have "stolen" their culture, by eating hummus and falafel, or by wearing Jewish keffiyehs and claiming it is their own (which, actually, it might be.)

Now, Dr. Salim Nazzal says that the Jews have gone too far, by eating (and supposedly claiming) kenafa, a sweet dairy dish.

I have never heard that Jews claim this dish. Kenafa apparently originated in Egypt, although there seems to have been a variant that was centered around Nablus using their cheese.

Nazzal's complaints are hysterical:

Zionists now using a new tactic to integrate themselves in the area knowing that it excluded them. This tactic is based on the theft of Palestinian culture and claiming it for themselves, in other words they want to say that they are not invaders from overseas as it is, but Eastern people of the region. And their claim that the Kenafa sweets are Jewish is the latest thing from the mind of the Zionist Jew who lives an existential crisis and a crisis of identity, despite his military superiority. Just claiming this shows the crisis in which they live. It is a crisis of legitimacy of their presence in Palestine.

I am not seeing any Jews complaining that Palestinians love to eat matzoh. No one would be upset if Palestinian Arabs started claiming cholent or gefilte fish - it would actually be funny. It seems that the existential crisis is not from the Jewish side - we have lots of traditions from all over the world, thank you - but from the "Palestinian" side where people freak out over supposedly having their culture "stolen."

If culture can be so easily stolen, maybe it wasn't your culture to begin with.

06/06 Links Pt2: The Apartheid Libel, Demolished; AJ Journalist: Jews Should Know Their Place

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: The Apartheid Libel, Demolished

Whatever critics may think about Israel’s control of parts of the West Bank, the “apartheid” label is such a gross distortion that it can only discredit them. It is inaccurate in terms of both international law and the facts on the ground. And it raises the question of why critics of Israel use the label, despite the risk of discrediting their arguments with their rhetorical overkill.
The answer can be found in the unique international response to South Africa’s apartheid regime. Numerous countries, from Turkey to Russia to Armenia, occupy and annex territory. Numerous countries—perhaps most—are grossly undemocratic, discriminate against minorities, and deny political rights to much or all of their population. Yet only the apartheid label resulted in orchestrated international sanctions that sought to completely eliminate a specific regime. Falsely applied to Israel, the accusation is clearly not a serious criticism, but a diplomatic weapon. It is not about the reality it seeks to describe, but the reaction it seeks to elicit—in a word, BDS. For some, it serves as a scare tactic to push Israel toward dangerous concessions. For others, it is a step toward literally destroying Israel as a Jewish state. Israel has paid a very high price for avoiding anything like apartheid. Creating Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and much of the West Bank has required Israel to forcibly expel its own citizens from all of Gaza and parts of the West Bank. And it has subjected Israel to an unprecedented terrorist war coordinated by the PA, as well as ongoing rocket attacks from Gaza. Yet the international community continues to perpetuate the libel of the apartheid accusation. This indifference to the price in lives and security Israel has paid seems to suggest a stark truth: Whatever Israel does, it can never be safe from such diplomatic demagoguery.

The Anti-Zionism of J Street

The biggest problem with the controversial group isn’t its bullying, mischaracterization of opponents, outrageous lobbying positions, or childish huffing and puffing. It’s their implicit rejection of everything Zionism stands for.
Why does the Zionist movement still exist, while the Women’s Suffrage movement has been gone for nearly a century?
Both movements were founded and led by utopian visionaries whose dreams were initially decried—both inside and outside their circles—as unrealistic, if not dangerous to their group’s well-being. Both based their claims on liberalism, dignity, and human rights. And, most importantly, both movements succeeded in their goals. The Jewish people now have a sovereign state of their own, while women have the right to vote in almost every country on earth.
It seems, then, that the questions of women’s right to vote and the Jewish people’s right to a state are both answered. The debates ought to be over. No one would seriously suggest that after nearly a century, women should now be disenfranchised. Similarly, the 66-year existence of a Jewish state is an immutable and irreversible fact, and no mainstream figure is arguing for its abolition. So why, and why now, is the American Jewish community undergoing such a storm of conflict and recrimination over the issue of Israel?

Cleveland Unites over Anti-Semitic murals

Anita Gray, regional director of the ADL has described the paintings as "highly offensive and anti-Semitic." adding "We are appalled by the intolerance and bigotry these signs convey...The owner of this establishment has the right to have it decorated as he chooses, but we urge fellow members of the community to join us in saying, loudly and clearly, that such hate is not welcome here, and we categorically reject it."
The owner of the gas station/grocery store Brahim "Abe" Ayad Ayad was born in the United States but is of Palestinian descent. Expect JVP to express its outrage at the Zionist lobby attempting to stiffle Palestinian activism in 3, 2, 1.....

Mayor calls for graphic mural to be taken down at Biggies gas station

Teen tour says Haifa is part of "Palestine"

"Go Palestine" is "A Summer Experience for Diaspora Palestinian Youth and Friends (Age 14-17)."

The brainwashing starts early:

We look forward to welcoming our campers here in their homeland and to helping them explore as much of Palestine as possible. Go Palestine is planning trips not only throughout Ramallah but to other cities as well such as Bethlehem, Jerusalem, Nablus, and Haifa. For instance, campers swim in the Mediterranean Sea and absorb the breathtaking view of Palestine’s hills as they hike across the West Bank. Visits to olive groves and villages such as Birzeit and Taybeh, in addition to volunteer work in the refugee camps, will give a full picture of life in Palestine.

Last year's trip included this on its blog:

We visited a small Palestinian village, and compared its dry environment to the lush, green settlements who redirect water from Palestinian wells to their settlements and farms.

This is of course a lie; Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria get their water from Israel and from well built just for them, nothing from Palestinian Arab wells. Also, the Palestinian Arabs have not been using all the water they are allowed to under existing agreements, and waste a huge amount of that they do use.

Somehow, the campers in this land where Israel steals all the water still manage to enjoy swimming in Ramallah. Because brainwashing kids visiting is a much higher priority than efficiently bringing water to farms.

(h/t Russell)

From the MLA:

Resolution 2014-1 (see text below) was not ratified by the membership and therefore does not represent a position taken by the MLA. Resolutions forwarded to the membership must be ratified by a majority vote in which the number of those voting for ratification equals at least ten percent of the association’s membership, which was 2,390 votes this year. There were 1,560 votes in favor of ratification and 1,063 votes against ratification. The vote therefore fell short of ratification by 830 votes.

Even so, of the people who voted, far more voted for the resolution.

A couple of week ago an internal MLA mailing list was leaked showing that some of the Israel-haters pushing the resolution were also antisemites.

Academia is in sad shape.

(h/t StandWithUs)

06/06 Links Pt1: FM lauds Australia for dropping 'occupied' Jerusalem label; False Palestinian Unity

From Ian:

Miffed by Palestinian criticism, Aussies boost pro-Israel stance

“The Palestinians handled this very badly. Such disagreements are usually handled in private,” the senior Australian source said, adding that the Palestinians’ behavior partially led to Canberra’s announcement this week to no longer refer to East Jerusalem as “occupied.” “Erekat’s letter was quite personal and does not reflect the way senior officials would usually write to each other. Apparently, they don’t put much stock in their relationship with Australia, and don’t really have appreciation for our financial support.”
Canberra also has not welcomed the establishment of the new Palestinian unity government, which is backed by Hamas – as the UN, the EU, and many countries have – but also has not severed ties with the PA, as Jerusalem would have liked. Aid will continue to flow to the new government, and Australian officials traveling to the region will continue to visit their counterparts in Ramallah. At the same time, Australia does not bar officials from meeting Israeli officials in East Jerusalem, as opposed to most other countries. (h/t Yoel)

FM lauds Australia for dropping 'occupied' Jerusalem label

Lieberman lauded Brandis' stance as a "serious approach to the issue," adding that the former's remarks were "free of populism or efforts to kiss up to extreme Islamists, who terrorize anyone who dares tell the truth about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."
"The territories [in question] have been part of Jewish history for thousands of years and were never a part of any Palestinian state, which never actually existed," Lieberman went on to say.
Lieberman concluded with the hope that "additional countries will find the integrity and courage shown by the government of Australia."

It's time to stop apologizing

Judea and Samaria are not Palestinian land; at the very most there is debate about them. We also demand full ownership of them. Our historic, legal, and religious rights to them are greater than those of Saeb Erekat and Abbas.
The fight to legitimize our hold on the land of our life depends to a large degree on our determined activity and a righteous stance. The government in Australia changed, and along with it the definition of construction in east Jerusalem. It is no longer "occupied territory" but Israeli territory, the Jewish people's only homeland.

Caroline Glick: Ending Abbas’s winning streak

The fact is that Israel has gotten nothing from playing along with American coddling of Abbas. It receives less support from Obama every day. And its willingness to go along to get along has demoralized and angered the Republicans who oppose what Obama is doing. It has given cover to Democrats who are loath to oppose the White House.
The time has come for Israel to stop playing this game, where the PLO gets to materially breach its agreements and so render them effectively null and void, while Israel, the sucker, keeps upholding them.
The time has come for Israel to stop collecting tax revenues for the PA. All of the money Israel collects and transfers to the PA is now serving Hamas directly.
And it isn’t enough to keep collecting, but stop transferring the revenues. The monies always end up being transferred eventually.
The only way to end this is by actually ceasing to serve as the PA’s taxman.
Obama won’t like it. But what’s he going to do? Facilitate Iran’s nuclear weapons program? Blame Israel for Palestinian aggression against it? Recognize and fund Hamas? The only way to get off this train is to get off. And disembarking is also the only way to impact US behavior. No single act by Israel will do more to empower the US Congress to stop funding the Palestinians than that.
And once that happens, a virtuous circle is formed, where at a minimum, Abbas’s winning streak will end.

Arab paper bemoans Church no longer blaming Jews for killing Jesus

A writer for Cairo Portal is upset at Pope Francis' visit to Herzl's grave and the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum, but that is just the start.

This act is a grubby, ugly shame, especially compared to the position of Pope Pius X, at a meeting with Herzl in 1904, and his refusal to strictly to create a state for the Jews, saying his famous statement: "we can not," calling Jews at the same time to convert to Christianity!

After 110, what he's done is a flagrant shame, and it reveals and condemns the attitude of the Catholic Church: the Church deviates from the plan, and does not stop making concessions to the Zionists, at the expense of their faith and beliefs, especially over the past sixty years. The doctrinal starting point for this blatant act goes back to Vatican II (1962-1965), especially to the document "Nostra Aetate" that cleared the Jews of Christ's blood ... and put an end to the prophecy of Jesus about the demolition of the temple and the demolition of corrupt and hateful character of Judaism!

The Vatican II represents an ugly gap can not be bridged in the long history of the Catholic Church, that overthrew-its text and beliefs and heritage in order to exonerate the Jews of the blood of Christ; note that the sentences against the [Jews] are still currently in circulation in the Gospels. Therefore, this institution has lost any credibility with followers....

A final shame: to see the Vatican bend to the wishes of the Zionist Protocols and visit the Wailing Wall, which originally and historically is the Muslim Buraq wall, and put a bouquet of flowers on the grave of Herzl and visit Yad Vashem, the memorial place of the Holocaust..I add that the words "the ugliness of the Holocaust" does not represent anything, does not represent anything at all compared to the murder of an entire people.

In related news, the PA's official schoolbooks for Christian children also say that the Jews were responsible for Jesus' death.

Commenter Irony Dome wrote this brilliant musical spoof of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. I made slight changes and added a stanza, (and then another one by special request.) And then Irony Dome added another!

We're JebuCanaanPhilistAmalekNatufistinians
A special bunch of ancient Arabs, not some common Libyans
We're older than Cro-Magnon man and anything that's simian
We're JebuCanaanPhilistAmalekNatufistinians!

Israelis say, or so they claim
That they were here before us
But now we'll put them all to shame
With this, our mighty chorus
We'll tell them how they've got it wrong
And leave them feeling bluish
We'll tell them how we go back long
Before anything was Jewish!

JebuCanaanPhilistAmalekNatufistinians
Pretending we're aboriginal American Indians
We're older than Cro-Magnon man and anything that's simian
We're JebuCanaanPhilistAmalekNatufistinians!

The Neanderthals would grunt at us
'Cause they were clearly mad
That we were here before them
And this made them very sad
We saw the dinosaurs decline
When that rock hit with a clang
We saw the seas start to align
And remember the Big Bang!

JebuCanaanPhilistAmalekNatufistinians
Our history is so lengthy its almost Darwinian
We're older than Cro-Magnon man and anything that's simian
We're JebuCanaanPhilistAmalekNatufistinians!

We tell you all that we are as old as all the ancient geysers
We hope you don't notice that Arabs have been colonizers
Our ancient roots within this land cannot stand any scrutiny
But the world will believe anything - just look at our new "unity"

[chorus]

Our name, we know, it's long and tough
And sounds somewhat atrocious
But if we say it loud enough
They'll never know it's bogus
Where are we from, we do not know
We can't make up our minds
So we just mention settlements
And the rest is left behind!

[chorus]

We can claim with a straight face our people include Jesus
Solomon, Moses and anyone else who would please us
Our history's so flexible that we can't really lose
As long as no one reminds us that those people were Jews

[chorus]

White House ignores fact that "unity" government violates existing agreements

From the WSJ:

The question is whether the U.S. government will continue to fund the PA now that Mr. Abbas has cast his lot with a State Department-designated foreign terrorist organization. U.S. law prohibits dispensing taxpayer money to any Palestinian entity over which Hamas exercises “undue influence.”

Previous attempts at reconciliation had failed in large part because Hamas had refused to subsume its armed wing to the PA. This time Mr. Abbas acquiesced to a partnership with a heavily armed terrorist group. The resulting relationship will likely resemble the one next door between the Lebanese government, with its negligible regular army, and the Shiite terror group Hezbollah, which like Hamas boasts an arsenal of Iranian-supplied missiles.

To hew as close as possible to the letter of U.S. law, the architects of the Hamas-backed interim government have assembled a cabinet of old PA holdovers and technocrats from Gaza with no obvious links to Hamas. The maneuver was good enough for the Obama State Department. “At this point, it appears that President Abbas has formed an interim technocratic government that does not include ministers affiliated with Hamas,” spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters earlier this week. “Moving forward, we will be judging this government by its actions.”

But that still leaves open the question of the PA’s treaty obligations. The Oslo Accords and its progeny, including the 1998 Wye Memorandum, set very clear limits on the extent and potency of the PA arsenal. Under the Wye Memorandum, for example, the PA is required to “establish and vigorously and continuously implement a systematic program for the collection and appropriate handling of” illegal weapons.

Nobody should count on the aging and calculating Mr. Abbas to exercise meaningful control over Hamas’s arsenal, much less its behavior. And nobody should count on the Obama Administration to apply meaningful penalties to the PA for joining forces with Hamas and flouting its obligations toward Israel. That leaves Congress, which can block funding to the Palestinians until they prove capable of governing themselves as something other than a terrorist enterprise.

Hamas' maintaining its terror wing, the Al Qassam Brigades, is only one of the violations of existing accords that are being flouted by this "unity government." Here is the text of the Wye Memorandum of 1998 showing that all three of the PA's obligations are being explicitly violated:

1. Outlawing and Combating Terrorist Organizations

The Palestinian side will make known its policy of zero tolerance for terror and violence against both sides.

A work plan developed by the Palestinian side will be shared with the U.S. and thereafter implementation will begin immediately to ensure the systematic and effective combat of terrorist organizations and their infrastructure.

In addition to the bilateral Israeli-Palestinian security cooperation, a U.S.-Palestinian committee will meet biweekly to review the steps being taken to eliminate terrorist cells and the support structure that plans, finances, supplies and abets terror. In these meetings, the Palestinian side will inform the U.S. fully of the actions it has taken to outlaw all organizations (or wings of organizations, as appropriate) of a military, terrorist or violent character and their support structure and to prevent them from operating in areas under its jurisdiction.

The Palestinian side will apprehend the specific individuals suspected of perpetrating acts of violence and terror for the purpose of further investigation, and prosecution and punishment of all persons involved in acts of violence and terror.

A U.S.-Palestinian committee will meet to review and evaluate information pertinent to the decisions on prosecution, punishment or other legal measures which affect the status of individuals suspected of abetting or perpetrating acts of violence and terror.

2. Prohibiting Illegal Weapons

The Palestinian side will ensure an effective legal framework is in place to criminalize, in conformity with the prior agreements, any importation, manufacturing or unlicensed sale, acquisition or possession of firearms, ammunition or weapons in areas under Palestinian jurisdiction.

In addition, the Palestinian side will establish and vigorously and continuously implement a systematic program for the collection and appropriate handling of all such illegal items in accordance with the prior agreements. The U.S. has agreed to assist in carrying out this program.

A U.S.-Palestinian-Israeli committee will be established to assist and enhance cooperation in preventing the smuggling or other unauthorized introduction of weapons or explosive materials into areas under Palestinian jurisdiction.

3. Preventing Incitement

Drawing on relevant international practice and pursuant to Article XXII (1) of the Interim Agreement and the Note for the Record, the Palestinian side will issue a decree prohibiting all forms of incitement to violence or terror, and establishing mechanisms for acting systematically against all expressions or threats of violence or terror. This decree will be comparable to the existing Israeli legislation which deals with the same subject.

A U.S.- Palestinian-Israeli committee will meet on a regular basis to monitor cases of possible incitement to violence or terror and to make recommendations and reports on how to prevent such incitement. The Israeli, Palestinian and U.S. sides will each appoint a media specialist, a law enforcement representative, an educational specialist and a current or former elected official to the committee.:

Armed terrorists in the WB before "unity"

Not only is allowing Hamas to maintain its own terror wing a violation of these accords (as has been the allowance of Fatah's Al Aqsa Brigades,) but also the PA must now act to make Islamic Jihad and other armed terrorist groups illegal.

Yet even before this agreement the PA has allowed armed groups to roam around the West Bank, in explicit violation of these signed agreements.

And the White House and State Department allowed that without a peep.

As I've noted before, there is no difference between Hamas and Fatah - both maintain armed terror wings in violation of agreements. The only difference is that Fatah lies about it.

The "unity agreement" makes it harder for the Obama administration to publicly ignore its role in allowing the PLO to steamroll its commitments, but make no mistake - it knows quite well about these violations and has willfully ignored them for years. The :unity government" just adds a new layer of illegality over Washington's existing willful blindness and coddling of the PLO.

Will Congress step in and uphold US law?

(h/t TIP)

Chag sameach!

The holiday of Shavuot, the ultimate joke for lactose intolerant Jews, is upon us.

I will not be blogging until Thursday night or Friday morning.

Have a great holiday!

06/03 Links Pt2: BDS and the Myth of Economic Pressure; The Return of Christian Anti-Semitism

From Ian:

BDS and the Myth of Economic Pressure

The BDS movement is based on a single uber-myth – that economic and political pressure forced apartheid South Africa to fall. And if it can bring down South Africa, it can bring down Israel as well.
It’s a myth, however, because it’s simply not true.
According to research conducted by Ivo Welch, boycotts, divestments, and sanctions had virtually no impact on South Africa. “Individual divestments, either as economic or symbolic pressure, have never succeeded in getting companies or countries to change,” he wrote in the New York Times.
Referring to an initiative at Stanford University to force the administration to divest from coal-mining companies, Welch pointed out that the South Africa model cannot serve as an example for success.

Melanie Phillips: 'Jesus Was a Palestinian': The Return of Christian Anti-Semitism

These malevolent concepts, spreading from Palestinian Christians to churches in the West, are rooted in an audacious strategy adopted by the Palestinian Authority to deny Israel’s right to exist by changing Jewish history to suit its own end. Part of this strategy involves denying that Jesus was a Jew from Judea and turning him into a Palestinian who preached Islam.
Clearly, this is a tall order: Rome didn’t change the name of Judea to Palestine until 136 C.E., and Islam first surfaced in the seventh century C.E. Nevertheless, the Palestinian leadership repeatedly claims that Jesus was a Palestinian.
In his Christmas message last year, the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, described Jesus as a “Palestinian messenger.” In the same month, the PA’s chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, who had described Jesus as “Palestine’s first martyr,” said that Jesus was “the first Palestinian after the Canaanite Palestinians.”

The UNRWA "Peace Ambassador" Who Sings For Terror

Mohammed Assaf, the 24 year old UNRWA resident who won the Arab Idol song competition, has become an overnight and worldwide sensation.
His victory song was entitled “Raise Your Keffiyah”, a PLO anthem and a favorite of Yasser Arafat (before whom he had performed ), and included such incendiary lyrics as “Most precious homeland, O Palestine, how dear it is, oh Arabs...when we were united the stone was very strong...the full moon rises on martyr (sic) may he rest his soul...”
The song has reverberated with UNRWA and the UN, as the former appointed Assaf their first ever “Regional Youth Ambassador for Palestine Refugees” and “Goodwill Ambassador For Peace”. PA President and Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas called upon Palestinian Arabs to support Assaf in his bid to win the Arab Idol contest and welcomed him as a hero after his victory, hosting him at PA headquarters in Ramallah and designating him an “honorary ambassador”.

So moderate! Iranian TV partially admits Holocaust, says Jews to blame

From MEMRI:

Following are excerpts from an interview with Palestinian-Lebanese researcher Walid Muhammad Ali, which aired on Al-Alam TV on April, 28, 2014:

Walid Muhammad Ali: It is imperative that we uncover the truth about the Zionist movement's role in the crime [of the Holocaust], which was perpetrated against the Jews, as well as against the Gypsies and many other European minorities.

Interviewer: Are you referring to the doubts over the extent of what occurred?

Walid Muhammad Ali: Indeed, this is a matter of research, yet it is considered taboo in the West, because, obviously, the figures are inflated. On principle, we condemn the killing of even a single person, let alone the killing of thousands or millions. But we must expose the way that the Zionist movement has extorted the entire world, particularly the German people, and at the Palestinian people's expense.

[…]

The Nazis perpetrated the Holocaust in collaboration with the Zionist movement.
[…]

Under their agreement, the Zionist movement was meant to help the Nazis to shatter the European and international embargo against them, and in return, the Zionist movement would help expel all the Jews from Germany. The Zionist movement helped run the Nazi camps, and helped guard the convoys of Jews, who were sent to the concentration camps and to the prisons, where the Holocaust took place. In exchange for the Zionist movement's help in breaking the economic embargo the Nazi movement would help the Zionist movement transfer the Jewish funds and Jewish youth to Palestine.

See? They aren't all Holocaust deniers! They are more than willing to admit that Jews were responsible for anything bad that may or may not have happened.

They are so moderate!

PalArab history 101

I saw this poster going around cyberspace, and it is classic:

(h/t SwissYankee)

Arabs upset at French-Israeli singer on The Voice performing in Lebanon

Amir Haddad is a dual French-Israeli citizen who has reached the quarter-finals of the French version of The Voice:

In July, the top eight singers will perform in Fouad Chehab Stadium in Jounieh, Lebanon.

You can predict what happens next.

Al Manar, which is associated with Hezbollah, published a plea to not allow Haddad to "desecrate" Lebanon with his presence.

The article says that he was a soldier in the IDF, and sarcastically adds, "As you know, the service in the army is one of the necessities of beautiful music and peace among human beings ... especially between Israelis on the one hand, and the Palestinians and the Lebanese on the other hand!"

Anyway, this will be an interesting test to see whether the producers cave to Islamic fundamentalists who cannot stomach the idea of an Israeli stepping foot in Arab land - because of their concern for human rights, you know.

06/03 Links Pt1: Palestinian Leaders Don't Want an Independent State; Israel boycotts new PUG

From Ian:

Efraim Karsh: Palestinian Leaders Don't Want an Independent State

For nearly a century, Palestinian leaders have missed no opportunity to impede the development of Palestinian civil society and the attainment of Palestinian statehood. Had Hajj Amin Husseini chosen to lead his constituents to peace and reconciliation with their Jewish neighbors, the Palestinians would have had their independent state over a substantial part of mandate Palestine by 1948, if not a decade earlier, and would have been spared the traumatic experience of dispersal and exile. Had Arafat set the PLO from the start on the path to peace and reconciliation instead of turning it into one of the most murderous and corrupt terrorist organizations in modern times, a Palestinian state could have been established in the late 1960s or the early 1970s; in 1979, as a corollary to the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty; by May 1999, as part of the Oslo process; or at the very latest, with the Camp David summit of July 2000. Had Abbas abandoned his predecessors' rejectionist path, a Palestinian state could have been established after the Annapolis summit of November 2007, or during President Obama's first term after Benjamin Netanyahu broke with the longstanding Likud precept by publicly accepting in June 2009 the two-state solution and agreeing to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
But then, the attainment of statehood would have shattered Palestinian leaders' pan-Arab and Islamist delusions, not to mention the kleptocratic paradise established on the backs of their long suffering subjects. It would have transformed the Palestinians in one fell swoop from the world's ultimate victim into an ordinary (and most likely failing) nation-state thus terminating decades of unprecedented international indulgence. It would have also driven the final nail in the PLO's false pretense to be "the sole representative of the Palestinian people" (already dealt a devastating blow by Hamas's 2006 electoral rout) and would have forced any governing authority to abide, for the first time in Palestinian history, by the principles of accountability and transparency. Small wonder, therefore, that whenever confronted with an international or Israeli offer of statehood, Palestinian leaders would never take "yes" for an answer. (h/t Bob Knot)

12 ways the US administration has failed its ally Israel

What was saddest about Washington’s insistence on accepting Abbas’s paper-thin veneer over his government’s new nature — his “technocrat” ministers were all approved by Hamas — is that it represents only the Obama administration’s latest abrogation of leadership, logic and leverage at Israel’s expense. Rather than rushing to embrace a Palestinian government in which an unreformed Hamas is a central component, what was to stop the US conditioning its acceptance on a reform of Hamas? What was to stop Washington saying that it would be happy to work with Abbas’s new government, the moment its Hamas backers recognized Israel, accepted previous agreements and renounced terrorism? Not a particularly high bar. What was to stop the US making such a demand, one of tremendous importance to its ally Israel? Only its incomprehensible reluctance to do.
Unfortunately, however, such lapses and failures are not the exception when it comes to the US-Israel alliance of late. This administration has worked closely with Israel in ensuring the Jewish state maintains its vital military advantage in this treacherous neighborhood, partnering Israel in offensive and defensive initiatives, notably including missile defense. It has stood by Israel at diplomatic moments of truth. It has broadly demonstrated its friendship, as would be expected given America’s interest in promoting the well-being of the region’s sole, stable, dependable democracy. But the dash to recognize the Fatah-Hamas government was one more in a series of aberrations — words and deeds that would have been far better left unsaid or undone, misconceived strategies, minor betrayals.

Khaled Abu Toameh: Fatah Leaders: Abbas Is A Dictator

The unprecedented verbal attacks on Abbas reflect the deepening crisis in Fatah. Dahlan and the five senior Fatah officials who were expelled by Abbas enjoy widespread support among Palestinians, particularly in the Gaza Strip. And it is obvious that Dahlan and his loyalists do not intend this time to let Abbas get away with his controversial decision.
The renewed tensions in Fatah came as Abbas announced that he has instructed the new unity government to prepare for long overdue presidential and parliamentary elections. He said he is hoping that the elections will be held within six months and that he wants Hamas to participate in the vote, as was the situation in January 2006.
In the wake of the infighting in Fatah, Hamas's chances of winning the elections, when and if they are held, do not seem to be bad at all. In 2006, Fatah lost the parliamentary election due to internal squabbling and tensions, as well as financial and administrative corruption. Eight years later, Fatah appears to be suffering from the same problems and is likely to be defeated once again at the ballot box.