Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, November 17, 2014

In front of the UN, Jordan's king violates peace treaty with Israel

From King Abdullah II's speech at the UN last September:

And Jordan strongly opposes threats to Jerusalem's Arab Muslim and Christian identity. And as Hashemite custodian of Jerusalem's Muslim and Chriistian holy sites, I will to oppose any violation of Al Aqsa Mosque's sanctity.

Abdullah is making things up, and he is also violating the peace agreement between Israel and Jordan, in this short video clip.

We've already looked at Abdullah's claims to be the custodian of Muslim holy places. It is false. The agreement between Israel and Jordan states "Israel respects the present special role of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in Muslim Holy shrines in Jerusalem. When negotiations on the permanent status will take place, Israel will give high priority to the Jordanian historic role in these shrines." If Israel is the party assigning priorities to Jordan's role, that means that Israel can override them.

In this speech, Abdullah claims not only that he is custodian of Muslim holy sites, but of Christian holy sites as well! That is not mentioned at all in the Israel-Jordan peace agreement nor in the Washington Declaration that it refers to.

Abdullah's statement is even more outrageous, because it directly violates both the previous and the following paragraphs of the agreement:

Each party will provide freedom of access to places of religious and historical significance.

Jordan's king is saying here that the very presence of Jews on their holiest site is considered a 'desecration" - meaning that he is coming out against freedom of access to the Temple Mount in violation of the agreement.

The Parties will act together to promote interfaith relations among the three monotheistic religions, with the aim of working towards religious understanding, moral commitment, freedom of religious worship, and tolerance and peace.

Abdullah does not even acknowledge that Jerusalem has any Jewish significance, only claiming it has an "Arab Muslim and Christian identity." Hence he is violating this clause of the agreement to promote interfaith relations with Judaism, against freedom of religious worship and against tolerance and peace.

Jordan's king explicitly violated a number of clauses of his peace agreement with Israel to the entire world, in front of the United Nations. And no one blinked an eye.

(h't Irene)

Fake civilian of the day

Islamic Jihad just released a fawning obituary of Eyad Radi Abu Raida, a mujahid killed in Khuza'a east of Khan Younis.

Notice in the second photo Abu Raida is playing with his weapon in a mosque. This photo was taken in September 2013, not during wartime, in case anyone doubts how Gaza terrorists use mosques.

There was also a seemingly privately made video honoring him released last month.

The Palestinian Center for Human Rights called Abu Raida a "civilian."

As in the past, terror groups are still releasing names of their "martyrs" months after they were killed, as one of the goals of the war was to maximize the number of seeming civilians killed. Now that the meme of "vast majority of those killed were civilians" has been accepted as fact, the organizations can be more up front about their casualties, but only one at a tie.

Despite getting huge amounts of Western aid, nearly 1 in 4 Palestinian Arabs support ISIL

Here are the results of a survey from the Doha-based Arab Center for Research and Policy Studies, in answer to the question, "In general, do you have a positive or negative view of ISIL?"

24% of Palestinian Arabs answered that they thought positively about ISIL, significantly higher than Syrian refugees and Tunisians tied for second place with 13%,

In previous polls we've seen that Palestinian Arabs have been consistently more sympathetic to Al Qaeda, to the Taliban and to suicide bombing than any other groups in the Middle East,

This is after billions of dollars of Western aid having been poured into the coffers of the PA, and hundreds of millions more being spent in the territories by Western NGOs that espouse universal human rights. Keep in mind that Palestinian Arabs receive far more humanitarian aid per capita than any other people on Earth.

The huge amounts of money spent on Palestinian Arabs by Westerners who are interested in creating a peace plan has not moderated the recipients - on the contrary, they are more radical by far than any other Arab people. (Pakistanis are in some ways more radical.) All the NGO programs meant to teach peace and tolerance have utterly and completely failed.

At what point do Western governments and NGOs look at the survey numbers and start to realize that perhaps, just perhaps, the cause and effect relationship is the exact opposite of what they intended? Perhaps some government should free up a few hundred thousand dollars from a program to coordinate other programs to teach Palestinians how to raise livestock and instead take their own survey to see how Palestinian Arab attitudes towards terrorism are being affected by the many "peace" programs being lavishly funded?

Could be that the influx of Western cash breeds contempt rather than appreciation? The evidence certainly seems to support that conclusion. Palestinian Arabs are not the most oppressed people in the Middle East; they aren't under as crushing a regime as many other Arabs are; they aren't as poor or hungry or needy. The one objective criterion that they are heads and shoulders above all other Arab peoples is that they get way, way more aid. And the surveys show that they are way, way more supportive of radical Islamic terror.

There seems to be a connection. And there seems to be enough money sloshing around so western NGOs can test this hypothesis.

Unless they have ulterior motives that would make them not want to know the truth.

(h/t MtTB)

An Israeli MK visits the Temple Mount, yet Muslims are happy

Usually, when Israeli members of Knesset visit the Temple Mount, it causes an international incident. No matter how respectful they are, no matter of their entire tour is silent, it causes screaming headlines in the Arab world and even in the mainstream media.

But yesterday am Israeli MK ignored calls from the government for calm, visited the Mount, made provocative statements, and yet caused no controversy in the Arab world.

Because this MK is Muslim.

Despite calls to calm tensions in Jerusalem and at the Temple Mount, Arab MK Ahmed Tibi (UAL-Ta'al) arrived at al-Aqsa mosque over the weekend delcaring: "We own this place."

He was received favorably by Muslim worshippers who told him he was "better than all the Arab leaders in the world."

Tibi was treated like a hero on his visit to the holy site. Worshippers told Tibi he was a great Arab leader "because of your strong positions." He has visited the site several times during the recent period of tension.

Tibi visited the European Parliament two weeks ago in order to express what he said were Israeli violations at al-Aqsa mosque.

He claimed that some Israeli politicians were "pyromaniacs that cannot be restrained" and said that "they inflame the situation in Jerusalem without thinking about the consequences."

Two weeks ago, Tibi said "Jews are not allowed to pray at Al-Aqsa because this is a place of worship for Muslims. While this is a 70-dunam site, every single meter is holy to Islam."

Then, as now, there were no infuriated Westerners aghast at this insult to Jews and Judaism, no one calling on him to act with restraint, no one saying that he was inciting violence.

The rules are different for Arabs and Jews. Not for Israelis and non-Israelis, not Zionists and anti-Zionists - but between Arabs and Jews.

"Flag of Palestine" graphic going viral

This story from Factual Israel has been making the rounds:

This a Larousse French dictionary from 1939. In the appendix it lists all the then current flags of the world in alphabetical order. You’ll notice that for Germany at that time the flag was the Nazi one replete with Zwastika which proves that this was pre-1945 ( before 1945) ! .

Now, alphabetically, look for the Palestinian Flag. YES , there is one. What does it look like? Surprised? Oh, but you thought (Mandate Jewish) Palestine was an Islamic Arab-Turkish-, Circassian Sovereign State that the bad Jews took over , right?

I posted this graphic on Twitter and it has been retweeted over 200 times so far:

Now, that was not really the official flag of Palestine during the British Mandate. This was:

But it looks like a few Zionist flags were accepted quasi-officially as flags of Palestine as the entire world associated Palestine with Jews.

11/16 Links: PA and Fatah call for "blood" in Jerusalem and glorify terrorist murderers

From Ian:

Netanyahu accuses Abbas of violating pledge to calm tensions in Jerusalem

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas must halt his anti-Israel propaganda, so that calm can be restored to Jerusalem, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet on Sunday during its weekly meeting.
“Abbas must stop the incitement that leads to violence,” Netanyahu said, explaining that the PA’s official media had called for a day of rage on Friday.
It’s an act, he said that violates the pledge that Abbas made just one day earlier in Amman to take immediate steps to restore calm to Jerusalem.
"On Thursday I met in Amman with King Abdullah and US Secretary of State John Kerry. We called for the restoration of calm and quiet as well as an end to incitement and violence. I said there that you can not stop the violence if you do not stop the incitement that leads to violence,” Netanyahu said.
Propaganda by radical Islamists and the PA is one of the roots of the militant passion against Israel, Netanyahu said.

Blood libel

The "Al-Aqsa is in danger" blood libel and the false stories of Israeli plans to allow Jewish worship on Temple Mount are the fuel propelling this latest wave of violence and terrorism. This is the view of the Shin Bet and Police, and is also plainly evident to those who have monitored the situation closely.
Mahmoud al-Habash, the Palestinian minister of religious affairs, has in recent years taken an active part in spreading this lie. Two weeks ago he promised that "when Jerusalem will be the capital of Palestine, the Jews will be permitted to ascend the Temple Mount as guests."
Earlier this year, though, Habash did his best to lend credence to the lie. "There are systematic plans, gradual plans prepared by Israel, and the Israeli government supports this and the Israeli army defends it, and its goal … is not dividing the Al-Aqsa mosque. … The goal is to remove the Al-Aqsa mosque … as a final goal."
Israel's problem is that this lie, which is rooted in religious sermons, has now taken on clear political and nationalistic connotations, which in turn allows it to burrow into the hearts of the Muslim masses around the world, including the Arabs of east Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and Israel proper. Many people there believe wholeheartedly that Al-Aqsa is indeed in danger, and that the State of Israel is indeed acting to destroy the mosques. (h/t Bob Knot)

PA and Fatah call for "blood" in Jerusalem and glorify terrorist murderers

The Palestinian terrorists who have killed several Israelis during the last few weeks in Jerusalem are being presented as heroes by both the Palestinian Authority and Fatah.
On official PA TV, Fatah official Muhammad Al-Biqa'i from Lebanon sent blessings of "praise and esteem" to Al-Shaloudi (terrorist who killed 2), Mutaz (terrorist who attempted to murder Rabbi Yehuda Glick) and Ibrahim Al-Akari (terrorist who killed 2). He then honored the murderers for heeding the call that "Jerusalem needs blood to purify itself of Jews":

Fatah glorifies 8 suicide bombers and hijacker Dalal Mughrabi

Fatah and PA TV honor Dalal Mughrabi, terrorist who led attack killing 37

"It is Palestinian land and Zionists are squatting on it."

We will never get through to most western liberals with our arguments because not only are hard-line anti-Zionists immune to reason, we're not even making the right arguments for the center.

We all understand that there is a radical vocal element, primarily on the left in the west, that is entirely irrational on this topic and who will despise Israel no matter what it does or fails to do. Those people cannot be reached. It does not matter how many times Israelis zoom into Haiti to save lives, people like, say, "Lefty Coaster" on Daily Kos will always-and-forever despise the Jewish people and, thus, despise the Jewish State of Israel.

I am less worried about people like him, I think, than in the political ideological middle. It is the well-meaning center that concerns me. Your average American liberal Democrat. This is a demographic that is highly significant in the American context and anti-Semitic anti-Zionists have been gnawing on them for many years, now.

For the moment, liberal Democrats are maybe 50 / 50 in favorability on Israel and those numbers are probably eroding.

If there is a segment of American society that can be reached via reason, however, this is the segment. Liberal Democrats in the United States traditionally prided themselves on their capacity for reason, even in politics, so let's give it a whirl.

In a recent video of Caroline Glick discussing her book The Israeli Solution she made the following argument, among others, and it is an argument that goes right to the core of Jewish relations with the liberal west.

What she said was this and I paraphrase:

We look at liberal Democrats (or western progressives, more generally) and we think, "Gee, there is no more liberal and progressive country in that entire part of the world than Israel." And then we wonder how it is, therefore, that Israel does not have much support among western progressives? On the contrary, western progressives are far more suspicious of Israel than are their conservative counterparts.

How can this be? Progressives are pro-feminism and Israel has the best feminist record, by a long shot, than any country in the entire region, if not the world!

It does not matter, you stole their land.
Yes and let's talk about Nobel Prize winners in science and medicine, shall we? Did you know that Israel has done more, in a shorter period of time, to advance scientific and medical knowledge than any other country in human history?

It does not matter, you stole their land.
And ethics in war? Anti-Semites spread the blood libel by suggesting that the IDF specifically targets civilians, particularly children - as Lefty Coaster does in the link above - but the fact of the matter is that the Israeli military forces do more to avoid civilian casualties than any army in the history of warfare.

It does not matter, you stole their land.
Alright. Alright. Let's talk about who is inclusive and liberal and who is exclusive and authoritarian. The Palestinian-Arabs want absolutely nothing to do with Jews. Period. The Arab-Muslim State of Palestine needs to be entirely Judenrein. The very idea of Jews living in Judea is an abomination. Meanwhile, in Israel about 20 percent of the population is Arab and Muslim. They have greater civil liberties than do Arabs and Muslims anywhere else within the entire Middle East and elect their people to the Knesset.

It does not matter, you stole their land.
You get the idea and Glick is absolutely correct.

If even we agree with the reality of a concept known as "The Occupation of Palestine" then we have no case. Period. End of story.

If Israel is occupying "Palestinian" land then we should just pack it up and go home, because there is no argument to be made. If the truth is - as the Palestinian-Arabs claim and as their western-left supporters agree - that white European Jews marched onto Jewish land and snatched that land from the indigenous Arab population then history should bear this out.

Thankfully, history tells us a very different story.

The eastern coast of the Mediterranean has no more indigenous people than the Jewish people. We were there thousands of years prior to the Arab conquests. We were there, in no particular order, before the Romans or the Persians or the Babylonians or the Brits. There are no other people on this planet, from an historical perspective, who can lay greater claim to the Land of Israel than the people of Israel, the Jewish people.

Is there really any argument to be made that this is untrue?

Can, for example, San Francisco State University professor Rabab Abdulhadi - who is building an academic career based on spreading hatred toward Jews among liberals and progressives - honestly argue that Jews have less claim to Judea than do Arabs? Arabs conquered and now control 99.9 percent of the entire Middle East and it is somehow unjust that the native Jewish population hold onto any portion of our historic homeland?

It is entirely absurd, but this is the poison that they are selling.

The best and most straightforward manner of dealing with this nonsense is to remind western liberals that Israel is Jewish land. Just as France is French and England is English and Portugal is Portuguese and China is Chinese, so Israel is Jewish. The very word "Israel" means the Jewish people.

Now, unlike France, Engand, Portugal, or China, we are willing to share that land, but no one can tell us that it is not Jewish land.

And that, my friends, needs to be our clear and obvious red-line and we need to bang it into their skulls.

And Jerusalem will remain united under Israeli rule.

Am Yisrael Chai!

(originally published in Jews Down Under)

Michael Lumish is a blogger at the Israel Thrives blog as well as a regular contributor/blogger at Times of Israel and Jews Down Under.

The EU: Punish the peaceful, honor the hateful

From Ha'aretz:

The European Union has distributed a confidential document to its 28 member states that contains the draft of a proposal for sanctions to be imposed on Israel if it takes action in the West Bank that could make the two-state solution impossible, European diplomatic sources and senior Israeli officials said.

The representatives, who received the document from the EU’s European External Action Service (EEAS), were asked to keep its distribution limited and not to show it to Israel yet. Israeli diplomats in a number of European capitals reported the existence of the document to the Foreign Ministry, adding a few details about its content. However, they were unable to obtain the full document.

Three European diplomats and two senior Israeli officials, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, said the document deals mainly with “sticks and carrots” for Israel with regard to maintaining the two-state solution, although they said the document contained mainly sticks.
...
European diplomats familiar with the document say it discusses Israeli actions that would constitute a red line for the EU. For example, it mentions advancement of construction in the E1 area between Ma’aleh Adumim and Jerusalem; construction of the Givat Hamatos neighborhood and additional construction in Har Homa south of Jerusalem, both of which are over the Green Line in Jerusalem. The EU believes that such construction puts at risk territorial contiguity of the Palestinian state and might make it impossible for Jerusalem to be the capital of both states.

Sanctions mentioned by the document include marking products manufactured in the settlements in EU supermarkets; limiting cooperation with Israel in various areas; and even restrictions on the free-trade agreement with Israel.

Of course, this document does not mention any "sticks" for Palestinian behavior that is against peace. On the contrary, this anti-Israel document is being drafted at the exact same time that EU nations are moving closer to recognizing a Palestinian Arab state.

What has the PLO done, exactly, to ensure a successful two-state solution and a peaceful Middle East?

The answer can be discerned from the juxtaposition of two things that happened last Friday. One was this interesting State Department dialogue between reporter Matt Lee and spokesperson Jen Psaki:

QUESTION: So on the Palestinian side, one of the issues that we’ve seen has been this spate of sort of lone attacks either by car rammings or stabbings or the instance of such ilk. Could you tell us what it is you are hoping that the Palestinians will be able to do to avoid those kind of actions taking place in the future?

MS. PSAKI: Well, obviously, as I just mentioned, President Abbas made it clear that he is willing to do everything possible to restore calm. Broadly in the discussion they talked about a range of areas, including access to holy sites, security for holy sites, coordination among security forces and authorities, regional security architecture, incitement, and settlements. Those are a number of the pool of areas that obviously need to be addressed.

And I think the fact that there was a commitment to take affirmative steps we obviously feel is positive. Now, of course, the proof is not in the words. The proof is in the actions. So we’ll see what happens over the next couple of days. But we’re just not going to get into more specific details.

QUESTION: Jen, you mentioned that the proof is in the actions, clearly, but you’ve only cited one action and that was on the part of the Israelis to open up – to drop the age restriction. Have you seen any affirmative action from the Palestinians to do what President Abbas said that he was going to be doing?

MS. PSAKI: Well, Matt, obviously, these discussions happened last night, and we certainly anticipate that there will be in the coming days.

QUESTION: Right. But there was – I mean, there was pretty quick and demonstrable action taken by the Israelis. I’m just wondering if you saw any quick and demonstrable action taken --

MS. PSAKI: There’s public and private actions, but I don’t have anything more specific.

QUESTION: All right.

MS. PSAKI: We’ll see what happens in the next couple of days.

QUESTION: Is it – I’m not sure I understand why you think that it is wise to announce that the two sides have – or that three sides have agreed to steps to calm things down and then to keep them secret. ... I just – it doesn’t make any sense to me that you wouldn’t want them – that you would want these alleged steps that were agreed to to become public. That way, people know what to expect.

MS. PSAKI: Well, we sent a strong message that there were – there was an agreement to take affirmative steps in order to hopefully generate some calm in the region. There was an evaluation and discussion made by all the parties involved that this was the best way to proceed.
...
QUESTION: Just a follow-up very quickly. What would be demonstrable and quick action by the Palestinians that you would like to see?

MS. PSAKI: I’m not going to spell it out further, Said, other than to convey that President Abbas made clear that he’ll do everything possible to restore calm. He restated his firm commitment to nonviolence. They talked about a range of issues that both sides can work on, including regional security structure, coordination among security forces, incitement, settlements – a lot of the issues that have been causing tensions in the region.

In other words, only Israel is expected to do anything concrete.

Indeed, the official PA TV encouraged violence immediately after this meeting where they supposedly would restore calm.

Here is the crux of the issue: The international community does not expect anything peaceful from the PLO. Only Israel is expected to work hard towards peace, while the Palestinian Arabs are not expected to do anything. Even something as simple as publicly calling for calm is considered too much to expect from them. If pressed, Western pundits would say that Abbas has his hands tied because of the "Palestinian street."

Of course, this is an admission that the Palestinian Arabs themselves are not interested in real peace. But the problem goes beyond that.

In truth, Abbas controls the Palestinian street. The PLO and Fatah (not to mention groups in Gaza) are the ones who make public calls for "days of rage." They are the ones who publicly honor terrorists, calling them heroes. They are the ones who are explicitly against any kind of "normalization" with Israelis. They are the ones lobbying incessantly for sanctions and resolutions aimed only at Israel. They are the ones who have refused to negotiate for years, trusting instead that the West will do the pressuring for them.

And they are right.

The West has internalized the fact that the PLO cannot be expected to do a damn concrete thing to help bring peace. But since peace is so important, and no one wants to admit that Israel's "peace partner" supports violence and terror, the onus must be placed on the reasonable Israelis - and only the Israelis - to do more, and more, and more.

Abbas gets all the carrots, and Israel gets all the sticks, because deep down everyone knows that making Palestinian Arabs angry could end up resulting in bombs in European capitals down the line.

So violence and threats are rewarded and the one people in the Middle East who actually truly want real peace are the ones who are demonized.

Last week I (and Israellycool) reported that a "journalist" that had been killed in Gaza, whose death UNESCO condemned, was actually a Hamas terrorist.

After Gidon Shaviv of Presspectiva emailed UNESCO about this new evidence, they commendably and immediately removed Murtaja from their list of journalists killed in wars. Moreover, UNESCO released a strong implicit condemnation of Hamas for "instrumentaliz[ing] the profession of journalists by combatants."

On 14 November, the Director-General of UNESCO, Irina Bokova, issued an update about the statement she issued on 29 August, 2014, regarding Abdullah Murtaja, in the context of UNESCO’s mandate to defend freedom of expression and press freedom.

The original statement issued on 29 August was in line with UNESCO’s policy of condemning all killings of journalists. During this week, information has been brought to the attention of UNESCO that Mr Murtaja was a member of an organized armed group -- an active combatant, and, therefore, not a civilian journalist. This has come to light in a video was posted recently on the Internet with Abdullah Murtaja speaking as a member of an organized armed group.

UNESCO therefore withdraws the statement of 29 August.

“I deplore attempts to instrumentalize the profession of journalists by combatants," declared Irina Bokova. “The civilian status of journalists is critical, especially in situations of conflict, to ensure the free flow of information and ideas that are essential to the wider public and the restoration of stability and peace,” declared the Director-General.

Sometimes, we get results!

See Presspectiva and CAMERA for their announcement.

Secret synagogue under Al Aqsa? No, just another wild Arab rumor.

Egypt's Youm7,and other media, report that new photographs of Jews praying in tunnels beneath the Al Aqsa Mosque have surfaced:

As anyone who has actually been to the Kotel knows, these photos are taken from the building immediately to the left of the outdoor plaza where many pray (especially when it rains.) The wall is in fact the Kotel itself. Nothing underground here, although from within that building there are shafts that go down to the bottom of the Kotel itself.

But perhaps since Arabs would riot if there were secret synagogues underneath the Kotel, maybe the Jews should just stop prayers in any area that looks tunnel-like. After all, that seems to be what "experts" who blame Jews for Arab rioting seem to want to see.

More proof that American "pro-Palestinian" groups really support terror

From the U.S. Palestinian Community Network:

Oakland – Activists with the Bay Area Rasmea Defense Committee have chained themselves to doors of the federal courthouse in Oakland to protest the conviction and imprisonment of 67 year-old Palestinian community organizer, Rasmea Odeh. Supporters are also rallying in front of the federal building, condemning what they call a politically motivated trial targeting Odeh because of her role as an outspoken Palestinian leader and activist. Odeh was convicted on Monday, November 10th in a Detroit federal court of knowingly lying on her immigration application, even though she maintains that she did not understand the questions on the application.

The main basis for Odeh’s conviction was that she had allegedly falsely answered “No” to a question asking whether she had ever been arrested or imprisoned. The government claimed that Odeh failed to disclose that she had been convicted by the Israeli government of participating in “terrorism,” even though this conviction in a military court lacked due process and was the result of a forced confession made after she was repeatedly tortured and raped by Israeli military authorities.

“The only reason Rasmea was imprisoned in Israel was because she was tortured, sexually assaulted, threatened with death and ultimately forced to confess to charges she didn’t commit,” says Hatem Abudayyeh, spokesman for the Rasmea Defense Committee. “Now, more than 40 years later, and after 9 years of living here with US citizenship, she’s being made to re-live her trauma and is wrongly imprisoned once again.”

As we've discussed previously, there is no question that Rasmeah Odeh planned and carried out a murderous terror attack. The same film where Rasmea claims that she was tortured is the one where her relative and fellow bomber Ayesha Odeh describes how they planned and implemented the attack, saying that Rasmeah was more involved than she was:

"Rasmeah Odeh was more involved than I was [in the grocery store bombing] ... I only got involved during the preparation of explosives. We wanted to place two bombs to blow up consecutively. I suggested to have the second bomb go off five or six minutes after the first bomb so that those who get killed in it would be members of the army and secret service, but it did not explode. They diffused it 20 seconds before it exploded."

There is no question that the many activists who pretend that Odeh is innocent are very aware of this video confession by her friend - not only a confession, but a proud confession!

Which means that these "pro-Palestinian" groups in the US really support bombing supermarkets crowded with Jewish shoppers.

(Why they decided to protest in Oakland for a conviction in Detroit is interesting in itself....)

11/15 Links: Israel Fights Terrorism. Europe Rewards It; The Israeli Arab Grievance Industry

From Ian:

Israel Fights Terrorism. Europe Rewards It

So basically, as Israelis are dodging the cars, stones and fireworks being used by Palestinian terrorists, Europe is rewarding these same terrorists with more recognition of their proposed state. In the meantime, the Europeans are also condemning Israel for wanting to build homes in its own capital and in part of its Biblical homelands in Judea and Samaria. Obviously, this isn’t the first time Europeans have tried to tell Jews where they can and can’t live. Ghettoizing Jews has been a European tradition for centuries, from medieval times, right up until World War II, when the Nazis established ghettos to concentrate the continent’s Jewish population before systematically murdering them. And now they are trying to ghettoize us in our own country! I guess some things never change. Clearly, Israel needs to respond to the ludicrous actions of the Europeans. But how?
My suggestion: let Israel recognize the right of various European peoples to their own independent states. So the British parliament passed a resolution calling for the recognition of a future Palestinian state. Let Israel’s Knesset pass its own resolution calling for recognition of an independent Scotland, an independent Wales, and the reunification of Northern Ireland with the Irish Republic. If France and Spain decide to reward Palestinian terrorism by calling for recognition of the so-called state of Palestine, let Israel recognize and support the independence of Corsica and Brittany in France, and Catalonia and the Basque Country in Spain. As a lot of people say, what goes around comes around.

WSJ Editor Rips Obama Admin. for Treating Israel Like ‘Virtual Outlaw State’

A prominent Wall Street Journal editor firmly denounced President Barack Obama’s foreign policy approach to Israel in a recent speech to a Jewish group, saying the White House treats the Jewish state like a criminal entity.
“Treating a democratic government as if it is a virtual outlaw state, as if it is embarrassing to bring the prime minster through the front door… there have been a series of slides and insults that are unbecoming of a great and serious power,” said Bret Stephens, columnist and deputy editorial page editor for the Journal.
Stephens penned an op-ed for the Journal in late October titled “Bibi and Barack on the Rocks” wherein he chastised the White House for its “petty insults” against Israel, which he said puts the strategic relationship between the countries at risk. He wrote that the Obama administration “seems to give more thought to pursuing personal vendettas against allies like Israel than it does to waging effective military campaigns against enemies like ISIS.”
Expanding on his views about the Obama administration’s relationship with Israel, Stephens told guests at the IAJF event that the U.S. needs to view things from Israel’s perspective.
“You listen to Obama administration officials talk about war and they say ‘Well, let’s take a look at Crimea. Look at it from a Russian point of view.’ [But] when was the last time the [Obama] administration said ‘Let’s see the world through the eyes of the Israeli prime minister or the Israeli defense minister?’” Stephens asked. “What does it mean to them to say ‘Oh yeah, let’s just get out of the West Bank. Let’s do so in a six month time table.’ Does that make sense?”

The Israeli Arab Grievance Industry

So what can we do?
In light of all this, it's hard to swallow the "dispossession and discrimination" line being bandied about to justify Israeli Arab violence and crime. When you unravel all the arguments of racism made by Arabs and leftists, you're mostly left with feelings of discrimination in being accepted to jobs. But in a country where judges, senior doctors and heads of colleges are Arabs, it's hard to accept this as a justification for revolt.
The reasons for the outbreak of violence therefore need to be found elsewhere, in the culture of extended family and tribe which is still very strong in the Arab sector, as well as the strengthening of Islamist bodies in Israel in recent years. These are slowly diverting the energies and organizational capabilities used for crime in a more nationalist direction, and to rally the masses for a struggle for the Palestinian homeland in the Arab triangle and Wadi Ara.
Because of this, police programs for community policing and "increasing trust" by studying cultural gaps and ethnic sensitivities are simply irrelevant. Such plans create an atmosphere in the police of either justifying or excusing crime by recognizing the "difficult background" of rioters and their "narrative" for the Israeli War of Independence.
Sadly, the police have been increasingly exposed to such programs primarily through a designated program promoted by the left wing organization, the Abraham Fund, and with the cooperation of the police. The "policing in a torn society" program teaches senior police officers to take cultural differences into consideration, understand the criminals' motives and to try and rebuild trust. The result of all this is the "containment" policy, which enables riots to take place on a limited scale so that the oppressed minority can express its "authentic rage". (h/t sophie44)

Pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi has an article by Ayman Abubann entitled "Anti-semitism: The big lie of Zionism."

The author's thesis seems to be that Israelis made up the lie of anti-semitism in order to use it as a tool to shut up its critics.

And it includes this little nugget: "Historical research indicates that the Jews of Europe sowed the ground of corruption and the spread of immorality."

So if antisemitism is a Zionist plot, and Ayman Abubann is antisemitic, then he must be a Zionist!

UPDATE: No, I'm not in a different time zone and I don't have a beta copy of the infamous "Shabbos app." I intended for this to be posted Sunday afternoon and I made a mistake on the dates.

11/14 Links Pt2: Kontorovich: Why Gaza is not remotely occupied; Israel bans Mads Gilbert

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: Why Gaza is not remotely occupied (I)

The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court last week found no jurisdiction over Israel’s naval interdiction of vessels seeking to break the Gaza blockade. But she did issue a long obiter pronouncement – albeit non-binding, tentative, and discounted with multiple disclaimers – that it would be “reasonable” to conclude Israel occupies Gaza.
Normally such a tentative statement would not warrant further examination. But even with all the qualifications, the prosecutor’s argument is not reasonable. It is absurd and unprecedented. It embodies principles that have never and can never be applied to other situations. This post will discuss the doctrinal and judicial flaws with the OTP’s analysis. A subsequent post will examine state practice, the insignificance of the alleged powers the OTP claims Israel exercises.
An occupation is traditionally defined as a power exercising “effective control” over the territory in a way that displaces the prior government. The occupying power is expected to provide law and order, essential services, and all the basic functions of government – and is thus required to have the kind of control that allows for that. As the ICJ has put it, occupation requires a territory to be “actually placed under the authority of the hostile army.” There has never been a finding of a such “remote” occupation, lasting nine years after the end of physical occupation and in the presence of a distinct and hostile local government. Indeed, even puppet governments are not considered occupation by the puppet master.

Gaza is not remotely occupied (II)

Ironically, the ICC decision comes shortly after Sweden’s much-trumpeted decision to recognize a Palestinian state. The Swedes are sticklers for international law, and do not believe in short cuts around the objective Montivedeo criteria for recognizing new states. Thus in explaining their decision, Stockholm said that the Palestinians do have a government, a power exercising control. It likened it to Kosovo and Croatia, where recognition occurred when the government only controlled some of its claimed territory. The Swedes did not specify which territory the Palestinian government controls (or which government), but presumably it would include Gaza and Area A.
Even aside from the issue of whether Palestine qualifies as a state, most of the world recognizes a Palestinian “government” that includes Gaza as well. A government governs, and thus has effective control. So it the Prosector is truly guided by the opinion of the international community, she has a problem, as these views are contradictory. That is the danger in departing from legal tests to political ones.

Israel bans co-author of Lancet letter from Gaza

A Norwegian doctor who has been critical of Israel has been banned from entering the Gaza Strip for life, with Israeli officials citing security reasons, Norway’s Verdens Gang newspaper reported Friday.
Dr. Mads Gilbert has been treating patients at Gaza’s Shifa Hospital for 30 years, VG reported, but on his most recent trip in October, Israeli soldiers at the Erez Crossing told him he could not enter.
Gilbert has called the decision “provocative, unreasonable and totally unacceptable.” The Norwegian Embassy in Tel Aviv said it was told the doctor was being prohibited from entering the Palestinian territory for “security reasons,” with no further justification given.

Gilbert was one of the authors of a letter published in the prominent medical journal Lancet during the recent Gaza conflict, which accused Israel of massacring Palestinians and overwhelmingly targeting women and children. The British journal’s editor Prof. Richard Horton later said — following a trip to Israel — that he regretted the letter and that it “did not convey the level of complexity that is the reality in Israel.”

In a 2001 interview with the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, Gilbert stated that 9/11 occurred because of Western foreign policy and that he supported terror attacks within the framework of that “context,” claiming that “the suppressed have a moral right to attack the United States.”

Comedy from Hamas

Hamas spokesperson Ahmad Yousef wrote a hilarious piece of fiction for The Guardian's Comment Is Free.

Don't read this while drinking if you don't want Coke all over your keyboard.

The question I have faced most frequently since returning to Gaza in 2006 is this: does the Hamas charter, which contains passages deemed offensive to Jewish people, truly represent the movement’s vision and political goals?...This was a text written in the early days of the first intifada. Our youth rebelling against the Israeli occupiers needed a rallying cry – a written expression of their resolve. The charter was designed to be that inspirational document and it was never intended to be the governing instrument, the guiding principle or the political vision of the movement.

See? They don't want to really exterminate the Jews - they just wanted to gain enthusiastic members by claiming that they want to exterminate the Jews!

Were pundits to truly scrutinise Hamas’s actions since its inception, they would find not a single official statement or position that is based on denigrating another faith, certainly neither Judaism nor Christianity. Nor can anyone produce a shred of evidence that Hamas formally encourages prejudice against anyone’s ethnicity.

Classic!

And the group has been far more conscious of avoiding civilian casualties than the Israelis.

Stop it, you're killing me!

(This Hamas video admits that the target of the mortars is the "settlement" of Erez, not soldiers.)

(Another one supposedly shows the rocket that targeted Ben Gurion Airport. Which is a civilian target.)

Judge Hamas on the measures it takes for its people. Do not rely on the words of a document – the charter – written under entirely different circumstances. Declare it dead, some have said; and yet, to do so would be to succumb to yet another Israeli demand. We do what is right, not what we are told by an occupier.

So all Israel has to do is demand that Hamas manufacture rockets to aim at Israeli citizens. Then Hamas will be forced to stop rather than succumb to an Israeli demand!

Pure comedy gold.

Even most Guardian commenters aren't buying this, although some of course will drink anti-Israel Kool-Aid no matter how poisonous the source.