Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, November 20, 2014

11/20 Links Pt1: Sarah Honig: The Perils of Peace; In This Struggle, Israel Can Prevail

From Ian:

It’s a perplexing fact of our life: anything that remotely and vaguely resembles peace in Israel’s neighborhood is serially shattered once peace negotiations are kick-started. This is how it has invariably been – all the more emphatically so since the advent of Oslo.
According to this unique pattern, unequalled anywhere else, peace overtures are tantamount to harbingers of death and destruction.
Then, once the violence of peace somehow subsides, we briefly luxuriate in the lull of an impasse – the closest we ever get to calm.
But these rare respites inevitably rub do-gooder meddlers the wrong way both in the US and in the EU. With obsessive peevishness they begrudge us our breather. They summon summits, draw road maps, determine deadlines, weave tapestries, formulate fantasies and in short terminate the temporary time-outs.
It’s an inexorable rhythm. After each round of jibber-jabbering about peace comes the carnage.

Mordechai Kedar: In This Struggle, Israel Can Prevail

Israel can withstand and overcome the current wave of violence, which is just another chapter in the struggle against Arab and Islamist hatred. But to do so, there are concrete steps that Israel should take - now.
First of all, Israel must say emphatically: the Palestinian Authority established on the basis of the Oslo Accords is an enemy entity, an enemy whose goal is establishing an Arab state in place of Israel, not alongside Israel, but on its ruins. That is the reason the Oslo Accords were violated so blatantly and thoroughly by the other side, resulting in them being declared null and void..
In addition, Israel must cease funding the PA on the basis of economic agreements derived from the Oslo Accords. There is no other country that funds an enemy entity, and there is no reason for Israel to be the only country that acts in such a delusional manner.
The government of Israel must condemn those among us who were instrumental in giving us the "New Middle East", even those who once held posts of high honor.

Amb. Prosor on CNN International - Jerusalem Terror Attack

By the way, ISIS took over a Libyan city

From CNN:

The black flag of ISIS flies over government buildings. Police cars carry the group's insignia. The local football stadium is used for public executions. A town in Syria or Iraq? No. A city on the coast of the Mediterranean, in Libya.

Fighters loyal to the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria are now in complete control of the city of Derna, population of about 100,000, not far from the Egyptian border and just about 200 miles from the southern shores of the European Union.

The fighters are taking advantage of political chaos to rapidly expand their presence westwards along the coast, Libyan sources tell CNN.

The new UNHRC head slammed the Arab world for not being more vocal in condemning ISIS:

The United Nations’ top human rights official called on the Muslim world to denounce the “monstrous” crimes of the extremist group that seeks to establish an Islamic state in Iraq and Syria, calling its actions both a violation of international law and Islamic tenets.

Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, a member of the Jordanian royal family and the first Muslim to be named high commissioner for human rights, on Tuesday urged the Security Council to back efforts to overturn the Islamic State’s “ideology of violence.”

His speech was equally a message to the Muslim world.

“It is also disturbing how few to nonexistent have been the public demonstrations of anger in the Arab and Muslims worlds over the crimes being perpetrated in Iraq — notwithstanding the clear condemnation by many Arab and Islamic governments,” Mr. Al Hussein said.

Citing the opinion of Muslim clerics, he said the group had violated Shariah in many instances, through conversions, the reintroduction of slavery and the killing of civilians. He said Islam also prohibited the killing of diplomats and emissaries, which could be extended to journalists and aid workers.

Al Hussein has been considered the most reasonable person to head the Human Rights Council in recent years, but while the UN Secretary General and Security Council condemned the Jerusalem bombings, as far as I can tell the Human Rights Council has not.

Which makes his words about ISIS a little hollow.

I could have written five pages for the right hand side portion...

Haaretz Hebrew reports that a Palestinian Arab mounted three shooting attacks in order to be arrested and sent to jail, so the PA would pay him.

Ashraf Issa was building a house but did not have enough cash to complete it. So he decided to shoot at Egged armored buses, claiming that he chose them in order to ensure that no one gets hurt.

After two attacks where he even called up an Arab TV station to accept responsibility, but no arrest, he chose to do his third attack in broad daylight, standing in front of the bus, shooting at the lower part of it and waiting patiently to be arrested.

Because Issa's testimony held up, he was sentenced to a relatively light 7 years and 10 months, and his attack was classified as "economic" and not "nationalistic."

Even though he seems to have meant no harm, this proves that the cash that the PLO pays to terrorists - a part of their budget that is sacred - actually encourages attacks. This makes the PLO complicit in every terror attack since they provide an insurance policy to all Palestinian Arabs who only need to pay by attacking Jews.

It is a sad commentary that the most moral Palestinian Arab in the news is the one who only shoots towards Jews without trying to actually kill them.

(h/t Missing Peace)

Lessons from the sick, depraved antisemitic Arab cartoons

From Ajnad News almost immediately after the slaughter in Har Nof:

The same source, showing clearly who their targets are as well as their murder weapons:

Another cartoon (original source unknown):

Glee at murdering a bearded, blat-hat wearing "soldier":

The same artist showing his bloodlust:

One more, showing that the target is Jews, not "Zionists":

I must point out again that the existence of bloodthirsty antisemitic cartoons is not in itself evidence that Palestinian Arab society is sick. There are plenty of outliers who have access to the Internet who can easily post gruesome, offensive garbage, and fringe groups can be found anywhere.

However, the lack of any public pushback in Arabic against this clear Jew-hatred and bloodlust does indeed indicate that Palestinian society is sick. It might not be fashionable to say it - and Western reporters are loathe to write about it - but there is no visible counterpoint to these repulsive images and the equally abhorrent messages that accompany them. Images like these are celebrated by many, and condoned by the rest, with their silence.

This is the fundamental story of the massacre. For once, the motives are crystal-clear.

It cannot be about "occupation" or "settlements" because the attack was inside the Green Line.
It cannot be about "Al Aqsa" because the people who prayed there are not the types to ascend.
It cannot be about "Israeli oppression" because the victims were not soldiers or reservists.

The facts are undeniable: the terrorists targeted the most Jewish looking people at a synagogue while they were at prayer.

The cartoons illustrate nicely what the west wants to hide: the targets are Jews. Period.

Palestinian Arab cartoons in general routinely depict "Israelis" as a Nazi-style caricatures of a bearded, black-clad men, even though no Israeli leader has ever resembled that person. These victims did. The cartoons taught generations of terrorists that their enemy is the Jews, not Israelis.

The West wants to find excuses for Palestinian terror, to pretend that both sides are part of the problem. But this attack, and these cartoons, combined with the glaring absence of any Palestinians who object to this kind of incitement, reveal the ugly truth: that in the end it is about Jew-hatred. All the other reasons being given by pseudo-intellectuals of "occupation" or "Al Aqsa" or "Gaza" or bus drivers who commit suicide are simply excuses to divert the world's attention from the simple fact that this is really about the world's oldest hate.

Once you realize this you can start to understand the reality and not the spin that we've been fed for decades.

(h/t ADL, Israellycool)

EXCLUSIVE: Jordan's parliament recited a prayer for the murderers!

MP and terror cheerleader Khalil Attieh

On Wednesday, Jordan's parliament offered a prayer in honor of the spirit of Ghassan Abu Jamal and Uday Abu Jamal - the terrorists who slaughtered five people.

The prayer was held as the House of representatives session opened.

MP Khalil Attieh requested his fellow representatives to recite the Fatiha for the "spirit of the heroes."

The Fatiha is the first chapter of the Koran, recited on important occasions.

Attieh further declared that the murders were a "natural reaction to the occupation crimes against the Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Palestinians."

In addition, MP Mohammed Al-Qatathh of the House of Representatives issued a statement to the assembly condemning the "Zionist attack on Jerusalem and its people" in the wake of "the heroic operation" on the synagogue in Har Nof.

Moreover, a Jordanian clan opened up a mourning tent in Jordan's capital in honor of the terrorists.

Earlier in the day the Jordanian minister of media affairs pretended to condemn the attacks but only issued a vague statement that the government of Jordan "condemns the targeting of civilians, and denounce all acts of violence and terrorism against civilians, no matter who or why it is done." The condemnation was not nearly as specific as the honor for the terrorists given in Parliament.

Perhaps the US State Department should be asked to comment on how our ally's representatives praise terror attacks.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

11/19 Links Pt2: The Third Intifada is About the Post-Two-State Future; Temple Mount Status Quo?

From Ian:

The Third Intifada is About the Post-Two-State Future

The two-state solution is, effectively, dead. It was mortally wounded long before today’s terror attack on a Jerusalem synagogue, which marks a third intifada. The final straw came with the Gaza war this past summer, when Hamas rockets and tunnels showed why it would be insane to let Palestinians to rule more than a portion of the West Bank. The Obama administration’s addiction to pressuring Israel has also destabilized diplomacy.
But the attack on the synagogue in Har Nof sends a different message: namely, that Jews and Arabs may not be able to live together easily even in the same country. There are areas of coexistence–in Haifa, for example, where locals joke that they get along because Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed never came there. There are also Arabs who serve with distinction in the Israeli military, and at the highest levels of the Israeli government.
Yet that could be more difficult in future. David Brinn of the Jerusalem Post wrote candidly today: “When two of the regular staffers entered my office in the afternoon to empty the trash bin and replace it with a new nylon bag, I found myself for the first time tensing up and watching their every move out of the corner of my eye.” His feelings are, no doubt, shared by many well-meaning Jewish Israelis–and reciprocated by Arab Israelis, too.

Sweden’s Gaza refugee contradiction

Now that Sweden has assessed that Palestine meets the criteria of a state, is it prepared to address this longstanding Palestinian refugee narrative, along with UNRWA’s role in perpetuating it? The way to do so would be to issue a clear statement that Palestinians living in Palestine (the West Bank and Gaza) would no longer be recognized as “refugees.”
If the Swedes fail to take this simple and logical move, the implication would be that their recognition of Palestine is intended not to promote peaceful co-existence between Israel and Palestine, but rather to perpetuate dangerous and irredentist policies that have long characterized the Palestinian narrative, not to mention the refugee agency that purports to speak in its name.

Spanish Parliament Recognizes 'Palestine' After Jerusalem Terror Attack

The lower house of the Spanish parliament, the Congress of Deputies, passed a resolution Tuesday to recognize a Palestinian state. The vote came in the wake of a gruesome Palestinian terror attack Tuesday morning that targeted Jews praying at a synagogue in West Jerusalem, which drew widespread international condemnation.
Reuters reports that the resolution received the support of all political parties. The support for Palestinian statehood follows similar resolutions in the UK, Sweden, and Ireland, and is conditional on a peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
It is merely symbolic–but on a day of terror, is a potent symbol indeed.

Israel decries Spanish vote on recognizing Palestine

“The declaration of the Spanish parliament only distances the chance of reaching an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, because it encourages the Palestinians to become more extreme in their positions,” a Foreign Ministry statement said.
“It would have been better if the Spanish parliament had instead chosen to do the right thing by condemning the abominable slaughter carried out by inflamed Palestinians in a synagogue in Jerusalem.”
Late on Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu accused the international community of ignoring the bloodshed and seeking instead to reward the Palestinians, in a thinly veiled reference to the vote.
“Unfortunately, there are some who are trying even now to give the Palestinians a prize… of a Palestinian state, which doesn’t even recognize the Jewish state,” he said.
“We won’t put up with this.”

UNRWA school director likes those who murder Jews - and kids with guns

Meet Naief Al-Hattab, school director of UNRWA's Zaitoun Elementary School Boys "B" and former school headmaster of Shijia Elementary School Boys "A" for Refugees.

He has met the UN Secretary General, so you know his opinions must be valued by the UN.

Unlike most UN employees in New York and Europe, Naief doesn't seem to be an advocate of gun control:

In fact, he seems to like photos of kids with guns, as he enthusiastically commented on this photo - maybe his own son? - that the subject was a "son of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades!"

Al-Hattab also gave his heartfelt approval to the terror attack yesterday, congratulating the terrorists for their wonderful "revenge."

The UN is such a force for world peace, isn't it?

The series of UNRWA teachers supporting hate continues...

(h/t Bob Knot)

Waqf To Allow Jews Over Age Of 150 To Pray On Temple Mount (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Waqf To Allow Jews Over Age Of 150 To Pray On Temple Mount

Jerusalem, November 19 - Palestinian religious authorities softened their stance on Jewish access to the Temple Mount today, declaring that they had removed the restriction on Jewish prayer at the compound for anyone more than 150 years old.

The Waqf, or religious council that administers the site, announced the new policy amid Palestinian violence against Jews in the city, attacks that the Palestinian leadership and media have blamed on Israel's "assault" on the Al-Aqsa Mosque. Israel has allowed Jews and other non-Muslims to enter the area that once held both ancient Jewish Temples and is considered Judaism's holiest spot, angering Muslims with such a "desecration" of Islam's third-holiest location. Israeli and other regional leaders have been working to calm tensions, and the Waqf's pronouncement sounded a conciliatory note in an otherwise polarized environment.

Jewish activists have been demanding greater access to the Temple Mount, and a leader of those activists was seriously wounded by a Palestinian gunman several weeks ago. Other attacks over the last several months have involved Palestinian drivers deliberately ramming their cars into Israeli pedestrians, or stabbing them. Four were killed as recently as this morning when a pair of Palestinian attackers stormed a synagogue and used a meat cleaver, guns, and an axe to kill and maim as many Jews as possible. Palestinian media incite Muslims to "defend" Al-Aqsa "by whatever means necessary," incitement that finds a willing audience among Palestinians predisposed to blame Israel for their ills.

Waqf officials boasted that the new policy proves the they are being flexible while Israel is showing intransigence. "We are a religion of peace," said Imam Mithu Sallah. "As an indication of our willingness to accommodate others, we are allowing any non-Muslim born before the Hijra year 1286 to enter the Haram-al-Sharif and even pray," he continued, referring to the lunar Islamic calendar and calling the Temple Mount by its Arabic name. He contrasted the Waqf's tolerance with Israel, which stubbornly insists on maintaining religious, historical, and cultural ties to the site despite Muslim objections.

"This policy is even more flexible than it seems," added Sallah's colleague Labna Raami. "It uses the Islamic calendar, according to which 150 years is less time than in the Gregorian calendar." He explained that today's date in the Muslim year 1286 corresponds to May 7, 1869, almost five years less than a full 150 according to the western reckoning. The Gregorian year is slightly more than 365 days; the Islamic, 354. "So you see, we are even willing to accept people as young as 146 and a half," he boasted.

11/19 Links Pt1: Politics Can't Explain the Israeli Synagogue Attack. Only Hatred Can

From Ian:

JPost Editorial: Unjustifiable horror

Though Palestinian nationalist movements have always been murderously violent, the most depressing and wretched spectacle of the last decade has been the degeneration of Palestinian nationalism into a theocratic, death-worshiping radical Islamism. Even assassins from the ostensibly secular PFLP, founded by the nominally Christian Palestinian George Habash, now shout Allahu Akbar so that no mistake can be made about the source of their murderous inspiration.
The obscenity of what transpired Tuesday morning in Har Nof’s Kehilat Yaakov Synagogue cannot be explained away by glib terms like “despair” or “occupation.” There are millions of people living between the Mediterranean and the Jordan – Jewish, Muslim, and Christian – who may fall into despair without resorting to heinous crimes like the one perpetrated in Har Nof.
Nor does the murder of innocent civilians advance the Palestinian cause. Religious Jews wrapped in prayer shawls and phylacteries lying in pools of their own blood on the floor of a synagogue is an instantly recognizable image – not just for Jews. It conjures up centuries of violent anti-Semitism and places the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the context of just another example of irrational – and therefore incurable – Jew hatred. It seems to prove to Jewish Israelis that there is really nothing to talk about with the Palestinians, let alone a peace agreement that must of necessity rest on mutual trust.

At funerals for synagogue terror victims, mourners grieve with 24 orphans from one street

Thousands of mourners gathered in Jerusalem’s Har Nof neighborhood Tuesday evening to pay their last respects to three of the four men killed while praying in their local synagogue earlier in the day in a terrorist attack. A fifth victim, policeman Zidan Saif, who was shot in the head in the shootout with the terrorists, died of his wounds late Tuesday in the hospital.
The crowd assembled outside the synagogue where Rabbi Aryeh Kupinsky, 40, Rabbi Avraham Shmuel Goldberg, and Rabbi Kalman Levine, 50, were killed by two Palestinian terrorists. The three were buried at the Har Hamenuhot cemetery in a joint funeral.
The funeral of the fourth victim, 59-year-old Rabbi Moshe Twersky, took place earlier on Tuesday.
Twersky, Kupinsky and Levine also held US citizenship, and Goldberg held British citizenship.
President Reuven Rivlin arrived at the synagogue to pay his respects to the victims’ families. Shas MK Eli Yishai and a number of other Israeli parliamentarians also attended the funerals.

Thousands attend funeral of policeman who died defending worshipers in synagogue attack

Thousands of loved ones, neighbors, politicians and well-wishers from across the country made their way to the village of Yanuh Jat in the Galilee on Wednesday, to bid farewell to Zidan Saif, the Druse policeman who died of a gunshot wound suffered at the scene of the terror attack at a Jerusalem synagogue.
The funeral was attended by President Reuven Rivlin, Public Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovitch, National Police Commissioner Inspector General Yochanan Danino, and leaders from the Druse community of Israel.
“We are burying a hero of the Israel police, who laid down his own body to protect the worshippers at the synagogue in Har Nof,” Aharonovitch said in his eulogy. “Zidan was there first and operated with courage. Without hesitation he charged inside, in the face of the horrors there. He followed the principles of the Israel Police and did what is expected of a courageous warrior.”
The minister added that “his heroism cost him his life, but saved the lives of others. Zidan is a source of pride for his family, for the Druse community and for the police and the people of Israel.”

Rabbi Kalman Levine

Here is President Obama's statement of condemnation for the terror attack yesterday:

I strongly condemn today’s terrorist attack on worshipers at a synagogue in Jerusalem, which killed four innocent people, including U.S. citizens Aryeh Kupinsky, Cary William Levine, and Mosheh Twersky, and injured several more. There is and can be no justification for such attacks against innocent civilians. The thoughts and prayers of the American people are with the victims and families of all those who were killed and injured in this horrific attack and in other recent violence. At this sensitive moment in Jerusalem, it is all the more important for Israeli and Palestinian leaders and ordinary citizens to work cooperatively together to lower tensions, reject violence, and seek a path forward towards peace.

The most obvious problem with this statement, of course, is the sickening implication that Jews in Israel are inciting violence and that they must limit their own human rights because Arabs react violently to Jews acting like equals.

But there are a couple of other problems with this statement that indicate a lack of respect by the President towards the American murder victims.

Obama (or his aides) chose to call Kalman Levine by a name that he hasn't used for at least three decades. Instead, he chose to call him by his birth name. (Kalman is a Yiddish name, probably from German.)

This would be no big deal, except that the President seemed to go out of his way to call Peter Kassig "Abdul Rahman" in his condemnation of his execution.

Is an American who converted to Islam while in captivity more deserving of being called by his Arabic name than a Jew to be called by the Jewish name he's used since 1982?

It is also interesting that Obama didn't bother to dignify the terror victims with the title "Rabbi." That is basic etiquette, and it is a glaring omission.

The President's statement shows a disgraceful lack of respect for the victims, for Rabbi Levine in particular, and for Israeli Jews altogether.

Lebanese news site El Iwaa today published a profile of the religious Zionist yeshiva Mercaz HaRav.

Yeshiva Mercaz HaRav is not an ordinary religious school, nor is it only meant to ordain rabbis for the Israeli army, butit is a leader in teaching the religious Zionist movement since the founding of the State of Israel to realize the dream of a national home for the Jews.

It goes on to say that the yeshiva's leaders have encouraged Jews living in "so-called" Judea and Samaria.

The photo illustrating the story isn't of Mercaz HaRav, however. It is of the synagogue that was attacked yesterday.

Why would an Arab paper decide, out of the blue, to profile a fervently Zionist yeshiva in Jerusalem? And to publish it the day after an attack on a synagogue, that many Arab papers are now using as evidence that the Jews have started a "religious war" by visiting the Temple Mount?

The story does not mention that in 2008, an Arab with an AK-47 murdered 8 students at Mercaz HaRav, in an attack that was supported by 84% of Palestinians surveyed.

If Arab media wants to encourage "lone wolf" attacks against Jews, they could hardly do a better job than pointing out targets. The only thing missing from this article is the address of the yeshiva.

El Iwaa highlighted a photo of Arabs celebrating in its article on yesterday's attack.

CAIR, the American Muslim organization that the UAE recently put on its list of terror organizations, condemned an attack on Christians in Pakistan in September using these words:

We condemn these horrific and un-Islamic attacks targeting the Christian community in Pakistan. No one with a shred of humanity would commit such despicable acts against innocent men, women and children.

And here is CAIR's condemnation of the beheading of Peter Kassig by ISIS:

Just as we have denounced previous killings of innocent civilians by the ISIS terrorist group, we condemn the barbaric murder of Peter Kassig and once again repudiate the anti-Islamic ideology that produces such brutality. We also offer our sincere condolences to Mr. Kassig’s family and loved ones.

Now, compare those condemnations with what CAIR wrote about the slaughter of Jewish worshippers on Tuesday:

We condemn this and any other attack on a house of worship and urge all parties in that holy city to refrain from actions that further inflame religious tensions.

The attack isn't "barbaric" or "un-Islamic" or "despicable," the victims aren't "innocent civilians" and the murderers aren't "terrorists." In fact, there aren't even any victims - they are only condeming an attack at a house of worship, not of the worshippers! The word "Jews" is too odious to be written in context of their condemnation.

In the same sentence of their bare minimum "condemnation" they blame the victims - after all, isn't Jews wanting to pray in peace and security in their land the latest excuse being used by Muslims to justify attacking them?

CAIR could not even find a way to write a complete sentence condemning the attack- just like Mahmoud Abbas' fake "condemnation."

The two earlier condemnations actually have some emotions behind them. This one for the Jerusalem attack looks like it was written under duress.

As with Abbas, they felt pressure to say something because they didn't want to be criticized for ignoring it. And just like Abbas, they said the barest minimum possible - while being able to get the media to say that they condemned it.

Why does CAIR care less about Jewish victims of Palestinian Arab violence than other civilian victims of other groups?

I think you can figure that out.

More UNRWA teachers praising the murder of rabbis

Yes, the UN employees who are responsible for teaching the next generation of Palestinian Arab children are cheering the deaths of four rabbis who were murdered while praying.

Besides Ibrahim Hajjar, who I mentioned earlier, we have:

Maha al Mosa, a UNRWA teacher in Syria, who called is a "heroic" operation and who begs Allah to accept the murderers as martyrs in Paradise.

Zuhair Hindi, who had multiple posts praising the murder including a video with the sounds of Jews screaming, a photo of a meat cleaver and a photo of two rabbis with his cursing them in the caption (autotranslation below):.

Naser Haroun of Jordan shows a video of the police action outside the synagogue which he calls "a tribute to the blood of the martyrs."

All of them support the cold-blooded murder of Jews because they are Jews. And all of them are UNRWA teachers.

In a very real sense, UNRWA is responsible for creating the next generation of terrorists. And the world community, by continuing to fund one of the major sources of hate in the Middle East, is complicit.

11/18 Links Pt2: Terrorists should know, it’s not going to work; A Tale of Two Green Lines

From Ian:

David Horovitz: Palestinian terrorists should know: It’s not going to work

Adding to the overwhelming feeling of sheer awfulness pervading the city today is the dismal sense of déjà vu. We’ve been through all of this before, in the Second Intifada terror war — the relentless attacks, the blood, the sirens, the heart-rending funerals, the families ripped apart, the effort to maintain some kind of normality when nowhere is truly safe from terrorism, the international indifference, criticism and misrepresentation.
And the sheer pointlessness of it all.
Because the final thing that has to be put in writing, even on a horrible, evil day like this, when the fingers loathe the necessity to tap the keyboard, is that it’s not going to work. Palestinian terrorists, and those who incite them and support them, should know: We are not going to be shot and stabbed and bludgeoned out of here by your brutality and the false justifications you invoke to legitimate it.
We stood firm during year upon year of Second Intifada terrorism, when you were blowing up our buses, malls, restaurants and supermarkets, and pragmatism could have dictated that we do what the terrorism was designed to make us do: flee. We do not insist on maintaining our majority Jewish state to the exclusion of your rights. Anything but. We seek co-existence. But your rights cannot be achieved by denying us ours.
For this is the homeland of the Jewish nation, the only place we have ever been sovereign or sought sovereignty. And what needs writing and saying, most especially on a terrible day like today, is that we will not be driven from it.

Jeffrey Goldberg: Hamas Endorses a Massacre

One of the most shocking aspects of the murderous attack on a Jerusalem synagogue this morning by men with guns and axes is not the attack itself—we've seen, from time to time, this sort of sectarian barbarism take place in places like Jerusalem, and Hebron. The most shocking aspect is the wholesale endorsement of this slaughter by Hamas, a group that, during this summer's war in Gaza, half-succeeded in convincing the world that it wasn't what it actually is: a group with actual genocidal intentions.
According to witnesses, the two attackers entered the synagogue, in the Har Nof neighborhood, and began killing worshipers with pistols and axes. (Both assailants were killed by police, but not before they murdered four worshipers and injured at least six others, including two police officers.)
“To see Jews wearing tefillin [phylacteries] and wrapped in the tallit [prayer shawls] lying in pools of blood, I wondered if I was imagining scenes from the Holocaust,” said Yehuda Meshi Zahav, who leads an emergency-response team, according to The New York Times. "It was a massacre of Jews at prayer.”

Eugene Kontorovich: A Tale of Two Green Lines

Efforts by academic groups to impose boycotts and other kinds of punitive measures on Israeli universities have gotten considerable attention lately. However, an opposite phenomenon has escaped notice: the widespread participation by mainstream universities in programs and collaborations with institutions located in occupied territories.
This may surprise those who recall that Israel’s establishment of Ariel University in the West Bank drew earnest condemnation from academics and even foreign ministries around the world. Yet it turns out that Ariel is not the only graduate-level institution established in what much of the international community considers occupied territory. And the others have gotten a very different reception.
Turkey has established 10 universities and many colleges in Northern Cyprus since seizing the territory in an invasion in 1974. Half of the universities are public, state-run institutions, and several are campuses of major Turkish institutions on the mainland. Some of the universities were established in just the past few years.
The United Nations Security Council, the European Court of Human Rights, and most of the international community have condemned the Turkish takeover of one third of the island of Cyprus. As of this writing, no nation other than Turkey recognizes the “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus” regime by which Ankara controls the territory. Turkey maintains a major settlement program, and settlers from the mainland now account for half or more of the population of the TRNC.