Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

The Arab refugee problem as described in 1967

From LIFE, June 23, 1967:

Nothing has changed, except for the the brilliant propaganda campaign of the past 50 years to blame Israel alone for the Arab world's conscious decision to treat Palestinian Arabs like dirt.

Arab world fumes as Israel adds Holocaust curriculum to Israeli Arab schools

Walla reports that Israel plans to add Holocaust education to Arab schools in Israel. The program will emphasize the topics of Nazi genocide against the Jews.

The Ministry of Education is distributing a complete set of Holocaust materials to students in grades 7-12. The Ministry of Education estimated that due to the sensitivity of the subject is will be implemented gradually

Depending on the curriculum, educators will teach Arab students about Jsef Mengele's infamous "twins" studies and show a video about the Auschwitz concentration camp with subtitles and audio explanations in Arabic. The teachers will direct the students to discuss ethical issues.

The response from the Arab world was immediate.

Egypt's Al Ahram talked about Arab schools are being "forced" to discuss a historical fact - and illustrated the article with this photo equating Hitler with Netanyahu:

Tasnim News Agency says "Israeli authorities claim that the Jews in Germany suffered during World War II a «genocide» with fictional numbers at the hands of the Nazi government headed by Adolf Hitler, in order to gain the sympathy of the international community with the Jews on the one hand, and to intimidate and push them to allow Jews to emigrate to occupied Palestine on the other hand, with access to financial aid to the Zionist entity as compensation from the Germans who allegedly killed them in crematoria, and to cover up the massacres committed by the Zionist occupation authorities against the Palestinian people."

Aqsa TV reports that Secretary-General of the Islamic Christian Commission, Dr. Hanna Issa, warned of the danger of Israel teaching the Holocaust to Israeli Arabs, who he considers under occupation since 1948. He insists that the Palestinian Authority control the curriculum of Israeli Arab schools, complaining, for example, that "occupation authorities aim to indirectly change the minds of Palestinian students, for example by publishing in textbooks book pictures of the Israeli flag."

Al Jazeera calls it "an occupation of Arab schools" quotes a critic as saying that teaching the Holocaust to Arabs is a "violation of civil rights against a national minority in accordance with the international law."

HRW bias shines through in report on Arab child laborers (UPDATES)

Human Rights Watch has released a 74 page report alleging that Palestinian kids are being employed illegally in Jewish-owned farms in the Jordan Valley.

Others have critiqued the report.

NGO Monitor pointed out:

As with many other HRW accusations and publications on Israel, as documented by NGO Monitor, the claims in this publication are entirely unverifiable and based solely on interviews. HRW provides no evidence that it even attempted to confirm any of the claims, many of which quote children, independently. Furthermore, in this instance, the allegations are inherently unverifiable, since there are no permits, pay slips, paperwork, or other documentation for the supposed child workers. Indeed, according to an Israeli official interviewed in in response to HRW’s allegations, “It is a horrific lie. There is no justification for employing children, not just morally and legally but financially as well.”

As the publication’s methodology section makes clear, HRW’s researcher (Bill van Esveld) began with a conclusion condemning Israel, and then sought evidence to persuade the intended audiences, particularly journalists readily influenced by NGO allegations.

UK Media Watch noted:

A 74-page report by HRW on the Israeli use of illegal Palestinian child labor appears to have misled readers by using a photo which actually illustrates the Palestinian use of illegal Palestinian child labor.

(After this was noticed, HRW silently changed the photo on the report.)

Anyway, we cannot believe a word HRW says. As CAMERA reports:

HRW researcher Bill Van Esveld claims that Palestinian children "have no option to work on Palestinian farms. Most of them don't exist anymore."

However, this VOA article from February notes:

According to the Palestinian Agriculture Ministry, there are 1,000 Palestinian farms in the Valley employing 12,000 workers. They produce crops for local consumption as well as for export to Arab countries, Europe and Asia.

How many farms were there in the Jordan Valley under Jordanian rule? We don't know. HRW certainly doesn't even try to find that out. They just say "most of them don't exist."

The bias is, as usual, obvious.

In terms of wages, not to justify paying any kids less than the minimum wage, but HRW claims that " "most earned only 60 to 70 shekels per day." However, according to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, the average wage for Arab farmers working in the West Bank under the PA is 58.2 shekels a day. So the kids, even, when "exploited," make more money than adults working on Arab farms! (h/t Ahron)

In addition, the major role of Palestinian Arab middlemen in hiding the children is buried in the report, in order to ensure that 72 of the 74 pages blame Jews:

Palestinian middlemen who employ children to work for Israeli settler-employers also evade Israeli laws that prohibit children under 15 from working, and that prohibit children from working during school hours. While Palestinians who work in settlement industrial zones or in the construction sector inside settlements must obtain security clearances from the Israeli military to enter the settlements, those who work in agricultural fields can go to work without such permits. According to Z., 19, who has worked in settlements since he dropped out of school in Grade 10, “if you work for a settlement, they check your huwwiya [identification document], but if you work for a farmer, they don’t care.”

S., who was 16 at the time she spoke to Human Rights Watch, said she left school at age 13 because her family needed her to earn money. She worked in Kalia, a settlement, until age 15, when she was fired, along with other members of her family who worked in the settlement. S. did not know whether Israeli labor inspectors ever visited her settlement, but said she hid when on her way to work because of her age. “I would hide under the seats in the [middleman’s] bus on the way [to Kalia] whenever we saw a soldier or security guards, because [the middleman said] I was too young to work,” she said. “Sometimes the soldiers stopped the bus and I told them I forgot my identification card at home. They always let me through.”99 (Israel allows the Palestinian Authority to issue identification documents only to Palestinians aged 16 and above). In some cases, middlemen “employ” their own children.

L., 15, said he dropped out of school when he was 13, in Grade 9, to work in Tomer, where he picked and packed asparagus. “My dad is responsible for me, and for 4 or 5 other people. He has 2 wives and there are 14 people in the family, and me and 3 of my brothers left school to work.” L. said he earned 85 shekels per day – above average – for a six-hour shift beginning at 5:30 a.m. and up to 130 shekels if he worked until 4 p.m. The work required him to bend down low to the ground, which gave him back pains, he said. “I used to spray pesticide but I got a bad allergy in my eyes and had to get eye drops at the pharmacy, so now my dad won’t let me use pesticide.”100

(UPDATE: I had misinterpreted a paragraph about wages in an earlier version of this article, and have deleted my section critiquing it. I regret the error. [h/t Victoria])

UPDATE 2: For some reason, HRW isn't telling us about the worse child labor practices in Israel's neighbors:

Jordan

http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/jordan.htm

Lebanon

http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/lebanon.htm

Egypt

http://www.dol.gov/ilab/reports/child-labor/egypt.htm

And, of course, in the PA as well!

(h/t Ahron)

04/14 Links Pt2: HRW’s Israel Obsession and Allegations of Child Labor; Catch Tuvia Tenenbom!

From Ian:

Catch Tuvia Tenenbom!

He brought up Jibril Rajoub, the senior Palestinian Authority official who was the former head of the Preventative Security Services.
“He’s charismatic, a genius, he’s amazing,” said Tenenbom. “He could have put my image [as Tobi the German] in Google and he’d know who I am. He didn’t do that because we matched and clicked.”
There were some people whom he found more difficult to appreciate, such as Israeli peace activists and European foundation employees. During an interview with an employee of a German foundation, Tenenbom, who felt the group was only pretending to be seeking peace in Israel, said, “Listen to me, why are you doing this? We all know the story, Germany and Israel. Why can’t you be a little more sensitive?”
The book, first released in Hebrew, and later in English, has done well, with many but not all reviewers praising it for its humor and sass, as well as for what Tenenbom sees as its major accomplishment: shedding light on what he considers the true nature of European foundations and their presence in Israel.
“There’s a facade of peace and love but it’s all hate and hate,” he said. “The Europeans hate the Jews, they don’t even know how much they hate the Jews. It’s so embedded in their culture, so ingrained in them and that’s what everybody sees but nobody sees.”

Generations of Palestinian refugees are in Iraq

Palestinians sought refuge in Iraq after the creation of Israel in 1948. At best they were second-class citizens. And since the 2003 US-led invasion, they've been caught in the crossfire of a brutal conflict not of their own making.
Awad's father, Khaled Hamad, would like to return to his native land.
"If Israel said come, I'd throw away my Palestinian nationality and become an Israeli," Khaled Hamad said. "I'm serious."
Salma Mohammad, 21, echoes Awad's sentiments.
"All our lives, from our grandparent to our parents to our children, we've been moving from one place to another," Mohammad said. "We want a future for our children, but there's no future in Iraq." (h/t Yoel)

Palestinian refugee condemns 'life of humiliation'

Ripe for Exploitation: HRW’s Israel Obsession and Allegations of Child Labor

On April 13, 2015, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a 74-page publication under the heading of “Ripe for Abuse: Palestinian Child Labor in Israeli Agricultural Settlements in the West Bank.” According to the press statement, which was copied widely in international media platforms, “Settlement Agriculture Harms Palestinian Children” through allegedly “low wages and ...dangerous working conditions in violation of international standards.”
As with many other HRW accusations and publications on Israel, as documented by NGO Monitor, the claims in this publication are entirely unverifiable and based solely on interviews. HRW provides no evidence that it even attempted to confirm any of the claims, many of which quote children, independently. Furthermore, in this instance, the allegations are inherently unverifiable, since there are no permits, pay slips, paperwork, or other documentation for the supposed child workers. Indeed, according to an Israeli official interviewed in in response to HRW’s allegations, “It is a horrific lie. There is no justification for employing children, not just morally and legally but financially as well.”
As the publication’s methodology section makes clear, HRW’s researcher (Bill van Esveld) began with a conclusion condemning Israel, and then sought evidence to persuade the intended audiences, particularly journalists readily influenced by NGO allegations

From Foreign Policy:

Throughout Gaza, armed groups have stepped up their recruitment. Now, each one — including Hamas’s Qassam Brigades and Palestinian Islamic Jihad — has a female contingent.

No one knows exactly how many female fighters there are in Gaza, but the Nasser Salahuddin Brigade boasts 80 female combatants working in 25-women units. Each unit has female commanding officers, who answer to a male superior. Hundreds of other women also offer support roles.

“We fit the training around our domestic chores,” said Hadifa, 26, her face obscured by a niqab, while cuddling an assault rifle during a midnight meeting at her Gaza City home. She said the women are trained to use sniper rifles, AKs, RPGs, M16s, and also how to drive cars through war zones, how to fight with a knife, and most recently how to capture an Israeli soldier in battle.

Most of the women, like Hadifa, are either married to brigade members or are sisters of the fighters, and were inspired to join the fighting groups after losing several members of their families in the recent wars. It is not hard to see why they would be a military asset: Women have an easier time moving around war zones, due to the presumption that they are civilians. As a result, they can deliver weapons and food to fighters on the front lines with less risk than their male counterparts.

“We also watch the roads, protecting the men as they move,” said Om Adam, 40, the wife of a senior Nasser Salahuddin commander and one of the oldest of the female fighters.

The article also says:

“The war could start any minute,” says Abu Mujahid. “There is a lot of kinetic movement, so all the fighting groups evacuated the bases, we’ve postponed training sessions, and many of the men have moved underground.”

“There are people right now under your feet,” his wiry second-in-command, Abu Saif, 28, adds with a toothless grin.

If there is a new war, you can bet that none of these reporters will mention that women perform military duties when the body count comes in of "innocent women and children."

See also this story from the Times of London last month where they reported that women did fight in Gaza last summer.

J-Street likes to lie in their direct mail

Here is the title and first paragraph of a J-Street email I received asking me to contact my representative to support President Obama:

Time for a war with Iran!

A once-in-a-decade battle is taking shape in our country between proponents of security through diplomacy, and those who think we can bomb our way to peace.

Yep, every critic of an agreement that all but guarantees Iran a nuclear weapon in about the same amount of time it took North Korea to test one is a warmonger, hell-bent on bombing Iran and the resultant barrage of missiles they would shoot at Israeli cities in response.

These are the sort of lies that J-Street must resort to in order to keep its public face as being mainstream.

First night Pesach this year in Australia’s second biggest city, Melbourne, and I attended a seder at the home of dear friends who not so long ago were strangers within Australia’s gate. Most of the adults, even the 30-somethings, had been born in Belarus or the Ukraine. The oldest, in their mid-seventies, have harrowing memories of their families’ flight eastward ahead of the Nazi invaders.

These seniors had been in the vanguard of the exodus of Jews from the Soviet Union in the 1970s, and were the pioneers of a chain migration which brought relatives as late as the 1990s to this land. The total number of such Jews in Australia today is estimated to be 25,000, out of an overall Jewish population of perhaps 120,000.

The first Jews in Australia were a dozen or so convicts who arrived from Britain in 1788 with the First Fleet, and during the nineteenth century most Jews who settled here were of English and German (often anglicised German) origin. In 1841 there were 1183 Jews in Australia (0.57 per cent of the entire Australian population); by 1891 there were 13,809 (0.43 percent) and in 1911 there were 17,287 (0.37 per cent).

A.A. Phillips, a well-known Aussie intellectual born in 1900, recalled that when he was ‘about eleven’ he was

‘struck by the strange improbability that I was an Australian Jew, when it was much more likely that I would have been born an American Christian or a Confucian Chinese. I was aware that there were “millions and trillions” of Americans and Chinese and only a few thousand Australian Jews…. I was not sure whether I was proud of my special rarity or annoyed with God for making me something so peculiar.’

Rarer still were Jews of Russian, Polish or Romanian provenance. Since it was a new Hebrew-language venture, few Jews in Eastern Europe would have read and been tempted by the frequent and positive reports of life Down Under that appeared in the Hamagid – circulating at various places throughout the Pale – penned by an immigrant from Austrian Galicia who had settled in the prosperous goldfields town of Ballarat, in Melbourne’s hinterland. A respected Aussie demographer using naturalisation records of non-British Jews (males only) found that of a total of 6256 who migrated to Australia between the 1830s and 1914, 1162 came from the Russian Empire (which of course until 1919 included Poland, whence 875 had come; a further 140 came from Romania). There were also Eastern European chalutzim who were driven out of Eretz Israel by worsening economic conditions; the total of male Jews from “Palestine” was 60.

These “foreign” Jews were not especially welcomed by the existing Jewish community. With their distinctive garb and speech they were often regarded with disdain. In 1882, the minister of one of Melbourne’s synagogues (himself German-born and a derider of Yiddish as a “jargon”) proposed to the chief secretary of the colony (now state) of South Australia that an agricultural settlement of 300 to 400 young Jewish “artisans and famers” from Russia be permitted there. He incurred the immediate wrath of Jewish communal leaders fearful that such immigrants would drift to the towns, become a burden on communal coffers, and generally reflect badly on the community’s reputation.

When, in 1891, it was rumoured that the Franco-German philanthropist Baron Maurice de Hirsch, founder of the Jewish Colonisation Association, was investigating the possibility of sending 500,000 pauperised Russian Jews to Australia where they would turn themselves into agriculturalists in a settlement of their own, an established Australian Jew reflected a general consensus when he warned in a letter to the London Jewish Chronicle that “the Russo-Jewish incursion with which Australia is threatened is … calculated to bless neither the man that comes nor the land that receives.” Revealing the mindset that led, in 1901, when Australia became a federated nation, to the “White Australia” policy, he observed that an influx of such Russians would be regarded by Australians “as unfavourably as the Chinese cook, the Hindoo [sic] hawker, the Kanaka plantation hand, the Tamil servant, or the Lascar sailor” and added that America’s “negro problem” provided “an eloquent warning”.

In fact, no “group settlement” in Australia, whether of Jews or anyone else, was permitted in Australia then or later: thus however much some Australians, including certain political figures, might support such schemes, all of the several proposals presented from time to time for rural colonies of refugee Jews in Australia were ultimately doomed to rejection by the federal authorities.

As for the “White Australia” policy, immigration officials were empowered to conduct tests in approved European languages to persons arriving at entry ports, and at first Yiddish was not on the approved list. Jews born in Eretz Israel were classified as “Asiatics” to whom certain welfare benefits did not apply; this injustice was felt most keenly in Perth, Western Australia, and to a lesser extent in Melbourne, the cities with the highest numbers of former chalutzim.

One former chalutz fallen on economic hard times who arrived in Western Australia was Eliezer Margolin (1875-1944). Born in Akkerman (Belgorod) not far from Odessa, he had a broad Russian-language gymnasium education. In 1892 his parents moved the family to Rehovot. Relocating in 1902 to Australia and naturalised in 1904, he in 1911 in Collie, a coalmining town in the Darling Ranges, formed the local company of the 1^st Battalion, Western Australian Infantry Regiment, and on the outbreak of the First World War he, like many, many thousands of Australian Jews, who flocked to the colours out of all proportion to their numbers – there was no conscription in this country – was swift to enlist.

He was soon commissioned in the 16^th Battalion, Australian Military Forces, and distinguished himself at Gallipoli – where he met Jabotinsky, joint founder of the Zion Mule Corps – and subsequently. In 1918, when a lieutenant-colonel, he took command of one of three Jewish battalions formed in the British Army to fight the Turks in Palestine – the 39^th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers. He informed his men that “our aim is … the liberation of our homeland” and at Rehovot he was instrumental in the formation of the 40^th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers, which also served under Allenby. Smashing through Turkish lines on the Jordan river Margolin’s battalion captured a town in the Ramleh district, of which he was appointed military governor, the Australian Jewish press proudly noting that he was the first Jew in such a position since the time of the Maccabees. In 1919, when the First Judeans (better known as the Jewish League) was formed he became its commander.

Jabotinsky recalled:

‘”He sits his horse like a Bedouin and shoots like an Englishmen” the Arabs used to say of him. He was a huge, strong, silent man, every inch a soldier, a father and brother to his boys, with a masterly ability for organising …. [I]n May, 1921, Herbert Samuel [High Commissioner of Palestine] appointed him chief of the Jewish half of that mixed Jewish-Arab militia which was one of Samuel’s pet notions. Margolin did not ask for anyone’s permission to bring his soldiers fully armed to Tel Aviv in the very midst of the Jaffa pogrom. For that misdeed he was forced to resign.’

Returning to Australia in 1921, Colonel Margolin was generally viewed, like Sir John Monash, as the beau ideal of the “Aussie Digger” – and proved enduringly popular. At his non-denominational funeral in Perth in 1944 – his ashes were reburied in 1950 at Rehovot – the vice-president of the Western Australian Returned Servicemen’s League observed in an affectionate tribute that Margolin “belonged to that illustrious band of people from overseas who have come to Australia and put more into our social life than ever it was possible to take out of it’”

The same could be said of many other Jews of Russian origin who had migrated to Australia, notably the members of a particular chain migration that began in the late nineteenth century with the arrival of a big, flame-haired operatic bass-baritone named Jacob Lenzer (1858-1921), a native of Kritchev, a shtetl in Mogilev, an easternmost province of the Pale. Expelled from the St Petersburg Conservatorium of Music following the passing of the anti-Jewish May Laws in 1882, he served the East Melbourne Synagogue (”the foreigners’ shul”) as minister from 1888 until his death. He was, wrote a contemporary minister, “a great chazan, whose chazanuth alone is worth a journey to hear … a man qualified to take the lead in any large congregation” who was wasted in his present situation.

Following Lenzer to Australia was his brother, who also became a minister here. Their migration triggered that of their relatives the Slutzkins, who became prominent in Melbourne’s clothing trade; that of further relatives, the Baevski brothers, ensued. Simcha Baevski (1878-1934), more familiar to the Aussie public as Sidney Baevski Myer, began with a successful drapery shop in Bendigo. Shortly before the First World War he opened in Melbourne the celebrated Myer Emporium, which developed into a mighty retailing empire. A noted philanthropist to diverse worthy causes, Myer in 1928 backed the trans-Pacific flight of aviator (Sir) Charles Kingsford Smith. He was a keen lover of music, and an integral part of Melbourne life are the concerts held at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl.

In 1927 Sidney Myer’s cousin Dr Aaron Patkin (1883-1950) migrated to Melbourne, and so too in 1929 did Aaron’s nephew Benzion Patkin (1903-84). Natives of Tatarsk, Smolensk, they had both left Palestine owing to the economic hardship that precipitated the end of the Fourth Aliyah. Aaron, a former barrister and Menshevik, had quit Russia owing to the Bolsheviks’ disavowal of Jewish rights or cultural identity. Author of the Russian Jewish Labour Movement (1947), he was at the forefront of the Australian Zionist movement, and edited The Zionist magazine from 1943 until his death. Benzion was an equally staunch Zionist; his enduring legacy was the foundation of Mount Scopus College, opened in 1949, at one time the largest Jewish day school in the southern hemisphere.

“In Russia we were known as Jews, and in Australia we are known as Russians,” some of my seder companions have been heard to say, with a resigned shrug of the shoulders. They themselves realize that they are as Australian, and as Jewish, as anyone else in what has been affectionately dubbed “the shtetl by the [river] Yarra”. What some of them lacked, through growing up in the Soviet Union, of Jewish knowledge, they have more than made up for by their eagerness to learn from their offspring who, reared in Australia, have given their own children the opportunity to learn Yiddish and Hebrew, and who in some cases are lay leaders of an Orthodox congregation.

It was, of course, Isi Leibler, now of Jerusalem, who in the 1960s first put the issue of the trapped Jews of the Soviet Union on the international agenda. The inspiring story of this struggle for the Refuseniks, and its ultimate triumph, is told in a recently published book by historian Professor Suzanne Rutland and veteran political journalist Sam Lipski: Let My People Go: The untold story of Australia and the Soviet Jews 1959–89 (Hybrid Publishers, Melbourne).

Daphne Anson is an Australian who under her real name has authored and co-authored several books and many articles on historical topics including Jewish ones. She blogs under an alias in order to separate her professional identity from her blogging one.

04/14 Links Pt1: Hamas:‎ We bring our kids up “on love of Jihad and Martyrdom-death”‎

From Ian:

PMW: Hamas:‎ We bring our kids up “on love of Jihad and Martyrdom-death”‎

Hamas does not intend to foster peaceful relations with Israel. Hamas' Ministry of Interior posted a photo on its Facebook page of a little boy, no more than five years old, posing in military uniform and holding an automatic rifle. The text beside the photo explained that children under Hamas rule grow up learning "the love of Jihad" - religious war for Islam - and aspire to die as Martyrs for Allah:
"These are our lion cubs.We have brought them up on the love of Jihad and Shahada (Martyrdom-death)"
[Facebook page of Hamas' Ministry of Interior, April 10, 2015]
Hamas' Ministry of Interior is part of the unity government formed between the PA and Hamas last year. However, in practice, the PA and Hamas have been acting independently in the last few months.

The Middle East Turmoil and Israel's Security

The turmoil in the Arab world is also changing the strategic landscape in the Eastern Mediterranean basin, where elements of radical Islam are gaining control. Tunisia, Libya, Sinai in Egypt, Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Turkey all play host to groups with Islamist tendencies, thereby threatening the currently unrestricted access to this area by Israel and the West.
Approximately 90 percent of Israel's foreign trade is carried out via the Mediterranean, making freedom of navigation in this area critical for Israel's economic well-being. Moreover, its chances of becoming energy independent and a significant exporter of gas is linked to Israel's ability to secure free passage for its maritime trade and to defend its newly discovered hydrocarbon fields, Leviathan and Tamar. These developments require greater Israeli efforts in the naval arena. Indeed, Israel is engaged in building a robust security system for the gas fields and has procurement plans for additional vessels.
As with other parts of the Middle East, the assessment in Jerusalem is that the key factor in the developing regional balance of power is Iran's nuclearization. This would be a "game changer" that only Israel has the capability to prevent. Netanyahu's recent electoral victory left in power the only leader that might have the political courage to order a military strike to obstruct the Iranian progress towards acquiring nuclear weapons. Indeed, his victory was quietly welcomed in the capitals of the moderate Arab states that are terrified of Iran and have little time for Obama. Saudi Arabia and Egypt are good examples.
Accordingly, Israel is watching with growing bewilderment the endeavor of the Obama administration to implement a "grand bargain" with Iran. This puts Jerusalem on an inevitable collision course with its most important ally. Israel continues to benefit from a large reservoir of sympathy among the populace of the United States, and most notably within the Republican controlled Congress.
Yet, while Obama is not popular, as president he can extract heavy costs in the military, diplomatic and strategic arenas. The remaining 22 months until he leaves office must be weathered with minimum damage to the American-Israeli strategic partnership, particularly if Israel chooses to make good on its threat not to allow Iran to become a nuclear power. With this in mind, the American-Iranian nexus is the most dangerous challenge for Israel's national security in the near future.

A recent poll by the Yesodot Center reveals that a vast majority of Israelis prefer either for every religious group be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount at any time, or for there to be separate but equal times for the Mount to be open for adherents of major religions.

Based on a sample of 500 adults, 37 percent agreed that there should be free access to adherents of all religions who wished to pray at the Temple Mount, and another 36% said that specific prayer hours should be established for different religious groups.

Just as many self-described secular Jews supported equal rights for Jews on the Mount as religious Jews who answered the survey.

And practically no one liked the idea of the Muslim Waqf maintaining control over the holiest site in Judaism.

Predictably, this poll has caused a firestorm of criticism in Arab media, with headlines like "Israeli poll urges desecrating Al Aqsa."

The PLO's Department of Jerusalem Affairs denounced the poll, saying that it "supports the storming and desecration of the Jews of the Al-Aqsa Mosque" and that "a large proportion of Jewish extremists are in favor of the establishment of Talmudic prayers inside the Aqsa Mosque."

By the way, the PLO Department of Jerusalem Affairs website is filled with the most bizarre articles warning of "Talmudc rituals" and saying that Israel is waging war on the entire Muslim world because of a couple of Jews walking on the Temple Mount or praying outside one of its gates.

Their "history" of Jerusalem says that it was not considered important by anyone until the Persian Empire took it over at the request of Queen Esther, thereby skipping any mention of Kings David or Solomon even though they are in the Quran.

It would be a different world if NGOs would spend 10% as much effort on reporting on Hamas' role in Gazans' misery as they do falsely blaming Israel.

Today there is another story that NGOs like Gisha will ignore (unless this post embarrasses them into reluctantly mentioning it.)

Hamas just imposed a new tax on fruit in Gaza, demanding 100 shekels per ton of fruit. As a result, Gaza's fruit dealers are not willing to import produce that they will not be able to sell.

20 trucks of fruit are stuck at the Kerem Shalom crossing since yesterday because of this decision.

Hamas has previously restricted imports of fruit directly.

Oxfam and other NGOs lie, blame Israel for restrictions on Gaza rebuilding that don't exist

I mentioned yesterday that a series of NGOs released a report about Gaza that was filled with anti-Israel lies.

Further research using their own sources reveal more examples.

From Oxfam's press release:

Six months since donors pledged $3.5 billion towards Gaza's recovery, many people are worse off and not a single one of the 19,000 destroyed homes has been rebuilt. 100,000 people are still homeless and many are living in makeshift camps or schools.

Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director of Oxfam, said: "The promising speeches at the donor conference have turned into empty words.There has been little rebuilding, no permanent ceasefire agreement and no plan to end the blockade.The international community is walking with eyes wide open into the next avoidable conflict, by upholding the status quo they themselves said must change."

Only 26.8 percent of money pledged by donors six months ago has been released so far. Even when funded, many reconstruction projects have not yet begun due to restrictions on essential material under the blockade.

Tony Laurance, CEO of MAP UK, said: “The world is shutting its eyes and ears to the people of Gaza when they need it most. Reconstruction cannot happen without funds, but money alone will not be enough. With the blockade in place we are just reconstructing a life of misery, poverty and despair.”

If 26.8% of $3.5 billion has been released, and there has been little rebuilding, then what is the money going towards?

This report from the Shelter Cluster tells us, and the numbers show that somehow, tens of thousands of Gazans have managed to rebuild their homes with building materials that we are incessantly told are restricted from entering Gaza.

We see that some of the money has gone to building temporary shelters and providing rent money for Gazans who cannot move into their homes. But we also learn that there are plenty of Gazans who have rebuilt their partially damaged homes.

The report says that 144,000 homes were damaged during the war. Of those homes, nearly half - 70,700 homes - have been fully repaired.

If 49% of the homes have been repaired while the international community has only paid 27% of their pledges, clearly Israeli restrictions are not the bottleneck. In fact:

As of 15 March, over 73,000 individuals requiring ABC materials for shelter repairs have been cleared to purchase materials under the GRM. Of these, over 59,000 homeowners have procured full or partial quantities of their allocated construction material to date.

What about new homes? Why haven't any been completed? The Shelter Cluster tells us the answer to that as well:

Permanent construction of new houses can take several months and would include several stages such as design proposal, building permit approval, mobilisation of contractors and funds, construction and handover of the final build.

The homeowners are receiving the material and cash for rebuilding, but Gaza's bureaucracy is what slows them down, not lack of building materials.

The lying doesn't end there.

There is a real-time page for the Gaza Reconstruction Mechanism that describes exactly what is happening. As of this morning, 87796 beneficiaries are participating in the GRM. Here is their breakdown:

Not a single person is listed as being unable to receive construction material because of Israeli restrictions. 43,000 families have the ability to purchase more building material today but they haven't done so.

Of course, the report doesn't mention that the reason many Gazans have not bothered to rebuild is because they are selling their construction materials on the black market while they take advantage of temporary shelters, some of which can last for years. Some of that material is going to Hamas to build terror tunnels.

Every single NGO that signed onto this report, including major ones like Oxfam, is willingly lying about Israel when they claim that Gazans cannot rebuild.

Here's the list of NGOs behind the lies:

ActionAidAlianzapor la Solidaridad

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)

Asamblea de Cooperaciónpor la Paz (ACPP)

CARE International

CCFD-Terre Solidaire

CCP Japan

Christian Aid

Church of Sweden

Council for Arab-British Understanding

Cooperazione per lo SviluppodeiPaesiEmergenti (COSPE)

DanChurchAid (DCA)

Diakonia

GVC

Handicap International

Heinrich Böll Foundation

HelpAge International

Horyzon - Swiss Youth Development Organization

Japan International Volunteer Center (JVC)

KinderUSA

Medical Aid for Palestinians (Map – UK)

Medicos del Mundo MDM-Spain

Médecins du Monde France

Médecins du Monde Switzerland

Medicos del Mundo MDM-Spain

medico international

medico international schweiz

Mennonite Central Committee

Norwegian Church Aid (NCA)

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA)

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)

Overseas

Oxfam

Première Urgence – Aide MédicaleInternationale

Quaker Council for European Affairs

Rebuilding Alliance

Save the Children

Secours Islamique France

Secours Catholique - Caritas France

Terre des hommes Foundation

Terre des Hommes Italy

The Carter Center

The Kvinna till Kvinna Foundation

The Lutheran World Federation

The Swedish Organization for Individual Relief/ IM - Swedish Development Partner (SOIR)

United Civilians for Peace, Netherlands

The Arabs who fought with the Nazis

We knew about Muslims who were recruited to fight with the Nazis, but some Arab Muslim in North Africa apparently joined Hitler's cause as well.

From YNet:

The Nazis recruited Muslim soldiers to the Wehrmacht during World War II, but did not trust the Free Arab Legion with any major tasks, according to Stefan Petke of the Technical University of Berlin, who says the Arab units did not participate in the extermination of Jews, or guard the labor camps in North Africa.

Petke uncovered rare footage which documents the Nazi army's Arab units, which, he says, were a complete failure in the battlefields of Tunisia in 1943, leading the Nazis to take their weapons and using them as "working soldiers," away from the frontlines.

Ynet spoke to Petke about the role the Free Arab Legion played in World War II and the newly uncovered footage.

(h/t Yoel)

04/13 Links Pt2: Why Hasbara is Necessary; Which British Political Party is the most anti-semitic?

From Ian:

Why Hasbara is Necessary

The director of CAMERA's Washington office, Eric Rozenman, has written a prescient article, "The Theory and Practice of Hasbara" that was published by the Jewish Policy Center in inFocus magazine. Rozenman emphasizes the important role played by Hasbara not only in countering immediate misinformation but in reversing the pervasive influence of the Palestinian narrative that portrays "Zionists as imperialists, Jews as colonialists, and Palestinian Arabs as oppressed, indigenous people."
Rozenman recounts that in September 2000, when the Second Intifada broke out, the Israeli government's media arm was caught flatfooted. Nothing exemplified this more than the Mohammed al-Dura affair. This was the incident where a Palestinian boy was caught on video tape pinned against a wall with his father during a gunfight between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian terrorists and allegedly shot and killed by Israeli fire.
According to Rozenman,
Images of the "martyred" youngster, Mohammed al-Dura, traveled across the globe. They turned up as partial, implicit justification in an al-Qaeda montage of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York City's World Trade Center, in images of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl's beheading and in mass marches in European cities that featured "Down with Israel" and "Death to the Jews" banners.
Much later, after independent examinations cast doubt on the French television account and even whether al-Dura had been present during the firefight, an IDF re-enactment concluded that if any bullets struck the child and his father, they quite likely had been fired by Palestinian gunmen. This was far too late.
Since then, Israel has taken significant steps to improve its response to opposing propaganda. Rozenman describes the "nearly real-time checks instead of indefinite 'we'll get back to you' handling of press queries" and rapid web postings along with utilization of social media releases and battlefield video showing the IDF calling off attacks when civilians were present. In this way anti-Israel charges ranging from exaggerations to inventions were not allowed to "take on lives of their own" in the media.

Columbia Prof. Who Says Zionists Supported Nazis Speaks at Cornell: Israel Has No Right to be Jewish State

Columbia University Professor Joseph Massad, a controversial speaker who in the past has written and spoken about alleged Zionist-Nazi collaboration and the “Anglo-American gay agenda,” delivered a speech at Cornell claiming Israel has no right to exist as a Jewish state, and recognizing it as such is equivalent to recognizing Israel as a “racist state.”
In fact, this claim is a step back from Massad’s previously quoted contention in a 2002 speech at Oxford University that Israel has no right whatsoever to exist: “The Jews are not a nation… The Jewish state is a racist state that does not have a right to exist.”
Massad concluded his speech by remarking: “It is the end of the Zionist colonial adventure, especially the removal of all the racist, legal, and institutional structures that Israel has erected, that is the precondition for lasting… justice and peace for all the inhabitants of Palestine and Israel.”
Massad, a professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History, spoke on Wednesday evening to a crowd of about 35 for an event entitled “Palestinians and the Dilemmas of Solidarity: Is the Two-State Solution Viable?” Cornell Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) sponsored the event.

IsraellyCool: BDS Blumen Fail

Max Blumenthal – the notorious Israel hater, Hamas supporter, toilet stall aficionado, and alcohol smuggler – is an advocate for BDS.
But in his case, it is easier said than done. For Max has created his personal website using Wix.
Made. In. Israel.
Perhaps he got a recommendation for it from fellow BDSholes Code Pink?
Either way, looks like Max found something else to fail at.

AFP says that the West Bank is "blockaded"

AFP, reporting on the latest NGO attempt to slam Israel, writes:

Six months after donors pledged billions of dollars for devastated Gaza, most of the money remains blocked, and reconstruction efforts are painfully slow, a coalition of aid groups said Monday.

The report also condemned the international community for failing to help open the blockaded Palestinian territories up to each other, to broker a lasting ceasefire with Israel and to hold the two sides accountable.

AFP is now claiming (beyond the biased report) that the West Bank and Gaza are both "blockaded."

The word "blockade" has a specific legal meaning, and it routinely used incorrectly in referring to Gaza although Israel does enforce a legal naval blockade of Gaza.

I had missed this one, from Dr. Moustafa El Leddawi, writing in both al-Bayan and Moheet as well as his Facebook page. His profile says he is from Gaza but his timeline on Facebook says he is writing from Beirut.

Palestinians hate the Jewish holiday of Passover, which falls in the month of April according to the ancient Hebrew calendar old. At a time when Jews rejoice, and exchange greetings, and eat and drink blood, and they meet and dance and play, and hold seminars, and hold celebrations, while they sentence the Palestinians to death, and impose on them the siege, and shut their gates and crossings, and impose on them a curfew, and prevent them from traveling and moving, do not allow them to enter or leave, even if they are students or patients...

The suffering and the pain have always been associated with the Jewish Passover holiday, it is an old ritual, and it was their Christian neighbors in the past who suffered and feared the feast of Passover, not wishing to sojourn, and fear what may occur.

The Jews were keen in every holiday to hunt for an immaculate innocent Christian child, who did not know the taste of the wine, and placed them in a barrel of needles, and put underneath a large platter on which to pour the Christian child's blood and to distribute it to large numbers,and then drink four cups of grape wine, and sing to their children, and dancing daughters...

Jews have not forgotten their past bloody deviant rituals; they they used to look for a Christian child to gather his blood, and make from it a pie to rejoice with their children, and their young and their elders ate it; today they killing every Palestinian child, and targeting every boy and girl, killing them in cold blood.

Settlers compete in the mass killing of Palestinian children, in the forms of torture, nothing has changed with the Jews, and none of their habits have changed, Their bitter hatred has taken root and grown...with mechanisms of murder and torture.

There's plenty more, but you get the idea.

(h/t Shawarma News)