Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, September 01, 2015

09/01 Links Pt2: Candidate for UK Labor Leader Campaigned to Free Israel Embassy Bombers

From Ian:

UK Labor Front-Runner Campaigned to Free Israel Embassy Bombers

The man likely to be elected head of the UK's major opposition party, Labor MP Jeremy Corbyn, campaigned in support of two terrorists convicted for bombing Jewish and Israeli targets in London, it has been revealed.
It is just the latest disturbing revelation of the Labor front runner's connection to extremists, including terrorists and virulent anti-Semites.
Corbyn led the campaign to release Palestinian terrorists Jawad Botmeh and Samar Alami, who were convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison for bombing the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish charity headquarters in 1994.
14 people were injured in the embassy attack, while six were wounded in the attack on the offices of the United Jewish Israel Appeal (UJIA) just one day later. Both attacks involved car bombs packed with high explosives.
Botmeh and Alami were found in possession of five pounds of explosives, which investigators say were were used to make the bombs, and a sizable cache of guns. But while they admitted possession of the arms the convicted terrorists protested their innocence, saying they weren't intended for use in the UK. Botmeh even claimed Israel had bombed the sites themselves to gain sympathy.
But a 2001 appeal against their conviction was rejected, with the prosecution noting the "overwhelming" evidence of their involvement in the plot - though their suspected accomplices have never been caught.
Undeterred, Corbyn took up their cause in 2002, signing five early day motions in Parliament between 2002-2006 and calling for their parole, according to the Jewish Chronicle. He called for the pair's release repeatedly, and in 2003 questioned then-Home Secretary David Blunkett over the investigation, suggesting the men had been framed.
His support for the bombers continued after their release from prison as well.

Douglas Murray: Jeremy Corbyn isn’t alone in thinking that Osama bin Laden’s death was ‘a tragedy’

The news that Jeremy Corbyn thought the death of Osama bin Laden ‘a tragedy‘ because he was never put on trial is not very surprising. Nor is it as far-out-there as most of his comments.
I did a BBC Question Time immediately after bin Laden’s death where I got the impression I was the only person in Britain not to feel sad about the terrorist’s death. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown, Paddy Ashdown and most of the audience seemed horrified by the terrorist’s early demise and were most exercised of all over whether or not he had been given an appropriately ‘Islamic’ burial.
Fortunately there was a woman in the audience (in Hammersmith, London) who had been on the Tube on 7 July and had seen people ripped from their lives far more brutally and with far less reason than Osama bin Laden was. But most people in the room were far too high on ‘liberal’ fury to care about that or about commuters murdered on the transport most of them would use each morning.
All of which is to say that people should beware of thinking Corbyn is in a minority on this one. It is possible – I have certainly thought for some time – that a liberal death-wish, as exemplified by weeping over your enemies, is fairly mainstream in our country these days.

Emails Show Blumenthal Pushed Son’s Anti-Israel Activism On Hillary

In response to a tweet from The Daily Caller’s Jamie Weinstein asking the younger Blumenthal if he was an “informal adviser” to Clinton, Blumenthal responded, “I warned her about the danger of #JSIL. She didn’t listen.”
The JSIL (The Jewish State of Israel in the Levant) hashtag on Twitter is the creation of Max and fellow anti-Israel writer, Rania Khalek. The hashtag is meant to compare Israel to the terrorist organization ISIL.
In June 2010, Sid sent Clinton a piece Max wrote about the Gaza-bound flotilla carrying pro-Palestinian activists, which ended in a deadly raid by Israeli commandos after the flotilla refused to turn around when it attempted to break through Israel’s coastal territory.
The incident remains in dispute to this day. In his piece, Max claims that Israel provided no proof the flotilla passengers had terrorist connections and Israeli media was playing along with whatever the Israel Defense Forces told them.
Sid sent Clinton another Max article that attacked Israel over the flotilla incident in June 2010. The piece is titled, “The Flotilla Raid Was Not ‘Bungled.’ The IDF Detailed Its Violent Strategy In Advance.”
A few months later in August, Sid sent Clinton an email with Max’s piece that described Israeli teenagers who spent their summer demolishing Palestinian structures in the Bedouin village of Al-Arakib. Max calls it the “Summer Camp Of Destruction.” (h/t Effect)

Israeli-Palestinian Faceoff - on a Welsh Mountain?

Now that's commitment: When a group of British pro-Israel activist got wind of a fund-raising event for a terrorist-linked charity they decided they had to act.
Dozens had already signed up for the fundraiser for Interpal, a charity which is banned in the US for funding Hamas, but which is still legal in the UK, despite Hamas also being a proscribed terrorist group there.
Hamas is responsible for the murder of thousands of Israelis and the maiming of many more, mostly civilians. Its charter details its commitment to the destruction of the State of Israel and the ultimate genocide of the Jewish people.
Joseph Cohen, founder and leader of the Israel Advocacy Movement, decided to arrange a counter-protest in response. A simple enough task - except the fund-raiser was a hike up the highest mountain in England and Wales, Mount Snowdon.
But that didn't deter the half-dozen Israel activists who, together with Cohen, schlepped all the way from London to Wales for a mountaintop showdown.
They decided the most appropriate response would be to dedicate their own hike to the One Family organization, which helps survivors of terrorist attacks and bereaved families deal with their physical, psychological and emotional wounds.
However, not wanting to tip-off the pro-Palestinian group, they only announced their own fundraiser after the event.

UN Watch ratchets up the pressure on UNRWA

UNRWA's Chris Gunness did not want to get on Hillel Neuer's bad side.

Since Gunness essentially threatened UN Watch on Twitter, Hillel has been nearly as obsessed with proving Gunness is a hypocrite as, well, me.

Yesterday, Neuer was on WSJ video news.slamming Gunness.

"If you promote racism & violence, we're going to land on you like a ton of bricks." WSJ Video http://t.co/J9rYGwzIg1 pic.twitter.com/Vv3fZotrsa
— UN Watch (@UNWatch) August 31, 2015

Today, UN Watch issued another press release based partially on my research:

GENEVA, September 1, 2015 - UN Watch today expressed alarm at Facebook posts by UNRWA officials (see sample below) that openly incite to antisemitism and terrorism, and urged UNRWA chief Pierre Krähenbühl to take immediate action by terminating the officials, and issuing an apology.

“The pattern and practice of UNRWA school principals, teachers and staff members posting antisemitic and terror-inciting images suggests a pathology of racism and violence within UNRWA that must be rooted out, not buried, as UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness has attempted to do by calling for boycotts of newspapers or NGOs that report these incidents of hate,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a non-governmental Geneva watchdog organization.

“The UN must recognize that these disgusting posts, published on Facebook accounts run by people who identify themselves as UNRWA officials, constitute a gross violation of Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits “incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence,” said Neuer.

“Enough of the UNRWA strategy of impunity, denial and deflection. It’s time for the perpetrators to be held to account. They must be fired, immediately.”

Also today, they linked to the video of my interview on Israel's Channel 10 about UNRWA

UNWRA spokesperson Chris Gunness promised to fire UNRWA officials who promote antisemitic violence, a pledge that will be put to the test this week as UN Watch submits detailed evidence of such incitement to the United Nations.

Gunness’ comments were made in response to information documented two weeks ago by the blogger Elder of Ziyon.

Gunness’ comments, recorded at 4:00 in the video above, from August 19, 2o15:

If there are allegations, and if this is true, it is indeed a very big problem, and we will deal with it. Where we find credible allegations of neutrality violations among our staff, we investigate and where it’s appropriate we take disciplinary action, up to and including dismissal. And that process is audited by our major donors, with the United States and the European Union who are the biggest suporters of Israel on the international stage.

Which clearly UNRWA isn't doing, nor do they have any intention of doing that unless forced to by public pressure.

Which means that UNRWA does not take these allegations seriously at all.

I'm working on other angles to publicize UNRWA's hypocrisy, but meanwhile the independent petition to investigate Gunness keeps on adding signatures.

From Newsweek Europe:

Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas is constructing a $13 million palace in the West Bank, despite the country being crippled by financial woes.

The project, titled the Presidential Guest Palace in Surda, Ramallah, is listed as an ongoing project on the official website of the Palestinian Economic Council for Development & Reconstruction (PECDAR). It is due to take two years to complete, though the project's start date is not clear from the website.

The complex will include a 4,700-square-metre guest palace and two helipads, as well as a 4,000-square-metre administrative building. It will be constructed over a total land area of 27,000 square metres. PECDAR said on the website that the project will be financed by the Palestinian Ministry of Finance.

The objectives of PECDAR, as listed on its website, include "coordinating the flow of international assistance for the benefit of the Palestinian people" and "identifying investment projects and other activities to be financed by the donor countries." It is accountable to a Board of Trustees, headed up by President Abbas. Most of the other ongoing projects listed on PECDAR's website are being funded by foreign donors, including a $4.5 million drug warehouse in Nablus being funded by the French government and a $7.2 million judicial court complex in Hebron, funded by the Government of Canada.

PECDAR was not immediately available to comment on the purpose of the palace and how it would benefit Palestinian people.

JTA quotes Haaretz, however, as saying that the palace is being paid for by donations, not the Palestinian Authority.

I find that a bit hard to believe and the PEDCAR page for the palace itself says no such thing (at the moment.)

This is not the most expensive project on the PEDCAR page that is being paid for by the general PA budget. They are also building a $15 million national garden.

(h/t MtTB)

09/01 Links Pt1: Gazan Terrorist Training Camp for Girls are Child Abuse; Matisyahu to play Jerusalem

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: Turning Refugee Camps into Weapons Warehouses

Most of the Palestinian camps in Lebanon and Syria have long served as large weapons warehouses controlled by various militias belonging to different groups. This has been happening while the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), which is formally in charge of the refugee camps, continues to look the other way.
The 120,000 Palestinians living in Ain al-Hilweh are "unfortunate" because they are not being targeted by Israel. Otherwise, there would have been an international outcry and the UN Security Council would have held an emergency session to condemn Israel and call for an immediate cessation of hostilities. Instead, Ain al-Hilweh may soon fall into the hands of Al-Qaeda and Islamic State terrorists.
The Syrian Army has also been dropping barrel bombs on the camp almost on a weekly basis. But because Israel cannot be blamed, Palestinians killing Palestinians is not something that the international media and community are interested in.
Instead of admitting their responsibility for turning the camps into military bases, Palestinian leaders often prefer to blame others, preferably Israel, for the plight of their people.

Israeli Terror Expert: Training Camps for Girls in Gaza Another Form of Palestinian Child Abuse

Where women are concerned, it is even more complicated, she explained. “Palestinian society is patriarchal. As soon as women are separated from the clutches of their fathers and brothers, and sent to participate in resistance activities, the family unit gets undermined. This is destroying the entire fabric of Palestinian society – a price its leaders ought to be aware of.”
She continued: “Using girls in the fight against Israel is a tactic. Terror leaders accomplish several things by pushing women and children to the front lines of combat. First of all, the West will always view women and children as non-combatants. This is why they are often used as shields for the men. We have seen this in violent demonstrations in the West Bank and Gaza, where the men literally hide under the skirts of females. We saw it this week in the viral video of the IDF soldier being attacked by a group of females – even bitten by a girl – while he was trying to stop a Palestinian boy throwing rocks at Israeli soldiers.
“Any wounds sustained by women and children are automatically viewed in the West as war crimes committed by Israel, when in fact, the crime against these women and children is being committed by the leaders of their society – who raise them to know nothing but hate – and by the terror masters, who treat them like cannon fodder.
“In this ongoing war, what we call non-combatants are actually combatants, because terror tunnels extend from their homes, which also serve as weapons caches; and women and children are their ultimate weapons, because the West sees them as innocents.”
Referring to the summer army camp for girls, Berko said it is part of the wider campaign of Hamas and other groups to take advantage of and manipulate the population. “It is the socialization of kids through terror,” she said. “It is child abuse, plain and simple. But where is the international outrage about it?”

WATCH: Terrorists seek funds to bomb Golden Gate Bridge in anti-Iran bill campaign

In an imaginative effort to illustrate the potential dangers of the nuclear deal with Iran which is up for congressional approval in September, a viral video campaign has been launched depicting a mock crowdfunding video in which Iranian-backed terrorists ask for money to carry out terror attacks against the US.
In the YouTube clip released Monday by NGO Shurat Hadin, three suicide terrorists with "innovative" new ideas about attacks against America, including a plan to bomb the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, ask for funds from the American people to finance their attacks - "or you can just support the Iran nuclear deal," the lead terrorist says.
Shurat Hadin argues with the clip that by approving the Iran deal, the US Congress will allow 100 billion dollars to flow to Iran, which will then be used to fund their worldwide support for terror.
According to Shurat Hadin, the video garnered 90,000 views in the first 12 hours after its release. (h/t Yenta Press)

KillStarter – Crowdfunding Iranian Terror

UNRWA teacher emasculates men for not being violent enough against Israel

From the Facebook page of Tahani Jamal, UNRWA English teacher :

The quote says:

"A woman carried a weapon. People asked her: 'Where is your femininity?' She said: 'It went looking for your manhood.'"

Given that this was posted last summer, the message is that the men in Gaza were not doing a good enough job and women must join in to fight Israel.

She has other similar messages.

How many more examples do I need to show of UNRWA teachers expressing opinions that should get them disciplined or fired, according to UNRWA's own statements?

I have plenty more.

The prejudice that the world wholeheartedly supports

Jews who believe in their right to live in their ancestral lands are vermin.

That is the only conclusion you can draw from several stories in Arab media today.

The first:

Dozens of Palestinians were hurt in clashes that broke out Tuesday after a group of Jewish settlers took over a building in Silwan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem, a local monitoring group said.

The Wadi Hilweh Information Center said in a statement that the group settlers, under have army escort, took over an empty building in the Batan al-Hawa area of the neighborhood.

The Jews didn't evict any Arabs from the building that they legally bought. But, to Arabs, it is better that an building remain empty and fall into ruin than have those subhuman Jews move into it.

The second:

A settlers’ car was burned on Friday night after Molotov Cocktails were thrown towards the vehicle in Al-Khilweh Street in the village of Al-Tur.

If you want to get rid of vermin, you must destroy anything associated with them.

The people who reported this are proud that they openly hate Jews. Because who likes vermin?

The third:

Jordan is working on the highest levels to halt the Israeli continuous violations against AlAqsa Mosque namely a plan to impose a schedule to allow Jewish prayer at the site, said a Palestinian top official Monday, KUNA reported.

Speaking to Palestinian radio, Secretary at the Executive Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organization
(PLO) Saeb Erekat said that the meeting between Jordanian King Abdullah II and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas yesterday touched on Jordan's highlevel efforts to discourage Israel from carrying out the plan.

This supposed plan is an Arab rumor, but that is enough for two purported heads of state to discuss in order to ensure that Jews have no rights to pray (or, to their preference, to breathe) on their holiest spot.

Equal rights only applies to human beings, and Jews who want to visit the site of their Temples are obviously not at that level.

The fourth:

The Services Department for Cultivation in the Hebron Directorate, in cooperation with the customs officer, destroyed quantities of grapes from Israeli settlements found in the central vegetable market in Hebron.

Regular illegal goods might be sent over to the poor or to orphans, but grapes that have been touched by the Jew vermin must be destroyed, because they are infested with the association with Jews.

Human rights groups will bend over backwards to ensure that the most depraved people on Earth are treated like human beings. They will "courageously" defend the worst terrorists from being treated unfairly. Even when the victim's belief systems are abhorrent, these NGOs will ensure that there is pressure to stop them from being harassed, tortured, or otherwise treated as less than human.

But not one supposedly liberal, progressive NGO will defend the human rights of Jews who dare believe that they should have equal rights in the land of their forefathers. No one will support Jewish rights to pray in their holy spots. No one will defend the rights of Jews to legally buy or build houses in the one part of the world that is most important to them. In this one unique case, their hate for these particular Jews trumps their supposed care about equal rights for all human beings.

There are no human rights organizations "courageous" enough to separate their hate for the politics of "settlers" from their universal human rights. Alone among all the people of the world, these Jews do not deserve protection.

The media similarly will not cover this rabid hate that most Arabs have for Jews who take their religion seriously. Arab antismeitism is known, understood - and kryptonite for the mainstream media. Because by mentioning that many Arabs hate Jews with such venom, that makes Arabs look bad - and that is hardly fair, is it? We must be sensitive to their feelings, after all!

So Jews will be harassed, firebombed, shot and stoned or the crime of living. The world community does not want the Jewish victims of these crimes to be considered deserving of basic human rights. Sympathy for them is simply nonexistent.

Because they are vermin, not human.

Hillary and her team are fans of Max Blumenthal, Peter Beinart, J-Street

The Hillary Clinton emails that were just released show that she and her team are far more to the left, and far more interested in promoting the leftist J-Street view of Israel, than she lets on publicly.

Hillary was thrilled with Max Blumenthal's book "Republican Gomorrah," writing on September 11, 2009, "I just finished the book and it is great!."

Blumenthal's father, Sidney, often shared Max's articles with Hillary, including "The Great Islamophobic Crusade" where Blumenthal began his career of conflating all evils of the world to Jews and Zionists, blaming them for anti-Islamic initiatives and then moving on to pretend that all Jews in Israel support murdering Arabs for no reason. Hillary asked her staff to "Pls print for me."

Sid also recommended to her Peter Beinart's article, "The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment," saying

H: I'm sure you are preoccupied with the adventures of Lula, et al. Nonetheless, the article below, just posted by the NY
Review, soon to be published, is a breakthrough piece that will have a large impact. It's worth reading, not least for Frank
Luntz's poll numbers. The hysterical tone of much of the Israeli leadership and US Jewish community is partly rooted in
this long-term and profound development. Sid

Sid also pushed hard the idea that American Jews are against the Israeli government, as another Sid Blumenthal memo says:

March 23, 2010
For: Hillary
From: Sid
Re: US Jewish and Israeli public opinion
Three new polls released: from AVO07 (all US), J Street (US Jews), and Ha'aretz (Israelis). I've
sent Lauren the whole J Street poll to print out for you; its internals are the most detailed,
relevant and suggestive. My reading of that poll is that the administration is in a pretty good spot
with US Jewish opinion and that the drag (about 10 points, I think) has less to do with the Middle
East and Israel than with the economy. Jewish opinion is far more solidly supportive of the
administration generally than the general population (except minorities). Those adamantly
opposed to the administration stance on Israel are preconceived to be against; they are
predictable, a minority of the US Jewish community and have reached their natural limits. The
institutional US Jewish position backing Bibi and against the administration does not have
majority support among Jews.

Sid also recommended that Hillary tell AIPAC that they are too right wing:

For: Hillary
From: Sid
Re: AIPAC speech
This memo does not address specific policy initiatives.
What I've written are options. Use what you like, or none at all. Here are some ideas:

1. Hold Bibi's feet to the fire, remind everyone he was at Wye, his key participant event in
the peace process, and that it was successful.

2. Reassure all players of our commitment to the process and the solution (whatever the
language is).

3. Perhaps most controversial, I would argue something you should do is that, while
praising AIPAC, remind it in as subtle but also direct a way as you can that it does not
have a monopoly over American Jewish opinion. Bibi is stage managing US Jewish
organizations (and neocons, and the religious right, and whomever else he can muster)
against the administration. AIPAC itself has become an organ of the Israeli right,
specifically Likud. By acknowledging J Street you give them legitimacy, credibility and
create room within the American Jewish community for debate supportive of the
administration's pursuit of the peace process. Just by mentioning J Street in passing,
AIPAC becomes a point on the spectrum, not the controller of the spectrum. I suggest a
way how to do this below.

1. On US national security interest, Israel's security and the peace process:
The reason the US has always supported Israel since the moment President Harry S. Truman
decided to recognize the State of Israel is that it is in the US national security interest and
consistent with our values. It is in our interest to support a thriving democracy in the Middle East
Only through the marketplace of ideas will sound policies to help resolve complicated and
seemingly intransigent problems be developed. This administration values everybody's views.
They are important. You are important. We welcome views across the spectrum, from AIPAC to
J Street. All these views are legitimate and must be heard and considered.

There's also a Martin Indyk email forwarded to Hillary that blames Bibi for not extending his 2010 settlement freeze, without a negative word about Mahmoud Abbas for refusing to negotiate:

From: Martin Indyk [mailto
Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 8:59 AM
To: George Mitchell; Feltman, Jeffrey D
Subject: Dealing with Netanyahu
The principle conclusion from a quick visit to Israel and Ramallah over the weekend is that Netanyahu is in a strong
position politically, with an unusually stable ruling coalition. Nobody I spoke with believed that the government would
have fallen if he had decided to extend the settlement freeze before its expiry, as a gesture to U.S. peacemaking efforts.
In their view, he could have easily garnered the support of a large majority of the people, for whom the settlers are a
marginal concern. And this would have given him leverage over his ministers to ensure their support or abstention in
the cabinet. ..

3. As his friend, paint a realistic picture of the strategic consequences of his negotiating tactics, particularly in terms of
what is likely to happen to the PA leadership if he worries only about his politics and not at all about Abu Mazen's
politics.
4. If all else fails, avoid recriminations in favor of a "clarifying moment." The world will of course blame Bibi. But you
should avoid any kind of finger-pointing in favor of a repeated commitment to a negotiated solution and a willingness to
engage with both sides in trying to make that happen, when they're ready. The Israeli public and the American Jewish
Community should know how far the President was prepared to go and they should be allowed to draw their own
conclusions

Based on the relatively narrow timeframe of last night's email dump the overall tone is that Israel is obstinate and not interested in peace, the Zionist American Jewish community must be marginalized, the Palestinians are victims and not responsible for any of their actions, and that Hillary must still publicly cultivate the AIPAC crowd while working behind the scenes to undermine it. Haaretz is liberally quoted but no conservative analysis about Israel ever reached Hillary's eyes through her handpicked, trusted advisers.

(h/t Babylonian Hebrew)

08/31 Links Pt2: Is the money given to Palestinian leaders helping?; Israel’s Happiness Revolution

From Ian:

Is the money we are giving Palestinian leaders helping?

Over the last 20 years there have been many stories of where the money goes that international donors give out to Palestinian leaders in the West Bank and Gaza. Whilst I would love to tell you that the money is spent on the wellbeing of the Palestinian people it is often spent on Palestinian officials, their corrupt habits and often worse terrorism.
For instance, in the last 20 years the Americans have invested $4.5 billion to promote Palestinian democracy in the West Bank and Gaza, as revealed by Palestinian Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah during a meeting with Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the Majority Leader of the U.S. House of Representatives. $4.5 billion is probably a conservative estimate as it excludes the significant amount of money which has gone into the Palestinian Authority’s (PA) coffers since its creation in 1994, with Palestinian economists estimating the PA has received around $25 billion in financial aid from the U.S. and other countries since then. In 2013, the level of corruption was so bad that even the EU admitted that the PA had somehow lost 2.5 billion euros in aid from 2008-2012.
In terms of success bringing about democracy through the money lavished on it, the PA is right up there with attempts to bring back the dodo from extinction. It is an incredibly naive enterprise considering there is little chance of free assembly in the West Bank or Gaza, an independent judiciary is not on the cards any time soon, press freedom seems a pipe dream, and a functioning democratic Parliament is non-existent. That’s not to exclude, at the top of the Palestinian pyramid, leaders who seem as likely to relinquish power democratically as a baby is likely to stop wanting milk.

MEMRI: Hizb Al-Tahrir Preachers Incite Against West, Israel, Jordan, PA At Al-Aqsa Mosque

An examination of sermons and lectures delivered at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in recent months, particularly by members of Hizb Al-Tahrir, reveals increasing militancy and rampant incitement not only against Israel and the West but also against Jordan, Arab countries, and even the Palestinian Authority. As all these elements become targets for religious belligerence, it seems questionable whether any of the political players that claim any kind of sovereignty over this potentially explosive compound have the political will to exercise their claimed authority and quell the incitement.
Of the various Islamic organizations that hold religious and political activities at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Hizb Al-Tahrir is undoubtedly one of the most active. Movement members deliver lectures and sermons and teach classes on Islam at the mosque throughout the week. In addition to these addresses, which are usually attended by dozens, Hizb Al-Tahrir holds mass rallies in Al-Aqsa that are attended by tens of thousands.

Douglas Murray: Has Jeremy Corbyn ever bothered to speak to ‘the other side’?

Likewise if the future Labour leader really has been involved in a peace process in the Middle East rather than shilling for Hamas and co, can anyone find any occasion when he has gone to pay homage to the heads of any settler movements in the West Bank? There must be some? Pictures of him shaking hands with them, invitations to them to speak in Parliament, videos of him describing them as ‘friends’ and so on? Surely at the very least he will have had meetings with political figures to the right of Netanyahu in the Israeli Knesset? There must be some record of these?
And if Jeremy is indeed concerned about remembering the people killed by all sides in the Middle East conflicts then surely he can’t only be interested in those killed by Jewish paramilitaries during the 1948 War of Independence. Certainly he appears keen to attend memorials for them, but is there any record of him attending events to remember the Jews massacred by Palestinians during the same period? Recently there were some memorials for the medical staff murdered by Arabs in the Hadassah medical convoy massacre . Was Jeremy Corbyn at any of these memorials? It would be very good to know if he was. Otherwise, again, people might think Jeremy’s memorialising has been a little selective, not to say partisan.
And as for inter-faith. This is Jeremy Corbyn’s reason for meeting with some of the most rancid anti-Semites on the planet. So I assume he can also point to meetings with the most viciously anti-Muslim and anti-Arab pastors and rabbis anyone can locate. Fred Phelps for instance must have been into meetings with Jeremy Corbyn. And I imagine Pastor Terry Jones must have been called into a session or two before he tried to torch some Qurans? Meir Kahane has been dead for some years now. But surely before he was shot there are some records of inter-faith meetings between him and Jeremy Corbyn?
Somebody must be able to find these, surely? I know that if I were a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn’s then I would make digging out the photos of these meetings an absolutely top priority. Wouldn’t you?

Rouhani's comedy act continues

The dude is hilarious.

Israel Afraid of Votes, Prefers Terrorism: Iran’s President

TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Zionist regime of Israel is afraid of ballot boxes, because it knows that terrorist inclinations, in every shape, lack public support, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said.

Terrorist activities, carried out either by organizations, regimes or bigots with false beliefs, have one thing in common, that is, lack of public support, Rouhani said in an address to the Second International Congress of 17,000 Iranian Terror Victims, in Tehran on Monday.

“Those (terrorist) individuals and groups have no popularity among the nations,” he stressed, adding that they cannot win people’s votes, which is why the Zionist regime of Israel is afraid of ballots and prefers intimidation and terrorism.

Terrorists have a great fear of votes and view their demise in ballot boxes, the president stated.

...Elsewhere in his remarks, the president reaffirmed Iran’s support for counterterrorism efforts.

He reassured the countries that grapple with the scourge of terrorism, such as Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Yemen, of Iran’s continued support and backing for the oppressed.

Rouhani further stressed that Iran has been a victim of terrorism backed by Western powers and the Zionist regime of Israel.

Yes, someone who was one of eight handpicked approved candidates for election out of 680 registered candidates is lecturing Israel about democracy.

The president of the nation behind Hezbollah and numerous terror attacks worldwide, who funds terrorist groups, is lecturing Israel about being terrorist.

Rouhani says that people don't vote for terrorists when Hamas won the last Palestinian elections.

He should start a sitcom.

British columnist Oliver Kamm succinctly stated in a worth-reading recent article in the Jewish Chronicle concerning Jeremy Corbyn and the Corbynistas: “The left now tolerates bigotry and embraces terror …. It's no longer possible to assume that a declared progressive will defend free speech, secularism, women's rights, homosexual equality, cosmopolitanism and the spread of scientific inquiry. Those are the values that cause me to admire Israel – a nation whose pluralist ethos will be fulfilled when there is an eventual two-state solution with a sovereign Palestine. Yet now we have a left that tolerates bigotry, allies with theocratic reaction, embraces terror groups and espouses irrationalism.” (http://www.thejc.com/comment-and-debate/columnists/142780/corbyns-deplorable-allies)

Australia’s most-read columnist and scourge of the Left Andrew Bolt, as usual pulling no punches, has observed during this past week: “There is now something close to panic in Europe…. Europe has not had so many refugees since World War II, but this time the danger is greater, since many come from cultures and a faith so alien and sometimes hostile. That danger is real. The Charlie Hebdo terrorists were sons of Algerian immigrants; the jihadist who tried to shoot up the Paris-Amsterdam train last week was from Morocco; immigrant areas of Paris and Sweden’s Malmo are repeatedly rocked by riots; and some 4000 Europeans, mainly the children of immigrants, have joined the Islamic State… Unless the Islamists are stopped, millions more refugees will join this invasion of Europe, including parents of tomorrow’s jihadists. And after a decade or two of that, how safe will Europe be for Europeans — and us? Already Jews are fleeing France and Sweden for the comparative safety of Israel. The stakes have got much higher. Defeating the Islamic State is critical” (http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/opinion/this-is-a-war-we-must-win-quickly/story-fnj45fva-1227500080892)

But try telling this to the Left, even left-wing Jews. There is something particularly pernicious about the “progressive” Jews – whether progressive in a political or religious sense – when they argue, as many do, for open borders regarding this “refugee” influx.

In its statement of purpose, an Israel-bashing British group of “as-a-Jews” calling itself Independent Jewish Voices (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Independent_Jewish_Voices) makes, inter alia, the curious claim: “There is no justification for any form of racism, including … Islamophobia, in any circumstance.” A curious claim indeed, given that Islam is not “a race” and given that there are women and at least one prominent gay among the signatories, all of whom must surely be aware of the trespasses against females and against gays that are often committed by Islamic regimes, Islamic families, and Islamic persons in the name of Islam.

I know of at least one of those signatories who has admitted that coming together with other Jewish and Jew-ish critics of Israel has been his first and only “Jewish communal” activity, while another, the offspring of a mixed marriage, was raised an Anglican and has been described wryly as “an occasional Jew”.

Truly unhelpful is the statement emanating a fortnight of so ago from 200 British Jews, including 20 rabbis, which castigated the Cameron government’s necessarily harsh response to the Calais crisis (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/jewish-community-leaders-speak-out-against-governments-calais-refugee-policy-10450367.html) “Many of us in the Jewish community are appalled by the UK’s response to the ongoing situation in Calais,” said the letter (http://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/your-response-to-migrant-crisis-is-appalling-british-jews-tell-cameron-a2487361.html), sent from the Jewish Council for Racial Equality (JCORE). “Our experience as refugees is not so distant that we’ve forgotten what it’s like to be demonised for seeking safety.” This week Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond described migrants attempting to cross over to Britain as “marauding”. Last week about 200 tried to storm the Channel Tunnel, while hauliers say drivers have been threatened by stowaways. Britain has paid for a £7 million security fence. The letter said: “People fleeing conflict and persecution are not to blame for the crisis in Calais; neither is our welfare system, nor the French government. Above all, we in the UK are not the victims here; we are not being invaded by a ‘swarm’.” The Jewish leaders said refugees were usually seeking a safer society and were not attracted by benefits. Britain accepted almost 10,000 predominantly Jewish children from Nazi Germany, Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland in 1938 and 1939. Among those saved were artist Frank Auerbach, now 84, and Labour peer Lord Dubs, 83. Dr Edie Friedman, executive director of JCORE, said: “The Jewish refugee experience is still a vivid memory for many in our community. The Government’s failure to even consider helping those fleeing conflict and persecution today shames us as a nation. Rather than shut ourselves off from the world, it is vitally important that we work with the rest of Europe to create safe and legal routes for refugees to claim asylum.” Since June, nine people have died in the Channel Tunnel while attempting to gain access to the UK. However, 2,000 have died in the Mediterranean trying to enter Europe by sea. Rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner said: “No country has a perfect record on immigration. No country could do, such is the complexity of the issue and the lives of those it affects.’ (See also this nice but naive statement by Liberal rabbis (https://jcoreuk.wordpress.com/2015/07/22/rabbis-call-for-government-re-think-on-cuts-in-aid-for-asylum-seekers/).

The letter creates a false analogy between the refugees from Nazi persecution and the hordes of economic migrants, including thousands and thousands of testosterone-fuelled young single men from benighted lands attempting to reach Britain illegally today, as pointed out in by several commenters blow the line in the Evening Standard’s report. To quote just one commenter: ‘I am Jewish and wish to disassociate myself from the 200 Jews who have signed JCORE’S letter suggesting that the Prime Minister’s handling of the Calais migrant crisis is “appalling”. You quote (12 August) Dr Edie Friedman, Director of JCORE, as suggesting that the government has “failed to even consider helping those fleeing conflict and persecution”. The truth is that the refugees in Calais are a mixture of asylum seekers and economic refugees. The problem of migration is a global one and no Western country accepts unlimited migration. In the US the “progressive” Obama administration has removed around 2 million “illegal aliens” and Germany is in the process of removing 94,000 asylum seekers. JCORE seems to suggest that the government grants no asylum applications at all. The truth is that some 8,000 were granted in 2014. JCORE also appears to imply that all Jews who wanted a refuge in the UK from Nazi persecution in the 1930s and 1940s were accepted. This is far from the case, as historians … have shown.”

And then, as one perceptive non-Jewish commenter has observed, with admirable brevity and sound common sense, the signatories are "Licking the Hand That Would Cut Their Throats”.

08/31 Links Pt1: Gazans Fleeing to Israel; DNC chair blocks support for Iran nuclear deal

From Ian:

Report: Gazans Fleeing to Israel, Risking Death to Escape Hamas Oppression

A growing number of Palestinians are fleeing the Gaza Strip for Israel, Israeli news site nrg reported on Sunday.
According to the report, the reason for the exodus is the oppressive rule of terror group Hamas, which has controlled the coastal enclave since 2007.
The number of Gazans attempting to make the move has steadily risen since Israel’s 50-day war against Hamas terrorists last summer, dubbed Operation Protective Edge, nrg said. When apprehended by Israeli authorities, the absconders told interrogators about their poor living conditions and the repressive Hamas regime.
The IDF interrogations revealed that the refugees are even willing to risk going to prison — or being killed by security forces mistaking them for terrorists — due to widespread hunger and fear of Hamas.
The fugitives also said that Hamas was acting to prevent the exit of Palestinians from Gaza into Israel, for fear they will become Israeli collaborators. They explained that since the establishment by Hamas of an administrative route near the border fence with Israel, which is guarded by Hamas fighters, they are forced to crawl under the fence, to avoid being caught and executed.

'Big embarrassment for Obama' as DNC chair blocks support for Iran nuclear deal

Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz blocked a resolution that would have backed U.S. President Barack Obama's Iran nuclear deal, which curbs Iran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief, The Washington Post reported Saturday.
Citing "knowledgeable Democrats," the paper reported that during the party's summer meeting, Wasserman Schultz had prevented a vote on a resolution seeking to put the national committee on record as supporting the nuclear agreement between Iran and six world powers, ahead of a crucial vote in Congress that will seal its fate.
A CNN panel described the incident as the "president's big embarrassment."
"The Obama-controlled DNC could not pass a resolution this weekend expressing support for President Obama's Iran deal," New York Times reporter Jonathan Martin said during the panel debate. "It's a bit of an embarrassment for the administration seeing as it's his party; he appointed Debbie Wasserman Schultz, and it's revived the sort of latest round of eye-rolling among Democratic operatives about the state of the party."
CNN host John King said Martin was being diplomatic, saying it was a "big embarrassment for the president."
"We wanted to show support for the president," James Zogby, the co-chair of the DNC's Resolutions Committee, told The Washington Post. "We found that the best way to show support was a letter that members would sign on to, and the overwhelming majority of DNC members signed onto the letter."

Republican Senators: Filibuster on Iran Would Be a 'Gift'

Republicans intend to “hammer” Senate Democrats next month if they do not allow a vote on a measure disapproving President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, according to The Hill.
Republicans, who oppose the deal unanimously, need the support of six Democrats to break a filibuster by Democrats, while the deal's supporters need 41 Senate votes to block the measure of disapproval. So far, 30 Senate Democrats have committed to voting in favor of the Iran agreement, and only two Democrats have broken ranks.
If the resolution is filibustered, it would be a major victory for the White House, which wouldn’t have to resort to a presidential veto to keep the Iran deal alive.
However, opponents of the deal warned that Senate Democrats would pay a political cost for such a move.
“Democrats will be setting themselves up for a further political hit if they deny the people the opportunity —the people meaning members of Congress — to vote on it,” said Allen Roth, the president Secure America Now, which opposes the Iran agreement. “I think it’ll be handing a political gift to the Republicans.”

GOP Senator: States Can Undo Iran Deal Damage

Republican Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma has co-authored an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal urging individual US states to widen sanctions against Iran even as the White House and Congress undo their sanctions against the rogue Islamist republic.
President Barack Obama’s deal with Iran “welcomes Iran as a participant in the world community conditioned only on marginal changes to its nuclear program. It effectively allows Iran to maintain technology that would lead to a nuclear weapon, as well as continue its human-rights abuses, sponsoring of terrorism, imprisoning of American hostages, and threats to American allies, including Israel,” writes Inhofe, in an article co-signed by Scott Pruitt, Oklahoma’s attorney general.
“Fortunately,” the two write, “the U.S. states have the power to limit these threats, if they all choose to use it.” They justify this by noting that it was Obama who chose to turn the major international accord as an executive agreement, rather than as a treaty, “in order to evade the Constitution’s requirement of two-thirds approval by the U.S. Senate for enactment.” Since Obama skirted the people’s representatives in Congress – “the people, through the states, may come to their own decisions regarding sanctions on Iran.”

Pressure increases on UNRWA to act responsibly

The more you look at Chris Gunness, UNRWA's spokesperson, the worse he appears.

I have been proving that Gunness lied on Israeli TV when he claimed:

Where we find credible allegations of neutrality violations among our staff, we investigate and where it's appropriate we take disciplinary action up to and including dismissal. And that process is audited by our major donors.

Yet there is no evidence of UNRWA ever taking the many, many examples I have uncovered of UNRWA staff bias, support for terror, antisemitism, and pro-Hitler comments seriously. On the contrary, all we have seen is lots of attempts at obfuscation, coverups and more baldfaced lies by trying to distance UNRWA from its own employees. Gunness cares about UNRWA's reputation, to be sure, but he doesn't give a damn about the hate that is endemic in the agency itself.

And neither does his boss, Pierre Krähenbühl.

But pressure is starting to build up against Gunness, and Gunness is starting to act erratically as a result. in just the last week he lashed out at UN Watch and NGO Monitor, asking his fellow Israel-haters to help him find dirt on those organizations. He gave friendly PR advice to someone who calls Israelis "ZioNazis." (He removed that tweet after I slammed him for it, without apology or explanation.)

Now, there are new efforts to remove Gunness from his position.

A petition was started on Saturday night for the UN to investigate Gunness.

Unfortunately, UNRWA has fallen prey to increasingly polarized and biased rhetoric, pushed more and more often by its own spokespersons. While Israel has raised concerns about Mr. Gunness in the past [2], there has been no action taken to ensure that Mr. Gunness is returned to the realm of unbiased behavior befitting a human development agency whose mandate, he admits, must include neutrality.

Hundreds have signed on so far.

UN Watch, meanwhile, has publicly called on Pierre Krähenbühl to fire UNRWA officials who espouse hate based on a small sample of the evidence i have discovered:

UN Watch today expressed alarm at Facebook posts by UNRWA officials (see sample below) that openly incite to antisemitism and terrorism, and urged UNRWA chief Pierre Krähenbühl to take immediate action by terminating the officials, and issuing an apology.

“The pattern and practice of UNRWA school principals, teachers and staff members posting antisemitic and terror-inciting images suggests a pathology of racism and violence within UNRWA that must be rooted out, not buried, as UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness has attempted to do by calling for boycotts of newspapers or NGOs that report these incidents of hate,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch, a non-governmental Geneva watchdog organization.

“The UN must recognize that these disgusting posts, published on Facebook accounts run by people who identify themselves as UNRWA officials, constitute a gross violation of Article 20 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits “incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence,” said Neuer.

“Enough of the UNRWA strategy of impunity, denial and deflection. It’s time for the perpetrators to be held to account. They must be fired, immediately.”

And I have many more examples of UNRWA staff acting against UNRWA's neutrality principles. Not all of them are as egregiously antisemitic, but many call for violence, supportterror and show the desire to destroy Israel, all against UN positions.

If Gunness continues on his path of cover-ups and denials, he is setting UNRWA up to look even worse than it does. But clearly Chris Gunness has no desire to actually fix the problems.

Because he knows that if UNRWA would fire every employee who supports terrorism and violence against Israelis and Jews, there would be a severe shortage of staff left at UNRWA altogether.

But in the end, as Gunness' tweets, show, the UNRWA spokesperson supports the goals of its employees to destroy the Jewish state, which is why he will never do anything to help fix the agency. UNRWA's entire goal is to perpetuate the myth of never-ending refugee status among millions of people who cannot properly be called refugees. The reason is because UNRWA itself wants to see the destruction of Israel via the so-called "right to return" and it has no interest in solving the problem of statelessness among its "refugees."

As long as that is true, we cannot expect any real change at UNRWA. All we can do is shine light on its hypocrisy and tolerance for hate among its own people.

Turkey sends first delegation to Israel since Mavi Marmara

From Hurriyet Daily News:

A delegation of Turkish economic officials is set to hold talks this week with their Israeli counterparts to discuss establishing a new industrial zone for Palestinians in the West Bank, in the first visit after the deadly Mavi Marmara incident in 2010 which caused serious tension between Turkey and Israel.

“The main focus is the new industrial zone in collaboration with the U.S., emphasizing the Turks’ obligation to the Palestinian economy. We believe it is one of the keys to strengthening the area and this kind of collaboration,” Israeli diplomatic sources told the Hürriyet Daily News on Aug. 31.

The delegation is certainly an official economic delegation, sources said, adding customs-free export to the U.S. from the industrial zone is planned.

The news was first reported by the Israeli [sic] Ma’an News Agency late Aug. 30, citing an Israeli news website, nrg.co.il. According to the reports, the delegation will meet with Deputy Minister of Regional Cooperation Ayoob Kara to discuss establishing a new industrial zone near the al-Jalaboa military checkpoint in the Jenin district of the occupied West Bank.

The development came nearly two months after senior diplomats from the two sides had a secret meeting in Rome to explore ways to normalize strained relations since May 2010. Turkey had issued three conditions to Israel for the normalization of ties but talks over a compensation package were yet to be finalized.

Besides the main story of Turkey wanting to warm relations with Israel, there is another angle.

Notice that the quote about the importance of helping the PA economy comes from an Israeli official, not a Turkish official.

This sort of demolishes the constant libels that Israel is trying to stifle the Palestinian Arab economy. The truth is quite the opposite - Israel wants to strengthen the PA economically, and the BDSers are the ones who want to weaken it by stopping all cooperation with Israel without a single viable alternative.

UNRWA teacher jokes about running over Jews with cars

This photo of a religious Jew appeared in the Facebook timeline of UNRWA teacher Ramy Alshorbasy last November:

The Arabic says ""Oh Lord, (let) me die from a stroke, and not run over (by a car)."

He added the comment, "You will die anyway."

Three of his friends commented:

Amen... the most important thing is that you die
Ha-ha-hah-ha
Amen, you son of a Jewess

UNRWA teacher Ramy gave "like"s to all three.

This was during the beginning of the "car intifada."

There is no doubt that Ramy is a UNRWA teacher since he has many photos taken at his UNRWA school.

I saw a similar poster making fun of Jews being axed to death after the Har Nof massacre at a UNRWA educational Facebook group, but UNRWA could claim that the group was not "official."

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

CNN reporter removes her "Mossad dolphin spy" tweet

Remember Salma Abdelaziz, the CNN reporter who seemed to believe the story about Israel sending spy dolphins to Gaza?

As I noted at the time, every other news outlet treated Hamas' claims as a joke - but not Salma.

People made lots of fun of her on Twitter for reporting the story straight.

So, courageous young reporter that she is, Abdelaziz silently removed her tweet about the story.

At least she is showing some shame. Unlike her colleague Don Melvin, who similarly grabbed a likely sounding anti-Israel story made up by less than trustworthy sources and reported it as if it was to be taken seriously.

Melvin, unlike Abdelaziz, doubled down on his "reporting" and brushed aside criticisms, even blocking me on Twitter.

He defended that as well, claiming that I accused him of favoring genocide.