Thursday, September 24, 2015

From Ian:

The BDS Movement’s Very Bad Month
The one saving grace about anti-Semites is that, contrary to Barack Obama’s famous claim, they generally are irrational and, therefore, they often overreach. The anti-Israel boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement has been doing exactly that recently. In the past month alone, it has suffered three resounding and damaging failures.
The first, of course, was its “success” in pressuring a Spanish reggae festival to disinvite American Jewish singer Matisyahu unless he issued a statement backing a Palestinian state. Matisyahu, to his credit, didn’t merely refuse; he also made sure the world knew why he wouldn’t be appearing as scheduled. The subsequent public outcry not only made the festival hurriedly backtrack and reinstate Matisyahu in his original slot, but also exposed the truth of the BDS movement’s anti-Semitism, which it has long tried to hide. After all, Matisyahu isn’t Israeli; he was asked to issue that statement, alone of all the artists at the festival, simply because he was Jewish.
Next came last week’s decision to boycott Israel by the mighty municipality of Reykjavik (population about 120,000). Having naively expected applause for this display of moral indignation, the municipality was stunned to be met instead by an outpouring of condemnation, including from Iceland’s own prime minister, and quickly reversed course. But the damage, as Haaretz journalist Asher Schechter lamented, was already done: Reykjavik had provided further proof that the BDS movement, contrary to the widespread belief that it merely targets “the occupation,” is simply anti-Israel.
Then there’s my personal favorite, which occurred this week: the BDS protest against a Pharrell Williams concert in South Africa. When I first read about the planned protest, I couldn’t believe BDS was serious. A black American singer goes to South Africa to perform for black South Africans, and BDS wants to ruin the audience’s fun? Just because Williams’ corporate sponsor is a Jewish-owned retailer (Woolworths) that already boycotts produce from “the occupied territories”? But BDS evidently couldn’t see how bad this looked. It rashly promised some 40,000 demonstrators, “the largest protest event in South African history against any musician or artist.” And it wound up with a measly 500, as many South Africans suddenly discovered that BDS might not be their best guide to international morality. (h/t messy57)
Israel is an insignificant country
I woke up this morning and I suddenly realized that Israel was an insignificant country.
Watching the heart-breaking images of the Syrian refugees in Europe, it dawned on me that Israel had absolutely nothing to do with it. In terms of cause and effect, it had no role whatsoever in creating the problem. Indeed, Israel had no responsibility for the civil war taking place in Syria.
If Israel had not existed, the civil war in Syria and the consequent refugee problem besetting Europe at present would have occurred anyway.
Glancing more widely into the region, I then became aware that in terms of cause and effect, Israel was not the motive of the cruel and destabilizing events that have occurred in the Middle East in the last four years.
I became despondent as I realized that the emergence of the Islamic State had nothing to do with Israel; that if Israel had not existed, al-Qaida and the Islamic State would nevertheless have emerged and wreaked havoc in the region.
Further, I then understood that the civil war in Libya, prior and subsequent to Muammar Gaddafi’s fall, would have taken place no matter what Israel did or said.
Turning eastward, I saw the light as I realized that the evolution of the political landscape in Egypt would not have changed a bit if Israel had not existed. (h/t L_King)
Time to Dismantle the UN Human Rights Council
Like it or not, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) is a big flop. It does not care a fig for what it is supposed to do: promote and protect human rights in general, and freedom of association, assembly, expression, belief and religion, sexual preference and women's rights and the rights of racial and ethnic minorities in particular.
The past record of the UNHRC shows it has overlooked rights violations in a large part of the world in general and the Middle East in particular. The UNHRC has notoriously been obsessed with inventing rights violations by Israel, the Middle East's only democracy, where women and minorities -- the most oppressed sections in most of the nations in the world -- enjoy equality in law and practice both. Since March 2006, when the UN General Assembly brought the UNHRC into existence, it has condemned Israel 61 times, compared to just 55 condemnations of all other nations in the world combined.
How many times has the UNHRC condemned states such as Iran and Saudi Arabia, which oppress their own citizens -- women and minorities in particular -- and inspire many states to follow them?
What makes the UNHRC ignore such rights violations? The answer is simple: most of the member states of the Council are themselves the worst violators of the rights of their own citizens, and they are trying to save each other through a conspiracy of corruption.

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor shows that is it just a front for anti-Israel activities with their latest press release:

Israeli authorities deported 227 Palestinians and detained 225 others during January-August. In addition, 7,200 settlers accompanied by Israeli officers and soldiers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound during the same period.

In 2014, nearly 11,000 Jews stormed the Al-Aqsa compound during the year (a number that is 28 percent higher than during 2013, and almost double that of 2012).

This year, April witnessed the highest percentage of violations; 1,412 settlers accompanied by 93 officers and soldiers stormed the Al-Aqsa compound.

Among the provocative acts documented by Euro-Med researchers against Palestinians in Jerusalem were performance of Talmudic prayers near Muslim worshippers, beating, throwing rubbish, cursing, death threats and preventing worshippers from reaching the mosque.

We've previously seen that this "human rights" group had counted terrorists as "children" in their list of victims of Israeli "war crimes." It has blamed Israel for Gaza men beating their wives.  It has illustrated one of its biased reports with an antisemitic cartoon. It employs people who actively support terrorism.

But the wording of this press release, which mirrors that of every Arab critic of Jewish human rights, proves that the EuroMed Human Rights Monitor is simply an Israel-bashing NGO run by Arabs with a "human rights" face. (In fact, the report they reference is not available in English or French as of this writing, but it is available in Arabic, indicating the language it is originally written in.)

Vic Rosenthal's weekly column:

When you see a thief you fall in with him, and throw in your lot with adulterers; you devote your mouth to evil, and yoke your tongue to deceit; you are busy maligning your brother, defaming the son of your mother. – Psalm 50
I’m writing this the day before Yom Kippur, so I’m thinking about my mistakes, some of which are even sins. But my thoughts keep wandering. Is it worse to commit many sins and repent for them, or to sin less but insist that you don’t sin at all? What about committing few sins but admitting to ones that you didn’t commit?

That sounds insane, but characterizes the Jewish people, or at least elements therein. Since the Zionist enterprise created – at massive cost and against great odds – what in many ways may be the best modern state on the planet earth, Jews have been repenting for their success.

How is it possible, says the little devil that sits on the shoulder of writers like Ari Shavit or Peter Beinart and whispers in their ears, that Jews should have all this, Jews that were despised in the civilized world for at least 2000 years and whom many important people today still despise?

They don’t deserve it, says the devil. They must have stolen it. They must have committed massacres and ethnically cleansed the indigenous people from their land. Because, as Mahmoud Abbas, a proud ‘Palestinian’, says, Jews have filthy feet that defile the land. You never hear Mahmoud Abbas admitting his sins, or indeed the sins of any ‘Palestinian’, unless of course it is an Arab that has challenged his authority as the dictator of the Palestinian kleptocracy.

They can’t prove that the massacres and ethnic cleansing happened, but they know in their hearts that it had to happen, because otherwise the Jews would still be living the kind of life they truly deserve, paying jizya to Muslim rulers or eating dirt in the ghettos of Europe in between Easter-time pogroms like my grandparents did.

We fought wars and like all wars not every bullet fired was perfectly just. We made mistakes. But we weren’t Nazis, we weren’t Arabs and we weren’t even Americans or British. We fought in self-defense and we did what was necessary to survive.

Amira Hass, a Jewish woman and writer for the Ha’aretz newspaper, famously said that “throwing stones is the birthright and duty of anyone subject to foreign rule.” Hass doesn’t agree with me that the Jewish people has a birthright, the same as any indigenous people, and that it is the land of Israel, and that even the Jew-despising nations recognized this in international law, and that there is no ‘foreign’ rule here. But getting stoned to death is a long tradition among Jews (it’s even mentioned in the Yom Kippur liturgy), and for Amira Hass it’s what we deserve. The Jewish people cheated their ordained fate, and it’s the Arabs’ duty to punish them.

Even the President of the State of Israel doesn’t feel comfortable with his ‘Jewish privilege.’ The morning after an ugly crime in which three Arabs were burned to death, when the police investigation had barely begun, he announced that “Jewish terrorists” were responsible for the crime. Now it’s almost two months later and the Jewish terrorists are still not in hand, despite assurances from various government officials that they know who did it, “in principle,” (the words of Moshe Ya’alon) anyway. But it had to be Jews, because we know that Jews, especially right-wing extremists, are guilty of everything. To be a Jew is to be guilty.
So why are we surprised when the non-Jewish world expects us to sit down with representatives of the PLO, still a criminal terrorist gang, and offer up our land in return for promises (which nobody in their right mind expects that they will keep)? When the Arabs said that we massacred them, ethnically cleansed them, burned them, stole their land, were descended from Khazars, and never even had a Temple on the Mount where we put our “filthy feet,” did we object? Only a little. Mostly we said that we suffered a lot in the Holocaust, both sides have made mistakes and our security is important to us.

What we did not say was that we are the indigenous people of the land of Israel, we have a biblical, historical moral, and legal right to the land – recognized in the Mandate – and it isn’t a sin to defend ourselves, our history and our rights.

It isn’t a moral policy – or a particularly effective one – to try to ingratiate ourselves with those who hate us by accepting guilt for crimes that we didn’t commit. Self-flagellation engenders contempt, not respect. And it isn’t moral or effective to be silent and fail to demand the justice that we truly deserve.

Something to think about on Yom Kippur. May we all be blessed with a peaceful year.
From Ian:

IDF Blog: The Palestinian Attacks that Terrorized Israel this Year
In the past 12 months the lives of thousands of Israelis have been threatened by Palestinian terror. Driving your car, taking the bus, or simply walking around- daily routine has become dangerous to Israelis. Here is a recap of all the main terrorist attacks against Israelis in the last year.
October 2014
October 22- A 20 year old Palestinian terrorist, Abed a-Rahman a-Shalud, drove his car into a Jerusalem light rail station, killing a three-month-old infant, Haya Zissel Braun, and a 22 year-old Ecuatorian, Karen Mosquera, and injuring seven others.
November 2014
November 10- A Palestinian stabbed an IDF soldier near the Haganah train station in Tel Aviv. The soldier, Almog Shilony, was evacuated to the hospital in critical condition. He succumbed to his wounds later that evening.
PMW: Fatah: Israel is decapitating the Dome of the Rock
In a cartoon published on the website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, Israel is portrayed as an Islamic State executioner dressed in black with a Star of David on his hood and the text “Judaization” across his robe. The executioner is swinging an axe, about to decapitate a Palestinian whose head is the Dome of the Rock. The Palestinian is resting his head on a sleeping chopping block labelled “the international disregard.” [Website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, Sept. 19, 2015]
This cartoon is yet another example of how the Palestinian Authority and Fatah - both headed by Mahmoud Abbas - keep fanning the flames of recent months’ riots and unrest in Jerusalem. Palestinian Media Watch has documented that the PA and Fatah support and promote the riots in Jerusalem.
PA Chairman Abbas himself promised that Allah will reward those who "will not allow" Jews' "filthy feet" to "defile" the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Jerusalem.
The official PA daily has published cartoons promoting rock throwing and both PA and Fatah officials have endorsed continued conflict at the Temple Mount, encouraging Ribat - religious conflict/war to protect land claimed to be Islamic.
Earlier this month, Fatah spokesman in Jerusalem, Raafat Alayan, repeated the libel that Israel is acting “to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque and build the alleged Temple”:
Is the Iran Deal a Dud?
Two new studies have confirmed that this fear is justified. Iran will be able quickly to produce nuclear weapons fuel even under the terms of the JCPOA.
Iran can emerge in 15-20 years, or less, as a nuclear power with the potential, at a time of its choosing, "to make enough weapon-grade uranium for several nuclear weapons within a few weeks." – David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
If sanctions failed to do the job, and if Iran engaged in future illegal nuclear activity -- no matter how serious -- would the U.S. use military force? When the U.S. and its allies discovered that North Korea had illegally built a nuclear weapon and massively cheated on the agreed framework, did anyone use military force to stop its effort? No.
The likelihood is far greater that the U.S. will look the other way in order not to admit that the deal it agreed to is a dud.
Iran has already repeatedly attacked the United States, from the murder of 241 Marines in Lebanon in 1983, to the attack on Khobar Towers; the murder of Americans over Lockerbie; the U.S. embassies in Tanzania and Kenya; the attack on the USS Cole; has been complicit in the attacks of September 11, 2001; is still holding four Americans hostages and, openly, is daily threatening America again.

Hadeel Alrahami is an UNRWA teacher in Jordan.

She posted this on Facebook:

A Jew asked a Palestinian: "You're a Palestinian and I am a Jew , right?". The Palestinian answered: "Right". The Jew said: "I want to ask you a question, please answer: 'Why do we Jews burn our dead while you bury them in the ground?'" The Palestinian answered, full of pride: "Because treasure is buried and trash is always burnt".
''

(I shouldn't have to mention that Jewish law prohibits cremation.)

Well, well, well, UNRWA has another antisemitic teacher. If they would actually get rid of them all, who would be left?

(I have not once seen an UNRWA teacher say anything positive about Jews in the scores of Facebook pages I have examined.)

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

  • Thursday, September 24, 2015
  • Elder of Ziyon
Israeli media today are reporting that last week, Israel thwarted the smuggling of 15 tons of sulfuric acid into Gaza.

Sulfuric acid is banned as an ingredient in the manufacture of explosives. The amount seized is enough to help manufacture 3 tons of explosives.

The acid was apparently discovered at Israel's  Nitzana border crossing with Egypt, where goods from Egypt to Gaza go before going through the Kerem Shalom crossing. (Arutz-7's English report says it was caught in the Ashdod port on the way to the "Nitzanim" crossing to Gaza, which doesn't exist.)

The 15 tons of sulfuric acid, at 90% concentration, was apparently hidden in a much larger shipment of 30 tons of paint thinner.

Sulfuric acid is allowed into the West Bank.
  • Thursday, September 24, 2015
  • Elder of Ziyon
From the State Department daily briefing on Tuesday:

QUESTION: Yesterday, Saudi Arabia was named to head the Human Rights Council, and today I think they announced they are about to behead a 21-year-old Shia activist named Muhammed al-Nimr. Are you aware of that? 
MR TONER: I’m not aware of the trial that you – or the verdict – death sentence. 
QUESTION: Well, apparently, he was arrested when was 17-years-old and kept in juvenile detention, then moved on. And now, he’s been scheduled to be executed.MR TONER: Right. I mean, we’ve talked about our concerns about some of the capital punishment cases in Saudi Arabia in our Human Rights Report, but I don’t have any more to add to it.
QUESTION: So you --

QUESTION:
 Well, how about a reaction to them heading the council?

MR TONER:
 Again, I don’t have any comment, don’t have any reaction to it. I mean, frankly, it’s – we would welcome it. We’re close allies. If we --

QUESTION: Do you think that they’re an appropriate choice given – I mean, how many pages is – does Saudi Arabia get in the Human Rights Report annually?
MR
TONER:
 I can’t give that off the top of my head, Matt.

QUESTION: I can’t either, but let’s just say that there’s a lot to write about Saudi Arabia and human rights in that report. I’m just wondering if you that it’s appropriate for them to have a leadership position.

MR TONER: We have a strong dialogue, obviously a partnership with Saudi Arabia that spans, obviously, many issues. We talk about human rights concerns with them. As to this leadership role, we hope that it’s an occasion for them to look at human rights around the world but also within their own borders.

QUESTION: But you said that you welcome them in this position. Is it based on improved record? I mean, can you show or point to anything where there is a sort of stark improvement in their human rights record?

MR TONER: I mean, we have an ongoing discussion with them about all these human rights issues, like we do with every country. We make our concerns clear when we do have concerns, but that dialogue continues. But I don’t have anything to point to in terms of progress.

QUESTION: Would you welcome as a – would you welcome a decision to commute the sentence of this young man?

MR TONER: Again, I’m not aware of the case, so it’s hard for me to comment on it other than that we believe that any kind of verdict like that should come at the end of a legal process that is just and in accordance with international legal standards.

Which gives us an idea of how seriously the State Department will vet UNRWA for self-inspecting its own teachers for racism, hate and antisemitism.

Video starts at about 11:45.

UPDATE: From 2009:
The Obama administration decided Tuesday to seek a seat on the U.N. Human Rights Council, reversing a decision by the Bush administration to shun the United Nations' premier rights body to protest the influence of repressive states. "Human rights are an essential element of American global foreign policy," Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in a statement. "With others, we will engage in the work of improving the U.N. human rights system. . . . We believe every nation must live by and help shape global rules that ensure people enjoy the right to live freely and participate fully in their societies."
(h/t ProfessorMiao)

Wednesday, September 23, 2015

  • Wednesday, September 23, 2015
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Sherif Gaber, who is in hiding from the Egyptian police for becoming an atheist:



(h/t Mark)
From Ian:

Time for presidential introspection
U.S. President Barack Obama entered office in 2009 with no foreign policy experience, and now, in retrospect, his Nobel Peace Prize seems undeserved • Above all, Obama's conduct scares us because it appears that his dreams contradict Israel's reality.
Introspection is important, even for those who don't observe Yom Kippur. Take Geir Lundestad for example, a former director of the Norwegian Nobel Institute, who recently acknowledged that in hindsight, U.S. President Barack Obama "failed to live up to the panel's expectations" after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize six years ago.
The argument that led to Obama's prize was that it would lend the new president a helping hand, Lundestad claims in his new memoir, "Secretary of Peace: 25 years with the Nobel Prize." But that would be like awarding the Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team the UEFA Champions League cup before their fateful game against Chelsea. Remember Maccabi's humiliating defeat to Chelsea? That's approximately what happened to Obama in the foreign policy arena. And it is not over yet -- not for Obama nor for Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Introspection sometimes involves some math. How much is $500 million divided by five? That is the sum that the Obama administration spent on training "four or five" local rebel fighters on Syrian soil. Upon closer investigation, we have confirmed that despite the massive investment, these four or five soldiers are not bionic -- they are regular flesh and blood fighters. Gen. Lloyd Austin, commander of U.S. Centcom, which oversees the war effort, revealed this astonishing turn of events to the Senate Armed Services Committee last week. So much money and so much time were invested into training rebels to fight the Islamic State group, and in the end, all there is to show for it is five fighters.
"Today, despite some slow movement at the tactical level," the general tried to reassure the committee, "we continue to make progress across the battlespace in Iraq and Syria in support of the broader USG strategy to degrade and ultimately defeat ISIL." You see? Remember the late Finance Minister Yehoshua Rabinovitz, who declared that "we are on the brink of an abyss, but next year we will make great strides forward"? It's like that.
Meanwhile, the Islamic State group is continuing to achieve more and more victories, murdering men, women and children, destroying archeological treasures and ruling over an area the size of England. How was anyone surprised that Russia and Iran have been dramatically stepping up their support for Syrian President Bashar Assad? But Washington was surprised. (h/t Elder of Lobby)
10 Facts You Need to Know About 10 Years in Gaza
In 2006, the Quartet (the U.N, EU, Russia and the U.S) offered Hamas recognition, provided it accept three conditions: recognition of Israel, the renunciation of violence and existing agreements signed by Israel and the PLO. Hamas has consistently refused these conditions and remains resolute in its intention to destroy Israel, as declared in the Hamas Covenant.
In 2007, Gaza fell under the control of Hamas. Following the violent takeover of Gaza, Hamas proceeded to launch missiles and mortars into Israel. This forced Israel and Egypt to impose an arms blockade on Gaza to prevent Hamas’ efforts to import advanced weaponry.
At the same time, working with the United Nations, Israel has continued to provide steady shipments of goods to residents of the Gaza Strip. The UN has confirmed (in the Palmer Report) that Israel’s naval blockade is a legitimate tool to prevent weapons from reaching Hamas in Gaza. In much of the world, including Canada, the United States, and the European Union, Hamas is a designated terrorist entity.
Since Israel’s disengagement, under Hamas rule Gaza has failed to thrive socially or economically.
Khaled Abu Toameh: Egypt's War on Terrorism Bears Fruit
Egyptian President Sisi's war against the smuggling tunnels will undoubtedly weaken Hamas and other radical groups in the Gaza Strip. Sisi should be commended, rather than criticized, for his courageous actions against Islamist terrorists, both in the Gaza Strip and in Sinai.
Sisi's actions will benefit not only Egyptians, but also many Palestinians who are opposed to Hamas and radical Islamist groups.
When the Egyptians destroy a Hamas tunnel, that is called "war on terrorism." But when Israel destroys a tunnel, that is condemned as an "act of aggression." This moral slithering is why it is important for the international community to stand behind Sisi's relentless war on radical Islam.
Without such backing, Islamists will continue to pose a major threat not only to Israel, but to many Arabs and Muslims who oppose Hamas, Islamic State and Islamic Jihad.
The environment of the Gaza Strip is the last thing that Hamas cares about. Hamas did not think about damage to the environment or to agricultural fields when it used those fields, as well as populated areas, as launching pads for attacking Israel.

Tuesday, September 22, 2015

  • Tuesday, September 22, 2015
  • Elder of Ziyon


This is an update my Yom Kippur message of previous years.

I unconditionally forgive anyone who may have wronged me during this year, and I ask forgiveness for anyone I may have wronged as well.

Specifically (as enumerated in previous years, courtesy of The Muqata from a few years back):

  • If you sent me email and I didn't reply, or didn't get back to you in a timely fashion -- I apologize. It is sometimes hard for me to answer everyone as I get busier, but I am sorry.
  • If you sent me a story and I decided not to publish it or worse, didn't give you a hat tip for the story -- I'm sorry. (I sometimes get multiple tips for the same story and I usually credit the first one I saw, which is not always the earliest. And I cannot publish all the stories I am sent, although I try to place appropriate ones in the linkdumps, or tweet them. Whether I like it or not, I am an editor, as well as a writer, graphic designer, video producer, layout editor....so I really can't post everything.)
  • If you requested help from me and I wasn't able to provide it -- I'm sorry.
  • I apologize if I posted without the proper attribution, with the wrong attribution, or without attribution at all.
  • I'm sorry that I don't give hat tips on things I tweet. 
  • If I didn't thank you for a donation, I'm very, very sorry. 
  • I'm sorry if I didn't give the proper respect to my co-bloggers Ian, Mike, Daphne, PoT and Vic. They are all great.
  • I'm sorry if any of my posts offended you personally.


May this be a year of life, peace, prosperity, happiness and security.

I wish all of my readers who observe Yom Kippur an easy and meaningful fast.

And to my Muslim followers, Eid Mubarak!

I will not be posting until at least Wednesday night.

From Ian:

Methodist-Affiliated Conference Promotes Hate for Israel as a Hobby
People do all sorts of things with their leisure time. Some people read mystery novels or watch PBS. Others go to car shows or art museums. Some go to the gym or take their dogs on long walks. Others attend science fiction conventions wearing the costumes of their favorite fictional characters. There’s even a group of retired baby-boomers who travel across the country (and sometimes to Israel) to hear stories of Jews behaving badly.
That’s what about 100 Christians, most of them in their late 50s and 60s, did for three days last week at the United Methodist Church in Lexington, Mass. They attended a conference organized by Rev. Dr. Peter Miano, a Methodist pastor and executive director of the Massachusetts-based Society for Biblical Studies. At the opening of the conference, which began Sept. 17, about 100 people showed up to hear Noam Chomsky, a retired linguistics professor from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, rail against American exceptionalism.
On the second day, about 80 people heard Miano declare that nationalism, Jewish nationalism especially, is a bad thing. Miano who, under questioning, admitted that Palestinian nationalism is also problematic, also told attendees that modern-day Jews have a tenuous connection to the Israelites described in both the Christian and Jewish scriptures. (Judaism is only mentioned once in the Bible, he said.) With this line of reasoning, Miano suggested modern-day Jews don’t really have a legitimate claim to the land of Israel, even if they did endure a lot of suffering during the Holocaust.
After Miano spoke, Jean Zaru, a Palestinian Christian from the West Bank, tried to portray the uprising against the British in 1936 in Mandatory Palestine — which witnessed the death of 80 Jews during riots precipitated by an anti-Jewish boycott — as an example of Palestinian non-violence.
They also heard Israeli historian Ilan Pappé declare Israel guilty of the crime of genocide against Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. The historian also described people who support a two-state solution as folks who “don’t come from the belly of the beast. I know the beast and it’s a hungry beast.”
Palestinian human rights advocate says world ignores PA corruption
I recently sat down in Jerusalem with Bassem Eid, one of the top Palestinian human rights advocates.
Bassem began his career with Israeli organization, B’Tselem, documenting offenses committed by the Israeli army but in 1996, he resigned in order to create a Palestinian organization that would focus on the Palestinian Authority when he saw how little trust the Palestinians had in their own leadership.
He provides many examples for why that is and says that despite billions in international aid sent over the past 20 years, the Palestinian people have little to show for it.
He also offers his unique perspective on what all those involved, including Israel, should do.
Don't miss Part 2 of the interview with Bassem on the role the media plays in portraying Israel.
Palestinian human rights advocate: World ignores PA corruption


Michael Lumish: The Impending Transformation of Europe
We in the West like to think that everyone ponders more or less as do we. This is arrogance. The fact of the matter is that different cultures are, in fact, different and therefore hold to different cultural, religious and political tendencies. Whatever the cultural, religious, and political tendencies of these many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of immigrants washing into Europe, the continent will have no choice but to absorb and integrate those tendencies.
So, is Bill O'Reilly in the United States correct to call the mass immigration of Arabs into Europe an "invasion."
I do not think so. The word is loaded. It implies an intent to do harm, whereas the vast majority of immigrants are simply seeking better circumstances for themselves. Nonetheless, still another consequence will be an increase in Jihadi violence throughout Europe.
It is hard to imagine that the Islamic State, and other organizations in the Middle East devoted to political Islam, are not embedding operatives into the Arab population streaming into Europe. What this means, of course, is that in short order we will start hearing of additional bombings throughout the continent.
The Western European inclination to take in these immigrants and refugees is grounded in humanitarianism and is, therefore, admirable.
But as we say in the United States, no good deed goes unpunished.

  • Tuesday, September 22, 2015
  • Elder of Ziyon




The current issue of the Australian Jewish News carries a letter from a Jewish academic who urges readers “to stand up and speak out vehemently against the current climate of fear and Islamophobia”. Her letter focuses upon two groups that “try to convince Australian voters that Muslims are a danger to society” and she claims that the fact that the newer of the two groups is to be launched later this year by Geert Wilders is “particularly disturbing”. The letter is signed by her in her capacity as co-founder of an organisation of which I have not previously heard, “Voices Against Bigotry”.

Upon googling that organisation I see that its agenda is clearly left-wing, viscerally opposed to the policies of the late Abbott government, and that the group’s other founder, also female, is a former Catholic who converted Islam upon marriage to a Muslim man. I also see that the organisation’s subtitle is “Stand up, speak out, stop Islamophobia” and that it appears to be concerned entirely with countering “the vilification of Muslims”. So much for speaking out against bigotry against any other societal group, then, including bigotry against Jews, women and gays.

The Jewish co-founder holds the chair of Human Rights at the Swinburne University of Technology and, incidentally, is also a member of the Australian Jewish Democratic Society, a body that does not have a warm and fuzzy regard for Israel. I don’t mention her name here because I don’t want to “play the woman” but rather the attitude she represents. Needless to say, consciousness of the Shoah and of the Jews’ experience of persecution and homelessness is at the base of many Jews’ empathy with today’s “refugees” and “asylum seekers” – but given the current migration crisis facing the Western world it’s inherently dangerous, not least for Jews themselves, as well as for the Western world of which Jews and Israel form a part.

The huge throng of Middle Eastern humanity now surging into Southern and Eastern Europe determined upon what media reports dub “a better life” obviously includes men, women and children in genuine fear of their lives, and Australia is pledged to take 12,000 of such people, following the careful screening mandated by prudence. But as Eurostat statistics suggest, just one in every five of the current migrants is from war-torn Syria. Opportunistic economic migrants are swarming into Europe in far greater numbers than those in genuine need of refuge. Moreover, women and girls make up a small percentage of the “migrants”. Most of the migrants are males, mainly young males, with all the negative effects that may portend for Europe, one way or another. We know that there are many aspects of the current crisis much of the mainstream media is withholding from the public – including footage that shows many of the migrants in a very bad light indeed – and we know that in many parts of Western Europe a number of Muslim men have behaved abominable not only to female members of their own families but to other girls and women, chiefly although not exclusively of the “kuffar” variety. And we know that despite the values of the European Enlightenment and despite the notion that all citizens of a state should be governed by the same law and standards of justice we know that certain judges and certain polities have “privileged” Muslim men – for instance, in a tougher sentence given to a Muslim paedophile in the UK for raping two young Asian sisters than if he had raped two white sisters, on the grounds that the Asian victims suffered more than white girls would have since in their culture the rapes devalue them on the marriage market; and in the tolerance of polygamy for Muslim men in several countries of Western Europe with good welfare systems, despite the implications for the status of women and for demography.

Precisely whose “human rights” are ascendant in modern Europe? When there’s a contest
between the human rights of females and the cultural entitlements of Muslim men, whose rights are to be upheld in Western democracies? (Do our left-wing female anti-“Islamophobes” ever lie awake at night worrying about that one?) Just as many Europeans today see Charles Martel and Don John of Austria as wiser than their contemporary progeny, so many must see the irony in Napoleon’s insistence on according Jews French citizenship only after satisfying himself that Jews had come to terms with modernity (“Do you practice polygamy?” was one of the questions that they of course truthfully answered in the negative!)

A typically astute article by the UK’s Professor Denis MacEoin – a true friend of Jews and Israel – (http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6502/refugees-arab-states) makes these points: “Refugees arrive in some of Europe's poorest states, mainly Greece, Italy and Hungary, but insist that they have a right to head for more prosperous nations where welfare benefits are higher and healthcare freely available… It may also be that the Wahhabis in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and elsewhere see the movement of Muslim refugees to Europe as a golden opportunity to increase their work in da'wa (Islamic proselytization). This crisis has exposed the abject failure of the EU, the UN, the OIC or anybody else to criticize the bloated nations of the Gulf with even a tiny fraction of the abuse they pour daily on the only democratic state in the Middle East, Israel. It is a repetition of the ongoing Palestinian refugee crisis, with the Arab states refusing to give jobs and citizenship to Palestinian Arabs over decades, keeping them in refugee camps and laying the blame on Israel. Is it surprising that the Arab world is still on the steady downward course it embarked on in 1948?” Europe, motivated by a politically correct obsession with multiculturalism, has used mass immigration to beef up its workforce and create a semblance of diversity, only to find that many of its immigrants -- above all Muslims from Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Somalia -- have remained averse to integration and assimilation into their host societies.”
From Ian:

Heatwave, bikes and Jerusalem tensions: Israel prepares for Yom Kippur
Israelis preparing to begin the 25-hour Yom Kippur fast were greeted Tuesday by a heatwave, with meteorologists warning that temperatures would rise further on Wednesday. Meanwhile, recent tensions in Jerusalem have resulted in a bolstered police presence in the capital and a complete closure in the Palestinian territories.
The highest temperatures are expected in Eilat and Beersheba, reaching 38 degrees Celsius. In Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and Haifa, temperatures are expected to reach 34 degrees at their peak, and climb to 35 in Tiberias.
On Thursday, temperatures will drop slightly and humidity rise again, but it will continue to be hotter than the seasonal average.
Magen David Adom and other emergency health services are on alert for the holiday, during which some Israelis in risk groups, like pregnant women and elderly people, often suffer health issues related to the stringent fast, in which neither food nor liquids are allowed. Those at risk were advised to seek medical advice before fasting.
Rescue personnel were also anticipating the usual spate of grazes, bumps and bruises stemming from the unofficial Yom Kippur tradition of riding bikes through Israel’s deserted streets. An informal ban on driving is customarily observed across the country for the duration of the holiday.
Yemen Strikes, Israel, and Double Standards in the Middle East
The Saudis confront in Yemen the same challenge Israel has faced in Gaza: how to deal with combatants who fire from urban areas using civilians for cover. But Riyadh seems to have less regard for civilian casualties and hasn’t been held accountable the way Israel is for such injuries and death, whether the issue is errant airstrikes, incompetence, or willful targeting of homes, markets, hospitals, and refugee camps. Last week, UNICEF reported that a coalition airstrike had targeted a warehouse used for water distribution, jeopardizing 11,000 Yemenis.
All of this puts the Obama administration in an untenable position. Yes, Washington is Israel’s key supporter and has defended Israel at the United Nations over Gaza. But when it comes to Yemen, the U.S. is supporting the Saudi coalition airstrikes with targeting information, logistics, and other intelligence. Washington has advised the Saudis to set limits on their targets, and U.S. officials expressed concerns as early as April about the campaign’s open-ended nature. Still, the Obama administration has avoided public criticism.
The issue is less defending Israel than recognizing this double standard in the Middle East.
The Saudis escape consequences for their actions in Yemen in part because the Arab coalition is nine countries deep and rich too. The Arab League–of which Yemen is a member–supports the coalition campaign. And a majority of U.N. members appear to be happy to ignore distant, poor Yemen while they support the Palestinian cause and fault Israeli human rights abuses. And unlike the Israelis, the Saudi military doesn’t investigate the accusations against it.
The next time Israel–or the U.S., for that matter–is accused of killing civilians while operating in urban areas against legitimate military targets, it would be nice if critics, the Saudis in particular, held their fire. But I’m not holding my breath.
Naked clown activists issue apology to Palestinians after protesting at wall separating Israel with West Bank
Some Facebook users commented “shame on them” while others asked if the nudity was necessary and said they should consider that the Muslim community in Palestinian territories may have “different principles”.
The group justified their actions, saying “when you stand before this shameful wall, all humanity is naked".
However, the group later issued an apology on Facebook to “any Palestinians who may feel offended by our action against the wall of shame that pierces the West Bank and every human heart".
“This is not an attack on Islam, it is our way of protesting [against] the existence of the wall,” Iván Prado, spokesman for the group added.

  • Tuesday, September 22, 2015
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Palestine Center for Policy and Survey Research released the results of a new survey, and it shows that Palestinian Arabs have very little desire to live in peace with Israel.

The finding that received some press attention is that 48% support and 51% oppose a two-state solution. But there are more interesting results that explain why.

The constant barrage of insane anti-Israel propaganda in the media and schools is part of the reason. For example, an overwhelming majority of 85% believe that "Israel’s long term aspiration is to annex the lands occupied in 1967 and expel their population or deny them their rights" while only 15% believe that Israel’s long term aspiration is to insure its security and withdraw from all or most of the territories.

Another overwhelming majority believe that "al Haram al Sharif is in grave danger:" 50% believe that Israel intends to destroy al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock and replace them with a Jewish temple; 21% believe that it intends to divide the plateau on which the two mosques sit so that Jews would have a synagogue alongside the Muslim holy places; and 10% believe that Israel intends to simply allow Jews to pray there. 81% say they are worried that Israel would demolish or confiscate their homes even though, another reflection of how their media coverage is out of whack with a reality where some 97% live under PA rule.

Even more bizarrely, 59% believe that Hamas won the Gaza war last year.

When a population is fed nothing but incitement and lies, how can anyone expect them to act rationally?

So we then see that a large plurality support terror against Israel. 42% think that armed terrorism is the most effective to get a state, 29% think negotiations is the most effective way, and 24% think "non-violent resistance" (which includes stone throwing and firebombs, in their worldview) is the most effective way.

Even though a majority now opposes a two-state solution, 69% oppose a one-state solution in which Arabs and Jews enjoy equal rights. Which means that the solution a plurality or majority support is one where Jews are second class citizens, or expelled.

Then there was this curious result:
When asked about the long term aspiration of the PA and the PLO, 64% said that it is to recover all or parts of the land occupied in 1967 while 26% said it was to conquer the state of Israel or conquer the state of Israel and kill most of the Jews.
Isn't it interesting so many Palestinians don't think of the PA as wanting a peaceful two-state solution?



Last week I reported about how the Imperial War Museum website referred to the Jewish Brigade as "terrorists."

One person who emailed them about this received this reply:
Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention. We were dismayed to learn of the errors in the online record for the item in our collection and offer you our most sincere apologies:

http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205196547

We fully accept that the information relating to this item was factually incorrect and in no way met the standards to which we aspire. As a consequence, we have removed the record from our website whilst we correct the errors. Rest assured that we are looking at related areas to ensure that there are no similar issues.

I do hope that this addresses your concerns.

Yours sincerely,

Bryn Hammond
Head of the Department of Collections & Curatorial Development
IWM
Lambeth Road
London SE1 6HZ

Algemeiner reports:

The Imperial War Museum (IWM) in the U.K. removed an item from its website this week, following complaints from a Jewish human rights group about its offensive nature.

The description of a photo featuring men from the Jewish Brigade’s 1st Battalion from WWII opened with the words “terrorist activities.” The Jewish Brigade was defined as having been formed in September 1944 and fought in Italy under the British Eighth Army — with this additional assertion: “Many of its members went on to join the Haganah and other illegal formations.”

The poster, part of the museum’s collection on World War II, is currently inaccessible on the website. The IWM did not respond to The Algemeiner‘s emails about its removal.

But it was removed after Simon Wiesenthal Center Director for International Relations Shimon Sameuls wrote a letter to IWM Director-General Diane Lees on Monday urging her to “to withdraw this offensive poster, take disciplinary measures against the apparent antisemite responsible and make a public apology to the Jewish community.”

“The Jewish Brigade under British command were heroes who combated Fascist terrorists in Italy,” he argued. “They were eye witnesses to the annihilation of their people as they joined the liberators of the camps…”

Samuels said calling the Jewish Brigade soldiers “terrorists” is “the greatest Holocaust revisionism imagination.” He added that the offensive description tarnished the museum and “betrays the cause of British integrity.”

Jewish blogger Elder of Ziyon called the description “inexcusable” and “outrageous.” The blogger berated the IWM for “calling [the soldiers] future terrorists” while failing to give any details about “how the Brigade was formed, how the soldiers trained and how they fought.”

Elder of Ziyon also criticized the IWM for referring to the Haganah — an underground military organization in Israel from 1920 to 1948 — as an “illegal” organization. “It wasn’t,” he asserted. “At times it cooperated with the British.”

However, there are still plenty of problematic materials there, such as referring to the Jewish Agency as being behind a "campaign of violence." See the comments on my previous article for other examples.


AddToAny

EoZ Book:"Protocols: Exposing Modern Antisemitism"

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Hasbys!

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Blog Archive