Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, November 29, 2015

.@UNRWA worker didn't get the "neutrality" memo

Hossam Ghali is a staff nurse at UNRWA in Gaza.

On Facebook, here was one of his profile pictures:

It looks like UNRWA didn't manage to get the message to everyone that their jobs are supposedly in jeopardy if they post messages that violate UNRWA's stated neutrality rules.

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Egypt's Al Azhar U to hold "Al Quds" conference. Not likely to be sympathetic to Israel.

From Egypt's Al Ahram:

Egypt's Al-Azhar, the world's highest Sunni authority, says it will convene in February an international conference on violations committed by Israeli occupation forces against Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, which is considered the third holiest site in Islam.

Al-Azhar's High Clerical Council said in a statement Friday that the conference will address "violations committed by the Zionist entity against the holy mosque, questions around whether Muslims could visit the mosque, and how such a move could affect the interests of the Palestinian people."

A wave of Palestinian protests - met by Israeli repression - in recent months has been triggered by an increase in Jewish settlers attacks and storming of Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque.

Israeli troops have killed more than 100 Palestinians during clashes since October. At least 17 Israelis were killed in separate attacks by Palestinians.

Settlement-building, racial discrimination, confiscation of identity cards, long queues at checkpoints, and the desecration of Al-Aqsa mosque, have been the daily routine in Palestinians' lives under occupation in the West Bank and Jerusalem.

There is something somewhat interesting that will apparently be addressed by this conference, though.

There has been bitter debate in the Arab world as to whether it is permitted for Muslims in countries surrounding Israel to visit the Al Aqsa Mosque, which means getting approval from Israel.

Palestinians want their brethren to visit, but many say that such a move would be "normalization" with the "Zionist enemy."

So that aspect of the conference might actually be interesting.

Isaac and Ishmael: How Muslims Think about Israel, in a Nutshell (2011 NRB post)

In the first quarter of 2011, I wrote fairly regularly for a site called NewsRealBlog. The site became inactive after a few months but the articles remained online.

Today, I realized that the site was gone - and so were my articles.

So I will republish some of them here. (Pasting them into a word processor, they take up over 80 pages - and those are only the articles I was able to recover!)

Most of the articles hold up pretty well over the past 4.5 years.

This one was originally published March 25, 2011.

OnIslam, which is a breakaway website from Islam Online, has a fatwa section where someone recently asked this:

Can you answer the question why the Palestinians and the Israelis have been fighting for so long? What is it all about? Why do they seem to hate each other so much? Is it related to the Catholic/Protestant faith, Judaism and Islam?

The answer given is very illuminating.

It illustrates why real peace is impossible: because the other side doesn’t even know the basic facts about Judaism, Zionism and Israel. It is simply not possible to reach an agreement when one side’s entire conception of the others is, simply, filled with lies.

Here is the first part of the answer:

In the Bible, in the Book of Genesis there is a verse which reads:

“And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” (Gen. 17:8)

You can read this verse in the Jewish Book called Torah also. Here Jehovah is addressing Abraham, the Patriarch. Because Jehovah (God) was pleased with Abraham, He wishes to give the children (“seed”) of Abraham the Land of Canaan as an everlasting possession.

It is the present Palestine that is meant by the Land of Canaan. The Jews interpret the expression “thy seed” to mean the people who later came to be known as the Children of Israel.

Israel was the second son of Isaac; and Isaac was the second son of Abraham. Jews argue that they are the people to whom God or Jehovah gave Palestine as an everlasting possession, that is because they claim to be the Children of Abraham through Isaac.

But here they ignore Ishmael, the first son of Abraham, and his children. (The Arabs are the Children of Ishmael). They deny the right of Ishmael saying that he was the son of a slave woman Hajar, whereas Isaac was the son of a free woman, Sarah.

In fact, in the Torah itself it is clearly stated that the firstborn should get double portion of his father’s share, even when his mother has a lower status. Read the verse in the Book of Deuteronomy of the Old Testament of the Bible and the Torah:

“If a man has two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn: but he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his.” (Deut. 21: 15 to 17)

You find here two rules:

1. Of the wealth of the father, the eldest son should get double portion;

2. If the eldest son happens to be the son of a hated woman (hated for some reason such as her lower status), his double share should not be refused to him, on that account.

This simple rule of the Torah is ignored by the Jews here, when they argue that Ishmael should not get his right.

What I mean here is that even if we appeal to the Torah, the Jewish religious book, the Jews have no exclusive right to the Land of Palestine. The fun of the matter is that the Christians of the world, with the exception of the Palestinian Christians, have accepted the claims of the Jews, even when their own Bible is against it.

And all the modern secular states of the so-called civilized world accept the claims made by Israel on the basis of a book at least 2,000 years old, in order to deny the birthright of a people who have no other land but Palestine.

Don’t you love when Muslims tell Jews how to interpret the Torah?

The “scholar” answering the question obviously ignores what God said a mere ten verses later:

And Abraham said unto God: ‘Oh that Ishmael might live before Thee!’ And God said: ‘Nay, but Sarah thy wife shall bear thee a son; and thou shalt call his name Isaac; and I will establish My covenant with him for an everlasting covenant for his seed after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard thee; behold, I have blessed him, and will make him fruitful, and will multiply him exceedingly; twelve princes shall he beget, and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant will I establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year.’

This is all besides the many sections where God promises the Land to Isaac, Jacob, and the Children of Israel. By cherry-picking one verse, and mis-characterizing an irrelevant biblical section later, the writer is simply lying about what the Torah says. (And even according to him, Jews should have one-third of the land from the Nile to the Euphrates–so Israel better start picking up more land!)

Then he goes on to say:

We must also understand that the present day Israelis are mostly European Jews who have migrated to Palestine. They have settled there ousting the original people, massacring them, or making them refugees in their own land.

Probably about half of Israelis are descended from ancestors who lived in Arab lands. No one counts, because it really doesn’t matter, except to racists.

You know that the Jews were a tribe of hunted people in the whole of the Christian world; because they were considered to be the murderers of Jesus. In all European cities, they were confined to the dirty areas in the suburbs, called the ghetto.

The Jews were treated like animals and they were not allowed any rights by the Christian countries. In fact the Jews were given the freedom to live as citizens only in the Arab Islamic world. It is here that you can see the most horrible instance of ingratitude, in the way the present day Jews reward the Muslims for the consideration they used to get.

The persecution of Jews in Christendom reached a terrible level during the Second World War in Germany. Hitler and his Nazi Party killed thousands of Jews in Concentration Camps.

Thousands? Well, let him explain:

This incident in the history of the world is usually called the Holocaust. (The Jews of today have made the Holocaust look far more terrible than it really was; just to get the sympathy of the world so that they will be excused for the Palestinian Holocaust. But there is nobody to call the plight of the Palestinians a Holocaust, even though the conditions are comparable).

Ah, I see. A few thousand Jews were killed by the Nazis–fewer than the number of Palestinian Arabs killed by Jews!

At the end of the Second World War, Britain promised the Jews a state in Palestine, because they wanted to rid Europe of the curse of the Jews for one thing and they wanted to keep a promise they had given to the Jews while fighting the Nazis.

Balfour just disappeared into thin air!

The whole project of Israel was the scheme of a group of (chiefly European) Jews called Zionists.

In the World War II, Germans were fighting against the Allies (i.e. Great Britain, the US, France, etc.). Since the Jews were the most persecuted people in Germany, they (i.e. the European Jews) helped the Allies in the war.

By this time Jews had started their Zionist movement. Zionists demanded a reward from the Allies for their role in the fight against Hitler; and the Allies offered the Arab land of Palestine to the Jews for their state. Towards the end of the WW II, Jews from Europe started coming openly and secretly to Palestine which was under the British rule.

There are more lies here than I can count. European Jews were a little too busy trying to avoid being slaughtered to be able to help much in the Allied war effort, but guess who did?

Zionist Jews from Palestine! You know, the ones who weren’t there before WWII ended.

In 1947, there were about 1.3 million Arabs in all of Palestine. By 1949, about 750,000 Palestinian Arabs were living in squalid refugee camps, set up virtually overnight in territories adjacent to Israel’s borders.

About 300,000 lived in the Gaza Strip… Another 450,000 became unwelcome residents of the West Bank of the Jordan. There were many Arabs living in Israel as citizens. But the new state was bent on facilitating the growth of the Jewish nation at the expense of Arab rights.

OK, let’s think about this. According to this article, there were 750,000 Palestinian Arabs who ended up in….the West Bank and Gaza, which is in – Palestine!

So why didn’t they make their state then? Why were they considered unwelcome in Jordan when Jordan is the only state that gave them citizenship?

You can read the whole thing to see how false this “history” is. But as bizarre as it is, it points to the fundamental problem: you cannot negotiate with people who are so far removed from the truth, and who are so willing to lie, brazenly and without fear.

11/29 Links: PA Minister: Palestinian women make "cries of joy" upon son's death; 2 More Stabbings

From Ian:

PMW: Palestinian women are unique, make "cries of joy" upon son's death, says PA minister

The Palestinian Authority Minister of Women's Affairs, Haifa Al-Agha, who is herself a woman, recently praised Palestinian women pointing out their "uniqueness" compared to all the other women of the world because they rejoice upon the news of the death of their sons:
"[PA] Minister of Women's Affairs Haifa Al-Agha... noted the Palestinian woman's uniqueness, which differentiates her from the women of the world, as [only] she receives the news of her son's Martyrdom with cries of joy." [Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Nov. 7, 2015]
This official PA promotion of Martyrdom (Shahada - Death for Allah) as an ideal and the praise of mothers who do not show sorrow but make "cries of joy" when their sons die, was voiced by the PA minister during the current wave of terror attacks. Many young Palestinians have been killed as they stabbed or attempted to stab Israelis. By praising mothers for their "cries of joy," Minister Al-Agha is sending a message to PA society to attack Israelis without fear of death because Martyrdom for Allah is said to be the highest value and highest achievable status.
The minister also added that Palestinian women are noteworthy not only because they celebrate death but because they fight as well:

The death knell for Women's Studies

The National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) has just voted to support a boycott of…ISIS.
No, just joking. The boycott is against Israel - only.
The recommendation was developed in 2014 by Feminists for Justice in Palestine and draws on a “transnational, intersectional feminist framework” which emphasizes an “indivisible sense of justice.”
Please don’t ask me to explain such self-important and obscure language.
The good news: Although NWSA claims that, in 2014, 2500 of their members “stood in unison in support of freedom and justice in Palestine,” in late November of 2015, only 35% of the voting membership (or 653 members) bothered to vote.

JCPA: Amb. Alan Baker: 10 Things to Know about the UN Partition Vote of November 29, 1947

1. It was a historic resolution that expressed the then-prevailing view of most of the major states of the United Nations, which voted in favor of it.
2. It established the principle of two states for two peoples.
3. It recognized the uniqueness of Jerusalem and the Jewish people’s bond to the city.
4. Had the Arabs agreed to live with the resolution as the Israelis did, despite its drawbacks from the standpoint of both sides, we would be in a different situation today with far fewer bereaved families on both sides.
5. Because of the Arabs’ rejection of it and in light of their decision to fight its implementation, the resolution has not assumed any validity except for the historical symbolism of its basic content.
6. The significance of its nonimplementation is that all the previously existing historical and legal rights as recognized by the Balfour Declaration, the Palestine Mandate, and the San Remo Resolution have remained in force.
7. From that time to the present, negotiation mechanisms prescribed by Resolution 242 (1967), the Camp David accords (1979), and the Oslo agreements (1993-1999) have not been completed and no solution has been agreed upon.
8. Therefore, all the claims about Israel’s rights (and also, of course, about the Arabs’ rights) are still valid and remain unchanged until agreement on a permanent settlement is reached.
9. Therefore, any assertion by the United Nations and the Europeans about the territory belonging to the Palestinians in fact contravenes the symbolic basis of the partition resolution.
10. The time has come for the states to recognize this and stop contravening that symbolic basis.

Europe is in chaos due to the raw fact of millions of Arabs pouring onto the continent, heading for Germany and Sweden.

The United States is also very familiar with large waves of immigrants pouring into the country at an alarming rate for a great many citizens... and a great many nativists.

With the waves of mid-late nineteenth-century immigration into the United States from Eastern and Southern Europe the notion of a "melting pot" emerged.

The United States would welcome the strange-sounding, strange-looking, allegedly criminal, foreigners washing onto our shores - even Jews - if they assimilated. Some American manufacturers hiring these immigrants went so far as to offer their employees free instruction on how to be American.

{Quite often baseball was involved.}

After World War II, and after the transition from economic liberalism in the United States to what is sometimes call "rights liberalism" - women's rights, gay rights, ethnic rights, and so forth - the "melting pot" notion gave way to the "salad bowl" notion. No longer were ethnic minorities expected to dissolve themselves into American culture as developed by the Anglo settlers of the seventeenth-century. By the middle of the 1960s, and the rise of the Civil Rights Movement and the New Left, a multicultural ideal developed and Americans began recognize the value of distinctions between cultures.

The fundamental idea, of course, was that the various ethnicities should not melt into a sort-of homogeneous, Wonder Bread, Leave It To Beaver culture, but would remain distinct while integrated into the whole.

The enormous current wave of Arabs into Europe fits neither model, which is hardly surprising since these are not Europeans and they are not migrating into America. It is, rather, what I call the "TV Dinner" model of national ethnic non-integration. If we have learned nothing else over the course of recent decades it is that large segments of the Arab immigrants into Europe have no intention whatsoever of integrating. Many will insist upon maintaining traditional, and separate, societies within the host countries.

The difference between the American immigrant experience and the European immigrant experience is that in the United States there is a blending of cultures, while distinctions are still maintained. Individuals may fully integrate but cultural presences in the form of cuisine, culture, and politics remain as part of a larger interconnected cultural landscape. Arabs in Europe, on the other hand, are quite often finding it difficult to reconcile the old country with the new and this is causing major problems throughout Europe and it is likely that in the coming years the growing Arab immigrant population is going to exacerbate those problems.. They are not living side-by-side, but together, with their neighbors in Europe. Many are living side-by-side, but separate, from their neighbors. They do so while maintaining an often violent malice toward European morality and culture alongside an irrational, Koranically-based hatred toward the Jewish people.

David Crouch, writing in the Guardian tells us:

Sweden needs “respite” from the tens of thousands of refugees knocking at its door, the government has said, announcing tough measures to deter asylum seekers in a sharp reversal of its open-door policy towards people fleeing war and persecution.
The country’s generous asylum regime would revert to the “EU minimum”, Sweden’s prime minister, Stefan Löfven, said on Tuesday, revealing that most refugees would receive only temporary residence permits from April.
Identity checks would be imposed on all modes of transport, and the right to bring families to Sweden would be severely restricted, he said.

Sweden is awakening to the fact that it made an exceedingly dangerous foreign policy mistake vis-à-vis Arab immigrants.

The EU flung open the doors of Europe and both Germany and Sweden went entirely supine... for awhile. The European response was motivated largely by compassion. There is no doubt, however, that when the historians dig into this vital moment they will uncover who benefited financially and who benefited politically. Nonetheless, it is only the crassest of cynics who would refuse to acknowledge the humanitarianism behind the willingness to take in so many Arab immigrants. Yet, the recent influx of millions of Arab and African Muslims into Europe is going to have long lasting effects on the nature of European culture and society.

As the immigrant population increases, and flexes its political muscle, there will be a decline in the rights and well-being of women, a decline in the rights and well-being of Gay people, and a decline in the rights and well-being of Jews. Concurrently there will be an increase in crime and an increase in terrorist activity, as we just saw in Paris.

Saying so should not be controversial, but acknowledged as obvious.

Europe, North America, and Australia are open and diverse societies. We welcome immigrants. We enjoy diversity. The problem in Europe, however, is that the immigrant population is interested in neither the "melting pot" notion, nor the "salad bowl" notion, but the "TV dinner" notion. They are not only fleeing the war-torn Arab-Muslim Middle East, but they are bringing the war-torn Arab-Muslim Middle East with them and, if recent European history is any guide, a very large segment of these immigrants will refuse to integrate or even really associate themselves with the larger society.

They will maintain their separate neighborhoods and separate cultures and many of the green beans will refuse to fraternize with the salisbury steak.

And some, unfortunately, will seek to murder the mashed potatoes.

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

Hamas leader says Jews kill Pal kids to use their blood for matzah

From MEMRI:

In a November 26, 2015 interview on the Hamas Al-Aqsa TV channel, Salah Al-Bardawil, a Hamas leader in Gaza, said that the Jews had "ancient biblical beliefs, which instructed them to kill children and collect their blood, in order to knead it into the bread that is eaten on Passover." "This is the killing of a Palestinian child in order to collect his blood and to knead it into the bread they eat," he said.

Following are excerpts:

Salah Al-Bardawil: Why does the Zionist enemy, with all its might, execute Palestinian children – especially Palestinian girls? I can tell you that there are six reasons for this – not just one reason, but six. The first reason for the targeting of Palestinian children has to do with faith. The Zionist entity subscribes to false biblical doctrines – especially today, when we are experiencing so-called extremism. But this is a typical Jewish situation, which is in harmony with the biblical-Zionist history and faith. This is manifest in the Quran, which quoted the Jews as saying: "kill the sons of the belivers" [Quran 40:25]. Thus, they subscribe to a principle of faith, which they must implement, and kill the sons of the believers.

Why not kill the believers? Why kill their sons? The killing of the sons of the believers – or, to be clearer, the killing of the Palestinian children – stem from children being weaker and thus easier to kill than adults. This is a cowardly enemy, which fears retaliation, and therefore it targets the weaker, still accomplishing the goal of reducing the number of Palestinians.

[…]

In addition, they have beliefs which they have tried to conceal from the world. I am referring to the ancient biblical beliefs, which instructed [the Jews] to kill children and collect their blood, in order to knead it into the bread that is eaten on Passover. This is the killing of a Palestinian child in order to collect his blood, and knead it into the bread they eat. Today, they are trying to say that these things never happened, and that it was a joke or a lie, but these are the facts of history. Anyone reading about their history will find this there.

So Jews have been using Palestinian children's blood for matzoh since Biblical times. Can't wait for Wikipedia to update its articles.

This looks like a parody, but it's not. It is a recommendation that was overwhelmingly approved by those voting at the National Women's Studies Association meeting:

Recommendation 1
The first recommendation, developed by Feminists for Justice in/for Palestine (FJP), an ad-hoc group founded in Puerto Rico at NWSA 2014, urges the Association to join the international Boycott, Divest, and Sanctions (BDS) movement and draws on transnational, intersectional feminist frameworks to emphasize an “indivisible sense of justice.” Voting on this question follows on a solidarity statement released by NWSA early in 2015, issued in response to strong member engagement with BDS at the 2014 NWSA Conference in Puerto Rico.

How does the recommendation or resolution relate to the NWSA mission, which reads, NWSA leads the field of women's studies in educational and social transformation.

As feminist activists, scholars, teachers, and public intellectuals who recognize the interconnectedness of systemic forms of oppression, we cannot overlook the injustice and violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, perpetrated against Palestinians. This resolution is an act of transnational solidarity aimed at social transformation for a better world.

Who will do the work required to execute the proposed recommendation or resolution?

Feminists for Justice in/for Palestine (FJP), an ad-hoc group founded in Puerto-Rico at NWSA 2014 will lead the efforts to publicize and disseminate the resolution, including education, outreach, media and publicity.

Full text of recommendation or resolution.

Feminists for Justice in/for Palestine Support An Indivisible Sense of Justice!

Support BDS
A Resolution submitted to: National Women’s Studies Association 2015

As feminist scholars, activists, teachers, and public intellectuals we recognize the interconnectedness of systemic forms of oppression. In the spirit of this intersectional perspective, we cannot overlook the injustice and violence, including sexual and gender-based violence, perpetrated against Palestinians and other Arabs in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, within Israel and in the Golan Heights, as well as the colonial displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians during the 1948 Nakba. The discriminatory treatment, exclusion, military siege and apartheid imposed by Israel on its own Palestinian citizens as well as those residing in the occupied territories constitute flagrant breaches of international law, UN resolutions, and fundamental human rights.

In the present moment, our counterparts in Palestine face daily violations of their human rights, including their academic rights to free speech, assembly, association, and movement. At the same time, Israeli institutions of higher learning have not challenged, but instead legitimized, Israel’s oppressive policies and violations. These violations, which severely impact the daily lives and working conditions of Palestinian scholars, students, and the society at large, are also enabled by U.S. tax dollars and the tacit support of western powers, thus making any taxpayer in the West complicit in perpetuating these injustices.

As members of NWSA who are committed to justice, dignity, equality and peace, we affirm our opposition to the historical and current injustices in Palestine that we view as part and parcel of the multiple oppressions we study and teach about. We also affirm the commitment of NWSA to principles of human rights, justice and freedom for all, including academic freedom. At our 2014 national conference in San Juan, Puerto Rico, nearly 800 participants signed a petition calling upon the organization to declare its support for the international movement for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel. About 2500 members of the audience at the plenary on Palestine stood in unison in support of freedom and justice for/in Palestine.

Therefore, in keeping with these principles and the strong consensus of the majority of our 2014 conference participants, let be it resolved that the National Women’s Studies Association (NWSA) endorses the 2005 call by Palestinian civil society for Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) of economic, military and cultural entities and projects sponsored by the state of Israel. In doing so, we join the growing grassroots international consensus and add our voices to other professional U.S. academic associations that adopted similar resolutions in recent years. These associations include the African Literature Association, American Studies Association, Association for Asian American Studies, Association for Humanist Sociology, Critical Ethnic Studies Association, National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies, Native American and Indigenous Studies Association, Peace and Justice Studies Association, University of Hawaii at Manoa-Ethnic Studies Department, United Auto Workers Local 2865, The University of California Student Workers Union, and over 1000 members of the American Anthropological Association.

In plain English, a group of people who hate Israel use pseudo-intellectual gobbledygook to claim that somehow historic oppression of women are interconnected with Israel's actions to defend itself from terror. Therefore, out of all of the examples of oppression in the world, these academics decided that Israel's actions are the only ones that must be condemned and the only ones that are "interconnected" with women's studies, and therefore Israel is the only country that must be boycotted. Syria and China and North Korea are just dandy.

Other so-called scholars in those other groups said that "one has to start somewhere," and they always start with Israel and then lose all interest in boycotting anyone else.

Here's some extra comedy from the same organization's Code of Ethics:

NWSA members/staff may not engage in discrimination in the organization based on age; gender; race; ethnicity; national origin; religion; sexual orientation; disability; health conditions; marital, domestic, or parental status, gender identity and gender expression; or any other applicable basis proscribed by law.

So will they work with Israeli Jewish professors or won't they? (BDSers never have a problem with working with Israeli Arabs.)

This resolution makes the National Women's Studies Association into a laughingstock whose members have no ability to evaluate the difference between easily debunked lies and truth, for whom rhetoric trumps facts, and who cannot even understand their own sickness in condemning the only country in the Middle East that gives a damn about Arab women's rights.

The icing on the NWSA hypocrisy cake is that the resolution passed at the exact same time that young Arab women under PA rule are being incited by their own government's ruling party to stab any Jew they find.

TIME columnist finds it easier to explain murdering Jews than killing other French people

Vivienne Walt, a Time magazine writer, has written how difficult it is to explain the Paris terror attacks to her child.

She writes:

In January it had been relatively simple to explain to my child, who was then eight, why the cartoonists had been the target, and why a Jewish supermarket was attacked—grim as the details were. ....Answering questions over dinner on Sunday was more difficult, however. The targets this time were young people having fun on a warm Friday night; people, in fact, who were his age not all that long ago.

Really? It is easier to explain why terrorists would murder Jews than to explain why they would murder other Parisians?

I wonder how Ms. Walt explained the January attacks in a way that her son would understand. Are Jews considered natural targets in the Walt household? Or is it because of their presumed association with that shitty little country that happens to be the Jewish state? I would love to know what makes shooting Jewish shoppers relatively normal to Vivienne Walt.

Yoav Hattab, murdered at Hypercache, was 21, and Yohan Cohen was 22. They were pretty young.In fact, they were younger than nearly every victim of the more recent Paris attacks. But apparently that didn't make it more difficult to explain their murders to Vivienne's 8 year old son. Shopping for food is probably as familiar an experience to her son as sitting in a cafe or going to a concert, but clearly that didn't make the job of explaining those murders any more difficult.

Somehow, their being Jewish made it all understandable.

So what exactly did she say so that her son would be secure in the knowledge that only attacking Jews (and cartoonists) is not something he needs to empathize with or worry about?

Grappling to find the logic in this, my son pondered the situation, and asked, “Well, why did they attack those restaurants and not other restaurants?”

It was a good question, hitting at the most terrifying aspect of all—the randomness of the attacks. Friday’s attacks impacted so many regular Parisians because they had been aimed directly at the most normal of people — the drinkers, the concert-goers, the soccer fans.

Implying, again, that the Jews going shopping are not exactly "the most normal of people," and in a small way their murders are more logical than those of the drinkers and soccer fans.

Does Vivienne Walt harbor antisemitic feelings? If so, it is certainly deep in her subconscious. After all, she wrote an article for Time in the wake of the Hypercacher attacks about how it affected the Jewish community. But here it is. Murdering "normal" French people is something that even adults have a hard time grappling with, but murdering French Jews is is something that can be explained even to a pre-teen,

And the editors at Time did not even think for a second that there was anything wrong in this piece..

11/28 Links: Israel remains the Middle East's only anchor; Syria is dead, Israel must prepare

From Ian:

Douglas Murray: It’s all over for the ‘decent left’, and they have only themselves to blame

Two weeks after Paris we finally have some clarity from the political left. The current stance of their leadership (as expressed in the Parliamentary Labour party) is that while there is no justification for bombing ISIS, there are many reasons to bomb London. On the same evening that Jeremy Corbyn told his party that he could not support airstrikes on ISIS his old comrade (and head of the Labour party’s new ‘defence review’) Ken Livingstone shared his view on Question Time that the 7/7 bombers ‘gave their lives’ in an act of supremely selfless objection to the 2nd Iraq War.
Now I know that there are a few people still on the left who object to this line of thought or try to resist it. They like to call themselves the ‘decent left’ among other things. But they should recognise that they have lost. Their party is headed by a Marxist who is supported by a Stalinist and seconded by someone who while spending this week denying he is a Maoist was once again shown to be a supporter of IRA violence. Knowing when you have lost is important. It means you can begin the mourning process.
One minor point of interest to me over recent days has been watching some survivors of the left who have spent the last decade attacking anyone who has written on terrorism and Islamism now beginning to talk like old pros about Islamism and terrorism. You’d almost think they’d spent the last decade addressing these issues, rather than trying to shut down anyone who did address them. I suppose they’ll make some running of it and bluff along for a while, but these people seem to me little use to anyone. We don’t need them to talk about how ‘pathetic’ ISIS are or otherwise describe them as offensively as possible (‘death-cult’ etc) as though they might offend ISIS into submission. These people remain part of the problem because even though they have woken up to an element of Islamism they still display that lack of honesty which is one reason why they have lost even on their own political side.
Because currently the ‘decent left’ is trying to hold the following line. It is no longer ‘racist’ to be rude about ISIS or ISIS-like groups. Nor is it any longer ‘bigoted’ or ‘Islamophobic’ to identify an ideological component to their actions. There is even a recognition that ‘non-progressive’ ideological views are held by a certain portion of the Muslim communities of Europe. However, it remains deeply bigoted, racist and ‘Islamophobic’ to express any concern about bringing millions more Muslims into Britain and Europe.

Ken Livingstone 7 7 bombers were protesting Iraq invasion

Guy Bechor: Israel remains the Middle East's only anchor

For years, 'experts' have been dealing with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, without realizing just how marginal it is and without understanding that it is being used as a tool for diverting the attention from the region's real problems.
What is there today on the other side, opposite Israel? A big void. There is a group of elderly people in Ramallah, with no power or legitimacy, and no agreement they could have reached would have been accepted by the Arab public in Judea and Samaria on in Gaza, and in any event, they had no intention of reaching any agreement. Their only goal was to gain the territories and use them for the next attack aimed at minimizing and weakening Israel.
Apart from that, there is nothing: No democracy, no economy, no law and no future. And there were those who wanted to give this void land from which they would attack central Israel with missiles.
The Arab regimes have accepted Israel's existence and are, secretly and openly, seeking its assistance. The conflict with the Palestinians exists, but it's tiny compared to the Sunni-Shi'ite demon, the huge battle with radical Islam and the world powers' infiltration of the Middle East in a military drive.
In the huge storm, the likes of which the area has not known since the Mongol invasion a little less than 800 years ago, Israel has remained the only island of stability. In the Middle East, which is desperately searching for a balance, we remain the only anchor.

Israelis Celebrate Modern Hanukkah Miracle as Mahmoud Abbas Begins 11th Year of His 4 Year Presidential Term (satire)

With only days left until the Festival of Lights, Israelis from all walks of life are celebrating a 21st Century miracle, as Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas prepares to begin the 11th Year of a Four Year term of office that began in January 2005. The Daily Freier spoke with Tel Aviv residents as they made preparations to celebrate this momentous occasion.
“So the legend is that there was only enough corruption, incitement and farce to last four years…” explained local historian Yoni K. as he looked for sufganyot and potatoes in the Shuk Ha Carmel. “But through a little luck and maybe even a miracle, his four year term has lasted ten years and counting! Nes Gadol Haya Po!”
Nearby, local homemaker Rachel T. searched for Hanukkah gifts to send Mr. Abbas. “Abbas is always complaining about the Jews’ dirty feet, so I thought, why not get him a doormat…you know, just in case he has Jews over for company!”
While most people will celebrate Hanukkah as they always do, Florentin resident Danny G. wants to try something new this year. “Well first, I think we will hang out at my apartment and take turns reading President Abbas’ Doctoral Thesis. And then, I was thinking of hitting some clubs in Dubai with President Abbas’ son Yassar!”

On Saturday, presidential candidate Ben Carson visited Syrian refugees in Jordan in the Azraq camps.

But he didn't see any of the hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees who are considered "Palestinian."

Because they are not allowed to live in that camp.

In fact, for over two years, Jordan has pursued a policy of not allowing refugees from Syria whose ancestors lived in British Mandate Palestine in 1947 to enter, and they have been deporting scores of those who came in previously.

A report I quoted earlier this month explains:

In January 2013, the Jordanian government announced a non-entry policy for Palestinian refugees. Since then, those Palestinians who had been able to cross into Jordan (usually relying on forged documents or smugglers) have lived in fear of being arrested and deported back to Syria. Furthermore, Palestinians who fled to Jordan cannot legally live in the refugee camps established for Syrians, but at the same time, cannot legally work to earn money to rent housing outside of camps. The one exception is Cyber City, which is more of a detention center than a refugee camp, and where Jordanian authorities have been transferring Palestinians who are in the country clandestinely since April 2012. Palestinians are confined to Cyber City unless they decide to return to Syria.

Cyber City, which only has a few hundred Palestinians at this time, is essentially a prison.

Carson, without realizing it, witnessed discrimination against Palestinian Arabs that is much worse than how African Americans have been treated in the US since the Civil War. They are being told to go return a war zone.

And it is not only by Jordan - Lebanon and Egypt also turn away any Syrians of Palestinian ancestry from their borders.

Over 3000 Palestinians have already been killed in Syria, and hundreds of thousands have been displaced. Yet the Arab nations who reflexively trot out their supposed concern for Palestinians every time a Western leader visits or every time they address the UN are never asked about why they have entrenched, institutional discrimination against the people they claim to support.

If Ben Carson wants to help his foreign policy credentials, he should ask Jordanian officials where the Palestinians fleeing towards Jordan are, and why Jordan welcomes 600,000 Syrians but turns away Syrian Palestinians.

11/27 Links Pt2: Lessons from the Pollard saga; Hamas Looks beyond Jerusalem to Rome and Beyond

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Lessons from the Pollard saga

It warns us that while secretaries of state proclaim their eternal concern and friendship for Israel, there are officials whispering in their ears that Israel is the source of instability in the Middle East and that due to the support Israel enjoys from American Jewry, America’s ability to secure its interests in the Middle East is impaired. The weaker both US Jewry and Israel are, the better off America will be, they are told.
Unfortunately, more often than not, when Israelis aren’t pretending that these forces don’t exist, they tend to view them as all-powerful.
So it is that the same Israeli officials – again, predominately on the Left – who insist that Israel can trust US security guarantees because the US will never waver in its commitment to Israel, also insist that Israel must never act in opposition to the US. So long as the US opposes destroying Iran’s nuclear installations, Israel, they insist, must not raise a finger against them.
So long as the US supports a Palestinian state, they insist that Israel must carry on as if the so-called two-state solution is possible, let along good for Israel.
Obviously, both positions are simplistic and wrong. For the past 30 years, as Pollard suffered in prison, and Israel’s position in the US remained under constant assault by its opponents in the bureaucracy, Israel’s relations with the US expanded and deepened. The level of US popular support for Israel has grown from year to year.
Pollard’s story tells us that we need to grow up. The US is a great ally, but our alliance with America is no substitute for national power.
As an ally, we should take US concerns into account where we can, and act independently where we must. Pollard’s case was a great victory for our enemies in Washington. And they will score additional ones in the future. But so will our friends. And so will we.

November 29: The Day the UN Stands With the Palestinians and Demonizes Israel

There is no other UN subsidiary committee or UN day of solidarity specifically designated to advance the political cause of one people over another. This committee is yet more proof such double standards against Israel persist and are sanctioned by an official UN event in New York.
The Day is also a catalyst for highly politicized non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to amplify their support for anti-Israel BDS (boycotts, divestments, and sanctions) movement and other hostile campaigns. Many of these NGOs, which receive extensive funding from European governments, also regularly exploit UN forums and judicial processes to accuse Israel of “war crimes,” “crimes against humanity,” and other alleged violations of international law.
For example, in 2013, Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which prides itself on seeking to create “a wedge” within the American Jewish community over support for Israel, marked the occasion by escalating efforts to boycott Israeli company SodaStream. Similarly, Palestinian NGO Al Mezan co-signed a letter accusing Israel of “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity,” while calling on “UN member states to vote in favor of any resolution that would recognize Palestinian statehood.” Al Mezan is funded, directly and indirectly, by Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark, Netherlands, the European Union, Norway, Germany, the UN Development Programme, and the UN Central Emergency Response Fund.
In 2012, a dozens of NGOs including Al Mezan, Al-Haq, Badil, Defence for Children International-Palestine — all of which are heavily funded by European donors — participated in a World Social Forum entitled “Free Palestine” held in Brazil. The four-day forum, which overlapped with November 29, included panels on “the right to return,” “international law and human rights,” “popular resistance,” and “the case of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement.” Tellingly, the conference did not center on obtaining Palestinian statehood, but rather lamented the “narrowing of the Palestinian struggle to the West Bank only.”
While November 29 recalls the implications of UN resolutions from 40 and 70 years ago, we should also bear in mind another momentous event from the Fall of 1945. On October 24, the UN was founded at Lake Success, New York, to “reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights.” As the UN and NGOs prepare to stand in solidarity with the Palestinians by demonizing Israel and denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination, they and their donors should consider the extent to which they contribute to the exploitation of sacred and universal principles.

On November 30, Remember the Jewish Refugees Expelled from Arab Lands

On June 23, 2014, the Israeli Knesset passed a law designating November 30 as an official date in the calendar to remember the uprooting of almost one million Jewish refugees from Arab countries and Iran.
The date was chosen to recall the day after the UN passed the 1947 UN Partition Plan for Palestine. Following bloodcurdling threats by Arab leaders, violence erupted against Jewish communities all across the Mideast. The riots resulted in the mass exodus of Jews from the Arab world, the seizure of their property and assets, and the destruction of their millennarian, pre-Islamic communities. In 1979, the Islamic revolution resulted in the exodus of four-fifths of the Iranian-Jewish community.
Refugees are much in the news these days. Until the mass population displacement caused by the wars in Iraq and Syria, however, the world thought that ‘Middle Eastern refugee’ was synonymous with ‘Palestinian refugee.’ Yet there were more Jews displaced from Arab countries than Palestinians (850,000, as against 711,000 according to UN figures.)
The Jewish refugee issue is more than simply a question to be resolved at the negotiating table. It is a symptom of the Arab and Muslim world’s deep psychosis — an inability to tolerate the non-Arab, non-Muslim Other.
Today, both Muslim sects and non-Muslim minorities are being persecuted in the Middle East, but people are apt to forget that the Jews were one of the first. As the saying goes, “First the Saturday people, then the Sunday people.” And it does not stop there. A state that devours its minorities ends up devouring itself.

PreOccupiedTerritory: UN: Jacob Used Excessive Force In Encounter With Angel (satire)

The United Nations Human Rights Council ordered an investigation into the behavior of the patriarch Jacob this afternoon, saying that evidence raises serious questions over his use of what appears to be unnecessary force in an episode of combat with a man who turned out to be an angel.
In a unanimous vote, the Council decided to conduct an inquiry into the violent encounter, which occurred after Jacob crossed back over the Yabbok River to retrieve some remaining possessions from his family’s previous camp location. The Council noted that it was unnecessary to keep fighting all night, since, as it turned out, the angel only wanted to hurt Jacob’s thigh.
“Defending himself for hours and hours, as alleged – until dawn, according to documentary evidence – constitutes a violation of the principle of proportionality,” said a statement by the Council. “The fact that Jacob’s opponent had to beg to be released at dawn appears to indicate that Jacob used unnecessary force. The goal of self-defense would have been equally well served without the patently vindictive tactic of restraining the angel when he had all but surrendered.”

Report: Increase in Moroccan Jews immigrating to Israel

Over the past few days I've seen a number of articles in Arabic that quote the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics as saying that there has been an increase in the number of Jews immigrating to Israel from Arab countries.

I have not been able to find anything on the Israel CBS site, though.

Hespress (Morocco) reports that according to the bureau, 729 Moroccan Jews emigrates to Israel is 2014, compared to 297 people in the 2013, an increase of about 230 percent.

That sounds somewhat reasonable. There are several thousand Jews in Morocco (6000 according to CIA Factbook, 2500 according to Jewish Virtual Library) . However, an article from Algeria, quoting the same source, makes no sense.

Algeria's El Heddaf says that according to the report, 782 Jews left Algeria for Israel in 2014. However, most experts say that Algeria had less than 75 Jews in total in 2013.

El Haddaf agrees with Hespress in saying that 729 Moroccan Jews emigrated and says that more Jews came from Tunisia in 2014 than both, with 874 Jews making aliya. The Tunisian numbers also make little sense as there were estimated to be only 900 Jews left in Tunisia in 2013.

So I have no idea where El Haddaf is getting these numbers from, and what incentive they have to make them up.

11/27 Links Pt1: Breaking the truth: The mission to demonize Israel; Time to change the narrative

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Time to change the narrative

After Paris, the hope was expressed in Israel that now the west would recognize Israel was suffering from the same war of conquest and extermination. Unfortunately, however, the more obvious this becomes the more viciously the West will seek to defend its delusion.
The need to change the narrative has never been more urgent. In a recent interview with Channel 10, Abbas admitted publicly for the first time that in 2008 he flatly rejected an offer of statehood from Israel that would have given him control of almost all the West Bank and a share of Jerusalem, as well as Gaza. In other words, he wants Israel gone.
For various reasons, however, Israel has chosen not to educate the world in certain basic truths: that this is not a fight over two states but a struggle to prevent the Arab extermination of Israel; that Palestinian identity was created solely to achieve that murderous aim; and that Israel’s ostensible Western allies are complicit in that project by falsely denying the legality of Israel’s actions and sanitizing and incentivizing Palestinian rejectionism.
It is the West’s tragedy that it doesn’t understand it is up against exactly the same Islamic death cult that has attacked the Jews in the Holy Land for almost a century. It will never understand this unless these basic truths now start to be told.

Ben-Dror Yemini: Breaking the truth: The mission to demonize Israel

Maj. Amit Deri (res.), manager at a pre-military program, served as a company commander in Hebron. There he came across the activities of Breaking the Silence, an organization made up of ex-IDF soldiers. Deri started to look into exactly what they were doing. The result was an incendiary tape. Deri recorded shocking stories that Avner Gvaryahu, from the organization's leadership, told journalists, diplomats and foreign visitors. Gvaryahu created the impression that the IDF fired machine guns over a "massive radius" as a matter of routine, killing innocent civilians.
Where did this happen? When was this mass killing? The organization has published testimonies from Yehuda Shaul, the organization's founder, describing incidents like this. Is this really the case? For years in the West Bank, and particularly in Hebron, there have been five cameras per square meter. How is it that no one has photographed these insane shooting incidents?
Gvaryahu talks about IDF soldiers who enter houses and blindfold the family so that they can watch a soccer match. The organization referred to a soldier's testimony in response to Deri's recording. In the testimony there is no mention of most of the details provided in Gvaryahu's story. In order to add an extra sin to the crime, and in order to dodge the heart of the matter, the organization published a message stating that Deri is a "right-winger." And even if we assume that Deri is on the Right: so what? Can right-wingers not make serious claims? I asked Deri, by the way. He has no idea where they got it from. I asked them too. They didn't respond. It's understandable. Their mission is to turn Israel into a monster. And that won't happen without lies. (h/t Yenta Press)

‘Breaking the Silence’ Regret Use of their Work Against Israel

Breaking the silence, a group dedicated to collecting and disseminating testimonies by IDF soldiers about the terrible things they were made to do during their service, was dumbfounded to discover that there are people out there who would miss the point they try to make, namely that there’s a lot of blame to go around in the Israeli-Arab conflict — and conclude that only Israel is to blame. And point to those BTS testimonies as proof.
Here’s what they published on Facebook on Thursday, in what appears, at least on the face of it, to be a sincere expression of shock:
“We were deeply disappointed to come across this video in which our soldiers’ testimonies were not only misused, but also severely distorted.”
But then they conclude with the familiar mantra:
“In manipulating our testimonies, and thus the truth about the reality in the occupied territories, this type of rhetoric fuels the extreme right-wing’s pro-occupation narrative in Israel.

Breaking the Silence Supporter

Hassidic Jews Tackle, Restrain ‘Terrifying’ Antisemitic Assailant Outside Melbourne Synagogue (VIDEO)

A group of Hassidic Jews tackled and held down a man who shouted antisemitic epithets at a passersby and assaulted a congregant outside a synagogue in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday, video footage shows.
The video, posted on Facebook, shows the instigator standing outside the Adass Synagogue and shouting at a group of Hassidic men, “Go back to Israel.” When the assailant grabs hold of the shirt of one of the men, he is tackled and pinned to the ground by the group.
Though he attempts to fight back, he is held down until police arrive.
In a Facebook report on the incident, the local Australian Jewish News described the scene as “terrifying,” and called on members of the public to alert police in the event of an emergency.
A separate video circulating on Facebook shows the same assailant shouting at another Hassid at the entrance to the synagogue. After he is told to “Talk nicely,” the abuser responds by aggressively slapping the man in the face.
The incident began after the attacker, who was drunk at the time, was walking with three others toward a nearby train station when he allegedly stole a child’s scooter from outside the synagogue, the UK’s Daily Mail reported. He then got into a verbal argument with several Jewish men who came out of the synagogue to question him over the alleged theft.

.@UNRWA school principal loves Islamic Jihad terrorists - and their gun-toting mom

Rawdah Hamideh has been an UNRWA school principal in Jordan for 25 years.

There is no doubt that she works for UNRWA.

Last year she posted this on her Facebook page:

The caption says:
In red: “A woman walks with five of her sons behind her”
In black: “What a woman you are… Are you the Khansaa of Palestine? Maybe your femininity will teach the Arab rulers what is manhood, oh mother”

Rawdah obviously feels that terrorists are the only real men in "Palestine."

And her opinions shape the attitudes of everyone in an entire UNRWA school.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

Palestine Press Agency reports that Hamas has scuttled a plan worked out between Egypt and the PA to open the Rafah crossing for both people and goods to enter Gaza.

Egypt has long said that it would re-open the crossings if the PA controlled them, rather than Hamas. This plan was for an independent Arab security firm, not affiliated with either Hamas or Fatah, to manage the crossing.

According to the article, Hamas agreed to the idea in theory, and then the PA and Egypt negotiated the plan itself. The two sides announced the agreement on November 18.

Then Hamas quashed the plan. Hamas leaders were upset that they were not part of the negotiations, while Egypt refuses to talk with Hamas. Hamas also insists that some 60 Hamas employees work at the crossing in any plan.

Hamas is said to use the few times that the crossing is open to send their own loyalists through and to extort thousands of dollars in bribes to allow other Gazans to pass through the border.

The Rafah crossing has been open for only 19 days in 2015. Some 25,000 humanitarian cases have been unable to cross into Egypt.

Meanwhile, Israel allows thousands to cross from Gaza into and through Israel every month.