Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, January 14, 2016

01/14 Links Pt2: 1948 Palestinian: “We Fled...They Didn’t Expel Us”; Lies about Israel, lies about Jews

From Ian:

IsraellyCool: 1948 Palestinian: “We Fled..They Didn’t Expel Us”

It is one of the claims of the Israel haters: Israel expelled the palestinians living here in 1948.
As renowned Israeli historian Benny Morris has noted, while there were expulsions (as can happen during wartime with a hostile population), many of the 700,000 Arab refugees were ordered or advised by their fellow Arabs to abandon their homes. There were also those who fled in fear.
Now Israel Social TV, a group otherwise known for once utilizing the services of one DouchebloggerTM (I assume his contract was not extended, because, well, he sucked) have come out with an anti-Israel video about “palestinian refugees” planning their return.

They are young Palestinian men and women, citizens of Israel. They have been meeting for three years, imagining and planning their return to their destroyed villages. Project “Udna” or “Return” in English, aims to pass on to the younger generation awareness of the Nakba and create actual models of return. Descendants of the displaced from al-Lajjun made a film about the expulsion from the village in ’48.
Do not bother watching it. Our own Zion Mike has isolated the only part you need to watch.
An admission by the elderly man that they fled in fear due to the “real war” going on, and his insistence about this despite the interviewer (his grandson) trying to get him to say they were expelled.
The truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

Palestinian recalls 1948 "They didn't expel us"

Intersectionality: Lies about Israel, lies about Jews

The trend for the BDS movement is to make demonization of Israel the center of the progressive universe through the theory of “intersectionality.”
Israel is placed at the center of all evil in the world, the unifying focus regardless of the issue:
This anti-Semitic use of “intersectionality” theory flourishes because a generation of students — many of whom now are faculty — have been schooled based on lies about the creation of Israel and the Arab refugees created in the civil war and invasion by Arab armies. In that false narrative, the Jews are wholly evil and the Arabs are wholly innocent.
Historian Benny Morris, who rose to fame by debunking some of the pro-Israel myths about the War of Independence, has also noted that the Arab rejection of Israel primarily was a religious rejection.
In this 2008 letter to the Irish Times, which I just saw when someone tweeted the link, Morris succinctly addresses not just the Arab responsibility for the Arab failure, but also how the lies about Israel are connected to the lies about Jews that have been spread for Millennia.
Read it. It’s a good 600-word rebuttal to the haters:
Israel and the Palestinians
Madam, – Israel-haters are fond of citing – and more often, mis-citing – my work in support of their arguments. Let me offer some corrections.
The Palestinian Arabs were not responsible “in some bizarre way” (David Norris, January 31st) for what befell them in 1948. Their responsibility was very direct and simple.
In defiance of the will of the international community, as embodied in the UN General Assembly Resolution of November 29th, 1947 (No. 181), they launched hostilities against the Jewish community in Palestine in the hope of aborting the emergence of the Jewish state and perhaps destroying that community. But they lost; and one of the results was the displacement of 700,000 of them from their homes.

Michael Lumish: On Obama's Fondness for Feeding Jews Dog Biscuits

Veiling Muslim attacks on Jews as something other than Muslim attacks on Jews protects the larger Muslim community from embarrassment. It does so at the expense of the tiny Jewish minority, but that is clearly not Obama's concern.
I would argue, in fact, that president Barack Obama is now openly mocking the American Jewish community. I am sorry, but it is pathetic. Not on his part, of course, but on ours. Obama has proven beyond any doubt that American Jews are an abused lap-dog owned by this administration.
Every once in awhile he tosses us a Milk-Bone and I find it shameful.
Obama knows what he is doing. His Department of State remembers the kerfuffle over the above remarks from last year as, I am sure, does the genius in the White House, himself. This year the dishonorable refusal to mention the Hypercacher attack as anti-Semitic is one of those little ways that the Obama administration enjoys tweaking Jewish noses. It also reveals zero interest in fighting racism toward American Jews, despite the fact that the American Jewish community is the most violently attacked of any religious community in the United States.
It is not even close:

On Tuesday, the first export of the season from Gaza farmers to the West Bank was sent through Israel.

Seven tons of strawberries were shipped via the Kerem Shalom crossing.

Gaza farmers accused Israel of delaying the shipment to protect their own sales of strawberries to the West Bank. Even so, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture in Gaza said that he expected between 300 and 400 tons of strawberries to be exported to the West bank this season, besides the tons that are exported to Europe.

At the same time, the Undersecretary of the Hamas Ministry of Agriculture Mohammed Jadallah said that the Gaza Strip had exported almost 13,000 tons of vegetables during the year 2015 to the West Bank, Israel and abroad.

Besides strawberries, Gaza farmers export tons of a cucumbers, tomatoes, eggplant, sweet peppers and zucchini.

Some Arab media have been claiming that Israel has been cutting cooking gas supplies in the middle of the winter to Gaza for the past month, gas which Gazans use to heat their homes.

Looking at the COGAT statistics for the past six weeks, there has been no reduction in cooking gas except for one week. Heating fuel imports have gone up in recent weeks.

A major reason for the shortage of cooking gas is because many Gazan taxi drivers have converted their cars to use that as fuel, so less gas is available for cooking.

Meanwhile, Israel is going to pump cooking gas into Gaza on Friday, when the Kerem Shalom crossing is normally closed, to help out Gazans.

We are doing everything we can to fight for Israel with hard work, research and - above all - the truth. I could sure use your help. Please donate today. If you have other skills you can volunteer for EoZ, send an email to volunteer@elderofziyon.com

Vic Rosenthal's weekly column:

When Israel built its security barrier back in 2003, the Palestinian Arabs and their supporters squealed like pigs. Despite numerous changes to its path to accommodate Arab complaints, some ordered by Israel’s Supreme Court, it became a cause célèbre for them, a symbol of alleged ‘apartheid’ and the focus of often violent demonstrations that continue to this day.

The reason is simple. The barrier stymied one of their best weapons, the suicide bombing. It’s often said that the Second Intifada was ended by Operation Defensive Shield, in which the IDF (despite the name) went on the offense against terrorist nests in places like Jenin and cleaned them out. But according to a member of the security forces who spent those dark months frantically racing from place to place to intercept human bombs before they could explode in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, the fence, while not impermeable, greatly reduced the number of possible entry points and made it much easier to stop them.

A similar situation exists today, as Israel moves to render one of our enemies’ most important ‘soft weapons’ impotent. I refer to the Transparency Law that is presently being considered in the Knesset to limit the ability of hostile foreign powers to conduct stealth delegitimization and demonization of Israel by funding Israeli non-governmental organizations. These NGOs, usually claiming to be ‘human rights’ groups, develop and disseminate tendentious data accusing Israel and the IDF of violations of international law and generally atrocious and ugly behavior.

For example, Breaking the Silence collects anecdotes from soldiers accusing the IDF of war crimes. But these stories often cannot be corroborated, are hearsay, exaggerated, or lack context. BTS refuses to give details to the IDF so they can be checked out and actual violations prosecuted. B’Tselem does the same with accusations that Israel violates the rights of Arabs in the territories, relying on one-sided testimony from Arabs and anti-Israel activists.

This material is then used as ‘evidence’ in dishonest legal proceedings against IDF soldiers and officers, and in UN reports and resolutions condemning Israel. It is used to turn popular opinion against her, so that the ‘international community’ and the US can pressure her for concessions to the Arabs and against muscular responses to terrorism and aggression. It is used as a justification for sanctions on Israel, such as the labeling of settlement products.

Every group that wants to attack Israel, from Students for Justice in Palestine to the Obama Administration, partakes of the false, exaggerated and context-free ‘facts’ created by these NGOs. In addition, the large anti-state community that is supported by this massive pot of foreign money is an internal political danger, and a challenge to Israel’s sovereignty.

Israel has only recently awakened to the damage that is being done to it on a daily basis. The dimensions of the enterprise are massive. Prof. Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor, which tracks foreign money in Israeli NGOs, notes that

…in the past fifteen years, a network of about 30 groups claiming to promote human rights and peace have received large grants from the European Union and individual governments. The scale of this funding, with annual budgets upwards of $1 million, as well as the extreme secrecy and impact, are unique; there are no parallels in relations between democracies. Although the EU has funded a few U.S.-based groups that oppose the death penalty, and there are some other isolated examples, Israeli NGOs are specifically and intentionally targeted. Imagine the response if Europe were to provide $2 billion--the per capita equivalent--to fringe American NGOs focusing on controversial issues, such as abortion or immigration. [my emphasis]

While the groups claim to be impartial, they almost entirely focus on alleged Israeli misbehavior toward Arabs and ignore violations of the human rights of Jews. Recently, grants to Breaking the Silence were made conditional on their finding a minimum number of cases of IDF misconduct. The NGOs are happy to give their bosses what they want.

This is big bucks, and nobody spends this kind of money for an extended period unless they believe they are getting something for it. And of course it is a meal ticket for the large group of activists that directly benefit from it.

So when Israel threatened to pass a law that will require NGOs that receive more than half of their funding from foreign governmental sources to document this fact on all material that they produce, the Israeli Left and their allies abroad went bonkers, pulling out all the stops in their attacks on the law. Here is one example at random, from journalist Mazal Muallem:

Since [Justice Minister Ayelet] Shaked wants to brand left-wing groups with a “mark of Cain” of sorts, a far more appropriate name for her proposed piece of populist legislation could be the “Selection Law,” a reference to the way Jews were marked to distinguish them from other Europeans during World War II in Nazi camps. The justice minister never even considered postponing her efforts to advance this provocative and divisive piece of legislation so that it would not coincide with the 20th anniversary of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin’s assassination on Nov. 4, 1995. Instead, she decided to fire it off like a poison dart, right at the heart of Israeli democracy.

Opponents of the law note that it only applies to funding from foreign governments, whereas right-wing groups receive funds primarily from private individuals like Sheldon Adelson. But other than Adelson’s ownership of the Israel Hayom newspaper and his generous contributions to Birthright Israel, both of which are matters of public record, there is very little right-wing money going for propaganda purposes in Israel. And note that the so-called ‘human rights’ industry receives plenty of private money itself in addition to its subsidies from hostile governments.

This law, which Muallem called “a McCarthy-style brutal, ugly and wild persecution that is reminiscent of regimes best forgotten,” does not prevent anyone from speaking their mind and does not punish anyone for doing so. The argument that it is “anti-democratic” is an inversion of reality: what is profoundly undemocratic is hidden foreign funding of organizations which try to influence opinion and policy in ways which are contrary to the general will of the citizens of a country.

It can be argued that Israel has actually been at war with much of the Muslim world since its founding in 1948, with periods of extreme violence interspersed with cold war, all against a background of terrorism such as the flareup we are now experiencing. Despite this, Israel has maintained a very permissive public culture, in which Israelis are permitted to say and write almost anything with impunity – numerous Ha’aretz writers call Israel an “apartheid state” and accuse it of genocide on a regular basis, and the authorities do not punish them or the newspaper in any way.

During its quiet times, Israel’s long-term war is reminiscent of the cold war between the US and the Soviet Union, in which proxy conflicts predominate, and in which the world’s nations take sides with the powers in conflict. Despite public statements to the contrary, it’s clear that the European Union and many of its members are firmly on the anti-Israel side.

The Israelis who have chosen to become paid agents of foreign powers on the other side of the conflict are skating very close to treason, usually defined as “aiding the enemy in time of war.” It is a testament to Israel’s commitment to an open society that they are not treated as traitors, and now may merely be required to tell whose payrolls they are on. Benedict Arnold, Guy Fawkes and Vidkun Quisling would have welcomed such an opportunity!

The NGOs have called upon all of their friends abroad to help fight the ‘menace’ of transparency. Even the Obama Administration has stepped in, with US Ambassador Dan Shapiro meeting with Justice Minister Shaked and expressing his administration’s concern that the law would impact “free expression and peaceful dissent.” Shaked responded that she appreciated his concern, but as Israel’s democracy is in fine shape, there is “no need for other nations to intervene in internal legislation” (she might have added “…like you tried to intervene in our last election”).

Along with the big gun, some others (Mao would have called them ‘running dogs’) close to the administration have chimed in. For example, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Congress have all opposed it, using similar – and equally unpersuasive – language.

Possibly an indication of how important this issue is to the EU is the fact that B’Tselem received a 30,000 Euro grant from a group associated with it, specifically to fight the law in Israel.

It’s not surprising that the recipients of tens of millions of Euros every year are upset about anything that might threaten their gigs. Indeed, if it were possible to somehow stop the flow – which the proposed law unfortunately does not do – the government would have to create a new poverty program for the legions of activists, some of whom have never held actual jobs, who would become unemployed.

The ‘soft weapon’ of NGO money is wounding Israel no less than the suicide bombings of the Second Intifada. Like the security fence that stopped terrorist infiltration, we can build a legal fence against it. The squeals of those feeding at the trough of EU money must be ignored, and the Transparency Law passed by the Knesset.

01/14 Links Pt1: Ramadi, Gaza, and Western Hypocrisy; PA TV: “The Jews killed Arafat”

From Ian:

Ramadi, Gaza, and Western Hypocrisy

During the Hamas-Israel war of 2014, both Obama Administration officials and their European counterparts repeatedly accused Israel of excessive force over the “massive” destruction of civilian property in Gaza. But if those officials retain even a shred of intellectual integrity, the recent devastation of Ramadi during a joint Western/Iraqi effort to retake the city leaves them only two options: either hand themselves over to the International Criminal Court as suspected war criminals, or publicly apologize to Israel for all the slurs they hurled at it over far less extensive damage.
As the New York Times reported last week, the successful recapture of Ramadi from the Islamic State left the city “in ruins.” Reporter Ben Hubbard described one neighborhood as “a panorama of wreckage so vast that it was unclear where the original buildings had stood.” The city has no electricity or running water, and “Many streets had been erased or remained covered in rubble or blocked by trenches used in the fighting.” When Hubbard asked an Iraqi officer how residents would return to their homes, the officer replied, “Homes? There are no homes.”
Indeed, a different Iraqi officer told the Associated Press “that more than half of the city’s buildings have been destroyed, including government offices, markets, and houses.”
This is devastation orders of magnitude greater than what Gaza suffered. According to UN figures, 9,465 homes in Gaza were completely destroyed and another 9,644 badly damaged, out of a total of roughly 319,000 (the latter figure is my own calculation based on official Palestinian statistics: Dividing Gaza’s total population of 1.82 million by its average household size of 5.7 people gives you 319,000 households). Thus even according to the UN – which traditionally exaggerates Palestinian casualties and damage – only about 6 percent of Gaza’s homes were destroyed or badly damaged. That’s a far cry from “more than half of the city” in Ramadi. (h/t Dave4321)

PMW: Palestinian girl’s hate speech: “The Jews killed Arafat”

A young Palestinian girl expressed her belief that “the Jews killed Arafat” last week on the official Palestinian Authority TV children’s program Children’s Talk. Her father had taught her that “Arafat wanted to fight in order to free Palestine, and suddenly the Jews killed him and he died as a Martyr,” she said. The TV host immediately confirmed this to be true:
Official PA TV host: “What do you know about Yasser Arafat? You were not born yet when he died as a Martyr (Shahid). Did your father tell you a lot about him?
Girl: “Yes.”
Official PA TV host: “Very nice. What did he tell you about him?
Girl: “Yasser Arafat wanted to fight in order to free Palestine, and suddenly the Jews killed him and he died as a Martyr.”
Official PA TV host: “My dear, may Allah have mercy on his soul and on the souls of all our Martyrs. It is happening at the moment to all of our Martyrs. But he [Arafat] was the leader and the symbol... Yasser Arafat is a legend, a special man. His wish was to die as a Martyr, and he did indeed die as a Martyr. However, when the occupation understood that he would not give up on his great dream, which was the liberation of Palestine, unfortunately they killed him.” [Official PA TV, Jan. 8, 2016]
For years, the PA has been reiterating the PA libel that Israel murdered Arafat. Some versions of this libel have even implicated the US, claiming that Israel conspired with the US to kill Arafat, or that the US gave its approval of the plan. However, in March 2015, three French judges ruled that "it has not been demonstrated that Mr. Yasser Arafat was murdered by polonium-210 poisoning." The French prosecutor stated that there was "not sufficient evidence of an intervention by a third party who could have attempted to take his life." [France 24, Sept. 2, 2015] The French prosecutor also explained that the polonium and lead found in Arafat’s grave were “of an environmental nature.” [Jerusalem Post, March 17, 2015] Despite these results denying any poisoning, the PA continues to blame Israel for Arafat’s death without any proof or backing for this claim.

PMW: PA doublespeak - To Europeans: Judaism is honorable, to Palestinians: There is a falsified Biblical base to their path of blood

Speaking at the Greek Parliament in December 2015, PA Chairman Abbas proclaimed the Palestinians' respect for Judaism and Jews:
"We are neighbors and we will be friends in the future... we are absolutely not against the Jewish religion... The Jewish religion is an honorable religion and we all honor it, appreciate it and recognize its sanctity." [Official PA TV, Dec. 22, 2015]
However, when his PA TV addresses its Palestinian audience, Jews are the evil slayers of prophets, and the religion is "falsified." Palestinian Media Watch often has documented the Antisemitic hate speech on official PA TV, even to children, that would never be spoken to a European audience.
In one of his weekly broadcasts, PA TV host Imad Hamato, a preacher of Islam and professor of Quranic Studies at the University of Palestine in Gaza, explained that the Antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is an authentic Jewish plan and that it is being carried out by Israel right now.

PA TV host: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is authentic Jewish plan

In June 2014, Al Monitor reported:

Those attending the funeral of Palestinian resistance member Nizar Issa, who was killed during an explosion at a resistance training center in the northern Gaza Strip on May 25, were surprised when Hisham Salem, a well-known figure in Gaza, declared the start of a new resistance movement in Palestine and proclaimed Issa as the first martyr in the ranks of this movement.

The new movement is called “Al-Sabirin [The Patient] for the Victory of Palestine,” or “Hosn” by its Arabic acronym. Its flag looks a lot like that of Lebanon's Hezbollah in form and color — the reason why Salem’s local opponents accused him of promoting a Shiite current — which raises significant concerns for Palestinians about an outbreak of sectarian strife in the Gaza Strip and turning Gaza into a second Iraq.

An article in Foreign Affairs last September adds some color:

After splitting from the PIJ, Salem and his followers' first move was to establish a charity named al Baqiyat al Salihat ("the enduring good deeds"); by spring 2014, they proclaimed the birth of the al Sabirin movement. It is not clear at this point how many members have joined the new militia and how militarily active it is.

Rumors among Islamist circles in Gaza claim that Salem receives an annual budget of $10 million from Iran, typically smuggled in suitcases through the tunnels along the border with Egypt. Al Sabirin allegedly distributes a portion of these funds to families of Palestinian prisoners in Israel. And it has spent relatively significant sums to commemorate, through a documentary, one of its members, Musaab al-Kheir Salah Sakkafi, whom they consider a martyr. He was killed during Israel's Protective Edge operation in July 2014 after a rocket he was trying to fire into Israel exploded during launch.

While al-Sabirin has had a rocky start in Gaza, it apparently has started its militant operations, as reported last month:

The Al-Sabirin movement took responsibility Friday for detonating an explosive device two days earlier that targeted an Israeli army patrol near Khan Younis, along Israel’s border with the southern Gaza Strip.

The movement, a Palestinian Shiite group funded by Iran and given protection by Gaza’s Hamas rulers, has in the recent past also taken responsibility for two other attacks against Israeli troops.

Now, there are reports that the Iranian proxy group is beginning operations in the West Bank.
Leader Hisham Salem says that his group has recruited members in the West Bank which he intends to provide with military and financial support, claiming to want unity among all Palestinian factions.

This is all very believable. Iran's Supreme Leader has explicitly called for an armed uprising in the West Bank, even before the current knife and car ramming attacks:

I announced and it will absolutely happen that, just like #Gaza, the #WestBank must also be armed to be ready for defense. 11/25/04
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) September 17, 2015

Al-Sabirin seems to be using the time-honored Islamist model of starting off by creating charities and using them as a front to bring money in for weapons.

While there will be resistance among the Sunni-dominated Palestinian Arabs, a well-funded Iranian proxy can easily attract members and weapons. Given that Iran has been reportedly withholding funds from Hamas and possibly Islamic Jihad, forcing those groups to cut salaries and operations, would-be terrorists will be attracted to a group that can pay them.

We are doing everything we can to fight for Israel with hard work, research and - above all - the truth. I could sure use your help.Please donate today.If you have other skills you can volunteer for EoZ, send an email to volunteer@elderofziyon.com

BtS spokesperson's lies refuted by his former army-mates

Avner Gvaryahu is the public face of Breaking the Silence, writing articles in Western media about how immoral the Israeli army is, and relating it to his own army experiences.

Now his fellow soldiers wrote a letter saying that he is full of it.

From My Truth:

Hey Avner,

It’s us, your friends from the army, from the Orev unit. We have also decided to break our silence. Want to stop reading? Don’t.
We were there no less than he was, and now the time has come for you to hear our truth also.

He shouts in every possible forum that he needs to be heard, now the time has come that he listen to us, too. We were ready to take a bullet for him once, we were with him there on the missions that he speaks of (in which we saved many lives and prevented countless terror attacks in the heart of Israel). In fact, when he says that war crimes were committed, he’s referring to each and every one of us. In every court case both sides are heard, no?

Let’s start. This post is written together by many members of the unit. Avner served together with us in the "Orev" Paratroopers (Anti-tank) unit from November 2004 until March 2007. Some of us served in the same crew, others in a parallel crew or in the unit at the same time. We decided to describe part of his testimonies which accuse us of things which never happened, or which were utterly distorted and whose connection to reality is totally coincidental, and each testimony needs to be told truthfully. To prove that you don’t have a sister is not an easy task, so be patient, you too Avner, give the minimum of respect and read until the end.

Before we begin to try to restore our name, we have one personal question for you: If we did all that you describe, you were a part of it; you were the March 2006 sniper team sergeant (by the way, this team by definition didn’t do arrests, refer to your own testimony, No. 58601 from 2011, in which you described other things), commander! What was done was your responsibility; so why did you run from responsibility? You turned a blind eye! You led soldiers behind you; don’t say that you received orders – you gave them! If there was truth in your words, then today you should be the one facing trial.

Let’s start from the last ones, the ones from the patrol in Hebron:

You claimed that there was a position with a “machine gun” which kills with a radius of 50 meters(!) and the operator would play a kind of video game and shoot innocent people and cars, and more than this, you claimed that there would be screams of encouragement on the radio, and so he would shoot.

We were in Hebron as a team of recruits who hadn’t yet finished training, for a period of about two weeks. Which machine guns did we use? With a killing radius of precisely 50 meters? Even a grenade launcher doesn’t kill at that kind of radius. Did you even fire so much as a single live bullet anywhere other than in the direction of a cardboard target in the course of your training? We didn’t. Since when are there cries of “come on, come on, shoot!” on the radio? The normal command on the radio is that “fire is permitted”. Nobody screams at anyone, and nobody permits live fire in the direction of innocent civilians or random vehicles.

You spoke about a big football game which occurs every four years (you meant the World Cup final?) and the soldiers are frustrated that they cannot see the game, so they enter a house with a satellite dish, tie up the people there, and sit down to watch the football game (at the time of training, remember?). The only World Cup final which took place while were in the army was in 2006 in June/July – just before the beginning of the Second Lebanon War. We performed a military mission in the Nablus area and from there we proceeded northwards. We weren’t in the Hebron area at all; we were 120km away from there, in fact. In Nablus nobody went into any houses to see a football game or selected a house because of its satellite dish.

On one thing you do speak the truth, and as usual, the rest is devoid of context and distorted. The team from the unit was indeed on a mission at the time of the World Cup final. As with every mission undertaken in the unit, the house was selected according to operational parameters alone, by officers who we were blessed to be under their command. You worked closely with them, Avner, so you certainly know this. And yes, in every house like this of ‘uninvolved people’, there is indeed a family (for the most part) whose routine is disturbed. But we can attest to the fact that when we were forced to do this, dozens, perhaps hundreds, of times all of us always extended as courteous as possible an attitude to the family, while keeping in mind the operational target for which we were sent out on the mission.

The protocol for houses of ‘uninvolved people’ was that the occupants of the house would be required to go into one room, and they would generally go to sleep there while one soldier stands guard outside the room. In the case above, since the mission was longer than usual, the family watched the game in their lounge. Needless to say, nobody was tied up. Nobody is ever tied up unless they are arrested. So it’s true, the soldier who watched over the family also glanced at the television which was already on. We won’t deny this. But it’s a far cry from the picture you tried to paint of a unit of sadistic soldiers whose first interest is to mistreat the civilian population.

You present us as a barbaric bunch who kill people who are only holding a cell phone.

To remind you: In every single company discussion the general protocols for opening fire, the protocol was mentioned in the unit, and it was that before opening fire, it’s vital to verify that it’s known which weapon the suspect is carrying in hand, whether it’s a Kalashnikov, a (burning) Molotov cocktail, or an M16, and if we are unable to say which weapon he’s holding, then apparently we’re not sure that it’s a weapon at all, and we don’t fire. Should we remind you about the hospital in Jenin? From where they shot at us almost every time we passed by, including from a PK sub-machine gun, and the commands were to not return fire, and so it was.

Can you give the name of your friend who shot indiscriminately?

You tarnish the name of the unit and make claims about a lack of values in a place where if a soldier so much as sat down on a bed in the parents’ room in a house in Jenin, he would be sentenced to court martial by the unit commander for disrespect of property, and his punishment would be a month on base. These were the values, from first day of training, of the soldiers who fought with you.

[Our] War isn’t an ideal but a necessity, exceptional cases such as they are do not represent the education or the values of your friends in the unit specifically or of Israeli soldiers in general.

This biased and one-sided show which you presented in front of the UN creates a false image which fuels hatred of Israel around the world and doesn’t contribute in any way to making the army “more moral”.

Furthermore, it doesn’t match the ten commandments which the organization you represent is based upon, and more’s the pity.

We demand you to immediately cease bearing false witness about your military service and to stop demonizing your friends in the unit and crew who gave their all, and continue to give their all, in order to safeguard the security of the people of Israel.

-Members of the Paratrooper Orev unit

Here's the full video with English subtitles exposing Ezra Nawi and his underhanded methods:

The true face of Israel's radical "human rights" activists - U...
Posted by Ad Kan on Wednesday, January 13, 2016

Breaking the Silence activists were documented in the act of passing cash to Ezra Nawi, the person who organizes provocations against Israeli soldiers (that Breaking the Silence then uses as fodder.)

Breaking the Silence: Are you funding Ezra Nawi's provocations?
Posted by My Truth on Wednesday, January 13, 2016

And Arutz-7 synopsized a report from Yediot:

More details emerged Tuesday morning regarding a secret recording of a meeting between ex-diplomat Alon Liel and about five central activists in Breaking the Silence, a group that besmirches the IDF abroad. The meeting took place in the Tel Aviv offices of Breaking the Silence – which receives funding from the New Israel Fund, among other sources – on December 17, 2015, and was recorded by a "secret agent" from nationalist group Ad Kan.

According to Yifat Erlich of Yediot Aharonot, who saw the entire recording, Nadav Weiman, Breaking the Silence's coordinator of activists, started the conversation by explaining that the group has been coming under fire for attacking Israel abroad, and describing a feeling that matters were spinning "out of control."

He described Liel as "a good friend of the organization who has been accompanying us from the outset."

Liel told the group that "international activity is critical." One reason, he said, is that the Left has lost the battle for Israeli public opinion.

"I receive terrible ricochets from the Israeli public," he continued. "I am threatened. All of my friends are threatened. I believe that only the international community can change public opinion, as happened in South Africa."

One of the activists asked Liel if the group's legitimacy does not depend on the Israeli public.

Liel replied: "What legitimacy do you have? You have a two percent legitimacy, you see. But what two percent? The most moral people, the brightest ones, who can see 20 years ahead, who are not brainwashed by the messianic right-wing propaganda. Only people who do not depend on anyone. I can guarantee you that [ex-Shabak head Yuval] Diskin and [MK Yaakov] Perry think the same way. [But Yesh Atid head] Yair Lapid has come out against you, so Perry knows that if he says a word, he will be booted from the Knesset list."

This is exactly how J-Street thinks. Screw what the Israeli public wants, because we know better and we need to use outsiders to pressure Israel since we dislike their democratic processes. (But when Israeli point out how these left-wing groups are trying to hide their agenda, well, that's "anti-democratic."

(h/t Yoel, Emanuel Miller)

01/13 Links Pt2: When Anti-Semites Use Jews to Further Their Cause; Students Fail Israel IQ Test

From Ian:

PMW: PMW report on PA Antisemitism in 2015 released in European Parliament

PMW has prepared a special report about Palestinian Antisemitism in 2015. PMW director Itamar Marcus is releasing it today at a conference in European Parliament.
The report documents that the Palestinian Authority continued to emit overtly Antisemitic messages throughout 2015, portraying Jews as inherently evil, comparing them to apes and pigs, and depicting them as a threat to all humanity. The PA has also continued to lend credence to the Antisemitic forgery Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which claims that Jews conspire to take over the entire world.
View the report in PDF or read it below:

Penn State Students Fail Israel IQ Test

Lions 4 Israel, a Penn State University Jewish student group, created a woman-on-the-street-style video in which random Penn State students were asked a few questions about which country in the Middle East is the only democracy, provides full rights to women and LGBT citizens, and is a major player in the high-tech world.
Needless to say, the students' wild guesses are further evidence that our institutions of higher learning are doing the job they've set out to do: keep our youth ignorant and indoctrinated.
In response to "In what country are LGBT citizens guaranteed full rights?" one student actually guessed Afghanistan.

Israel IQ at Penn State

Dershowitz: I Need Armed Guards When I Speak in Favor of Israel on Campuses

Attorney and Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz appeared on Fox & Friends to speak about free speech on campus and explained that he need armed guards when he speaks about Israel at universities.
Explained Dershowitz:
“In fact when I was first teaching in the ’50s there were attempts to censor speech by Senator McCarthy,” Dershowitz said. “The right-wing was trying to censor left-wing speech. Now it’s the hard left that’s trying to censor right-wing speech, conservative speech, Christian speech, pro-Israel speech, you name it. And this idea of safe spaces we have to distinguish between safe spaces for ideas, there should be none, and physically safe places where you’re not intimidated or you’re not threatened. And Christian speakers, pro-Israel speakers, speakers that are not politically correct today, have their physical safety endangered. I know when I speak on college campuses in favor of Israel, I need armed guards protecting me from radical leftist students who would use physical intimidation. They won’t give me a safe space. They won’t give pro-Israel students a safe space, they won’t give Christian students a safe space. For example, when a group of Christians who were against abortion said all lives matter, and you know, you may agree or disagree with that formulation, they were attacked. They were told to be subject to training, and sensitivity, and the president of Smith College had to apologize for using that term.”

Yiddish on prime time TV

JTA reports:

If the ratings for CW’s newest show, “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” are any indication, you probably aren’t watching it. If not, you’re missing out.

Now that creator and star Rachel Bloom is nominated for a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV series — fingers crossed for her on Sunday! — it’s time to tune in. “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend” is hilarious and zany, and as it happens, it addresses Jewish identity in unexpectedly profound ways.

On “Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” Judaism is more than just a punchline — though it’s certainly that, too. This was apparent during the midseason finale, which begins on a boat from Europe to America in 1901.

“I know we are fleeing,” a mother tells her daughter, “but you couldn’t comb your hair?”

Jewish daughters will probably laugh in recognition. But what’s significant here is that the entire scene is in Yiddish. A sprinkling of Yiddish phrases may be heard on television here and there, but name another mainstream show that’s had an entire scene in the language.

Rachel Bloom actually won the Golden Globe.

I've watched a couple of episodes and it looks like a very funny show (although the humor too racy for nice Jewish families.)

But I had to find the Yiddish scene that JTA mentioned: (This only seems to work in some browsers.)

The accents are quite good.

At the same time, something interesting happened on Israeli TV, also in a scene of Yiddish speakers.

Alon Zingman, the director of “Shtisel” — the engaging and award-winning YES television show about the intertwined lives of a Haredi family in Jerusalem’s Geula neighborhood — knew he had reached a particular pinnacle of success after the ninth episode aired on a recent Saturday night.

In that particular episode, Grandma Malka (Hannah Rieber), while casually knitting a reel of brown cassette tape, hummed what she called Nigun Minsk, a wordless tune composed by Rebbe Cohen, her great-grandfather, as her eldest son, Shulem (Doval’e Glickman), stood in the doorway, staring quizzically at her.

Two nights later, the nigun, which was actually composed by Shtisel writer Uri Alon, was performed at an ultra-Orthodox wedding by a band of yeshiva students, Zingman. It even showed up on a YouTube clip.

“We made it up!” he said, gleeful at the notion that the ultra-Orthodox community would possibly adopt a tune created for a television show. “How would they even know about something on TV? It’s a badge of honor that they watch it.”

Yiddish is the new black.

Joint List: Adopt European Values - Don't Prosecute Gang-Rapes (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Jerusalem, January 13 - Leading Arab lawmakers have proposed implementing a law enforcement policy that would bring Israel's treatment of certain crimes in line with common practice in several major European Union states, to the effect that gang-rapes perpetrated by Muslims would be either covered up or not prosecuted, a spokesman for the Joint List of Arab parties said today.

Joint List Chairman Ayman Odeh told reporters he had initiated discussions with a number of other parties in the Knesset interested in making Israel more like Europe, notably Meretz and the Zionist Union, especially the way European countries such as Britain, Germany, and Sweden attempt to deny, downplay, or conceal the phenomenon of gangs of Muslim young men targeting local women and girls for premeditated, brutal sexual violations.

"Just today it was revealed that in Sweden, the police concealed the data on Muslim immigrants involved in a massive wave of gang-rapes," Odeh noted. "Since Israel prides itself on upholding Western values, and says it has so much in common with other democracies especially in Europe, this is a perfect opportunity to demonstrate such an affinity."

"Israel could learn a thing or two from the way Europe is enabling a takeover of its civilization by a population largely opposed to that civilization," agreed fellow Joint List legislator Dr. Ahmad Tibi. "For a country that keeps insisting it has so much in common with other democracies, this is a glaring example of how that is simply not the case, no matter how loud and often Netanyahu and his cronies repeat that mantra."

In its current draft form, the bill in question calls for police to ignore rapes committed by two or more Arabs. In specifically using the term "Arab" the proposal departs from the European model, which focuses on rapes by Muslims, many of whom hail from non-Arab countries such as Pakistan and Somalia. In the context of Israel, explained Tibi, the language of the bill is a political concession to several Joint List lawmakers who are not Muslim.

To become law, the bill will have to be formally submitted, approved in a preliminary plenum vote, debated and approved by the relevant Knesset committee, and then survive two more readings in the Knesset plenum. Its odds of doing so, given the proposal's origins in the Opposition, are not promising, but Odeh said the proposal is largely symbolic anyway. "It's a win-win situation for us. If the bill passes, it makes us more like Europe. If it fails, we get to denounce the government for hypocrisy and can score political points."

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01/13 Links Pt1: Sweden's Walking Diplomatic Disaster; Israeli Left Rallies Around a Murdering Pedophile

From Ian:

JCPA: The True Face of the Palestinians’ Leader

What can we learn from Abbas’ and Rajoub’s comments? First, whether they were responsible for the launching of the current wave of terror or not, they are now taking responsibility for it. Not only do they refrain from denouncing it, they encourage it. That is, no longer can the terror attacks be presented as an assemblage of individual acts. It should be recognized as a national campaign whose fighters, the knife-wielders and the car-rammers, are acting openly according to the directives of their leadership, which has no need to formally organize or direct these acts to ensure public response. The lack of security brought about by their actions in the streets of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv is the tool by which the leadership expects to rack up achievements on the diplomatic level.
The second conclusion is that Abbas is more realistic than could be gathered from the threats of various officials in Israel and his own arrogant statements. Not only does he negate the possibility of the PA’s collapse, with which he used to threaten Israel, but he also admits for the first time that the entity he heads is an “authority” and not a “state.” All the external signs of statehood that he tried to adopt are therefore meaningless from his perspective as well. Moreover, since there will be no PA collapse, Israel will not need to deal with the warning by the Israeli left and many in the West that it will have to choose between a democratic and a Jewish state.
The third conclusion, perhaps the most important, is that Abbas continues to rely on the idea that time and demographics will bring about the end of Zionism. His strategic goals have not changed, and so he continues to refuse to recognize Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. This also explains his opposition to the involvement of Israeli Arabs in terror attacks – he fears that this will spur a process that will lead to their transfer out of Israeli territory.
Israel must use these statements to expose the true face of the Palestinian leadership. Not to worry, the Palestinians won’t hate us more than they do already, but they might conclude that continuing terror is not worth their while.

Sweden's Walking Diplomatic Disaster

"It is a shame for Sweden to have a Foreign Minister who creates a diplomatic crisis as soon as she opens her mouth, and who so one-sidedly allies herself with anti-democratic forces against Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East." — Political analyst Mathias Sundin, in Aftonbladet.
"Wallström portrays [Palestinian President Mahmoud] Abbas as a pacifist who has denounced terrorism.... He has not condemned a single one of the murders of 20 Israelis during the last few months. On the contrary ... Abbas said in September, regarding the violence against Israelis, that 'We bless every drop of blood spilled in Jerusalem', and we know that every Palestinian assassin apprehended by Israel is rewarded by the Palestinian Authority. So how can Wallström claim that he denounces terrorism, when he is actually rewarding it with money from the Swedish taxpayers? ... Is Wallström aware of the praising of terrorism? Is Wallström aware of the rewards paid to terrorists? Yes or no?" — Kent Ekeroth, Sweden Democrats Party.

Swedish officials unwelcome, deputy FM says, as Swedish deputy speaker visits

Officials from Stockholm are currently unwelcome in Israel, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely declared Wednesday, a day after Sweden’s foreign minister, Margot Wallstrom, called for an investigation to determine whether Israel has been conducting extrajudicial executions of Palestinians during the current wave of violence.
“Israel is closing its gates to official visits from Sweden,” Hotovely said during a briefing for future Israeli diplomats currently taking the cadets’ course.
“For over two years, relations with Sweden have been at some level of disconnect,” she said. “That is, we have refused visits by the Swedish foreign minister in Israel. At the clearest level, the State of Israel is sending a very stark message to Sweden that says that [when] you encourage terror [in Israel], you encourage Islamic State to act in all parts of Europe: in Brussels, in Paris.
“We’re currently at the front line of the battle against terror,” Hotovely added. “[Wallstrom] is de facto supporting it, encouraging it, and the State of Israel is sending a blunt message.”

file photo

UNRWA was forced to reduce its traditional payment of 100% of medical expenses for Palestinians in Lebanon:

Under the new arrangement, which came into effect with the new year, every Palestinian refugee receiving medical services or hospitalization through UNRWA must pay 5 percent of their bill at hospitals run by the Palestinian Red Crescent Society, and 15 percent at government hospitals. Previously, UNRWA covered all expenses.

Furthermore, the new system calls for the suspension of coverage to Palestinians who have Lebanese nationality or other Palestinians with dual citizenship.

Popular committees, local bodies and Palestinian civil society groups all said they would not accept the new system, arguing that medical services should be developed further, rather than cut back

Thousands protested the fact that they will have to pay for a small part of their medical bills.

And one young man set himself on fire.

A 23-year-old Palestinian national Tuesday set himself on fire outside a clinic managed by the U.N. refugee agency in the southern district of Tyre over aid cuts.

Mohammad Omar Khodeir self immolated to protest aid cuts by UNRWA in the Burj al-Shamali Palestinian refugee camp.

Khodeir suffers from thalassemia, a hereditary blood disorder, but couldn't afford hospitalization costs.

A Palestinian official said the situation at the camp has been desperate since last year, and warned UNRWA of the consequence of cutting their aid.

“We all feel the danger,” he said.

A third official warned of strikes at all UNRWA offices inside Lebanon's 12 Palestinian refugee camps to protest the aid cuts.

Protesters in the Ain al-Hilweh camp closed the medical clinic and several UNRWA schools today, thereby making it harder for people to get services. This is a repeat of a pattern of anti-UNRWA protests that go back to the 1950s as Arabs demand 100% of their expenses paid, forever.

UNRWA spokesperson Chris Gunness has not tweeted about any of this even though the protests started last week.

From Human Rights First:

On January 7 the State Department released a press statement marking the one-year anniversary of the horrific attacks in Paris. Yet there was a troubling omission: the statement focused on Charlie Hebdo and referred only obliquely to another attack. It doesn’t specifically cite the attack on a kosher supermarket, where four innocent people were held hostage and brutally murdered.

You wouldn’t know from the statement that Jews were specifically targeted. This erasure of the specific bias-motivated nature of the attack does a disservice to the memory of the victims and to the civilians and security forces who took heroic measures to prevent further suffering.

When asked about the omission at Monday’s press briefing, State Department spokesperson John Kirby said, “That the [kosher] deli itself wasn’t mentioned specifically or by name doesn’t take away from the fact that the statement itself was referring to both the attacks on the 7th and the 9th of January.”

Not specifically citing the attack is the very definition of “take away.”

Here's the actual statement:

On the one-year anniversary of the January 7-9, 2015, attacks that took the lives of 17 people, we honor the victims of this tragedy and share the sadness of their loss. Their legacy endures as a challenge and inspiration to all of us. Charlie Hebdo continues to publish, and journalists around the world continue in their essential mission to tell the stories that people everywhere need to hear.

No country knows better than France that freedom has a price, and that no rationale can justify attacks on innocent men, women, and children. But what was intended to sow fear and division has, in fact, brought us together. We must remain committed to protect each other and renew our determination to turn this moment of profound loss into a lasting commitment. Just as we tackle today’s most daunting challenges side by side, the United States and France will always stand together.

Of course, this fits in with President Obama's characterization of the Hypercacher terror attack: “It is entirely legitimate for the American people to be deeply concerned when you’ve got a bunch of violent, vicious zealots who behead people or randomly shoot a bunch of folks in a deli in Paris."

I get the feeling that this administration is skittish about mentioning Muslim Jew-hatred because it might blunt the larger message that has become dominant: that Westerners are "Islamophobic." (The New York Times has mentioned Islamophobia more often than anti-semitism since December 1 even though antisemitic attacks far outnumber anti-Muslim attacks in the US.)

If Muslims anti-semitism is endemic, then Jews have a reason to fear Muslims - which is the actual definition of Islamophobia. And nothing can justify Islamophobia!

This week, a key Marseilles Jewish leader recommended for Jewish men to not wear their kippot in public in the wake of a Jew being stabbed. I have yet to hear any Muslim leader recommend the same for Muslims out of fear of their lives. When that happens, then we can talk about "Islamophobia" in the same breath as anti-semitism.

If the State Department would mention Muslim attacks on Jews, the message of tolerance towards Muslims gets muted. So the victims are universalized as just regular, random people.

Of course, when actual random people get targeted, that is much worse than when only Jews are killed, which the media regards as more understandable.

The Islamic University of Gaza suspended all academic and administrative work starting today and until further notice, according to a report by the Palestine Press Agency.

The university issued a statement saying, "In order to preserve the interests of the university, based on the powers vested in the Board of Trustees and the university administration, the Islamic University announces the closure of the university and the suspension of academic and administrative work from Wednesday morning until further notice."

The Islamic University has faced a severe financial crisis in recent years which forced the university to raise fees and take some austerity measures.

Hamas has used the Islamic University for storing weapons, for holding Gilad Shalit, for planning attacks and for acting as a safehouse for terrorists including Yahya Ayyash, "the Engineer."

It is also where Hamas did its research and development of rockets and explosives. Hamas recruited a young woman to build suicide bomb belts and to teach others how to build bombs at this university. Its researchers have issued anti-semitic papers.

Yet UNESCO funds this terror university.

B'Tselem provocation, 2008

A reserve officer in the IDF, Chen Barkat, "breaks the silence" with a true story from 2008:

In 2008, as an officer in the “Duhifat” unit, I was assigned with my platoon to Hebron. In one of the routine patrols we were notified of Palestinian shepherd making its way toward one of the Israeli settlements in the region. We rushed there and found a dozen human rights activists with cameras walking with him. I immediately contacted the Palestinian and asked him to stop, but he in turn did not respond and just kept going. Around him were those activists, 18 year old children from different countries in Europe, yelling, cursing and just waiting for us to stumble and make a wrong move that could be taken out of context and published to the world as an act of IDF cruelty. In a moment of creativity I turned to my soldiers and told them to chase off the sheep herd. This prevented the event from escalating. The activists understood they are not going to get a video clip or a picture that can present the IDF in a bad light, so they just turned around and left.

While they were leaving the Palestinian approached and offered me, in Hebrew of course, a cigarette. I told him “You know as well as I know that you have no reason to walk to the settlement. Why did you do it?”. His response was: "What do you expect me to do? B’Tselem gives me free internet connection, a camera and I get paid for each video. Why wouldn’t I do it?”

(h/t Nevet)