Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, July 06, 2016

The American Jewish community has already embraced BDS against "settlements"

On Tuesday, I visited the newest university in Israel, Ariel University.

It is a beautiful campus with 15,000 students. Over a dozen buildings are being constructed right now as it expands. I was shown the robotics lab and spoke with an expert in making wine from grape varieties that have been proven to have been used in First and Second Temple times. (I plan to write about that in the future.)

Ariel University has the only free electron laser particle accelerator in the Middle East.

The campus has hundreds of Arab students. Student groups foster dialogue between Jewish and Arab students. It also attracts students from around the world. (Some of the lectures are in English.)

It is building a hospital which will be available for all residents of the region, with the aim of building a medical school as well. Ambitious plans to add more dormitories and more research centers are bearing fruit.

It has what may be the only college-level program in the world to mainstream students on the Aspergers' spectrum. I met one very polite young man in that program who said that he had been rejected from every school he applied to before Ariel accepted him and he is soon to graduate with a degree in Middle Eastern studies.

Ariel U is centrally located, easily accessible via Highway 5 which goes directly there from Tel Aviv. From Ariel University's "upper campus," on a clear day, you can see Israel's entire coastal plain.

Ariel University is a Zionist success story, in the edge of a bustling and beautiful town of 20,000 residents.

But when American Jewish groups visit Israel, nearly all of them avoid visiting Ariel University.

Jewish Federation trips to Israel do not go to Ariel University (with very few exceptions.)

AIPAC doesn't visit.

Even Birthright won't visit - left-wing or right-wing trips avoid it.

Because Ariel University is across the Green Line.

American Jewish organizations, afraid of criticism from the Left, have decided that Ariel does not exist and it should not be visited. It is too controversial.

But here's the thing. Virtually every Israeli politician from left to right considers Ariel to be non-negotiable in any peace plan,

If you visit the community you know why. It is a large town and strategically situated. It is part of Israel in every real sense. The idea of uprooting the town is unthinkable.

Amazingly, J-Street U has visited Ariel to see what it is like and what their ideological enemies are up to. Yet groups that are unabashedly Zionist do not want to visit.

Christian groups love to visit the university when they go on Israel trips. But Jewish Israel missions almost all will avoid it.

This is outrageous.

The same people who say that BDS is terrible, even when practiced against Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, are effectively engaging in BDS themselves by avoiding visiting the incredible, and very Zionist, accomplishments of Ariel and Ariel University.

They cannot argue that Ariel is dangerous. (That is Birthright's official reason.) It isn't. There were no incidents since the knife uprising began last September. Hamas rockets never reached Ariel. It has been far more dangerous to visit Jerusalem than Ariel over the past year.

They cannot argue that Ariel University is filled with messianic right-wing Jews. It isn't. Some professors there are leftists, even Meretz-voters. Arab students can and do write their theses on the "Nakba." Yarmulkas are the exception, not the rule.

At the very least, these American organizations that tell their participants that they are going to learn about both sides of the conflict are completely ignoring the biggest settlement, and only Israeli university, that is in the territories not adjacent to the Green Line.

If anyone is going to claim that they are well-educated on the conflict, shouldn't they at least visit Ariel?

To have Jewish groups - liberal or conservative - essentially boycott Ariel sends a message that American Jews are out of sync with what most Israelis believe would be part of any peace agreement.

If you are planning a mission to Israel for your Jewish group, ask yourself why you shouldn't visit a miraculous, modern and liberal campus that could teach most so-called "pro-peace, pro-Israel" groups a lot about real co-existence and peace.

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From the Los Angeles Times:

In recent months, a number of states have passed laws or taken other official actions to punish companies that participate in boycotts against Israel. California soon may do the same. But if it does, it will be making a mistake.

You don’t have to support the so-called Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement to be troubled when state governments in this country penalize American citizens for their political speech. As the Supreme Court has recognized, boycotts are a form of speech, protected under the Constitution.

As I have already shown, the Supreme Court ruling that the BDSers cite says no such thing. It protects non-violent speech and it protects peaceful picketers of a store as engaging in free speech. Boycotts aren't speech, though - they are actions, and the First Amendment does not protect them. Nowhere in that ruling is it said that boycotts are free speech.

The editorial's misstatements of the law continue:

Do such laws violate the 1st Amendment? Although the Supreme Court has held that government may engage in its own “speech” and express its own opinions, it also has held that government may not deny a benefit to a person (or a company) because he holds the “wrong” opinion. In our view, denying state business to an otherwise qualified contractor simply based on its views about Israel — and its participation in a legal boycott — goes beyond “government speech” and raises serious constitutional concerns.

No one is penalizing a contractor for their political views, only for their actions. If they call for a boycott of Israel that is OK, if they are engaging in such a boycott then it isn't. It is a fairly straightforward distinction that the LA Times is choosing to fuzz.

In California, the situation has grown even more complicated. Opponents of BDS in the Legislature previously proposed a bill that would have forbidden state contracts with companies engaged in a boycott of Israel. But after legal objections, the legislation was radically reconfigured.

From the news stories I have seen, the legislation was not rewritten because of "legal objections" but because of political concerns to increase the chances of passage.

This editorial is misstating and misrepresenting the law. The reconfigured bill doesn't even have the alleged problems that the initial bill had so the entire purpose of this editorial seems to be to make a legal statement - the headline of the article is "Boycotts of Israel are a protected form of free speech" - that is simply not true.

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07/05 Links Pt2: Why Is the New Israel Fund Backing Breaking the Silence?

From Ian:

Israel supporters confront Iran hate-fest en masse

Last week, London - like many cities throughout the world - saw its own "Al Quds Day" march, a yearly anti-Israel hate-fest first launched by the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ayatollah Khomeini in 1979, to call for the destruction of the Jewish state.
Typically, the march sees thousands of Islamist and far-left demonstrators parading Hezbollah flags and calling for Israel's destruction unchallenged through the streets of the British capital - though in recent years the number of anti-Israel marchers has dwindled somewhat, as Sunni Muslims and supporters of the Syrian opposition have boycotted the parade due to its support for Iran and Hezbollah, the two most important allies of the brutal Assad regime.
Pro-Israel groups have tended to shy away from confronting the parade, with many among the Jewish establishment preferring to "play it safe" and ignore the event - much to the frustration of grassroots activists, who say such demonstrations of anti-Israel hatred, which often spill over into open anti-Semitism, cannot go unchallenged.
This year, however, was different, courtesy of a coalition of pro-Israel and Jewish groups, spanning grassroots groups such as the Israel Advocacy Movement and Sussex Friends of Israel, as well as major Jewish and Zionist organizations such as the Board of Deputies, Jewish Leadership Council and Zionist Federation.
First, a handful of pro-Israel counter-protesters fearlessly confronted the march, at one point even blocking their route in an unprecedented show of defiance. (h/t vwVwwVwv)

IsraellyCool: EU Ambassador Refuses To Condemn Abbas Standing Ovation After Blood Libel

When IBA News anchor Eylon Aslan-Levy asks EU Ambassador to Israel Lars Faaborg-Andersen if he condemns the EU Parliament’s decision to give Mahmoud Abbas a standing ovation after his infamous blood libel, this is the response.
Why am I not surprised? This is so typical of Europe (home of the blood libel, incidentally).
Imagine if the EU had sent a clear message to Abbas. No terrorism! No incitement! Or otherwise no funding!
Instead, the Europeans continue their downward slide by siding with the very forces that will be the end of them. (starts 3:35)

Palestine in the 1800s

Félix Bonfils (1831-1885) was French photographer and writer who was active in the Middle East. Four years after his arrival he reported 15,000 prints of Egypt, Palestine, Syria, and Greece, and 9,000 stereoscopic-views. He traveled to the region several times and we hear of no mass population of Palestinians, which contradicts everything the Palestinians lie about to the world.
His pictures did not manage to capture any photographs of a single so-called ‘Palestinian’ who are suppose to have lost land to Jewish occupation, if we believe Arab propaganda.
Amin al Husseini made the dome his special project. It had fallen into a state of utter disrepair, but al-Husseini saw it to his political advantage to restore it. The dilapidated Dome of the Rock was a decaying old relic well into the 20th century. It was of no import and it was no longer used as a place of worship.

My interview with the Nothing Left radio show in Australia is now up for listening. It can be heard here and my piece starts at the nine minute mark.

I gave a huge shout-out to Ian as my Ozzie co-blogger.

My segment is about 20 minutes long.

Of course, you can also listen to our blogger Mike Lumish on the show every week as well, His section starts at the 49 minute mark.

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So much of a controversial nature has been going on this week – a knife-edge General Election in Australia, the continuing fallout from Brexit that’s sent the Conservative Party leadership into turmoil, Jeremy Corbyn’s despicable comparison of Israel with Islamic State and an antisemitic allegation regarding a Jewish MP by a Corbynista activist – that I feel like a political junkie who has overdosed on it all. Accordingly, for this week’s post I’ve turned once more to the historical archives.

The Rev. William Jowett was an English clergymen who, under the auspices of the Church Missionary Society, authored Christian Researches in Syria and the Holy land, in 1823 & 1824, published in Boston, Mass., in 1826 together with an appendix consisting of the journal of another English missionary, Joseph Greaves, who was based in Tunis.

Jowett was a typical conversionist of his time – he wrote that “The Jews have been suffering now these eighteen hundred years a special punishment on account of their rejection and murder” of “the only Messiah” and sentiments of that nature – but leaving aside his “ulterior motive” in visiting their eastern venues his narrative has points of interest.

“…. From Aleppo to Jerusalem, Jews are to be found in all the principal cities: in Mount Lebanon there are but few….

[At Tiberias] we judged the population might be one thousand souls: but considering that a large portion is peopled by Jews, who crowd together in a very little space, possibly the number may be greater. We remarked two Minarets. As we approached the gate of the city, we were met by two Polish Jews …

We rode at once, as we had been recommended to do, by Seignior Rafaele Picciotto, an aged Jewish gentleman, who formerly held the office of Austrian consul at Aleppo; and, being succeeded by his son, has retired hither to pass the remainder of his days peacefully, on ground considered by the Jews as holy. We had every reason to be grateful to him for his civil attentions to us. We were entertained with a clean upper room, and entertained hospitably at his table.

Toward evening, we witnessed the scene of his whole household performing prayers. About thirty persons came at this hour into the court, and united in repeating the service, in conducting which, Rabbi Samuel, who has married his [Picciotto’s] step-daughter, was the chief leader. It was very affecting, at one part, to view them turning their faces toward Jerusalem – bowing, and lifting up their voices in fervent petitions. It reminded us of Daniel’s supplications when in Babylon, who had his windows open toward Jerusalem, and kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed: (Daniel vi. 10.) After sunset the table was prepared, and we sat down to a plentiful supper, at which it gratified us to see the females joining the circle – a sight banished from Turkish and Christian houses in this country, but not from Jewish. These were the consul’s wife and step-daughter.

The consul himself professes to know very little of his countrymen in this place. His son-in-law, however, is more communicative. The Mohammedans in this place are more numerous, he says, than the Jews, but when it comes to the question of actual numbers, you will rarely find two men agreeing in their account. Rabbi Samuel stated the Sephartim [sic], or Spanish Jews, at seventy or eighty houses; but another said that the Sephartim were ninety houses, and the Ashkenasim [sic] ninety-six. Rabbi Samuel says that there are no Jews of the sect of the Perushim, but that all are Hassidim.

…. The baths of Tiberias, so much celebrated by many authors, are just a mile south of the town, and about fifty feet from the margin of the lake. On the way thither we passed the Jewish burying ground…. On every side, small ruins of walls, columns and foundations indicate the former extent of Tiberias. …. [J]ewish literature flourished in this spot, and some of the most learned Hebrew commentators on Sacred Scripture formed a kind of university in this city.”

He found that the following quotation from French Huguenot divine Jacques Basnage’s History of the Jews (1708; French original, 1706) presented a rosy contrast to their treatment at Sfat (Safed):

“Safet [sic] is the most peopled, and the most celebrated [Holy Land city] celebrated among them. There they enjoy many advantages. For, first, this city, situated in the tribe of Naphtali, at a distance of nine miles from Bethsaida, upon a mountain with a triple ridge or summit, is extremely difficult of access. It is thus protected from the incursions of the roving Arabs, who pillage and desolate whatever cities they can enter. Second, I know not whether it be that the Turks are unwilling, by ill-treating the Jews, to occasion the depopulation of the town, or whether it is the mildness of the Ottomans that attracts the Jews thither; certain it is that they are more numerous at Safet, and that they are more kindly treated here, than in all the rest of the Ottoman Empire…. A third of the inhabitants are Turks; the other two-thirds are Jews.”

Jowett visited in November 1823:

“[In the Jewish quarter of Safet] …. After much delay, and many enquiries, we reached the house of Rabbi Israel, one of the Perushim [‘separate ones’; followers of the Vilna Gaon], and chief of that sect in this place. He himself was gone to Jerusalem: but his wife and son, and Baruch the Shemas [shammas] … welcomed us, and gave us the best room in their house; it was, however, very wretched and cold.

In the evening some of the Jews called upon us. One of them complained, most bitterly, of the treatment which he had received at the last festival of Succoth: he had brought it, indeed, on himself, having gone to some excess in wine; a Mohammedan laid to his charge the crime of blaspheming against the Mohammedan religion; and, without further witness or investigation, the governor ordered him for punishment, when he suffered … five hundred stripes of the bastinado…. They all [the Safed Jews] complain of the severity to which they are liable from the ruling powers.

The number of Jewish families at this place, they stated at four hundred: of which the Ashkenasim [sic] and Sephartim [sic] are in about equal numbers; that is, two hundred families of each. Since the war in Turkey, few venture to come from Poland, so that the Hebrew population is rather on the decrease. They said there were sixteen synagogues in the place … this … I suspect to be exaggerated…. In the room which we occupied we counted five hundred books, all Hebrew; the library of Rabbi Samuel.

….. Of [the synagogues] we counted five. Of the Hassidim, one synagogue … and one Maddras, College: for, with this title do they dignify a room which will scarcely contain twenty persons … but, certainly, a few appeared here to be in the very act of poring over Talmudical books. For the Perushim there is one place, which is used both as a synagogue and Maddrass; and one other place, which has at least some pretensions to its title of Maddrass, as it contains a thousand Hebrew volumes. Lastly, one synagogue of the Sephardim: this was by far the best and largest of the places which we saw….

From the view which we had of the town when on the castle, we judged, that if there are in the Jewish quarter the number of families which they state, namely, four hundred, there would be about one thousand Mohammedan houses: for, as they occupy distinct quarters, it is easy to compare their superficial area; the Jews, however, state them at fifteen hundred families. The population of Safet might be stated, in round numbers, at seven thousand souls. We observed four Minarets.”

In December 1823 he visited Jerusalem. On Friday, 5 December,

“A little before noon, we called on Rabbi Mendel, a Jewish rabbi, of some consideration on account of his talmudical learning …. He had at his side a volume of the Talmud, and he is greatly in repute for his skill in these works…. In addition to a certain wild abstracted gaze, which nature and talmudical studies have given to the countenance of Rabbi Mendel, he was further suffering from terror, the impression of which was not yet effaced from his mind; he having been, about a week before, forcibly seized in the night, and carried off to prison by order of the new governor.

The pretext alleged was that his street door had been left open in the night: for this he was compelled to pay a heavy fine of three purses; about £37 sterling. The officer who apprehended him burst with violence into his inner chamber – waked him – spurned all his protestations of his having European protection – he having an Austrian firman [decree]; and, forthwith, took him, his disciple Rabbi Isaac, and two others to the prison, from which, after twenty-four hours’ confinement and the payment of the fine, they were set at liberty.

He was proposing to go for relief to the consul at Acre: from the Austrian consul at Tiberias he expected nothing, as that gentleman, himself a Jew, probably finds it as much as he can do to secure protection for his own declining old age. Rabbi Mendel preferred going in person to writing, for if it were known in Jerusalem that he had written, it would subject him to fresh insults or exactions. How truly is this threat accomplished – Thy life shall hang in douby before thee, and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life! (Deut. Xxviii, 66).

The money was, clearly, the sole motive for this proceeding – a new governor, in this devoted city, generally making his advances, by rapid steps, first to the Jews, next to the Greeks and Armenians, and finally to the Latins. Nor have these any appeal: their only relief is, by cunning and intrigue, to throw the burden as much as possible upon the shoulders of their neighbors; or to plead their inability to meet the demands of the governor, who always begins by bidding high. The parties from whom the demand is made being either put in prison or otherwise annoyed, part of their policy is to endure as long as nature can bear the unjust affliction; thus proving, by their willingness to suffer, their inability to pay.

The other party of the Jews, the Sephartim [sic], being much more numerous, were soon obliged to pay a much larger sum. Four of their principal men were, during these days, thrown into prison; from which they were not released till the bargain was adjusted. Some, whom we inquired after, had secreted themselves in their neighbors’ houses.

Rabbi Isaac conducted us to see an interesting spot, to which the Jews frequently resort on the afternoon of Friday. It is on the outer wall of the mosque of Omar. Within the area which surrounds the mosque, none may enter, under pain of death, unless he becomes a Mohammedan; but, at a particular part of the outside of the surrounding buildings, the Jews have the permission, for which they pay money, to assemble every Friday, to pray. There were only eight when we were there, but at a later hour, probably, there would be more. On other occasions they are numerous: but the measures of the new governor have thrown them into consternation, so that they are not so forward to show themselves.

I observed, as we passed through the Jew quarter – and upon many faces, in most parts of Jerusalem – a timid expression of countenance … with a curiosity that desires to know everything concerning a stranger, there is, at the same time, a slinking away from the curiosity of others. We stood awhile with the worshippers at this spot… To worship here must be the summit of their desires: it seems to be somewhat in the spirit of David’s vow, In thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.”
In October 1824 Joseph Greaves, in Tunis, was informed that the total population of that place numbered about 120,000.

“Of this number there may be 30,000 Jews. The native or Tunisine Jews are distinguished from the Mohammedans by their dress, not being allowed to wear the red scull [sic]-cap under the turban: it must be black, or dark blue: they are sometimes very ill-treated, but are not liable to greater exactions than the Moors. The European Jews wear hats, and speak chiefly Spanish or Italian: their number does not exceed 2000 at the most: they have considerable connections in Leghorn. The native Jews speak the Arabic of the country, but their books are in Hebrew. There is not much cordiality between the two classes; rather, I am informed, division and animosity. A few of the Tunisian Jews by purchase, and others through interest, enjoy the privilege of wearing the European dress."

There, he learned of “justice” as meted out the dhimmis:

“Wednesday, Dec. 1 [1824]: “A shocking instance of cruelty occurred yesterday, which will give an idea of judicial proceedings in Barbary. The two victims of it were a young Jew and a Moorish woman. It was stated that they had been taken in adultery; but all the circumstances were so improbable as to leave no doubt on the minds of most persons of the innocence of the parties. The crime was affirmed to have been committed about four days ago, and the individuals were immediately taken to prison. The young man was carried before the Bey yesterday morning; and some witnesses came forward, and gave evidence of the fact: the poor Jew, seeing that his death was determined on, as the last resource [resort] repeated the Mohammedan profession of faith, by which he became a Turk: he was told, however, that it was too late, as he had been induced to take the step through fear.

This measure failing, he boldly asserted his innocence, telling the Bey that he [the latter] was his superior now, but that before God they should be equal, and that he should then ask an account of his blood: the Bey shook his clothes, and said that it would lie at the door of the witnesses. From the palace he was immediately conducted to the place of execution, and cut down. I was told his sufferings were not protracted; one of the executioners having almost immediately struck off his head. His mangled body was afterward dragged about the town by the infuriated mob, and treated with every possible indignity. He has left a wife and two young children, who, by the seizure and confiscation of the little property that he possessed, now depend for subsistence on the small allowance which they may receive from the general poor-fund of the Jews. The Moorish woman was a very bad and troublesome character: she was punished, according to the Mohammedan custom, by being put into a sack and drowned.

I much regret having been absent during this transaction, for I cannot help thinking that a little exertion might have procured for the unfortunate individual at least a regular trial according to Mohammedan law. By that law, so many qualifications in a witness are required that the lives of the parties would probably have been saved: at all events time would have been gained, which might have led to the development of many circumstances. It was generally thought that revenge for legal proceedings to which the Jew had had recourse against a Moor for the recovery of a debt was at the bottom of the whole affair. In consequence of a somewhat similar case, which happened about a year and a half ago, I was told it was made an article in the last treaty with the British Government that a Christian shall not be put to death within less than forty-eight hours from the time of conviction, and that the trial shall be conducted in the presence of the consul of his nation. But the Jews, unhappily, have no nation – no Consul.

Thursday, Dec. 2, 1824. Mordecai Naggiar [scholar Mordecai Ibn al-Najjar, Greaves’s Jewish contact and interpreter in Tunis] informed me that the Mohammedans have an idea that they acquire merit in heaven by taking the life of a Jew; and that, to succeed in this, they would sacrifice the lives of ten women. These observations were made with particular reference to the late occurrence; and, no doubt, under the influence of passionate indignation; yet they probably describe, not too strongly, the fanaticism which prevails among the Mussulman populace.

…. Monday, Dec. 6 …. I was determined to call on the poor Jewess whose husband was put to death a few days ago; and also to endeavour to interest some of the consuls in her favour: but my Arabic master [i.e. teacher], himself a Jew, told me that it would be better not to do so, as it might excite a suspicion that the Jews were seeking the protection of a Christian nation, and be worse both for the family and the Jews in general.”

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07/05 Links Pt1: Glick: Moral equivalence has become a moral atrocity; The Humble Nobility of Elie Wiesel

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Moral equivalence has become a moral atrocity

We have reached the point where moral equivalence has become a moral atrocity.
The smart set in the West has insisted for over a generation that Israel and the Palestinians are morally equal. There are extremists, on both sides, they say. Both sides are responsible for the absence of peace.
The first serious outcry against this lie came immediately after the Palestinians began their terrorist war against Israel in September 2000. That war, incited, directed, funded, commanded and celebrated by Yassir Arafat and his henchmen, including his successor Mahmoud Abbas, began two months after Arafat overturned the table at Camp David in response to then prime minister Ehud Barak’s offer to withdraw from 95 percent of Judea and Samaria, all of Gaza and half of Jerusalem to enable the establishment of an independent state of Palestine in the areas.
The areas in question, Barak said, would be handed over to the PLO Jew free. The hundreds of thousands of Jews living in the areas set to become Palestine, would be forcefully evicted from their homes to ensure that the delicate, sensitive Palestinians, wouldn’t be troubled by the Jews with their “dirty feet,” in the words of Abbas.
That, of course, wasn’t enough for Arafat. And it was insufficient not because Barak failed to give him what he demanded. It was insufficient because his demands were insatiable. Arafat was never interested in peace.
As his deputy Faisal Husseini said at the time, the peace process was a “Trojan Horse.”
Its purpose was to get the PLO bases of operation inside of Israeli territory in order to expand its ability to destroy the Jewish state. This is the reason that despite the fact that the international community has given them more financial assistance than any other people in the history of humanity, the Palestinians have not built a society. They have received tens of billions of dollars in development aid and failed to develop an operating economy.
This failure isn’t due to incompetence or corruption.
It is simply that the Palestinians don’t want those things. They chose not to develop independent institutions.
They do not want to build a state. They have spent the money to transform Palestinian society into the most anti-Semitic society in the world where the vast majority of its people want to kill Jews and destroy Israel. They have transformed Palestinian society into a place where Jews have no right to live – not because of some sort of occupation, but because they are Jews, and Jews, they have been indoctrinated to believe, are an abomination.

PMW: PA, PLO, and Fatah enraged by Israeli UN Ambassador’s election as chairman of UN Legal Committee

Enraged by the election in June of Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon as chairman of the UN Legal Committee, the Palestinian Authority Government Spokesman Yusuf Al-Mahmoud called it “a farce and a shameful and disgraceful thing,” and stated that Israel is a “threat to the peace and security of the region.” [WAFA (official PA news agency), June 14, 2016]
The official PA daily printed a cartoon titled “Israel is chairman of the UN Legal Committee,” showing an Israeli soldier looking through the sights of a machine gun while standing on the scales of justice. [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 16, 2016]
Abbas’ Fatah Movement called the election “a blow to international law.” [Website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission, June 14, 2016]
Fatah in Lebanon portrayed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a killer of Palestinians as well as of Lady Justice in two cartoons.
In both cartoons, the election of Israel as chair of the UN Legal Committee, which deals with all of the UN’s legal activities and coordinates its fight against terror, was termed “a prize for terror.”
One cartoon (above) shows a figure representing the UN and the world waving Prime Minister Netanyahu’s bloody hands in the air as a sign of victory on the UN podium. At their feet are skulls and bones of Palestinians, one of the skulls is holding a Palestinian flag. [Falestinona, website of Fatah's Information and Culture Commission in Lebanon, June 24, 2016]

At the live Hasby Awards ceremony on July 3, Arnold Roth of the Malki Foundation and the This Ongoing War blog movingly speaks about why Israel advocates do what they do, and presents the Best Blog award to Vic Rosenthal of Abu Yehuda, who then discusses today's challenges in hasbara.

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The Association for Civil Rights in Israel has condemned the Jerusalem police for enforcing crowd control of the hundreds of thousands of Muslims who are flocking to the Al Aqsa Mosque during Fridays in Ramadan.

On their Arabic site only, it says that ACRI attorney Nisreen Alyan sent an urgent letter to Jerusalem police head Yoram Halevy demanding the suspension of the new rule to prevent Palestinian residents from passing through the Jewish quarter on Fridays during Ramadan. They call this a "racial discriminatory approach" and that it "seriously affects the freedom of worship and the practice of prayer in the Holy Places and access to it, during the holy month of Ramadan, which is considered the most sacred month for Muslims."

The residents of the Jewish quarter have complained that during Ramadan they are effectively prisoners in their own homes as Muslim worshipers throng through their narrow streets - sometimes with chants of "Itbach al-Yahud," or "Kill the Jews."

The human rights of Jews in the Jewish Quarter of Jerusalem are apparently not worthy of protection, according to the Association of Civil Rights in Israel.

Is there a single Muslim who has not been able to reach the Al Aqsa Mosque because of the closure of the Jewish Quarter? If not, considering their "freedom of worship" which is not being impinged to be more important than the freedom of Jews in the Jewish Quarter to live their lives is less than consistent.

It is fascinating that ACRI sasy that limiting the approaches the the Al Aqsa Mosque is considered a violation of freedom of worship - when they do not advocate that Jews have the right to actually worship on the Temple Mount, the holiest Jewish site. To say that limiting the access routes to a religious site is a violation of freedom of worship while banning actual worship is also a bit inconsistent.

But if you change your frame of reference to the idea that Muslims have rights and Jews don't, suddenly ACRI is very consistent in its positions.

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"Jews are planning to take over Mecca and Medina"

A report in Yemen site Shaharah claims that Jews are planning to take over the Two Holy Mosques in Mecca and Medina, Saudi Arabia, as part of their plan (together with the US) to control the Middle East.

Here's how it works. Israel has been cataloging the Jewish-owned property that stolen by Muslim countries. Ostensibly it is to weaken Palestinian claims but it is really part of a larger project.

In 1983, Congress secretly adopted a plan by Bernard Lewis to break up the Arab world by redrawing all borders according to ethnic groups. This is meant to cause the Arabs to fight each other and destroy each other without the West bothering to fire a shot. Then the oil will all belong to the West.

Today's sectarian problems in Iraq and Syria and Yemen is all the result of this plan, which was apparently hatched originally by the Jews many centuries ago.

Saudi Arabia is too powerful, so breaking it up and forcing Muslims to fight over Mecca and Medina fits in with Jewish plans of domination, By ending Saudi Arabia's spiritual leadership in the Muslim world it will make it much easier to conquer it.

The Jews also want to take back Khaybar and Bani Nadir and other places that Jews were ethnically cleansed from 1500 years ago by Mohammed.

The photo illustrating the story shows exactly who is behind this plot.

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The #HasbyAwards covered by the Jerusalem Post

From The Jerusalem Post by Sophie Ashkinaze-Collender:

At the intimate rooftop of HonestReporting headquarters in Jerusalem, the who’s who of Israeli social media were on hand for the 5th annual Hasby Awards on Sunday evening.

The awards, created originally as a joke by pro-Israel blogger Elder of Ziyon, point to the best bloggers, tweeters, and Israel activists – becoming the banner event for those in the pro-Israel blogosphere.

“I created the Hasby Awards in 2010 as a lighthearted means to highlight the best specific examples of hasbara for the year,” Elder told The Jerusalem Post. “It soon became clear that many nominees and recipients took this award much more seriously and the interest only proved that the Hasbys fill a need in the pro-Israel community.”

The ceremony began with a quick introduction by HonestReporting CEO Joe Hyams, who fondly recalled the first time he and Elder met while touching on the intentions of his organization, which fights for Israel’s honest representation in the media.

“Drive change and make a difference,” Hyams said, setting the tone for the rest of the evening.

First to receive an award was terrorist attack survivor Kay Wilson, who narrowly survived a stabbing by two young Arab men in December 2010. She was presented with the award for Best Article for her piece “The Rage Less Traveled.”

“We all go through bad things,” Wilson said in her acceptance speech. “The other side is so full of pathos and it speaks to people. If we can grab something that speaks to our own humanity and inject it into what we do, I think we can make for a better world.”

Other award recipients included Varda Meyers Epstein for Best Social Media Advocate and Evelyn Gordon for Best Pro-Israel Commentator.

Gordon, a columnist for The Jerusalem Post, explained that she blogs for the supporter whose gut-feeling tells him to root for Israel.

“People may not have the facts to justify why,” she said.

“People who don’t follow Israel news obsessively don’t necessarily know the facts that make it obvious.”

Also in attendance was number three most influential blogger on “Jewish Twitter” Avi Mayer, who presented the award for Best Tweeter to longtime friend Arsen Ostrovsky. Mayer himself was a previous recipient.

“Israel is not just about the conflict,” Ostrovsky said in response to his win. “Israel is so much more. We can all do a lot to not just work together, but expose the truth and show people the Israel we love.”

Recent events, including the death of 13-year-old Hallel Ariel and passing of renown humanitarian Elie Wiesel, fueled the energy of the awards and showcased the passion present in the world of pro-Israel advocacy.

“This is what we’re trying to do,” said Elder.

“We’re not just trying to celebrate the people that do the work, but give the true story of Israel and what’s going on over here. This year, for the first time, we were able to move the Hasby Awards from cyberspace to the real world, and I couldn’t be happier.”

Since he began blogging in 2004, Elder of Ziyon has written over 23,000 articles in an attempt to provide accurate, original news about Israel and its place in the Middle East.

Nice write-up!

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07/04 Links Pt2: Dershowitz: A tribute to humanity’s teacher; Britain: Labour Party Finds Itself Innocent!

From Ian:

Alan Dershowitz: A tribute to humanity’s teacher

Elie Wiesel was my teacher, my “rabbi,” my mentor, my colleague, and my dear friend. Over the past 50 years, we worked together on numerous human rights projects. Elie did more to bring the word “human” into human rights than any person in modern history. For him, it did not matter whether the victims of genocide were Jews, Christians, Muslims, black, white, from the left, or from the right. Human rights were equally applicable to all.
Elie was deeply involved in campaigns on behalf of the victims of genocide in Darfur, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, and the Middle East. My last substantive conversation with him was about the genocide currently taking place in Syria, where hundreds of thousands of Muslims are being slaughtered by both sides of an intractable conflict. He bemoaned the unwillingness of the international community to stop the slaughter. “Have we learned nothing?” he asked rhetorically. For Elie Wiesel, the worst sin was silence in the face of evil. The worst crime was indifference to genocide, and the worst people were those who stand idly by the blood of their neighbors. Though he and his family were victims of the Holocaust, he never dwelled on his personal pain, but rather on the pain of those currently being victimized.
I first met Elie after the publication of his book “The Jews of Silence,” which dealt with the plight of Soviet Jews who were being persecuted in the Soviet Union. He inspired me to go to the Soviet Union with a legal team in order to defend those who were being criminally prosecuted for doing nothing more than practicing their religion. We continued to work together on matters involving non-Jewish victims of persecution around the world. I began as his student, and then became his colleague, and finally his friend. We shared a world view and a commitment to repairing a badly damaged planet. He would call me on the phone frequently to complain that we were not doing enough. He always wanted to do more.

MEMRI Mourns The Passing Of Elie Wiesel – Holocaust Survivor, Nobel Laureate, Renowned Author, Educator And MEMRI Board Member

MEMRI mourns the passing of Elie Wiesel, Holocaust survivor, Nobel Peace Prize laureate, renowned author, Romanian-born educator, and MEMRI Board Member, whose singular voice sounded a clarion call to the world’s conscience to never forget the victims of the Holocaust and man’s inhumanity to man. Prof. Wiesel, who published 57 books including Night, his personal account of his harrowing experiences in Auschwitz, was a relentless champion of human rights and tolerance. Recipient of hundreds of awards and honors, including the Congressional Gold Medal and the United States Medal of Freedom, Wiesel was a passionate and acclaimed educator who raised awareness of hate and intolerance and its perils, through both the lens of the Holocaust and more recent genocides and ethnic cleansings. Cautioning the world against indifference in his Nobel acceptance speech in Oslo in 1986, he said: "Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere. When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national borders and sensitivities become irrelevant."
In his January 28, 2014 video address on Capitol Hill at the Fifth Annual MEMRI Tom Lantos Anti-Semitism and Holocaust Denial Archives Commemoration, Prof. Wiesel, an ardent supporter of MEMRI research and one of the distinguished speakers at the event, stated: "MEMRI is an important organization. It is because it gives information that can be found in very few other places. It's always well-documented. It always gives us an insight into an area – which is disturbing – the other side, those who are not our allies, those who are not our friends, those who are not with us. And so, thanks to MEMRI, we know what they think, what they plan, and this is actually what MEMRI is all about... So, in the years, of course what MEMRI has tried to do is to give us the historical background... Whatever we see now simply cannot be judged in the present, we must go beyond it, and above it, not without it, ever. MEMRI, I believe, is essential... in the world. We need to know more. And this is MEMRI, it always gives us more. So, what we think of MEMRI, we all can say with gratitude that we are glad, we are happy, we are grateful, that MEMRI exists."

Mourners say farewell to Elie Wiesel at New York funeral

Mourners gathered in New York on Sunday to bid farewell to Elie Wiesel, the Holocaust survivor and Nobel peace laureate hailed for his life’s work of keeping alive the memory of Jews slaughtered during World War II.
Wiesel, who died in New York on Saturday at age 87, was honored at private services at a synagogue on the Upper East Side neighborhood of Manhattan, as tributes poured in from around the world.
His wife, Marion, in a wheelchair, was among those who arrived in a stream of black cars. The service began at about 11:00 am (15:00 GMT). The burial was to follow, some of the mourners told AFP.
“It’s a great loss for Jewish people. It’s a great loss for mankind. He was a unique individual and we will miss him dearly,” Ronald Lauder, the president of the World Jewish Congress, told reporters outside the synagogue.
The Romanian-born Wiesel, a US citizen once known as “the world’s leading spokesman on the Holocaust,” was perhaps best known for his memoir “Night” detailing his experiences in Nazi death camps.

Antisemitic posters plastered over Tehran for "Al Quds Day"

Ali Arouzi, NBC's Tehran correspondent, tweeted "Streets of Tehran plastered with inflammatory anti Israeli posters for Quds day."

But the posters he showed weren't merely anti-Israel. They were explicitly antisemitic.

The four posters he tweeted all had the same theme: Jews and the Jewish state are today's Nazis.

All of these came from this year's Iranian Holocaust cartoon competition, where nearly all of the cartoons had antisemitic themes.

(h/t Petra)

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The anonymous and public Arab heroes teach us a great deal

Times of Israel interviews the Arab couple who helped the survivors of the terrorist attack that murdered Rabbi Miki Mark:

In the moments after the Friday drive-by shooting attack that killed Rabbi Miki Mark outside the West Bank city of Hebron, a local Palestinian couple helped the surviving members of his family escape the overturned vehicle and administered first aid until first responders arrived at the scene.

“At first I thought it was an accident. I opened the door, which was difficult because the car was overturned,” the Palestinian man, a resident of Hebron, told Channel 2. “The girl was inside the car screaming, ‘They’re killing us,’ so I just kept telling her not to be afraid and that everything would be fine.”

After he managed to pry one of the doors open, the man, who wasn’t named in the report, said he pulled 14-year-old Tehila from the wrecked car.

He said his wife, who is a medical doctor, worked to stanch the bleeding from the teen’s abdominal wound while he called an ambulance to the scene.

“She was telling them in English, ‘Do not be afraid, we are here to help you,'” he recalled.

The man said he then pulled 15-year-old Pedaya out of the car, and attempted to calm him.

“I took the boy and I hugged him, I gave him some water and applied iodine, and just kept telling him that everything was going to be fine,” he said. “It doesn’t matter to me if it was an accident or a terror attack, it’s irrelevant. These are people, children, who need help, and if I can help, I will help them.

“The girl told me, ‘God sent an Arab to help us,'” he added.

This Arab couple is truly heroic.

Here's another set of Arabs who were in the news recently:

Families of Palestinian teenage terrorists who are imprisoned in Israel, were invited on Saturday to a special dinner in East Jerusalem during which the terrorists’ names were glorified.

Each family was given a commemorative plaque and a drinking mug featuring an image of its jailed relative. The event was attended by former Jerusalem Mufti Sheikh Ekrima Sa'id Sabri, who is known for his extremist views.

One of the families who participated in the dinner was that of Muawiya Alqam, a 14-year-old who was jailed for perpetrating a stabbing attack on the Jerusalem light rail in November 2015 with his 11-year-old cousin, Ali.

Ali, whose age precluded him from being prosecuted under criminal law, is spending a year in an institution headed by the Ministry of Welfare from which he is given furlough once every fortnight. He too participated in the Saturday event.

The first set of Arabs, the true heroes, do not allow their names to be publicized*. They don't want their neighbors and friends to know that they saved the lives of Jews.

The families of the second set of Arabs, terrorists who are treated as heroes, are very proud of their sons and are thrilled to announce the names and publish the photos of these murderers and would-be murderers to the world.

Anyone who self-righteously tries to describe the Israelis and Palestinian Arabs as morally equal - those who say that both sides have suffered, both sides are at fault, both sides are in a "cycle of violence" - are very, very wrong. And the proof is right here.

Terrorists like those who murdered the Marks are heroes to the Palestinians, as we have seen countless times.

The actual Arab heroes - the people who saved the lives of their enemies - are not heroes at all to their people, and in fact their heroism is something not to be spoken about in public. Their names and faces are not known. The only articles about them are from Israeli media, not from Palestinian media.

There is no moral equivalence between the two sides. For Palestinians, terrorists are heroes and real heroes are an embarrassment.

Israelis and Palestinians are moral opposites.

(h/t Yehudah Posnick)

UPDATE: The names of the Arab heroes have been revealed by Israeli TV. The husband is Islam Albid and a doctor who stopped to help is Dr. Ali Abu Sharah. There is still no Arabic coverage of the story.

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07/04 Links Pt1: The killing of two Jews got a standing ovation from the EU; What Iran’s Quds Day Means

From Ian:

PMW: PA TV Antisemitic teaching: “Jews are a people of lies"

When PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas was caught 10 days ago recycling the infamous libel accusing Israelis of poisoning Palestinian water, his office was forced to issue a retraction, and declared that: "President Abbas - out of the deep respect he has for all religions, including Judaism - emphasizes that he did not intend to harm Judaism or its believers in general." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, June 25, 2016]
This denial of Palestinian Authority Antisemitism, which Palestinian Media Watch has documented repeatedly, is another example of PA doublespeak. Just a week before, official PA TV teacher of Islam, Imad Hamato, was instilling hatred of Jews in Palestinian viewers, explaining that from early Islamic stories we learn that "Jews are a people of lies."
Hamato, who hosts a weekly TV program and is also Professor of Quranic Studies at the University of Palestine in Gaza, told a story about Jews from the time of Muhammad who admired and praised a fellow Jew as their leader, until they heard he converted to Islam, then they denied him. Hamato presented the Jews' change of opinion as proof that Jews are liars, and that "lies, distortion of the truth, and aversion to the truth flow in their blood."
Later in the same lesson he taught that before Muhammad's time Jews intentionally caused wars between the tribes of Mecca. He added, "this is always the practice of the Jews. They create wars":

David Collier: Walking with the Hezbollah in London

Shortly before the end, they began collecting the children and moving them towards the front of the demonstration. As with the antizionist Jews, this was another PR stunt in the making. Finally, after nearly 90 minutes of chanting, we arrived. I could see the Israeli flags. The marching stopped and scores of police divided the two groups. I waited some more, trying to talk to demonstrators. Nobody was interested. The Zionists were there; the devil himself was in sight. They had other things on their mind.
On the other side Arieh from the Zionist Federation held sway with the microphone. ‘Hatikva’. ‘God Save the Queen’. ‘Peace not hate’. My type of thinking. I put away my fake pro-Palestinian identity and tried to cross over to the side of democracy, freedom, pluralism. There was no way through. Eventually a policeman told me to step back, because I was ‘provoking’ the pro-Israelis. I pointed out my wife, my mum, my kids and told him provoking them was my ‘full time job’. He smiled and let me cross. Even then I needed to enter the counter demonstration the long way round. The protecting barriers were up.
Allowing this type of march isn’t a strength of our freedoms, it is a weakness. Yesterday, we emboldened radical extremism. We let it stand proud. We created an opportunity for people to meet and bring Hezbollah to the heart of London. I am used to being amongst this type of hatred. I have attended scores of events and witnessed some truly vile statements. But I have to admit there was something about marching with them, something about seeing the Hezbollah flag on the streets of London, that I found deeply disturbing.
And as we came around the corner and I began to see that sea of Blue and White in front of me, it is difficult to describe the feeling. Not unlike the sight of land as you approach Ben Gurion on a flight to Israel. I could see my family and my friends. I was home.

The killing of two Jews got a standing ovation from the EU

A town on the outskirts of Paris, Bondy, led by the Socialist mayor Sylvine Thomassin, approved the boycott of Israeli goods from Judea and Samaria. It is not the first time. Leicester, the tenth largest city in the UK, has also banned the “products made in Israel” and the Irish town of Kinvara informed the shops, restaurants and even pharmacies that these can no longer sell Israeli products.
A few hours after this French town voted the boycott of Israel, two Israeli Jews, two “settlers”, were killed by the Palestinian Arabs.

It is a scam. It is a scandal without end. It is title of a book by André Glucksmann: “Silence, on tue”. Silence, it kills! Even while the threat of a new extermination of the Jews is today a reality and a promise, the custodians of memory in the West continue to distinguish between anti-Semitism, which is piously condemned in homage to the Holocaust, and anti-Zionism, a hatred for Israel that is eagerly accepted and propagated.
European culture maintains that the Israelis killed today because they are Jews have nothing to do with their parents killed in the gas chambers; that the anti-Semitism behind the Holocaust is a singular evil of the past.
The extinction of European Judaism took place amid the complete failure of European culture. Today in the West there is a conscience indifferent to the daily demonization and pain inflicted on Jews by the Palestinian Arabs.

Here is Part 1 of last night's Hasby Awards ceremony in Jerusalem at Honest Reporting's rooftop venue. I welcome the crowd and introduce Yisrael Medad, who then hands the Best Article award to Kay Wilson.

Medad speaks about the importance of unifying disparate pro-Israel voices and then comments on Kay's award-winning article, saying that it is appropriate to be enraged at the outrageous and that lesson seems to be lost.

Kay refers to her harrowing experience of almost being killed by terrorists, but ultimately gives an uplifting message to the community.

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