Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, October 27, 2016

Jenny Tonge invites Kay Wilson to the House of Lords for a cup of tea (UPDATE)

Yesterday was one of the more sickening scenes at the House of Lords:

"If anybody is antisemitic, it's the Israelis themselves"; panel applauds; hard to believe, but this happened this week at House of Lords pic.twitter.com/L8v4cARnK8
— Yiftah Curiel (@yiftahc) October 26, 2016

When Sussex Friends of Israel posted this on Facebook, they wrote:

WATCH-Member of audience at last nights event in Parliament (hosted by Jenny Tonge) which called for Britain to apologize for the Balfour Declaration, says that 'if anyone is anti-Semitic it is the Israelis themselves!' Greeted with much applause by Tonge and her fellow panelists and all done in the House of Lords!

There was then this exchange between the great Kay Wilson and Jenny Tonge among others

Kay Wilson Jenny Tonge Jenny Tonge, Baroness Tonge is a revolting woman, unworthy of the position with which she has been entrusted.

LikeReply1921 hrs

Hide 40 Replies

Jenny Tonge Thank you for that accolade Kay Wilson. What a lovely reasonable person you seem to be.

LikeReply220 hrs

Geoffrey Bernstein Jenny Tonge Tonge, what a smug, self-satisfied and sarcastic reply. Kay Wilson was almost murdered by Palestinians, and her companion was murdered at the same time. They were simply walking in the countryside. Check it out for yourself.

LikeReply1420 hrsEdited

Kay Wilson I am actually. Despite being hacked at with a machete 13 times by Palestinian terrorists and watching my Christian friend murdered in front of my eyes, I have gone on to do all I can for peace. I have hidden a Muslim teenager in my house at the risk o...See More

LikeReply2120 hrs

Jenny Tonge Would some of you like to come to the Lords for a cup of tea? Why can't we talk.

LikeReply219 hrs

Kay Wilson Jenny Tonge I would love to. Please invite me and I courteously accept your invite

LikeReply619 hrs

Kay Wilson This is on record. Jenny Tonge has extended an invite to the House of Lords. As a survivor a Palestinian terrorism, I feel that "dialogue" could be important. I eagerly await confirmation of her invite

LikeReply818 hrs

Sussex Friends Of Israel Love to come Jenny but first I would ask you to to categorically distance yourself from the 'if anyone is anti-Semitic it is the Israelis themselves' comment as in the video above

LikeReply418 hrs

Jonathan Hoffman Jenny Tonge Do you still defend your suggestion that Israel should set up an inquiry to disprove allegations that its medical teams in Haiti “harvested” organs of earthquake victims for use in transplants?

LikeReply618 hrs

Kay Wilson Jonathan hopefully when she accepts my eagerness to meet her in the House of Lords, I can address this issue personally.

LikeReply618 hrs

David Collier Jenny Tonge My problem, as someone who was there last night, is why you seem to fail to recognise antisemitism even when it smacks the Jews across the face in front of you. If you don't see it, I mean really don't see it, isn't it just possible that the problem is with you, rather than me?

LikeReply1218 hrs

Jenny Tonge We can discuss these things when you come.

LikeReply17 hrs

Tonge also defended her call for an independent inquiry into whether Israel was stealing organs from earthquake victims in Haiti:

Jenny Tonge My exact words were via our press office and were
'I congratulate the IDF on their swift response after the earthquake. If they are concerned about these allegations they should have an independent inquiry .' What is wrong with that? I was.a doctor for many years in the NHS.

LikeReply117 hrs

The idea that Kay can break through the hate that Jenny Tonge has is more than fanciful. But it is amazing that she keeps trying.

(h/t Rob)

UPDATE: When I wrote this article, it was before this happened:

Jenny Tonge, a former Liberal Democat peer, has quit the party after she was suspended over alleged antisemitic comments.
She said she had resigned from the party “about the same time” as she was suspended as a party member by its leader on Thursday.
Earlier, a spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said: “She has been suspended. She was not a member of our group in the House of Lords; she was an independent peer, she has had her membership suspended.
“We take her comments very seriously and have acted accordingly.”
Tonge was Lib Dem MP for Richmond Park from 1997 to 2005, but has sat as an independent in the Lords since she was suspended in 2012, also for allegedly antisemitic comments.
Thursday’s move came after Tonge hosted a meeting at the House of Lords this week at which Israel was reportedly compared to terror group Islamic State and Jews were blamed for the Holocaust. The remarks were made by a speaker at the meeting, which was organised by the Palestinian Return Centre, which live-streamed the event on its Facebook page.
The Israeli embassy in London said the meeting was a “shameful event which gave voice to racist tropes against Jews and Israelis alike”.

Not sure that this tea party will ever occur.

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

Today the “discovery” of Jew-hatred among British politicians, particularly in the Labour Party, is news. But the relationship of the Jews to Albion, since the citizens of York wiped out their Jewish community in 1190, hasn’t been smooth.

Recently, I read a review by Sheree Roth of a neglected 1938 book, William B. Ziff’s The Rape of Palestine. Although Roth is primarily concerned with the (very important and persuasive) evidence in Ziff’s book refuting the Arab claim to be the “original” or “indigenous” inhabitants of the Land of Israel, the book is primarily concerned with the history of the British Mandatory power over Palestine. The book is available at Amazon (though currently out of stock), but its copyright has lapsed and someone has placed the entire text here for our enjoyment.

The British betrayal of the Jewish people must be reckoned as one of the great crimes of the 20^th century. Entrusted with the Mandate to ultimately make possible a Jewish National Home, Britain instead fought its realization tooth and nail, ultimately becoming complicit in the Nazi Holocaust. Even after the war, when the evil consequences of its policies should have been clear, when Germany herself began to recognize her obligation to what was left of the Jewish people, Britain continued to fight against the establishment of a Jewish state, battling attempts to resettle Jewish refugees, even arming and providing military advisors to the Arab armies that in 1948 tried to finish the job Hitler started.

Everyone knows about the series of White Papers issued by the Mandatory Government, which progressively limited Jewish immigration, culminating in the MacDonald White Paper of 1939 which – just as the furnaces of the Holocaust were about to be lit – effectively closed the doors of Palestine to Jews and doomed millions to destruction.

But Ziff explains how, long before 1939, British authorities used every bureaucratic device possible to reduce the number of Jews allowed into the country, while completely overlooking the uncontrolled immigration of Arabs who flocked in to take advantage of the jobs created by the Zionists. “Illegal” Jews were hunted down and punished. Roth quotes Ziff,

Hunting "illegal" Jews became a major game, with illegal Arab newcomers enlisting gleefully in the chase. Savage Bedouins joined in under promise of a reward for any Jewish man, woman, or child they could catch. Palestine was under a virtual reign of terror. Anyone who could not immediately prove his citizenship, or produce his or her certificate of entry, was tracked down, jailed, and brutally beaten. ...

A fair example is the case of a woman and six small children, who had arrived legally with the proper passport and visa from Turkestan. On the way, her husband had been killed at a railway station. The whole family was arrested on the grounds that the passport provided not for a woman and six children but for a man, a woman and six children. On this pretext the woman and her children were ordered to prison. [pp. 245-6]

Not only did the authorities try to prevent Jews from arriving, they viciously discriminated against the ones that were already here. The Jewish population was heavily taxed (as they do today, the Arabs tended to favor informal business practices that avoided taxation), but the revenues, which Ziff tells us were plentiful thanks to Jewish enterprise, were either retained by the government for its own purposes or used almost entirely to benefit the Arab sector. The government school system,

…is purely Arab in character. The language of instruction is Arabic . Hebrew is not even taught as a foreign tongue. When in 1937 a rumor circulated that the study of Hebrew was to be introduced, it only evoked incredulity and rendered the Government's hasty denial superfluous. "Apart from scientific subjects," the Peel Commission acknowledges, "the curriculum is almost wholly devoted to the literature, history and tradition of the Arabs; and all the school masters from the humblest village teacher to the head of the Government Arab college, are Arabs." School masters in Palestine appear to have been recruited from the ranks of the most exaggerated pan-Arab agitators. The result, as Lord Peel candidly admits, is to turn the children out as violent "Arab patriots ." "The schools," he tells us, "have become seminaries of Arab nationalism." [p. 310]

Jewish schools were built and supported mostly by overseas donors. “During the whole period of British occupation there has never been a single Jewish school built in Palestine out of the public funds,” Ziff reports. Health and sanitation expenditures were allocated similarly. Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem paid full price for its water while Arab hospitals were supplied at no charge. Jews were severely discriminated against for government jobs, and if a Jew did manage to get hired, for promotions. Telegraph messages were only accepted in English or Arabic, until the international commission governing mandates forced the postal service to accept Hebrew messages; but equipment was only installed in a few cities making it worthless in practice. Government employees were required to be fluent in English and Arabic but not in Hebrew, and many did not speak or understand the language. [chap. VII].

The law enforcement and court system were corrupt and biased. Almost all court records were kept in Arabic [p. 326], which makes sense since almost all magistrates, notaries and prosecutors were Arabs. Prison conditions were unspeakable, so bad that prisoners released after a few years were often crippled for life by starvation rations. Justice was anything but blind: Ziff tells of a case of a Jewish watchman at Bat Galim (near Haifa) sentenced to prison for attempted murder, after he wounded an Arab – who was among a gang attacking the settlement. Meanwhile, a Bedouin who took part in the murder of a Jewish boy and girl received a light sentence because the murder was committed consequent to raping the girl, and therefore unintentional (the boy was killed trying to defend her)! Four other Bedouins, who also raped the girl, were set free [pp. 330-1].

I’ve only scratched the surface, but it should be clear that the administration of the Mandate by the “civilized” nation of Great Britain was as ugly as any colonial enterprise, and particularly evil because of the discriminatory way it treated a part of the native population – indeed, the ones the Mandate was intended to benefit. The question is “why?” Why was it so important to the British to prevent Jewish immigration and to support the Arab community in opposition to the Jews?

The common understanding is that the British did not want an independent state to arise in Palestine, which sits in a critical position as the gateway to the “Jewel in the Crown of the British Empire,” India. Possibly they felt that even if they had to accept an independent state, an Arab one – like the British client monarchies of Jordan, Iraq and Egypt – would be more controllable than a democratic Jewish state. They also wanted to stay on the good side of the Arab oil-producing nations, as oil had become much more important as a strategic commodity after WWI.

One problem with this theory is that by 1947 there was no longer a need for a gateway to India, now independent. But Britain fought as hard as ever during the last year of the Mandate to prevent Jews from reaching Palestine. Jewish refugees were kept in “internment camps,” some of them on the sites of former Nazi concentration camps. Although US President Truman wanted to allow them to go to Palestine, the British refused. As mentioned above, they armed and even provided officers to the invading Arab nations – despite their clearly genocidal goals – during Israel’s War of Independence.

What about oil? The fact is that the importance of Arab oil during that period was minimal. In 1945, the five top oil-producers were the US (65.8%), Venezuela (13.2%), USSR (5.5%), Iran (4.9%) and Mexico (1.8%). Iraq was in 7^th place with 1.3%, and Saudi Arabia 11^th with 0.8%. By 1948, Saudi Arabia had moved up to 5^th place, with 4.1%. All of these sources with the exception of the USSR were strongly in the Western (i.e., American) orbit. There was no OPEC in those days, either. It is a stretch to think that Britain needed to be concerned about offending Arab oil producers during the mandate period, even after 1945. Arab oil was a potent political force in the 1970s, but it had not yet become one in 1948.

No, there is another reason that Britain betrayed the Jewish people, and it is that with some very notable exceptions such as Winston Churchill, Jew-hatred was rampant in its military, its Foreign Office, and its ruling classes in general. For example, the commander of British forces in Palestine from 1946-7 was Gen. Evelyn Hugh Barker. Barker famously wrote to his Arab mistress regarding Jews that,

Yes, I loathe the lot - whether they be Zionists or not. Why should we be afraid of saying we hate them. Its time this damned race knew what we think of them - loathsome people.

Barker favored the death penalty for “Zionist guerrillas,” and applied it whenever he could. He suggested that the reason there was so much unrest was that previous administrations hadn’t hanged enough Jews. After the bombing of the King David Hotel, he issued an order that read in part,

I am determined that [the Jews] shall suffer punishment and be made aware of the contempt and loathing with which we regard their conduct. We must not allow ourselves to be deceived by the hypocritical sympathy shown by their leaders and representative bodies, or by their protests that they are in no way responsible for these acts ... I have decided that with effect on receipt of this letter you will put out of bounds to all ranks all Jewish establishments, restaurants, shop, and private dwellings. No British soldier is to have social intercourse with any Jew. … I appreciate that these measures will inflict some hardship on the troops, yet I am certain that if my reasons are fully explained to them they will understand their propriety and will be punishing the Jews in a way the race dislikes as much as any, by striking at their pockets and showing our contempt of them.

Ziff’s book, full of details about the countless humiliations and punishments with which the British military and colonial service afflicted the Jews of the yishuv, suggests that there were many Barkers, large and small, in their ranks. And this, at bottom, is the reason Britain fought so hard against the creation of a Jewish state. Not oil, not access to India. Just Jew-hatred.

Are things different today, in Britain or anywhere else that irrational anti-Israel expression is found?

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10/27 Links Pt1: UNESCO Hijacked to Rewrite Jerusalem's History; PM on papyrus find: UNESCO received a letter from the past

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: Jihadi-Style Child Abuse

Children in this world do not dream about becoming doctors, pilots or engineers; an entire generation of Palestinians, particularly those in the Gaza Strip, has been raised on the glorification of suicide bombers and anyone who kills a Jew.
Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other radical groups see children as future "soldiers" in the war to eliminate Israel. They raise children to regard to suicide bombers and jihadis as role models.
This form of child abuse does not seem to bother human rights organizations or UNICEF, whose declared goal is to "work for a world in which every child has a fair chance in life and a right to survive, thrive and fulfill their potential..." UNICEF apparently does not believe its mandate extends to Palestinian children, who are exploited to serve the interests of Islamist groups.
In the view of human rights organizations, recruiting Palestinian children to the ranks of Islamist terror groups does not constitute child abuse.
What is the world prepared to do in order to combat this child abuse? UNICEF and other international bodies may not have time to deal with such issues at present, because they are too busy thinking about the next resolution to condemn Israel.

PMW: Erekat on imprisoned terrorists: "We bow our heads out of admiration and honor"

The Palestinian Authority often assures its people that among its top priorities is the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel - most of whom are convicted for terrorist crimes including murder.
Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat recently reiterated this, terming actions of terrorist prisoners as "acts of heroism", and stating that Palestinians "bow [their] heads in admiration and honor of the prisoners' sacrifices, for their acts of heroism":
"Our brave prisoners, who gave and sacrificed their freedom for Palestine and its freedom, are worthy of aid, support, and constant activity by us in order to release them and put an end to their suffering. The prisoners' cause is a national and central cause, and we bow our heads in admiration and honor of the prisoners' sacrifices, for their acts of heroism, and for their ongoing battle with the occupation." [Official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Oct. 19, 2016]
Among the prisoners whose actions Saeb Erekat would be admiring are:

Abdallah Barghouti - serving 67 life sentences for preparing explosives for terror attacks in which 67 people were murdered: Sbarro restaurant (15 killed, Aug. 9, 2001, Jerusalem), Sheffield Club (15 killed, May 7, 2002, Rishon LeZion), Moment Café (11 killed, March 9, 2002, Jerusalem), triple attack at Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall (11 killed, Dec. 1, 2001, Jerusalem), Hebrew University (9 killed, July 31, 2002, Jerusalem), and Bus 4 in Tel Aviv (6 killed, Sept. 19, 2002).

Ibrahim Hamed - serving 54 life sentences for planning suicide attacks, including the suicide bombings at Hebrew University (9 killed), Cafe Moment (12 killed), Cafe Hillel (7 killed), Zion Square in Jerusalem (11 killed).

Abbas Al-Sayid - serving 35 life sentences for planning two suicide bombings, one at a Passover dinner at the Park Hotel in Netanya (30 killed, March 27, 2002) and another outside a shopping Mall in Netanya (5 killed, May 18, 2001).

PMW: Warning to Palestinian students: "Beware of natural death; do not ‎die, but amidst the hail of bullets"

Students at Al-Quds University erected a memorial stone for the university's "heroic Martyrs," which opens with the warning:
"Beware of natural death; do not ‎die, but amidst the hail of bullets"
[Wattan, independent Palestinian news agency, Oct. 19, 2016]
This follows the Palestinian Authority policy to promote youth's participation in terror attacks, even if this means being killed. Dying for Allah (Shahada - Martyrdom) while attacking or killing Israelis, is routinely presented by the PA as preferable to life. This message is even presented to youth. For example, the day the PA announced the results of the recent matriculation exams, the official PA news agency, WAFA, wrote that high school students who had been killed while participating in terror attacks, and therefore had not finished high school, had taken "the path to excellence and greatness and the path of those who know how to reach the great victory."
The names on the memorial stone at Al-Quds University included that of murderer Muhannad Halabi, describing him as the "Heroic Martyr and Detonator of the third Intifada" - a reference to his killing of two Israeli civilians in October 2015, which Palestinians see as the launch of the terror wave which followed, and some termed "the third Intifada."
The monument was put in place by the Al-Quds branch of The Progressive Student Action Front, the student branch of the terror organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. After the monument's mysterious disappearance, the independent Palestinian news agency Wattan asked if the university agrees to the placement of "a monument of this sort." Dean of Student Affairs Abd Al-Raouf Abd Al-Sinawi said:

Mother of terrorist: “All of us, praise Allah, give our children, and we do not regret a thing”

Do you have a story that makes your heart soar? A book or a movie that evokes a visceral reaction, no matter how many times you revisit it? Those are the stories that resonate on a very deep level, if you will, stories that speak to the soul.

I have loved Tolkien’s Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings since I was a child. I’m not sure how old I was the first time I read the books. To me it seems like the stories have always been with me and, in a way, that is true.

It is a bit strange that a little girl loved such dark books, full of battles and scary scenes – not the stereotypical girly stories. I was swept away by the saga, charmed by the hobbits and enchanted by the elves. Interestingly the scenes that made my heart soar (and still do) are not nice or magical ones. In fact, they are rather terrible but, at the same time, beautiful.

As an American girl who lacked for nothing, why did I value the fortitude of the dwarves? In the books they are not depicted as particularly nice or charming but their strength and fierce loyalty appealed to me. The rich emotional tapestry of the dwarves made them seem somehow very familiar: these hard-working people, fine craftsmen who loved beautiful things and knew how to create them, people who could endure great hardships, were willing to endure in order to regain the home they had lost and never stopped dreaming about.

I didn’t know that Tolkien created the dwarves as a reflection of the Jewish people, longing to return to Zion.

I cried when Thorin was killed. It was right that the Arkenstone be returned to him and gut wrenching that he did not live to enjoy the achievement of regaining the homeland of his people and the Arkenstone at their core. Was Tolkien imagining the Ark that was once in the center of the very real mountain in the heart of Jerusalem?

The battle cry of the dwarves of the Iron Hills, rushing in to save their fellow dwarves, their brothers, one moment before they were overwhelmed by their enemies, has always made my heart soar. For the American girl my reaction makes little sense. As a grown up Israeli I understand it much better. The dwarves roared “Moria!” as they dove in to the Battle of the Five Armies. They were reminding each other of the terrible battle where so many of their relatives had been slaughtered, that had driven them further from their homeland, from safety but from which, as a people, they had survived.

How very Jewish. Hardships endured and survived made them stronger, gave them the courage to face the new, seemingly hopeless battle ahead.

Could it be that the stories that make your heart soar that are the ones that you understand with your soul before it is possible to understand them with the mind? That is my experience.

In Tolkien’s words, his stories are not an allegory of the times in which he lived but rather are “applicable.” Allegories, he felt, are an imposition of the author on the reader. He preferred stories that the reader was free to apply, as the reader desired. As a child my ability to apply his stories to anything outside the pages was very limited. Now I know better. I can recognize more elements because I am living them.

The Hobbit ends with a conversation between Bilbo and Gandalf: “Then the prophecies of the old songs have turned out to be true, after a fashion!” said Bilbo. “Of course!” said Gandalf. “And why should not they prove true? Surely you don’t disbelieve the prophecies, because you had a hand in bringing them about yourself? You don’t really suppose, do you, that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit? You are a very fine person, Mr. Baggins, and I am very fond of you; but you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all!”

When this was written Tolkien couldn’t have imagined living to see the prophecies come true but somehow he knew that many would tend to disbelieve because they “had a hand in bringing them about.” I see this very often in the attitude of many (including far too many Israelis) towards Israel. It is up to us to recognize that all our “adventures and escapes were not managed by mere luck.”

In The Lord of the Rings the dwarves play a lesser role than they do in The Hobbit and yet they are still important.

Of all the scenes in the trilogy, it was always the death of Boromir that moved me the most. Again, this is rather strange when considering myself reading this as a little girl. Today the scene still moves me to tears.

Boromir sacrifices himself to protect those smaller and weaker than himself. By loving others more than he loves his own life he redeems the mistakes he had made due to hubris and desire for power. Love leads him to the most powerful and honorable act of his life.

This scene has deeper meaning when you can name the names of real people who made the same choice Boromir made. With little effort I can tell you a number of such stories, the events that occurred and the heroes who loved others more than they loved themselves.

The tears I cried for Boromir are the same tears I often find rolling down my face watching the evening news. Israel is full of stories of honor, sacrifice, love. Ours are not the legends of a classic fairytale, a figment of an author’s imagination or something that happened “Once upon a time.” Our stories are real and they are happening now.

The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings are stories that have inspired so many people around the world. Many of those who look deeper in to the stories discover the thread of Christian principles and ideals. Few seem to notice that the author was actually inspired by Zion. He wrote of the people exiled regaining their homeland. The re-establishment of their home brought prosperity to the men and elves living next to them, made the land green again. Everyone benefitted. Even when Tolkien’s focus was no longer on the story of the dwarves their presence remained key. The ability to bridge the mistrust between elves and dwarves is what helped the once and future King to return to his throne.

Tolkien’s stories are not an allegory but they are highly applicable. His fantasy can be found in Israeli reality. His writings contain inspiration for all who are willing to recognize it and, more importantly, apply it.

Now doesn’t that make your heart soar?

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From The Telegraph, by Lord Trimble and Robert Quick:

Citizens across the continent are asking legitimate questions over their safety as well as how to sustain our societies’ liberal and democratic values in the face of this brutal menace [of Islamist terror.]. To prevail, we must be united, realistic about the deadly threat we confront, and tactically astute in how we mitigate and eventually defeat its modus operandi of indiscriminate, maximum casualty attacks.

We must also cooperate closely with those who share our values and can help us build our capabilities. One country fits this bill better than most - no democratic nation has endured Islamist terrorism to the extent that Israel has.

Given the slanders against Israel - which emanate not least from the same Islamist propagandists residing here in the United Kingdom who hate the West and this country also - it is perhaps surprising to some that we found Israel to be a beacon of hope in this fight on a recent fact-finding visit.

Joined by political and law enforcement leaders from other democratic nations, including counterparts from the FBI, Australian National Police and other international forces, our aim was to examine Israel’s counter-terrorism strategies more closely and draw lessons for how our own countries can confront the escalating terror threat.

Terrorism against innocent civilians has been a constant feature of Israel’s experience, even prior to its statehood. During previous waves of terrorism, Israeli civilians were blown to pieces in public buses and shopping centres on a daily basis. More recently, Israel had been facing a wave of multiple daily small-scale attacks utilising knifes, axes or other readily available implements, as well as car-rammings. As such, it has learnt from bitter experience and become extraordinarily resilient, coping with stresses until recently unimaginable to European policymakers, while flourishing as an economically successful democratic nation.

Four preliminary findings from our forthcoming comprehensive report are worth noting:

First, Israel’s intelligence prowess is not only a major factor in its successful fight against Islamist terror, but as an ally to the UK and other democracies it has and will continue to save lives here in Europe. Britain is better placed than some of our European allies, enjoying outstanding intelligence capabilities already, but resources are still stretched.

Intelligence must remain a priority for investment. Furthermore, Israel’s governance of the interagency process, so crucial to success, appears to offer a model with strong political and judicial oversight relevant to other democracies.

This leads to the second point, about the legal governance of the fight against Islamist terror. In seeking to improve and consolidate its relevant legislation, our democracy has already resolved to emulate Israel to an extent in bringing more legally mandated judicial oversight to intelligence activity that cannot be conducted on the basis of open evidence. Judicial oversight, free from political interference and with full access to all relevant information, is an essential part of mitigating the problems that democracies now face in conducting a defence against an enemy that ruthlessly exploits the very freedoms our generous political and social systems afford our citizens.

Third, resilience remains crucial. Here too Britain is already well placed, both a thought leader on relevant concepts as well as enjoying a healthy industrial base. Yet once we are past the hardening of soft targets - bollards at the entrance to train stations - we must ask searching questions over whether we are sufficiently protected. As such, the recent formation of special armed squads intended to deal with a Mumbai or Paris-style roving attack in London is a step in the right direction.

However, we were struck at Israel's concept of expecting anyone in the vicinity of an incident, whether soldier, policeman, security guard, or even an armed civilian, to move immediately to its location and do what necessary without waiting for orders from above. This approach, in particular where it comes to the private security sector, where Israel sets rigorous training standards, has the benefit of allowing limited security resources to cover a very wide area.

However, resilience above all means the ability to overcome and return to normality. We were impressed with stipulations in Israeli emergency response - truly road tested in the most horrific manner - that focus on both achieving this in the immediate vicinity of an attack within a few mere hours, and ensuring that no other part of national civic life is unnecessarily affected. Contrast this with several major European cities having been in complete lockdown over the summer.

Finally, the realities of the internet age have resulted in a shared challenge in this fight. We welcome Israel’s Public Security Minister’s recent visit to London to seek closer ties to combat Islamist incitement online. The evidence is incontrovertible that social media provided the medium to fuel both the rise of Islamic State as well as the recent terror wave against Israel.

The social media superpowers, websites we enjoy using every day, simply cannot continue to ignore their responsibilities in this regard. Confronting this threat requires a delicate balancing act to protect freedom of expression, but this cannot be an excuse for inaction when these platforms are used in a manner that ultimately leads to the deaths of innocent civilians.

Israel is on the frontline of the West’s confrontation with Islamist terrorism and a crucial ally. One thing is clear: its expertise will help save European lives and act as a welcome guide in navigating the difficult moral, legal and tactical terrain ahead. Britain’s spirit in previous conflicts bodes well for this great country matching Israel in resolve to overcome the murderous hatred we now face.

We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.

Yesterday, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced the discovery of an ancient papyrus that mentions Jerusalem:

A rare and important find was exposed in an enforcement operation initiated by the IAA’s Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery: a document written on papyrus and dating to the time of the First Temple (seventh century BCE) in which the name of the city of Jerusalem is clearly indicated. This is the earliest extra-biblical source to mention Jerusalem in Hebrew writing.

Two lines of ancient Hebrew script were preserved on the document that is made of papyrus (paper produced from the pith of the papyrus plant [Cyperus papyrus]). A paleographic examination of the letters and a C14 analysis determined that the artifact should be dated to the seventh century BCE – to the end of the First Temple period. Most of the letters are clearly legible, and the proposed reading of the text appears as follows:

[מא]מת. המלך. מנערתה. נבלים. יין. ירשלמה.

[me-a]mat. ha-melekh. me-Na?artah. nevelim. yi’in. Yerushalima.

From the king’s maidservant, from Na?arat, jars of wine, to Jerusalem

This is a rare and original shipping document from the time of the First Temple, indicating the payment of taxes or transfer of goods to storehouses in Jerusalem, the capital city of the kingdom at this time. The document specifies the status of the sender of the shipment (the king’s maidservant), the name of the settlement from which the shipment was dispatched (Na?arat), the contents of the vessels (wine), their number or amount (jars) and their destination (Jerusalem). Na?artah, which is mentioned in the text, is the same Na?arat that is referred to in the description of the border between Ephraim and Benjamin in Joshua 16:7: “And it went down from Janohah to Ataroth, and to Na?arat, and came to Jericho, and went out at Jordan”.

According to Dr. Eitan Klein, deputy director of the IAA’s Unit for the Prevention of Antiquities Robbery, “The document represents extremely rare evidence of the existence of an organized administration in the Kingdom of Judah. It underscores the centrality of Jerusalem as the economic capital of the kingdom in the second half of the seventh century BCE. According to the Bible, the kings Menashe, Amon, or Josiah ruled in Jerusalem at this time; however, it is not possible to know for certain which of the kings of Jerusalem was the recipient of the shipment of wine”.

Israel Prize laureate and biblical scholar Prof. (Emeritus) Shmuel Ahituv attests to the scientific importance of the document, “It’s not just that this papyrus is the earliest extra-biblical source to mention Jerusalem in Hebrew writing; it is the fact that to date no other documents written on papyrus dating to the First Temple period have been discovered in Israel, except one from Wadi Murabba?at. Also outstanding in the document is the unusual status of a woman in the administration of the Kingdom of Judah in the seventh century BCE”.

A Palestinian "expert" claims that the artifact is fake.

Speaking to Al-Ain, Dr. Jamal Amr, the head of the manuscripts and heritage department at Al-Aqsa Mosque said that the announcement by the Israelis is "ridiculous" and is part of a series of faked archaeological findings that Israelis have always done, calling them a "Jewish ISIS."

He said, "They are a terrorist group, the Jewish Daesh organization, publicizing corrupt merchandise that has not convinced the world that voted in favor of the facts and the heavenly books that attest to this place as being for Muslims only."

Amr mocked the size of the Israeli manuscript, saying that the Jews claim that the temple was a shrine on an area of 144 dunams which used where large quantities of cedar and gold, all of which disappeared without a trace, and yet this 11 cm papyrus survived.

Amr says that that this is not the first time that the Jews faked archaeology, mentioning a previous find of a scepter of King David* that was found to be fake.

Amr believes that this papyrus was quickly faked as a reaction to the UNESCO saying that the Temple Mount was only Muslim.

Which makes perfect sense when you live in a society where lies and truth are interchangeable and where facts can and should be ignored when they violate one's beliefs.

Previously, Dr. Amr had claimed that Israel is dissolving the foundations of the Temple Mount with chemicals.

UPDATE: PLO Secretary General Saeb Erekat, although more circumspect in his language, seems to agree with Jamal Amr, in his press release following the UNESCO vote:

Through an orchestrated campaign, Israel has been using archeological claims and distortion of facts as a way to legitimize the annexation of Occupied East Jerusalem.

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*I could not find anything about a scepter supposedly from King David, but there is a famous scepter head from the First Temple period where experts disagree on the authenticity of its inscription. Biblical Archaeological Review maintains that it is authentic based on the experts it has interviewed and that indeed it is likely to have been used in the First Temple. (Others claim it was from a different, pagan temple.)

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Arabs freak over Jews dancing on Simchat Torah in Hebron

I saw at least five articles in Arabic media showing "Rabbis dancing in Ibrahimi mosque":

This is of course the celebration of Simchat Torah in the Tomb of the Patriarchs.

A much better video is here:

The Arabic articles say:

Jews held a noisy celebration inside the Ibrahimi Mosque in Hebron in the West Bank in Palestine, where they danced to the tunes of loud songs.
The video clip caused a fuss on social networking sites, where the wrath of social media members were condemning these despicable acts inside the Ibrahimi Mosque, which included angry words against the Israeli entity, in addition to the criticism of the Arab rulers and Muslim countries who do not act for the Liberation of Palestine, and to allow this abusive business inside the house of Allah.

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