Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, November 01, 2016

People of books (Forest Rain)

Last week I went to a library dedication ceremony. Those words sound so normal when I write them but what I attended was something uniquely Israeli.

The ceremony took place in the Reali high-school in Haifa. During the evening my thoughts ranged from the history of the school, the ceremony itself, the library and the threads of education, books and family that tie them all together.

First some background: approximately 4,000 pupils attend the school’s six branches (kindergarten, elementary schools and a high-school). Each branch has a distinctive character, emphasizing different fields: Arts and Sciences, Science, Nature and the Environment or Leadership and Communication.

The school we all call by its abbreviated name “Reali” is actually named “The Hebrew Reali School in Haifa” and every word in the name is packed with meaning. The school was founded in 1913. The State of Israel had yet been formally re-established but this did not stop the Jewish community in Palestine from building institutions of education for the next generations.

Yes, there was a thriving Jewish community in Palestine pre-1948 and they were busy building institutions for the future of the Jewish people.

Prior to WW1 it was thought that exact sciences should be taught in German, like in the ‘realschulen’ in Germany. This was disputed within the Jewish community so, they held an assembly which concluded with the decision to establish the HEBREW Reali School in Haifa. Here all the subjects would be taught in Hebrew.

It would be a school like the German schools but in Haifa, not Europe. Studies would be conducted in the language of the Jewish people, not that of the non-Jews.

This was a revolutionary decision. From then onward, the ancient language would become the language of the future; this school would provide the new leaders of the Nation the opportunity to gain practical knowledge and the skills that would enable them to shape their own destiny and that of their people.

Over the years the Reali led the way in implementing educational initiatives and institutions that were later adopted by Israel’s Ministry of Education, such as the establishment of the scout movement, the “Gadna” (para-military youth preparation program), the “National Service“, the “Personal Commitment Program“, the “term paper” (school thesis), the student council, and the teaching of civics, middle eastern studies and additional subjects.

The Reali has over 22 thousand alumnae who hold key positions in Israeli society, among them are 37 Israel Prize laureates, four IDF Chiefs of General Staff and three Supreme Court Justices. 70 military decorations and medals were given to Reali graduates over the years. Reali alumnae are to be found amongst Israel’s best in science, arts, industry, communications and academia.

Back to the ceremony I attended. The library being dedicated was built in memory of a student who had attended the IDF Junior Command Preparatory School. This unique pre-military boarding school was founded in 1953 with the idea of combining the academic excellence of the Reali school with academic and practical courses in Military and Defense Studies. Graduates would be well rounded individuals, thoroughly prepared to take on leadership roles as combat officers in the IDF.

Students at the boarding school take classes with the students at the regular Reali high-school, the two campuses are adjacent and all are considered part of the “Reali family.”

It is one thing to know that the history of the Reali. It is another to be aware that much of Israel’s elite are alumnae. It is an entirely different world to walk in to a room full of these people. Ex-ministers, IDF commanders, leading business people, media personalities… everywhere I looked I saw faces that I would normally only see on TV. They all know each other and they all came together for this ceremony. Many were friends of the student whose memory was being honored. They had studied with him or served with him in the IDF. Some knew his family. Others didn’t know him but came anyway because he was one of their own, part of their circle.

Menachem “Melmel” Reich was the Lieutenant Commander of the Golani Reconnaissance Unit. He was killed in 1983, during the first Lebanon War. The Golani unit is a family in and of itself, not elitist like the Reali but very tight-knit and proud. In other words, Melmel had the extended members of two “families”, both very important in the construction and preservation of the State of Israel, who came to honor his memory.

How many places, groups or organizations have you come across that tie disconnected individuals together in a bond so tight they can only be described as family? The feeling is difficult to explain to someone who has never experienced it before. Living in Israel has taught me what that looks like.

Melmel was 22 years old when he died. 33 years after his death he still looms large in the memory of his friends. The fact that so many busy people made time to come to the event is a testament to the impression he left on them. It was one of his friends who funded the library that was built in his honor saying: “Melmel always said to me that he wants to live on the Carmel and have his children go to the Reali. He didn’t have a chance to have children. That’s why I want to enrich the tradition of studying at the Reali for other children. That’s why a library seemed an appropriate way to honor him.”

And what a beautiful library! The existing school library was expanded and completely renewed. It’s bright and inviting, well organized, with dedicated areas for computers, private study and even rooms in which meetings or brainstorming sessions can be held without bothering anyone else.

This might sound like a library dedication that could have happened anywhere else. Someone with enough money to invest can pay to build whatever they want in honor of their friends and any school would be happy to receive such a donation.

True. And yet, as I walked around the library, I was struck by the elements that are uniquely Israeli.

In the entrance of the library there is a wall with the names of the Reali students who were killed in Israel’s wars and by acts of terrorism. The memorial wall is covered in a shocking number of names, especially considering that these were all part of a small circle – friends of current students and teachers, their parents and grandparents. Each individual is a world to their family and friends and here, everyone knows everyone.

Standing in front of the wall, suddenly it was not the number of names that struck me, not the names of the people I know who jumped out at me… it was the empty space. The space left for new names. The terrible realization that there will be the need for more space. Eventually more names will have to be added. More will be killed in future wars and terror attacks.

How many students do you know who walk around with the realization that maybe, one day, their name will be added to a memorial wall?

Inside the library there is a section filled with blue books about every single student whose name is on the memorial wall. Anyone can read their story, learn about each individual. Books seem an appropriate way to honor the deceased. A very Jewish way to preserve their memory.

The elements created to honor the memory of the deceased are not something separate, they are part of the whole - given their own special space but not pushed aside.

The children walk past these areas when searching for books or doing their homework in the library. The books about the deceased can be used for research, for school projects. The people discussed are their brothers, their cousins, their uncles… One day it could be their name on the wall, their details in a book and if not theirs – those of their friends and family.

And then there was this: a modest rack displaying a selection of student theses. Behind it, shelves filled with more theses. Where the other displays were memories of the past, here was a glimpse in to the future.

It would be difficult to differentiate between these high-school projects and the theses of university students. Much of the subject matter is way over my head. The title of the project with the blue cover is “Measurement of the universe expansion characteristics by redshifts calculation of emission lines in active galactical nuclei”. Do you know what that means? I don’t.

On the shelf below is a project delving in to the Hamas Charter as it is actually applied. To the left is a project on cultural defense in criminal law. Next to that a project on the intervention of God in war (as described in the bible). Physics, biology, law, history, culture, Middle Eastern studies... these are the fruits of our frivolous 17 year olds…

I went to a library dedication ceremony. Something very normal that couldn’t have happened quite that way anywhere else in the world.

I worry about the future of our nation, of our country. All Israelis do. What I saw at the library dedication ceremony made me think that maybe things aren’t so bad. The Jewish people are called the People of the Book. It is that one book that taught us to love and cherish all books, to emphasize study and keeping the mind sharp. We are the People of THE Book and a people of books.

I think that as long as we still have books we will be ok. Books and family.

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11/01 Links Pt1: Dershowitz: Obama Don't Destroy the Peace Process by Turning it Over to the U.N.; Obama and Palestinian Unity

From Ian:

Alan M. Dershowitz: Obama: Don't Destroy the Peace Process by Turning it Over to the U.N.

Obama must realize that no lasting peace can be achieved in the remaining months of his presidency: there are a multitude of complex and contentious issues — most notably the status of Jerusalem, the rights of so-called Palestinian refugees, and the situation in Gaza — that must be thoroughly addressed in order to achieve a lasting peace. Our next president will undoubtedly have to wade into the Israeli-Palestinian peace process again. The new administration — with the agreement of the Senate — should have full latitude to do what it deems most appropriate. It should not be stuck with parameters bequeathed to it by a President desperate to secure a short-term foreign policy "victory" that in the long term will make a resolution of the conflict more difficult to achieve.
If Obama feels that he must intrude in an effort to break the logjam before he leaves office, he should suggest that the current Israeli government offer proposals similar to those offered in 2000- 2001 and 2008 and that this time the Palestinian leadership should accept them in face-to face negotiations. But he should take no action (or inaction) that invites U.N. involvement in the peace process — involvement that would guarantee failure for any future president's efforts to encourage a negotiated peace.
We should hear the views of both candidates on whether the U.S. should support or veto a Security Council resolution that would tie their hands were they to be elected president. It is not too late to stop President Obama from destroying any realistic prospects for peace.

Vic Rosenthal: How not to stabilize the Middle East

My very first blog post almost exactly 10 years ago was about the just-released Iraq Study Group Report, co-authored by Lee Hamilton and James Baker. What struck me about it was how it asserted that the way to solve the problems of the Middle East in general and the impasse facing the US in Iraq in particular was to achieve a “comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace on all fronts,” by direct American involvement. It seemed to me a thunderous non-sequitur. What did Israel have to do with the ambitions of the various players in Iraq?
The commission recommended that the US “engage” with Syria and Iran, who were arming and encouraging the insurgencies that were killing Iraqis and Americans. The US, it said, should use carrots as well as sticks to persuade them to stop trying to destabilize Iraq and instead become part of an international “support group” for that suffering country. And one of the major carrots was Israel.
Syria was key to the plan. Baker and Hamilton (and their then little-known associate Ben Rhodes, now a top Obama advisor) believed that if Israel would cede the Golan Heights to Syria, Syria would cooperate in enforcing the toothless UNSC resolution 1701, which called for an end to arming Hezbollah, with which Israel had just fought a vicious little war. Syria could also be convinced, they said, to stop trying to subvert the government of Lebanon, whose officials – including President Rafik Hariri – it had been systematically murdering. Syria would also help convince Hamas to recognize Israel’s right to exist (!) and to unite with the Palestinian Authority, which would rule a unified ‘Palestine’ in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. At long last, the Israeli-Arab conflict would be over, and at the same time the grateful Arabs and Iranians would allow the US to exit Iraq with honor.
The plan failed to take into account several things, including Israel’s instinct for self-preservation, Palestinian rejectionism, Iranian expansionism, the rise of Da’esh, the increased insecurity of the conservative Sunni nations over Iran’s nuclear program, the implosion of Syria, and Russia’s aggressive move into the region.
Nevertheless, the Barack Obama Administration adopted a modified version of the plan.

Caroline Glick: Netanyahu’s critical foreign tour

This then brings us to Netanyahu’s upcoming trips. Each state that he will visit has something to offer Israel in expanding its intelligence, cyberwarfare and economic capabilities. Australia, a major Western economy, is moving toward China as America has become less engaged in the Pacific. Israel has an acute interest in using Australia as a platform for expanding its ties to China and other Asian countries, both because of the economic advantages such ties convey and due to China’s strategic importance to Russia.
As for Singapore, Israel effectively built the Singaporean military in the 1960s and 1970s. The country remains extremely supportive of Israel. Like Australia, Singapore has close ties to China.
It has technological and other capabilities that can be extremely advantageous for Israel today.
Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan are critically important to Israel today. Their strategic proximity to Iran, and their ties to Russia, along with their ethnic composition and their natural resources make securing good relations with both critical to Israel’s ability to advance and security its strategic interests in every sphere.
Israel has tremendous assets to offer each of the four countries that Netanyahu will visit. These assets must be deployed wisely to ensure that Israel gains as much as possible from his trip and from its future ties with all of them.
Given the dramatic changes in the global power balance, and their implications for Israel, Netanyahu’s decision to fly to visit these four countries just after the US elections tells us that he gets it. At a time of regional and global turbulence and uncertainty, in the context of swiftly multiplying threats, this is no small matter. (h/t Elder of Lobby)

South Africa: In English they call it a human rights museum. In Arabic, it is the "Palestinian Holocaust Museum."

South Africa's Voice of the Cape reported in March:

After years of setbacks, it seems a decade long dream to bring the first Palestinian museum on African soil to life may soon come to fruition. The final phase of completion of the eight storey Human Rights Centre and the Palestinian Museum is under way. Founder of the Kaaf Trust Dr. Anwah Nagia said now is the time to bring Cape Town and the world the first Palestinian museum and to bring South Africa the first human rights centre.

The centre will endeavour to bring South Africans a discourse on forced removals that have occurred and continue to occur around the world, as well as other socio-political issues that face communities.

Nagia explained that the face of the building is “keeping with a period theme” and represents all of humanity. The building will be known as the Al-Kaaf human rights centre – “the cave of knowledge.”

Two floors of the museum are dedicated to the Palestine prior to occupation; the; 14th, 15th and 16th century.

Visitors will also be presented a more contemporary discourse, inclusive of; the Belfour Declaration [sic], the Nakbah, the 1967 war, and the first, second and third intifada.

“In 1948 the United Nations declared the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was formed as a prerequisite for the United Nations, the same year that the United Nations allowed [Zionism] and [Apartheid] South Africa to be born – the same period where almost nine million Palestinians lost 87 per cent of their land, many of whom remain in exile scattered around the world.”

The first floor will showcase the consequences of the occupation; the 8,500 prisoners, the imprisonment of 2,500 children under 16, torture, rape, and destroyed land, inclusive of the blockade of the Gaza Strip.

Nine million refugees in 1948? Rape? 2500 children in prison? The truth is obviously not a priority for this museum. (But by saying that it includes information on the "third intifada" this "human rights museum" clearly supports terrorism against Jews.)

It is even worse, though. While the museum is being presented as a "human rights centre" to the English speaking world, in Arabic the work in progress is being called the "Palestinian Holocaust Museum." (The logo merely says "Palestine Museum" but the news stories about it all call it, explicitly, the "Palestinian Holocaust Museum" - " "متحف الهولوكست الفلسطيني".)

The name is deliberate, as the planned museum is less than two kilometers from the Cape Town Holocaust Centre (which requires visitors to show ID to help foil terror attacks.)

The "Palestine Museum" itself does not yet exist. Its webpage doesn't exist, Its Twitter account and Facebook account have not been updated since 2012. The articles appear to be more to get fundraising than to show any real progress, as far as can be seen.

Arabic articles about the museum include Pallywood photos of the "Palestinian Holocaust." For example. Hamrin News illustrates its article on the museum with this picture:

This is actually a photo of a massacre in Algeria in 1945.

Palestinian site Safa illustrates its article about the museum this way:

This is a photo of the dead at Tel al-Zaatar, Lebanon, killed during the battles between the PLO and Christian Lebanese militia in 1976.

The entire museum is planned as a series of outright lies, and the publicity for it adds to them to create the impression that Palestinian suffering equals or surpasses Jewish suffering.

But don't call them antisemitic. The museum plans to include a small synagogue as well as a small Christian chapel, neither of which will ever be used except to show visitors how tolerant the Museum of Palestinian Lies is.

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There are at least 20 Arabic websites that are condemning a new cafe in Jerusalem that provides free drinks for Israeli soldiers.

The preacher of Al - Aqsa Mosque and head of the Supreme Islamic Council , Dr. Ikrima Sabri, described the cafe "dangerous," saying, "the occupation isolates the mosque and worshipers using various ways and means, and they are opening a cafe for soldiers near the gates of Al-Aqsa mosque in order to provoke the feelings of the worshipers, these actions increase the tension in the place. " Other articles say that it adds gasoline on the fire of the tensions in Jerusalem.

Many of the articles specifically mention the horror of the Jews placing a "Talmudic Mezuzah" on the doorway of the cafe.

What is the real story?

The shop is located at the exact location where, one year ago, a Palestinian terrorist murdered 22 year old Aharon Benita and stabbed his wife and baby. Rabbi Nehamia Lavi heard the screams of Mrs. Banita and went to investigate and was stabbed to death as well.

The Jewish youth of the Old City raised 50,000 shekels to renovate a store in order to show appreciation to Israeli soldiers who put their lives on the line to protect them.

For a year, the youths of the Old City have been distributing cakes and soft drinks to soldiers who patrol the area and they decided to expand the enterprise.

This is a highly appropriate reaction to a terror attack: to show appreciation to those who endanger their lives and to show that such attacks will not succeed in scaring the residents to flee. On the contrary, they create incentive for them to stay.

Every terror attack should result in simlar concrete actions to make it clear that terror will not only not succeed, but will backfire.

Those who use these attacks as excuses to push another Judenfrei area are the ones who are ensuring that such attacks will increase.

Making statements like this is the only way to reach real peace.

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Many of t

The New York Times wrote about a wannabe suicide bomber who is now purportedly dedicated to "peace."

She knew that once she put on the explosive belt, there would be no turning back. She knew it would rip her limb from limb, reducing her to a bloody pulp. She knew it would leave her only daughter an orphan.

But she also knew this: It would kill Israelis. With luck, a lot of them. And that was reason enough to do it.

Shifa al-Qudsi was a suicide bomber, or at least tried to be. A Palestinian hairdresser driven to anger, despair and hopelessness, she volunteered to carry out an attack on Israelis that would strike a blow, she thought, for her beleaguered people. “I wanted to seek revenge,” she said.

But she was arrested before she could act and today, after six years in an Israeli prison, Ms. Qudsi has transformed herself from a would-be deliverer of death into a messenger of peace. Now working with a group that brings Palestinians and Israelis together to advocate an end to the conflict between their peoples, she tries to channel the rage that took her to the brink into a nonviolent movement for change.

...“I don’t feel bad that I made that decision,” she said of her brush with death. “But now I reject suicide attacks. God decides when we will live and when we will die. Now my jihad is to send out a message to the world. The world must know the Palestinians’ land is occupied. We are people who want peace, just peace.”

She wants peace? Great! So do I! But what is her definition of peace?

We find out when she answers critics from the Arab side that she is guilty of "normalization:"

If viewed warily by the Israeli authorities, Ms. Qudsi is not accepted by everyone at home either. Palestinian attackers are celebrated in the West Bank as martyrs, and their families receive compensation from the Palestinian Authority. Cooperation with Israelis, even like-minded ones, is often deemed betrayal.

“The Palestinian people have lost hope and don’t believe that peace with the Israelis will ever be achieved,” said Mahmoud Mubarak, president of the Jalazoun refugee camp council. “Many Palestinians consider the participation in joint projects with Israelis as normalization.”

Normalization refers to making the current situation better rather than seeking to overturn it altogether.

No, that is not what normalization means. The specific BDS definition of normalization is "[the] means to participate in any project or initiative or activity, local or international, specifically designed for gathering (either directly or indirectly) Palestinians (and/or Arabs) and Israelis, whether individuals or institutions; that does not explicitly aim to expose and resist the occupation and all forms of discrimination and oppression against the Palestinian people.”

In other words, any activity that treats Israeli Jews as anything other than evil is forbidden as "normalization."

Omar Barghouti, a founder of the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement, called B.D.S., which targets Israel internationally, said the ostensible neutrality of groups like Combatants for Peace actually cemented the occupation.

“Joining normalization groups like Combatants for Peace is certainly not the answer; it aggravates the problem,” he added. “Normalizing Israeli apartheid only entrenches it.”

In an interview in a cafe one morning this fall, Ms. Qudsi denied enabling the occupation. “I’m against normalization. We are all against normalization, even this group,” she said. “There’s a huge difference.”

So Ms. Qudsi's insistence that she, and Palestinians altogether, want "peace" is an obvious lie. She says that even Combatants for Peace is against normalization, agreeing that Israel is uniquely evil and Israelis must be shunned unless they spend 100% of their time supporting Palestinians who consider talking to normal Israelis as forbidden.

When Israelis talk peace, they mean that they want a comprehensive, real peace where both sides can become friendly and work together. When Palestinians like Qudsi says she wants peace, she means a world where Jews have no political power and no rights as a people.

It is a bit of a difference.

But the New York Times cannot seem to grasp that fundamental difference of definitions as they call Qudsi, without qualification, a "messenger of peace."

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10/31 Links Pt2: #IAmBalfour – Declaring 100 Years of Britain’s Support for Israel; UK's despicable liberals owe Israel an apology

From Ian:

#IAmBalfour – Declaring 100 Years of Britain’s Support for Israel

The Balfour Declaration, published on 2 November 1917, was a letter addressed by Foreign Secretary Arthur James Balfour that proclaimed Britain would support the establishment of “a national home for the Jewish people”. This declaration paved the way for Israel to be reborn as a nation.
In September 2016, the Palestinian Leader Mahmoud Abbas told the UN General Assembly that Britain should apologise for the Balfour Declaration. To attack Israel’s very existence is at its root anti-Semitic. And in October 2016, anti-Israel activists launched a campaign to pressure the UK Government to apologise.
#IAmBalfour is a year-long petition, starting on the 99th Anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which provides YOU with an opportunity to declare solidarity with Britain’s 100 year support of Israel, seeks to raise awareness and urges the British Government to uphold its commitment to Israel and the Jewish people – without apology.
Sign the #IAmBalfour Declaration

UK's despicable liberals owe Israel an apology

We have just witnessed the shameful spectacle of a Jew-hating event hosted by the House of Lords and chaired by the notorious anti-Semite Baroness Jenny Tonge, who co-organised the event with the Palestine Return Centre. During the session, Israel was compared to Islamic State and Jews were blamed for pushing Hitler over the edge and bringing the Holocaust on themselves. Baroness Tonge appeared to enjoy the sessions. Her only concern was that someone might overhear them. There may be “Zionist ears in the room,” she warned her audience.
Baroness Tonge is no stranger to anti-Semitism and anti-Zionist paranoia. A purveyor of the modern-day blood libel, she accused the Israel Defense Forces’ medical team in Haiti in 2010 of harvesting organs. Two years later, she appeared at an Israeli Apartheid Week event and called for an end to the Jewish state, which she described as an “aircraft carrier.” She has also expressed support for Arab suicide bombers and has repeatedly railed against the so-called pro-Israeli lobby, which “has got its grips on the western world, its financial grips.”
Baroness Tonge represents everything that is wrong with left-wing liberalism in Britain. Arrogant, elitist, self-righteous, smugly comfortable, she is completely out of touch with the lower middle and working classes (she is, after all, a Baroness in the House of Lords). She is also one of those ‘anti-racist anti-Semites’ who sees racism everywhere except when it presents itself as Jew-hatred. Baroness Tonge, like many left-wing liberals, believes that history is on their side when it comes to multiculturalism, the demise of national borders and the annihilation of Israel.
In a word, she is despicable.

The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem has a remarkable monograph published two years ago called "The Future of Christians in the Middle East" written by Rev. David Neuhaus.

Remarkably, the document tries to downplay the dangers of radical Islam to Christians, by pointing out that they are not the only targets:

Fear is linked to a term on the lips of many who observe what is happening: persecution of Christians. There is no doubt that some Christians have been killed because their Muslim extremist executors see them as infidels, polytheists or Western spies. However, as the Justice and Peace Commission of the Assembly of Catholic Ordinaries in the Holy Land pointed out:

In the name of truth, we must point out that Christians are not the only victims of this violence and savagery. Secular Muslims, all those defined as “heretic”, “schismatic” or simply “non-conformist” are being attacked and murdered in the prevailing chaos. In areas where Sunni extremists dominate, Shiites are being slaughtered. In areas where Shiite extremists dominate, Sunnis are being killed. Yes, the Christians are at times targeted precisely because they are Christians, having a different set of beliefs and unprotected. However they fall victim alongside many others who are suffering and dying in these times of death and destruction. They are driven from their homes alongside many others and together they become refugees, in total destitution.

It is also clear that the term “persecution” when it is used uniquely to describe Christian suffering in the contemporary Middle East, is often being manipulated within the context of a particular political agenda whose aim is to sow prejudice and hatred, setting Christians against Muslims.

Even worse, the document tries to lump the Jews together with (some) Muslims as persecutors of Christians:

Hundreds of thousands of Christians have left behind their homelands not only in Iraq and Syria, but also in Egypt, Palestine, Israel and elsewhere, and immigrated to the West, to the New World, to more welcoming Arab countries like Jordan and Lebanon, in the wake of the collapse of a known political order.

Christians are more comfortable in Lebanon or Jordan than in Israel? Hundreds of thousands of Christians have fled Lebanon in the past 50 years, and the percentage of Christians in Jordan has plummeted from 20% in 1930 to 4% today.

These are the writings of a dhimmi who wants to ensure that the dwindling population of Christians in the Middle East don't rock the boat, so he tells them that Islam is tolerant and Israel is also a place from which Christians feel they must flee.

The author converted from Judaism to Christianity.

(h/t Irene)

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Hard times for Assad fan girl Rania Khalek (Petra Marquardt-Bigman)

by Petra Marquardt-Bigman

About a week ago, popular anti-Israel activist Rania Khalek arrived for a visit in her ancestral Lebanon and was immediately disappointed. As she announced to her almost 100,000 Twitter followers: “I’m back in Lebanon for the 1st time in 9 years and struck by how few ppl care about Palestine & Israel. Ppl are consumed by Syria & ISIS.”

Given how freely she admitted that she was utterly clueless about what’s going on in the region to which she dedicates so much of her “journalistic” output, it’s perhaps useful to recall that Khalek told a fan last year in an interview: “I became a journalist by accident … I majored in exercise science and was working in cardiac rehabilitation and preparing to go to nursing school.” But then, some day in 2008, exercise science major Rania Khalek discovered by chance that the mainstream media kept all sorts of important news from her, and she promptly decided to do something about it; in particular, she soon began devoting herself to educating the world about the endless evils committed by Israel.

A noble mission, no doubt – but despite Khalek’s undeniable passion for her new calling, her ‘accidental’ journalism has begun to look more and more like a terrible train wreck. To be sure, none of Khalek’s fans were much disturbed by her openly displayed antisemitism, though there were a few raised eyebrows when she once tried to argue that a site promoting Holocaust denial also provided “completely factual” material about the unspeakable evils of Zionism. More recently, however, Khalek got caught in the backlash against her good friend Max Blumenthal, who alienated many of his fans when he tried to present the heroic Syrian rescuer group “White Helmets” as part of a sinister Western conspiracy against jolly good old Bashar Assad. In the ensuing controversy about the unsavory views of some prominent anti-Israel activists, it turned out that Khalek had been rightly accused of plagiarism. At about the same time, a piece she had written in late September for The Intercept – a publication co-founded by Israel-hater Glenn Greenwald – suddenly attracted sharp criticism; the article on the supposed impact of sanctions against the Assad regime was even denounced as “yellow journalism” and – somewhat belatedly, in my humble opinion – there were complaints about “Khalek’s demonstrable contempt for factual accuracy and [her] proven record of misleading readers.” I’ll admit that I’m tempted to say “I told you so”…

But Rania Khalek was far above such criticism, and soon after arriving in Lebanon, she confidently asked her fans to finance her trip to the region on which she had “reported” for years without having visited for almost a decade. As she writes in her fundraising appeal: “I wanted to go to the region first hand to get a real sense of what’s happening.” Initially, she wanted $ 12,000 for a month; in the meantime, she has become a bit more modest and is now asking for only $8000 (she has received pledges for almost $2800). Interestingly, she lists among the services she has to fund “translators,” which presumably means that even though her parents are Lebanese and she sometimes complains about experiencing discrimination as an Arab and Muslim, she doesn’t know Arabic.

Shortly after Khalek started her fundraising campaign, it became clear what had finally brought her to the Middle East: it was quite obviously not just the urge “to go to the region first hand,” but rather a “conference” organized by none other than Bashar al-Assad’s father-in-law. As the Guardian put it, “critics” were denouncing this conference as “little more than a Syrian regime propaganda exercise.” The announcement for the invitation-only event described it as a “workshop” under the rather cynical title “State of Play in Syria.” The program featured several “sanctioned war criminals” and, astonishingly, Khalek was listed as co-chair and presenter for a session on the effects of Western sanctions, where she perhaps planned to recycle her discredited Intercept article.

When she was faced with a fast and furious backlash on Twitter, Khalek decided to dig herself in a little bit deeper: she posted an utterly insincere statement, claiming she was just visiting Syria “with other international journalists” and that the conference would also be attended by “reporters from major international outlets” such as the New York Times and the Washington Post – that is to say: media outlets for which Khalek had always expressed nothing but contempt were suddenly useful for providing her some cover. She also claimed that she had thought she would participate in the conference under “Chatham House rules” – i.e. the identity of speakers and participants would remain confidential – which amounts to admitting that she had hoped it wouldn’t come out that she had agreed to co-chair a session and also serve as a speaker.

She was bitterly mocked in response, with some people including graphic images of the victims of Assad’s atrocities. Soon the criticism also extended to Ali Abunimah’s Electronic Intifada, where she was not only a regular contributor but also an editor. Apparently, Abunimah was more interested in saving his own skin than in defending Khalek, and she eventually announced with considerable bitterness: “The outrageous attacks against me have expanded to @intifada. So I’m stepping down as an editor. The professional smear artists won.”

That turned out to be too little too late, as e.g. reflected in the disappointed musings of one fairly prominent (former) Intifada fan who lamented: “After years of fine journalism, the obtuse and abrasive nature of @intifada’s senior figures has caught up with them.” “Recent conduct of @intifada figures is a lesson for how you can build a strong activism brand, then destroy it in a few disastrous weeks.” “For years they used Palestine as a fig leaf; as an ‘instantly gain moral high ground’ card.” “I don’t know which is more sad. That @intifada shot itself in the foot, or that its leading figures were revealed for what they are.”

I will admit that I can see no reason for sadness – in fact, I think it’s great that leading anti-Israel activists have been “revealed for what they are.”

But Rania Khalek seems to be quite desperate now: she has posted yet another statement “[in] response to the ongoing deluge of questions, innuendo and attacks,” where she even admits that it was “a careless mistake” not to pay “close attention to the details of the workshop” – which she now claims not to have attended. That sounds like an admission that her critics were right, doesn’t it? It also sounds like an admission that her previous statement defending her participation in the workshop “under Chatham House rules” was just so much BS…

In the end, it has come to this: I find myself completely agreeing with a (now former) Intifada colleague of Rania Khalek: “If a journalist can’t figure out the nature of a conference she’s speaking at, she’s been discredited as a reliable judge of info + sources.”

And yes, this obviously means that Khalek didn’t resign from Abunimah’s Intifada, but that she was fired: “EI fires Rania Khalek. her now ex EI colleagues disavow her to try to preserve whatever appearances are left.”

Abunimah himself has taken a vacation from Twitter – perhaps he needs some time to figure out how best to preserve whatever appearances are left?

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10/31 Links Pt1: Palestinian cop shoots, injures 3 IDF soldiers; Mosul, CNN, ISIS and Israel

From Ian:

Palestinian cop shoots, injures 3 IDF soldiers

Three Israeli soldiers were wounded, one seriously, in a shooting attack by a Palestinian police officer at a checkpoint outside the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday, according to officials.
According to the Israel Defense Forces, the gunmen approached the Focus checkpoint, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, and opened fire with an AK-47 assault rifle at the troops stationed there, the army said.
“The force responded [to the attack] with return fire at the terrorist,” the army said.
The assailant was shot and killed by Israeli forces, an IDF spokesperson said.
The gunman was named as Muhammad Turkman, a police officer, by the official Palestinian Authority news outlet al-Hayat al-Jadida.
The soldiers were all approximately 20 years old and sustained “penetrating wounds” — meaning gunshot injuries — to the extremities, according to the Magen David Adom ambulance service.

PMW: PA official defends naming school after mastermind of Munich Olympics massacre

Following Palestinian Media Watch's report on a new Palestinian Authority school named after Salah Khalaf, one of the planners of the murders of the 11 Israeli athletes at the Munich Olympics in 1972, District Governor of Tulkarem Issam Abu Bakr, who is a PA official, defended the naming of the school after the terrorist.
After the Israeli Prime Minister's Arabic spokesman Ofir Gendelman responded to PMW's report and tweeted about the naming of the "Martyr Salah Khalaf School," the PA official replied with praise for the terrorist and others like him, stating that Palestinians will never forget them:
"The occupation is deluded if it thinks that the Palestinian people can change its culture and forget its leaders, Martyrs Yasser Arafat, Khalil Al-Wazir (Abu Jihad), Salah Khalaf, and a great number of the fighters who sacrificed their blood for the freedom, independence, and establishment of the independent Palestinian state whose capital is Jerusalem." [Ma'an, independent PA news agency, Oct. 26, 2016]
Fatah also glorified the Munich Olympics massacre this week, honoring Muhammad Daoud Oudeh, another of the planners of the terror attack, boasting that they "executed" the Israeli athletes "in the heart of Germany":
Posted text: "Picture of Muhammad Daoud 'Abu Daoud,' one of the leaders of Fatah's Black September organization and the main planner of the Munich operation that executed the Israeli Olympic delegation in 1972 in the heart of Germany."
[Official Fatah Facebook page, Oct. 24, 2016, emphasis added]

Mosul, CNN, ISIS and Israel

An American led coalition is fighting Islamic State (ISIS) in its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul. This is very similar to Israel's battles against the terror group Hamas. So why does CNN report on Israel so differently? Why the double standard?

They aren't remembering Arafat for his Nobel Peace Prize

The Fatah Facebook page is filled with posts about Yasir Arafat as the 12th anniversary of his death is coming up. Literally two out of every three posts is dedicated to Arafat. During the rest of the year, the ratio is about one in three posts on Arafat, a tacit admission that the current Palestinian leadership has not ignited any passion in the ensuring 12 years.

This one sums the Arafat posts up nicely::

It is Arafat's terrorism, not his supposed desire for peace, that Palestinians remember him for.

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Things are starting to fall apart in both the PA and Hamas-controlled territories.

In Gaza, Hamas quietly arrested and reportedly tortured one of its own senior leaders, Mushr al-Masri, on alleged charges of embezzlement and treason.

Reports say that he was briefly transferred to a hospital because of the beatings he endured, only to return to the prison.

News reports say that Hamas has arrested a number of its own in recent months on charges of collaborating with Israel, and some have been executed while the official cover story is that they were killed "while performing tasks of jihad."

On the West Bank, however, things look even worse for the PA.

The pro-Fatah Palestine Press Agency reports that the increasing number of clashes between various armed groups, and between these groups and and PA security forces, are all part of attempts to position themselves ahead of any power struggle if Abbas dies or otherwise leaves without a strong successor.

There have been armed clashes between Fatah armed groups and other armed gangs who are making money on illegal drugs and arms, in the Balata camp and elsewhere. The PA security forces are reportedly providing weapons to some armed groups to buy their loyalty in case things go south quickly. Unemployed youths in the camps are susceptible to being recruited to these armed groups. The residents are very worried that a civil war will break out as soon as Abbas is gone without designating a clear successor that is accepted by the people - a prospect that seems dim.

The planned Fatah conference in November may make things worse if it doesn't address these issues. And the increased pressure from Egypt and Gulf states on Abbas to get his act together is putting everyone on edge.

There are big problems in the territories, and things could explode sooner rather than later.

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I glanced at the most recently released John Podesta emails on Wikileaks to see what might not have been reported yet.

Podesta seems to have subscribed to daily blogposts from the ultra-left Tikkun magazine. For example, one day during the 2014 Gaza war he received an article that started off with

For decades, Israel has slaughtered Palestinians with impunity, always protected by the U.S. government and its veto at the UN Security Council. But the latest bloody assault on Gaza has prompted more open talk about Israeli war crimes - and U.S. complicity, says Marjorie Cohn.

This daily demonization of Israel clearly didn't bother Podesta, and in fact there are lots of similar missives in his email box.

Other mailing lists that Podesta subscribes to include "Spiritual Progressives," which like Tikkun was also spearheaded by Clinton family favorite Michael Lerner, and the leftist website Truthout, which would quote anti-Israel media personalities like Amy Goodman of "Democracy Now!"

Between this and what we already knew from Clinton's own emails, it is clear that the far-left Jewish community represented by J-Street and Tikkun are the only opinions that she and her aides listen to about Israel.

But I saw one email that showed that Clinton's leftist policy on Israel draws a clear line on BDS. An internal email from the pro-Clinton Saban Family Foundation, which was copied to Podesta, said:

Hi All - I thought you might find this of interest: the Israel on Campus Coalition held a recent call regarding polling that they conducted this past semester. I'll send a fuller sum later, but there was one statistic that I think you would appreciate:
* Once informed about Hillary Clinton's letter opposing BDS, the favorable/unfavorable views held by students regarding pro-BDS arguments shifted 11 points in the right direction.
Just a reflection that she remains a trusted source to students on these issues, and I'm glad to see she is out there conveying this viewpoint.

That is not insignificant. A single letter from Hillary Clinton to college students seems to have hurt the BDS movement on campus more than the millions being spent by Israel and by Jewish donors to combat it. Her progressive bona-fides give her credibility among young people that people who explicitly identify as Zionists can never approach.

There's a lot more there, like discussions about how to get the media to report on this letter to help Clinton shore up her support from Jews.

The campaign's antipathy towards Netanyahu is total; I cannot find a kind word about him or Israel's elected government anywhere. There are emails about how Clinton should navigate speaking to the Jewish community about Israel without appearing anti-Netanyahu but also not anti-Obama.

In that vein, one letter from Stuart Eizenstat indicates that supposed right-wing Israeli ambassador to the US, Ron Dermer, was essentially advising Clinton on how to support the Iran deal - which he knew she would never go against - and yet distance herself from the worst of Obama's policies concerning Israel. By my sights, Clinton is following Dermer's playbook fairly closely, although whether this is deliberate or coincidental is an open question.

The overall impression from the campaign is that Hillary is above all a politician whose views are more shaped by what would get her elected than what she really believes. The only way to guess what she believes is to look at who she chooses as her advisors, and the most consistent message from them is of a leftist, J-Street and Tikkun Magazine-oriented view of Israel.

Its existence is not questioned - no one supports BDS, no one supports a one-state solution. Everything else about the Jewish state is not only questioned but often harshly criticized by her team, which then scrambles to soften the message for the average Jewish voter to help her get elected, which is the only supreme value about her that shines through.

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John Adams on Jews and Zionism

A Jerusalem Post story about the second president of the United States, John Adams, prompted me to look up the fuller context of two major quotes from him.

Adams, who was born on October 30, 1735, in Braintree, Massachusetts, grew up in a household based on Puritan values. The Puritans believed themselves to be like the Israelite's fleeing Egypt, wandering into the vast and unknown wilderness and reaching the promised land of the New World.
As their guide, they used the Bible, adopting biblical customs, established biblical codes, such as observance of the Sabbath, and gave their children Hebrew names.

In 1808, in a letter to Dutch Patriot leader and American immigrant François Adriaan van der Kemp, Adams wrote:

I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilize men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations ...

They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews. They have given religion to three-quarters of the globe and have influenced the affairs of mankind more and more happily than any other nation, ancient or modern.

Note that Adams, like most people throughout history, naturally thought of Jews as a nation, not merely a religion.

And he made that even more clear in this 1819 letter to Mordecai M. Noah:

M. M. Noah Esq.

March 15th. 1819

Dear Sir,

I have to thank you for another valuable publication your travels in “Europe
Africa” which though I cannot see well enough to read. I can hear as well
ever & accordingly have heard read two thirds of it & shall in course hear all
the rest. It is a magazine of ancient & modern learning of judicious observa-
tions & ingenious reflections. I have been so pleased with it that I wish you
had continued your travels-into Syria. Judea & Jerusalem. I should attend
more to your remarks upon those interesting countries than to those of any
traveller I have yet read. If I were to let my imagination loose I should wish
you had been a member of Napoleons Institute at Cairo nay farther I
could find it in my heart to wish that you had been at the head of a hundred
thousand Israelites indeed as well disciplined as a French Army-& marching
with them into Judea & making a conquest of that country & restoring your
nation to the dominion of it. For I really wish the Jews again in Judea an
independent nation. For I believe the most enlightened men of it have
participated in the ameliorations of the philosophy of the age, once restored
to an independent government & no longer persecuted they would soon wear
away some of the asperities & peculiarities of their character & possibly in
time become liberal Unitarian Christians for your Jehovah is our Jehovah
your God of Abraham Isaac & Jacob is our God. I am Sir with respect
esteem your obliged humble servant.

John Adams

Like most British and American proto-Zionists, the desire for Jews to return to Zion was based on the idea that this would be a precursor to them being converted en masse to Christianity. Nevertheless, the desire by many prominent Christians for Jews to return to their homeland cannot be denied, and was a major reason why Zionism was politically successful.

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From Middle East Eye:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has failed to resolve his stand-off with Egypt or Hamas, according to senior officials who spoke to Middle East Eye.

The officials told MEE the recent meeting between Abbas and top Hamas leaders in Doha made no progress toward ending the long-running split between the two camps.

Dr Khalil al-Hayeh, a member of Hamas's political bureau, said that Abbas “clung to his old positions and showed no flexibility in the meeting".

Which is exactly what I wrote on Friday.

Arab media confirms that both sides didn't show any flexibility.

The article adds:

The relationship between President Abbas and Egypt's leader has deteriorated in the last couple of months, with Abbas decrying what he has called “Egyptian intervention in Palestinian affairs".

Egypt has reportedly led efforts to press Abbas to bring exiled Fatah leader Mohammed Dahlan backed into Palestinian politics.

When Abbas rejected the efforts, Egyptian intelligence held a conference in Cairo discussing the relationship between Egypt and the Palestinian cause, which one Palestinian official said was an attempt by Egyptian intelligence to put more pressure on Abbas.

The official said Egyptian intelligence officers made phone calls to Palestinian study centers in Ramallah and tried to persuade them to participate in the conference in Cairo.

“That was a stark intervention in our affairs,” said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Dahlan enjoys the regional support of the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan. UAE leaders have also tried to persuade Saudi Arabia that Dahlan is a strong potential successor to octagenarian Abbas.

Abbas plans to hold a Fatah party convention by the end of November, which he is expected to use to block Dahlan's return.

Dahlan does seem to be an important if missing player in all of this drama.

Times of Israel, while making more out of the meeting than it appears to have been, notes the background:

These meetings took place after Abbas met the previous week with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani.
Erdogan and Sheikh Tamim are considered strong patrons of the Muslim Brotherhood, the great rival of Egypt and its president, Abdel Fattah el-Sissi.

So what — or, rather, who — has led Abbas straight into the arms of the Muslim Brotherhood, and maybe even into those of Hamas, just days after a high-ranking Hamas official in Gaza called him a traitor?

The answer is simple: Mohammad Dahlan. This former high-ranking Fatah official, who has been challenging Abbas for several years, succeeded this week in areas where even Hamas has failed. He managed to get Cairo on his side in the fight against Abbas and proved how weak and shaky Abbas’s status is in the Arab world.

In addition, Dahlan organized a series of demonstrations in the West Bank against the Palestinian Authority and Abbas — to which hundreds of Fatah activists showed up. So Abbas, who has taken some hard hits in recent weeks (including for attending the funeral of Shimon Peres, in case anyone forgot), caught on to the conspiracy being wrought against him in Cairo, Abu Dhabi (where Dahlan lives), and even Saudi Arabia (which recently cut back its aid to the PA). So Abbas decided to approach the patrons of the Muslim Brotherhood and perhaps bring about a reconciliation with Hamas — mainly with the leadership of the group’s political wing abroad.

Why approach Hamas leaders in Qatar and not in Gaza?

One reason is that the high-ranking members of Hamas in Gaza seem to be collaborating with Dahlan, of all people. This means that the conventional division into various camps (pragmatic Sunnis, the Muslim Brotherhood, Shiites, jihadist Sunnis) created in recent years is once again melting before our eyes. The new Middle East transformed long ago into a juicy and tragic political-diplomatic soap opera, and we cannot predict where the plot of its next episode is headed.

Yet in the end...nothing happens.

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