Monday, February 13, 2017

  • Monday, February 13, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
As we've mentioned many times, Fatah celebrates its anniversary as if it began on January 1, 1965, but that was really the first terror attack - Fatah was organized in the 1950s.

On the front page of the FatahMedia site is a link to the text of Military Communique No. 1 from Fatah's Asifah Forces, which is what they celebrate every year.

It is notable in a number of respects.

One is that it refers to all of Israel as "occupied territory."

It refers to a supposed operation that occurred on December 13, 1964, in which Asifah supposedly infiltrated Israel from Lebanon and returned safely, without discussing anything that they actually did.

It says that Arabs should control all land from the Atlantic to the Gulf.

Finally, and most interestingly, it refers to its actions as jihad - holy war. People think of Fatah as being the secular equivalent of Palestinian "resistance movements, " but from the start Fatah used the language of jihad to justify its terror attacks.

And this interest in jihad remains to this day, There are many posters celebrating this Military Communique No. 1.

 Military Communiqué No. 1

Issued by the General Command of the Asifah forces

Dependent upon us to God, our belief in the right of our people in the struggle to recover their usurped homeland, and our belief in the duty of holy war ... and our belief in the Arab position to reign from the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf; and because we believe we have the support free and honest world ... so it has moved in the wings of the striking forces in the night Friday, 13/12/1964 and has implemented the required operations within the occupied territory ... and all of the men returned to their camps safely ...
We warn the enemy from carrying out any action against innocent Arab civilians wherever they are ... because our troops will respond to attacks. .. and we will consider these actions to be war crimes ... as we warn all States against intervening in favor of the enemy in any way ... because our troops will respond to this work by exposing the interests of the states of destruction wherever they are ...
Long live the unity of our people
and lived his struggle to regain his dignity and homeland
1 / 1/1965
General command of forces Asifah 
Here are some posters of the communique made by Palestinians over the years.









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.
  • Monday, February 13, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
The BESA Center had a fascinating article last week showing that if you include the costs of deploying US troops around the globe, the amount of aid given to Israel is not nearly as much as that given to other countries.

Commenter Ed ran through the numbers, based on the amount the US spends per soldier around the world.

There are other major expenses like the cost to patrol the coasts of foreign nations but those aren't included here. Neither are the costs of joint military exercises that are done around the world.

Here is a chart that shows how much the US really spends per country when you include troop deployments.






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.

Sunday, February 12, 2017

  • Sunday, February 12, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon


Times of Israel reports:
Qatar’s special envoy to Gaza, Muhammad al-Amadi, said that he maintains “excellent” ties with various Israeli officials, and that in some case it is Palestinian officials who are holding up efforts to better the lives of residents of the Strip.

Al-Amadi said he planned to meet with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah on Sunday regarding an agreement that would help solve the Gaza energy crisis.

He said that while Israel has agreed to take part in the deal, the Palestinian Authority has been holding it up.

“We proposed the establishment of a technical committee, free of politicians, that would be responsible for handling Gaza’s energy problem. The committee would be composed of experts from Gaza, [Qatar], the UN, and UNRWA; and they would manage Gaza’s energy affairs,” said al-Amadi.

“This is a very serious matter that should help you in Israel as well, since these are your neighbors that are without regular electricity and water flowing to their homes. The Israelis understand this and are helping, but there are other parties that are not” — namely, the PA.
The article also spoke about a pledge of $100 million Qatar promised to rebuild Gaza infrastructure and buildings.

The PA was very upset over this interview. The official PA news agency Wafa published a reaction by Fatah:
The Fatah movement expressed surprise at the behavior of some of the regional parties which insulted the Palestinian National Authority, so as to enhance the authority of the coup in the Gaza Strip at the expense of the legitimate government.

The movement said in a statement on Sunday, we wonder about the words of Ambassador Mohammed Al Emadi to the site Times of Israel, where through this platform he accused the PNA of failing to cooperate in resolving the electricity crisis in the Gaza Strip .

The statement added, "We support all aid provided by the brothers in Turkey and Qatar, to alleviate the suffering of our people due to the unjust Israeli  siege, but we reject being charged or fabrications questioning the commitment of the Palestinian National Authority of our  full responsibilities towards our people in the Gaza Strip, and reject the involvement of these parties campaign to justify the continuation of the division.
"Fatah rejects any  attempt to circumvent the Palestinian legitimacy, which was confirmed by Ismail Haniyeh, in comments in which he announced his intention for Qatar to support the coup authority with $100 million.
Ah, the PA want the $100 million for itself!



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.
  • Sunday, February 12, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
There was an election for the People's Committee of the Jenin camp.

Two of the candidates on the winning slate are women.

Here is how the winners were shown on the official Fatah webpage:


The two drawings on the bottom represent the women, named Najat Abu Qatana and Hanadi Abu Qandil (a former prisoner).

This is the official photo of the winners from the Jenin camp Facebook page as well.

Here is how the winners were depicted in the Safa.ps news site:


While these media will routinely show faces of women in other cases, there seems to be no pushback that the Jenin committee is clearly so Islamist that they consider the depiction of women to be forbidden.

The high percentage of Palestinians who support fundamentalist interpretations of Islam is a very under-reported story. The last Pew poll on the topic showed that 89% of Palestinians support Sharia being the law of the land.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)




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.
From Ian:

Dispelling the Myth that Israel Is the Largest Beneficiary of US Military Aid
Many American detractors of Israel begin by citing that Israel receives the lion’s share of US military aid. The very suggestion conjures the demon of an all-powerful Israel lobby that has turned the US Congress into its pawn. But these figures, while reflecting official direct US military aid, are almost meaningless in comparison to the real costs and benefits of US military aid – above all, American boots on the ground. In reality, Israel receives only a small fraction of American military aid, and most of that was spent in the US to the benefit of the American economy.
Countless articles discrediting Israel (as well as many other better-intentioned articles) ask how it is that a country as small as Israel receives the bulk of US military aid. Israel receives 55%, or $US3.1 billion per year, followed by Egypt, which receives 23%. This largesse comes at the expense, so it is claimed, of other equal or more important allies, such as Germany, Japan, and South Korea. The complaint conjures the specter of an all-powerful Israel lobby that has turned the US Congress into its pawn.
The response to the charge is simple: Israel is not even a major beneficiary of American military aid. The numerical figure reflects official direct US military aid, but is almost meaningless compared to the real costs and benefits of US military aid – which include, above all, American boots on the ground in the host states.
There are 150,500 American troops stationed in seventy countries around the globe. This costs the American taxpayer an annual $US85-100 billion, according to David Vine, a professor at American University and author of a book on the subject. In other words, 800-1,000 American soldiers stationed abroad represent US$565-665 million of aid to the country in which they are located.
Once the real costs are calculated, the largest aid recipient is revealed to be Japan, where 48,828 US military personnel are stationed. This translates into a US military aid package of over US$27 billion (calculated according to Vine’s lower estimation). Germany, with 37,704 US troops on its soil, receives aid equivalent to around US$21 billion; South Korea, with 27,553 US troops, receives over US$15 billion; and Italy receives at least US$6 billion.
How a “Pro-Peace” Organization is Deceiving Social Justice Advocates
The Telos Group is an American nonprofit organization that claims to help advance a “pro-Israeli, pro-Palestinian, and pro-peace” agenda. While its “pro/pro/pro” slogan is appealing, Telos’s past and current work reveals a different agenda altogether.
In 2014, an exposé by the watchdog organization CAMERA showed that Telos was using its “pro/pro/pro” slogan to disguise its anti-Israel agenda. Telos rebranded the following year with a new logo, a new website, and the announcement of “a slightly new direction.” Unfortunately, the rebrand was simply a facade for its real goal—solely promoting the narrative favored by Palestinian leadership. The only notable change was Telos’s new reluctance to post about meetings with some controversial Palestinian figures. For instance, in 2011, Telos uploaded a picture of the PLO’s Hanan Ashrawi to its “Conservative Leaders Trip” Facebook photo album. In 2016, following its rebrand, Telos met with Ashrawi twice, but did not publicize the meetings.
The silence on the Telos Group’s “pro/pro/pro” social media accounts is understandable, since Ashrawi recently reiterated the PLO’s refusal to recognize Israel as a Jewish state and rebuked Theophilos III, the Patriarch of the Greek Orthodox Church of Jerusalem, for referring to Israeli “democracy” and “freedom of worship.” Unhappily for Telos, Palestinian media covered the meetings, and the PLO published two press releases about the meetings and posted them on Facebook, complete with pictures.
Telos also facilitated a meeting between Sam Bahour, chairman of Americans for a Vibrant Palestinian Economy, and the Women Donors Network’s Middle East Peace and Democracy Circle, which claims to “fund progressive peace initiatives for a just, sustainable, and non-violent resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” While Bahour posted about the meeting on social media and thanked Telos staff for organizing it, Telos’s social media outlets remained silent.



IDF Soldier
There are two points concerning Jews and Israel that I very much want to get across to the politically-inclined.

The first is that the day of the dhimmi is done.

No longer will we allow ourselves to be pushed around as pawns in someone else's political game. Nor will we allow non-Jews, like Barack Obama, to tell us where we may, or may not, be allowed to live within our own ancestral homeland.

The second is that the Oslo process is dead.

It is a corpse. It is a dead albatross around the Jewish neck that is very much in need of removal and burial. I am half a world away and I can still smell the stench.

As a diaspora Jew, I am exceedingly reluctant to tell Israel what to do, but that does not always stop me.

In that spirit, Israel should declare its final borders and remove the IDF to behind those borders. But it should be up to the Israelis to decide what those borders will be because after 2,000 years of European abuse - consecutive with 1,300 years of Arab-Muslim enforced dhimmi status in the Middle East - the Jews have, by any ethical standard, earned the right of self-determination on the land that our people come from.

Anything less is an insult to social justice, universal human rights, and basic concepts of Enlightenment liberalism. It is also a direct kick in the head to the Jewish people and we do not need to put up with it.

Furthermore, and more importantly, it is only the Jews of the Middle East who give a rip about the wellbeing of their children, such as the brave young woman pictured above.

Thus I consider the recent "outpost law" or "regulation bill" a hopeful sign.

As blogger Ruth Lieberman put it:
Yesterday the Israeli Knesset passed the ‘Regulations Bill’ into law. To simplify, this law creates a legal framework for dealing with homes that were built over decades. It provides 125% compensation to absentee owners whose non-residential land was accidentally built on. 
The thing about this law that makes it controversial is that is contested by those who would rather hand over these lands to some independent Arab rule — perhaps the Palestinian Authority but their sincerity has come into question — in a diplomatic solution. But that’s politics, and it has no place in a legal discussion.
Everything, as always, is volatile in that neck of the universe. The Palestinian-Arabs are screaming from the hillsides about dire consequences if Trump moves the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem and I am not the least bit confident that he will keep that campaign promise.

And, of course, the major European players are less than happy about the new law.

Raphael Ahren, writing in the Times of Israel, tells us:
Germany on Wednesday harshly criticized Israel for passing the Regulation Law earlier this week, saying the new legislation undermines trust in Israel’s willingness to reach a negotiated peace agreement with the Palestinians.

“The confidence we had in the Israeli government’s commitment to the two-state solution has been profoundly shaken,” a spokesperson for the Foreign Ministry in Berlin said in a statement.
In a related article by the Times of Israel we learn that the French are making similar grunting noises:
The French ambassador to Israel on Wednesday said a new law legalizing West Bank outposts built on private Palestinian land damaged Israel’s credibility in the eyes of the international community.

Israel has come under harsh censure since lawmakers passed the Regulation Law Monday, with the UN saying it crossed a “thick red line,” and other members of the international community warning the measure would make peace efforts more difficult.

“This is troubling for the international community, who is wondering if she should trust Israel when Israel says it’s ready to discuss with its neighbor, the Palestinians, to reach an agreement on the two-state solution,” ambassador Hélène Le Gal told Army Radio in an English-language interview.
This, my friends, is a sucker's game and you're the suckers. As we say in poker, if you look around the table and you're not sure who the fish is, it is you.

"Oslo" is a way for European governments to twist Jewish arms behind Jewish backs in order to maintain what I call the Non-Peace Process, which, as of the Obama administration, looked something like this:
1) The US and the EU demand negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

2) The parties agree to talk and then the PA, the US, and the EU demand various concessions from Israel for the great privilege of sitting down with the PA's foremost undertaker.

3) Israel fails to meet all the concessions, thus causing the PA to flee negotiations, which they never had any intention of concluding to begin with.

4)  The PA and the EU and the Obama administration place the blame for failure at Jewish feet.

5)  The EU and various European countries announce additional sanctions, thereby essentially joining the anti-Semitic anti-Zionist BDS brigade.

6)  Jihadis seek to murder Jews.
It should be obvious by now that the Palestinian-Arabs have no intention whatsoever in accepting a state for themselves in peace next to Israel. They have turned down every single offer since the Peel Commission of 1937.

There comes a point, therefore, where we must accept that "no means no."

But look what they could have had if they had simply accepted Jewish sovereignty on a miniscule, hatchet-shaped bit of land in north-west Israel eighty years ago.

Merely by saying "yes" the Arabs could have had not only all of "Transjordan" - which, in itself, represented almost three-quarters of the British Mandate of Palestine - but all the rest of Israel, as well, with the tiny exception of that completely indefensible strip of land bordering the Mediterranean.

Even Jerusalem - which the Arabs only care about out of some petty theological need to keep Jews from sovereignty on the central site of our historical heritage - would have been under the control of non-Jews.

Muhammad, it needs to be remembered, never step foot in that city.

Furthermore, the Oslo "peace process" had nothing to do with peace. It was merely a way for the Arabs and the European Union and the Obama administration to justify violence against the Jews of the Middle East because they do not honestly approve of the fact of Israel to begin with. If the Palestinians wanted a state for themselves in peace next to Israel they could have had one many times over, but that is not what they want.

What they want is Israel dead and everyone knows it.

Yet, decade upon decade the tiny Jewish minority in the Middle East make concessions for peace while many within the vast Arab population openly screech for Jewish blood. The West then uses that screeching as a justification for what they believe to be "understandable" violence by local Arabs against regular Jewish Israelis, if not Jews the world over.

For thirteen-hundred years the Jews lived as dhimmis. That is, they lived as second and third-class non-citizens under the boot of Arab-Muslim imperial rule.

Now, with an Israel Hater out of the White House and with Trump, whatever he is, in the White House, it is the time for Israel and for the Jewish people to stand up and declare that the days of desperate Jewish solicitude are over. The enemies of the Jewish people will accuse Israel - and, by extension, world Jewry - of gross immorality in its treatment of the Palestinian-Arabs. And we must not hesitate to hit them back with the truth of their racist hypocrisy every single time.

Israel Haters do not care about social justice or human rights. Is that not obvious? If they did they might look up for a moment at a world roiling with the most horrendous human rights violations all around them. The rest of the Middle East makes Israel look like a human rights Shangri-la.

And, speaking as an American, please keep in mind that jihadi and progressive-left hatred toward the Jews of the Middle East is not limited to the Jews of the Middle East. As Tammi Benjamin of the Amcha Initiative can well attest, our young people are being harassed, sometimes violently, not just on European soil... where it is now commonplace... but on American university campuses, as well. And they do so, in ironic cringe-worthiness, under the banners of social justice and universal human rights.

From the comments:

Yes, German scum hate Israel don't they. A strong Jewish nation is hard to "F" with.


Well, that's a tad strong, but I definitely think that "Mac Abee" gets his point across. Don't you?

Israel is more disappointed you made a law referring to the Western Wall being occupied? That's more shameful.


It is more shameful. Far more shameful. "Eyal Even" is referring to UNSC 2334, which seeks to drive a wedge between the Jewish people and our ancestral homeland. The United Nations has, in fact, decided that not only is Hebron (the home of Abraham and the Tomb of the Patriarchs) "Palestinian" land, but even the Western Wall is now assigned by the United Nations to the greater Arab nation as "occupied Palestinian territory."

The Obama administration not only allowed this vote to pass without a veto, but actually encouraged its passage behind the scenes as a parting "drop dead" to its American Jewish constituency.

Israel should communicate its "German policy" to the Germans as follows:

"What the Jews do with their Land is none of your business. Germany is the last country in the world that needs to instruct the Jewish State as to what is in its best interests. Our best interests are served when Germany's leaders shut up and leave the Jews alone. Mind your own business."


Indeed.

Given the fact that it has elected to commit national suicide, I almost feel bad for Germany... but then that feeling goes away.



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










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.
  • Sunday, February 12, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
Hamas is showing this dashcam video of Israelis running away from the shooting attack in Petah Tikvah last week as evidence of Jewish cowardice.



Astal with Hamas leader Haniyeh
At the Qassam Brigades website, this video is shown among others to prove that Israelis "love life," which is considered weakness.

Sheikh Younis al -Astal , a member of the Palestine Scholars Association, said that the videos of Jews running away from terror attacks shows that Zionists care about people's lives.

He is saying this disparagingly.

He explained that "by the grace of Allah, we have our struggle with these cowards; this weakness they have is the strength we have, we have our love for martyrdom while they are upset at being bombed with rockets."

Hamas' website added that  "frequent scenes like these make the Zionists into the laughingstock of the world when they flee like mice before the perpetrators of suicide operations,"


Astal's website also features photos of IDF soldiers mourning the loss of a fellow soldier. It also features many antisemitic articles he wrote.

I have not seen Sheikh Younis al-Astal volunteer to blow himself up.

What a coward!









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.
  • Sunday, February 12, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Inter Parliamentary Union has been around since 1889. It has 170 members of nations that have parliaments.

Judging from its Twitter feed, the IPU seems to spend a lot of time concentrating on women's issues. While it deplored Israel's "regularization law" and it has released plenty of anti-Israel documents, it doesn't seem to be as obsessed with Israel as most international bodies.

Kuwait wants to change that.

The head of the Kuwaiti National Assembly, Marzouq Al-Ghanim, says that Muslim majority states - which make up 57 of its members -  should band together and expel Israel from the body, since there is no country that has the right to veto any resolution.

The USm which doesn't have a parliament, is not a member of the IPU.

Ghanim is urging the delegates at the Second Conference of  Arab Parliaments meeting in Cairo this weekend to work together to expel the Knesset from the body.





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.

Saturday, February 11, 2017

From Ian:

When they attack the Jewish warriors of World War II
The lie about Jews that the power of the IDF never failed to shed was that we’re incapable of fighting, that we manipulate others into doing our fighting for us and that we’re constantly pretending to be victims in order to gain undeserved sympathy from those around us.
As if to prove that point the one time Labour Party political candidate for Witham in Essex in the 2015 general election spent a long time both attacking Jews for killing too many people once they had a state and for not killing enough people before Israel was founded;
It’s unfortunate that this was posted in 2012 and yet still Clarke was able to run as the Labour Party political candidate for his constituency but the way the Labour Party is today I’m not sure that holding such views didn’t actually help him. But his accusation about Jews fighting in World War II hits a particular nerve with me and should with Jews everywhere. From the USA to the former Soviet Union and all around the world Jews fought, shed blood and died in the name of freedom. Their children and grandchildren shouldn’t now, decades later, be forced into proving it. Yet here we are.
Apparently John Clarke has never heard of Major General Maurice Rose who was killed in Germany while leading his division from the front. Rose’s father and grandfather were rabbis but he was always determined to become a soldier. Major General Rose was the highest ranking US officer to be killed by enemy fire in the European theater of operations. He ran his division from the front line and he earned every promotion he got by advancing against the enemy.
I imagine that Clarke has never heard of Raymond Zussman, Isadore Jachman and Ben Salomon three Jewish boys who awarded the Congressional Medal of Honour, the highest decoration for bravery in the US military for their courage fighting in World War II. Jachman was awarded the medal for attacking two German tanks with a bazooka that he retrieved while under fire. Zussman, Jachman and Salomon account for just three of the 26,000 medals and citations awarded to Jews in the US Armed Forces during World War II. Another three Jewish soldiers were awarded the Victoria Cross, the UKs highest award for gallantry during the war while serving in the British armed forces.
Over 550,000 American Jews served in the US armed forces during world war II. An estimated 500,000 more Jews wore the uniform of the Red Army (including at least nine generals). One of whom was called Yakov Kreizer. He was awarded Russia’s highest award for bravery and promoted to the rank of Field Marshal in the Russian Army after war. 100,000 wore the uniform of the Polish Army and 30,000 the British, including privates Jack Goldberg and Jack Fisher, my grandfathers. One of whom lost his entire unit, killed by a bomb hitting their ship while it was docked in St Nazaire at the start of the war. From Arnhem to the Battle of Britain to the Deserts of North Africa Jews fought, killed and died during World War II. Even as far away as India and Burma where my Great Uncle served with the RAF. Many of them returned home only to have to carry on fighting against the same racism Clarke so stubbornly, so contemptibly perpetuates.
Dershowitz would defend Israel in The Hague over outpost law
American law professor and prominent pro-Israel advocate Alan Dershowitz said that he is opposed to the newly passed outpost bill, but would defend Israel in an international court if necessary over the controversial legislation.
The Knesset late Monday passed the so-called Regulation Law, which enables the appropriation of private Palestinian land for Israeli settlement outposts in the West Bank, in a move the Palestinians condemned as a means to “legalize theft.”
UN envoy for the Middle East peace process Nickolay Mladenov called the bill a “very dangerous precedent” and raised the possibility the law could open Israel up to potential prosecution at the International Criminal Court, a risk the Israel’s attorney general has warned of, as has Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite his support of the bill.
“I’m opposed to the statute, I think it is a very bad idea,” Dershowitz said in an interview broadcast Saturday on Israel Radio.
But Dershowitz said the court in the Hague was not the proper venue for such a case.
“The International Criminal Court was set up to deal with genocide, with mass murderers, not to deal with property disputes,” Dershowitz said. “So I think it would be utterly improper for the International Criminal Court to set up an investigation based on a dispute over land.”
Dershowitz acknowledged Israel could still find itself there, due to “bias against Israel in international tribunals.”
Netanyahu: Imagine if the Middle East Looked More Like Tel Aviv
In a new video posted to social media, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu highlighted the diversity of Israeli society and the Jewish state’s advancement of equal opportunities for the country’s Arab citizens.
“I hope more states in our troubled region begin to emulate Israel and treat minorities with dignity and respect, the dignity and respect that all human beings deserve,” Netanyahu stated. “Just imagine, imagine if the Middle East looked a bit more like Tel Aviv and a bit less like Aleppo.”


  • Saturday, February 11, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon

Haaretz has a fascinating story:

Israeli lawmaker Tzipi Livni may soon be appointed to a senior role in the United Nations. Over the weekend, Livni (Hatnua-Zionist Union) received a phone call from UN Chief Antonio Guterres, who offered her the position of deputy secretary-general.

The UN chief has many deputies, and if Livni accepts the offer, she'll become the first Israeli to serve in that position. The appointment ultimately depends on the UN Security Council's approval.

Officials in the UN see the offer as a deal: The U.S. will take back its opposition to the pick of former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad as head of the UN mission to Libya, and in return Livni's appointment will be greenlit.
This would be a fantastic deal, and the operative word here is "deal."

Here's some background from Foreign Policy:
In the days leading up to Friday’s surprise decision by the Trump administration to block the appointment of former Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad to a top U.N. job, senior U.S. officials in Washington and New York assured U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres and other diplomats that they would accept him for the job, according to diplomatic sources.

That made late Friday’s abrupt about face — with the Trump administration suddenly vetoing Fayyad’s appointment to lead the U.N. mission in Libya — all the more shocking for U.S. partners on the Security Council and some career U.S. diplomats, according to those diplomatic sources.

The U.S. action, the officials said, created an unnecessary public confrontation with the U.N. chief, who would not have selected the well-regarded former Palestinian leader without the consent of the United States and other key Security Council members. The diplomatic dustup exposed a degree of chaos in U.S. decision making, these diplomats say, that makes it hard to anticipate where U.S. policy is headed.
If there is a pattern emerging from the Trump administration, it is to mess with people's expectations and then wrangle benefit from what appears to be concessions, when nothing is really conceded. he did it with China by scaring them with Taiwan, he is doing it with settlements where he is allowing Israel to do exactly what is has been demonized for and made it appear like he is cracking down, and he may be doing it at the UN.

The message from the White House seems to be that if the US is going to green-light a UN move, it should get something back,

In this case, there is really no downside for a former PA prime minister who was by all accounts the most competent and honest politician in Palestinian history - and who is now on the outs with Abbas - to lead a mission to Libya, far away from Palestinian issues. But for Livni to gain a major role in the UN, where she would defend Israel (although only half-heartedly on settlements) is a major gain.

And even if Guterres planned to offer the job to Livni anyway, as the Haaretz article seems to say, now the opposition from UN members would fade away because it is a deal where they get Fayyad in Libya, where they otherwise wouldn't have.

All this is a win-win for everyone while the US gives up nothing.

There is a lot to be wary of in this new administration, but if this went down the way it appears, "the art of the deal" shows great potential.





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.

Friday, February 10, 2017

From Ian:

Why the British Left has come to revile Israel
The morning of July 4, 1976 – the day of the Entebbe raid – is one of my earliest memories.
Growing up in Uganda, that day left two big impressions on my five-year-old mind.
First was that feeling of elation – all too short-lived – in the adults around me that at last the tyrant Idi Amin might at last have met his match. Second, I saw the Israelis as the good guys. Unequivocally.
Back in Britain 40 years later, that last view is not one everybody seems to share. Entebbe proved to be the last time Israel could count on broad sympathy across the political spectrum. The British Left had already abandoned its longstanding support for Israel after its stunning victory in the Six Day War. Within a few years of Entebbe, it had decisively turned against Israel.
Left-wing contempt for Israel is now pervasive. From the trades unions to the universities, the Guardianista media to the Labour Party, it’s taken as read that Israel is in the wrong. In an era when the British Left has never been more divided, anti-Zionism seems to be the great unifier.
But why has the British Left come to revile Israel? Is it because kibbutz-style socialism has given way to modern capitalism? Or because Israel is no longer the plucky underdog? Or perhaps because Israeli voters have the chutzpah to keep electing rightwing governments? What’s clear to me is that much of the hostility to Israel has nothing to do with the ostensible reasons given. The issue of settlements or Palestinian statehood, it seems, has become a stick with which to beat the Jewish state.
Far from trying to prevent further conflict, the leftist coalition of boycott backers and Hamas apologists are actively promoting it.
UN Watch: Khader Awad, Teacher At UNRWA, Calls For The Murder Of Jews
Following is one of the 40 perpetrators identified in UN Watch’s 130-page report entitled “Poisoning Palestinian Children: A Report on UNRWA Teachers’ Incitement to Jihadist Terrorism & Antisemitism.”
Khader Awad, who identifies himself on his Facebook profile as an UNRWA teacher, features on his public Facebook page an image of a Jew with three guns and a knife trained on his head; the Hebrew caption reads “Blood = Blood. #KillThem.” In Arabic, it says “Kill the settlers.”
A second photo, which Mr. Awad made as his cover photo, shows a Hamas terrorist in front of a scene of destruction in Israel, with the words in Hebrew and Arabic “We are waiting.”
These posts supporting the murder of Jews and Hamas terrorism grossly violate the duty of neutrality applicable to all UNRWA employees.
UN Watch: Ghanem Naim Ghoneim, Teacher at UNRWA, Venerates “Wonderful” Hitler
Ghanem Naim Ghoneim, who identifies himself on his Facebook profile as a teacher at UNRWA, has two photos posted in his public Facebook page of Adolph Hitler, Image 1 and Image 2, whom he calls “our beloved,” and “Hitler the great.”
The UNRWA teacher notes that Hitler was close with Palestinian Arab leader Amin al-Husseini, and then adds, “God bless Hitler.”
Commenting on one of his Hitler photos, seen in Comments 1 and Comments 2 two of Mr. Ghoneim’s apparent UNRWA students praise the post, with one saying “God bless you, teacher!” and the other saying “Nice one, teacher.” Their profiles can be viewed by clicking on Student Profile 1, Student Profile 2 and Student Profile 3.
In Image 3 The UNRWA teacher also celebrates Hamas rocket fire on Tel Aviv, to hit “the Jews.”
The pro-Hamas post grossly violates UNRWA employees’ duty of neutrality, and the antisemitic posts violate their duty to reject racism in all its forms.

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Beautiful friendship
Less than a week after he was inaugurated into office, President Donald Trump announced that he had repaired the US’s fractured ties with Israel. “It got repaired as soon as I took the oath of office,” he said.
Not only does Israel now enjoy warm relations with the White House. When Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in the US capital next week, he will be greeted by the most supportive political climate Israel has ever seen in Washington.
It is true that dangers to Israel’s ties with America lurk in the background. The radical Left is taking control of the Democratic Party.
But the forces now hijacking the party on a whole host of issues have yet to transform their hatred of Israel into the position of most Democratic lawmakers in Congress.
Democrats in both houses of Congress joined with their Republican counterparts in condemning UN Security Council Resolution 2334 that criminalized Israel. A significant number of Democratic lawmakers support Trump’s decision to slap new sanctions on Iran.
Similarly, radical Jewish groups have been unsuccessful in rallying the more moderate leftist Jewish leadership to their cause. Case in point is the widespread support Trump’s appointment of David Friedman to serve as his ambassador to Israel is receiving from the community.
Whereas J Street and T’ruah are circulating a petition calling for people to oppose his Senate confirmation, sources close to the issue in Washington say that AIPAC supports it.
'I won't condemn Israel, it's been through enough'
In exclusive interview with Israel Hayom, U.S. President Donald Trump says he understands and respects Israel greatly • Trump stresses he would like to see peace in the Middle East and beyond, says he looks forward to meeting with PM Netanyahu next week
"I understand Israel very well and I respect Israel. ... I would like to see peace [between Israel and the Palestinians] and beyond," U.S. President Donald Trump told Israel Hayom in an exclusive interview Thursday -- the first interview the 45th president of the United States has given Israeli media since taking office on Jan. 20.
Q: On multiple occasions we spoke of your views on Israel and your determination to be Israel's friend. Can you share your general plan for improving Israeli-American relations after the past eight years?
"Well, I think we are going to have a better relationship. The deal with Iran was a disaster for Israel. Inconceivable that it was made. It was poorly negotiated and executed. Everything about that deal was something. ... You know, as a deal person, I understand all sides of deals. I understand good deals and bad deals, but this deal is not even comprehensible. Beyond comprehension. And you see the way Iran has reacted; unlike reacting as they should, which is being thankful for President [Barack] Obama for making such a deal, which was so much to their advantage. They felt emboldened even before he left office. It is too bad a deal like that was made."


PMW: PA TV criticizes Palestinian newspaper for using term “Wailing Wall” and not "Al-Buraq Wall" - as instructed by PA Ministry of Information (Feb. 10, 2017)
The Palestinian Authority Ministry of Information issued a book instructing Palestinians which words to use to instead of "the Israeli and American dissemination of poisoned terms." In 2012, Palestinian Media Watch exposed this guide and the terms the ministry instructs Palestinians to use.
Among the "Israeli and American poisoned terms" that should be rejected are these terms relating to Jewish history and tradition:
Recently, a host on a PA TV program criticized a Palestinian daily that did not follow these guidelines. The paper had used the term "the Wailing Wall" instead of the term "the Al-Buraq Wall" recommended by the PA Ministry of Information, and which Palestinians and Muslims in general use.
Official PA TV host: "[The Palestinian daily] Al-Ayyam from this morning: 'The Israeli Ministry of Transportation announced it yesterday. The project for extending the high-speed Tel Aviv-Jerusalem train line up to the Al-Buraq Wall (i.e., the Western Wall) in the Old City of Jerusalem, has entered the stage of a feasibility study.' I don't know how Al-Ayyam can write 'Wailing Wall' on its front page, and not even put quotation marks."
[Official PA TV, Palestine This Morning, Jan. 26, 2017]

  • Friday, February 10, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon

From MEMRI:
In a conference titled "On [Religious] Awakening and Dialogue," held in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum on February 6, 2017, Sudanese oppositionist and cleric Yousuf Al-Koda, a former member of the Sudan Scholar Organization and currently the head of the Islamic Wasat Party, gave a talk on "The Relations with Israel – Religious Aspects." In his talk he called on Sudan to declare a truce with Israel and establish diplomatic relations with it, saying that there is no religious prohibition to prevent this. As evidence he mentioned the Hudaibiya agreement that the Prophet Muhammad signed with his infidel rivals.

Al-Koda added that boycotting Israel does not hurt Israel but rather Sudan, and that other countries in the region, such as Turkey, Qatar, Jordan, Egypt and even the Palestinian Authority, maintain ties with Israel. He noted further that Sudan holds ties even with certain countries that occupy Sudanese land, without naming these countries.
He was also quoted as saying: "The boycott has not harmed Israel but rather Sudan, and despite all the time that has passed [since its imposition] there has been no discussion of the boycott, as though it is an end in itself or a religious duty." He wondered: "Why shouldn’t we propose reassessing this position and adopting a different one in its place?"
Even for an opposition cleric, this would have been unthinkable only a short while ago.

While most sub-Saharan African states recognize Israel, Algeria, Libya, Somalia  and Sudan do not. They are all members of the Arab League.





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.
  • Friday, February 10, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
Tomorrow is Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish New Year for Trees.

From reading the media one would think that Arabs are the ones who venerate trees and Jews are the ones who uproot them.

But as history shows, the truth is quite the opposite.

Only a few examples:

June 7, 1936:




September 22, 1936:


November, 1936:



July, 1939:







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.
  • Friday, February 10, 2017
  • Elder of Ziyon
Trump with interviewer Boaz Bismuth


Israel Hayom published a brief section from an exclusive interview with President Trump today. The full interview will be published Sunday.

When asked about the embassy move to Jerusalem, at first Trump sidestepped the issue: "I want Israel to behave sensibly in the peace process, and it should come after so many years. And there might even be a possibility for peace beyond an Israeli-Palestinian peace. I want both sides to behave in a reasonable manner, and then we have a good chance of that."

The interviewer asked again, and this time Trump answered, "I think about it. I am studying the issue and see what happens. It's not an easy decision. It has been discussed for many years. No one wanted to make this decision, and I think about it very seriously."

Trump also reiterated his opposition to Israel creating new settlements, saying I'm not one who believes that moving forward with settlements is good for peace, but we are exploring all sorts of options."

He also praised Netanyahu and said that he would not condemn Israel during his presidency.

As far as a final peace deal, he said ""Yes, of course [Palestinians will have to make concessions.] A deal is not good if it is not good for all parties. We have now been in the process for a long time, decades. Many smart people argue that it is impossible to reach an agreement. I do not agree with them. I think we can reach an agreement, and we need to reach an agreement. "

Jordanian media give King Abdullah credit for convincing Trump to be more reticent about the embassy move and settlement activity than he had earlier indicated. Al Monitor reports:

According to the Palestinian source, when the Palestinians discovered that Abdullah was scheduled to meet Trump in Washington during the traditional National Prayer Breakfast event, Abbas made a special trip to Amman. There he asked the king to pass on a message of reconciliation to Trump. “At the time, King Abdullah was not certain that he would meet with the president. But in any case, he was asked to pass on a message to the new US president if it became possible to do so. The message to Trump was a plea to take action as soon as possible to stop Netanyahu’s crazy settlement enterprise before it would be too late,” the source said.
On Feb. 2, Abdullah met with Trump and transmitted the message faithfully: Abbas is committed to doing everything he can to give the US administration all tools possible for opening a Palestinian dialogue with Israel, and that one-sided actions on Israel’s part would undermine these attempts. According to the source, “In the short time he had before the Hilton event, in his pleasant manner, and with well-reasoned explanations, King Abdullah reviewed with Trump the dangers of Israel’s unrestrained [settlement] policy. Abdullah explained that this policy is likely to lead to unwelcome flare-ups [in the region].”
Abdullah also told Trump in their short conversation that instability and violence in the territories is likely to cause the strengthening of extremist forces in the Middle East. In addition, he explained that if Israel’s settlement wave will continue at this rate, Abbas will not be able to conduct any kind of dialogue with Israel and that the two-state solution — which the United States officially supports — will never be realized.







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.

AddToAny

EoZ Book:"Protocols: Exposing Modern Antisemitism"

Printfriendly

EoZTV Podcast

Podcast URL

Subscribe in podnovaSubscribe with FeedlyAdd to netvibes
addtomyyahoo4Subscribe with SubToMe

search eoz

comments

Speaking

translate

E-Book

For $18 donation








Sample Text

EoZ's Most Popular Posts in recent years

Hasbys!

Elder of Ziyon - حـكـيـم صـهـيـون



This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.

Donate!

Donate to fight for Israel!

Monthly subscription:
Payment options


One time donation:

Follow EoZ on Twitter!

Interesting Blogs

Blog Archive