Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, March 06, 2017

Ignoring Your Opponent (Divest This!)

There is an important element of the BDS mindset, indeed of the anti-Israel mindset generally, that provides its practitioners a significant amount of rhetorical power in any argument, protest or debate: their ability to ignore every inconvenient fact that gets in the way of their own narrative.

How many times at a rally or debate have we seen these “Friends of Palestine” confronted with questions about rocket and bombing attacks on Israeli civilians, about the killing of Palestinians by each other or by Arab leaders (like Assad of Syria), or about the abuse of women, gays and minorities in Muslim lands, only to watch them deal with such criticism by:

1. Ignoring it completely

2. When that fails, rolling their eyes and issuing a scoffing laugh while spinning on their heels and walking away

3. And when that fails, pretending to agree “yes, the killing of Israeli civilians is completely unacceptable…” followed by the usual “big but” (as in “…BUT those missiles, kidnappings and bombings would never have occurred if not for the Occupation™).

Unlike the small child who simply blots out that which they don’t agree with or understand, the effort to ignore so much history, so many facts, so much bloodshed delivered by their allies actually takes a great deal of creative effort on the part of the BDS brigade.

For example, take a look at the elaborate constructs surrounding the need to ignore peace deals offered to the Palestinians over the last ten years, nearly all of which would give them 99-100% of the land they claim to have craved since time immemorial. Now one could make the case that those peace deals did not include things the Palestinians hold more dearly than land (such as the so-called “Right of Return”). Or you could highlight the obvious political division within the Palestinian camp to point out the difficulty of cutting any deal. Both would expose the Palestinian position as not ready for reasonable negotiations towards peace, but at least they reflect something approaching reality.

But rather than go down this route, the boycotters instead create an elaborate fantasy world in which peace deals everyone knows about down to the last detail were never actually made. And their constructs include maps, essays, books, articles, speeches, curricula and all kinds of other materials that require a huge amount of effort to prove that white is black and night is day (similar to the fantasy literature around faux “massacres” such as Jenin).

My favorite example of this kind of creepy creativity has to do with gay rights. As a blogger friend once described, the difference between Israel (which give homosexuals more legal rights than almost any other country in the world) and the rest of the Middle East (where homosexuality is legally and religiously outlawed and its practitioners killed) is “so true they can’t stand it.”

But when the magnitude of this truth became too huge to ignore, they came up with a novel solution to this problem by inventing the non-existent phenomena of “pinkwashing.” This term (originated by breast-cancer advocates, as it turns out) implies that anyone bringing up the issue of gay rights in the Middle East is doing so as part of a nefarious propaganda campaign designed to distract from the dark, evil that is Israel and “the Occupation.”

Now I understand that homosexual rights is a challenge for BDSers, given that their main target are progressives who care about issues such as gay marriage. And you can only ignore an elephant this large for so long. But rather than simply accept the fact that Israel is in a superior position on this issue (and make the reasonable claim that it does not mean they should be given a pass universally), instead the Israel haters rant and rave about “pinkwashing” (and now “greenwashing” – which declares Israel’s entire green technology revolution is also part of a propaganda war) so as to make the debate about these manufactured controversies, rather than the genuine underlying issue under discussion.

Naturally, the rights of actual gay human beings in the actual Middle East (like the plight of actual Palestinian human beings killed by actual Hamas members and Syrian soldiers) gets lost in all of these creative efforts to ignore what is inconvenient to the boycotters. And yet they still demand the moral high ground be granted to them immediately and unconditionally and never be questioned as to why.

Well ignore, and scoff, and eye-roll and spin all you like BDS. But the rest of us have taken your measure, and all we see is a bunch of immoral creeps.

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EoZ in Israel

Mrs. Elder and I are on an almost - last minute trip to Israel.

I am having Internet problems so until everything is ironed out posts may be sporadic.

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Hey @UNRWA! Gaza girls playing baseball need your $$$!

One of the benefits to Palestinian Arabs who are considered "refugees" by UNRWA is that they are the recipients of programs that no other refugees worldwide would ever get from the UN.

So besides the free schools, medical care and places to live, UNRWA proudly provides TV programming, microloans for businesses, summer camps and other programs that they proudly talk about on their Twitter account and other social media.

But there is another important need that the "refugees" in Gaza clearly have, and UNRWA is just the organization to redirect your tax dollars towards this.

Gaza girls' baseball.

These poor, starving girls living in their open-air prison don't even have proper bats - and are forced to use tennis balls to play!

Come on, UNRWA. Imagine the fundraising possibilities in America when you make an expensive film about how you are helping Gaza girls play the American sport. And, face it, they need coaches and gloves and bats and balls. And a stadium.

This sounds like a priority, at least as much as teaching the same girls that they will one day destroy Israel, isn't it?

And when they are fully equipped, you can then move on to help the poor Gaza equestrians.

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03/05 Links: PLO names children's camp after terrorist who murdered 37; US delegation studies relocation of embassy to Jerusalem

From Ian:

PMW: PLO names children's camp after terrorist who murdered 37

The PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports has announced it is naming a youth camp after terrorist murderer Dalal Mughrabi. Mughrabi led the 1978 Coastal Road massacre, in which terrorists hijacked a bus and killed 37 civilians, including 12 children.
District Governor of Ramallah Laila Ghannam, a Palestinian Authority official, praised the initiative for "remembering the pure-hearted Martyrs":
"Dr. Ghannam... welcomed [the delegation's] efforts to hold a camp named after Martyr Dalal Mughrabi. She praised the creative initiative and its goals, and particularly everything connected to remembering the pure-hearted Martyrs... She also ordered all of the parties involved to do all that is necessary so that the solidarity rally will take place in a fashion worthy of Martyr Mughrabi, her comrades (i.e., the other terrorists participating in the 1978 Coastal Road massacre), and all of Palestine's Martyrs."
[Facebook page of the PLO Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, Feb. 27, 2017 and official PA daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadida, Feb. 28, 2017]
It is far from surprising that the PLO Council for Youth is naming a youth camp after a terrorist murderer, as the council is headed by terror supporter Jibril Rajoub, who explicitly promotes and endorses terror, as Palestinian Media Watch has documented in its report The Rajoub File.

US delegation in Israel to study relocation of embassy to Jerusalem

An official United States delegation led by Congressman Ron DeSantis (R-FL) is briefly visiting Israel on Saturday and Sunday to study the possibility of relocating the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
"The delegation is in Jerusalem to learn first hand what it will mean to move the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem,” said Ruth Lieberman, a friend of DeSantis and a political advisor in Israel.
“Its leadership intends to return to Congress with a report and a deeper understanding of what to expect, and of some of the decisions that have to be made as well,” Lieberman said.
DeSantis chairs the subcommittee for National Security for the US House Oversight Committee.
The delegation will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other Israeli political leaders during their visit.
US President Donald Trump had promised to relocate the embassy during his campaign for the White House. But since his January 20th inauguration, his lukewarm statements about the matter led many to speculate that he would not make good on his pledge.
The delegation’s visit is the first sign that there might be some movement on the issue.

Crescent Magazine's May Cover Is a Doozy

Israel-hate: check. Traditional tropes about sinister, hidden Jooos pulling the strings of the powerful: check.
But wait--May brings us a zany twist. As the Khomeinist rag sees it, the Jooos are now collaborating with--wait for it--Nazi-esque "White Racists." Their joint project: putting threatening words into Trump's mouth.
Not that the Khomeinists thought any better of Obama, even though he sucked up to 'em endlessly and embarrassingly.

Charlie Hebdo Cover, Oct 2014

Many westerners seem to believe that opposition to political Islam (Jihad) is equivalent to racism.

This is why progressives - or what Dave Rubin, and others, refer to as the "regressive-left" - so vehemently oppose the vetting of Arab-Muslim immigrants into the United States.

They honestly do not care about the rise of political Islam, or Koranically-based violence against innocent people, because they tend to believe that Jews, Americans, and westerners deserve whatever beating radical Muslims are prepared to dish out.

As an American of the Jewish persuasion, however, I would very much prefer it if newly minted Americans from the most antisemitic part of the world did not think that the Jewish people were the unnatural cosmic offspring of swine and orangutan in need of a good slaughtering in the name of Allah.

Does this make me a bad, or ignorant, person?

Probably.

But if you assume that opposing political Islam is the same as opposing Muslims then you must think that all Muslims are jihadis who wish to spread Sharia by any means necessary.

They aren't.

In fact, I might even go so far as to suggest that if you think that denigrating or mocking or opposing jihadism is the same as "Islamophobia" than it is you who are the racist.

The defenders of political Islam, and mass Muslim immigration into the West, need to stop confusing Muslims with jihadis and they need to stop conflating opposition to political Islam with racism. Suggesting that western opposition to the Jihad is the same as opposition to Muslims is something akin to suggesting that British opposition to Nazism during World War II was the same as a racist opposition Germans.

It isn't and it wasn't and the very notion is both hateful and absurd while turning history inside-out and backwards.

Furthermore, "progressives" need to stop implying that Jewish opposition to the murder of our own family somehow indicates an essentialized Zionist form of racism. They need to stop suggesting that speaking out against the rise of political Islam, from any quarter, is a form of retrograde white redneck bigotry against a perfectly innocent indigenous population "of color."

And, make no mistake, this is precisely what the Left and the Democrats say to their Jewish friends when they suggest that opposing unvetted Arab-Muslim immigration into the United States is "racist."

It isn't because it does not matter where a person comes from or the color of their skin.

It does not matter what languages they speak or what deity they worship or refuse to worship.

It does not matter what their sexual orientation is.

It does matter, however, when people from the Middle East or North Africa teach their children to despise non-Muslims as a religious imperative even as they seek immigration into the West.

These are a people with a long and proud history that predates the rise of European civilization and they should be accorded respect. In doing so, however, they should be treated as equals and therefore as responsible for their own views and behavior, including their views on Jewish people.

This matters very much.

According to Anti-Defamation League polling statistics the Muslim Middle East is absolutely roiling with hatred toward the Jews. 75 percent of Egyptians despise Jews. 78 percent of Lebanese despise Jews and a whopping 93 percent of Palestinian-Arabs do so.

And it is spreading.

Mosques emphasize Arab-Muslim innocence and western / Jewish aggression in Haifa and Malmö and Brooklyn, NY... home of our friend, Linda Sarsour.

They teach ideologically-inspired hatred toward Jews and "crusaders" in Paris and London and Berlin.

The truth, of course, is that Islam is the single most successful theocratic imperial project in world history.

Early Islamic Imperial Expansion

Therefore, those of us who care about how Islam meets the contemporary secular west are watching the results unfold in Europe and most of what we see is violent and ugly.

We remember the jihadi murder of filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, a one-time colleague of Islamic apostate Aayan Hirsi Ali in the Netherlands. We remember the fatwā placed on the head of author Salman Rushdie for daring to pen The Satanic Verses. We remember the unbelievably brutal near-beheading of Lee Rigby in the streets of southeast London in broad daylight. We are cognizant of such things as Islamic rape-gangs in Britain.

And we are well-aware that aggression toward indigenous peoples throughout world history is not the privilege of Europeans alone.

The Failure of Discussion

Thus the question of Muslim immigration into the West is an exceedingly serious matter that must be honestly discussed... but it is not.

The western-left and the Democratic Party have made any such discussion impossible via the politically-correct tactic of silencing, shunning, and de-platforming "deplorable" speakers... which is to say, anyone whom they disagree with.

And this is the reason that we end up with fascistic "anti-fascists" beating the hell out of innocent people at UC Berkeley at the mere presence of Milo Yiannopoulos who, whatever else he may be, is not a white nationalist.

The fire of progressive-left hatred toward Trump and his supporters is so intense, so polarizing, and so irrational that normal discussion on important issues, such as immigration, have become impossible.

When "progressives" and Democrats shut down discussion of Arab-Muslim immigration into the United States as "racist" they also block discussion of anti-feminist, anti-Jewish, anti-liberal, pro-Sharia influences into Europe and coming to an American movie theater near you.

This shutting down of discussion on immigration also blurs any candid distinction between jihadi immigration and the immigration of regular Muslims.

This is not a matter of "racism" against jihadis - as if there could be such a thing - but it is a matter of ideological blinkertude on the part of westerners who condescend to Muslims as little children in need of a cookie.

If mainstream and non-traditional opinionators throughout the West would look up for a moment from their incessant, self-serving, emotionally-driven Trump-bashing, they might consider honestly discussing the question of mass Muslim immigration into the West.

But they don't.

Nonetheless, according to recent Pew poll, terrorism was second only to the economy in the election that brought Donald Trump to the presidency of the United States.

Along with economic issues, whether progressives and Democrats like it or not, immigration combined with terrorism top the political charts.

The reason that many of us came to the rational conclusion that we need a tightening on immigration policies is because for too long the European Union, with the assistance of globalist neo-liberals like Angela Merkel, refused to do so and we see the results.

For example, the other day Trump referenced the immigration crisis in Sweden and was roundly spit upon by media and politicians, both here and there.

The truth, however, is that Sweden and Germany are experiencing street violence and serious social consequences due to their open-borders policies and because of Muslim disinterest in European social and cultural integration.

Democrats need to understand, as philosopher and neuroscientist Sam Harris emphasizes, that Hillary's failure to honestly discuss the problems of mass Muslim immigration into the West is one of the reasons why she lost the recent election.

If Democrats wish to take back the U.S. Presidency in 2020 it might be helpful to be forthright with the American people concerning the immigration crisis in Europe and what that suggests for U.S. immigration policy going forward. We need not draw foregone conclusions, but we very much need to have an open and fair national discussion around the question free of partisan demonization.

It might also be helpful if the Democratic Party would let their constituency know that opposing the Jihad on American soil is not racist toward Muslims. This will have to be something hashed-out between the Bernie / Ellison semi-socialist wing and the Obama / Hillary neo-liberal, corporate wing of the Democratic Party.

However, until western-progressives affirm and honestly discuss the meaning of political Islam to western immigration policies then they are deceiving their own people and deserve whatever electoral beatings that they get.

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.

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Makor Rishon has a recent article that describes the statistics of Palestinian medical patients in Israel. (I found the statistics online as well from a May 2016 article in Mako.)

In 2015, Israeli hospitals treated over 97,000 Arabs from the West Bank (allowing over 100,000 people to accompany them). In addition, over 31,787 Gaza patients and escorts arrived in 2015.

At any given time there are 60-70 Gazans receiving care at Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv alone.

Only 10% of the cost to care for these patients comes from the Palestinian Authority. The rest is paid for by the Israeli taxpayer.

This is while the Palestinian leadership continues to pay full salaries to terrorists and their families. But they can't be bothered to pay for medical care of their regular populace - because the Israelis will.

It is one thing to show compassion and help all people who need help. I'm happy to see sick kids get the help they need, no matter who they are.

It is another thing to be a sucker.

The EU happily pays for illegal schools and homes to be built, willy-nilly, in the West Bank that they know Israel will demolish, but does it pay for actual medical needs of Palestinians being treated in Israel?

Why should they when they know that Israelis will pay the price? Israel gets next to no media attention for the help it gives to those who want to destroy it, but if Israel would insist on full payment, you can be sure that sob stories will be published by Reuters about how heartless Israelis are for refusing to allow unlimited Palestinian patients.

(h/t Yenta Press)

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Ma'an News has a story about how the beloved dog of Abdel-Hamid Abu Srour went missing.

Abu Srour was heartbroken, going sleepless nights and posting "lost dog" notices on Facebook for his favorite pet Cinderella.

The timeline of the story isn't clear, so we don't know if the dog was found by April 18, 2016.

That is the day that Abu Srour - who came from a well-to-do family - took a bomb on Egged Bus #12 in Jerusalem, sat on top of the fuel tank, and detonated it, turning the bus into a fireball and injuring 20 innocent Israelis.

He was killed by his device, which seems likely to have been built by Hamas.

Abu Srour's body has still not been returned, so Ma'an apparently decided that they must publish a story to make their audience even more sympathetic towards a cold-blooded terrorist than usual.

Ma'an is not an Islamist newspaper. It is not associated with either Fatah or Hamas. It prides itself on its journalistic standards and objectivity. And Ma'an - as a mainstream, modern and moderate news source - humanizes terrorists by describing how much more they care about their dogs than about Jews.

And Arabs revile dogs.

Here is the list of funders of Ma'an as of 2014. So-called "human rights groups" and even the US Consulate gave thousands of dollars to an organization that glorifies terrorists.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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03/04 Links: Media Misfeasance Exposed in "Eyeless in Gaza"; Marc Lamont Hill’s hypocrisy on racism in the Middle East

From Ian:

Explain it to me

Explain to me how a woman who planted a bomb which killed two young men at the Supersol market in Jerusalem on February 21st 1969 is now an organizer of the upcoming Women’s Strike. The stated goal of this strike is “to increase equality, justice, and human rights for women around the world.” I unequivocally commend this goal.
But, explain how my family is supposed to reconcile the reality that the woman who stripped my uncle of his life is now deemed a hero by many of my fellow Americans. What justification is there for Rasmea Odeh, a woman who killed two people (with the intention of killing more!) to lead a peaceful fight for human rights? In the documentary, “Women in Struggle”, Odeh and her accomplice, Ayesha, talk in detail about their gruesome acts. Ayesha names Odeh as the ringleader. Explain to me how explosives found at Odeh’s home matching those used in the bombings sits with your conscience.
What is the difference between the acts of Omar Mateen, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Dylan Roof, and Rasmea Odeh? There is no difference. They all carried out acts of terror in the name of their causes, which resulted in the death of innocent civilians. Whether they were targeting the LGBT community, Americans, African Americans, or Jewish Israelis, these were all terrorist acts.
Explain to me how Odeh, who was a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a US designated terrorist group, was chosen to represent American feminists who seek to peacefully stand up for women’s rights. The Women’s Strike lists as its Principle #1 that “Nonviolence is a way of life for courageous people. It is a positive force confronting the forces of injustice and utilizes the righteous indignation and spiritual, emotional, and intellectual capabilities of people as the vital force for change and reconciliation.” Rasmea Odeh signed her name to this movement. And she did so with blood on her hands.

Media Misfeasance Exposed in "Eyeless in Gaza" Documentary

Hamas operatives burst into the Associated Press (AP) Gaza bureau during the 2014 war with Israel, angered by a picture shot by an AP photographer. Gunmen threatened the AP staff, which never reported the incident.
The incident shows that Hamas can control what journalists report, and what they don't, former AP Middle East reporter Matti Friedman says in a new documentary, "Eyeless in Gaza."
Producer Robert Magid's 50-minute film, which is screening via pay-per-view online, examines the flaws and challenges in reporting on the 50-day war.
Magid said he wanted to "set the record straight and provide context," after being appalled at news coverage that ignored Hamas' practice of launching rockets from civilian areas. That omission allowed the media to push a false narrative that "Israel was callous in their bombing."
The sullied moral image of Israel that emerged from the media's biased coverage sparked public outrage and anti-Semitism. "Muslims will crush the Jews as they did in Khyber 14 centuries ago," protestors in the film shout. Another says: "I see the Jews in Israel as total Nazis."

‘The Settlers’: An effective work of left-wing propaganda

I would not say it if it were not true. As I emerged from the press screening of Shimon Dotan’s “The Settlers” I met the eyes of a widely read Jewish-American film critic. With a smile he sighed, “Well, at long last it’s happened — I’ve become an anti-Semite.”
He was kidding, of course, but even those of us who watch movies professionally still fall under their spell. (Perhaps more so, and that’s why we choose this trade.)
Dotan’s documentary, which opens in New York this Friday, is a commendable and effective work of propaganda. It gives you just enough of the “other side” to make it seem fair and balanced.
Of course, it isn’t — it has an agenda. Any documentary that employs edits and doesn’t stash its cameras behind potted plants does. This makes “The Settlers” frustrating because so much of it is so very good and, as the most thorough film about this ongoing crisis from which there seems no easy escape, it is likely to become something of an authoritative text.
Dotan digs deep, starting with new interviews of Jews in West Bank settlements, then jumping back to historical news footage. We get another look at the 1948 partition plan and the 1967 Six-Day War. Some credit is due for leaving in what so many leave out: that the preemptive 1967 strike was necessary in the face of Nasser’s military build-up, an obvious point that is more and more forgotten as history turns to misremembered mist.

Tommy Robinson: The Oscars lied about Islam

03/03 Links Pt2: Phillips: Viewing antisemitism through a glass darkly; Facebook enables Fatah terror promotion

From Ian:

David Collier: From Manchester to Brunel, polishing the propaganda machine

Brunel 2 March
Last night, 2nd March 2017, I was in Brunel for yet another event during ‘Apartheid Week’. There is a difference between an argument shaped to reflect your perspective and delivering raw propaganda. Opposition to ‘Apartheid week’ is not about a difference of opinion. The endless distortion provided by speakers is supported by pillars of outright deceit. Those standing in front of the students on campus must *know* they are telling lies. They *know* they are purposefully omitting information. I have seen scores of speakers at dozens of events deliberately mislead students. This is fodder for the pulpit, not the campus.
This propaganda is designed to incite hatred towards the Jewish state. Logically, it has no other purpose. These events are created to sell an image of an Israel so twisted, so beyond ethical reach, that only mass global action will save the Palestinians from their fate. At the same time, the image has to be so terrifying, so inhumane, that someone walking onto a bus and killing civilians, becomes the understandable event born of lack of choice and frustration.
Only when both of these elements have been successfully delivered, is the true anti-Israel activist created. Therefore the movement has to take university students on a journey to accept horrific attacks against innocent Israeli civilians. A clear strategy of demonisation through propaganda. We have been here before.

Melanie Phillips: Viewing antisemitism through a glass darkly

Suddenly, everyone’s worried about surging antisemitism. Remarkable.
In recent decades, antisemitism has been the prejudice that dare not speak its name. The “Israel apartheid weeks” on campus, the blood libels about Israelis wantonly killing Arab children, the high proportion of attacks on Jews by Muslims – no one was allowed to call this anti-Jewish hatred.
Anyone who did so was accused of Islamophobia, sanitizing the crimes of Israel by waving the shroud of the Holocaust and so on.
Now people are shouting about antisemitism almost every day. Recent events are certainly alarming. Last month, Jewish cemeteries in Philadelphia and near St. Louis, Missouri were vandalized. Hoax bomb threats have forced the evacuation of nearly 100 Jewish community centers and other institutions across America.
No one knows who or what is behind all this. Some people, though, explain it in two words: Donald Trump. They just know it’s the work of white neo-fascists empowered by “dog-whistles” emanating from President Trump, who is said to harbor antisemitic sympathies, and his Svengali, Steve Bannon, who is held to be a white supremacist.
These are ludicrous smears. Trump is one of the most pro-Jewish US presidents ever to be elected. Bannon is also deeply pro-Jew and, far from being a racist or fascist, merely believes in restoring and defending the Judeo-Christian basis of Western national identity.
In any event, attacks on Jewish targets were going on long before Trump’s ascendancy.
From 2008 at least, Jewish cemeteries have been desecrated across America. And Jewish students on campus have long run a gauntlet of anti-Jewish hate and intimidation.

Fred Maroun: Anti-Semitism: Staring straight into darkness

There is no valid excuse for having failed to help Israel become the secure state of the Jewish people. We reflect on anti-Semitism, we ho and we hum, then we sit back down and let the anti-Semites continue on their merry way.
When a Jewish center is threatened, it is not only an afternoon that is lost. When a Jewish cemetery is desecrated, it is not only a tombstone that must be replaced. It is 3000 years of hatred that come rushing back. It is the painful memories of the family members who died in Nazi crematoria that resurface. It is a very current reminder that a nation that is 79 times the size of the Jewish state has threatened to wipe it off the map and continues on its quest to acquire nuclear weapons.
After 3000 years of antisemitism, with countless pogroms, deportations of Jews from their own lands, and the cold-blooded murder of half its population in the interval of five years, how can we accept that Jews still today do not have one secure place on earth to call home? How can we get up in the morning, look at ourselves in the mirror and not feel the angst of having failed so miserably in the most elementary task that we “intelligent” animals have ever been given?
Why has no government anywhere in the world, other than Israel, placed the fight against antisemitism amongst its top priorities? Why do politicians keep repeating the same foolish lines about negotiating peace when there is no credible entity to negotiate with? Why do they denounce anti-Semitism but then do nothing to stop it? The security of a people that has been forced to struggle for its security for 3000 years is not a game. It is not a political chip to be negotiated.
I am ashamed of my leaders. I am ashamed of my society. I am ashamed of the human race.
If God exists, we will be judged, and the judgement will not be kind. If there is no God, there will be no one to redeem us, and we will always be guilty of the darkest crime in the sorry history of humanity.

It is worth watching this video:

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03/03 Links Pt1: Arrest made in bomb threats against US Jewish centers; Jewish cemetery in Rochester vandalized

From Ian:

Man arrested for bomb threats against 8 US Jewish centers

US law enforcement agencies have arrested a man suspected of being behind at least eight bomb threats against Jewish organizations in recent week, Federal authorities said.
Authorities named the suspect as Juan Thompson, 31, and said that the threats were made as a campaign to harass a former girlfriend, using her name to make some of the threats.
“Today, we have charged Juan Thompson with allegedly stalking a former romantic interest by, among other things, making bomb threats in her name to Jewish Community Centers and to the Anti-Defamation League,” New York-based US Attorney Preet Bharara said in a statement.
“Threats of violence targeting people and places based on religion or race –- whatever the motivation –- are unacceptable, un-American and criminal.”
Thompson was arrested in St. Louis, Missouri and was expected to appear in a Missouri court later Friday on one count of cyberstalking.

Juan Thompson: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know

1. Juan Thompson, 31-years-old, Is Suspected of Making Threats Against JCCs Using the Name of a Woman He Had Dated
2. He Has a Twitter Account Where He Says His Ex-Girlfriend Sent a Bomb Threat in His Name
3. Juan Thompson Was Fired from the Intercept for Fabricating Quotes and Sources
4. He Planned to Run for Mayor of St. Louis in 2017, According to His Twitter Account
5. Thompson May Have Made at Least Eight Threats, Which Leaves Many Bomb Threats Still Unaccounted For

The Intercept: Statement on the Arrest of Former Intercept Reporter Juan Thompson

We were horrified to learn this morning that Juan Thompson, a former employee of The Intercept, has been arrested in connection with bomb threats against the ADL and multiple Jewish Community Centers in addition to cyberstalking. These actions are heinous and should be fully investigated and prosecuted. We have no information about the charges against Thompson other than what is included in the criminal complaint. Thompson worked for The Intercept from November 2014 to January 2016, when he was fired after we discovered that he had fabricated sources and quotes in his articles.

NY governor orders probe as Jewish cemetery in Rochester vandalized

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo on Thursday ordered state police to launch a full investigation after a Jewish cemetery in Rochester was vandalized, the third such incident in the United States in less than two weeks.
Five headstones were found toppled Thursday morning at the Waad Hakolel Cemetery, also known as the Stone Road Cemetery, in the city in western New York.
“A number of headstones were recently vandalized and toppled over at Waad Hakolel Cemetery in Rochester,” the governor said in a statement. “Given the wave of bomb threats targeting Jewish community centers and disturbing vandalism at Jewish cemeteries nationwide, I am directing the State Police to immediately launch a full investigation into this matter.”
The president of the nonprofit managing the cemetery said he did not want to call the incident a hate crime or anti-Semitism.
“I don’t want to label it a hate crime. I don’t think there’s any proof of that. I don’t want to label it anti-Semitism. I don’t think there’s any proof of that,” said Michael Phillips, president of the Britton Road Association, according to The Rochester Democrat and Chronicle.

Walla reports that IDF reservists in the North were surprised to see that many of their vegetables came from Gaza.

Ran Reuven Golan wrote on Facebook, "Shame shame shame. I'm in the army reserves. Today the supply truck came into the kitchen. All cartons of cucumbers are labeled that they are made in Gaza. Palestine is written on them in Arabic. Israeli farmers are struggling to survive and the IDF is buying vegetables made in Gaza. Not to mention the security risk. Please share..."

Golan told Walla, "At night they shoot missiles at us and in the morning we buy from them. It's absurd."

The IDF spokesman said in response that the IDF buys the food from companies that win contracts from the Ministry of Defense, according to the law and with the approval of the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Defence as required by law.

While there are legitimate reasons - including security reasons - to help Gaza's private sector, this is not something that the IDF should be doing directly. The priority should be to buy domestic goods when possible, as any army would do. And now that Hamas knows that the IDF eats Gaza cucumbers, there is an increased chance of tampering. This is altogether a bad idea.

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Two weeks ago:

The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs announced that two detainees, Jamal Abu Allel and Raed Fayez, have entered an open hunger strike today, protesting against the extension of their Administrative Detention in a punitive manner that includes all the Administrative detainees.
The commission declared that the Negev prison administration yesterday informed detainee Abu Allel that his administrative detention will be renewed to six months for the third time respectively.

Opponents of administrative detention claim that Israel gives no reason for detaining suspects. So why indeed is Israel detaining Jamal Abu Al-Leil?

A hint comes from this article from today.

The Al Aqsa Brigades of the Qalandiya camp plans to close a major road between Jerusalem and Ramallah next week for three days in support of Abu Al-Leil.

Guess what? Abu Al-Leil is their leader!

He was arrested a year ago because Israel linked him to the series of shooting attacks that was occurring during the "knife intifada" as terror groups tried to capitalize on the "lone wolf" attacks.

This terrorist leader Jamal Abu Al-Leil is also a member of Fatah's Revolutionary Council, the top legislative body of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah.

In summary, a terror group associated with Fatah will make the lives of Palestinians miserable by closing a road in support of their leader, who also happens to be a respected politician under Mahmoud Abbas.

Here are the members of the Fatah terror group in the Qalandiya camp showing support for Abu Al-Leil's hunger strike by shooting rifles in the air.

There is no line between the "political" and "military" wings even of Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah. But good luck seeing that reported anywhere.

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Iraqi musician, praised by Electronic Intifada for his "resistance," says he'd gladly play in Israel (update)

In 2010, Electronic Intifada wrote a fawning profile of Iraqi musician Naseer Shamma and his "music of resistance.:" It quoted him as being strongly pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel.

How things have changed.

Israel's UNESCO representative, Carmel Shama HaKohen, also of Iraqi origin, met with Naseer Shama at a UNESCO event.

After performing, HaKohen approached Naseer in front of the Iraqi minister, MPs and other Iraqi officials, congratulated the musician and wished him success in his mission to promote peace.

The Israeli representative noted that he shared the same surname and his parents came from Baghdad as well.

"Whatever the relationship between our countries, you as an artist for peace should come and perform with your talent and convey the message of peace in Israel, too - and I am sure that the community of Israel from Iraq would be happy to invite you," said Carmel Shama to the musician.

Carmel was sure that he would get brushed off, but instead Naseer gave him his business card and said, 'I'll gladly perform in Israel."

Here they are shaking hands in front of UNESCO head Irina Bokova.

It's one thing when a Radiohead or Aerosmith plays in Israel. But when a popular Iraqi musician says he would be happy to play, the BDSers must be going absolutely crazy.

Even if he never comes, this picture is enough to cause some sleepless nights among those who cannot even get Arabs to adhere to their demands of "no normalization."

UPDATE: Shama now claims that he did not know that the person he was speaking to was from Israel and he denies that he accepted any invitation, saying that he supports Palestinians unconditionally.

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03/02 Links Pt2: Collier: You think there is no Antisemitism? Take the anti-Zionist test; Hugging Antisemitism at the Labour Party Conference

From Ian:

David Collier: You think there is no Antisemitism? Take the anti-Zionist test

This is designed for people who think there is no antisemitism in the anti-Zionist, anti-Israel movements. If you know any, ask them to take the test.
Before you begin.
Imagine: Someone you are connected to continually posts racist memes and comments on Facebook. On his time stream are constant references to racial slurs, using words and phrases that are unacceptable in society. Viscous, vile, offensive posts that draw on awful stereotypes and link back to white supremacy websites. What would you do when you saw them? I hope, as an anti-racist, you would delete him from your friends list or at least confront them about their offensive views.
You may now begin the anti-Zionist test. When you have finished, please pass it on to your friends, or other anti-Israel protesters you know.
THE ANTI-ZIONIST TEST
A few days ago, I posted the result of an investigation into antisemitism inside Palestinian activism in the UK. Since its release, I have received abuse and threats. Some of the more measured criticism has been absurdly to throw the line that ‘anti-Zionism’ is nothing to do with antisemitism. So, I have designed a test to assist in measuring the level of ‘neo-Nazi’ antisemitism ‘IN YOUR ONLINE ENVIRONMENT’.
The test starts with an easy exercise in identifying blatant antisemitism.
Do you consider any of these comments to be antisemitic?
- The Jews were behind 9/11
- The holocaust is the biggest myth of our time
- Charlie Hebdo was a false flag carried out by Mossad to make Jews go to Israel
- Ashkenazi Jews are all fake Jews
- Kristallnacht was instigated by Jews to promote War against Germany
- Babylonian Talmud advocates sex with child age three
- Israel kills people to harvest their organs
The answer to this question is ‘all of the above’ and there is little ambiguity here. Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians has nothing to do with any of the above statements.

No Safe Space for Jews at KCL

Given what was to follow, this announcement was a kick in the teeth to any Israel supporters in the audience, including most of the Jewish students there (see below). The speakers simply assumed that Israel was The Great Satan and needed to be boycotted. There was simply no discussion of this and also no mention of Israeli casualties, eg those who have died in the stabbing and car ramming incidents in recent months and of those in Judea and Samaria who have been killed by Palestinians. No mention. Zilch.
The Chair was Rafeef Ziadah, a ‘Palestinian poet and human rights activist’ (she also seems to have a position at SOAS). She was on her best behaviour but it is not hard to find her extremist connections. She claims her family was ‘forced out’ of Haifa. The truth is that the Arabs who left Haifa in 1948 were not ‘forced out’ at all. And she has praised a terrorist member of Islamic Jihad, Khader Adnan. As Richard Millett commented at IAW five years ago, ‘when he is not on hunger strike he does a nice sideline in inciting the killing of Jews.’. Ziadah has also worked for War On Want (who sponsored the KCL meeting).
Aja Monet Farid is from Brooklyn. She began with a ‘statement’ which included the phrase ‘Zionists, racists and colonisers demean me’. She is a member of ‘Black Lives Matter’. She wants ‘Intersectionalism’ which is the theory that all the causes of the Left are connected, so for example ‘Black Lives Matter’ and anti-Israel activists need to work together. Her metaphor for the Israel/Palestinian conflict: “If you have a foot on your neck, what are you going to do to get it off?”. She is not a fan of ‘safe spaces’ either. “We need to stand for what’s right .. What does love look like as a political technology?” Pretty meaningless stuff so far …. Surprisingly little insights about (or even mentions of) Israel – just the assumption it’s the Great Satan.

Gerald M. Steinberg: Empty slogans and half truths

With the release of its 2016/2017 annual report, which was published with much fanfare a week ago, Amnesty International, the strongest international human rights organization, first decided to distribute it to a limited number of "friendly journalists" by conducting closed briefings designed to produce instant headlines, without affording enough time for these journalists to independently examine the report and analyze its findings.
The organization acted to gain sympathetic media coverage instead of allowing free access to all those reporters that might have actually asked questions and checked the data. Amnesty International's conduct was the embodiment of a political system seeking to control information.
An article on Amnesty's website presenting the report is full of empty slogans, claiming that "today's politics of demonization shamelessly peddles a dangerous idea that some people are less human than others," and quoting the organization's secretary general, Salil Shetty, as saying that "the need for all of us to stand up for the basic values of human dignity and equality everywhere has seldom been clearer." Ironic declarations, given the fact that Amnesty employees have been accused several times of employing anti-Semitic rhetoric and the organization even refused to add the war on anti-Semitism to its agenda.
The report's section titled "Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories" employs the same tone, shamelessly exploiting legal terms and hurling accusations such as the "excessive use of force" and "subject[ing] Palestinian detainees, including children, to torture," to attack the Israel Defense forces without providing any evidence or source.