Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

03/15 Links Pt2: Roseanne Barr fires back at anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour; The unforgivable shame of Mondoweiss. Protecting hatred of Jews

From Ian:

David Collier: The unforgivable shame of Mondoweiss. Protecting hatred of Jews

Last month I published a report investigating hard core antisemitism within the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC). Despite focusing on those pushing Jewish conspiracy tales or Holocaust denial, Mondoweiss, and other anti-Zionist Jewish forces, felt compelled to attack me for it.
The report into antisemitism was clear cut, and I am sure alarm bells rang throughout PSC HQ. Although I have not yet received an official response for saving them time and highlighting bucket loads of antisemitism within their organisation, the PSC can thank me later.
When I compiled the report, I attempted to remove all references to the Israel / Arab conflict and focus on classic antisemitic tropes. I also sought to ensure that only real activists would be included (impossible to seal hermetically, but I certainly tried). I tried only to catch serial offenders.
Despite the research receiving wide coverage, there was no public comment from the PSC, or indeed from any of the anti-Israel activists. Privately however, there were some dark days and I received numerous threats. Then, last week, someone called Jonathan Ofir wrote a piece published in Mondoweiss attacking the report. Following this, the UK based group ‘freespeechinisrael’, reposted the piece. So happy were the Jewish anti-Zionists in the UK, that the URL of their page reads ‘ofir-demolishes-david-collier’. Demolishes? Wow.
This entire response by these anti-Zionist Jews is sickening. Not because of the attack itself, but because of what they felt compelled to protect – hard core, rabid, Jew hatred.

Roseanne Barr fires back at anti-Israel activist Linda Sarsour

Outspoken comedian and actress Roseanne Barr said in 140 characters what many American Jews are thinking.
Pro-Palestinian activist Linda Sarsour recently went on the record stating that ‘feminism and Zionism are incompatible’. Sarsour, who is also one of the leaders of the left-wing, grassroots ‘Women’s Movement’ sweeping across the US and around the world was once hailed by the Obama administration as a ‘champion of change’.
A favorite among many American Democrats, Sarsour’s fierce anti-Israel views haven’t gone unnoticed by the Jewish community.
Outspoken comedian and actress Roseanne Barr said in 140 characters what many American Jews are thinking. Taking to Twitter, Barr fired back at Sarsour, “Is it even possible to be a pro-Palestinian feminist?”
As a long time friend a supporter of Israel and the Jewish community, Barr has been an advocate for swift action against rising antisemitism in the US and around the world.

Linda Sarsour, you are not my friend

Or, to be totally cynical about this: It’s one thing to care about the graves of Jews.
But living Jews, in a Jewish state …
We should not be surprised. This has become the Palestinian’s M.O.
It’s called hijacking.
The PLO got real good at it in the late 1960s, when they began hijacking airplanes.
And when that didn’t work, they got around to hijacking every movement on the Left.
I first noticed this in 1973, right after the Yom Kippur War – how every left wing rally that I attended had an anti-Israel message velcroed (well, there was no Velcro in those days) onto it.
The Palestinians did that with the women’s movement as well.
It goes back at least as far as 1980.

Last night, Elder of Ziyon held a symposium in Jerusalem entitled Donald Trump: Good for the Jews?

Elder and 4 bloggers, Brian of London, Gidon Shaviv, Adam Levick, and I tackled related topics.

Here is the written text of my remarks:

How many times have you heard someone say, “Trump is the most pro-Israel president, ever.” Or maybe it was even you who said that to others.

But if you ask people why they believe Trump the most pro-Israel president ever, the answers are less than persuasive.

“Because his daughter and grandchildren are Jewish.”

Well, let’s look at that. Chelsea Clinton’s husband is Jewish and Michelle Obama’s cousin is Rabbi Capers Funye, whom the International Israelite Board of Rabbis declared the “titular head of a worldwide community of Black Jews” of the United States, the Caribbean, South Africa, Uganda and Nigeria, the first black chief rabbi of the 21^st century.

So. The heck. What.

Did Chelsea’s husband’s Jewishness make Hillary pro-Israel?

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Did Michelle Obama’s cousin make her husband pro-Israel?

Is there some blood quantum to this equation? Trump has more Jewish relatives than the Clintons and Obamas—four, counting Jared, to just one in-law for Hillary, and one wife’s cousin for Barack Obama—so that exponentially increases his love for the Jews and Israel?

I can’t really do this sort of math so instead I press Trump supporters to explain to me why Trump’s Jewish relatives make him automatically pro-Israel. “He wouldn’t hurt his own grandchildren,” they say.

But what does that mean? Trump would have to know that his actions hurt his grandchildren in order to refrain from them. Why would he think that hurting Israel would necessarily hurt his grandchildren, whom he likely sees as 100% red-blooded Americans?

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The answer is, he wouldn’t. He’d figure they are safe in America, that those missiles and terror attacks he reads about can’t touch them, so why should he worry what happens to something that’s more of an idea to his grandchildren than a home?

Even more to the point, the infamous Pew poll of 2013 found that only 30% of American Jews feel “very” attached to Israel. I grew up in a very different America where every Jew I knew felt very attached to Israel. Today, over 70% of American Jews identify as liberal. These are the Jews who have a love/hate relationship with Israel. They love Israel, but Israel embarrasses them, because they believe the lies of intersectionality. They believe that Israel is the big bad wolf, and has turned from oppressed to oppressor.

There is no longer this automatic, knee-jerk American Jewish loyalty to Israel that was the background music of my childhood in Pittsburgh and the key to the fact of my Aliyah at age 18. Therefore, it wouldn’t seem like Trump would make the association in his mind that Jews are to Israel as Americans are to apple pie.

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Of course, the Kushners identify as “orthodox” as do two of Trump’s inner circle, namely Jason Greenblatt and David Friedman, both of whom I’m willing to stipulate are pro-settlement. And orthodox Jews are Trump’s Jews.

While 71% of American Jews voted for Hillary, fully half of American Orthodox Jews voted for Trump. On the other hand, the Jews have been no more than 2-4% of the total electorate for the past 20 years. Did Trump have to please the Jews that care about Israel in order to gain a toehold on the presidency? Does he have to please them to stay there for 8 years? Probably not.

But he did and does have to please the Evangelical Christians who voted in numbers 15-20% more than they did in 2012 and did so, it is believed, because they felt Trump would be good for Israel. The white born-agains constitute 26% of the electorate and 81% of them voted for Trump. Since Israel is an important issue to this sector, Trump would be wise to effect a pro-Israel policy.

But there’s a funny thing about Trump and that’s the fact that he also attracts the alt right. This group is marginal. So marginal that no one knows exactly what percentage of the electorate they represent. Some say 1%, if that many. But these gun-totin’ Jew-hatin’ folks are loud and visible on the internet. They wouldn’t want Trump to make Israel the centerpiece of his policy and Trump wouldn’t want to alienate them, since they are so vocal in his favor. He likes that.

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So okay, we’ve got the background: who’s a Jew, who’s in his inner circle, who voted for him, and how all of this relates to Israel. What about Trump himself? What have his words and actions said about Israel?

Well, on October 27, Trump spoke to AIPAC. “We will move the American embassy to the eternal capital of the Jewish people, Jerusalem.”

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But in January he told Sean Hannity that he didn’t want to talk about moving the embassy “It’s too early,” he said.

Now he says, “I’m thinking about it. I’m learning the issue and we’ll see what happens. It’s not an easy decision. It’s been discussed for so many years. No one wants to make this decision, and I’m thinking about it seriously.”

He’s gone from “We’re moving the embassy” to “Whether we should move the embassy.”

Then there’s the problem of how Trump has related to antisemitism. His removal of any reference to the Jewish people in his International Holocaust Day speech. The weak and mild statements made on his behalf by his press secretary about the vandalism at Jewish cemeteries. He’s “disappointed.”

On March 7, every single member of the Senate called on the president to “swiftly act” against the bomb threats, cemetery vandalism, and other expressions of antisemitism. Now why should such a call be necessary? It’s necessary because there’s a perception that Trump isn’t doing enough about the perceived rise in antisemitism. It’s likely he doesn’t want to alienate the alt right, in my opinion, as I can see no other reason for his timidity in this matter.

In Trump’s first address to Congress, on February 28, he opened with remarks about blacks and Jews and a white supremacist shooting. “Recent threats targeting Jewish community centers and vandalism of Jewish cemeteries, as well as last week's shooting in Kansas City, remind us that while we may be a nation divided on policies, we are a country that stands united in condemning hate and evil in all of its very ugly forms,” and that was that. Jews didn’t even merit their own sentence, let alone a paragraph.

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It also bears mention that while you’ve got the Jews in Trump’s inner circle, you’ve also got Mattis. Mattis believes that the U.S. friendship with Israel harms America. He said, “I paid a military security price every day as the commander of CentCom because the Americans were seen as biased in support of Israel, and... moderate Arabs who want to be with us... can’t come out publicly in support of people who don’t show respect for the Arab Palestinians.”

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Mattis also said that if Jews keep building in their ancestral lands Judea and Samaria, Israel will become an Apartheid state. After becoming Trump’s defense secretary, Mattis appointed pro-PLO anti-Israel Anne Patterson as his undersecretary of defense for policy. And though the appointment has since been withdrawn, in 2014, Patterson gave testimony to Congress, defending the PA for paying salaries to terrorists and their families. “They need to provide for the families,” she said.

When Mahmoud Shalan, an Arab terrorist with American citizenship was shot and mortally wounded while attempting to murder Israeli soldiers at a checkpoint, Patterson called Israel out on the carpet, demanding an explanation for Shalan’s death. Steven Flatow, whose daughter Alisa was murdered by Arab terrorists noted that Patterson did not demand an explanation from the PA as to why Shalan, a resident of PA territory, went out to murder Israelis.

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So much for Mattis.

What about David Friedman? Well so far, he’s recanted every strong right wing view he has in the past voiced about Israel just to get through the hearings. It is only natural that he would say he may believe one thing but will act as Trump’s servant, but it isn’t very comforting to those of us who looked at his hopefully soon-to-be confirmed role as US ambassador to Israel. We actually have no idea at this point whether he’ll have any impact on Trump. Still, as my follower Herb Glatter says, “The fact that Trump nominated Friedman speaks volumes to me, hope he is approved.”

This is similar to another follower’s comment on my recent article about Richard Gere, “Hollywood people should be ignored. I hope this will be one outcome of the Trump presidency,” to which I responded, “It’s only gotten worse!”

Then there’s Nikki Haley, Trump’s appointee as UN ambassador who has already said great things that have never been said and needed to be said in the UN, for instance, “I just put out to the members of the Security Council to help me understand: When we have so much going on in the world, why is it that every single month we’re going to sit down and have a hearing where all they do is obsess over Israel?”

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But then she walked back Trump’s walk back of the two-state solution. Seriously? Who needs more of this tired old unworkable idea that pleases neither side? And she said it in Trump’s name.

And I look at the way Trump surprised Israel’s right wing by asking Netanyahu to hold off on settlement building. It was completely unexpected by the Israeli government and they’ve been thrown for a loop. According to the Jewish Press, Israel Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer said, “Trump’s request to restrict settlement expansion caught us by surprise.”

Bibi didn’t expect it. Bayit Yehudi didn’t expect it. And now they’re all between a rock and a hard place. Which is ridiculous. They don’t want to alienate Trump so they’re not going to build. Meantime, there was no way to UN alienate Obama, but they didn’t build for 8 years.

When does Israel get to act like a sovereign nation and build because it needs to build? Because Jews need homes. Because homes are not provocations or obstacles to peace, but only living spaces for Jewish Israelis. It’s ridiculous.

Now there are media reports that Trump told Abbas he sees him as a legitimate leader. You know, the guy whose term in office ended 8 years ago? Trump also told Abbas that he supports a deal that would expand the PLO’s control over Judea, Samaria, and bits and pieces of Jerusalem. During the same call, Trump invited Abbas to the White House for an official visit. The next day, Trump’s administration moved $250m in taxpayer money to the PA.

Apparently because Trump knows he’s seen as pro-Israel, he bolstered his credibility with Abbas by icing plans to move the US embassy to Jerusalem. This is also the apparent reason Trump told Bibi not to build homes for Jews on state lands in their indigenous territory, Judea and Samaria. The next thing Trump did was send Jason Greenblatt to Jerusalem to pressure Bibi not to build a new Jewish settlement in Samaria. While he’s here, Greenblatt will also lay out the framework for another sure-to-fail round of negotiations with Fatah, then off he’ll go to Ramallah to spend quality time with Abbas.

Oh, and by the way, Trump’s orthodox Jewish daughter and son in law are also planning to cozy up to Abbas in Ramallah with a charming little afternoon tête-à-tête during their upcoming visit to Israel.

So here’s the thing: Trump ran on a platform of making America great again. Supposedly this means he doesn’t want to give money to foreign entities. He wants to improve the American economy. Yet he just enriched PLO coffers. Meantime, he talks about the Iran deal being the worst deal ever, yet continues to provide material support to Iran, including, according to Adam Kredo of the Free Beacon, airplanes. I quote:

“The Trump administration's Treasury Department informed the Free Beacon on Monday that it would continue to grant licenses to companies such as Boeing so that they can pursue multi-billion dollar deals with Iran.

“This policy, started by the Obama administration as part of the nuclear deal with Iran, is opposed by many on Capitol Hill and runs counter to campaign trail promises by President Donald Trump to end such agreements.”

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Republican lawmakers are supposedly furious but the White House is remaining mum. Some say it’s about the slow changeover of Treasury and State Department staff positions. But who really knows?

Which is why I didn’t vote for Trump to begin with. He’s uncouth. He has no experience in government and no one actually knows what he will do in office, despite the messianic fervor of his die-hard supporters. I almost voted for Hillary to keep him OUT of office. I figured that with Hillary, we’d get the devil we know. With her, we knew we’d be getting more of the same. No surprises.

With Trump? So far he’s taken Israel by surprise in asking us not to build. We don’t know what the future holds. In fact, we’re still walking on egg shells with him every bit as much as we did with his predecessor in the Oval Office, for all the protestations of Jew-love and friendship.

Bibi and Trump made for a great photo op, but what have we really to show for that trip? More airplanes to Iran. And no homes for the people of Amona.

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Wonka Loses Kosher Certification Over Refusal To Admit Human Inspector (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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: Credit: LateralusAD via Wikimedia Commons

New York, March 15 - The Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, the world's largest provider of supervision and certification for food products deemed to adhere to Jewish dietary law, has withheld its approbation from the renowned confections of manufacturer Wonka Enterprises over the latter's insistence that no human enter the plant to conduct the necessary oversight.

A spokesman for the OU, as it is generally known, told reporters that talks with Willy Wonka had broken down over the requirement that the organization's inspector be granted access to all parts of the manufacturing process for the products it would certify as kosher. Wonka, he explained, refused to compromise on his policy of allowing only his Oompa-Loompa staff and select trained wildlife to enter the compound.

"Kosher certification is based on complete transparency of the manufacturing process and the provenance of the ingredients used in that manufacture," explained Rabbi Menachem Genack, head of the OU's Kashrut Division. "Without direct visual access to all relevant sections of the production facility, we cannot certify that any Wonka products meet the criteria for kosher certification. All of our mashgichim maintain strict confidentiality, such that industrial espionage, which Mr. Wonka has previously indicated he views as a paramount concern, remains irrelevant. At this time we have no choice but to withhold our certification of any Wonka products as kosher."

Rabbi Genack declined to comment on the substance of the talks, but alluded to the main sticking point. "In keeping with Jewish law and the character of evidence it accepts, we are unable to train Oompa-Loompas to serve as mashgichim. While doing so might allay Mr. Wonka's espionage concerns, the laws of kashrut do not permit non-Jews, who are not bound to adhere to it, to attest to the kosher or on-kosher status of food," he continued. "Furthermore, engaging as a mashgiach someone already beholden to the entity under supervision constitutes a conflict of interest that negates his reliability."

Official word on the product lines under consideration for kosher status was not forthcoming, but an OU staffer with knowledge of the talks, speaking on condition of anonymity, disclosed that the first line would include the Scrumdiddlyumptious bar, the Everlasting Gobstopper, Television Chocolate, and Square Candies That Look Round, with later additions to the roster to include edible buttercups and grass, lickable wallpaper, and Fizzy Lifting Drinks. Difficulties with meat-milk mixtures, as well as the intricacies of kosher meat, preclude certification of three-course-meal gum as kosher.

No comment was forthcoming from Wonka Enterprises, which cultivates a reputation for reclusiveness and secrecy.

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03/15 Links Pt1: The diabolical PA/EU plan for Area C; Does Iran Really Respect Jews?

From Ian:

The diabolical PA/EU plan for Area C

Now I don’t want to ruin anyone’s vacation, but the next time you are heading for some R&R at the Dead Sea via Jerusalem, pay close attention to the scenery on the sides of the road.
Over the past decade there has been a huge upsurge in the number of structures going up in illegal Beduin villages and encampments on both sides of Highway 1, from the entrance to the city through what is known as the “E1” area between Jerusalem and the “Adumims” all the way down the mountain toward the Dead Sea.
So why should some illegal Beduin structures spoil your trip? Because these aren’t just small herding communities as they would appear, but strategically placed mini-towns set up by the Palestinian Authority and financed by the European Union to the tune of hundreds of millions of euros, with the explicit goal of taking over strategic lands in Area C with the aim of creating a de facto Palestinian state.
This plot is clearly outlined in a lengthy 2009 policy paper by then Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad. Known as the Fayyad Plan, the logic was that by creating substantial facts on the ground, the PA with the support of the international community would lay claim to those areas, and demand that they be part of “Palestine” in any future negotiations with Israel.
And that’s where the EU comes in – to serve as the key financier of the project. Over 1,000 illegal structures – including houses, bathrooms, storage spaces, etc., with more being erected nearly daily throughout Judea and Samaria, now proudly bear the EU flag. The EU’s false claim is that it is involved in these building endeavors for “humanitarian purposes” to provide for the Beduin in these areas.
Ironic though, that the EU symbol can only be seen on structures in Area C; none can be found in areas A or B, nor can they be found in Beduin communities throughout the rest of the Middle East. It makes you wonder.

Does Iran Really Respect Jews?

Praise for having a Jewish representative in parliament is just as misplaced. When I attended synagogue as a student in Iran, members of the Jewish community did not trust the representative. His sole purpose seemed to be to pass pronouncements from the government to the synagogues and to be cited to deflect attention from Iran’s fairly horrendous human rights record.
Beyond that, though, is Iran safe for Jews? It depends. Pogroms—as vicious as any in Eastern Europe—characterized nineteenth century Iran. Then there were the restrictive rules: In 1889, for example, the government prohibited Jews in Isfahan from going outside on wet days lest rainwater spread their impurity. Jews were also forbidden from touching food, speaking loudly, or purchasing any goods in the market. (Daniel Tsadik provides an excellent account of modern Jewish history in his 2007 book, Between Foreigners and Shi‘is; Habib Levy’s Comprehensive History of the Jews of Iran remains a masterpiece).
It is true that, at times, Iran was a relative haven for the Jews. The irony here, though, is that it was the regime that Zarif represents not only overthrew an Iranian state that allowed its Jewish minority to thrive, but also sought to close the door on the laudable regimes of the distant past. Zarif now presumes to cite that history for the expressed purpose of demonizing the democratically-elected leader of a state whose existence Zarif refuses to recognize and whose genocidal enemies he arms and encourages.
There is something very wrong in the world when Zarif is taken seriously on matters of communal harmony and religious peace.

Iran’s Jewish lawmaker: Netanyahu an ‘insane vampire’

The Jewish member of Iran’s parliament called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an “insane vampire” for saying that Iran seeks the annihilation of the Jews, just as ancient Persia did in the Purim story.
“Netanyahu is an insane vampire drowned in crimes from head to toe, and the recent remarks made by the racist Israeli prime minister is not surprising to me,” Siamak Mareh Sedq, who represents the Jews of Iran in the government, said Tuesday during an open session of parliament, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported.
Mareh Sedq also asserted that in contradiction to Netanyahu’s statements against Iran, anti-Semitism and racism have never been witnessed in the Iranian culture.
On Saturday night, the start of the Purim holiday, Netanyahu visited an Israeli synagogue, where he told children celebrating Purim that Iran seeks to kill the Jews just as the Persians did.
Netanyahu: Iran is responsible for more than 80% of Israel's security problems (credit: GPO)
Mareh Sedq followed his nation’s foreign minister in castigating Netanyahu.
“To sell bigoted lies against a nation which has saved Jews 3 times, Netanyahu resorting to fake history & falsifying Torah. Force of habit,” Mohammed Javad Zarif tweeted in English on Sunday.

Last night I hosted a symposium on the topic, "Donald Trump: Good for the Jews?"

The four panelists who gave talks were Brian of London from Israellycool, Varda Meyers Epstein from EoZ, and well-known media analysts Gidon Shaviv and Adam Levick.

I was fortunate to have in the audience famous British journalist and author Melanie Phillips, who made some cogent points in the discussions.

There was some spirited discussion between the panelists as well as between panelists and the audience of around 35 people who came.

Here is my introduction, where I frame the discussion and say some of my own opinions of Trump. When I get a chance I'll post the other segments but probably not until next week,

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From YNet:

Six North African bloggers and journalists have arrived in Israel as guests of the foreign ministry at the invitation of the Deputy Spokesman for Arab Media, Hassan Kaabiya.

This is the sixth such initiative undertaken to bring Arabic-language media representatives to Israel.

Until now, journalists from Morocco have come to Israel, but this is the first time journalists from Algeria and Tunisia have paid a visit.

Members of the delegation visited the Old City of Jerusalem and the Temple Mount Monday as part of their tour. Additionally, they visited Yad Vashem and are expected to tour the foreign ministry, the Supreme Court and the Knesset on Tuesday.

Arab newspaper Rai al Youm is very upset. It coverage of the story starts off with the lament,

It seems that Arab normalization with Israel has become the rule, while considering it a rogue state is the exception. It is not limited to the Arab regimes at peace with Israel but beyond that, with media missions from Arab countries that have no diplomatic relations. ...Unlike in the past, the Arab media visits to Israel are done openly, and Arab journalists who arrive in Tel Aviv agree to publish their pictures in the official sites of the Jewish state, and specifically on the social networking of Facebook pages and Twitter.

The article goes on to say that IDF's Unit 8200 has soldiers making contact with Arabs worldwide in order to convince them that Israelis are normal people, or, as the article describes it, "psychological warfare."

Based on this article, it is working!

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Let's wish Abu Al-Hawa Ahmad a Mazal Tov

I saw this posted on a bulletin board in the hotel I'm staying in:

"Mazal Tov, 13-3-17, Abu Al-Hawa Ahmad."

Presumably Mr. Ahmad was getting married, or perhaps his son was. (I don't think it is a birth announcement because I saw this sign a few days ago before March 13.)

Jews are wishing a Mazal Tov to their Muslim co-worker.

And it is not the least bit strange - unless you get all your information about Israel from the mainstream media.

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Ahlam Tamimi is one of the most notorious and heinous terrorists who drove the suicide bomber to blow up the Sbarro's restaurant in August 2001.

Tamimi, part of the Tamimi clan that is lauded regularly in Western media and by NGOs for their "non-violent resistance," is joyful about her role in murdering 16 people including children.

She was released in the Gilad Shalit deal and now lives in Jordan, working as a journalist.

On Tuesday, the US Justice Department released this statement:

A criminal complaint was unsealed today charging Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi, also known as “Khalti” and “Halati,” a Jordanian national in her mid-30s, with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction against U.S. nationals outside the U.S., resulting in death. The charge is related to the defendant’s participation in an Aug. 9, 2001, suicide bomb attack at a pizza restaurant in Jerusalem that killed 15 people, including two U.S. nationals. Four other U.S. nationals were among the approximately 122 others injured in the attack. Also unsealed today was a warrant for Al-Tamimi’s arrest and an affidavit in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrant. The criminal charge had been under seal since July 15, 2013.

Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security Mary B. McCord, U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips for the District of Columbia and Assistant Director in Charge Andrew Vale of the FBI’s Washington Field Office made the announcement.

“Al-Tamimi is an unrepentant terrorist who admitted to her role in a deadly terrorist bombing that injured and killed numerous innocent victims. Two Americans were killed and four injured. The charges unsealed today serve as a reminder that when terrorists target Americans anywhere in the world, we will never forget – and we will continue to seek to ensure that they are held accountable,” said Acting Assistant Attorney General McCord. “I want to thank the many dedicated agents and prosecutors who have worked on this investigation.”

“We have never forgotten the American and non-American victims of this awful terrorist attack,” said U.S. Attorney Phillips. “We will continue to remain vigilant until Ahlam Aref Ahmad Al-Tamimi is brought to justice.”

“Al-Tamimi is a terrorist who participated in an attack that killed United States citizens,” said Assistant Director in Charge Vale. “The bombing that she planned and assisted in carrying out on innocent people, including children, furthered the mission of a designated terrorist organization. The FBI continues to work with our international partners to combat terrorists like Al-Tamimi and hold them accountable.”

According to the affidavit in support of the criminal complaint and arrest warrant, Al-Tamimi was living in the West Bank in the summer of 2001, while attending school and working as a journalist for a television station. Al-Tamimi agreed that summer to carry out attacks on behalf of the military wing of Hamas (the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades), a Palestinian organization designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization.

The affidavit states that on Aug. 9, 2001, Al-Tamimi met with the suicide bomber in Ramallah, in the West Bank, and traveled with the suicide bomber by car to Jerusalem. The suicide bomber was in possession of an explosive device concealed within a guitar. Al-Tamimi led the suicide bomber to a crowded area in downtown Jerusalem and instructed the suicide bomber to detonate the explosive device in the area, or somewhere nearby if an opportunity arose to cause more casualties. According to the affidavit, the suicide bomber entered a Sbarro pizza restaurant and detonated the explosive device, causing extensive damage, bodily injury and death. Seven of the dead were children, including one U.S. national.

The affidavit states that Al-Tamimi pleaded guilty in an Israeli court in 2003 to multiple counts of murder arising from the Sbarro suicide bomb attack and was sentenced to 16 life terms of incarceration. The defendant served only eight years of the sentence before being released on or about Oct. 28, 2011, as part of a prisoner exchange between the government of Israel and Hamas.

Al-Tamimi was returned to Jordan upon her release from incarceration. Jordan’s courts, however, have ruled that their constitution forbids the extradition of Jordanian nationals. The U.S. has worked and will continue to work with its foreign partners to obtain custody of Al-Tamimi so she can be held accountable for her role in the terrorist bombing. The FBI also announced today that Al-Tamimi has been placed on its list of Most Wanted Terrorists.

Arnold Roth, whose daughter Malki was murdered in the attack and who established a foundation in her memory, told Legal Insurrection:

My wife and I were aware from about 2005 of efforts to have the mastermind of the Sbarro pizzeria massacre released on one spurious basis or another. Our daughter Malki was murdered there at the age of 15. We wrote and spoke against the idea of convicted terrorists being released early dozens of times and in several countries. Then in 2011 the Shalit Deal took shape. Israel catastrophically gave in to Hamas’ demands and Ahlam Tamimi’s name was in the walk-free list.

We were shattered. Even before the deal was done, we predicted what this might mean and, in the years since then, most of what we feared has come to pass. In fact, in some ways, the reality has been even worse than that.

We first approached the Department of Justice via a personal meeting with a large group of its senior people in Washington some months after the Shalit Deal was done. That was in early 2012. We asked for Tamimi to be brought up on charges in the United States. Our daughter was a US citizen, and the Koby Mandell Act requires US authorities in such situations to go after the terrorists wherever they are and bring them to court to face US justice
.
Five years later, it’s apparent that a sealed complaint was already been filed with a Washington DC court within about a year of that first meeting and prior to several subsequent meetings we had with them. We got vague messages that expressed support for what we wanted but no actionable information. We were immensely frustrated. We have a better understanding of why things were done that way.

It’s evident as of today that the government’s lawyers are seriously intent on pursuing the Tamimi prosecution, and have been making vigorous efforts in secret. The obstacle is clear: Tamimi lives in Jordan where she was born, where most of her family lives and where the vast majority of the population call themselves Palestinians. The government of Jordan does not want to see her extradited. Our understanding is they are not co-operating with DoJ’s efforts.

This is about justice in the truest sense of the word. When it affects others and not you, justice can seem an abstract notion. But it’s not an abstraction. Civilized societies cannot function when justice is trampled.

We know there is more work to be done.

I am puzzled by the DOJ's assertion that Jordan’s courts... have ruled that their constitution forbids the extradition of Jordanian nationals." Jordan's constitution says in Article 21(1) that “[p]olitical refugees shall not be extradited on account of their political beliefs or for their defense of liberty."

Tamimi is not a political refugee.

Moreover, the US has an extradition treaty with Jordan from 1995 that specifically includes terrorists like Tamimi. President Clinton described it in his letter of submittal of the treaty:

With a view to receiving the advice and consent of the Senate to ratification, I transmit herewith the Extradition Treaty between the Government of the United States of America and the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, signed at Washington on March 28, 1995.
Also transmitted for the information of the Senate is the report of the Department of State with respect to this Treaty. The Treaty establishes the conditions and procedures for extradition between the United States and Jordan. It also provides a legal basis for temporarily surrendering prisoners to stand trial for crimes against the laws of the Requesting State.
The Treaty further represents an important step in combatting terrorism by excluding from the scope of the political offense exception serious offenses typically committed by terrorists, e.g., crimes against a Head of State or first family member of either Party, aircraft hijacking, aircraft sabotage, crimes against internationally protected persons, including diplomats, hostage-taking, narcotics trafficking, and other offenses for which the United States and Jordan have an obligation to extradite or submit to prosecution by reason of a multilateral international agreement or treaty.

If Jordan is refusing to extradite Ahlam Tamimi, it isn't because it is against Jordanian law. It is because they don't consider her a terrorist.

The pressure on Jordan to extradite her should be relentless and very public. Force King Abdullah to state publicly that he refuses to cooperate with seeing justice served to a proud terrorist while he pretends that he is a partner in the war on terror. No amount of secret background negotiations will get anywhere - this must be made into an issue that would expose the Arab world's support for murderers of Jewish children.

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.

03/14 Links Pt2: Israel, the country US liberal Jews love to criticize; When Feminists Were Zionists

From Ian:

Prof. Phyllis Chesler: Israel, the country US liberal Jews love to criticize

As someone who has long been on record as both a feminist and a Zionist, I know how hard it is to maintain both loyalties. Increasingly, what passes for both left-liberal “feminism” and “Zionism,” has been taken over by poisonous, pro-Palestinian propaganda and by a suicidal alliance with Jew-haters, Jew-killers, and barbaric misogynists.
I chose not to write about the faux-feminist Women’s Marches of 2017, but I did give two interviews about the issues involved. I experienced some immediate blowback—all on the same day and within hours of each other.
A feminist artist sent round a spirited defense of convicted Palestinian terrorist, Rasmea Odeh, who joined Linda Sarsour as a feminist leader (!) on International Women’s Day. Based on “false news” at Snopes, she and other left feminists are happily persuaded that the Israelis sexually tortured this woman and her father for 45 days before Odeh issued a false confession. To them, Odeh is a hero of the Resistance.
The idea that feminists might believe that the Israelis did something like this was sickening, but even more so, due to their relative silence about the tortures perpetrated by ISIS, Boko Haram, and the Pakistani and Afghan Taliban on women.

2013: When Feminists Were Zionists

In June 1975, weeks after Saigon fell, Betty Friedan led a large delegation of American feminists to Mexico City for an International Woman’s Year World Conference hosted by the United Nations. The feminist trailblazer—whose legacy is in the spotlight on International Women’s Day today, 50 years after the publication of her book The Feminine Mystique—traveled south “relatively naïve,” she would recall, hoping “to help advance the worldwide movement of women to equality.” Instead, she endured what she called “one of the most painful experiences in my life.”
The conference’s anti-Americanism, anti-Semitism, and anti-Zionism shocked Freidan—and diverted attention from the feminist agenda. Men, political spouses, or “female flunkies,” she noted, dominated most official delegations. Few of the delegates seemed interested in women’s issues. American feminists were mocked as spoiled bourgeois elites raising marginal concerns to avoid confronting more pressing issues of racism, imperialism, colonialism, and poverty. A thuggish atmosphere intimidated the American feminists, especially in the parallel NGO, or non-governmental organization, conference. At critical moments “microphones were turned off” and speakers shouted down. Friedan recalled in notes found in her papers, which formed the basis of her famous article “Scary Doings in Mexico City”: “the way they were making it impossible for women to speak—on the most innocent, straightforward of women’s concerns, seemed fascist—like to me, the menace of the goosestep.” Friedan saw the Israeli prime minister’s wife, Leah Rabin, booed and boycotted, and she watched, horrified, as the “Declaration on the Equality of Women” became one of the first international documents to label Zionism as a form of racism.
When Third World and Communist delegates moved to link the Ten-Year Plan of Action for Women to the abolition of “imperialism, neocolonialism, racism, apartheid, and Zionism,” some feminist voices finally broke the silence. One European woman delegate told Friedan: “That is clear anti-Semitism, and we will have no part of it.” “If Zionism is to be included in the final declaration, we cannot understand why sexism was not included,” T.W.M. Tirika-tene-Sullivan, heading the New Zealand delegation, shouted. Lacking a two-thirds majority, the Arab and Communist delegates forced through a procedural change requiring only a majority vote to approve a declaration so that the anti-Zionist plank could pass.

Pro-Palestinian activist: Support for Israel and feminism are incompatible

Liberal American Jews, many of whom are involved in causes for gender and racial justice, have recently found themselves alienated by those movements’ stances on Israel.
That conflict was seen last year when a platform associated with the Black Lives Matter movement accused Israel of committing “genocide” against the Palestinians and called it an “apartheid state.” The platform drew ire from Jewish groups who had previously expressed support for BLM’s goals of racial justice.
Now the same conflict is playing out with feminist groups whose cause has gained steam since the election of President Donald Trump. A platform for the U.S. affiliate of the International Women’s Strike — a grassroots feminist movement that organized events around the world last Wednesday — calls “for the decolonization of Palestine.”
Responding Monday to critics of the Palestine plank in a platform devoted to women’s rights, Palestinian-American activist Linda Sarsour, an organizer of January’s Women’s March on Washington who also helped plan the Women’s Strike, came forth with a harsh message: feminism and Zionism simply don’t go together.
In an interview with The Nation, Sarsour said those who identify as Zionist cannot be feminist because they are ignoring the rights of Palestinian women.

Dear Linda Sarsour: Feminism and Zionism go hand in hand

Linda, when you mentioned your “Palestinian grandmother who lives in occupied territory” during your speech at the Women’s March in Washington, D.C., I was upset. It felt to me that you were using that incredible historical moment and the spotlight that it shined on you as an opportunity to bash Israel. After Black Lives Matter inserted its own delegitimization of Israel in their publicized platform a few months earlier, your speech left me seriously wondering if there could be a single political movement for a positive cause that I and so many other Jews and lovers of Israel support that doesn’t take advantage of its time on the world stage to launch attacks at Israel.
But people told me I shouldn’t react that way, that your statement wasn’t anti-Israel and didn’t make you anti-Israel. That you were just sharing your personal identity and family story and that I shouldn’t let that taint my view of you or the modern women’s movement you are helping to lead.
And then there was the desecration of the Jewish cemetery in St. Louis on in response to which you raised $100,000. And I was humbled. And impressed. Maybe I was wrong, I thought to myself. Maybe you really don’t have that hate in your heart I thought you did.
But you yourself have proven me wrong. You do have that hate in your heart. And it burns for Zion. And Zionism. And anyone who considers herself a Zionist, a lover and a supporter of the one country in our world created to take on the role of safeguarding the Jewish people (because no other country would). Because in your view, if you are a Zionist then you are not and cannot be a true feminist.
That’s funny, because I know plenty of strong women who stand up and demand and receive the equal voice, rights and opportunities that they deserve as women, as human beings, and as part of God’s great creation.
And you know what, Linda, these women are Jewish and they are Zionists. And their Zionism and their feminism go hand in hand.

I had never told him how important it was for us to hug him after the war.

Yesterday I did.

More than two years after, no longer a soldier, he says he sometimes hears explosions all around him.

More than two years later, Lenny’s sons are in the army and preparing for the army. We don’t know if the next war will be with Hamas in Gaza or Hezbollah in Lebanon (or heaven forbid both). We don’t know when it will happen. We do know that it will …

How many people understand what we go through? Can you?

This is what I wrote, then (August 11, 2014)….

“So tomorrow we can go see him and hug him” I said. Lenny had woken me up to tell me that Haim had come home from Gaza [Operation Protective Edge].

Haim is the son of one of Lenny’s childhood friends. I’ve known Haim almost a decade. Lenny has known him since infancy. He was always charismatic. Even as a small child. Haim has a friendly charm that makes you smile and an exuberant personality that can’t be ignored.

He is a paratrooper and was one of the IDF soldiers on the ground in Gaza. Now he had come home.

Haim is just a few years older than Lenny’s sons and because of this Lenny had a visceral reaction to his life being in danger on the frontline. He imagined more vividly than ever before what it will be like to be in the position of a parent trying to go about his daily life, choked with fear for his son’s life. Every news update, every rumor on social media, every phone call and knock on the door could bring life shattering news: your beloved is injured, or worse, dead. You cannot protect your child or take the danger away. You are left behind, waiting, never knowing until the moment he walks back in the door and you can, once again, wrap your arms around him and hold him tight.

We went to see Haim the next day. It is hard to explain in words but it had become really important to look at him, to hug him. Maybe it was a need to see that he would be ok and in one piece. Too many of our soldiers did not come home. Too many came home not whole – arms or legs amputated, eyes damaged, hearing damaged…

Remembering the child, it was startling to see the man standing in front of us. Young but no longer a boy, Gaza had changed him.

Firstborn and the only boy, Haim had always been the delight of his family. Now they all crowded around him, talking, not really knowing what to say… excited. Watching them, it was like I was seeing two different worlds collide. Haim was in the midst of his loving family but he was also alone. None of them could ever know exactly what he went through in Gaza, only the people who were there with him could really understand.

His mother talked about the horrible heat he had to endure, the powder-like sand that got on and in everything, the inability to take a shower or change clothes. These all were certainly bothersome but they were the least of his worries. What is a sore and itching body compared to coming home alive or getting killed?

Even his father, grandfather or other Israeli men wouldn’t understand completely because the tactics used by the Hamas in Gaza are different from what was in previous wars. This was not the battle of soldiers meeting each other on a battlefield it wasn’t even like previously seen urban combat. The enemy hid behind and amongst civilians, sending children and mentally handicapped to shoot and throw grenades at soldiers. Women suicide bombers were sent to explode themselves in order to kill soldiers. Regular homes were weapons caches and launching pads for missiles. The Hamas hid in their tunnels in attempt to ambush IDF soldiers, to kill and take hostages. Everywhere they went, everything was booby trapped with explosives. Israel gave the Gazans so much advance warning of where the IDF would be focusing their efforts that it became easy for Hamas to prepare explosives in every place they wanted to stop the IDF (tunnel entrances, weapons stores etc.).

Haim told us of bullets flying, RPG rockets aimed at him and his fellow soldiers. He said: “It was like walking in to an American action movie – only real.” He told us of how terrorists tried to ambush them via one of their terror-tunnels (as they did when Hadar Goldin, Benaya Sarel and Liel Gidoni were killed). “We stopped them [unlike those who hadn’t managed to do so before it was too late],” said Haim. “We killed them.”

Haim said: “Gaza is full of miracles. We experienced lots of miracles.” Most people think of miracles as something spectacular that happens. He was talking about all the things that didn’t happen. The bullets that didn’t hit them. The terrorists that failed in their ambushes. The explosives, meant to kill them that simply didn’t explode. He told us of a house they had to enter – the whole ceiling was covered in gas balloons rigged to explode. They were meant to cause an explosion that would have incinerated the building and all the soldiers inside. But they didn’t explode. Haim and all the soldiers with him should have been dead. But they weren’t.

Thank God for miracles!

Haim’s family all had their opinions about the war with Hamas, what should and shouldn’t be done. Haim, the only one who had actually been in Gaza this time around, remained silent. When asked directly he said: “We successfully completed every task given to us. If now we are asked to do more, we will.”

His mother visibly paled at the thought of him having to go back but remained silent. She knew that he had only 48 hours to be at home and that wherever he’ll be sent, it will be dangerous. If he has to go back to Gaza, he will. If not, he will be sent to other, difficult and risky tasks. He will go because it is his turn. In two years Lenny’s sons will also go.

Each soldier has parents, brothers, sisters, wives and children that worry themselves sick each time their beloved is called up. No one wants to go to battle. In Israel it is necessary to do so because the lives of all our people are threatened. We are not protecting political strategic locations overseas. Our soldiers are protecting their own homes, their mothers and fathers, their wives and children.

What does victory mean to you? This image, making the rounds of Israeli social media, clearly shows what we fight for…

People who hate Israel look at IDF soldiers as brutal tools of an aggressive nation. People who love Israel tend to see the strength of our soldiers. Many know of their morality and decency. Few see the gut wrenching pain of the parents (and wives) who send their beloved to protect the nation, knowing he may never return. Few realize how much we need miracles to bring them back home again…

How ironic that the Israeli people, widely accused of war-mongering aggression, so deeply desire to see the day when we will no longer have to fight.

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.

03/14 Links Pt1: Arab Factions Praise Jordanian Terrorist for Killing Israeli Schoolgirls; Obama's Legacy, a Nuclear Iran?

From Ian:

Arab Factions Praise Jordanian Terrorist for Killing Israeli Schoolgirls

After his release from prison on Saturday, Muslim Brotherhood and Palestinian factions praised a Jordanian terrorist who shot and killed seven Israeli schoolgirls and injured six others in 1997.
“The Islamic resistance movement Hamas hails the Arab hero Ahmed Daqamseh on his release and gaining his freedom. We greet his noble struggle, his historic steadfastness and his heroic positions on Jerusalem and Palestine and the Resistance of the Palestinian people,” a Hamas press statement said, as translated by the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
Following his release, Daqamseh said that Israelis were “human garbage vomited into our midst by the world’s nations,” and called for the death of Israelis “whether by burning or by burying,” in comments translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
The Muslim Brotherhood’s political wing in Jordan also rejoiced at Daqamseh’s release.
“The [Islamic Action] Party greets the people of Jordan and the family of the hero Ahmed Damaqseh on his release from prison after his sentence, and welcomes his return to practice his national role alongside the free men of this nation in construction and achievement,” according to a translation of an Islamic Action Party statement.
Even the “moderate” Palestinian Fatah Party glorified the Jordanian terrorist, and justified the murder of Israeli schoolchildren.
“It may be noted that the soldier Daqamseh opened fire on the group of girls because they made fun of him during his prayers, according to his testimony at the time,” a Fatah statement said.

Obama's Legacy, a Nuclear Iran?

Sadly, the American public remained largely oblivious to these blunders as the administration's echo chamber strategy proved extremely effective with most pundits—except a few very notable exceptions—expressing unmitigated support for the JCPOA in line with administration talking points and positions. The arms control and nonproliferation community, which should have been at the forefront of the debate, pointing out all the deal's weaknesses and potential pitfalls, was in the main uncritically lured by the administration's propaganda. On a broader level, Obama's heavy-handed delegitimization of any and all criticism and his aggressive pushing of the deal in Congress have left domestic political scars, including among Democrats, that add to the president's dismal Iranian legacy.
Obama's only achievement lies in kicking the nuclear can down the road to future administrations. But he created a reality in which it will be far more difficult to stop Iran down that road. With its nuclear program legitimized by the JCPOA, Tehran is much better poised to forge ahead at a time of its choosing. For contrary to Obama's emphatic statements, the JCPOA does not end Tehran's nuclear ambitions, nor has it lived up to the president's hope of ushering in a new era in U.S.-Iranian relations.
The challenge for the Trump administration is to try to reverse some of these negative trends. In making the best of a bad situation, the preferred route at this point—after Tehran has already pocketed billions of dollars—would be neither to renounce the deal nor try to renegotiate it but, rather, to enforce it strictly as well as strengthen its provisions. Much can be achieved by reversing the Obama administration's approach to Iran—recognizing Tehran's overt hostility to U.S. interests and responding with firm determination to its provocations beyond the direct context of the JCPOA.
These, however, are but general guidelines for future U.S. policy on this issue. After the damage wrought by the Obama administration, the road ahead will be strewn with difficulties, and there are no shortcuts or magic solutions for redressing the situation.

Do Supporters of Palestine Accept Indiscriminate Murder?

Last week he received in his Ramallah office the family of Muhammad Al-Jallad, who was shot to death while trying to carry out a stabbing. Abbas also met a 14-year-old, Osama Zaidat, who was wounded while attempting to stab civilians. In a widely circulated photograph, Abbas appears to be embracing Osama.
Abbas says that freeing the prisoners convicted by Israel is a major priority for him. At a conference in December he said, “We remember the martyrs, the wounded and the prisoners and their record. We salute our brave prisoners and respect them. We will not forget our fighting comrades.” So official Palestine stands firmly behind erratic, indiscriminate homicide.
In the 1990s Yasser Arafat, the founder of the Palestine Liberation Organization, began providing educational benefits for convicted terrorists to help them find work after their release from jail. Eventually rehabilitation expanded so that the Palestinian Agency paid the convicts generous regular salaries. A recent article in The Jerusalem Post said, “Ironically, what started out two decades ago under the pretense of a PA program to rehabilitate Palestinians convicted of violence against Israelis has become an incentive program for committing acts of terrorism.”
Many of those who admire the Palestinians from a distance must imagine them as likeable victims, people just campaigning for the rights they believe they deserve. But the true story is much more complicated.