Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, August 22, 2017

08/22 Links Pt2: Dershowitz: Liberals have a special obligation to condemn bigotry of the Left; Boteach: Where is your ‘fire and fury’ when it comes to Nazis?

From Ian:

Alan Dershowitz: Liberals have a special obligation to condemn bigotry of the Left

Famed lawyer Alan Dershowitz said Sunday that liberals had a special obligation to condemn bigotry on the left side of the political spectrum, just as President Trump did for those on the right who claim to speak on his behalf.
"I don't want to make moral equivalence," Dershowitz told AM 970's John Catsimatidis, responding to a question about the Charlottesville violence and the ensuing national conversation around race relations and Confederate monuments. "But having said that, that doesn't give a pass to the people on the hard left, who are themselves engaged in violence and also some bigotry of their own."
He continued, saying Confederate statues needed to be put in context -- for example, in a museum -- rather than simply being destroyed.
Turning to the Russian probe, Dershowitz said that special counsel Robert Mueller was endangering democracy because the investigation could criminalize politics.
"The idea of trying to create crimes just because we disagree with (President Trump) politically and target him really endangers democracy," Dershowitz said. "We should only be using the criminal justice system against obvious crimes, crimes that are not stretched and manufactured to fit a particular person."

2016: Black Lives Matter blindsides Jewish supporters with anti-Israel platform

The Black Lives Matter movement blindsided its Jewish supporters with the recent unveiling of its social and political policy agenda, a far-left manifesto that strays well beyond police brutality and accuses Israel of “genocide” and “apartheid.”
“The U.S. justifies and advances the global war on terror via its alliance with Israel and is complicit in the genocide taking place against the Palestinian people,” said the platform’s “Invest-Divest” policy brief.
Through foreign aid to Israel, which the platform describes as an “apartheid state,” Americans are made “complicit in the abuses committed by the Israeli government,” the brief says.
The strong anti-Israel language stunned liberal Jews, many of whom have expressed support for the Black Lives Matter movement’s protests against shootings by police of unarmed black men.
“It is a real tragedy that Black Lives Matter — which has done so much good in raising awareness of police abuses — has now moved away from its central mission and has declared war against the nation state of the Jewish people,” said Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan M. Dershowitz in a Friday column in The Boston Globe.
He called on the Movement for Black Lives coalition to rescind the anti-Israel component of the platform, issued Aug. 1 and backed by 67 groups, including Color of Change, which is funded by top Democratic Party donors George Soros and the Center for American Progress.

Shmuley Boteach: President Trump, where is your ‘fire and fury’ when it comes to Nazis?

After withering and justified criticism for calling some of the protesters at a neo-Nazi march in Charlottesville “some very fine people,” US President Donald Trump has a unique opportunity to re-establish his moral credibility as a leader through an eloquent condemnation of racism, neo-Nazism and white supremacy. He should devote an entire address to a complete and utter condemnation of racism and bigotry and reaffirm the American and biblical proclamation of all people being created equally in the image of God. It is in this spirit that I suggest the following:
My fellow Americans.
Last weekend we witnessed one of the truly shameful episodes in modern American history. A group of white nationalists and racists tried to emulate Hitler’s torchlight parade of January 1933 upon becoming chancellor of Germany, right here in America. The torchlight parade of Hitler’s followers and SS marked the beginning of the darkest period in the history of humankind.
That any American group would seek to copy that procession to make a political statement demonstrates that hatred and bigotry continue to flourish not just far away in Europe but here in the United States. But events only cascaded from there, with the demonstrations turning violent and an innocent and courageous woman, Heather Heyer, who had a reputation for fighting injustice, losing her life when a hate-filled racist assailant rammed his car into a crowd of counter-demonstrators.
I am the first American president to have Jewish children. My daughter Ivanka was not born Jewish. Rather, she chose to become a Jew. This was a decision that I supported fully and although I am not Jewish myself I put on a kosher Jewish wedding for her and her husband who is now my senior adviser in the White House. Since then, I have watched my Jewish grandchildren celebrating Hanukka and Passover and I have personally witnessed the richness of Jewish life. Millions of parents were robbed of the opportunity to watch children grow up and millions of children were denied the opportunity to be hugged and loved by parents because of the white supremacist cancer known as Nazism that was allowed to grow unchecked in Europe.
Let me be clear: I will never allow bigotry of any kind to flourish in the United States.

Kuwaitis allowing a few dozen Palestinians to work after expelling 400,000 in 1991

During the Gulf war, the 400,000 Palestinian residents of Kuwait fled or were forced to leave because they were fans of Saddam Hussein.

For some reason this event isn't described as a "naqba" or by any other similar name.

Now, 25 years later, Kuwait is allowing a trickle to come back - because it needs teachers. And it is downplaying its human rights violations, just like Palestinians themselves have.

Palestinian teachers are returning to Kuwait, ending an absence that spanned over a quarter of a century, to join their counterparts from Kuwait and other nationalities to contribute to the development of education. The government of Kuwait agreed to re-hire Palestinian teachers, many of whom left the country during Iraq’s 1990-91 invasion and occupation of Kuwait, thus paving the way for the Ministry of Education to contact the Palestinian embassy to recruit the teachers.

MP Dr Mohammad Al-Huwailah, Chairman of the Education Committee at the National Assembly, said he was confident the Palestinian teachers would boost educational level in Kuwait. “We in the educational parliamentary committee are keen on recruiting excellent teachers from abroad, in addition to emphasizing on the special role of the Kuwaiti teachers,” he said in previous press remarks.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, in a statement earlier this month, rallied behind the teachers who are on their way to Kuwait, a nation that had heavily depended on Palestinian educators years ago.
“Kuwait fondly recollects Palestinian contributions to pedagogy and the passion with which Palestinian instructors have imparted their knowledge to the people of Kuwait,” Abbas told the contingent of teachers. He noted that the success of the educators will “open the door for the triumphant return of Palestinian instructors to the Gulf region. “We trust you to carry on the legacy of the Palestinian teacher,” Abbas said. Palestinian teachers accounted for 49 percent of overall teachers in Kuwait between 1965 and 1975.

All is forgiven! I mean, you know, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were forced to leave and there was no compensation or apology. But since it all came from fellow Arab, it's just one of those things.

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Once again, the Muslim world is being told "Al Aqsa mosque on verge of collapse" from Israeli actions

Once again, Palestinians are trying to incite the Muslim world to jihad against Israel.

The annual report of the "Al Quds International Foundation" released on Monday claims that Israel now is engaged in 64 separate excavations underneath the Temple Mount, "threatening the collapse" of the Al Aqsa mosque.

The report, which goes through the past year's event, notes that an Israeli government meeting in one of the tunnels for Yom Haatzmaut sends a clear message that these excavations are supported by the highest levels of the Israeli government "to promote fake Jewish history."

The incitement against Jews by falsely claiming that they are trying to take over the AL Aqsa Mosque is a lie that has never stopped since the Mufti of Jerusalem started it in the early 1920s. And it is just as potentially fatal now as it was then.

This is every day incitement that the West chooses to ignore.

Here is a photo of the Al Aqsa Mosque after the earthquake in 1927.

The roof caved in and it took several years to repair.

Notice the rafters. They were examined with carbon dating and found to date from between 1500 and 2900 years ago. The authors of the paper determined that the later beams of cedar and cypress came from the Byzantine church that was erected on the Temple Mount. The older ones, from millennium before the mosque was built? The authors conjecture that they probably come from a n earlier massive structure built in that time period, but don't venture a guess as to what it possibly could be.

[T]he existence of the cypress logs dated to the 9th–2nd centuries BCE in the Al-Aqsa Mosque raises many questions concerning their origin in constructions built more than 1500 years earlier.

Israel isn't trying to destroy the Al Aqsa Mosque, but if it would be destroyed it would help to fix a historic tragedy.

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08/22 Links Pt1: Danon: UNHRC Chief 'world’s most senior BDS activist'; Channel 4 'Recrruiting for ISIS'

From Ian:

PMW: PA tries to increase hatred regarding Jerusalem

With Palestinian-Israeli tensions over Jerusalem's Old City and the Temple Mount still simmering, the Palestinian Authority has chosen to intensify Palestinian anger and hate by repeating one of its most dangerous libels - that "senior Jews of high position" planned the arson of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in 1969. In a documentary broadcast on PA TV, it was presented as fact that not only did Jews plan the arson of the Mosque but also that after the fire started Israel shut off the water supply, preventing fire fighters from efficiently putting out the fire.
The following is some of the narration from the documentary:
"From investigations conducted by the Islamic Council it became clear that there was more than one perpetrator [of the Al-Aqsa Mosque arson in 1969] and that the fire was planned by senior Jews of high position, especially since the roof can only be reached from a wooden spiral staircase located outside the Al-Aqsa building. This proves that careful, premeditated measures were taken to completely destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque. The proof is that the occupation authorities were slow to extinguish [the fire] and that the water supply to the Sanctuary (i.e., the Temple Mount) had been cut off during those hours." [Official PA TV, Aug. 21, 2017]
The 1969 fire in the Mosque was started by a Christian Australian man, who was arrested immediately afterward and found to be mentally unstable.
PA TV's decision to broadcast this Al-Aqsa libel now, follows its ongoing attempts to keep Palestinian hatred of Israel simmering over the Temple Mount issue. Last month the Palestinian Authority Minister of Religious Affairs told Palestinian viewers on television that Israel was planning to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque:

Trump Administration Urges UN Not to Publish Blacklist of Companies Trading With Israel

US President Donald Trump’s administration is urging the United Nations not to publish what it calls a “blacklist” of international firms that do business in Israeli settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians for a future state, diplomats and others said, the Washington Post reported on Monday.
The UN Human Rights Council voted to approve the database of companies last year, over objections from the United States and Israel, which describe the list as a prelude to anti-Israel boycotts.
American companies on the list drawn up by the Geneva-based council include Caterpillar, TripAdvisor, Priceline.com, Airbnb and others, according to people familiar with it. It is not clear whether the list has been finalized.
Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, the UN high commissioner for human rights, has told US officials he plans to publish the list by the end of the year and has asked for comments by Sept. 1 from countries where affected firms are headquartered, diplomats said.
“The United States has been adamantly opposed to this … from the start” and has fought against it before several UN bodies, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said. “These types of resolutions are counterproductive and do nothing to advance Israeli-Palestinian issues.”
The United States joined Israel in unsuccessfully opposing UN funding for work related to the database, Nauert said.

Danon: UN Human Rights chief 'world’s most senior BDS activist'

Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, reacted harshly to reports on the names of companies on a ‘blacklist’ of businesses being complied by the UN Human Rights Council. The full list of companies operating in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights is set to be published at the end of the year.
The UN General Assembly voted to fund the compilation of the blacklist in December, 2016.
“This shameful step is an expression of modern anti-Semitism and reminds us of dark periods in history. Instead of focusing on the terrible humanitarian problems plaguing the globe, the Human Rights Commissioner is seeking to harm Israel, and in doing so has become the world’s most senior BDS activist. I call on the UN, and the international community as a whole, to halt this dangerous policy and put an end to this anti-Israel initiative," Danon said.

The other day, the following tweet got me thinking:

My favorite part of 2017 has been all the woke children. pic.twitter.com/r75SgiNkvn
— Danielle Butcher (@DaniSButcher) August 18, 2017

Here is one of those favorites

Here is another:

It got me to thinking about how adults pass on their opinions, and sometimes their hate, on to their children.

But while it got me to thinking about how Palestinian Arabs in general, and Hamas in particular, do this, it also got me thinking closer to home.

I recall when I was teaching, I passed by a class learning Sefer Bamidbar (Numbers). They were learning about the quail mentioned in Chapter 11 and I could see one girl was confused. I went over and asked her what was puzzling her and she said she did not know what the Hebrew word "slav" meant. Rather than just tell her, I asked her "well, what is the name of the Vice-President?" With eyes wide, she turned to me and asked "it means idiot?"

Weeks later, at parent-teacher conferences, the parents assured me they had no idea where their daughter got the idea to say that, and insisted they did not talk that way at home. I had every reason to believe them. I was not concerned.

But I am concerned about something else I remember.

I remember a post on Michelle Malkin's blog years ago in 2005. She wrote about products that were then on sale online on CafePress.

Products such as this:

Anti-Tom Delay T-Shirt, suggesting he kill himself.
Credit: Mike's America

But also this:

“Kill Bush” magnet depicting the president holding a gun to his head
with the caption “End Terrorism Now” Credit: Michelle Malkin

And this:

Bright yellow “Kill Bush” t-shirt splattered with blood.
Credit: Michelle Malkin

And this:

“Kill Bush” messenger bag with a macho pic of John Kerry.
Credit: Michelle Malkin

And this:

Cartoon based on Hadith encouraging murder of Jews

Actually, the cartoon encourages the killing of Jews, not Bush -- but is the incitement really that much different?

Malkin links to an article about a columnist at The Guardian who wanted Bush assassinated:

On Saturday, columnist Charlie Brooker told the readers of the far-Left British newspaper Guardian:

On November 2, the entire civilised world will be praying, praying Bush loses. And Sod's law dictates he'll probably win, thereby disproving the existence of God once and for all. The world will endure four more years of idiocy, arrogance and unwarranted bloodshed, with no benevolent deity to watch over and save us. John Wilkes Booth, Lee Harvey Oswald, John Hinckley Jr. - where are you now that we need you?

Brooker did "apologize" later to those who misunderstood his ironic humor :

The final sentence of a column in The Guide on Saturday caused offence to some readers. The Guardian associates itself with the following statement from the writer.

"Charlie Brooker apologises for any offence caused by his comments relating to President Bush in his TV column, Screen Burn. The views expressed in this column are not those of the Guardian. Although flippant and tasteless, his closing comments were intended as an ironic joke, not as a call to action - an intention he believed regular readers of his humorous column would understand. He deplores violence of any kind."

The article has now been removed from the Guardian Unlimited website.

Malkin goes on to note that in April 2005, Pat Buchanan suffered multiple assaults on campus. He was not the only one. The Washington Times reported back then about William Kristol and Patrick Buchanan at two separate campus events having pies and salad dressing tossed at them, while the media played it as a joke. The editorial concluded:

Violence, of course, should be intolerable no matter who is on the receiving end, and must be rejected by people of goodwill, whatever their political ideology. It is ironic that college campuses — which typically style themselves as bastions of free speech and tolerance — are increasingly the scene of intolerant, thuggish behavior. These days it is being directed at folks who don’t subscribe to the prevailing liberal orthodoxies.

This was over a decade ago. What we see happening now on college campuses around the country is nothing new. The cynic in me wonders if the media taking this seriously now might be because of whom this can be blamed on.

No, I am not claiming that this is a purely left wing phenomenon. I am not interested in pointing a finger in that regard.

My concern is that the kind of hate exhibited against President Bush may be likely to emerge against President Trump, especially considering how the media, both the old media and especially the newer social media, have early on indicated the lack of any line which they will not cross, or at least test.

And I wonder again how different this is from what we regularly read about Abbas and Hamas doing to demonize Israel and incite hatred -- and much worse -- against Israel. The government, laws and culture are very different, but we are still only into the first year of Trump's term, and the media onslaught shows no sign of abating. It continues to demonize, delegitimize and apply a double standard to Trump. If the worst that people say is that want to impeach Trump, I can live with that.

And no, I am not a fan of Donald Trump.

As a side note, in some cases, the cure being offered on those campuses is worse than the disease -- and in fact is nothing more than the disease claiming to be the cure in order to pursue its agenda.

Purdue University's Bill Mullen and Stanford University's David Palumbo-Liu have created what they are calling the Campus Antifascist Network (CAN), which they claim is dedicated to combating "fascists" who use "‘free speech' as a façade for attacking faculty who have stood in solidarity with [targeted] students."

But neither Palumbo-Liu nor Mullen are very particular about the kind of free speech they are willing to protect:

Meanwhile, both Palumbo-Liu and Mullen have been leading figures in the academic campaign to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel. In 2014, Mullen issued a call on anti-Israel site Electronic Intifada to "de-Zionize our campuses." Palumbo-Liu, in a 2016 piece titled, "9 things you need to know about the Israeli occupation of Palestine," recommended readers look to alternative news sources for their information on the region, including several sites accused of publishing anti-Semitic content. He later updated the article to remove If Americans Knew from the list, after receiving backlash for recommending an outlet that has repeatedly published conspiracy theories about Jews. IAK has been marginalized even by virulently anti-Israel groups, such as the U.S. Campaign to End the Occupation and Jewish Voice for Peace.

So yes, while threats against Israel in the Middle East grow stronger, so too the threats against both Israel and Jews in the US and on college campuses grow stronger as well. But the heated language on campuses is spreading into society in general and into the media in particular.

The hate being exploited by Abbas and Hamas is one of the reasons for the dysfunctional leadership of the Palestinian Arabs.

We cannot afford for a similar language of hate to be exploited to undercut the US.

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NYT says Kurds aren't ready for independence - but Palestinians are

Today's New York Times has an editorial about the Kurdish non-binding referendum on independence, and it urges that the Kurds should be much more patient than they already have been:

After yearning for independence for generations, Kurds in Iraq are scheduled to take a major step in that direction with a nonbinding referendum set for Sept. 25. The vote, expected to endorse a separate state, would be a mistake, increasing turmoil in a part of the world roiled by the fight against the Islamic State and further threatening Iraq’s territorial integrity. Postponement makes better sense.

What are the reasons? Among them:

Two families, the Barzanis and the Talabanis, control politics; corruption is widespread. Because of political infighting, Kurdistan’s parliament has not met since October 2015; the region’s president, Masoud Barzani, remains in office four years after his term ended. Declining oil prices and disputes with Iraq’s central government have left the Kurdistan government in debt. Kurdish authorities are accused of discriminating against minorities. Could Kurdistan make it as an independent state if Iraq and neighboring states stayed hostile to the idea?

...The referendum would heighten tensions, make it harder to stabilize Iraq and divert attention as the United States, Iraq and their partners work to defeat ISIS and rebuild Iraqi communities.

...[L]eaders in Turkey and Iran see a greater Kurdistan as a territorial threat. Turkey’s deputy prime minister recently warned that the Iraq vote would “contribute to instability.” Iraq’s prime minister said the vote would be “illegal” because it conflicts with Kurdistan’s constitutional commitments as part of Iraq’s federal government.

...A Kurdish breakaway is risky; without sufficient preparation, it would further marginalize Iraq’s Sunni minority, already disenfranchised by the Shiite majority and prey to Sunni extremists like ISIS.

Self-determination is an understandable goal. But just voting for independence is no guarantee that whatever state emerges will govern fairly or well. It does the Kurdish people little good if their leaders do not make a strong effort to first ensure that Kurdistan’s democratic institutions are functioning, the economy is strong and they have support from Iraq and other countries before striking out alone.

So the reasons to stop a non-binding referendum are:

* Corruption in the Kurdish government
* Infighting in the Kurdish government
* Kurdish president in office long after his term ended
* Kurdish authorities discriminate against minorities
* Neighboring states are hostile to the idea
* Tensions would be heightened. Neighbors say such a state would "contribute to instability."
* Such a decision needs much more preparation
* An independent Kurdistan may not govern fairly or well.
* First, Kurds need to ensure democratic institutions are functioning, the economy is strong and they have support from their stronger neighbors.

Every single one of these reasons to be against an independent Kurdish state applies, to a far greater degree, to a Palestinian state.

But the New York Times for years has fully supported an independent Palestinian state, with its corrupt leaders, its political infighting, its terrible record at building democratic institutions, its disregard for human rights. Oh, and also its explicit support for terrorists and terrorism.

The New York Times cheered every step of the way for Palestinian independence, even through the second intifada and the Hamas/Fatah split. It never told Palestinians that they weren't ready, or to wait some more until things get more peaceful, or anything like that. It never gave Israel veto power over a Palestinian state the way it gives Iraq and Turkey that power over Kurdistan.

And by any sane measure, the Kurds deserve a state more than Palestinians do.

Hypocricy doesn't even begin to describe this editorial.

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Arutz-7 reports that a group of Jews who ascended to Judaism's holiest spot and saw, as is often the case, Muslims playing soccer.

This time they asked the police to stop this desecration of the sacred site - and they did.

If this goes viral, I want to see the Muslims explain why their soccer is sacred by Jews respectfully visiting the site is a "desecration."

A couple of years ago when police started a previous crackdown on soccer paying, one Palestinian newspaper reported it this way:

The game of football by the children of occupied Jerusalem inside the squares of the Al-Aqsa Mosque is one of the new Palestinian weapons in the face of the settlers' intrusions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque almost permanently.

Ah, so kids playing soccer isn't worship - it is even more important.

It is jihad.

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08/21 Links Pt2: Israel-Bashers Target Jews on Their Holidays; Al Jazeera echoes terrorism

From Ian:

Ben Shapiro: If You Condemn Antifa, Are You Excusing Neo-Nazism?

There are two measures we must examine in terms of any moral comparison between Antifa and neo-Nazis. First, there’s the ideological. Then, there’s behavior.
Let’s begin with the ideological. Antifa has no clear-cut ideology, but they seem to be a mashup of communists and anarchists. Neo-Nazis are white supremacists who believe in the innate inferiority of non-Caucasians, and therefore believe that they have the right to oppress other groups. It’s fair to say that Nazism is a uniquely evil philosophy, more evil than the communist philosophy, even though the communist philosophy of Antifa was responsible for tens of millions of deaths globally. So if we were to say that communism is as evil as Nazism, we’d be wrong. By the same token, if we were to whitewash communism, we’d be even more wrong.
Then there’s the question of violence. When conservatives condemn Antifa, they’re pointing out that use of violence in response to peaceful protest by evil people is more dangerous than peaceful protest by evil people. Those who initiate violence in a free society are a bigger problem than those who preach evil; the whole point of civilization, as Max Weber stated, was to give the state a monopoly on the legitimate use of force other than in self-defense. Breaking that compact and equating speech with violence is a serious threat to a civilized country. Condemning Antifa for their violent tactics in Boston, for example, should be required of all decent citizens in the same way that condemning Nazi ideology should be.
But this whole argument is a fraud anyway. Very few Americans stand in favor of Nazism, and the Left’s game of broadening out the label “Nazi sympathizer” is merely a political ploy. Antifa is evil. So is Nazism. Two things can be evil at the same time. Anyone who doesn’t believe that should do a little historical research on Stalin and Hitler.
But there are far more Americans condemning Nazism in the last two weeks than Americans who seem willing to condemn the breakdown of law and order. In fact, many mainstream Leftists are now defending Antifa. And that may make Antifa and its attendant violence a serious threat to the social fabric.

Anti-Israel Leaders Hosted at State Dept. Seeking to Drive Wedge in U.S.-Israel Alliance

A State Department official confirmed the meeting took place, but would not specify who the American Muslim leaders met with and what exactly was discussed.
"The Department regularly hosts groups representing different constituencies in America to explain USG policy and hear their perspective," the official told the Free Beacon. "The group was interested in U.S. policy on Jerusalem given events on the Temple Mount/Haram al Sharif last month, and met a cross-section of working
level officials from different offices in the Department."
Asked if administration officials were aware of the group's anti-Israel views and ties to Hamas, the official said that State Department views Hamas as a terror organization and opposes boycotts of the Jewish state.
Noah Pollak, a political consultant who works with a range of pro-Israel organizations, criticized the State Department for hosting what he described as extremists who reject Israel's right to exist and openly endorse terrorist groups.
"AMP is a front for jihadists, and doesn't try very hard to hide it. Some of its founders were involved with the Holy Land Foundation, a Hamas fundraising front that was the biggest terror finance case in U.S. history," Pollak said. "Its founder called for an ‘intifada' here in America. Maybe next time there's a flare-up of Palestinian violence the State Department can cut out the middle man and just meet directly with Hamas."
Other pro-Israel insiders expressed concern over the meeting, but cautioned against putting too much stock in efforts by these Muslim American groups to drive a wedge into the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Mohamed Fahmy: Qatar’s Al Jazeera echoes terrorism

When I accepted a job as Cairo bureau chief for the Qatari-owned Al Jazeera English television news channel in September 2013 I demanded and was assured that my team would remain independent from the network’s Arabic channels.
Those assurances went out the window as management breached its contract, dubbing our English material into Arabic reports behind our backs and rebroadcasting them on the network’s Arabic Mubasher – a channel that an Egyptian court had shut for its “national security threat and bias to the Muslim Brotherhood,” a group once banned as a terrorist organization.
Unknown to our team at the time, Qatar – the tiny Arab state backed by the world’s third-largest natural gas reserves and oil treasuries – also later breached the secret Riyadh Agreement, which required that Qatar stop supporting the Muslim Brotherhood.
That accord was reached two months after our team started working out of the Al Jazeera English makeshift office at the Cairo Marriott Hotel.
According to the recent CNN exclusive release of the unpublished handwritten accords, Qatari ruler Sheikh Tamim Al Thani joined the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain – the same nations that since June 5 have spearheaded a boycott of his country – in vowing not to support the Brotherhood terrorist franchise in the region and “antagonistic media.” The latter is a clear reference to Al Jazeera, which was accused during the negotiations on the Riyadh Agreement of becoming a voice for the Brotherhood and radicals such as Yusuf al-Qaradawi, an Egyptian preacher convicted of terrorism while residing in Qatar – a man who encouraged suicide bombings and the slaying of Jews and Christians on his weekly show on Al Jazeera, once watched by 60 million people.

Latest nutty Arab rumor: Qatar offering citizenship, scholarships for Israelis

From Al Khaleej (Gulf):

Qatar grants free citizenship to Israelis and 220 scholarships to Jewish students

According to media sources from within Qatar, "the government granted Qatari citizenship free of charge to Israelis, opened its universities to its students, gave them scholarships and allowed them to travel to Israel for the weekend."

"Due to the low number of local students, Qatar seeks to attract foreign students, including the Israelis, through scholarships worth $ 35,000 per student, awarded by the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development," said a Georgetown University faculty member in Doha.

Yeah, this sounds perfectly accurate.

The Gulf states are not yet so accepting of Israel that they are past using hate of Israel and Jews to demonize their enemies, and Qatar is now the enemy.

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I finally learned how to be woke (Petra Marquardt-Bigman)

By Petra Marquardt-Bigman

Women’s March identity politics 101

This will be only a very short post – I’m busy learning identity politics from the Women’s March. I mean, it’s clear that without a proper understanding of identity politics, one can’t be really woke, right?

Admittedly, since I’ve never had the privilege of holding hands with Louis Farrakhan, I’m not sure how woke I can ever be.

But I’m trying. So last week, the Women’s March issued a really inspiring #SignOfResistance “from the white women of WM.” Linda Sarsour re-tweeted it, so I’m sure it’s really very very woke!!!

So impressive!!! It got me thinking: clearly, that means that also Muslim silence = Muslim consent, right? To get a bit creative, maybe it could be presented like this – what do you think???

Now, related to identity politics, there was a bit of confusion because after Al Jazeera decided a few days ago to feature Manal Tamimi as a “Palestinian supermom,” Elder tweeted a screenshot of one of her super-duper tweets.

Some people wondered if Al Jazeera’s Palestinian supermom really meant to compare the Palestinians to the Nazi figure in the image. As I explained when I wrote about Manal Tamimi’s remarkable Twitter output, an obviously well-meaning Twitter user warned her in Arabic that she had posted “a picture of Nazism” even though “the Palestinians are more honorable than the Nazis, they are defending their land and their freedom.” But Manal Tamimi wasn’t fazed and declared confidently: “The important thing is the idea, we the Palestinians are the ones who are going to teach Israel a lesson, we are going to hurt them and we will achieve victory over them as well.”

Now, I’m pretty sure that identity politics requires that everyone must respect the fact that Manal Tamimi self-identifies with the Nazis because she hopes to emulate how they “hurt” the Jews and achieved “victory over them.” Really, how could anyone dare to dictate (mansplain??? Whitesplain??????) to a proud Palestinian supermom what she aspires to??? And last but by no means least: let’s remember that Linda Sarsour often emphasizes that she’s “unapologetically Muslim and Palestinian,” and “Palestinian supermom” Manal Tamimi is clearly someone she’d admire – after all, Tamimi sends her kids to throw stones at Israeli soldiers, which is, according to Sarsour, “the definition of courage.”

Now excuse me, I have to make a list of all the things Muslims and Palestinians have advocated while Linda Sarsour remained silent and thus gave her consent…

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08/21 Links Pt1: What Europe can learn from Israel; Palestinians: When Suicide Attacks Are Bad

From Ian:

Khaled Abu Toameh: Palestinians: When Suicide Attacks Are Bad

The emergence of ISIS-inspired groups in the Gaza Strip has long been an open known secret. This is the inconvenient truth that Hamas has been working hard to conceal for the past few years.
Obstinately holding on to an imaginary dream, some political analysts and journalists have misinterpreted the Hamas document as a sign of "moderation" and "pragmatism," and argued falsely that the Islamist movement is ready to join a peace process with Israel. Nothing could be further from the truth. Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar could not be clearer on this point.
Hamas, as we all know, is hardly opposed to suicide bombings. Yet when the boomerang returns, suddenly the attacks become "cowardly terror" actions perpetrated by "outlaws" and "intellectually and religiously and morally deviant" terrorists. Hamas, Islamic Jihad and ISIS may disagree on many issues, but targeting Jews and "infidels" is not one of them. On that point, they are in savage agreement.

Col Kemp: What Europe can learn from Israel in its war against vehicle attacks and lone wolf terror

In Israel, you will find there is heavy presence of security, both uniformed and not, at major sites, as well as concrete reinforced barriers at key landmarks and bus stops, to prevent vehicular rammings.
As unpalatable as it may be to European sensitivities, they must begin to apply profiling risk assessment as a measure of precaution and prevention. The stark reality is that a Caucasian mother does not fit your profile of a typical terrorist in this scenario, with all terrorists in the car rammings so far being male Islamic jihadists between roughly the ages of 20 and 40.
However, for profiling to be successful, Europe would do well to again follow the lead of Israel in this case, which does not apply a blanket profiling of entire ethnic groups; instead, security personnel are trained to observe body language, physical signs and other clues to erratic behavior. The curtailing of some personal freedoms will be a small price to pay for the lives of many.
There are other steps European leaders ought to consider as part of their overall strategy to prevent lone-wolf attacks, including refusing re-entry to those who have gone to Syria, Iraq and elsewhere to fight for Isis and stripping citizenship of dual nationals caught committing acts of terror on European soil.
As difficult as it may be to accept, the dream of Schengen open borders cannot continue in its current form, with unfettered borders and lax security checks, where terrorists can freely move from one country to the other without so much as a glance from authorities.
Europe also cannot be serious about fighting terror on the one hand and embracing Iran on the other. Iran continues to be the foremost global state sponsor of terror. Their support of Assad regime is a primary cause of the Syrian refugee crisis and the spread of Isis, as well as of Hezbollah operatives roaming freely across Europe. Tehran is not a partner in the war on terror, it is one of the primary instigators of global terror.
Preventing ‘lone wolf’ attacks 100 per cent of the time is simply not feasible, but greater steps can be taken to minimise the threat.
This will require bold leadership and a recognition that whether it is in Barcelona, Nice, London, Berlin, Stockholm or Jerusalem, terror is terror and the West must stand united, in unwavering solidarity and commitment, if we are to defeat this global evil.

Combating 21st century terror: What Europe can learn from Israel

Intelligence is the first level at which terror must be fought. But the war is now also on the streets. Urban centres are the new battleground. As an Israeli counter-terrorism official (who cannot be named due to the sensitivity of his work) told me: ‘simple things, like placing bollards and barriers at strategic points in major centres can almost eliminate the possibility of vehicle rammings’.
But the most important changes must come at the level of education. A principle problem with terror is that it forces us into ever more intrusive legislation. An educated public can relieve the burden. As the counterterrorism official explains: ‘In the 21st century we have witnessed the new phenomenon of the lone wolf: Someone not part of a cell, someone who doesn’t buy guns or explosives and is therefore much harder to track.’
If someone can now be radicalised just by going on the internet, what can be done? Well, for a start, in Israel, the police have a dedicated Facebook page where people can report terrorist content they find posted on social media, and, critically, all of which is checked. It has saved lives.
Combating the threat of the lone wolf – and avoiding more draconian anti-terror legislation – comes with greater public awareness.
‘If, for example, you see your neighbour going out at 3am every night or see him or her buying a lot of knives, or carrying a suspicious backpack. Look at Anders Breivik,’ the counterterrorism official concludes, ‘all the red flags were there before and no one did anything. People need the courage to speak up. Every tip can lead the authorities to something much bigger.’

There are two historical lenses that can be applied to the recent horrific events in Charlottesville and their aftermath.

The first would be what I’ll call the Cable Street analysis, which considers the violent clashes between outright Nazis and their supporters and violent counter-demonstrators as an extension or repetition of what happened in 1936 when Oswald Mosley – leader of the British Union of Fascists (BUF) – opted for a show of strength by marching thousands of his supporters through the East End of London.

To counter that protest, an opposition of tens of thousands (largely made up of Jewish and Leftist opponents of the Fascists) showed up and met Mosley’s marchers with sticks, rocks, eggs and dung. Even with police trying to protect the marchers and keep the peace, the inevitable violence led to riots and an ultimate disbursal of the Nazis.

This show of force demonstrated that, unlike in Germany and Italy, the Fascists could not count on finding a critical mass of support among the British public. Whether because of this failure, or because Britain was at war with Europe’s Fascists three years later, Mosley and his Black Shirts ended up a humiliated rump vs. the nucleus of leadership for a Fascist Britain.

The Battle of Cable Street, while large and fierce, was just one of many violent battles between proponents of rival Right and Left-wing ideologies fighting for supremacy on the Continent between the two World Wars, fights that provide a different lens to think about our present situation.

For while “Reds” and “Black Shirts” in Europe claimed to be in violent opposition to one another, one can also view their fight as competition for the same souls: those ready to abandon Liberalism and the Enlightenment for ideologies promising a new messianic future: whether that of a worker’s paradise or blood-and-soil nationalist empire.

Unlike Britain, where the Liberal order protected and asserted itself, taking advantage of Fascism’s proven weakness, but not falling for the illusion that opposition to Nazism translated into political virtue, the continent became divided between rival ideological empires responsible for history’s most costly World War (which took the likes of 50 million) and most costly social experiment (Marxism – which cost the lives of an additional 100+ million).

So are today’s clashes an attempt to halt a genuine Nazi advance a la Cable Street, or a new front on the age-old battle between civilization and ruthlessness?

One way to tell is by analyzing the relationship between the actual threat and the level and nature of the response to that threat. While I’ll admit to getting a certain thrill in seeing torch-wielding Nazis flee in panic when faced with an outraged mob (much like the visceral pleasure of seeing Nazis gunned down in the movies), I can’t quite convince myself that the nation or the world faces a resurgent Fascist movement ready to try again to take over the planet.

Certainly our nation is broken into ideological camps that, for a variety of reasons, neither talk to nor understand each other. But we have a choice between following this trend further into extremes (where every political battle is cast as one between Commies and Nazis), or stopping to catch our breath to determine if this is the direction we want to travel in as a nation.

As we consider our options, the Jewish condition (which again is being thrust upon us) can serve as a valuable means to measure political health. Regarding the latest Nazi slogan “You Will Not Replace Us,” the “You,” after all refers, to the Jews. So might those tearing signs bearing those words out of the hands of their opponents stop for a moment to consider similar phrases (such as “The Jews are our Dogs”) as part of the same problem? If so, that’s a step in the right direction.

But if current opponents of today’s self-styled Nazis instead try to lump the villains of Charlottesville, Donald Trump and Israel into a single package that will be the target of their attacks over the coming months and years, we may learn the truth behind a saying frequently attributed (inaccurately) to Winston Churchill and Huey Long: that if fascism comes to America, it will be called “Anti-Fascism.”

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In Hebrew, they are terror attacks. In Arabic, they are "operations."

Today there was another car ramming attack in Marseille, although police are not calling it a terror attack.

There is as of yet no universal English phrase for these types of attacks. "Vehicle attacks," "vehicular attacks," "ramming attacks" - all are dependent on the still evolving style guides of different news agencies.

But there are well-accepted phrases describig vehicle attacks in Hebrew and in Arabic.

In Hebrew, there is a specific term for these kinds of attacks as well: פיגוע דריסה, "pigua drisa" meaning "ramming attack." But in Hebrew the word "pigua" specifically refers to terror attacks.

I saw the story reported in Arabic but the Google Translate phrase for the type of attack was not accurate. Google Translate has not yet caught up with common usage. In Arabic, the consistent term for vehicle ramming attacks is عملية دهس, "eamaliat dahs" which literally means "ramming operation."

In Arabic, these are akin to military operations. In Hebrew, they are terror attacks.

The reason, of course, is that Palestinians were the ones who innovated these kinds of attacks, and they were reported in Arabic media in terms of being heroic military operations against Israelis. The phrase stuck even when reporting on Nice or Barcelona, since the shorthand that implicitly finds these attacks to be heroic remains as part of modern Arabic.

The first vehicle attack I am aware of was indeed Palestinian. It was in 2001 when an Arab bus driver aimed his bus at a group of soldiers at the Azor junction, killing seven soldiers and one civilian and injuring 26.

It was the first "heroic ramming operation." It occurred some nine years before Al Qaeda first recommended that tactic in its "Inspire" magazine.

Every time that the media reports on these types of attacks and pretends that they are a new European phenomenon, they are purposefully obscuring the fact that these attacks are yet another gift that Palestinian terrorists have given the world.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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Along with the Egyptian siege and the Gulf Arab siege comes the siege by the Palestinian Authority itself:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas reportedly threatened Sunday to cut off all financial support to the Gaza Strip, unless the Hamas terror group which controls the coastal enclave works together with Abbas’s Fatah party.

The comments came during a meeting with Israeli lawmakers, during which the Palestinian leader also said the Trump administration was in chaos and not moving forward on peace efforts.

According to Israel’s Channel 2, when MK Zahava Galon, of the dovish Meretz party, chided Abbas for having cut payments for Israeli electricity earlier this year, Abbas responded that he might not stop there.

“We transfer $1.5 billion a year, but after Hamas declared its own government, we discontinued 25 percent of our support to Gaza,” Abbas said, according to the report.

“We fear that if there is no change soon, that will gradually reach 100%,” he said.

Earlier this year, Abbas said he would stop transferring some money to Israel to pay for electricity in the Strip. Israel refused to make up the difference, leading to fears of a looming humanitarian crisis in the impoverished enclave already beset by problems providing drinking water and treating sewage.

Yes, the head of the Palestinian Authority is threatening nearly half of its population with a complete loss of electricity, medicine, and funding for teachers and other critical infrastructure.

The Egyptians have essentially shut down their border to Gaza, except for some Hajj pilgrims, for four months now.

The Gulf Arab states have declared Gaza's de facto rulers to be terrorists and (with the exception of Qatar) have stopped providing funds for the Gaza Strip.

The only people who actually seem to be trying to help the citizens of Gaza from sickness and starvation are - Israeli Jews.

Galon had told Abbas she disapproved of steps taken by the Palestinian leader to isolate the Gaza Strip as a means of pressuring Hamas, the de facto ruler of the enclave.

Israel's left-wing parties are more pro-Palestinian than Palestinians are.

The only country that Amnesty and Human Rights Watch and the UN single out for Gaza's problems is the country that has been sending electricity and fuel and aid to Gaza and that has been treating its patients. All while most fellow Arabs have told Gaza's citizens to drop dead.

The irony is almost too perfect, and yet invisible to the world's NGOs and media.

(h/t Yoel)

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Sheikh Raed Salah, terror supporter, complains that Jewish prisoners are abusing him

Awwww...

From Al Rai:

The head of the Islamic Movement inside the occupied Palestinian territory, Sheikh Raed Salah, was subjected to verbal and physical abuse inside the Israeli prison.

A member of the defense of the President of the Islamic Movement inside the 1948 Palestine, lawyer Khaled Zbarqa, told Al Rai about the fear and anxiety for the life of Sheikh Salah and his safety as he was attacked and threatened by Jewish prisoners inside the prison, and this is indicative of the fact that the inflammatory rhetoric that the Sheikh has been exposed to by Netanyahu personally and his ministers in his government, created a hostile atmosphere to the sheikh through threats and abuse. He confirmed that the attack included verbal and physical beatings by Jewish prisoners inside the prison.

The guy whose entire life is built around inciting Arabs to kill Jews is complaining about Israelis inciting to kill him.

Of course, Raed Salah has no evidence of incitement by Netanyahu, and the amount of evidence of his incitement could fill volumes. And here is a nice cartoon he posted on Facebook just last month:

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