Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, September 03, 2017

Thoughtless Bandwagons of Hatred (Michael Lumish)

I have yet to speak out against Donald Trump.

One reason for this is that I do not so easily leap aboard thoughtless Bandwagons of Hatred.

If the anti-Trumpeteers had not done such a terrific job of projecting their toxic racialized bullshit - and thereby throwing the United States into the worst spasms of violent malice that anyone has seen since 1968 - I might feel differently.

But they did and I don't.

More than anything else it is the ideologically-blinkered hypocrisy that is reprehensible.

They despise Trump as a sexist and, yet, do not mind in the least that Bill Clinton committed actual rape in the White House. If any university president did what Bill Clinton did Linda Sarour-following western feminists would climb trees with trombones in order to express their politically self-serving, self-righteous disgust.

They call Trump a "racist" for preferring legal immigration, yet this is normal on its face.

Anyone coming into the United States should do so - as my father did in the arms of my grandmother, Sarah - through regular, legal, channels.

Yet this very notion drives some people into paroxysms of rage.

Also, needless to say, as a matter of common sense and basic human decency, we should endeavor to keep Jihadis out of the United States.

{If this is inconvenient to our Muslim friends, I sincerely apologize.}

Therefore when I observe all of these screaming violent and masked, black-clad idiots in the streets in Berkeley, I shrug my shoulders because I know that they are not reacting so much to Trump administration policy as to what hard-right former Presidential contender and media critic, Patrick Buchanan, is thought to have dubbed "culture war" in his 1992 speech to the Republican National Convention.

And the reason that the progressive-left and their fascistic Antifa allies despise Donald Trump is because, on a cultural level, he curbed transforming the United States into the kind of street turf that feminist anti-feminist and antisemitic anti-Zionist Linda Sarsour would love to dance upon.

Among all the reasons that Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton Hatin' on Whitey is the most prominent to my mind. The white working-class knows when it is being urinated upon which is why they did not vote for Clinton in the hoped for numbers and why some of the more razor-headed are putting on that old twentieth-century racist regalia.

In response, the Social Justice Warriors and Safe Space Seeking Chickenshits began a high pitched squealing early last November that has not lowered its volume or pitch from that day to this. The fascistic anti-fascist Idiots in Black are beating up innocent people in the streets of Berkeley as their progressive-left soul-mates tear down historical statuary all around the country.

It is a disgrace and it is just the kind of thing that will wreck the Democrats in 2020.

However, in terms of Jewish / Israel issues the embassy is second only to that of negotiations.

Writing in the Times of Israel, Raoul Wootliff tells us:

Senior members of the Trump administration and Israeli officials renewed talks over the possibility of moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a promise repeatedly made by the president in the 2016 election campaign, during high-level meetings in Israel last week, the Times of Israel has learned.

If the conflict is ever going to end it can only happen after the United States, followed by the EU, acknowledges Jerusalem as Israel's capital and move their embassies to that location. So long as the Arabs see that even the United States refuses to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem then they understand that the Jewish State remains vulnerable because its international support is flaccid.

Therefore they will continue to use Jerusalem, and particularly the Temple Mount, as a wedge.

If they can drive Jewish sovereignty off the Temple Mount then they can continue to dream of re-establishing Muslim dominance on the ancestral Jewish homeland. And this is precisely what keeps the hope of "anti-Zionism" alive.

And that is why it is absolutely imperative that Trump move the damn embassy to Jerusalem.

Such an action, more than anything else at this moment, can snap the status quo and place breaks upon the long-term Palestinian-Arab resistance to the Movement for Jewish freedom. And this is why I am cautiously pleased to see the issue in discussion.

Wootliff also tells us, unfortunately:

Senior White House adviser Jared Kushner, peace envoy Jason Greenblatt and Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategy Dina Powell met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday as part of a visit to the region in a bid to revive Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts.

Breathing life into the Oslo process - if that is what this means - is a vital mistake.

Have we learned nothing since Bill Clinton stood on the White House lawn with Yitzhak Rabin and that heinous old bastard, Yassir Arafat?

In twenty-five years the "peace process" has brought little but blood and toxic levels of hatred from the duplicitous Europeans. The "peace process" has nothing whatsoever to do with bringing about a harmonious conclusion of hostilities with a Palestinian-Arab state thriving in peace alongside Israel.

On the contrary, it has everything to do with demoralizing Israelis and encouraging violence against them, as well as against Jews around the world.

Everybody and his brother is more than happy to urinate all over Donald Trump, but if he fails to move the embassy and if he forces yet another phony "peace process" down Israel's throat then I will speak out against Trump in Jewish political circles.

For me, however, it will not be the progressive-left Bandwagon of Trump Hatred that we have seen ever since Hillary Clinton took notice of some evil, right-wing version of Kermit the Frog.

That particular brand of semi-hallucinatory political hatred I will leave to others.

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From CBC News:

A British conspiracy theorist known for his outlandish ideas about lizard people and "Zionists" controlling the world is set to perform in a Vancouver civic theatre this weekend, provoking outrage from Jewish groups.

David Icke, a former sports broadcaster, is scheduled to give a full-day presentation at the Orpheum Theatre on Saturday. The theatre is operated by the city, and officials have denied requests to cancel the show from groups like B'nai Brith Canada and the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs.

Aiden Fishman of B'nai Brith Canada described Icke's views as "classic anti-Semitic ideas" and said the booking should never have been allowed.

"It's totally, totally incompatible with the City of Vancouver's role as an open and tolerant multicultural municipality to allow Mr. Icke to speak at a city-owned facility, after we've brought all these concerns to their attention," Fishman told CBC News.

Deep concern from Jewish groups

In an interview Thursday, Icke was furious about the campaign against his show, describing the claims made by Jewish groups as "libellous."

His presentation, according to his website, will cover everything from "reptilians" — shape-shifting alien-human hybrids — to the truth about the moon, which he believes is a hologram projected from Saturn.

"If what they say is true, why will I spend 10 hours talking on Saturday and not even mention Jewish people once? They need to explain that," Icke asked.

But in videos of his lectures posted online, he frequently uses another phrase, "Rothschild Zionists." These are the people he suggests are responsible for causing the 2008 financial crisis, staging the 9/11 attacks and generally controlling the world's banking and political systems.

That phrase, according to Fishman, is pretty obvious code for Jewish people.

Icke claims that he is not against Jews at all, but only "Rothschild Zionists".

In this 2010 essay on his site, he says

Ask most people about Zionism and they will say ‘that’s the Jews’, but while this is the impression the Rothschild networks in politics and the media have sought very successfully to ‘sell’ as ‘common knowledge’, it is not true. It represents only a minority of them and many others who are not Jewish.

Yet when he goes through a list of who he considers "Rothschild Zionists" in positions of power, surprise, they all happen to be Jews (with many of them unknown to be Zionists at all.)

So Icke says with a straight face:

[T]he Rothschild Zionists control the mainstream media; Hollywood and the movie industry; governments, not least in the United States; and crucially in the light of current events, they control global finance and commerce....

Nah, nothing to do with Jews.

Hilariously, Icke quoted a 2008 humor column by Joel Stein, about how proud he was that Jews control Hollywood, to prove that "Rothschild Zionists" control Hollywood - but then he lamely says it has nothing to do with Jews:

The Los Angeles Times columnist, Joel Stein (Rothschild Zionist), wrote an article proclaiming that Americans who don’t think Jews (Rothschild Zionists) control Hollywood are just plain ‘dumb’:

‘I had to scour the trades to come up with six Gentiles in high positions at entertainment companies. But lo and behold, even one of that six, AMC President Charles Collier, turned out to be a Jew! … As a proud Jew, I want America to know of our accomplishment. Yes, we control Hollywood.’

I emphasise again that we are not talking here about ‘the Jews’ owning the media, Hollywood, politics, banking and big business, but a tiny clique answering ultimately to the secret society that I call Rothschild Zionism.

The City of Vancouver is saying that as long as Icke only talks about "Zionists" controlling the world and being responsible for 9/11, then there is no violation of Canadian laws:

In an email, a spokesperson for the City of Vancouver wrote that it cannot infringe on Icke's freedom of speech without evidence that his presentation will include illegal hate speech.
"The City has explicit requirements in its theater rental agreements that govern the conduct of renters and has confirmed with Mr. Icke and his team their obligation to comply with all Canadian laws relating to the content of their presentation," the email reads.

A simple replacement of the word of "Jews" with "Zionists" in any Nazi text would ensure that they can be read in public in Vancouver without violating hate laws.

Come to think of it, this is exactly how the "pro-Palestinian" crowd thinks, too.

And remember that Alice Walker, the prize-winning novelist of the "anti-Israel" crowd, believes in Icke's theories as well.

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From BoingBoing:

Mike Shaughnessy, professor of German at Washington & Jefferson College, translated a letter written one Ernst from Cologne, to his cousin in Pittsburgh, U.S.A. Sent in 1936—after Hitler's rise to power, but before World War II and the Holocaust—it refers glibly and approvingly to the removal of Jews from civil life, even as it reflects the anxieties and growing paranoia of life under fascist government.

Excerpts:

Köln, Machabäerstrasse 46. January 6, 1936.

Dear Wilhelm and Family!

I’ve been waiting a while to get a letter from you in which you would send me the letter from Mr. Früh about your inquiry. Apparently you haven’t received anything, so I’ll inform you that I’ve had to give the government very positive, specific details about our ancestry and where our assets are currently.
...
Things in Germany are looking up thanks to our Führer and the cleansing of the population from the Jews (Those exploiters who are the misfortune of humanity). Since 1/1/1936, they can’t employ Germans as their service personnel, because of the desecration that those good-for-nothings did on the German girls. If one of them even dares nowadays, even if they just insult a girl, they will be put in prison straightaway --those rapists. In addition, German citizenship was revoked for all of them, they are not Germans -- foreign to the German race, and should be sent to Palestine where a lot already ran off to, those bastards.

The winter relief fund was a great success and even a lot of foreigners took part. A lot still needs to be done, because countless people have lost their belongings due to the war and the government run by Jews afterwards. I also lost 500,000 Reichsmark and could therefore make good use of the inheritance.

Well then, I look forward to hearing from you and I wish you and your family a good new year from the bottom of my heart, and hope we resolve the issue soon.

In the meantime I send you heartfelt greetings,

Your Cousin,
Ernst Ries

This is more chilling than reading Mein Kampf or propaganda by Goebbels. This is just an ordinary person who is filled with pure, ordinary hate for Jews, and he is quite at peace with himself for it.

It would be nice to pretend that this particular type of hate is no more.

(h/t Ronald)

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09/02 Links: Mr. Trump, don't take the bait on ‘UN reform’; BDS Fail: Israel’s Exports up 6 Percent

From Ian:

Congress Looks to Restrict U.S. Aid to Palestinian Terrorists

A new congressional measure would restrict U.S. aid to the Palestinian government by barring any American taxpayer dollars from being doled out to Palestinian terrorists currently imprisoned in Israel, according to language of the measure obtained by the Washington Free Beacon.
A small amendment in Congress's yearly appropriations bill would stop the U.S. government from giving aid to the Palestinian Authority if it uses these funds to honor terrorists and pay salaries to those militants imprisoned in Israel for carrying out past attacks.
The Taylor Force Act, first introduced in 2016, would cut millions in U.S. aid to the Palestinian government until it shows proof these payments have stopped.
The appropriations amendment, while similar to the Taylor Force Act, provides a quick fix to the problem by banning all payments by the Palestinians to terrorists as a precondition for continued American aid.
Rep. Ron DeSantis (R., Fla.), who authored the amendment, told the Washington Free Beacon that in past years members of Congress have not been able to offer amendments to the massive appropriations bill that funds the U.S. government and global priorities.
With amendments now a possibility, DeSantis said he took quick action to address the Palestinian government's payments to terrorists.
"It is beyond maddening that American taxpayer dollars flow to an entity that pays the families of terrorists and that adorns their streets and stadiums with the names of terrorists," DeSantis said. "We finally have the perfect opportunity to stop this and we must seize the moment."

KLEIN: Six Reasons Trump Should Stop Funding the UN's Palestinian ‘Refugee’ Agency

According to reports, the Trump administration has pledged to continue providing its annual contribution of more than $300 million per year to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which ministers to so-called Palestinian refugees.
“America has long been committed to funding UNRWA’s important mission and that will continue,” one official at the U.S. mission to the United Nations told Foreign Policy magazine. The U.S. is UNRWA’s single largest donor.
Below, in no particular order, are six reasons the U.S. should stop funding UNRWA and instead take the approach recommended by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has called for dismantling the UN’s Palestinian “refugee” agency.
1 – The Palestinians and Arab nations have distorted the history of “Palestinian refugees” to manipulate the international community.
2 – The number of Palestinian “refugees” is the subject of debate.
3 – UNRWA scandalously defines a Palestinian “refugee” in a manner that is different from all other refugees, and does so in a way that sustains the “refugee” crisis instead of solving the problem by finding solutions for the so-called Palestinian refugees.
4 – There is no reason to have a separate agency only for Palestinian “refugees.”
5 – The Palestinians use their “refugee” status to threaten Israel’s existence.
6 – UNRWA has been caught supporting terrorism.

JPost Editorial: Lessons from Guterres

Taken on a photo opportunity in a former Hamas attack tunnel, Guterres confronted the reality of Hamas' anti-Zionism.
In an encounter afterward with an Israeli resident of Nahal Oz, a kibbutz along the Gaza border, he was asked by Oshrit Sabag about the unnecessary suffering of people on both sides.
“We see a huge amount of money that is used in order to build terrorist tunnels and rockets instead of reconstructing the Gaza Strip,” she said, adding, “We think that the people on the other side of the border suffer from Hamas terrorism just as we do.”
Maj.-Gen. Yoav Mordechai told visiting US negotiator Jason Greenblatt at Nahal Oz the same day that it costs some $200,000 to build an attack tunnel 1-kilometer long. This means that the hundreds of tunnels Hamas built over the years – and continues to dig – have consumed enormous amounts of the foreign aid money that supports its despotic Islamist regime.
This, Mordechai noted, is money that should go instead to building hospitals and improving the living conditions in the Gaza Strip. “But Hamas’s priorities are first the military branches’ interests and terrorism, and only then, as a low priority, supporting the civil population,” he said.
Guterres could have addressed the UN complicity in the preservation of Palestinian statelessness. This has been the true function of the UN Relief and Works Agency, which instead of rehabilitating Arab refugees, keeps them in camps that are now generations old.
UNRWA’s greatest roadblock to a Palestinian state is the unique way it defines them as refugees. Arab residents of Mandatory Palestine who fled in 1948 are the only refugees in the world who bequeath their special status to future generations.
This mistaken attitude is a reflection of how well the actual aggressors against the first Arab state in Palestine have persuaded the world that they were the victims. As Guterres said, “Both have a right to live as independent, free people as masters of their own fate.”
Yes, but while the Zionists built a state from the ground up, Palestinian nationalists have devoted themselves to the terrorism of “the resistance” – of reality.
Recently Abbas threatened to sue Britain for the sin of the Balfour Declaration and, as if that were not absurdity enough, PA Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki two weeks ago pleaded for a “Palestinian Balfour declaration.” There is a simple path to peace, but with Gaza the way it is, that path is moving further and further away.

A test for the "progressives" Is this anti-semitic or anti-Zionist?

Alison Chabloz, a performer at the Edinburgh Festival who sings songs that are both anti-Israel and antisemitic, has just posted another mini-medley on YouTube.

Ask your "progressive" friends who now claim to be aghast at far-right antisemitism if they support her or not. After all, she is singing in support of "Palestine," is she not?

Lyrics:

Sung to the tune of Simon and Garfunkel ‘El Condor Pasa’
I’d rather be a Gentile than a …. non-Gentile
Yes it’s true. So would you. If you only knew. Mm..Mm
All those lies about their history and the past
To guarantee …Israeli hegemony .. Tribal supremacy. Mm ..Mm
Away, O they’ve been sent away, for their crimes, one hundred times.
Why do, we let them in again, to steal what’s yours, take what’s mine?
And then to moan and whine. Mmmm ….Mmmm.
The first great lie concerns the Lord above
They claim to be his choice minority
They alone deserve his love. Mmmm ….Mmmm.
The second lie imposes usury, on you and me
Yes it’s true, since Waterloo. Mmmm ….Mmmm.

The third claims Six Million were gassed alive
Their bodies burnt, or so we learn
I used to question, how this could have come to pass
Now I insist. It’s a damn fine tale, I like the story as it is.

(Switches to the tune of an Israeli song, Hevenu Shalom Aleichem)

The shrunken heads, soap and lampshades
The shrunken heads, soap and lampshades
The shrunken heads, soap and lampshades
I do insist. I like the story as it is.

Electrocution, steam and diesel
Electrocution, steam and diesel
Electrocution, steam and diesel
I do insist. I like the story as it is.

The coloured smoke from the chimney
The coloured smoke from the chimney
The coloured smoke from the chimney
I do insist. I like the story as it is.

Chabloz also tweets "#FreePalestine" which should mean that her songs are firmly on the "liberal" and not "neo-Nazi" side of Jew-hatred. So how would progressives react?

Chabloz has been in the news for earlier offensive songs she posted:

A blogger accused of calling Auschwitz a 'theme park' and gas chambers a 'hoax' appeared in court today in what is believed to be the first private prosecution in the UK for anti-jewish racism.
Alison Chabloz, 52, is accused of posting a 'grossly offensive' video, called 'Survivors', online on June 8 this year.
The prosecution has been brought by the charity the Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, which said it decided to do so after the Crown Prosecution Service did not press charges.
The anti-Semitic 'phenomenon' has 'grown enormously' in the UK, a court heard.
The video allegedly included lyrics such as 'Did the Holocaust ever happen? Was it just a bunch of lies? Seems that some intend to pull the wool over our eyes', according to the charity.
The clip also included lines such as 'Now Auschwitz, holy temple, is a theme park just for fools, the gassing zone a proven hoax, indoctrination rules', the charity claims.
Other lines are said to have been: 'History repeats itself, no limit to our wealth, thanks to your debts we're bleeding you dry.
'We control your media, control all your books and TV, with the daily lies we're feeding, suffering victimisation.
'Sheeple have no realisation, you shall pay, all the way, until the break of day.'
Chabloz, who is also a musician, is charged with improper use of public electronic communications network, and appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court today to enter a plea.

This new video would seem to be a violation of her bail conditions for her upcoming trial::

She has also been ordered “not to post or send or cause to be sent via the internet or any other means, whether via social media or Youtube or at all, any message or other material which is in whole or part racist or anti-Semitic and grossly offensive”.

(h/t SpotlightingSA)

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09/01 Links Pt2: Palestinian cleric who called Holocaust a fairy tale to meet UK MPs; Glick: The strategic case for Kurdistan

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: The strategic case for Kurdistan

If the leaders of Iraqi Kurdistan aren’t intimidated into standing down, on September 25, the people of Iraqi Kurdistan will go to the polls to vote on a referendum for independence.
The Kurds have been hoping to hold the referendum since 2013.
Whereas Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu restated his support for Kurdish independence earlier this month in a meeting with a delegation of visiting Republican congressmen, the Trump administration has urged Kurdish President Masoud Barzani and his colleagues to postpone the referendum indefinitely.
US Defense Secretary James Mattis, who visited with Barzani in the Kurdish capital of Erbil two weeks ago, said that the referendum would harm the campaign against Islamic State.
In his words, “Our point right now is to stay focused like a laser beam on the defeat of ISIS and to let nothing distract us.”
Another line of argument against the Kurdish referendum was advanced several weeks ago by The New York Times editorial board. The Times argued the Kurds aren’t ready for independence. Their government suffers from corruption, their economy is weak, their democratic institutions are weak and their human rights record is far from perfect.
While the Times’ claims have truth to them, the relevant question is compared to what?
Compared to their neighbors, not to mention to the Times’ favored group the Palestinians, the Kurds, who have been self-governing since 1991, are paragons of good governance. Not only have they given refuge to tens of thousands of Iraqis fleeing ISIS. Iraqi Kurdistan has been an island of relative peace in a war-torn country since the US-led invasion in 2003.
Its Peshmerga forces have not only secured Kurdistan. They have been the most competent force fighting ISIS since its territorial conquests in 2014.

My experience in Israel: It is not what you see on TV

I recently traveled to Israel as part of a study abroad program through the American University in Washington, DC. As a master’s student concentrating on peace and conflict resolution and as a Kurd from northern Iraq, I was curious about the intense hostility toward Jews in the Middle East, the negative bias in the mainstream media and the continuous antisemitic lectures and activities on college campuses, including my own university.
My trip to Israel was unique. I was able to travel there through the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. Having departed from the Sulaymaniyah International Airport in the KRI, I was sent off with a smile among my fellow Kurds without any shame, despite the fact that a trip to Israel is taboo among Middle Easterners.
Upon arriving at Ben-Gurion Airport, I was briefly held back by security due to concerns about a first-time traveler to Israel coming from an Arab state with no diplomatic relations (Iraq). This was understandable and expected, I too expect heavy screening towards foreigners entering the KRI due to the hostility of the region. I successfully and peacefully passed through airport security with a visa that would allow me to stay beyond my permitted time.
My first interaction with an Israeli was with a taxi driver driving me to my hotel. His conversations were animated, his politics realistic. He said he doesn’t care what religion one believes in, he just wants to live in peace. I tested the waters and told him I was Kurdish and he was very excited.
His eyes lit up and he immediately called for establishing a Kurdistan without my prodding. “That was easy,” I said to myself.
My time in Tel Aviv was brief, a little over a week. But what the city offered was unprecedented to me, especially in the Middle East. It is modern, filled will young Israelis enjoying life at the beaches, nightlife spots, restaurants. It is also historical and diverse. I witnessed Muslims and Jews intermingling, mosques calling for prayer, Arab families enjoying their time together on the beaches after breaking their fast. No one bothered others; everyone minded their own business. I tried hard to discover instances of negative interactions between the two peoples, but they even smoked hookah together at the local café.

Palestinian cleric who called Holocaust a fairy tale ‘to meet MPs’

The Holocaust denying former Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, who has called for Britain to be destroyed, is set to visit Parliament next week.
Sheikh Ekrima Sabri will be in Britain from 11 to 15 September, as guest of pro-Palestine group EuroPal to discuss the “recent escalation” in Israel with MPs.
Sabri has a history of anti-Semitic and terrorist-supporting views, which led to his removal as Jerusalem’s Islamic leader by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2006.
He threatened that Jewish prayer at Jerusalem’s Temple Mount would “prompt massacres” and lead to “rivers of blood”. And during interview with Italian newspaper la Repubblica, Sabri flatly denied the Holocaust, stating: “Six million Jews dead? No way, they were much fewer. Let’s stop with this fairy tale exploited by Israel to capture international solidarity.”
A petition has been launched by Christian United For Israel UK (CUFI UK) urging Home Secretary Amber Rudd to ban him. France blocked his entry in 2012. You can view the petition here.
CUFI UK executive director Des Starritt said: “At a time of increased fear of Islamic extremism in our country, it is inconceivable that our Government would grant a radical hate preacher such a platform. This strikes a message of double standards. It implies terrorism against Jews is acceptable.”

Sarsour: If you have a problem with my stealing hurricane relief money, you are a racist!

This story from earlier this week was widely reported:

Linda Sarsour seems unable to pass up any opportunity to make a quick buck, even at the expense of vulnerable Americans. Her latest target? Caring people all across the country who are looking for ways to help the hundreds of thousands of Texans who have lost everything as the result of Hurricane Harvey.

Sarsour recently requested donations for the Harvey Hurricane Relief Fund, which, on its face, sounds innocuous enough. But it turns out that this fund is, in fact, a thinly veiled front for leftist community organizing. From the fund’s website:

Together we will organize and advocate for our devastated communities, shining a spotlight on inequalities that emerge in the restoration of lives, livelihoods, and homes, amplifying the needs of hard-hit communities, and providing legal assistance for residents wrongfully denied government support.

This is pure political activism, not a charitable quest to assist hurricane victims as they rebuild their lives. It’ll reroute the money not to actual charities such as the Texas Diaper Bank or the Houston Food Bank, but instead to the Texas Organizing Project Education Fund, a nonprofit that advances racial and economic justice through community and electoral organizing.”

On its Facebook page, the Project announced that all donations received “will only be used to organize in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.” In other words, not one cent of this money will be donated to people who have lost their cars, possessions, and even their entire homes. Instead it’ll be poured straight into the pockets of activists such as Sarsour as they continue their political posturing, dividing the country over race and “inequality” in the wake of Harvey’s devastation rather than focusing on the nonpartisan goal of helping Texans restore their community.

This week, Sarsour has also actively discouraged people from donating to the Red Cross, suggesting instead that they contribute to sundry political-activist organizations. Sarsour has already shown her willingness to use disunity to turn a profit. Now we know she’s willing to exploit disaster in the same way.

So how does Sarsour react when someone calls her on it?

Her critics are all woman-hating white supremacists!

This tweet tells you pretty much all you need to know about this despicable woman. Although I do wonder exactly what makes her a woman of color and not, say, Israeli women.

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09/01 Links Pt1: Phillips: On the wrong side of America’s culture war; Iran shows 'true colors' by restoring Hamas ties

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: On the wrong side of America’s culture war

David Duke’s website lavished praise on Max Blumenthal’s book, which likened Israel to Nazi Germany, saying his work was “extremely valuable in the study of Jewish extremism.”
By the Left’s own lights, that makes Corbyn, Max Blumenthal and these left-wing sites complicit with neo-Nazis and white supremacists.
Unlike the Left’s tactic of character assassination, however, this is not a wildly unfair smear by association.
For the Left and far-Right are united by their fundamentally anti-Jewish, pathological loathing of Israel. Cast your eye over Duke’s vicious screed “Jewish Supremacy in Action” and you could be reading a column by one of The Guardian’s regular Israel-bashing commentators.
This is surely why the Left is going to such lengths to talk up white supremacists. It is desperately inflating the threat posed by such people in order to mask its own Israel-hatred and Jew-baiting.
Of course, neo-Nazis and their ilk pose a danger to Jews and other minorities, but their numbers are tiny. The immeasurably greater danger comes from the far-left and the Islamists – and from the broad Left who ignore or sanitize what they do.
I have repeatedly listed Donald Trump’s many flaws, which make him a highly unsuitable occupant of the high office he now holds.
But what he’s up against is a liberal establishment and its far-left shock troops (passively facilitated by spineless and resentful Republicans) who are using illegality, abuse of the constitution, contempt for democracy, defamatory lies and character assassination, obstructionism and violence, not just against Donald Trump but against America – and against reason itself.
Unlikely champion he may be, but if Trump goes down America is lost – and the Jews will have squandered one of their warmest friends in the White House.
Unpalatable? Incredible? Sure. But you’d better believe it. This is a cultural civil war, and far too many Jews, alas, have chosen to be on the wrong side.

Rabbis boycotting Trump are ignorant of their own history

The president was correct in condemning all violence. In a viable democracy, there is no excuse for political violence in the streets. The antisemitism of the far Right is palpable, but so too is the antisemitism of the far Left. It’s just that progressive Jews are incapable of confronting antisemitism when it comes from those with whom they share a political agenda on other issues.
The president who most threatened the Jewish community is not Donald Trump but Barack Obama. Obama sat at the feet of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright for 20 years while he cursed Jews and America. It was only when Wright’s sermons became public and Wright persisted in his hatred that Obama distanced himself from the man he called “his uncle.”
The Obama administration staked out positions for the Palestinians in their negotiations with Israel. It slighted Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by making him come to the back door of the White House and then serving him non-kosher food while Obama retreated to his living quarters. The contrived insults were unworthy of an American president.
The Obama administration gave Iran the bomb and freed up over $100 billion that Iran is now using to fund terrorism against Israel.
Did the ostentatiously publicity- hungry rabbinical organizations ever refuse to take a High Holy Day call from Obama? To ask the question is to answer it.
The self-centered rabbis will bask in the ephemeral limelight of their political exhibitionism. They will join other Jewish organizations that are crafting letters and petitions to attack Trump for not condemning one set of street thugs more than another.
They will indulge their self-important fantasy and receive affirmation from their congregants, who think that Trump is the greatest threat to Jewish existence since Hitler. They will have advanced the real interests of the Jewish community not one iota.

JPost Editorial: PFLP in Germany

It sounds hallucinatory because it is: The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestinian, a terrorist organization responsible for the deaths of dozens of Israelis – including the 2001 assassination of tourism minister Rehavam Ze’evi – will be running candidates for the German Bundestag.
It’s not enough that the PFLP hasn’t been banned long ago for carrying out deadly attacks to advance its agenda of destroying the State of Israel. Representatives of this organization, which openly advocates the use of the most despicable means to achieve its ends, are exploiting the democratic process to gain access to political power and legitimacy. And they are doing it in Germany, a country that should have learned from its own history how fragile democracy can be.
It’s not that the PFLP has slipped under the radar and German authorities have made the simple mistake of oversight. As noted by Benjamin Weinthal, The Jerusalem Post’s European correspondent, MKs from Yesh Atid and German lawmakers have already appealed to German Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière to ban Hezbollah and the PFLP in Germany.
But the ministry has refused. In a response to a question from Weinthal, the ministry attempted to shirk responsibility, claiming it was the federal election committee that decided whether or not to disqualify political parties.

Not only Hamas: PA summer camps teach terror too

Palestinian Media Watch reports:

Many Palestinian children participated this summer in camps that promoted hate, terror, Martyrdom-death and denial of the existence of Israel. The camps were organized by the PLO Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs and the PA's National Committee for Summer Camps, both of which are funded by the PA Budget. On its Facebook page, the National Committee for Summer Camps has listed itself as a "governmental organization." In Arabic it defines itself as "a governmental institution for children aged 6-12 years with recreational activities aimed to develop the Palestinian child in various fields."

Among the "partners and supporters," listed on the website of the PA's National Committee for Summer Camps, are UNICEF and UNDP (accessed Aug. 30, 2017).

The first photo shows a girl wearing an Arab headdress and playing the part of a terrorist, as she faces off against a boy playing an Israeli. The second and third photos show the Palestinian girl "dead" on the ground with a knife in her hand after the "Israelis" who "shot" her standing next to her. The fourth photo shows a number of children standing behind the terrorist "Martyr" lying on the ground with a Palestinian flag draped over her, as is common practice at the funeral of "Martyrs."

[Facebook page of the National Committee for Summer Camps, Aug. 3, 2017]

These photos and others that PMW posted of play-acting terror attacks don't seem to be on the Facebook page of the National Committee for Summer Camps page any more, so there may have been some sensitivity about that after PMW reported it.

But this shows that the PA is no different in teaching their kids to support and idolize terror than Hamas is. The world's embrace of the Palestinian Authority while considering Hamas a terror group is completely political and not based on their actions nor attitudes.

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UNRWA announced that it distributed 896 live sheep to Gaza families for the occasion of Eid al Adha this year.

These sheep are slaughtered by amateurs. In fact, under Islamic law it is preferable that the owner of the animal be the one who slaughters ("sacrifices") it, ensuring that the animals will die a horrible and painful death. (It is permissible for the owner to hire a professional as long as he witnesses the slaughter, but that is not the best way to fulfill the obligation.)

Videos from previous years shows young men from Gaza stabbing animals to death with short knives, often in large crowds, and it takes many minutes for the animals to succumb. Hamas does not enforce any laws on sacrifice, which often happens in the middle of the street. The UNRWA sheep will undoubtedly be slaughtered in the same crude and cruel way under sickening, dirty conditions. (They were donated by the US branch of Islamic Relief Organization. The UK-based organization is associated with the Muslim Brotherhood.)

Today is the first day of the three day festival, so there will be more horrific videos. Today a video of a frighetned bull that ran through a Gaza street before it was recaptured. was shared on social media, but not its subsequent slaughter.

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08/31 Links Pt2: Young Anti-Zionist Jews Claim to Speak For My Generation; Yes, antifa is the moral equivalent of neo-Nazis

From Ian:

Young Anti-Zionist Jews Claim to Speak For My Generation. They Don’t. It’s Time We Called Them On It.

“If six million people were walking around saying that they were ‘chosen,’ you would want to kill them, too.”
A few months ago, I was shocked to hear these words from a fellow Brown University student. With a remarkable degree of ignorance about the history of the Holocaust and Jewish theology, he suggested that the Jews are so repulsive that we brought the Nazi genocide upon ourselves. He shut down another student for daring to bring up her grandparents’ Holocaust experiences at a Shabbat dinner conversation, calling her selfish for recounting her own family’s history. He declared that Jewish religion and ethics are meaningless as long as Israel, which he regarded as the epicenter of global evil, exists.
He was Jewish.
He had internalized a toxic culture of anti-Semitism and grown to resent Holocaust survivors, Zionists, and all who represented resistance to the mentality that he had chosen to adopt. Anti-Zionists had repeated the narrative that they represented “young Jews” and “our generation” until he believed them. He couldn’t stand to be confronted with millennial Jews like me who had taken the harder path, had chosen to name anti-Semitism, talk about it, and fight back.
People like him claim to speak for the whole of my generation, but they are a small minority of Jewish millennials. According to Pew’s comprehensive study of American Jews, a full 81 percent of Jewish 18-29 year-olds consider “caring about Israel” to be “essential” or “important” to being Jewish. Only 11 percent of us say we are “not at all attached” to Israel. We may be critical of its policies and politicians, but not its existence.

Judea Pearl: The Basel Conference — 120 Years Later

However, I believe that Herzl, in effect, founded the Jewish state much earlier. True, Herzl’s specific plan to persuade the Ottoman sultan to allocate land for a Jewish state was sheer lunacy and led to painful disappointments. But transforming Jewish statehood into an item on the international political agenda was a monumental achievement; it maintains this position today.
Moreover, the idea that Jews are reclaiming sovereignty by right, not for favor, completely changed the way that Jews began to view their standing in the cosmos. It transformed the Jew from an object of history to a shaper of history.
This new self-image was the engine that propelled history toward a Jewish statehood already in the early 1900s. The 40,000 Jews who made up the Second Aliyah (1904-1914) were different in spirit and determination from the 35,000 Jews who came earlier with the First Aliyah (1882-1903). At their core, the second wave knew that they were building a model sovereign nation and that Zionism was the most just and noble endeavor in human history. They established kibbutzim, formed self-defense organizations, founded the town of Tel Aviv and turned Hebrew into a practical spoken language. This spirit of hope, purpose and immediacy emanated from the Basel Congress, not from the utopian “in time to come” Zionism of Ahad Ha’am.
The diplomatic efforts that led to the Balfour Declaration and the subsequent ideological immigration of the Third Aliyah (1919-1923) all were direct products of the Zionist movement and made statehood practically inevitable.
The miracle of Israel was planted, indeed, in 1897.
If I had to choose the single most significant impact that the Basel Congress has had on our lives here, in 2017 America, I would name one forgotten statement that Herzl made in his first speech at the Basel Congress. On the morning of August 29, 1897, after 15 minutes of wild cheering, Herzl took the stage and said: “Zionism is a homecoming to the Jewish fold even before it becomes a homecoming to the Jewish land.”
As I observe how the miracle of Israel is becoming the most powerful uniting force among our divided communities, and as I witness the excitement of our children, grandchildren and college students as they internalize the relevance of Israel to their identity as Jews, Herzl’s statement about “homecoming to the Jewish fold“ stands out, perhaps, as more visionary than his prediction about Israeli statehood. It was the future of the Jewish people, not just of Israel, that was forged there in Basel, 120 years ago.

Reflecting on Zionism

Some 120 years after this historic congress, the State of Israel today deals with questions Herzl has already asked. In our day, he represents the connection between the State of Israel in the Land of Israel and the solution to the Jewish problem.
Herzl searched for a real solution to this problem from the roots up. He completely changed how the future of the Jewish people was conceived. The idea of uprooting Jews from Europe and transferring them to Israel depended on re-evaluating the relationship toward Jews by European society and the features of this society. As it was impossible to predict that European society would eventually adapt itself to the values of tolerance, freedom and equality toward Jews, anti-Semitism was understood as a permanent state between Jews and non-Jews that would only get worse if the Jewish problem would remain unsolved.
Today, 120 years after the First Zionist Congress, we have a duty to examine the way we went since then,do some soul searching and evaluate the aims of both the Zionist movement and the state. The Zionist movement succeeded in realizing its dream by virtue of its leadership, ideology and the mobilization of its people. The question is what is the essence of Zionism today. This ideology succeeded in gathering together the Jewish people, not only those who were citizens of one country, but all the Jews living in the Diaspora. Is our leadership capable bringing about the realization and fulfillment of aspirations and form concrete plans for the future, or does it cause us to occupy ourselves with the day-to-day and a decline in the present as we abandon our future?

Avner Inbar is the Co-Chair and Co-Founder of Molad, a Jerusalem-based progressive think tank.

Of course he wants peace with Palestinians. He supports Israel negotiating with Palestinians, Jews talking with Arabs, Israel embracing the Arab Peace Initiative, and Fatah unifying with Hamas.

But some kinds of dialogue are out of bounds.

In an audio recording published in Makor Rishon, Inbar says to a group of American Jews that they must not speak to Israel's New York Consul-General Dani Dayan.

Dayan, you see, is a settler, which makes him far more toxic than Arabs who cheer killing Jews. He told the American leftists that they have to choose sides between his position and that of a representative of the Israeli government. Which is sort of amazing for someone who claims to support Israel.

And what really got him upset was an article in Haaretz that showed that despite Dayan's personal opinions, he has been very effective in speaking to - liberal American Jews.

“I have a lot of respect for Dani Dayan,” said Jeremy Ben-Ami, the president and founder of J Street, the largest Jewish group focused on promoting a two-state solution and opposing the settlements. “We don’t agree politically on almost anything, but as a diplomat, his approach has been exactly the right one for the State of Israel.”...
A participant in one of those conversations said “what I liked about it, was that he [Dayan] didn’t try to sell us the usual explanations about how much the current government wants the two-state solution to happen. He didn’t do hasbara on us. He just said — ‘listen, you and I are probably not going to agree when it comes to the settlements and the conflict. I’m here representing the government’s line, and you have a different line — and that’s okay. But let’s try to find areas where we can work together.’ There was something honest and refreshing about his approach.”

So there is a clear consensus among leading Jewish figures in New York that Dayan’s first year in town was a success: He arrived with the “settler thing,” as one leader described it, hovering over his appointment, and has overcome suspicions and built strong relationships all across the city and state.

Lara Friedman, president of the Foundation for Middle East Peace, was quoted in the Haaretz article as well as being against speaking to Dayan.

So a charming Israeli diplomat is more dangerous to some leftist Jews than Arabs are. Good to know that the "ultra-right" Dayan is more interested in dialogue with those he disagrees with than some so-called liberals are.

(h/t Yoel)

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The attitude of Israelis to African “infiltrators” or “asylum seekers” or “refugees” – what you call them is indicative of how you feel about them – is a manifestation of a broad cultural divide in our society.

There are about 50,000 illegal immigrants (estimates vary) from various African countries, mostly Eritria and Sudan but also numerous others, who came to Israel in the period between about 2005 and 2013, when Israel completed fencing its borderwith Egypt. In 2012 a law was passed that permitted the detention of illegal immigrants, although the Supreme Court, responding to petitions from various “human rights” NGOs, prevented its implementation. Nevertheless, the flow of immigrants seems to have been stopped, primarily by the physical barrier. Here is an interesting analysis of the immigration phenomenon and the attempts of the state to deal with it, albeit from a left-wing perspective.

Most of the immigrants have applied for humanitarian asylum and have been given visas that must be renewed every three months. They are de facto permitted to work, although many receive welfare benefits. Technically, only a few are eligible for humanitarian asylum as refugees, but the government has decided that most of them can’t be deported to their home countries because conditions there are so bad. Most are Muslims. The majority live in neighborhoods in South Tel Aviv.

The Tel Aviv neighborhoods have been severely impacted by the influx. Local residents say that they are afraid to go out at night because of violent crime committed by immigrants. Resources to help disadvantaged people of all backgrounds have been strained to the breaking point by the needs of the immigrants and their children. Long-time residents of the area that own property find themselves trapped, unable to sell apartments for enough money to move somewhere else.

Although it is irrelevant to the argument about what to do about them, I should point out (probably unnecessarily) that no other Middle Eastern or African country would treat illegal immigrants as well. The Egyptians regularly shoot migrants trying to cross their borders, and other countries deny them the right to work or education for their children. And they certainly would not get welfare benefits!

One can argue about their status endlessly – are most of them “economic migrants” or true refugees? But it should be clear that life in Israel is infinitely better in every way than in the places most of them came from, for both human rights and economic opportunities. It’s understandable that they took great risks to get here. What should we do?

On the one hand, you can say that now that the flow has been stopped they do not pose a demographic danger to the state and we should try to integrate them into the state, give them permanent residency and official permission to work, improve their living conditions and try to absorb them. After all, their children already speak Hebrew as their first language.

On the other, if it becomes known that Israel will welcome illegal immigrants, no fence will stop them. They will find a way, and the influx that has been stopped will resume. The ones that are already here have a high birthrate, facilitated by generous welfare benefits, and the 50,000 that are here now present a demographic threat to the Jewish majority, already under pressure from a growing Arab population. There is also the danger of creating a permanent dependent class. Israel is a small nation-state, and its continued existence depends on maintaining an ethnic majority. While the migrants have human rights, they must be balanced against those of the residents of South Tel Aviv, who have received a very raw deal through no fault of their own.

The government has been trying to find a way to reduce the number of migrants in the country. The current law permits the deportation of illegal immigrants to a “third country” where they will not be endangered. Israel has agreements with several African countries to take deportees, but only if they voluntarily agree to go. Last year, the Knesset passed a law that would withhold some of the salary of the migrants, which would be returned to them if and when they leave (the employer also must contribute to the fund, which discourages them from hiring migrants). This has only been in effect a few months and it’s not clear how effective it will be.

In some cases, the government wishes to deport someone who is uncooperative. Until now, this has been possible by incarcerating him until he agrees to leave “voluntarily” to one of the countries with which Israel has agreements.

But this week, the Supreme Court decided (in response to petitions from various “human rights” NGOs) that illegal immigrants can’t be incarcerated for more than two months, because then their agreement to leave wouldn’t truly be voluntary. Paradoxically, it also ruled that Israel does have the right to involuntarily deport them, but since no third country will take them unless they agree, this right can’t be exercised. The court also suggested that the best solution for the Tel Aviv residents was to disperse the immigrants around the country, which would multiply the problems for both local residents and the migrants. This is the latest in a series of decisions which have stymied attempts to deport illegal immigrants.

And this is where we get to the cultural divide. The government believes that it has an obligation to protect the rights of the immigrants, the Tel Aviv residents, and the Jewish majority in the country. But as Justice Minister Ayelet Shaked said in a powerful speech at the Bar Association this week, the Court recognizes only the rights of individuals, and not the Zionist imperative to maintain a Jewish majority and Jewish character to the state:

… Shaked sought to make clear that she doesn't make light of … individual rights, saying she considers the system maintaining them to be “almost sacred.”

“But not devoid of context,” she clarified. "Not detached from Israeli uniqueness, our national tasks and our very identity, history and Zionist challenges. Zionism should not—and will not—bow before a system of individual rights interpreted universally in a manner detaching it from the chronicles of the Knesset and the history of legislation we're all familiar with."

Shaked said the Israeli judicial branch operates as if in a “dream,” adopting a “utopian and universal worldview sanctifying individual rights to an extreme degree and ceasing taking part in the struggle for Israel's very existence.”

The Court, she noted, relates its decisions to the Basic Law: Human Dignity and Liberty, but there is – as yet – no Basic Law affirming the Jewish character of the state, no “Nation-State Law.”

Shaked was criticized by Yitzhak Herzog and Tzipi Livni, both of whom oppose such a law. Livni said, “Zionism isn't bowing down to human rights. It is proudly raising its head, because protecting [human rights] is also the essence of Judaism and part of Israel's values as a Jewish and democratic state.” In other words, the Jewishness of the state is nothing more than its democratic nature. This pernicious idea comes directly from the former Supreme Court President Aharon Barak, and is precisely why Shaked correctly demands a Nation-State Law.

It is the primary purpose of a government and all of its subsidiaries, including the judiciary system, to protect the nation’s citizens against internal and external threats. This is the case even if the particular citizens are poor and have little political power, like the residents of South Tel Aviv. The Supreme Court struck down one attempt after another to deport the illegal immigrants that have made their lives hell, and the suggestion that the immigrants be dispersed throughout the country – which, even if it were possible, would mean dispersing their pathologies to other disadvantaged communities, because they certainly aren’t going to be allowed to move next door to Supreme Court justices, or Livni or Herzog – is obnoxious and insulting. It is a subterfuge to justify choosing the welfare of the migrants over the Jewish citizens of the state.

Israel does everything she can to be a moral actor in a world where morality is usually a joke, both when she has to use force to defend herself, and when she can deploy her advanced technology to save lives (e.g., Syria, Sierra Leone and Houston, Texas).

But as Hillel said, if I am not for myself, who will be for me? In this case, justice is on the side of the state. And the Supreme Court should be on the side of justice.

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08/31 Links Pt1: Israel and US Threaten to Cut UN Funding if Settlement ‘Blacklist’ Published; Beware Iranian Sleeper Cells

From Ian:

Eugene Kontorovich: Symposium on Occupation Law: The Necessary Non-Normativity and Temporal Indeterminacy of Occupation Law

Certainly some prolonged occupations are the result of colonialist or annexationist aims. But this is not inevitably the case. The Allied occupation of West Berlin lasted forty-five years, and had the then-dominant views about the duration of the Soviet empire been correct, it could have lasted forever. This was not an occupation of choice but of expedience. Similarly, with Israel’s capture of the West Bank, the situation was even more contingent. Jordan only entered the Six Day War half-way through, and the West Bank was entirely outside of Israel’s original war aims.
Israel retained the territory because immediate attempts at a settlement with the Arab states were rejected, as were numerous internationally-backed good-faith offers of statehood to the Palestinians after the end of the Cold War. Indeed, it is these repeated and rejected offers of statehood that prominently distinguish Israel’s situation from any of the others discussed in the book.
This leads us back to the question of temporariness. Maintaining a status quo over many decades is an impossible task, as nothing in the world stands still. Demographics and migrant flows, as Europe’s recent experience has shown, is one of those things. No one can stop the clock at 1967. Of course, Gross’s position is more nuanced, as it would forbid only changes that benefit the occupier. But this itself is a monumental task, as it effectively burdens the occupier.
Limiting one’s trade and movement with an adjacent territory is a high cost. That which burdens the occupier reduces the other side’s incentives to accept an amicable deal. And indeed, one reason the Geneva Convention may not have anticipated prolonged occupations is that its drafters did not conceive of situations where occupation would not promptly lead to annexation, or a peace deal on terms acceptable to both parties.
Thus an alternative normative occupation regime might, for example, terminate all restrictions on the occupier upon the failure of the other side to accept a good faith diplomatic arrangement that would leave them better off than they were before.

PMW: PA summer camps teach terror and Martyrdom-death for kids

Many Palestinian children participated this summer in camps that promoted hate, terror, Martyrdom-death and denial of the existence of Israel. The camps were organized by the PLO Supreme Council for Sport and Youth Affairs and the PA's National Committee for Summer Camps, both of which are funded by the PA Budget. On its Facebook page, the National Committee for Summer Camps has listed itself as a "governmental organization." In Arabic it defines itself as "a governmental institution for children aged 6-12 years with recreational activities aimed to develop the Palestinian child in various fields."
Among the "partners and supporters," listed on the website of the PA's National Committee for Summer Camps, are UNICEF and UNDP (accessed Aug. 30, 2017).
Glorifying terror, terrorists, Martyrdom-death for kids, and non-recognition of Israel's existence
The PA's summer camp messages to children included glorifying terror, venerating Martyrdom-death, and picturing a world without Israel in which all Israel has become "Palestine." Camp activities included children performing plays in which the children depicted Palestinian stabbers carrying out terror attacks and being shot and killed by "Israelis," and dying as honored "Martyrs." Children created sculptures and drawings of the map of "Palestine," which includes all of Israel in addition to the PA areas, encouraging children to disregard the existence of Israel and foresee a world without it. Children were taught that Palestine's border to the north is Lebanon and to the south is the Gulf of Aqaba, again depicting a world in which "Palestine" has replaced Israel.
This report documents how the PA and the PLO transmitted these hate messages to Palestinian children through its summer camps.
Glorifying terror and Martyrdom-death through enactments of terror attacks
At a camp organized by the PA-funded National Committee for Summer Camps, children performed a mock stabbing terror attack at the closing ceremony of the camp.

The Newest Threat: Radical Islamist Piracy

According to a recently published report by a scholar at the Marine Corps University, Islamic State (IS) and perhaps even al-Qaeda, having been driven from their territorial strongholds, are likely to take up campaigns of maritime terror. IS successfully carried out an attack on an Egyptian navy frigate, using anti-ship missiles, in the summer of 2015. Michael Rubin explains what could be next:
[T]he Arabs and the Islamic world more broadly have a long and rich maritime legacy, one in which the symbolism-conscious Islamic State can find inspiration. . . .
[The] al-Qaeda military strategist Abu Ubayd al-Qurayshi first sought to integrate maritime operations into a broader jihadist strategy. Al-Qurayshi argued that doing so was especially important to achieve the goal of undermining the U.S. economy, given the importance of trade and the freedom of navigation. . . .
How might al-Qaeda and Islamic State act in the future? In short, they hope to entice the U.S. Navy into narrow waterways off the coast of hostile regions, such as the waters off Yemen and Somalia [as well as] Libya, Egypt, and Syria, and in the Straits of Malacca and the South China Sea. While ships have grown accustomed to treading carefully off the Horn of Africa, Yemen is more difficult to avoid: the Mandeb Strait between Yemen and Djibouti is a chokepoint that shipping transiting the Suez Canal cannot avoid. The same holds true with the Straits of Malacca, especially if extremists succeed in their efforts to gain footholds in Indonesia.

Before 1967, American anti-Zionists still demanded Israel to give up land

Here is a letter to the editor in the New York Times from June 24, 1960, by the head of American Friends of the Middle East, Harold Minor:

His points are:
- Any Arab intransigence is a result of Israeli actions
- The Palestinian [refugee] issue is the key issue in the entire Middle East, and if that problem would be solved, there would be no other problems
- The Arabs are justified in boycotting and blockading the Jewish state because of Israeli actions
- Certain parties, i.e., Jews, who speak out against this Arab aggression are engaging in propaganda
- Israel is in violation of UN resolutions, and should go back to the 1947 partition lines
- Arabs look at the US as being pro-Israel and not an honest broker, and the US has to pressure Israel to give up land and (West) Jerusalem and admit a million Palestinians in order to get back in the good graces of the Arabs

These arguments are now seen to be bizarre in retrospect - and yet anti-Israel forces are using slightly updated versions of these same arguments, today. Linkage was alive and well in 1960. Justifying boycotts of Israel was perfectly acceptable discourse. Claims that there can be no peace unless the US pressures Israel - we hear it today. Justifying all Arab aggression by pointing to imaginary Israeli crimes - just like today. (The Israeli Embassy in Washington wrote a good response that was published in the July 5, 1960 NYT pointing out the deceptions in this letter. )

Nothing has changed.

But what is really interesting is that this American Friends of the Middle East was not a grassroots pro-Arab organization.

It was created by the CIA!

In 1951, [CIA Middle East official Kermit "Kim'] Roosevelt – together with two dozen pro-Arab American educators, theologians and writers, including Gildersleeve and Harry Emerson Fosdick – founded an anti-Zionist group called American Friends of the Middle East (AFME). It was Roosevelt who used his role at the CIA to ensure the organization would fund the group through the CIA and Aramco.

It was through groups like the AFME and anti-Zionist activists like Rabbi Elmer Berger, a leader of the American Council for Judaism, that the Roosevelts [Kermit and cousin Archie, also at the CIA] were able to shape the CIA's prism of the Middle East. With Kim Roosevelt's blessing, the AFME led the way in educating policy- makers, journalists and others as to the Middle Eastern "reality" – which coincided with their political biases.

As Wilford writes, "In December 1958, AFME drafted a pamphlet, 'Story of a Purpose,' which eloquently articulated the group's founding values: sympathy towards Arab nationalism and the drive toward Arab unity, rejection of the last vestiges of colonialism and imperialism, and the belief that the Palestine Question is the very heart of the Middle East problems, requiring a US policy of friendly and sympathetic impartiality."

While the PLO's propaganda came straight from the Kremlin, American anti-Zionism has largely been shaped by Foggy Bottom.

What this letter also shows is that even if Israel would give in to today's demands - there are plenty more demands waiting in the wings, and they were all used before 1967.

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