This perverse understanding of how wars end led Israel to make extraordinary blunders in the fifteen years after Oslo, for which it was punished by unremitting campaigns of delegitimization and violence, symbolized, respectively, by the Durban conference of 2001 and the Passover Massacre of 2002.
Such nonsense ended during Netanyahu's near-decade-long term as prime minister, but it has not yet been replaced by a sturdy vision of victory. Rather, Netanyahu has put out brush fires as they arose in Sinai, Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, Syria, and Lebanon. While agreeing with the concept of an Israeli victory when personally briefed, he has not spoken publicly about it.
Meanwhile, other leading figures in Israel have adopted this outlook. Former deputy chief of staff Uzi Dayan called on the army "to return to the path of victory." Former education and interior minister Gideon Sa'ar has stated that "The 'victory paradigm,' like Jabotinsky's 'Iron Wall' concept, assumes that an agreement may be possible in the future, but only after a clear and decisive Israeli victory ... The transition to the 'victory paradigm' is contingent upon abandoning the Oslo concept."
In this context, the statements by Lieberman and Bennett point to a change in thinking. Lieberman quit his position as defense minister out of frustration that a barrage by Hamas of 460 rockets and missiles against Israel was met with a ceasefire; he called instead for "a state of despair" to be imposed on the enemies of Israel. Complaining that "Israel stopped winning," Bennett demanded that the IDF "start winning again," and added that "When Israel wants to win, we can win." On rescinding his demand for the defense portfolio, Bennett emphasized that he stands by Netanyahu "in the monumental task of ensuring that Israel is victorious again."
Opponents of this paradigm then amusingly testified to the power of this idea of victory. Ma'ariv columnist Revital Amiran wrote that the victory the Israeli public most wants lies in such arenas as larger allocations for the elderly and unbearable traffic jams. Meretz leader Tamar Zandberg, replied to Bennett that for her, a victorious Israel means winning Emmy and Oscar nominations, guaranteeing equal health services, and spending more on education.
That victory and defeat have newly become a topic for debate in Israel constitutes a major step forward. As media figure Ayalet Mitsch correctly notes, "even left-leaning Israelis think it's time to win again." Thus does the push for an Israeli victory move forward.
Speaking from the European parliament, Sandell said, “What we have found out, something I heard for quite some time already, from central and eastern European countries that would have an inclination to move their embassy to Jerusalem, this is the natural thing for them to do, is that they have received phone calls from Berlin, from Angela Merkel, the chancellor. Basically, this cannot happen under any circumstances.”
"I have spoken to many Germans these last few days in Brussels," he said. "They are not aware of this, and all of them would be shocked that all of the countries in the European Union today would want to block an embassy move to Jerusalem, not only for your own country, but for other countries that have the conviction [that] this is the right thing to do, the only country to do would be Germany. This is a big shock."
He added that "this is something unprecedented. This is not the Germany we once knew. This is not the even Angela Merkel we once knew when she was elected.”
Sandell said many of Merkel’s telephone calls took place to European leaders in April when “many of the nations were seriously considering moving their embassies.”
Sandell said Merkel’s anti-Israel moves have to do with the Iran nuclear deal, which “has been very much supported by Germany [and] the German government.”
How the IHRA's anti-Semitism definition is a threat to British democracy
The IHRA definition is yet another tool in the arsenal of Israel’s far-right government and the UK Israel lobby to destroy any possibility of developing an independent approach to Israel-Palestine
The underlying claim is that when Jews want to define Antisemitism, it is really nothing more than an attempt to undermine criticism of Israel.
And now, a similar kind of muzzling of Jewish opinion took place just the other day -- this time affecting how Jews talk about their own holidays.
Coveney questions the Peace Initiative itself ("U say u are working on a New Peace Initiative") and finishes off claiming that this is just one more in a series of "unhelpful statements."
But still: Jews describing Jewish holidays is provocative when they are tied to the history of the Jewish people and how they have fought for their lives -- and their land.
During Hanukkah, the Jewish connection to the Temple Mount and Jerusalem is more blatant, but even holidays like Passover, Shavuot, Rosh HaShannah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret remind us of Jewish Jerusalem -- if for no other reason than the prayers that recall the sacrifices that were brought to the Temple in Jerusalem.
The same goes for Tisha B'Av and other fast days that commemorate the destruction of the Temple.
Likewise, even in during the holiday of Purim, which did not even take place in Israel, the status of which day the Megillah is read is dictated on whether the city was a walled city when Joshua conquered the land -- and the only city that fulfills that requirement today is Jerusalem.
So while the world has no problem remaining quiet while Palestinian Arab leaders deny the historical bond between Jews and Jerusalem, when Jews openly celebrate their holidays and their ties to Jerusalem and the Temple Mount, we are the ones being provocative.
As usual.
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After seeing the recent self-serving "apologies" for offending Jews offered by Linda Sarsour and Marc Lamont Hill, it is (almost) refreshing to see what looks far more like a real apology for antisemitism.
Last week I reported on an absurd antisemitic conspiracy theory published by a Canadian Arabic newspaper that claimed that the building of the Titanic was a Freemason/Jewish conspiracy to force three bankers who opposed the Federal Reserve to be killed on its maiden voyage.
I noted that the editor in chief of the newspaper was running for office, and a Canadian journalist made inquiries about the article, prompting the editor to issue this apology:
Important Message to Readers From Medhat Oweida, Editor-in-Chief
Late last night it was brought to my attention that an article was submitted on our online newspaper whose content was offensive and anti-Semitic. The article in question was published on November 11, 2018 by the editor who oversaw the submission process for incoming contributions to the website.
As the editor-in-chief, I would typically be involved in the approval process of any submissions. However, since October 1st, I had delegated this responsibility as I was focused on seeking the CPC Nomination in the federal riding of Mississauga-Streetsville.
I would like to make the following clear:
I do not share the views of the author of the article in question, and I categorically condemn views which spreads hate directed toward any group.
Once I learned of the existence of the article, I took immediate action to have it removed from the website.
The author of the article has been banned from accessing the website.
We immediately parted ways with the editor who permitted the publication of the article. We are conducting a thorough search of the archives for any other submissions by the same author to ensure removal and to declare we have no association.
We commit to work to improve the submission process to prevent such events from occurring in the future.
As a human rights activist, I spent most my life fighting hatred around the world. As a Canadian Egyptian writer, I have been a proponent of peace between Egypt and Israel and have written articles in support of the peaceful solution of the Israeli-Arab conflict.
In addition, I stand against terrorism and the hate attached to such activities. Part of this fight against extremism is standing for the rights of those who face persecution around the world, in particular members of different minorities, such as the Coptic community in Egypt, Christians in Iraq, Syria and Pakistan, and the Jewish community in the Middle East at large.
I deeply regret the offence caused as a result of the publishing of this article. Please be assured it does not reflect my beliefs and I am confident that it will not be repeated in our publication.
This is a real, well written and authentic-sounding apology, complete with concrete actions to ensure that it doesn't happen again. Firing the editor that allowed the publication is an especially bold and appreciated move. There is no justification in this apology at all for what happened, no equivocation, no excuses.
There is only one problem, though: The offensive article was written in Arabic, but the apology is only written in English.
It seems to me that Medhat should also write an article in Arabic for the Arabic-language readers of his news site - many of whom live in Egypt and other north African countries. Medhat is doing everything he can to ensure that his political career is not hurt by this incident, but if he really cared about human rights and was really against antisemtism as he claims, shouldn't he write an article denouncing antisemitism in Arabic for his Arabic readers?
Antisemitism is rife in the Arab world. Medhat knows this. If he really wanted to contribute to human rights and peace, he would be fighting antisemitism not only in Canada but also where many of his readers are in Egypt and other Arab countries. If he would have translated his apology to Arabic, then that would have shown without a doubt that his apology was sincere. Unfortunately, his failure to do so makes this apology - as well done and as welcome as it is - appear to be political rather than heartfelt.
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As Jews celebrated the second night of Chanukah at the Western Wall, Arabic language sites continue to report about in in a way meant to incite Arabs to attack Jews.
A few members of the extremist Jewish "temple" groups gathered yesterday evening for prayer, dancing at the door of the tribes, and lit the candlestick of the Hanukkah festival celebrated by the Jews .
The celebrants also drank alcohol at the thresholds of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, a provocation to the feelings of Palestinian Muslims and Christians, and prayed prayers hoping to rebuild the temple again .
On Tuesday, Jewish extremists are expected to continue prayers at the gates of the Al-Aqsa Mosque, which they pledged at the start of their provocative prayers.
I believe that the reference to the "door of the tribes" was a celebration at the "little Kotel," the Kotel HaKatan north of the popular Western Wall.
But it is reference to drinking wine at the "thresholds of Al Aqsa Mosque" and praying for the Temple to be rebuilt that is meant to start anti-Jewish riots in the streets.
Because there are wine and prayers to rebuild the Temple in every synagogue every week of the year. There is obviously nothing "provocative" about it. Jewish prayers and rituals are much older than Islam is.
(It is also instructive that the article in Masrawy, an Egyptian paper, says that Arab Christians are also "provoked" by Jews drinking wine. Wine is forbidden under Islam but not Christianity, but Arab Muslims are certain that their fellow Christian Arabs will remain in lockstep in their hate of Jews and Israel.)
Jewish fanatics led by Israeli member of parliament Yehuda Klick intensified on Monday provocative tours of Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, Islam’s third holiest site, as they marked the start of the Jewish lights holiday, Hanouka, according to Muslim officials.
They said groups of 40 Jewish fanatics each were allowed by Israeli police into the Muslim compound since the start of the morning visit hours for non-Muslims.
The extremist groups have encouraged their members to ascend to the Mosque during this holiday, as they do in every other Jewish holiday, in order to assert their presence with a goal to one day take it over and turn it into a Jewish temple.
Palestinian and Muslim officials have warned of outbreak of a religious strife if any changes are introduced to the Muslim holy compound.
This is all pure, official incitement to violence, because the entire story is Jews peacefully visiting the site during the very limited number of visiting hours available to non-Muslims that happen every day except Friday and Saturdays.
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On Hanukkah eve, I tweeted out a somewhat reductionist thought commemorating the bloody Maccabean rebellion against the Seleucid Empire and their traitorous Hellenized Jewish accomplices. It seemed to upset some of my followers.
Why are you politicizing such a pleasant holiday? Does wishing someone a “Merry Christmas” now mean that you accept Jesus as your lord and savior?
Well, first of all, the story of Hanukkah isn’t pleasant. Violent, brutal, and passionate, maybe. But not pleasant. And of course wishing someone a “Happy Hanukkah” isn’t an endorsement of any theological position, any more than wishing someone Merry Christmas is (although we appreciate the recognition of the Jewish presence in ancient Bethlehem). Mostly it’s convention and good manners. Thank you.
Fact is, there isn’t a ton of theology to worry about. Hanukkah is not a Jewish “yom tov,” which in the literal translation means “good day” but in religious terms means the holiday was not handed to the Jewish people through the Torah. Unlike Passover or Yom Kippur, there are no restrictions on work. The two books that deal with the Maccabees aren’t Jewish canon. The “miracle of the lights” — which you might be led to believe is the entire story of the holiday — is apocryphal and was added hundreds of years later in the Talmud.
But whatever reasons you have for offering good wishes, Hanukkah itself is a reminder that Jews have a singular, millennia-long historic relationship with Jerusalem. By the time Mattathias rebelled against Hellenistic Syrian king Antiochus, who had not only ordered a statue of Zeus to be erected in the Holy Temple but that swine be sacrificed to him, Jerusalem had likely been a Jewish city for more than 1,000 years. As some readers have suggested, Hanukkah might be the only Jewish holiday that celebrates events confirmed by the historical record. The Hasmonean dynasty, founded by Mattathias’ son Simon, is a fact.
.@jeremycorbyn hasn't found the time to deal with the antisemitism in his party.
But he found the time to send the Jewish community the WEIRDEST Hanukkah message ever.
The newspapers in Mandate Palestine reported in the editions of December 1, 1947 that the previous evening Arabs had attacked Jews, shooting and killing and injuring them.
In Jerusalem, as Davar reported, at 8:45 PM, nurses being transported to Hadassah Hospital on Mount Scopus were shot at while driving through the Nashashibi neighborhood:
The bus was riddled with eight bullets. The Nashashibi neighborhood is today's Sheikh Jarrah. The first Nashashibi clan house was built where now the Ambassador Hotel stands. They were driving along the road that later would be the site of the Hadassah Convoy Massacre, now called Derech Har HaZeitim*.
The Palestine Post reports, it would seem, an additional incident in Jerusalem as well as the major terror attack on Tel Aviv's border with Jaffa:
The governing body for international chess confirmed Monday that an upcoming tournament that was to be held for the second year in Saudi Arabia has been relocated to Russia because of the kingdom’s policies, which exclude some eligible players.
Two Israeli chess players had appealed to the FIDE chess federation over concerns they would be prevented from playing at the World Rapid and Blitz tournament, as they were last year when Saudi authorities refused to grant them visas to enter the kingdom.
“The Championships were moved from Saudi Arabia to Russia due to the policy adopted by Saudi organizers,” FIDE director general Emil Sutovsky told The Times of Israel in an email.
Although Sutovsky did not specify the block against Israeli players in particular, the decision to move the event came after Israeli chess grandmaster Ilya Smirin and chess organizer Lior Aizenberg sent a letter to FIDE in November demanding that it take action to preserve their right to participate in the federation contest.
The letter was sent with the assistance of the Lawfare Project, a nonprofit organization that says it seeks to protect the civil and human rights of Jewish people around the world.
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Scorpion by Nature: PTSD and other labels What do a tattoo artist, an IDF wounded warrior and a scorpion have in
common? by Forest Rain www.inspirationfromzion.com
Brilliant blue eyes
and smile lines etched in his face could not diminish the horror of the event
he was describing. Possibly it was this inherent charm, his almost apologetic
leaning towards me as he spoke, as if subconsciously pleading for
understanding, that evoked in me an intense reaction to what he described so
calmly:
“It was in 2000. On
the way home from the army, the car I was in was ambushed by terrorists. The
soldier next to me was shot. I was shot too. I got out, returned fire and
killed two terrorists. We drove off but they had already spread the news and
before we got much further a lynch mob was waiting for us. I was shot again, in
the chest. I killed two more terrorists and then we got away. They told me
later I had been mortally wounded.”
Ambushed. Shot
twice. Surviving the first ambush only to end up in a much worse situation.
Battling for his life. Struggling to protect himself and the other passengers
in the car while he was bleeding out. How is it possible to do something so
amazing?!
A man like Yossi
would probably answer: “How is it possible not to? What other choice did I
have? Death by lynch mob is much worse than death by bullets and there were
other people with me.”
I say probably
because I didn’t ask. That’s just what people like Yossi say.
I have lived in Israel
long enough to learn that no real hero will call himself a hero or be
comfortable with other people giving him that title. He will tell you about the
people he didn’t save. He will tell you about others who deserve grand titles
more than he does. He will tell you he did his best, that he wishes he could
have done better. That he just did what needed to be done.
“Just.” Such a small
word…
What comes to mind
when you hear the term “hero”? Do you think of a Superman, a comic-book
superhero? Someone with big muscles and a loud voice? Strong and self-assured?
How would you label
someone like Yossi?
For many it is
difficult to understand that the scars left by bullet holes that almost killed
you can be negligible compared to the trenches extreme trauma can dig into your
psyche. Physical wounds usually heal. It is the wounds of the soul that cause
the worst damage.
Quietly, not
searching for sympathy, just as an explanation, Yossi told me that because of
his PTSD he cannot work indoors, in a typical job so he works outside, in
construction, volunteering to help others who are suffering. When he was
injured, after the physical wounds healed, there was no one who could really
help him with the emotional burden. Now he helps other soldiers who have been
through traumatic experiences.
Who would ever
imagine that it would be a tattoo artist from South Africa who would step up to
help Yossi?
Nicholas Mudskipper
is a nice guy.
Nick came to Israel as part of a group of
tattoo artists of an international caliber participating in a unique program
called Healing Ink. The goal of the program is to utilize the art of tattooing
to bring psychological and emotional support to people suffering from trauma
and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The tattoo serves as a type of
talisman for the recipient, a permanent piece of artwork to transform an ugly
experience of violence and hate into a conscious choice of beauty. The act of
choosing the tattoo empowers the recipient who did not choose to experience the
traumatic event. Sometimes recipients choose tattoos that covers physicals
scars, incorporating them into the art created. Others choose symbols of things
they need to be reminded of when the darkness of remembered trauma overwhelms
them, a kind of light to hold on to when everything else seems too
overwhelming.
Historically Jews
have an aversion to tattoos – due to the practice being explicitly forbidden in
the Torah and the more recent memory of our parents and grandparents being
forcibly tattooed with dehumanizing numbers by Nazis. Today the practice is
becoming more socially acceptable in Israel. Heavily tattooed people are not
common in Israel but people who have one or two tattoos are no longer a rarity.
In Israel, seeing
someone like Nick, covered as he is in tattoos, is unusual. The question is,
would you stop to talk to him and learn about his art or would the tattoos on
his arms (and legs) distract you? Would you see the man or the paintings on his
skin?
To me it seems that
most tattoo artists must reject labels. It takes guts to decorate your skin
with permanent art and disregard what others might think as a result.
Coming from South
Africa to Israel, to help IDF wounded warriors must not have been an easy
thing. I can’t imagine that in the country that would rather go without water
than accept
Israeli technology that would solve the crisis, many would find the
concept of offering support to one of our soldiers acceptable.
But Nick didn’t see
the labels so many others put on Israelis. He saw people, individuals he could
help, just by being himself, doing what he does best. This wasn’t about
supporting a political cause or a “side”, this was about recognizing human pain
and using art to minimize suffering.
Like I said, Nick is
a nice guy.
Most people find it
difficult to understand
PTSD. Often negative or traumatic experiences are conflated with
PTSD. This is similar to people saying: “I forgot where I put my keys, I must
have Alzheimer’s Disease!” Many people have had traumatic experiences. These
leave a residue of negative memory. This is nothing like PTSD that repeatedly
pulls the sufferer back into the horror in a full sensory experience that is
not a memory but the experience relived. Over and over and over. (Read this
to get a better understanding of PTSD).
One of the biggest
challenges for someone suffering from PTSD is recreating their relationship
with the label: “normal”. Imagine yourself in Yossi’s shoes. Would you ever be
able to shake the fear of being trapped in a situation that could kill you? Can
you imagine doing something normal like getting in a car to drive home? What
would it be like to suddenly be caught in a traffic jam, cars piling up and no
way to get out?
Interestingly it was
Nick’s open mind and heart that brought normality to Yossi. For the time they
spent together, Yossi wasn’t a label: IDF soldier, hero, injured, PTSD… he was
just a guy.
They discovered that
both were interested in the same sports. Both are MMA fighters and do similar
workout routines. That was enough to create an instant connection. It was easy
to overcome the differences in language and life experiences because they
weren’t divided by labels.
It was the scorpion
that threw me for a loop. I watched Nick and Yossi excitedly discuss the story
they were both familiar with about the scorpion and the frog:
A scorpion and a
frog meet on the bank of a stream and the scorpion asks the frog to carry him
across on its back. The frog asks, "How do I know you won't sting
me?" The scorpion says, "Because if I do, I will die too."
The frog is
satisfied, and they set out, but in midstream, the scorpion stings the frog.
The frog feels the onset of paralysis and starts to sink, knowing they both
will drown, but has just enough time to gasp "Why?"
Replies the
scorpion: "It’s my nature..."
Yossi wanted Nick to tattoo a big
scorpion on his back, next to the scars left from the bullet holes. At first
the choice seemed incomprehensible. Why would Yossi want to brand himself with
the scorpion that stings even when he knows it will kill himself? Why did Nick
feel this was a cool and positive choice to make? What was I missing?
When I came back at
the end of the session and saw the final tattoo, it’s meaning began to dawn on
me.
Yossi straightened
himself, to stand proud, his body no longer apologetic. The scars are still
visible but it is the scorpion that draws the eye – his choice, not what was
inflicted on him.
The scorpion is
dangerous, it stings, it can kill. Knowing this, Yossi chose to put that on his
back. He did not choose the ambush. He did not choose the PTSD that changed his
life forever. His desire to carry the scorpion on his back is an acceptance of
his “new normal” and a bold statement of power and freedom.
It is a declaration
that being fully aware of the difficult, harsh and sometimes damaging nature of
this new normal, he is strong enough to carry it.
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You might not remember the debate about whether the road to Middle East peace ran through Jerusalem or Baghdad. In the early 1990s, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker believed that peace between Israel and Palestine was the key to solving the main problems of the Middle East. During the second Bush administration, a reverse suggestion was made — and debated: that solving the problem of Baghad would hasten a peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Time proved both theories wrong, or at least premature. Peace was not achieved, and the Middle East still has problems. Very few people still believe in a so-called “linkage.”
Of course, peace with the Palestinians has merit, but avoiding the linkage between achieving that goal and pursuing other Middle East advances removes some of the pressures on the Israeli-Palestinian issue. The Palestinians cannot hold all other Middle East advances hostage until their issue is resolved. The world no longer lives under the illusion that Israel-Palestine peace is the first priority (more important than, say, Iranian nuclear advances). Israel is no longer blamed — at least not by serious people — for causing trouble in other areas in the region.
With that linkage basically put aside, Israel is now aiming for the jugular of the second linkage: whether it can be legitimized in the Arab Muslim world when its conflict with the Palestinians is still an open wound.
Egypt was the first country to erode this linkage when it signed a peace agreement with Israel (with provisions aimed at advancing a solution for the Palestinians). Jordan likewise signed a peace agreement with Israel in the early 1990s, when Israel and the Palestinians seemed for a while as if they were moving toward resolution.
The situation today is much changed. It is clear that Israelis and Palestinians are not moving toward peace. It is also clear that when Arab Muslim countries get closer to Israel that they are not doing it because of the Palestinian issue but rather in spite of it. They are doing it because they have other priorities — concerns about Iran; economic or technological needs Israel can satisfy; or political needs that can be addressed through Israel’s ties in Washington.
The message that Iran is sending to Palestinian families is: "If you want money and a good life, send your children to die on the border with Israel." This is a message that is likely to reverberate far and wide among Arabs, well beyond the Palestinians.
The declared goal of the Iranian-sponsored World Forum for Proximity of Islamic Schools of Thought is to forge unity between Muslims. For the Iranians and their proxies, Islamic unity is a prerequisite to advancing the ultimate goal of removing the "cancerous tumor" (Israel) from the face of the earth. Iran has been doing its utmost to achieve this goal.
Were it not for Iranian support, the Lebanese Shiite terrorist organization, Hezbollah, would not be aiming tens of thousands of rockets and missiles at Israel. Were it not for Iranian military and financial backing, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups would not have been able to fire more than 500 projectiles at Israel in 24 hours, as they did last month.
To set the record straight: Iran cares nothing for the Palestinians; Iran seeks to obliterate Israel, and if it could, obliterate the US, as its expansion into South America suggests.
It seems that some mullahs in Iran cannot wait for Khamenei's prediction of Israel's destruction in 2040. The Iranian money promised to the families is meant to encourage other all Arabs and Muslims to send their children to launch rocket attacks on Israel and throw stones and firebombs at Israeli soldiers.
Every year, a giant Chanukah menorah is erected in the plaza of the Kotel, the Western Wall.
The official Palestinian Authority news agency, Wafa, describes it as "the introduction of the Jewish 'candelabra' into the heart of the blessed mosque."
It goes on:
The allegedtemple groups began their celebration of Hanukkah by erecting a huge candelabra in the Al-Buraq courtyard (the western wall of the Al-Aqsa Mosque) and calling for visits to the Al-Aqsa Mosque during the holiday. The so-called "Third Temple Institute" Under the pretext of performing Talmudic rituals and reconstruction it for the Jews.
This holiday is considered one of the most popular holidays in connection with the "alleged temple" and a danger to the Al-Aqsa Mosque in particular. The other festivals are not related to the Temple or the location directly, but this holiday is associated with an alleged purge of the Temple.
The supposed holiness of the Kotel to Muslims is a new phenomenon from the 19th century. The legend of Mohammed's flying steed does not say where he supposedly tethered the magical animal; early Muslim sources associated it with the southern wall of the Mount, and then later with the southwest corner, and only in the 19th century with the area of the Western Wall.
As with everything else in Israel, Muslims consider something holy only in relation with how sacred the Jews consider it.
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When does criticism of Israel cross the line into antisemitism?
Ask white supremacist leader David Duke, who freely admits he is antisemitic!
He is tweeting his love for leftist anti-Israel stories and personalities. And Duke's straight anti-Israel tweets would be perfectly at home on leftist anti-Israel sites.
Duke at least admits that it is antisemitism that animates his feelings about Israel. But when you can't distinguish his anti-Israel tweets from the tweets of those who pretend to be merely "anti-Zionist," and indeed when he says he agrees with the leftist anti-Zionists and uses their talking points about Israel, it is a strong indication that there is in reality no difference between the two.
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Al Ahram, one of the oldest newspapers in Egypt, is not happy about the series of reports CNN aired last week showing how much antisemitism there still in in Europe.
The article starts off by saying that CNN is attempting to create "emotional blackmail" to help Jews in the United States and Europe by showing this series.
Anecdotes about how Jews are targeted today are dismissed by Al Ahram as events that could happen to anyone, anywhere.
Why would an Arab news outlet be concerned about a report that says that Jews are still targeted in Europe, today?
One reason is that Egypt is still a deeply antisemitic country, and Jews being perceived as victims rather than as oppressors is a challenge to the hate that is taught implicitly and explicitly by the schools and the media.
The other is that a lot of antisemitic attacks against Jews in Europe comes from Muslims and Arabs, and that story must be dowbplayed or ridiculed.
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We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
Indonesian rent-a-crowd 'protesters' were paid less than $3.50 each to attend a rally opposing any move by the Australian government of its Israeli embassy from Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
About 250 people attended the rally on Friday, the fourth rally in the last five days, outside Australia's sprawling embassy compound in Kuningan, south Jakarta and which was organised by the Indonesian Muslim League, a little-known group.
Protesters, some of whom were paid to attend, sit around bored at a rally outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta.
Protesters, some of whom were paid to attend, sit around bored at a rally outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta.
But while some attending the protest appeared to be genuinely fired-up by the prospect of Australia shifting its embassy to Jerusalem, perhaps half the crowd appeared largely disinterested and showed little enthusiasm for the speaker imploring them to agree to "occupy" the embassy.
Fairfax Media confirmed with three of the 'protesters' hanging around on the fringes of the rally that many had been paid to attend.
Many members of the crowd looked bored, posed for selfies, played with their phones, hid in the shade away from the afternoon sun and appeared not be listening to the speakers at the rally.
The 'protesters' said they and at least 35 of their friends had been paid to come to the rally on Friday and express their 'opinion' - a practice that is common in Indonesia.
Professor Eugene Kontorovich, director of International Law at the Kohelet Policy Forum, said the Airbnb policy is discrimination.
"Airbnb's policy discriminates grossly against people of the Jewish faith and people of the Jewish ethnicity. They treat Jews living in the West Bank different[ly] from any other group," he said.
Kontorovich said that in Palestinian Authority-controlled areas, the PA punishes Palestinians who sell land to Jews with death.
"So if you have an area where Jews are not allowed to buy houses, Jews are not allowed to live and Airbnb says, 'there we have no problem listing.' You have the Jewish areas where anybody can come, anybody can go, there's free access and Airbnb says, 'you're not allowed to list'. So Jews living in their biblical homeland is the one group that Airbnb is keeping off their platform and that should be very disturbing," he said.
Kontorovich also noted that in the whole world, Airbnb chose to make its point here.
"There is indeed a political dispute about the West Bank, but they're not saying, 'we're not taking listings from the West Bank, they're saying, 'we're not taking listings from Jews in the West Bank. That's not just a double standard, that's naked discrimination," he said.
Last week I broke the story of how National Geographic said that the Oslo Accords were meant for Israel to "return" land to Palestinians, even though no Palestinian entity or people ever had control of that land to begin with. Honest Reporting contacted them and the story was corrected.
CAMERA contacted them and they issued a speedy correction:
Also last week I also reported on a bizarre conspiracy theory in a Canadian Arab newspaper involving Jewish Freemasons building the Titanic in order to kill three (Jewish) businessmen who were on its voyage because they were against the idea of the Federal Reserve, controlled by Jews. The editor of the paper that published this was running for office in Ottawa.
A Canadian journalist saw this and made a couple of calls to ensure that the editor would not be chosen to represent anyone:
Nice fast work by National Council @CPC_HQ. Medhat Oweida will *not* be the party's candidate in Mississauga Streetsville, no way, no how. Confirmed. pic.twitter.com/nvU0SmqFu4
Also, the article itself has been removed from the site (you can see it archived here.)
We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
When challenged about the comment on Twitter, Hill responded to say that he believes in a "single secular democratic state for everyone." [At this point Newsweek has a tweet from Hill where he adds "This is the only way that historic Palestine will be free."] However, Hill's statement about a "historic Palestine" appears to be inaccurate as no Palestinian state has ever existed.
Newsweek was quite accurate.
"Historic Palestine" is a fiction of how modern Palestinians farcically refer to the area of the British Mandate, although it was never an independent state and its borders were drawn by Western powers. There is nothing historic about it.
Any map of Palestine prior to World War I includes parts of what became Jordan and Lebanon, and none of the Negev.
Marc Lamont Hill, by invoking "historic Palestine," is consciously choosing a false construct meant to completely overlap with the territory that modern Israel controlled in 1967. The very term "historic Palestine" has zero to do with Palestine or Palestinian land, and everything to do with taking away any rights of Jews to any land in the Middle East.
It is an antisemitic term.
Newsweek was right in saying that no Palestinian state never existed. Hill know this very well. He knows that he is consciously choosing the areas that Israel controls, and nothing else, when deciding that this is what the borders of "Palestine" should be - just like the 1964 PLO Covenant explicitly excluded the West Bank that was then controlled by Jordan as part of "Palestine."
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This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.
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Tuesday, December 04, 2018
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