The Free Palestine Movement was behind the 2011 flotilla to Israel and styles itself as a progressive peace movement that is pro-Palestinian.
They said in a November newsletter that they will offer new members of Congress a trip to "Palestine" as a rebuttal to the AIPAC-sponsored trip most take, and it is possible that Rashida Tlaib, who announced in December that she wants to partner with pro-Palestinian groups on a similar trip, may be working with FPM on this initiative.
FPM just sent out an email urging members to visit and support a "Call for a Palestine Liberation Movement" webpage, that describes what they want to see as a solution to the Israel/Palestinian conflict.
Their solution, as the map here show - no Israel. It would be replaced with the "One Democratic State of Palestine."
The description of that state makes it pretty clear that most Jews would be forced to leave.
This can only be achieved by establishing One Democratic State of Palestine for its indigenous people, the refugees who we were forced out of the country and its current citizens. This is the key to a ‘fair and permanent solution of conflict’ in the region, and to a ‘just solution’ for the Palestinian cause. Failing this, war and mutual destruction will continue.
They say they have no problems with Jews, which means they would allow any Jews who were there in 1917 or 1880 or something like that to stay, but anyone else who arrived after the Zionist movement began would not be welcome.
In other words - ethnic cleansing of Jews.
Someone may want to ask Tlaib if she supports the goals of the Free Palestine Movement and the Palestine Liberation Movement, and if her vision of a one-state solution looks like this one.
As of this writing, only eight people signed up for this vision, but it is in fact very close to what Palestinian Arabs say they want their own final solution to be, and "two states" are just a stage in the way to a single Palestinian state where Jews are only tolerated as a tiny minority with no political rights.
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On the last day of the 2014 Gaza War, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a secret meeting with a special envoy from the Saudi king. In the meeting, Saudi Arabia proposed a joint diplomatic initiative on re-launching Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, rebuilding Gaza and confronting Iran, three sources briefed on the effort told me.
Why it matters: This was an unprecedented move by the Saudis — who do not have diplomatic relations with Israel — that could have profoundly shifted the regional dynamic. More surprisingly still, the Saudis planned to present it in public with the Israelis.
The details of the Saudi proposal, according to the sources:
-Israel and Saudi Arabia would draft an updated version of the 2002 Arab peace initiative.
-Netanyahu and the Saudi foreign minister would then present the initiative together during the UN General Assembly.
-Israel and Saudi Arabia would announce a process to find a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians would be re-launched.
-Saudi Arabia would lead a regional push for the reconstruction of Gaza.
The backstory, according to the three sources:
In early September 2014, Netanyahu held a secret meeting with Saudi national security adviser, Prince Bandar Bin Sultan. The meeting took place in a third country.
Bandar told Netanyahu at the meeting that Saudi Arabia wanted to re-launch the peace process in order to be able to unite the region against Iran.
Netanyahu was enthusiastic, and after 10 hours of talks he and Prince Bandar agreed to start preparing for a summit at the UN.
In the next few weeks, meetings were held between Netanyahu's advisers and Bandar's aides to draft a joint document. Israel presented a draft, and while the Saudis agreed to many of the points, they asked Israel to show flexibility. Netanyahu refused to go further and the talks collapsed, the sources told me.
Between the lines: The sources told me the Saudis felt they went out of their way towards Israel. They said the Saudis felt angry and humiliated, and held Netanyahu responsible.
The sources told me that Prince Bandar conveyed a message to Netanyahu two months later, with the bottom line being that he believed Netanyahu lied to him.
The big picture: The affair created a deep crisis between Israel and Saudi Arabia and communications between the parties almost stopped — even on the Iranian issue. The crisis ended only a year later, several months after the death of King Abdullah and the inauguration of King Salman.
Notice that Ravid is doing everything he can to make Netanyahu look like the bad guy here. His headline is "Israel rejected 2014 Saudi proposal on Palestinian peace talks." All Israeli media followed that headline, saying it was Netanyahu who rejected a Saudi peace proposal.
But the story shows that it was Israel that presented a detailed plan, and the Saudis are the ones who rejected it.
Without knowing the details we can't know whether it was Netanyahu's red lines or the Saudi red lines that are unreasonable, but the plain reading of the story is that the only rejection was from the Saudis.
The other thing this story - which provides no details on the plan itself - proves is that, unlike how he is portrayed in the media and by Israel haters or so-called "moderates" like J-Street, Netanyahu was enthusiastic to come up with a peace plan with Saudi Arabia, speaking to their foreign minister for ten hours about it. This is completely opposite to how Netanyahu is treated in the media, even in this article itself.
One is reminded of the other peace proposal that no one wants to talk about, from 2013 and 2014, that the US drafted, Israel accepted and Palestinians rejected. It is never listed as one of the failed peace initiatives that Palestinians rejected, unlike the ones from Israel's non-Likud prime ministers.
If it doesn't fit with the meme of Bibi being a right-wing warmonger, the story must not be told - or, like here, it must be spun to fit the meme.
This has consequences. The truth is that Israel is the party that wants real peace, and the rejectionists are always the Arabs. The refusal of the media to give Bibi any credit for wanting peace is a factor in the pressure Israel gets to always concede more, give more, compromise more - and the Arabs get a free pass.
In other words, if the media would treat Bibi with the deference they treat the late Yitzchak Rabin - who not once said that he supported a Palestinian state - then there would be a much greater chance of peace.
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The way that so many people continue to defend Ilhan Omar is stunningly hypocritical.
The most-often seen defense is that Omar wants to simply open up a conversation about how money can corrupt politics, and that there is nothing antisemitic about bringing it up.
Typical is a tweet from Omar's fellow member of Congress Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez where she says "I’m proud @IlhanMN raised the issue of lobbyist 💰 in politics & equally proud of her sensitivity to communities. Both are possible."
But lobbyist dollars are equally given out on the Left and the Right. Ocasio-Cortez accepted money from many left-wing PACs. Omar received some $60,000 from PACs, including from the Council of American Islamic Relations.
Singling out AIPAC - which isn't even a PAC! - when every single member of Congress receives PAC money is hypocritical.
But this is far worse.
The word "AIPAC" is a dog whistle for the "Jewish lobby." In left-wing and Muslim circles, it means Jewish control of Congress and of the US government.
Looking the actual numbers shows what a lie this is.
In terms of lobbying causes to Congress, the pro-Israel lobby comes in at number 50, with $15 million spent in 2018, a tiny percentage of what the top lobby spent - $400 million from the securities and investment industry.
(UPDATE): Even that number is deceptive, because for the purposes of these statistics, J-Street is considered part of the "pro-Israel" lobby - and their policies are against what the Israeli government wants in virtually every case. J-Street account for half of the "pro-Israel lobby" dollars listed!
Even if for some reason you believe that money to lobby for other countries is more insidious than the billions spent scores of domestic lobbies with their own agendas, the Israel lobby is still not the largest.
Those would be South Korea and Japan, whose foreign lobbies spent many millions more than Israeli lobbies registered under FARA.
Arab countries also outspend the Israel lobby.
AIPAC is influential, no doubt. However, the emphasis on AIPAC plays on antisemitic stereotypes of Jewish money, Jewish influence and a Jewish agenda that is at odds with what is best for America.
It doesn't get more antisemitic than that.
The people who are trying to excuse Omar as somehow ignorant of this, as well as those who are pretending that she somehow is only exposing the general influence of money in politics, are being disingenuous. The Israel lobby is not at or near the top of any metric in spending or influence among all the lobbies in Washington.
Choosing to only highlight AIPAC as the source of all Washington corruption is antisemitic. Ignoring that this is what Omar did, or pretending that she understands this now when she tries to pretend that she just randomly chose AIPAC as her example, is enabling and excusing antisemitism.
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My Facebook feed is full of Ori’s photo. She looks different in the different images but in each her radiant smile is the same.
Ori, “my light” in Hebrew, was obviously a fitting name for this sunny girl. The more we hear about Ori from friends, family and the people she volunteered with helping underprivileged youth, we learn about the light that was stolen from us - Ori was a role model, an inspiration, a light that pointed the way for many to a better and happier world.
Israel and the Jewish community around the world have paused in horror at the discovery of Ori’s brutal murder on February 7th.
The rest of the world, not so much.
Who cares about a dead Jewish girl? Women are raped and murdered all over the world. It’s nothing unusual. Sad, but not newsworthy. Certainly not on an international level.
From a distance, it is probably difficult to understand why this case is different.
It is not just that our nation is so small and every life is precious.
It is not just that Ori was lovely and innocent. It is not just the stark contrast between her sunniness and the viciousness with which her life was ripped from her, the darkness rising up to stomp out the light because it knows that even a small light can banish great darkness.
It is not just that cases of rape that ends in murder are rare in Israel. In Israel women in general don’t have to fear the random stranger but we too have our share of crime, even violent crime.
Rape tends to be date rape or cases of pedophilia (neither of which could be considered common but even a single case is too many). Murder of women has become an issue of concern in the country. At the same time, those are not random murders. They tend to be “honor killings” (which occur among the Arab population) or cases of deranged spurned husbands or boyfriends who in helpless rage somehow decide that murder (usually followed by their own suicide) is the only way out. No rape is acceptable. No murder is acceptable. At the same time, it is important to understand that this murder is different.
Arafat is a name with a legacy. Ori’s murderer is named after the terrorist-extraordinaire, visionary and possibly the greatest marketer of all time, who solidified the imaginary Palestinian “brand” into the mind of people worldwide as a nation with rights to the land of Israel. To the Western world he said that the “Palestinian people” would exist side by side with Israel. To the Arab world he explained that they would exist instead of Israel but needed to proceed in a step by step method. Arafat Irfayia, 29, a resident of Hebron didn’t wake up in the morning that day deciding he wanted to rape a girl. He didn’t believe he could destroy Israel or “Free Palestine” either. He chose a knife before he left his home and went for a walk in the Jerusalem woods, to see which unfortunate Jewish soul would come his way. He knew he could stomp out one Jewish life.
Ori's
murderer smirks during his arraignment
Animals kill for food or self-defense. This man saw light walking freely in the land where she belonged and he wanted to erase her existence. In his culture rape steals a woman’s value. The brutality of the murder is testament to a desire to exterminate, not simply end a life.
Ori’s murder is different because it wasn’t just a horrific attack on her, it was an attack against our nation. It wasn’t an attack on a woman who happened to be a Jew, it was an attack on a Jew who happened to be a woman. It was an attempt to erase the Jew from Israel. THIS is the hate directed at the Nation of Israel.
The darkness hates the light because even the smallest light can banish the darkness. The darkness attempts to smother the light but does not truly understand just how powerful the light is.
Ori is dead but her light is not. In fact, her light is growing at an exponential rate.
Ori’s friends are putting her poetry of hope to music, so that it will spread and inspire more people.
Ori loved Israel and nature. Her murder was designed to make us afraid to walk free in our land as she did. That’s why her friends and many others are responding by walking the land MORE, not less. Particularly on the hills of Jerusalem.
Instinctively Ori’s friends requested everyone go outside, experience Israel and post photos with the hashtag #להיות_עם_חופשי_בארצנו #AFreeNationInOurLand.
For 2000 years we dreamt of return to our land, to be a free nation in our land. No Arafat, will succeed in taking that away from us.
Jewish sovereignty and freedom are more than the legal and self-sufficient Nation State. They are dependent on the determination of the Jewish spirit. We are small in number but ours is a light that will not go out – and when the darkness threatens to overwhelm us, we respond by growing even brighter.
We are Ori.
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The problem for Democrats here is not only moral but political. Calling for Northam’s resignation was a low-cost engagement—at least, it was before it was learned that his potential successors have blackface and sexual assault controversies of their own. No one is calling for Omar’s resignation or even relieving her of her influential committee assignments so the people of Minnesota’s 5th Congressional district can “heal and move forward,” in part, because it wouldn’t end with Omar.
Rep. Rashida Tlaib invoked the noxious “dual loyalty” canard when she expressed her opposition to an anti-BDS bill before Congress by accusing Republicans of forgetting “what country they represent.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has never had to revisit her claim that the organizers of the Women’s March are the “suffragists of our time,” even though its organizers have since embraced the anti-Semitic Minister Louis Farrakhan and were accused of discriminating against its Jewish members. Indeed, when asked if she would condemn these formerly feted Democratic organizers, she declined to comment with any specifics. She did, however, offer a blanket denunciation of anti-Semitism.
The party has been unable to explain why some of its members vehemently denounce Farrakhan while others, including Reps. Andre Carson, Al Green, Danny Davis, and Maxine Waters, seem keen not only to embrace him but defend their association with the Nation of Islam.
To apply the Northam standard to casual acts of anti-Semitism would purge the Democratic caucus of many of its most valuable members. As such, it’s not really a standard at all. It’s more like a talking point.
Of course, it’s no surprise that Omar believes this garbage. It’s one of the lazier and most timeless talking points of a rogue’s gallery of cranks, Islamists, and, of course, anti-Semites of the Left and Right, as well as conspiracy theorists generally. Congress is “Israeli Occupied Territory” according to all the worst people.
Now a few points seem worth making. AIPAC isn’t a foreign lobby. It’s an American organization run by Americans. It spends remarkably little on lobbying and Israel spends virtually nothing on lobbying Congress. According to Open Secrets, the biggest political contributor of the “Pro-Israel” lobby in the 2018 cycle was . . . J Street, which spent nearly four times as much ($4,057,820) as the next biggest contributor NORPAC ($1,126,063). Planned Parenthood gave $5,734,048. In 2018, AIPAC did spend the most on lobbying — which is different than contributing. But again, its expenditures were relatively miniscule at 3.5 million. Lawyers spent nearly three times as much on lobbying ($15.4 million) and their contributions totaled over 217 million. The financial, insurance, and real-estate industries contributed nearly $883 million and another half-billion on lobbying.
Now, I’m not naïve. Of course, pro-Israel groups and individuals spend money on politics in other ways, direct and indirect. One need only look at Sheldon Adelson’s political giving to understand that.
But sometimes when people say “It’s not about the money” it’s actually not about the money. The best analogy is to the NRA. For many on the Left and in the media, it’s an article of faith that Republicans don’t cross the NRA because of all of the “blood money” the group lavishes on Congress. They find gun-rights arguments to be so outlandish on their face — in part because they live in gun-free blue bubbles — they immediately assume that bribery is at play. But, as I wrote here, the NRA gives remarkably little in terms of donations. The NRA’s — and the broader gun lobby’s — real power lies in the fact that it can mobilize voters.
Israel is popular with a number of important constituencies including many Jews (imagine that). But its real popularity resides among evangelical Christians and voters generally. And, despite its perfectly debatable flaws, real and alleged, it should be popular. It’s an ally. It’s democratic. It’s Western. And its enemies are largely our enemies. It’s no coincidence it’s listed as the “Little Satan” alongside the “Great Satan” that is America, by some of the most evil and backward regimes in the world.
Anti-Semitism now thrives inside the Democratic Party. Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) wrote a piece for Louis Farrakhan in 2006; she’s welcome in the party. Linda Sarsour continues to be an ally to the new Democratic Fresh Faces™ as well as more established names like Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) (in November, Sarsour slammed “folks who masquerade as progressives but always choose their allegiance to Israel over their commitment to democracy and free speech”). Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) holds conference calls with vicious British anti-Semite Jeremy Corbyn, to no serious blowback from the Democratic Party. Keith Ellison, now attorney general of Minnesota, was nearly made the head of the Democratic National Committee after engaging in blatant anti-Semitism for years.
How has the Democratic Party morphed into the party of anti-Semitism? By embracing the philosophy of intersectionality on the one hand, and by embracing the myth that anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism are completely separable on the other. The former provides the emotional impetus for nodding at Jew-hatred; the latter provides the intellectual framework for doing so.
The philosophy of intersectionality has othered Jews from the intersectional coalition. Because intersectionality is built on the premise that the prevailing Western system of thought has victimized various groups, and that those groups must band together in order to destroy that system, those who have thrived under the West must be excised from the intersectional agglomeration – being, as they are, representatives of the fact that Western thought is not, in fact, rooted in evil. The Jews are simply too financially, educationally, and politically successful to be seen as anything other than members of the power structure. Thus, slurs against them must be countenanced from more victimized groups.
This is only 7 minutes long. You will not forget it.
In 1939, 20,000 Americans rallied in New York’s Madison Square Garden to celebrate the rise of Nazism – an event largely forgotten from American history. A NIGHT AT THE GARDEN, made entirely from archival footage filmed that night, transports audiences to this chilling gathering and shines a light on the power of demagoguery and anti-Semitism in the United States.
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Dog whistle politics is defined as the use of certain code words or phrases that are designed to be understood by only a small section of the populace. Generally speaking, these are phrases that have special meaning to that subsection entirely independent of its meaning to others, and represent a particularly insidious use of loaded language.
In the wake of the Ilhan Omar tweet about AIPAC, I decided to make a list of antisemitic dog whistles. All of these words may be used legitimately, of course, but they also have special meanings to antisemites and in some contexts, to some audiences, they mean something far more hateful than the words or phrases themselves.
This list applies both to people on the left and the right, although they tend to use different dog-whistles, so some of these are surprising to some.
Adelson
AIPAC
Cultural Marxists
Dual loyalty
Elite
-Cultural Elite
-Hollywood Elite
Globalist
Hasbara
International bankers
Israel Lobby/Jewish Lobby
Likud
Neocon
New York values
Rothschilds
Settler
Shekels
Soros
Talmudic
White Jews
Zionist
Some people on Twitter think "Benjamins" qualifies, since it is a Jewish name as well as referring to a hundred dollar bill. I'm not convinced - although that could change as a result of Omar's tweet.
These is not to be mixed up with words like "goyim" or "Shlomos" which hardly ever have a double meaning when used nowadays. They aren't dog whistles - they are whistles.
Certainly words like "ZioNazi" and "kike" are not dog whistles, but pure antisemitism.
This list, though, seems a pretty good representation of words that can cause hate while hiding in plain sight. The responses in social media to when they are used, or looking up how they are used in antisemitic neo-Nazi websites, gives one a good idea that these words are not always innocent.
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The ACLU has long argued that although private parties have the right to refuse to do business with people for ideological reasons, the government need not fund such conduct. “Taxpayer dollars must not fund discrimination” carried out by private parties, the ACLU states in its issue brief on government-funded discrimination. It has successfully pushed measures banning the federal government from contracting with companies that engage in certain boycotts. And it “strongly” supported legislation that would bar federal funds from being used by states in contracts with companies that engage in boycotts.
Identity politics is the key to understanding the ACLU’s apparent change of heart. The antiboycott laws the ACLU has defended are meant to protect gays and lesbians, an identity group they favor. The ACLU acknowledges that in many states it is “legal to fire or refuse to hire someone based on their sexual orientation,” but argues that companies that do so “must not be allowed to do so with taxpayer dollars.” It inexplicably ignores that the logic of those antiboycott laws applies equally to Israel.
The ACLU may think that refusing to do business with people because of their sexuality is immoral while refusing to do business with people connected with Israel is a blow for justice. That’s an intelligible political position, but it’s lousy First Amendment jurisprudence. First Amendment protections are the same regardless of what one thinks of the underlying conduct.
I played a role in developing the state anti-BDS laws, submitting testimony to legislatures and advising private groups that supported the measures. To avoid any constitutional doubts, I stuck to the model of antiboycott laws that the ACLU supports, comfortable in the knowledge that their constitutionality was unquestioned. I underestimated how much changes when sexual identity is replaced with Israeli identity.
There is more at stake here than hypocrisy. The ACLU’s enthusiasm for Israel boycotts has led it to take legal positions that threaten to undermine the antidiscrimination norms it has worked for decades to achieve. Now it is prepared to risk legal protections for sexual minorities for the sake of creating a constitutional right to boycott Jews. The ACLU probably hopes to have it both ways, arguing that boycotts of Israelis are “political” and boycotts of gays and lesbians are just mean. But courts won’t maintain one standard for boycotts of progressives’ favored targets and another standard for everyone else.
Read my new op-ed in @WSJ: "The ACLU opposes laws against boycotting Israel, even though the laws are patterned after those that protect gays and lesbians" https://t.co/PyOpRb4FJF via @WSJOpinion
It is rare for mention of Jews of Arab countries to penetrate the mainstream international media, let alone for a voice in the maligned Israeli government to make itself heard. This piece in Newsweek by the minister of social equality, Gila Gamliel, bucks both trends. Gamliel recently launched a new app for uploading the stories of Jews from Arab countries to an oral history website, Seeing the Voices.
Gila Gamliel: story with us for good
Like most things, this history has its good and its bad periods; peaceful neighborly relations were followed by economic discrimination and then deadly violence as thousands of Jews were murdered in violent rioting caused by blood libels and false accusations.
My father Yosef escaped Yemen at the age of 10, and came to Israel as an orphan, where he was adopted by a Polish Jewish family. My mother Aliza came from Libya to Israel at the age of 6, the oldest of 12 brothers and sisters.
Aliza and Yosef were just two people among the 850,000 other Jews from Arab countries who were forced to leave their homes.
For seven decades, the story of the Jews from the Arab countries—both the good and the bad—was left largely untold both in Israel and around the world.
Now as a Minister in the Government of Israel, I am working to preserve the rich cultural history of our parents and grandparents from the Arab world.
We’ve just launched an app allowing Israeli citizens to document the testimony of family members and friends; we’ve promoted research on this history by academics and historians, we have marked an annual commemoration of the Jewish communities from the Arab countries; and we’ve made sure this history is in our classroom schoolbooks.
I can say with satisfaction that this important part of history is now with us for good.
It is a critical part of the story of the Jewish people who over centuries of steadfast determination managed to maintain their identity and religion, along with the dream of one day returning to the Holy Land.
President Reuven Rivlin flew to Cyprus Tuesday to mark 70 years since the closure of British detention camps on the island for Jews trying to reach Palestine after World War II.
He was to visit a monument in Nicosia dedicated to the 2,200 children of Holocaust survivors who were born in British colonial camps there between 1946 and 1949.
Rivlin also held talks with Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades.
Cyprus and Israel aim to upgrade relations, “especially on energy, security, economy, tourism, research and innovation,” tweeted Anastasiades.
Rivlin said cooperation between Israel and Cyprus on intelligence, security and terror prevention has made the Mediterranean “much, much safer.”
After the talks Tuesday with Anastasiades, he said Israeli-Cypriot security ties “have never been better” with the two countries’ navies and commando units sharing “space, knowledge and experience.”
He added that the focus of the neighbors’ strategic partnership, which includes Greece, is developing the East Med gas pipeline that “could be one of the greatest underwater projects in the world.”
The envisioned pipeline would carry natural gas from deposits in the eastern Mediterranean to Europe via Greece and Italy.
I also tweeted this from Wikipedia about the different types of fake apologies out there ("fauxpologies") that Ilhan Omar's apology fit the definitions of:
Tactical apology—when a person accused of wrongdoing offers an apology that is rhetorical and strategic—and not necessarily heartfelt
Explanation apology—when a person accused of wrongdoing offers an apology that is merely a gesture that is meant to counter an accusation of wrongdoing. In fact, it may be used to defend the actions of the accused
Formalistic apology—when a person accused of wrongdoing offers an apology after being admonished to do so by an authority figure—who may also be the individual who suffered the wrongdoing
All of them can be seen in her "apology," as well as an additional one I would call the "Deflection Apology":
Deflection apology - when a person accused off wrongdoing offers an apology but tried to change the subject by saying that others do the same or are worse.
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Michelle Goldberg, who most recently defended anti-Zionism and then BDS in "as-a-Jew" op-eds in the New York Times, tackles Rep. Ilhan Omar's tweets, and she is not happy.
Not because it normalizes antisemitism in the US. Not because it was disgusting on its own merits. Not because it started an avalanche of antisemitic support on Twitter and brought left-wing Jew haters out of the woodwork.
No, Goldberg zeroes in on what she considers to be the real problem with Omar's tweet - that it empowers Republicans.
Excerpts:
Left-wing anti-Semitism is a gift to the right.
Consciously or not, Omar invoked a poisonous anti-Semitic narrative about Jews using their money to manipulate global affairs. ...Her words were a gift to Republicans, who seek to divide the Democrats over Israel, even as their president traffics in anti-Semitic imagery and stereotypes.The knives were out for Omar and she ran right into them.
Omar herself has been subject to vicious Islamophobic smears, and has also come under attack for supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which seeks to use economic pressure to secure Palestinian rights. Perhaps such criticism is why she’s sometimes seemed unwilling or unable to distinguish between disingenuous political pile-ons and good-faith calls to respect Jewish sensitivities. But whether from carelessness or callousness, her weekend tweets damaged her political allies and squandered some of her own hard-won power.
Goldberg is doing everything she can to minimize Ilhan's statement.
Worse, she disgustingly provides a link to an anti-Israel organization which came out with a self-serving definition of antisemitism that is mostly centered on Protocols of the Elders of Zion-type Jew-hatred, ignoring of course the antisemitism that is associated with demonizing and wanting the destruction of the Jewish state, or evilly comparing Israel to Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa. The essay she links to is obsessed with "Ashkenazi dominance" and supposed white Jewish racism towards Mizrahi Jews.
Her link includes this bigoted piece of crap:
In effect, Goldberg is promoting that kind of antisemitism where "white Jews" are evil colonizers and racists.
Goldberg does refute the idea that AIPAC is influencing Americans to support Israel, noting that much support comes from Americans who she considers to be bigots:
I certainly have no problem with denunciations of Aipac, which plays a malign role in pushing American policy in the Middle East to the right. [AIPAC has been supportive of the two state solution for a long time now and plenty of moderate Democrats support AIPAC. - EoZ]
In truth, while Aipac’s influence is extensive, no one needs to pay off conservatives to make them support Israel. Evangelicals, a far bigger constituency than American Jews, tend to be pro-Israel for religious reasons; some believe that the return of Jews to their biblical homeland is a precondition for the rapture and the Second Coming of Christ. Plenty of others on the right love Israel because it’s a nationalistic, pro-American power in the middle of the Middle East. You can’t blame Jewish money for Kevin McCarthy’s terrible politics.
Apparently, no one supports Israel because it is the only Jewish state in a world that has historically treated Jews badly. No one supports Israel because it is a liberal bastion in a shockingly backwards Middle East. No one supports Israel because it has managed to survive after seven decades of attacks, both militarily and politically. No, if you support Israel you must be a crazy religious nut, or a white supremacy apologist.
Not long after Pelosi’s statement, Omar released one of her own, apologizing “unequivocally.” She wrote, “Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic tropes.” Personally, I’m happy to accept her apology.
Goldberg sickeningly refuses to publish the rest of the text of Omar's "apology," where she said "At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the fossil fuel industry. It's gone on too long and we must be willing to address it."
That means her apology about the power of the "Jewish lobby" is anything but unequivocal. And even after Goldberg notes how wrong Omar's opinion of AIPAC is, she doesn't have a problem with Omar maintaining that opinion even after her supposed apology.
And later Omar praised another thread where someone claims to have seen a candidate for office jump through hoops to get a $5000 donation from AIPAC. It is a lie - AIPAC does not give money to candidates, since it is not a PAC, and even a $5000 contribution from a pro-Israel donor would be only a tiny amount of the million dollars that candidate raised.
It is obvious that Omar's apology is not real, but it is good enough for Michelle Goldberg (and many others like Chelsea Clinton), who need any excuse to go back to de facto supporting left-wing antisemites and using antisemitism as just another political weapon rather than attacking it by and of itself. There are antisemitic dog-whistles on both sides and pretending that the ones on your side can be excused with a fake apology is not fighting antisemitism.
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J-Street issued a press release over the Ilhan Omar kerfuffle, and showed itself to be even more hypocritical than we knew. It says that, sure, "elected official" should be careful with their words... but Omar sort of had a point:
Elected officials should be particularly sensitive and careful on the question of the role played by campaign contributions in influencing US policies toward Israel and the Middle East. There is no doubt that money often plays a major role in our political system.
Since the only group Omar specifically mentioned in her offensive tweet was AIPAC, it is obvious that J-Street is agreeing with her that traditional lobbying for Israel is problematic and potentially could cause officials to change their positions to follow the money.
J-Street is stunningly hypocritical.
J-Street absurdly styles itself as being "pro-Israel" even though there is very little daylight between its positions and those of the PLO. And the J-StreetPAC page brags that the largest "pro-Israel lobby" in the US is - J-StreetPAC!
Not only that, it brags about its money influencing Congress!
In the 2018 midterm election, J Street successfully worked to shift the balance of power in Washington by electing a diplomacy-first Congress that will act as a check on President Trump’s dangerous agenda and ideology. JStreetPAC shattered its own records in the 2018 cycle, distributing nearly $5 million for 163 congressional candidates, including nearly $2.3 million for House challengers, 30 of whom were victorious. JStreetPAC reaffirmed its status as the nation’s largest pro-Israel PAC, raising over 53 percent of all pro-Israel PAC money distributed this cycle. The success of diplomacy-first candidates in some of the country’s most competitive districts confirmed a major shift in the politics of foreign policy.
If pro-Israel PACs are problematic for the amount of money they give to candidates, then J-StreetPAC - which gave more to its candidates than all the real pro-Israel PACs combined in 2018 - must be worse!
So which is it, J-Street? Is money to candidates a good thing or is it evil?
Obviously, their money is kosher. Actual money from Zionists is immoral.
________________________
J-Street continues on with its slander:
Elected officials should also refrain from labeling all criticism of Israeli actions or policies as “anti-Semitic,” in a transparent effort to silence legitimate discussion and debate. Such attacks only undermine the vital effort to counter the actual scourge of anti-Semitism in the United States and around the world.
NO ONE DOES THAT. No elected official has ever said that all criticism of Israel is antisemitic. No leader of any Zionist organization has ever said that.
Criticism of Israel is antisemitic when it violates the 3D test that Natan Sharansky posited back in 2004 - when Israel is demonized, delegitimized or subjected to double standards. The test is pretty easy to understand and is the best definition of when criticizing Israel is crossing the line out there.
It is the people who want to violate the 3D test who are the only ones who complain that "all" criticism of Israel is considered antisemitic.
J-Street obviously does not subscribe to the 3D test of what is antisemitic. In fact, J-Street seems to consider no criticism of Israel - or even calls to boycott the Jewish state - to be antisemitic. while I see lots of charges on its site that Republicans are antisemitic, I cannot find a single time where J-Street admits that Arabs have said a single antisemitic thing. Equating the Jewish state with Nazi Germany - silence. Calling Israel an 'apartheid state" - silence.
This press release where J-Street pretends to be "nuanced" shows, when analyzed, that J-Street's position towards Israel is indeed perilously close to those of the antisemites who are obsessed with destroying the Jewish state.
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Newly elected Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar suggested on Sunday that Jewish money was behind American elected officials’ support for Israel, sparking widespread condemnation and fresh allegations of anti-Semitism.
Omar, one of the first Muslim women elected to Congress, was responding on Twitter to Republican House Minority Leader Kevin McCathy’s vow to “take action” against her and Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib, both of whom support the anti-Israel Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) campaign.
“It’s all about the Benjamins baby,” Omar tweeted, reacting to another tweet from the prominent journalist Glenn Greenwald, who said it was “stunning how much time US political leaders spend defending a foreign nation even if it means attacking free speech rights of Americans,” referring to McCarthy’s pledge.
Benjamins are a slang term for $100 bills, which feature US founding father Benjamin Franklin.
When one journalist followed up by saying she wondered who Omar thought was paying American politicians to be pro-Israel, Omar responded: “AIPAC!,” referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
While the pro-Israel lobby wields considerable influence in Washington, it does not contribute to campaigns, nor does it make endorsements.
Omar, a Somali-born refugee from Ethiopia, was recently appointed to the powerful House Foreign Affairs Committee. In recent weeks, Omar and others have been vociferous critics of two anti-BDS bills that are being pushed in Congress.
Anti-Semitic Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on Sunday and retweeted a tweet that said "[Omar] might as well call [Jews] hook-nosed."
Omar's vile remarks came in response to a Haaretz report that stated that Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was going to take action against anti-Semitic Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and Omar.
"If [Democrats] do not take action I think you’ll see action from myself," McCarthy said. "This cannot sustain itself. It’s unacceptable in this country."
Omar, who has promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories that were used by Nazi Germany, said that the GOP's support for Israel was "all about the Benjamins baby."
An hour later, Omar promoted another anti-Semitic conspiracy theory, falsely stating that The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is paying American politicians "to be pro-Israel."
Omar then retweeted the following tweet that stated she "might as well call [American Jews] hook-nosed."
"I’m one of those American Jews who opposes the occupation, laments Israel’s anti-democratic drift, and doesn’t regard the country as especially central to my Jewish identity," Politico magazine editor Joshua Zeitz tweeted. "And I know exactly what the congresswoman meant. She might as well call us hook-nosed."
Congresswoman @IlhanMN just retweeted a criticism of her anti-Semitic tweet which said that “she might as well call us hook-nosed.” pic.twitter.com/VLjEglThZf
Embattled anti-Semitic Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) is scheduled to speak alongside a senior charity official who has praised the killing of Jews on social media.
"Islamic Relief USA is hosting a fundraising dinner for aid to Yemen on February 23," the Middle East Forum reports. "Rep. Ilhan Omar is due to speak alongside senior Islamic Relief USA official Yousef Abdallah, who was widely criticized in 2017 after the Middle East Forum found he had expressed violently anti-Semitic ideas on his social media accounts."
The Middle East Forum's report provides screenshots and descriptions of numerous anti-Semitic social media posts from Abdallah:
Abdallah, who serves as Islamic Relief USA's "operations manager," shared a "very beautiful" story about "martyrs" who provide guns to "kill more than 20 jews" and "fire rockets at Tel Aviv."
Other posts referred to Jews as "stinking," and claim "the Jews put the outside wall of Al Aqsa [the mosque in Jerusalem] on fire." Abdallah also 'liked' a comment on his Facebook post that calls on God to wreak "revenge on the damned rapists Zionists. O God they are no challenge for you . Shake the Earth beneath their feet and destroy them as you destroyed the peoples of ʿĀd, Thamud and Lot."
And in 2014, after Republican politician Chris Christie apologized for referring to the West Bank and Gaza as "occupied," Abdallah wrote: "Christie kneels down on his knees before the jewish lords and says 'I am sorry'. Only money makes stuff like this happen. Mr. Christie.. Muslims should remember this very well."
Another day, another anti-Semitic controversy for freshman Rep. Ilhan Omar (D., Minn.).
This time, she found herself being called out by one of her own Democratic colleagues, Jewish organizations and even Chelsea Clinton for tweets claiming Republican support for Israel is bought and paid for by AIPAC.
Omar linked to a tweet by left-wing journalist Glenn Greenwald, who was criticizing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) for threatening punishment against Omar and fellow anti-Israel Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.). She wrote, "It's all about the Benjamins baby" with musical notes, a reference to $100 bills with Benjamin Franklin's face on them.
Forward opinion editor Batya Ungar-Sargon criticized Omar for tweeting an "anti-Semitic trope" and said she'd love to know who is "paying American politicians to be pro-Israel." Omar responded, "AIPAC!", the name of the pro-Israel lobbying organization.
Omar's tweets were met with sharp criticism even from members of her own party, including Rep. Max Rose (D., N.Y.). Rose, who is Jewish, tweeted out a statement calling her words "hateful and offensive."
Clinton tweeted in agreement with Ungar-Sargon that the congresswoman had again crossed a line.
"We should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures to not traffic in anti-Semitism," Clinton wrote.
On Sunday, after Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) displayed her blatant anti-Semitism by tweeting that GOP support for Israel was "all about the Benjamins," and followed by accusing AIPAC of paying American politicians to support Israel, bipartisan condemnation of her remarks erupted, although no leading Democrats said a word about their colleague’s vile rhetoric.
Omar’s initial anti-Semitic tweet was triggered by famed anti-Semite leftist Glenn Greenwald, who tweeted, "GOP Leader Kevin McCarthy threatens punishment for @IlhanMN and @RashidaTlaib over their criticisms of Israel. It's stunning how much time US political leaders spend defending a foreign nation even if it means attacking free speech rights of Americans."
Omar delightedly responded, "It’s all about the Benjamins, baby."
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, an incredibly staunch supporter of Israel who saw Israel get attacked incessantly at the U.N., fired back, "To see this at the UN was a fight every day. This CANNOT be tolerated in our own Congress by anyone of either party. In a time of increased anti semitism, we all must be held to account. No excuses."
McCarthy himself blasted, “Anti-Semitic tropes have no place in the halls of Congress. It is dangerous for Democrat leadership to stay silent on this reckless language.”
Former New York State Assemblyman Dov Hikind, who has been virtually the only Democrat willing to call out members of his own party for their anti-Semitism, snapped, "Defending Israel from antisemites is 'all about the Benjamins'? Really? It’s about money? Another antisemitic trope for @Ilhan Omar? She’s like an antisemitic pinball machine that spits out old canards as the ball bounces around her brain. She’s the gift that keeps on giving!"
Israel haters love to claim that Israel engages in organ trafficking, or that Israel takes out organs of Palestinian terrorists without their permission.
Yet these oh-so-moral people are silent when there is real organ trafficking by Arab nations.
According to a 2018 report, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has collected data on 700 incidents of organ trafficking, primarily from north Africa and the Middle East. Yet these figures are conservative, at best. The true scale of the industry is difficult to assess, as the majority of cases go unreported, with victims reluctant to come forward for fear of deportation, arrest or shame.
The trade appears to be flourishing in Egypt, bolstered by an EU-funded clampdown on refugees by security forces. There, the hostile environment created by the arbitrary detention of migrants, and the hike in smugglers’ fees, is creating a perfect opportunity for unscrupulous organ brokers who prey on those desperate to raise funds to cross the Mediterranean.
Outrageous? Nah. Arab countries are expected to act this way, so the moral police are OK with it.
(h/t Yoel)
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Palestine Today quotes an "expert" that says that there will be a "third intifada" if the PLO cannot pay the salaries of terrorists and their families as a result of Israel deducting that amount from tax revenue.
Abdel Hadi says , "If the Palestinian Authority can not raise other funds to fill the funds that Israel intends to deduct from the Palestinian Authority revenues, this decision will affect the security situation, especially since the budget of the Palestinian Authority already suffers from a great shortage."
He says that if the Palestinian Authority is unable to provide the amount estimated tens of millions of shekels, the resulting demonstrations "may be the spark of a third intifada."
There have been regular threats of a third intifada for over a decade now.
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Hopes that the 2015 nuclear deal would lead the Tehran regime to moderate its behavior have proved misplaced. The ayatollahs may have kept to the letter of the deal, but they have intensified their malign policies around the region. Where Israel is concerned, they implacably oppose not only government policy but also the country's very existence.
This hatred of Israel is not confined to the clerics. It is also the declared position of figures that the West has misidentified as "moderate." So it is misguided to see Iran as following the principles of realpolitik. It is ultimately defending and where possible extending ideological interests. The ideology is driven by a belief that religion should be converted into a political system of government. Such a worldview necessarily becomes totalitarian.
This politicization of religion is the bane of the Middle East. In a world where economies succeed by being open, and countries prosper by being open-minded, such a view of religion divides people, misdirects political energy and causes extremism.
Where Iran is exercising military interference, it should be strongly pushed back. Where it is seeking influence, it should be countered. Where its proxies operate, it should be held responsible. Where its networks exist, they should be disrupted. Where its leaders are saying what is unacceptable, they should be exposed. Where the Iranian people are protesting for freedom, they should be supported.
Forty years of disappointment should make us clear-eyed. The revolution has made Iran the single biggest destabilizing force in the Middle East. Ultimately the Iranian people will find a way to the future without this outdated theocracy.
A senior commander in Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps threatened on Monday to destroy two of Israeli’s largest cities if the country is attacked by the United States.
“The United States does not have the courage to shoot a single bullet at us despite all its defensive and military assets. But if they attack us, we will raze Tel Aviv and Haifa to the ground,” Brig. Gen. Yadollah Javani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA, according to Reuters.
Top political and military leaders in Iran regularly call for Israel’s annihilation, with a senior general recently claiming it would defeat the Jewish state “within three days” in the case of a war.
Javani, the deputy for the IRGC political bureau, was speaking at a rally marking the 40th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, when the US-backed monarchy was overthrown and replaced in power by Islamic fundamentalists.
Along with the chants “Death to America” and banners bearing slogans calling for “Death to Israel,” Monday’s marches were also a backdrop to the military’s display of Iranian-made missiles, which authorities showcase every year during anniversary celebrations.
Uri Akavia, a researcher at Kohelet Policy Forum, recently published a new paper titled “Is UNRWA’s hereditary refugee status for Palestinians unique?” In it, of course, he details the origins of the issue since 1948, the year Israel was established, and its ensuing state of affairs.
“People have finally realized that UNRWA [U.N. Relief and Works Agency], is a very large and important organization that is perpetuating a problem that should not have even existed after 70 years,” he told JNS.
When U.S. President Donald Trump announced last year that he would pull $300 million in funding for UNRWA, which is in charge of resolving the Palestinian refugee problem, Jerusalem’s Mayor Nir Barkat realized that he now had an opportunity to kick UNRWA out of Shuafat, a Palestinian neighborhood in Jerusalem the body considers to be a refugee camp.
“The U.S. decision has created a rare opportunity to replace UNRWA’s services with the services of the Jerusalem Municipality,” he said. “We are putting an end to the lie of the ‘Palestinian refugee problem’ and the attempts at creating a false sovereignty within a sovereignty.”
For Akavia, Barkat and those who have followed the situation closely, UNRWA, tasked with resolving the Palestinian refugee problem, has only perpetuated and not solved the refugee problem. They argue, and many Israelis agree, that it has utterly failed in its mission.
According to Dore Gold, president of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, “UNRWA has so many problems,” he told JNS. “The fact is that so many of the worst Hamas terrorists were educated in UNRWA schools, and UNRWA was used as a place where Hamas could store its weaponry in violation of all kinds of U.N. resolutions that prohibit conversion of refugee camps to military facilities.”
However, Gold pointed to what he thinks is UNRWA’s worst sin: The “conversion of the Palestinian refugee problem to a challenge locked into perpetuity.”
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Elder of Ziyon
The Free Palestine Movement was behind the 2011 flotilla to Israel and styles itself as a progressive peace movement that is pro-Palestinian.
