Monday, March 11, 2019

  • Monday, March 11, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon

The next prime minister of the Palestinian Authority is an Abbas loyalist



Yesterday, Mahmoud Abbas appointed a new prime minister, who now has two weeks to form a government.

Unlike the last prime minister Rami Hamdallah, this one - Mohammed Ashtayeh - is a member of Fatah, which Abbas leads.

Ashtayeh is an unabashed supporter of Abbas, and together with other political moves Abbas has done recently, power is now completely consolidated under Abbas for every single Palestinian governmental wing.

Ashtayeh is a dean of Arab American University. He was chosen partially because he is seen as a moderate that Europeans and Americans would accept.

If anyone has any doubt that Ashtayeh is a puppet of Abbas, just read the fawning letter Ashtayeh wrote to Abbas when accepting his position:

I have the honor to accept your assignment to me as Prime Minister of your Government, which we hope will be completed in consultation with all relevant national, civil and community factions, forces and actors and then submit them to you for approval and endorsement.
I am honored to accept this mandate, in the name of the Fatah movement, the protector of our national project, the initiator and political realism, the advocate of the independent decision and the leader of Palestinian national unity, within the framework of the PLO, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people.
I am fully aware of the situation in which we are going through politically, economically and financially, and I am aware of the attack on your steadfastness. But, Mr. President, you have been here since the beginning of the revolution with your brothers Abu Ammar, Abu Jihad, Abu Iyad, Abu Al-Saeed, Abu Al- , Abdul Fattah Hammoud and others - what is harder than we are today, and we will move from here with your wise leadership.
You have done so much, Mr. President, in the face of the battle for existence, the battle of representation, and the battle of containment. You have accomplished the recognition of the Organization, which Abu Ammar has dedicated to his nation, and to recognize the State which you have raised the flag of Palestine among the flags of the world at the entrance of the United Nations.
Under your guidance, my brothers in Fatah and the national factions - our partners in the Organization - we will work to embody an independent, sovereign state with Jerusalem as its capital on the borders of 1967, and to continue our struggle for the justifications of the right of return.
Today, you and your family in Jerusalem are fighting to protect the city from Judaization, and to preserve it as an Arab Palestinian city, open to the worship of God. The battle to protect Al-Aqsa and Jerusalem is fought by strengthening the steadfastness of its Muslim and Christian people on the land of their holy city.
I thank you, Mr. President, for the trust, and I thank my brothers in Fatah. I trust that I have been and will remain at your best,
May God reward you, and we are with you in the service of our people, and we will remain on the covenant as we entrusted until we reach freedom and independence.
your brother
Dr.. Mohammed Ibrahim Ashtayeh
10/3/2019



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Sunday, March 10, 2019

  • Sunday, March 10, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon

Recent EoZ tweets of note

























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03/10 Links: Anne Frank center compares Jews fleeing Nazis to Islamic State terrorists; PA TV teaches children that Israel will come to an end: “All of Palestine will return to us”

From Ian:
Anne Frank center compares Jews fleeing Nazis to Islamic State terrorists
The Anne Frank Educational Center in the German city of Frankfurt is under intense fire for comparing Jews during the Holocaust with Islamic State terrorists in a series of tweets on Wednesday.

The center appeared to object to a German government plan to strip German Islamic State fighters of their citizenship. The educational center wrote that “protests formed against the plan,” in connection with a reference to the Third Reich.

“In fact, the Nazis made generous use of the means of expatriation. In several waves, a total of over 39,000 people were expatriated - especially Jews. As of November 1941, they automatically lost their citizenship when they the crossed the borders of the Reich regardless of whether ‘voluntarily’ emigrated or deported,” the center wrote on Twitter.

The tweet continued, “Their assets were confiscated. Among other things, Albert Einstein was affected on the grounds that he had ‘violated the duty of loyalty to the Reich and the people."'

When asked about its tweets by The Jerusalem Post on Saturday, the Anne Frank Educational Center’s Twitter feed wrote: “No, we did not compare or equate Jewish holocaust victims to IS terrorists. And we made that very clear after some misinterpreted our tweet in that way. In no way did we defend jihadists. This is simply not true.”

According to the website of the center, “The Anne Frank Educational Center is a place where both young people and adults can learn about the history of National Socialism and discuss its relevance to today. In our work we use the diary and the biography of Anne Frank as a unique tool to promote tolerance and educate people about the consequences of discrimination and racism.”

Col. Richard Kemp, who was a former British Army commander of Operation Fingal in Afghanistan, wrote on Twitter: “A terrible insult by @BS_AnneFrank. They should delete this disgraceful tweet.”
Trump Peace Envoy Scolds Palestinians, U.N. Members for Enabling Payments to Terrorists
U.S. peace envoy Jason Greenblatt offered a rebuke of the Palestinian Authority and United Nations members who he said are enabling the embattled government to continue paying salaries to terrorists who have killed Jews, according to a readout of Greenblatt's remarks Friday to a closed-door session of the U.N. Security Council exclusively provided to the Washington Free Beacon.

Greenblatt, who has been engaged in shuttle diplomacy to help foster peace between the Israeli and Palestinians, offered a robust defense of Israel and blamed the P.A.'s ongoing budget crunch on a package of policies that have enabled the government to continue spending internationally provided aid dollars on terrorist salaries, a policy known as "pay to slay."

As the P.A. grapples with a deepening budget crisis that threatens its control, U.N. member states have sought to blame Israel for the situation, which has thrown the Palestinian government into chaos. Greenblatt fiercely pushed back against these charges, telling U.N. members that the Palestinians' problems are tied to their refusal to stop spending critical budgetary dollars on terrorists and their families.

The "pay to slay" policy has emerged as a chief diplomatic hurdle in peace talks between the Israelis and Palestinians, sources told the Free Beacon, and Greenblatt used his perch at the U.N. to send a clear message: These payments must stop immediately if the Palestinians are to be seen as a serious partner for peace.

Greenblatt's criticism comes at a key time in peace negotiations, as the Trump administration prepares to unveil its much-anticipated framework for peace.
PMW: Official PA TV teaches children that Israel will come to an end: “All of Palestine will return to us”
Despite insurances from Palestinian Authority leaders that they support a two-state solution and want to live side by side with Israel, the PA continues to teach children that Israel will come to an end.

Showing a drawing of a map of "Palestine" which included all of Israel together with the PA areas, the host on official PA TV stated that "all of Palestine will return to us":

Official PA TV host to girl: "Hold up [your drawing of] the map of Palestine. How nice! Allah willing, all of Palestine will return to us and we will enjoy its breathtaking views."
[Official PA TV, The Best Home, Feb. 21, 2019]

Palestinian Media Watch has documented this aspect of PA education numerous times and shown that the denial of Israel's right to exist is a fundamental message coming from PA leaders.

PA Minister of Education Sabri Saidam recently illustrated this same message - that all of Israel is "Palestine":



Cartoon of the Day: Pinkwashed

Continuing my re-captioning of single-panel cartoons....


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  • Sunday, March 10, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon

#HateStopsHere: An interview with WZO Director on countering antisemitism (EoZTV)



Today, March 10, rallies are being held across the world to protest antisemitism. Kicking off the rallies was one in Jerusalem in front of the World Zionist Organization/KKL building.

I interviewed Eitan Behar, Director of the Center for Countering Antisemitism, about what the WZO and its partners are doing to combat antisemitism as well as their definition of the term.

Behar pointed out that in Europe, many Jews are afraid to be public about their Judaism. They are keeping their mezuzot inside their houses. They are too scared to report attacks against them. It is not a good situation.




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A challenge for the "woke" crowd: Antisemitic or "just" anti-Zionist?

Capital Research Center reproduced some Instagram posts by "free.palestine.1948," an account that Rashida Tlaib followed until the story broke.

The interesting thing about the offensive images is that they generally were about "Israel" and not officially about Jews.

So I would like to ask J-Street, Jewish Voice for Peace, Rashida Tlaib, Omar llhan and her apologists: Which of these images, if any, are antsemitic and which are merely "legitimate criticism of Israel?"

If anyone on the Democratic side that supported the watered down condemnation of all bad things could honestly answer, it would be very illuminating.

And if their answer depends on whether the images were shown on a "pro-Palestinian" or a white supremacist site, that speaks volumes as well.















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  • Sunday, March 10, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon

The balloon bomb threat grows - and it can get MUCH worse



TOI reported:

Police sappers were called to the Israel-Gaza border area on Saturday after a balloon suspected of carrying an explosive device landed in Israeli territory.

Hebrew media reported that the balloon was carrying a warhead from an anti-tank missile.
Assuming 12-inch diameter latex balloons, it would take 29 of them to handle a payload of a pound.

If Gaza terrorists wanted to send a 5 kg explosive - about the size of the explosives used by suicide bombers - they could do it with 315 balloons.

But it would be easier to obtain a much larger balloon.

A balloon 6 feet in diameter is less that $30 online and it can lift 7 lbs. An 8 foot balloon is less than $80 and can carry  17 lbs.

These would require a lot of helium (or propane, which is probably easier available in Gaza but have only half the lift.) But there seems to be enough helium in Gaza already.

This is not a trivial issue.

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Saturday, March 09, 2019

03/09 Links: Douglas Murray: The false equivalence between ‘Islamophobia’ and anti-Semitism; Denouncing ‘Racist Israel and Its Lobbies,’ PLO Rejects Internationally-Accepted Definition of Antisemitism; The Pro-Palestinian Charade

From Ian:
Jonathan Freedland: For 2,000 years we’ve linked Jews to money. It’s why antisemitism is so ingrained
Whatever its origins, the archetype of the avaricious Jew acquired its place in the culture. It can operate at the level of playground insult – “Jew” as a synonym for stinginess – and at the level of global conspiracy theory, with Jews, or “Rothschilds”, the hidden hand pulling the strings of world capitalism and its necessary corollary, imperialism. It is planted deep in the soil of western civilisation, in Britain, the land of Fagin and Shylock, especially. It is deep enough to shape our thinking – there to be reached for when a crisis, such as the 2008 crash, requires an easy, explanatory villain – but also so deep that it is almost buried, out of sight.

The result is that sometimes we can’t even see it, even when it is right in front of us. Recall that Jeremy Corbyn’s first response on hearing that the notorious mural depicting Jewish bankers playing Monopoly on the backs of the poor was to be removed, was to ask, “Why?” He literally could not see the problem. (An image of that mural will be included in the exhibition, alongside other examples of antisemitic depictions of supposed Jewish power.)

Given the 2,000-year-old history of this equation between Jews and the wickedness of money, it is absurd to imagine any one of us would be immune to it. Inevitably, plenty of Jews have themselves internalised it – including no less than Karl Marx, whose writings are peppered with anti-Jewish sentiment, who referred to money as “the jealous god of Israel”, and who looked forward to “the emancipation of mankind from Judaism”.

It is equally absurd to think that merely announcing yourself as an anti-racist automatically inoculates you from this history. It doesn’t. Instead it has to be brought into the open and confronted. But first we have to admit that it’s there. (h/t Zvi)

Douglas Murray: The false equivalence between ‘Islamophobia’ and anti-Semitism
And this is where we return to the problem which I started with. Which is how you could have anything more than a shallow and cowardly debate about this without finding yourself condemned for ‘Islamophobia’? It is difficult, isn’t it? Because the modern multi-cultural get-out is that everything – including every religion – basically comes out the same in the wash, and that if we just unite against ‘all forms of bigotry’ that wash will bring us to some equitable nirvana.

As has often been said, ‘Islamophobia’ is a word created by fascists and used by cowards to manipulate morons. As it happens, we have plenty of religiously inclined fascists in Britain (as in America), including a number now in positions of legislative power from across the parties. We also have a whole plethora of cowards, from left and right, willing to dodge any problem and audibly sigh with relief as they imagine that having dodged the problem they will no longer have to encounter it again. But the one positive thing is that there are fewer morons than the fascists and cowards would wish. The general public are not morons. And we can find things out for ourselves. We have access to information. And so it would seem that in the matter of ‘Islamophobia’, as with a range of other matters, it is the people who are expected to be morons who will have to continue to correct the people who aspire to lead us.
Denouncing ‘Racist Israel and Its Lobbies,’ PLO Rejects Internationally-Accepted Definition of Antisemitism
The PLO’s Ambassador to Senegal has published what he called the “position of the State of Palestine on this debate around antisemitism” — a furious objection to the definition of antisemitism drawn up by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), so far adopted by 31 countries and endorsed by the European Parliament.

In a communiqué carried by the Senegalese news outlet Dakar Actu earlier this week, Safwat Ibraghith — the PLO’s diplomatic representative to the West African nation — stated that because his organization rejected all forms of racism, “including antisemitism, Islamophobia, homophobia…Palestine condemns, a priori, the State of Israel through its racist and discriminatory laws and policies: starting with the Law of Return, and the law relating to the property of the absentees in 1950, up to to the last law on the ‘nation-state of the Jewish people,’ dated July 19, 2018.”

The immediate source of the PLO’s ire with the IHRA definition is its inclusion of examples of anti-Zionist rhetoric — comparisons of Israel with Nazi Germany, the denunciation of Zionism as racism — that are antisemitic in nature. According to Ibraghith, “Palestine refuses any amalgamation between antisemitism and anti-Zionism.”

“While the first is racially racist,” he said, “the second is inscribed only in anti-colonial logic, namely that Zionism is a colonialist and racist ideology in nature.”

Accordingly, Ibraghith denied that the Jews could legitimately constitute a nation, reducing them to the status of a tolerated religious minority.

  • Saturday, March 09, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon

Time to admit the obvious: Muslims get a pass on antisemitism (update)



The Ilhan Omar episode, where on at least three occasions she said clearly antisemitic statements and managed to emerge with more prestige than she had before, shows once again that Muslims do not have repercussions when they spout hate that would be fatal to the careers of people who are considered white by the "progressive" crowd.

Last month, MEMRI released a video where a Detroit imam was recorded preaching that Jews have prostituted their women throughout history to gain power, as well as other hateful statements towards Jews.

The media ignored the story.

Last week, MEMRI released another video with an antisemitic imam, this time in Philadelphia.



He said, among other things:

The Jews are the vilest people in terms of their moral values, their nature, and their violation of agreements.

If a Muslim lives somewhere [in the West], he is viewed according to the way the nefarious Jewish media portrays him – as an oppressive and predatory lion.

Remember Sabra and Shatila. Remember the wars of the past. Remember how [former Israeli PM] Menachem Begin, that Polish crook, would stand next to a pregnant woman, and would make bets whether it is a boy or a girl. He would make bets, while the woman was still alive! Then he would slut her belly open, while she was still alive, to see whether it is a boy or a girl. Just like that. This happened. This happened.
The propaganda and the media are controlled by them. They make you see things in an altered and inflated way. They make you think that power lies in castles, fortresses, and weapons – that power lies with 15 million people who own and control the riches of the world.
This is happening in mosques in major American cities, today! MEMRI can only find the hateful sermons that are proudly uploaded to social media - imagine what else is being taught to American Muslims that we have no idea about!

But the media will downplay or ignore these stories, because part of the "progressive" view of the world is that Muslims and others perceived as people of color  are not held to the same standards as the responsible white people. It is a racist attitude that has become normalized in America.

The apologetics for Ilhan Omar were amazing to watch. She was infantilized as someone who is not fully mature enough to understand the subtle nuances of how her innocent words could be perceived by Jews - yet she is fully mature enough to represent thousands of people from Minnesota. The thought that her antisemitism might be a basic part of her worldview and her upbringing is not considered.

Muslims are expected to be Jew-hating bigots, and that is OK, according to the prevailing groupthink of the progressive crowd. See this tweet from a "roving journalist:"




If this is true, it shows that at least some journalists - who are overwhelmingly liberal - have no problem at all with Ilhan Omar's antisemitic statements, and they have a completely different standard for her than they would have for a white Republican man saying the exact same things.

The same applies to other people of color, as well. The horrendous attacks on Hasidic Jews in New York by people of color have been shown on TV because it is compelling video, but there is no outrage towards the perpetrators - because of their color.

If we want to ensure equal rights for all American citizens, that means we must expect equal responsibilities from all of them as well. This is not a difficult concept, but it is one that is very uncomfortable to those who want to elevate the people considered "intersectional" without regard to their actual actions or words.

UPDATE: See this story about how the media covered - and didn't cover - an antisemitic California imam.

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Friday, March 08, 2019

03/08 Links Pt2: Bret Stephens: Ilhan Omar Knows Exactly What She Is Doing; Every Democratic Excuse For Ilhan Omar's Anti-Semitism Is More Vile Than The Last; Academics Appropriate the Holocaust to Bash Israel

From Ian:
Bret Stephens (NYTs): Ilhan Omar Knows Exactly What She Is Doing
As the criticism of Omar mounts, it becomes that much easier for her to seem like the victim of a smear campaign, rather than the instigator of a smear. The secret of anti-Semitism has always rested, in part, on creating the perception that the anti-Semite is, in fact, the victim of the Jews and their allies. Just which powers-that-be are orchestrating that campaign? Why are they afraid of open debate? And what about all the bigotry on their side?

The goal is not to win the argument, at least not anytime soon. Yet merely by refusing to fold, Omar stands to shift the range of acceptable discussion — the so-called Overton window — sharply in her direction. Ideas once thought of as intellectually uncouth and morally repulsive have suddenly become merely controversial. It’s how anti-Zionism has abruptly become an acceptable point of view in reputable circles. It’s why anti-Semitism is just outside the frame, bidding to get in.

House Democrats are now wrangling over the text of a resolution that was initially intended as a condemnation of anti-Semitism, with Omar as its implicit target. At this writing it is mired in predictable controversy, as members of the party’s progressive wing and black caucus rally to Omar’s side in the first open challenge to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s leadership. In the Senate, the presidential hopefuls Kamala Harris, Bernie Sanders and Warren have weighed in with statements that painted Omar as a victim of Islamophobia — which she is — without mentioning that she’s also a purveyor of anti-Semitic bigotry — which she surely is as well.

It says something about the progressive movement today that it has no trouble denouncing Republican racism, real and alleged, every day of the week but has so much trouble calling out a naked anti-Semite in its own ranks. This is how progressivism becomes Corbynism. It’s how the left finds its own path toward legitimizing hate. It’s how self-declared anti-fascists develop their own forms of fascism.

If Pelosi can’t muster a powerful and unequivocal resolution condemning anti-Semitism, then Omar will have secured her political future and won a critical battle for the soul of the Democratic Party. At that point, the days when American Jews can live comfortably within the Democratic fold will be numbered.
Ben Shapiro: Worst Defense Of Ilhan Omar's Anti-Semitism Yet


The Democratic Party Has Normalized Anti-Semitism
This week, the Democratic Party was unable to pass a watered-down, platitudinous resolution condemning anti-Semitism, due to “fierce backlash” from presidential candidates, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), and the now-powerful progressive base. Rather than censuring Rep. Ilhan Omar, the intellectually frivolous, Hamas-supporting freshman representative from Minnesota, she was rewarded and inoculated from party criticism.

More consequently, the Democrats deemed Protocols of Zion-style attacks a legitimate form of debate. That’s because Omar, despite what you hear, has repeatedly attacked Jews, not only Israel supporters, and certainly not only specific Israeli policies.

Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, who would finally bring an “All Lives Matter” resolution to the floor, told reporters she didn’t believe the congresswoman’s comments were “intentionally anti-Semitic.” No educated human believes Omar inadvertently accused “Benjamin”-grubbing Rootless Cosmopolitans of hypnotizing the world for their evil. These are long-standing, conspiratorial attacks on the Jewish people, used by anti-Semites on right and left, and popular throughout the Islamic world.

Even the Democratic Party activist groups that typically cover for the Israel-haters, like the Anti- Defamation League, have condemned Omar. Yet it was the lie that coursed through the Democratic Party’s defense of Omar.

Anti-Semitism part of wave of `depraved hatred', pope says
Pope Francis on Friday branded anti-Semitism part of a wave of "depraved hatred" sweeping some countries and urged everyone to be vigilant against it.

In comments to members of the American Jewish Committee during a visit to the Vatican, he also reiterated that it was sinful for Christians to hold anti-Semitic sentiments because they shared a heritage with Jews.

"A source of great concern to me is the spread, in many places, of a climate of wickedness and fury, in which an excessive and depraved hatred is taking root," Francis said. "I think especially of the outbreak of anti-Semitic attacks in various countries."

Francis did not name any of those countries, but government statistics released last month showed more than 500 anti-Semitic attacks occurred last year in France, which has Europe's biggest Jewish community. That was a 74 percent increase from 2017.

"I stress that for a Christian any form of anti-Semitism is a rejection of one's own origins, a complete contradiction," Francis said.


03/08 Links Pt1: Martin Sherman: “Palestine” - Time to say “No!”; PA TV uses International Women’s Day to glorify female terrorists; JEXODUS: Jewish Millennials Launch A ‘Liberation Movement’ From The Democratic Party

From Ian:
Dr. Martin Sherman: “Palestine” - Time to say “No!”
Ladies and gentlemen, when the Palestinians say "two states" they do not mean what we mean—Maj-Gen. (res.) Amos Yadlin , October 2018.

Failed in past, unfeasible in present, dangerous in future

Echoing precisely what two-state opponents have been insisting on for decades, he pronounced categorically: “There is no-one to agree with, there is nothing to agree on—and the implementation [of any two-state initiative] is dangerous”.

But then, astonishingly, rather than arrive at the rational conclusion that the pursuit of the two-state objective be abandoned and alternative approaches be explored—he did precisely the opposite!

He urged that Israel should undertake a policy, set out in the INSS “plan”, that assumes that there is—or rather that there might be—someone to agree with, and something to agree on—at some unspecified future date and as a result of some unspecified process that would somehow overcome his previously stipulated obstacles of “Palestinian divisiveness, political weakness and ideological extremism.”

Yadlin’s patently perverse and paradoxical position on the two-state doctrine—or rather dogma—underscores precisely why it must be renounced—unequivocally and irrevocably.

Indeed, its deadly detriments are so glaringly apparent that it is becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile calls for a Palestinian state with genuine concern for the well-being of the Jewish nation-state.

The dinosaurs and the Palestinian state
You still hear serious people talking out loud about the two-state solution as a reasonable – even inevitable – possibility to the conflict between us and the Arabs of the region: dividing the good land and establishing an Arab state on the hills of Judea and Samaria, which could wind up connecting to the Hamas state in the Gaza Strip to the west and the state of Jordan to the east.

Exactly 100 years have passed since the division of the land was first suggested in the 1919 Faisal–Weizmann Agreement, after World War I. Eighteen years later, in 1937, the Peel Commission (convened to investigate the bloody events of 1936) proposed dividing the land, and a decade later, on Nov. 29, 1947, the U.N. voted in favor of the partition plan. The Arabs refused, and their response was war.

The Palestine Liberation Organization was founded before the "occupation" of the 1967 Six-Day War. Its goal was to "liberate all the land from the Zionists." Our country was then quite small in size, and still the organization's terrorists wanted it. The goal hasn't changed; it has sometimes been disguised to delude naïve, liberal, self-righteous Jews in the West.

The Oslo Accords came into being after the PLO was on the mat after backing Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein during the First Persian Gulf War. The Palestinians supported any murderous dictator who served their purposes. In Oslo, the government under then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin put the dying organization on artificial life support and brought tens of thousands of terrorists whom we had armed into western Israel to force the division of the country and fulfill their dream of peace. If the Jews don't acknowledge their right to their own land and revive their sworn enemies from the ashes, we can expect nothing more from Europe or the U.S. That is how the organization of terrorists became the official, respectable representative of the supposed forthcoming Palestinian state.
Arab Religiosity and Support for the Palestinians
Palestinians—as well as Arab leaders and opponents of Israel in the U.S. and Europe—have often claimed that the Palestinian fate is a central concern, if not the central concern, of Arabs everywhere. Examining data from Google in various Arab countries, Hillel Frisch notes that the frequency of searches for such topics as “Palestinian resistance” decreases sharply the farther one goes from Gaza and the West Bank. Non-Palestinian Arabs, by contrast, are far and away more likely to search for “al-Aqsa mosque” than for information about the Palestinian resistance, and Palestinians’ own interest in al-Aqsa is similarly high. To Frisch, all of this makes clear that religion, far more than nationalism, motivates Arab attitudes regarding Israel:

[These data] underscore the importance of the religious dimension in the Arabic-speaking world, both within and without the Palestinian arena, in the Arab-Palestinian conflict. This is hardly new. Islam was a major if not dominant theme in the most tumultuous periods of strife between Jews and Arabs in the Holy Land. In April 1920, attacks against Jews began during the religious Nabi Musa pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The 1921 riots began in Jaffa to protest the participation of immodestly clad Jewish women in the May Day demonstrations in Jaffa.

Seven years later, in 1928, Haj Amin al-Husseini coined the phrase “al-Aqsa in danger” in a pan-Islamic campaign against the Zionist movement that led to the most murderous onslaught against Jews to date in August 1929. This term has since been adopted by both Hamas and the northern branch of the Islamic Movement, which was banned by Israel in 2015.

During the second intifada, the Palestinian Authority (PA) and Fatah tried in vain to name the conflict the “independence intifada” in its struggle against a rising Hamas, which wanted to color the conflict with Israel in religious terms. Today, it is universally referred to in Arabic as the “al-Aqsa intifada,” even in Fatah and PA discourse. The same religious zeal regarding the Palestinian cause can be found in the Arab world.

  • Friday, March 08, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon

PLO begs nations not to deal with US embassy in Jerusalem

Saeb Erekat, secretary general of the PLO Executive Committee, has issued another warning to the international community that no one will listen to.

He called on the world to ignore the US Embassy in Jerusalem, saying that working together with US diplomats "represents a step towards legitimizing this illegal procedure."

"The Trump administration closed the US consulate in Jerusalem officially, and ended the American diplomatic presence of 175 years in Palestine," Erekat wrote in a letter to the diplomatic representatives in Palestine on March 4. "The Trump administration closing the US consulate in Jerusalem is a blatant violation of the law."

I'm not sure what law that violates. Erekat didn't elaborate.

 He continued, "As you know, the establishment of diplomatic representation of Israel in Jerusalem is a serious violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution No. 478, which is one of several Council resolutions condemning the annexation of East Jerusalem to Israel."

A plain reading of UNSC 478 indicates that the US should have closed the consulate in Jerusalem as well. It calls upon "Those States that have established diplomatic missions at Jerusalem to withdraw such missions from the Holy City."

No one talks about that.

"We appeal to all members of the diplomatic community in Palestine not to engage in any kind of formal relationship or to cooperate with the new entity created within the illegal US embassy, Any dealings with the illegal US embassy will be seen as a step toward legitimizing this illegal procedure," he concluded.


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Thursday, March 07, 2019

  • Thursday, March 07, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon

Bigotry resolution fudges anti-Muslim FBI stats

I found these two sections of the much ballyhooed and ultimately worthless anti-bigotry resolution passed on Thursday to be interesting:

Whereas in 2017 the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported a 37 percent increase in hate crimes against Jews or Jewish institutions and found that attacks against Jews or Jewish institutions made up 58.1 percent of all religious-based hate crimes;
and
Whereas the Federal Bureau of Investigation reported that hate crimes against Muslims or Muslim institutions in the United States increased by over 99 percent between 2014 and 2016;
Why are FBI stats for antisemitism only quoted for 2017, comparing to 2016, while the stats for anti-Muslim hate crimes are only quoted for 2016 compared to 2014?

Because anti-Muslim hate crimes actually went down in 2017, while antisemitic hate crimes soared! So the resolution authors cherry picked statistics.

In 2014, there were 609 anti-Jewish incidents and 154 anti-Muslim incidents.
In 2016, there were 684 anti-Jewish incidents and 307 anti-Muslim incidents.
In 2017, there were 938 anti-Jewish incidents and 273 anti-Muslim incidents.

But a 77% increase in anti-Muslim incidents from 2014 to 2017, bad as it is, doesn't sound nearly as bad as the 99% increase from 2014 to 2016. In raw numbers, the increase in antisemitic incidents in 2017 dwarfs the increase in every other kind of bias incident.

This is just is another data point that the resolution is about posturing and not about anyone actually caring about bigotry.



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03/07 Links Pt2: Noah Rothman: The Anti-Semitism Monster Democrats Can No Longer Control; Andrew Klavan: How The Left Rationalizes Anti-Semitism

From Ian:
Noah Rothman: The Anti-Semitism Monster Democrats Can No Longer Control
Liberal partisans know exactly what Democrats are doing here. Indeed, they explained why generic condemnations of hatred in the face of discrete episodes of bigotry entirely missed the point amid the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement. “All lives matter,” was the response from those who were discomfited by the movement’s focus on excessive uses of force by police against African-Americans. Of course, all lives do matter, those on the left observed, but to insist upon such language in the face of specific episodes of bias targeting distinct demographics is obtuse. The effort isn’t to restore common bonds, but to diminish the validity of the Black Lives Matter movement’s grievance.

Today, as Democratic House leadership calculates precisely how forcefully to condemn anti-Semitic sentiments within its ranks without alienating anti-Semites, a full-scale rebellion is brewing. Rep. Rashida Tlaib called the effort to condemn anti-Semitism “unprecedented” and questioned Pelosi’s judgment. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez insisted that Pelosi’s resolution was “hurtful” and that there should be similar votes condemning all manner of bigotries ranging from xenophobia, to homophobia, to “anti-blackness.” Pelosi is a “typical white feminist upholding the patriarchy doing the dirty work of powerful white men,” wrote Women’s March co-chair Linda Sarsour. These are not nobodies. These are core figures in the Democratic coalition, individuals who are now or were only recently some of the party’s most visible new faces.

It isn’t just the activist wing that has effectively sided with Omar in this fight. The New York Times claimed that Omar’s attack on the Israeli lobbying group AIPAC raised important questions about the influence Zionists and Jews wield. The Washington Post suggested that Pelosi would invite a prolonged internecine debate over America’s policy toward Israel by unequivocally condemning anti-Jewish bigotry. These are not fringe institutions expressing the concerns of a marginal constituency.

It was only one month ago that the Democratic Party was united in disgust after Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam admitted to appearing in photographs as a younger man in blackface. Democrats, Nancy Pelosi among them, insisted that no apology would suffice. Northam had to go. Virginia’s governor did not consent to his own exile, but Democrats nonetheless established a standard. “It is essentially this,” I wrote at the time. “Any act of naked bigotry, even the bourgeois sort that stems from ignorance or social desirability biases, is unacceptable and unforgivable.” Confronted today with a kind of prejudice to which not all its members are entirely hostile, Democrats have revealed how hollow those condemnations really were. The battle for the future of the Democratic Party isn’t over yet, but, for now, Ilhan Omar is winning.
John Podhoretz: Democrats’ refusal to call out Ilhan Omar’s anti-semitism is just appalling
It’s really not hard to get to the bottom of this: When you say that Jews have magical hypnotic powers to control other people, you’re an anti-Semite. When you say Jews control other people through money, you’re an anti-Semite. When you say Jews have conspired to force you to apologize for saying anti-Semitic things, you’re an anti-Semite. ­Ilhan Omar is an anti-Semite.

Now what? Well, now nothing.

For a while this week there was a thought that the House of Representatives, where Omar serves as a freshman from Minnesota, might vote on a resolution condemning her ­anti-Semitism.

Then it was thought that maybe said resolution would come up for a vote but wouldn’t mention her name and instead condemn anti-Semitism generally.

Then it was thought that there would be a resolution that would condemn both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. Now there’s no timetable for voting on anything.

What’s hard is bringing a resolution to the House floor condemning a representative’s bigotry when you don’t want to and you’re afraid of making people mad, even though what we’re talking about here is Jew-hatred. We’re talking about a member of Congress attacking a small minority group.
Andrew Klavan: How The Left Rationalizes Anti-Semitism
Listen to Chuck Todd here, you can see the argument played out [that both the left and right are to blame for anti-Semitism in America] and what's so wrong with it.

Chuck Todd: Omar opened the door for Republicans to point fingers and say ‘aha! The left has a problem with anti-Semitism!’ And you know what? It does. But unless you want to forget the chants of "Jews will not replace us’"by neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, unless you want to forget President Trump saying there were good people on both sides of that debate, unless you want to forget the synagogue slaughter in Pittsburgh last year, unless you want to forget all of that you have to acknowledge that the right has a problem with anti-Semitism too. Both sides are doing a lot of finger-pointing and there's a lot to point to, that's sad. Anti-Semitism is on the rise on the left, it's on the rise on the right, it's on the rise in Europe and a lot of other places. So, let's not pretend it's on the rise in just the other political party.

Left and right are not political parties, they are political positions. And it is true on the far-left and on the far-right, or as they now call it the Alt-Right, which I think is more fair because it's an alternative to actual American conservatism, it's not American conservatism. But let's just divide the world into left and right. On the far left and on the far right there is anti-Semitism.

Listen to who he compares, this is a congresswoman! This is a woman in the halls of American power, and so are all these other people, Farrakhan lovers hanging out with them. He's comparing them to the guys with tiki-torches marching in the streets, these white supremacist garbage heads. He’s comparing a congresswoman to the guy who shot up a synagogue. Really? That's the right and the left? Our right-wing anti-Semites are the outsiders of the outsiders of the outsiders, the furthest away from the people in power. Is there any relationship between Mitch McConnell and the guy who shot up that synagogue? No, of course, there's not. And their guys are in Congress! Their guys are arguing there. Their guys are at The New York Times writing front-page stories about whether the Jews are too powerful. That's a ridiculous comparison.

He throws in that canard about Trump saying there are good people on both sides — Trump was obviously talking about the statue controversy. It was a stupid, tone-deaf comment, but it was not anti-Semitic and it was not supporting white supremacy, that is just crap. If it were supporting it, somebody would have asked him, “Do you mean that?” But nobody has ever asked him does he mean it, because that's not obviously what he was talking about. It is ridiculous, and they're doing it to run interference for a Democrat Party and a left-wing philosophy that has become by nature infested with anti-Semitism.

The IHRA definition of antisemitism could solve this entire mess



J-Street tweeted this:




Here's what the candidates said:

Elizabeth Warren:We have a moral duty to combat hateful ideologies in our own country and around the wortd--and that includes both anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. In a democracy, we can and should have an open, respectful debate about the Middle East that focuses on policy. Branding criticism of Israel as automatically anti-Semitic has a chilling effect on our public discourse and makes it harder to achieve a peaceful solution between Israelis and Palestinians. Threats of violence -- like those made against Rep. Omar -- are never acceptable. 
Bernie Sanders:“Anti-Semitism is a hateful and dangerous ideology which must be vigorously opposed in the United States and around the world. We must not, however, equate anti-Semitism with legitimate criticism of the right-wing, Netanyahu government in Israel. Rather, we must develop an even-handed Middle East policy which brings Israelis and Palestinians together for a lasting peace. What I fear is going on in the House now is an effort to target Congresswoman Omar as a way of stifling that debate. That's wrong.”

Kamala Harris:We all have a responsibility to speak out against anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, racism, and all forms of hatred and bigotry, especially as we see a spike in hate crimes in America. But like some of my colleagues in the Congressional Black Caucus, | am concerned that the spotlight being put on Congresswoman Omar may put her at risk. We should be having a sound, respectful discussion about policy. You can both support Israel and be loyal to our country. I also believe there is a difference between criticism of policy or political leaders, and anti-Semitism. At the end of the day, we need a two-state solution and a commitment to peace, human rights, and democracy by all leaders in the region -- and a commitment by our country to help achieve that.

As far as I can tell, there is no Jew or Zionist that suggests that all criticism of Israel is antisemitic, the way that J-Street and these candidates are saying or implying.

Even the most right-wing Zionists accept the IHRA Working Definition of antisemitism. from the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. It was adopted by the US State Department. It says this about criticism of Israel:

Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.

...Contemporary examples of antisemitism could include:
Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.

Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.

Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.

Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.

Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
The IHRA defines legitimate criticism of Israel as the type that would be leveled at any other country. This is quite fair.

The question is, who would oppose this definition?

Who wants to say that singling out Israel for special criticism when other countries are worse is not a form of antisemitism? Who wants to defend an Electronic Intifada/Mondoweiss  worldview where obsessive focus on Israel out of proportion to its actions is considered legitimate debate? Who wants to claim that boycotting Israel, and only Israel, is not antisemitic in practice?

Who wants to say that accusations of dual loyalty is not antisemitism?

Who wants to say that equating Jewish self-determination with racism is not antisemitism?

Either these candidates accept the definition set here, or they don't. If they don't, they should explain the exact problematic part of the definition that they believe is not true - and be prepared to defend that.

No one, and I mean no one, is shutting down debate over Israel when the criticism is legitimate according to this definition. Which means that these candidates, and J-Street, have a completely different definition of what "legitimate criticism" than the IHRA.

What is it?

When politicians talk about how much they are against antisemitism, they aren't saying what that means to them. If the IHRA definition is not to their liking, they must explain what specifically they disagree with.

The Democratic Party can make all this mess go away by adopting the eminently reasonable standard that the IHRA created. And if they did, it is obvious that Ilhan Omar really did spout Jew-hatred and must be censured.

If they don't want to do that, then it is their responsibility to come up with their own definition - and to defend it.

The IHRA should be the baseline for the discussion. It would add clarity to everyone's positions. And that is exactly why the Democratic Party will stay away from it - because it would expose a small but vocal minority of their members as engaging in antisemitic speech, and the party is too frightened to do anything to rein them in.
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