Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Antisemitism: Spell it Without the Hyphen, Please (Judean Rose)

Wilhelm Marr 1819-1904

Antisemitism should be spelled without the hyphen. It’s something I’ve known for years, even if auto-correct just won’t get the message. Neither will the media, of course, or even most dictionaries.

“What’s the difference?” you might well ask. “It’s just a little mark on the page. Meaningless.”

Ah, but it’s not.

The concept of “antisemitism” (without the dash, thank you) and the term, were introduced by Wilhelm Marr when he founded the Die Antisemitenliga, the League of Antisemites, in 1879. Materials put out by the league often employed the word “antisemitism.” The league, in fact, was the first popular political movement based solely on anti-Jewish sentiment. Marr’s famous and oft-reprinted tract, The Victory of Judaism Over Germandom, made the claim that “the Jewish spirit and Jewish consciousness have overpowered the world.”

Statutes of the Antisemitism League flanked by two of Marr's antisemitic tracts

Marr wore the title “antisemite” as a badge of honor. From the perspective of Marr and his colleagues, to be an antisemite was to be “woke.” But then, politics with a specifically anti-Jewish flavor and focus were big all over Europe in the years leading up to the 20^th century.

The word “antisemitism” had its roots in an 18^th-century treatise on languages which analyzed the differences between Aryan and Semitic languages. The terminology that was used led to the false assumption that there were racial groups corresponding to these two groups of languages. The minds of the time made a leap so that “Jew” became synonymous with “semite” in the lexicon of the day.

The interesting thing here is that there was already the perfectly good expression Judenhass, or “Jew hate,” in the popular lexicon. But Marr wanted to make his hatred about race, rather than religion. The new term he coined avoided altogether the question of religion. “Antisemitism” also sounded more scientific, more intellectual, therefore more credible and more acceptable. Also, people just liked it. So the word “antisemitismus” spread like wildfire as a new way to speak about hating the Jews.

But the thing is, there’s no such thing as a “semite” or even a “semitic” people. The terms were invented by some historians in the 1770s to refer to people who speak Semitic languages But in truth, there are only Semitic languages. There is no race or people that are “semites.”

In other words, when you spell the word with a hyphen, the word makes no sense. Because you can’t be against something that doesn’t exist. And there’s no such thing as a semite.

The other problem is that people say that Arabs are semites, too, therefore Arabs can’t be antisemites, because they can’t be against themselves.

Except there’s no such thing as a semite.

The term antisemite, you see, is standalone. It only means “someone who hates Jews.” And that is all it was ever intended to mean.

Antisemitism, as a term, is based on racist claptrap. The word was lifted from the field of linguistics to give weight to the idea of hating the Jews (and only the Jews) as a race (which they aren’t). The pseudoscientific sound of the term gave it loft and validity. Which is stupid.

To be clear: Jews aren’t semites. Neither are Arabs.

Antisemites hate Jews, not Arabs.

So when you use the hyphen you’re unwittingly espousing turn of the century European racism. You’re also ignorant of history. If Marr had meant to include Arabs he would have spelled the word he invented with a hyphen to include them.

Historians, at least those who care about academic rigor, are careful to spell the word without the hyphen. But the media continues to hyphenate the word. And spell-check and the auto-correct function of Word just won’t get the message. Historian Shmuel Almog, in fact, wrote about the problem with the hyphen all the way back in 1989:

“So the hyphen, or rather its omission, conveys a message; if you hyphenate your 'anti-Semitism', you attach some credence to the very foundation on which the whole thing rests. Strike out the hyphen and you will treat antisemitism for what it really is—a generic name for modern Jew-hatred which now embraces this phenomenon as a whole, past, present and—I am afraid—future as well.”

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Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC) is the “social justice” arm of the American Reform movement (it has a parallel organization here in Israel, the IRAC). Although it claims to be “completely non-partisan,” if you look at the issues that the RAC is interested in, you will find that they are exactly the same ones that occupy the progressive wing of the Democratic party: immigration, minimum wage, climate change, LGBTQ rights, the 2-state solution, abortion, gun control, separation of church and state, antisemitism (from the Right) and of course “Islamophobia.”

This is not news. The Reform movement was created in 19^th century Germany in the hope of easing the acceptance of Jews into the larger society. The promise of emancipation made in the early part of the century had not been fulfilled, and Jews were still severely discriminated against unless they converted to Christianity. So the reformers changed or eliminated practices that made Jews stand out, including distinctive clothing, religious services on Saturday, kashrut, and more. But the intention was not to assimilate but rather to prevent assimilation. The hope was that German society would then become more tolerant and grant Reform Jews the same rights as their Christian neighbors, while allowing them to remain Jewish.

As the movement developed over the years in America, the focus became different. American Jews in the 19^th century did not face the same kind of pressure as European Jews. In America the problem was a lack of Jewish knowledge and education. The foundrs of the movement were formerly traditionally observant, knew how to pray in Hebrew, and had a many scholars among them. Most Eastern European immigrants to the US around the turn of the 20^th century brought some traditional background with them from Europe. But many members of the post-WWII generation of American Jews, busy becoming Americans – although still very conscious of being Jews – did not have the tools to be traditionally observant. The Reform movement was a good fit for them.

But by the 1960s, it became clear that something had been taken out of the Judaism they were practicing. When the ritual went away, so did the spirituality. There were numerous Jews who turned to Eastern religions like Buddhism in search of something transcending the mundane. At the same time, many Jewish liberals were active in the civil rights movement, and some even became involved in more radical political activity. The idea developed that some of the political fervor could be brought into the temples, to fill the vacuum. After all, there are “social” commandments and a prophetic tradition in Judaism which can be emphasized to compensate for the de-emphasis of the “ritual” commandments. And so what has come to be called “tikkun olam Judaism” arrived, whose basic ethical principles coincided more or less with those of liberal Protestantism and secular humanism, and in which “social action” replaced Jewish ritual.

At the same time, Reform Judaism became more accessible to non-Jews. Reform Judaism accepted a child as Jewish if either the mother or father were Jewish, as long as the child received a certain amount of (Reform) Jewish education. Conversion classes were offered to non-Jewish spouses or others who wanted to become Jews; the students learned some Jewish history (from the Reform perspective), they learned about observing the major holidays, and a few Hebrew songs – and it was explained to them that Judaism had moved beyond old-fashioned ritual, and was now concerned primarily with moral issues. Since most of these converts were already liberals, they felt very comfortable with the tikkun olam Judaism that they were taught.

The removal of the differences between Jews and non-Jews caused by the de-emphasis of ritual commandments helped accelerate the amount of intermarriage in the Reform world, so that today something like 50% of married Reform Jews have a non-Jewish spouse (among all non-Orthodox Jews, including those who are secular, the rate is close to 70%).

In part because of the universalist, anti-nationalist strain in the secular humanistic ethics of tikkun olam Judaism, and perhaps also because of the increasing number of converts and non-Jews (spouses that chose not to convert) in the Reform population, there is a weaker connection to the Jewish people as a whole. If you ask an orthodox Jew what the primary attributes of his identity are, he will almost always say that the highest priority is that he is a Jew. An American Reform Jew might be almost as likely to place something else first, like their American identity, their political creed, or even their profession.

The feeling of peoplehood is considered atavistic among liberals, including Jewish liberals. Sometimes they place themselves so far above it, that they actively disdain those Jews that do have a strong connection to their people, either through traditional observance or Zionism.

So it was not surprising to me to read that the RAC had invited to speak at its recent “Consultation on Conscience” a man who had been an active antisemite, an enemy of the Jewish people, someone who had actually incited violenceagainst Jews on more than one occasion, Al Sharpton.

Sharpton has never admitted that he did more than “say cheap things to get cheap applause,” but the three-day long Crown Heights riot that he inflamed in 1991 was arguably the closest thing to a pogrom America has ever seen.

Sharpton, styles himself a version of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., but he does not deserve to have his name mentioned in the same sentence as the nonviolent civil rights leader. And yet, because he represents himself as a spokesman for one of the “oppressed” groups that progressive Democrats see as part of their coalition, they are able to ignore the anti-Jewish acts for which he never apologized. This is because they identify more closely with the progressive movement – although this movement rejects them as “white” and takes the side of the Palestinians in their conflict with Israel – than they do with the Orthodox Jews of Chabad, who were the victims of the Crown Heights riot.

Indeed, after expressions of outrage from Orthodox rabbis and relatives of Yankel Rosenbaum, the Chabad student that was stabbed to death during the Crown Heights riots, RAC clearly expressed its solidarity with progressivism against the Jewish people. In the words of Rabbi Jonah Pesner, RAC director:

That there are members of our Crown Heights family and our Chabad family that are in pain over this actually creates a lot of pain for us, and we’re sorry about that...

At this moment — when children are being separated from their parents at the border, and Jews are being murdered in the synagogues, and people of color are being gunned down in their churches, and people in mosques are being firebombed — we need to stand together, and Reverend Sharpton has stood with us these past couple of years.

Pesner hit all the progressive notes, including the obligatory swipe at President Trump’s immigration policy and the nod to the must-mention issue of “Islamophobia.”

But for his Jewish brothers in Chabad, whose blood has never been avenged (the stabber of Rosenbaum was acquitted of murder in a series of trials reminiscent of those that acquitted murderers of civil rights workers in the South, and ultimately spent 10 years in jail on federal civil rights charges), Pesner only has these words: “Sorry about that.”

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05/22 Links Pt1: PA Prime Minister puts the last nail in the coffin of Palestinian democracy; Why are the Palestinians so opposed to the 'Deal of the Century'?

From Ian:

PMW op-ed: PA Prime Minister puts the last nail in the coffin of Palestinian democracy

In the 25 years since the PA was created, only two general elections have been held .The two elections took place ten years apart, the first one in 1996 and the other in 2006. While Fatah, the party of Arafat and Abbas, won the majority of seats in the PA Parliament [Legislative Council] in the first election, in the second election Hamas - designated internationally as a terrorist organization - won the majority of the seats in both the West Bank and Gaza. However, in the beginning of 2007, Abbas, unhappy with Hamas rule, appointed an alternative government. In June 2007, following a brief civil war, Hamas seized complete control of the Gaza Strip. Since then, for 12 years, the Fatah-controlled PA and Hamas have been trying to reach reconciliation.

In December 2018, Abbas decided to dissolve the PA parliament, which officially still had a Hamas majority, relying on a decision of the Palestinian Constitutional Court, created by Abbas himself. The court also added a call to hold general elections "within six months."

It would appear that Abbas accepted the part of the judicial decision that was convenient for him, and ignored that which was less convenient - the holding of elections.

Soon after the decision of the court, Abbas disbanded the technocrat "reconciliation" government and appointed Shtayyeh to be the new Prime Minister, thus strengthening Fatah's control of the PA.
With this latest announcement that the elections will be held "the moment national reconciliation is achieved," Abbas and Shtayyeh are really saying that they have no intention to hold general elections and will continue the dictatorship rule indefinitely.

The "European Joint Strategy in support of Palestine 2017 - 2020" states that one of the major foundation stones on which the strategy is based is the "EU's non-negotiable principles" such as "democratic principles" and the "holding of elections."

Given the absence of any semblance of PA democracy, the question begs, on what did the PA spend the tens of millions of dollars and euros of donor aid earmarked for creating and strengthening the PA democracy? Is the EU reconsidering its aid to the PA, or at least conditioning any further aid on seeing real steps to achieve the EU's "non-negotiable" "democratic principles"? Or is the EU going to abandon these "non-negotiable principles" to continue its support for the Abbas/Shtayyeh/Fatah dictatorship?

Dr. Mordechai Kedar: Why are the Palestinians so opposed to the 'Deal of the Century'?

Trump's "Deal of the Century" includes the involvement of other Arab states, and the Palestinians fear a situation where those states and Israel agree on something to which the Palestinians are opposed, leading to the strengthening of Israel's position in the Arab world. This could lead to rapport between Israel and these states, in an attempt to isolate the "recalcitrant" Palestinians and pressure them to agree to sign things against their interests and positions.

It has recently been made public that the Trump administration is planning a conference in Bahrain to deal with economic aspects of the "Deal of the Century". PLO spokesmen are up in arms because, in their opinion, dealing with the economic issues before solving all the other problems – Jerusalem, the refugees, borders, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, water, sovereignty –are a result of the American conception that money, work and economic development can solve everything. In their view, all the unaddressed problems must be solved to their complete satisfaction before dealing with economic issues. They call the other problems "axioms" which cannot be bypassed or solved by economic means.

It is important to remember that Iran stands behind Hamas and Islamic Jihad, and that the Islamic Republic opposes any agreement that puts an end to hostilities with Israel. These two organizations fan the flames of struggle with Israel whenever they feel it is necessary, and Israel has neither the political nor public will to enter into negotiations while rockets are being launched at it from Gaza. That is how the two organizations can manage to stymie any progress in negotiations meant to advance the "Deal of the Century" – and that is why its chances of success are not particularly sanguine.

Even if the Israel government and its citizenry accept the "Deal of the Century," that act will have little significance because the probability that the Palestinian side accepts it is minimal. Nevertheless, it is extremely important that Israel refrain from announcing any territorial or other concessions until the other side signs a permanent peace agreement and ends its claims against Israel. Any unilateral Israeli concessions will be remembered forever and taken for granted, placing the starting position of possible future negotiations past the point where Israel conceded something in the "Deal of the Century", even if that deal never reaches fruition.

These and other reasons mean that the "Deal of the Century" will in all probability be consigned to the shelf where numerous other "Peace Plans" gather dust, despite the good and pure intentions of those suggesting them from the year 1947 (The Partition Plan) up to the present.

There is a verse in the Koran saying: "Allah is on the side of those who are patient," and Israel's neighbors have a good deal of patience. They are prepared to wait and wait until the opportunity for them to destroy Israel arrives, so why bother granting peace to the Jewish State?

MEMRI: Articles In Jordanian Press Call For New Intifada In West Bank, To Thwart The 'Deal Of The Century'

Ahead of the announcement of the U.S. Middle East peace plan known as the "Deal of the Century," and in light of concerns in Jordan that its implications may threaten the kingdom's stability,[1]the Jordanian press, including the government daily Al-Rai, has recently published scathing articles against Israel that contain calls for a new Palestinian intifada in the West Bank in order to thwart this deal, among other goals.

The following are excerpts from some of these articles:

Columnist For Government Daily Al-Rai: A Serious Intifada In The West Bank Is The Best Way To Thwart The 'Deal Of The Century'

In his April 26, 2019 column in the government daily Al-Rai, titled "How Shall We Deal with the Deal of the Century?", journalist Muhammad 'Ali Marzouq Al-Zuyoud called on the Palestinian factions to rally around the spirit of resistance, since a serious intifada is the best way to foil the Deal of the Century. He wrote: "I believe that the crime of forming this 'deal' will advance [the goals of] burying the right of return, settling the refugees [in the countries hosting them], declaring all of Jerusalem as the eternal capital of the occupying Zionist entity, and confining the Palestinians to small areas in the West Bank, with Abu Dis perhaps serving as the capital...

"All the Palestinian forces and factions, chief of them Fatah and Hamas, must reconcile directly and reembrace the principles of liberation, otherwise, their positions on the 'deal' will be cast into severe doubt... [The Palestinians] must immediately stop the security coordination with the occupation, support and encourage all the liberation forces in Palestine, and spread the spirit of resistance and confrontation among the people – for a serious revolution or intifada inside the occupied territories is the best way to thwart any deal or plan..."[2]

Al-Dustour Columnist: We Need A Palestinian Intifada That Will Reverse All The Existing Equations

In his April 23 article in the daily Al-Dustour,[3] Hussein Al-Rawashdeh wrote that, given the dire condition of the Arab world, and given that the Israelis understand only the language of force, the Palestinians have no choice but to launch a new intifada that will unite them and the Arab world as well. He wrote: "What is happening in our Arab world today is the blatant declaration of a third Nakba, and if we do not confront it with a third intifada, the aggression will [continue] and we will pass down its effects and tragedies to our children and grandchildren, as we have done for the past decades...

Today's Arab media antisemitism (this time Iraq)

From Sotal Iraq:

They are Jews, demons of mankind ... There is no peace with them and no normalization

We spoke in the previous two parts about the corruption and tyranny of the Israelites from the moment they conspired to kill their little brother Joseph in the era of their father Jacob (Israel) peace be upon them .. and their stubbornness and disbelief .. In the era of Moses and Jesus son of Mary peace be upon them .. And conspiring to kill The last (Mohammed) .. Then revoked the covenants and charters .. In the era of the Prophet peace be upon him ..

In this third part, we shed light on their illusions and tyranny in the modern era.

It is known historically, it has imposed on them humiliation and misery and unhappiness and Diaspora.

Al-Tabari explained that:

"Al-Hasan in saying: hit them with humiliation....God humiliated them, and God made them under the feet of Muslims"
....
The height of the Jews now, where they control of the world in all political, economic and scientific realms, is no coincidence or random. They have no intelligence or skill or mental genius in them .

These are people who do not understand, do not think ...it is not expected for them to do any creative work, or building a civilization !!!

There did not appear from them, throughout their long history, until the nineteenth century, any scientist or inventor !!!

So, what is the secret? Suddenly, in the last two centuries, many scientists and inventors have begun to emerge from them. Their small, fledgling state, the occupied conqueror, is one of the most powerful countries in the world, financially, militarily, industrially, scientifically and taking control of the world.

The answer is clear and apparent as the sun in the fourth day.

It is Allah the Exalted Wise. He is the one who decided and spent ... at the specified time now .. To support the children of Israel .. And provide them with mental and scientific strength .. And creative and financial strength .. And they ridicule all human beings on earth .. To serve them and support them!

But why does God support them when they are his enemies .. and disbelievers .. And the killers of his prophets .. Hasn't he resolved his anger and indignation on them .. long ago ??? !!!

It is the same support, which was supported by Satan .. who refused to obey the command of God. However, he was allowed to rule over human beings and to glorify bad deeds.

It is a divine measure ...Allah wants to be Jews at this time known .. Introduction to the false messiah .. whose appearance will be the first major sign of the Day of Resurrection ..

The highness of the Jews today .. And tyranny and possession of extraordinary power extraordinary .. And control of the joints of the nations of the world .. And dominate the international resolutions .. And make the world's major powers .. Subject and lay them ..

It is quite similar to what the false messiah Al-Masih ad-Dajjal will have ... from more miraculous powers.

Such as the ability to revive the dead ..And bring the rain and germination of planting .. The flow of rivers of honey with him .. All this by order of God and permission from him .. To seduce people .. And test their faith ..

They are the little Al-Masih ad-Dajjal.

But the most important and most serious question is:

Is it possible to bring down the Jewish hegemony over the world, and its fragmentation and disintegration?

And what is the way to break .. And destroy this Jewish arrogance .. Dominant in the world?

Yes .. We say with all honesty and complete certainty ..
In the balance of faith in God alone .. And loyalty to him alone .. without involving the slaves in loyalty with him .. and rely on him alone .. And the entire religion alone ..

The order to remove this Jewish state and destroy it is easy ...

It needs to create a secure community .. Pure unity .. characterized by the above qualities ..

Tuesday 16 Ramadan

21 May 2019

Muwafaq al-Sibai

_________________________________
Don't worry, he is only anti-Zionist.

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Apparently, they are not exactly clear on what the word "Independent" means...

A representative of the “Independent Jewish Voices” (IJV) fringe group admitted Saturday that the organization takes its direction from Palestinians and not members of Canada’s grassroots Jewish community.At an anti-Israel protest at Yonge-Dundas Square in Toronto, an IJV spokesperson concluded her speech by saying: “I’m really grateful that Palestine House is rejuvenating also, and that we continue, as Jews, to take direction from Palestinian leadership.”As previously revealed by B’nai Brith Canada, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP), a Damascus-based terror group, took credit for winning the Palestine House elections earlier this month. The DFLP staged the 1974 Ma’alot Massacre, in which 31 Israeli civilians were murdered, most of them children.It continues to support terrorism to this day.

“This admission demolishes any credibility IJV could ever claim as a so-called Jewish organization,” said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada. “Real Jewish groups take direction from within the Jewish community, and certainly not from outside groups with a history of celebrating anti-Jewish terror.”
On its website, IJV describes itself as “a grassroots organization grounded in Jewish tradition.” However, a landmark 2018 survey of Canadian Jews showed that only 6 per cent of Canadian Jews believe that Canada is too supportive of Israel, which is the position taken by IJV.

The screenshot above is of the woman who said this, whose name appears to be Beverly.

I grabbed video of the admission as well as the mindless chanting that followed, where the Orwellian newspeak continued. "Stop the killing stop the hate, Israel is a racist state" they chant, when the only hate being expressed is from the protesters themselves.

In a similar vein of Jews taking direction from others in fomenting hate, notice the socialist flags at this event. At Fathom Journal is a really well done article discussing the history of Soviet pre-Internet fake news where they made up anti-Zionist and antisemitic lies and spread them around the world as news stories, along with other disinformation that even fooled CBS News and Dan Rather. There is a direct line between the Soviet propaganda and today's far-Left antisemitism.

A particular trick of Soviet anti-Zionism, according to the Israeli historian Kiril Feferman, was that it ‘proposed a version of antisemitism to Western audiences that did not have obvious antisemitic overtones.’ It did so by substituting anti-Zionism for antisemitism in its propaganda, which made it passable for the many well-intentioned, idealistic individuals who otherwise would have recoiled in disgust from this rhetoric. Yet, underneath the relatively benign covers, the messages of the campaign packed a powerful antisemitic charge.
The messaging emanating from today’s far-left anti-Zionist camp is strikingly similar to the messaging of the Soviet anti-Zionist campaigns. From the claims of Zionist collaboration with the Nazis in the Holocaust, to the idea of Zionism as an inherently racist and oppressive ideology, to the concept of Israel as a settler-colonialist state that engages in genocidal behavior and apartheid – all of these ideas were part and parcel of the Soviet anti-Zionist narrative.

(h/t Josh K., Aidan)

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Globes reports:

Arab graduates of Israeli universities are esteemed as professionals in the Arab world, and a window for their employment is now being opened in Saudi Arabia.

The rulers of Saudi Arabia are about to approve a plan giving permanent resident status in the country to investors, entrepreneurs, engineers, and even cashiers. According to a measure approved this week by the Shura council, the Islamic institution that advises the country's political leadership, the Saudi Arabian government will present detailed regulations and legislation within three months enabling professional staff, entrepreneurs, and investors to obtain resident status.

As part of the trend in the unfreezing of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, the new plan will also allow Israeli Arabs to work in Saudi Arabia. Arab graduates of Israeli universities are esteemed as professionals in the Arab world, and a window for their employment is now being opened in Saudi Arabia, a source of livelihood for citizens of other Arab countries.

This would replace the current system where workers need to be approved year after year, including having a Saudi vouch for them.

While the idea that Israelis will be able to freely travel and work in Saudi Arabia is remarkable, so is the distinction to be made in the law between Israeli Arabs and Israeli Jews. It proves that for Arabs, antisemitism is deeply baked into the culture. (After all, many Israeli Arabs are Zionists.)

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05/21 Links Pt2: Rashida Tlaib and the Trojan horse of antisemitic tropes; Al Sharpton admits to using ‘cheap’ rhetoric about Jews; German Anne Frank Center director blames Jews for antisemitism

From Ian:

Rashida Tlaib and the Trojan horse of antisemitic tropes

After seeing the weak condemnation following Rep. Rashida Tlaib’s latest revisionist comments about the creation of Israel and the Holocaust, everything I have been warning about has finally come to pass. I have been concerned that the overly strong backlash to Rep. Ilhan Omar’s antisemitic tropes would unintentionally help enable more antisemitism, because it felt as though Jews and their allies were putting the cart before the horse, and losing sight of what truly drives mainstream left-wing antisemitism.

Antisemitism from the Left is mostly caused by its inaccurate perception of Israel as an oppressive imperialist state. The irony is that this mainstream left-wing sentiment is actually rooted in what might be the most harmful antisemitic trope of them all: simply lying about Jews harming others, similar to the blood libel used against Jews in the middle ages. These modern-day blood libel tropes and other false accusations used against Israel, unlike Omar’s recent tropes, are actually much more systematic and dangerous to Jews because of their mainstream use in the left-wing political world.

While people have been focusing on Omar’s vile antisemitic tropes, they largely ignored that Omar: supports the anti-Israel boycott movement; has claimed Israel is similar to Iran in not being a democracy; surrounded herself with antisemites like Linda Sarsour; covers for Hamas; and constantly lies and misleads about the Jewish state and the history of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

While we all should be condemning antisemitic stereotypes, we need to not lose focus on what’s the main cause of systematic left-wing antisemitism. The strong condemnation of Omar unintentionally gifted left-wing antisemites with a Trojan horse that gave them the green light to say whatever they want about Israel, as long as they avoid classical antisemitic tropes.

There is no better example of this being true then by the lack of pushback from Democrats on Tlaib’s recent comments. We must never forget that what drives most of hate toward Israel are the constant lies, propaganda, double standards, disproportionate focus, demonization, and as Rashida just showed in her recent comments, a revisionist version of history.

Virginia Lawmaker Connected to Anti-Semitic Groups

A member of the Virginia legislature and former volunteer for Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D., Mich.) is connected to multiple anti-Semitic organizations and is the son of a Hamas fundraiser.

Del. Ibraheem Samirah (D.)—who received sympathetic national coverage this week after alleging harassment for his Muslim faith at a town hall—has supported multiple virulently anti-Semitic and anti-Israel organizations, once speaking at a Hamas-affiliated conference.

Samirah is a vocal supporter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, which seeks to use economic and political pressure against Israel. In a 2014 Facebook post, Samirah urged friends to support the BDS movement while Israel was "most exposed."

As a student at American University and then Boston University, Samirah was an active member of Students for Justice in Palestine. He credits the organization with helping convince students that "Israel REALLY sucks."

SJP relies heavily on American Muslims for Palestine, of which Samirah is also a part, for funds and logistics. According to 2016 testimony from Jonathan Schanzer of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, "AMP is arguably the most important sponsor and organizer for Students for Justice in Palestine."

AMP's founder and president is Hatem Bazian. He also founded SJP. Bazian has a history of deeply anti-Semitic comments and conspiracies. In 2004, Bazian spoke at a fundraiser for an organization the U.S. Treasury determined was fundraising for Hamas.

Al Sharpton admits to using ‘cheap’ rhetoric about Jews

Al Sharpton appealed to Reform Jews for a united front in facing down anti-Semitism, racism and other forms of bias, and acknowledged his role in stoking division, recounting how the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s widow reprimanded him for his “cheap” rhetoric.

The civil rights activist and MSNBC host reportedly has expressed regrets privately to Jewish leaders for the incendiary rhetoric that helped fuel the deadly Crown Heights riots in 1991. But Monday’s remarks at the Religious Action Center’s Consultation on Conscience were the closest he has come in public in acknowledging his role.

The invitation earned criticism for seeming to rehabilitate a figure at the center of a number of anti-Semitic clashes in the 1990s. After the accidental killing of a black child in Brooklyn by a car driven by a member of the Lubavitcher rebbe’s entourage, African-American protesters targeted religious Jews in the Crown Heights neighborhood.

Yankel Rosenbaum, a graduate student affiliated with Chabad-Lubavitch, was stabbed to death in the rioting.

Sharpton also was accused of inciting the violent firebombing of a Jewish-owned clothing store in Harlem in 1995.

Without mentioning the Crown Heights riots specifically, Sharpton said he could have “done more to heal rather than harm.” And he said that all the public criticism he received paled next to the rebuke from Coretta Scott King, who was known for her closeness to the Jewish community. It appears to be the first time Sharpton has publicly shared the tale.

In Jordanian news site Sawaleif, Dr. Hussein Omar Touqah who is called a "researcher in strategic studies and national security" discusses a set of strategic principles that Israel has supposedly adopted.

There are a lot of them - 62, to be precise. But they include some interesting items.

For example, "28: recruiting many Jewish spies to work for arms manufacturers, in the United States and Europe and Russia. "

Similarly, "29: Recruitment of many Jewish spies to work with telecommunications companies, mobile phones and advanced communication networks and expand Intel's spying on mobile phones."

We also have supposed strategies of recruiting Jews to be major air force pilots in the US, and to infiltrate military strategy institutes worldwide, to infect them with Zionism.

I like this one: "Exploitation of the Arab weapon after its capture by Jewish hands and attempts to develop, improve and reuse it by the Israeli army, as happened to the Soviet tanks, which were fitted with Jewish guns and resold. "

It doesn't sound like a strategy to me, and I don't think Israel has to do that anymore, but I'm not an expert.

This one comes straight out of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion: "4: Achieve divisions and disruption of the Arab regimes and engaging in side wars or internal coup attempts."

Just another day in Arabic media.

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Amnesty tried to get some more interest in the Nakba site they created that apparently didn't get enough traffic to justify its expense, and I responded:

57+ years since @Amnesty was founded, and it has not yet demanded that Palestinians have the right to citizenship in the Arab countries that most have been born in.https://t.co/hgG2vfhOuD https://t.co/xhYyDI4AjH
— Elder Of Ziyon ҉ (@elderofziyon) May 21, 2019

Of course, Amnesty didn't respond.

Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor chimed in:

Of course @amnesty isn't interested in helping #Palestinians. They're a radical political #NGO more on demonizing democracies, #Israel.
— (((Gerald M Steinberg))) (@GeraldNGOM) May 21, 2019

Sarit Michaeli of B'Tselem responded to him:

Your sudden expressed concern for Palestinians would appear far less disingenuous had you not denied the existence of the Israeli military occupation they live under.
— Sarit Michaeli (@saritm0) May 21, 2019

Once she joined the thread, I decided to ask her directly if B'Tselem supports the basic human rights of Palestinians born in Arab countries to become citizens, as enshrined in the Convention on the Rights of the Child:

Do you agree that Palestinians should be allowed to have full citizenship in their Arab host countries if they so desire? Let's have it for the record.
— Elder Of Ziyon ҉ (@elderofziyon) May 21, 2019

Michaeli didn't respond. Because she can't.

The unofficial position of B'Tselem, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty and other NGOs is that the nonexistent "Right of Return" for all future generations of Palestinians is more important than the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. There is no legal or moral justification for that position, and they don't apply it to any other group of people in the world. They know it is indefensible, and their position helps prolong the suffering of stateless Palestinians.

Yet these NGOs, who pretend to "speak truth to power," cannot admit the truth - that Palestinians should be covered by these conventions and their Arab hosts should offer them citizenship after being in their countries for decades. This is the only defensible position for a human rights organization to take - but if they said it, Palestinian "leaders" (as well as Lebanese and others) would angrily retaliate, possibly kick them out of their areas, and threaten them.

So they must go along with the Palestinian position to keep Palestinians miserable and stateless. And they will refuse to answer any questions about it because it reveals that they care more about politics than Palestinian human rights.

It is pretty embarrassing, when you think about it. If only a major reporter would ask these questions from these NGOs that they can't ignore, we can learn a great deal about the hypocrisy of "human rights" NGOs.

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05/21 Links Pt1: Fatah posted offensive Holocaust video after AJ condemned and removed it; American Military Aid Goes Beyond the Money; Ukraine’s new president: ‘We must defend our land like Israelis’

From Ian:

PMW: Fatah posted offensive Holocaust video after Al-Jazeera condemned and removed it

On May 18, 2019, Al-Jazeera journalists produced an offensive report on the Holocaust. It accused Israel of “having benefitted the most from” the Holocaust, questioned the numbers killed in the Holocaust, and said it was the Jewish control of the media that created so much focus on the Holocaust even though the Jews were just one group among many who were murdered by the Nazis. The report was so offensive that Al-Jazeera itself condemned it, removed it from their website, and suspended the journalists:

“Al-Jazeera stated today, that it has taken disciplinary action and suspended two of its journalists over video content produced on the Holocaust... Dr. Yaser Bishr, Executive Director of Digital Division, stated that Al Jazeera completely disowns the offensive content in question and reiterated that Al Jazeera would not tolerate such material on any of the Network’s platforms.”

PA leader Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party was upset that Al-Jazeera removed the video. Fatah criticized Al-Jazeera’s actions as benefiting Israel, and decided to post the entire offensive Holocaust report on its Facebook page.

Posted text: “Al-Jazeera TV did a favor to the occupation (i.e., Israel) and erased the video. Let’s publish it again.”
[Official Fatah Facebook page,May 20, 2019]

Palestinian Media Watch has reported that Holocaust denial, trivialization, and distortion are all common themes of the Palestinian Authority and its leaders.

MEMRI: MEMRI Translates Antisemitic Video On Al-Jazeera Network Stating Israel Is Biggest Winner From Holocaust And Uses 'Same Justification' To Annihilate The Palestinians; Following Broad Media Coverage, Including Crediting MEMRI, Al-Jazeera Fires Journalists, Announces 'Bias And Sensitivity Training'

On May 18, 2019, AJ+ Arabic, an online media platform run by the Qatari Al-Jazeera Network, posted a video it described as "the story of the Holocaust" on Twitter and Facebook. The video, titled "The Gas Chambers Killed Millions of Jews – That's How the Story Goes. What Is the Truth behind the Holocaust and How Did the Zionist Movement Benefit from It?" was narrated by Muna Hawwa, a Kuwaiti-born Palestinian who lives in Qatar and works as a producer for the Al-Jazeera Network.

In the video, Hawwa claimed that the number of Jewish Holocaust victims remains "one of the most prominent historical debates to this day," and added that some people believe that Hitler supported Zionist ideology. The "much-regurgitated narrative of the Holocaust sorrows," she said, paved the way for Jewish immigration to Palestine. Although she stressed that "denouncing the Holocaust is a moral obligation," Hawwa added that Israel is the biggest "winner" from the Holocaust and that it uses the "same justification" as a "launching pad for the racial cleansing and annihilation of the Palestinians." She went on to note that the ideology behind the State of Israel had "suckled from the Nazi spirit," and concluded: "So how can a Palestinian denounce a crime that has become the flip side of his own tragedy?" Shortly after its publication, the video could no longer be accessed on Facebook.

On May 19, media, including in the Arab world,[1] began reporting that Al-Jazeera had suspended two journalists over the video, but not before it had garnered 1.1 million views on Facebook and Twitter,[2] and that the video "drew strong criticism after the US-based non-profit Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) tweeted an English translation."[3] Al-Jazeera said that it had suspended two journalists over the video and that the video had "contravened its editorial standards." According to Al-Jazeera, Yaser Bishr, executive director of its digital division, said the network "completely disowns the offensive content in question" and would not tolerate such material on any of the network's platforms, and that he had also announced a mandatory bias and sensitivity training program.[4] The following is a transcript of the clip.

Expert: Al Jazeera Holocaust Denial Video Reflects Widely-Held Views in Arab World

Holocaust denial or minimization, Cohen pointed out, was common in the Arab world, as reflected in the Al Jazeera video.

“The Arabs have a few theories about the Holocaust,” he said. “First that the Europeans didn’t want the Jews, so they paid Hitler money to get rid of us. The second theory is from the Islamists — that it was Allah’s punishment, because we didn’t accept Islam, or because we sinned, Allah punished us with the Holocaust. The third theory, which is that of Mahmoud Abbas, is that we collaborated with the Nazis so we could have a state.”

Such beliefs, Cohen claimed, were nearly ubiquitous, with “90 percent” of Arabs holding such opinions.

A common saying in the Arab world, he said, is “too bad that Hitler didn’t finish the job.”

Also popular, he continued, was a quote falsely attributed to Hitler: “I didn’t kill all the Jews, I left some alive, so they will know why I killed them.”

In addition to Holocaust denial, the Al Jazeera video propagated conspiracy theories about Jewish power, saying, “The victims of the Nazis — who were following Hitler’s orders — exceeded 20 million people. The Jews were part of them. So why is there a focus only on them?”

Hawwa attributed this to “Jewish groups” with “financial resources, media institutions, research centers, and academic voices that managed to put a special spotlight on the Jewish victims of the Nazis.”

She then reiterated a popular but false story about Zionist collaboration with the Nazis, and said, “The persecution and the suffering — the much-regurgitated narrative of the Holocaust sorrows — paved the way for the Jewish immigration to Palestine.”

She then charged, “Israel is the biggest winner from the Holocaust, and it uses the same Nazi justifications as a launching pad for the racial cleansing and annihilation of the Palestinians.”

“The main ideology behind the ‘State of Israel’ is based on religious, national, and geographic concepts that suckled from the Nazi spirit and its main notions. So how can a Palestinian denounce a crime that has become the flip side of his own tragedy?” she asked.

No, @MairavZ, neo-Nazis and white supremacists love BDS

A tweet from far left Mairav Zonszein:

Anti-Semitic crime and hate crime rose by 20% last year in Germany. The report found that nine in 10 anti-Semitic offenses were committed by people on the far-right - the same ones that support the anti-BDS resolution.https://t.co/BSYbHsbeZM
— Mairav Zonszein מרב זונשיין (@MairavZ) May 20, 2019

First of all, she gives incomplete information from the NYT article she is indirectly referring to:

Now some 200,000 Jews live in Germany, a nation of 82 million people, and many are increasingly fearful. In a 2018 European Union survey of European Jews, 85 percent of respondents in Germany characterized anti-Semitism as a “very big” or “fairly big” problem; 89 percent said the problem has become worse in the last five years. Overall reported anti-Semitic crimes in Germany increased by nearly 20 percent last year to 1,799, while violent anti-Semitic crimes rose by about 86 percent, to 69. Police statistics attribute 89 percent of all anti-Semitic crimes to right-wing extremists, but Jewish community leaders dispute that statistic, and many German Jews perceive the nature of the threat to be far more varied. Slightly more than half of Germany’s Jewish respondents to the E.U. survey said they have directly experienced anti-Semitic harassment within the last five years, and of those, the plurality, 41 percent, perceived the perpetrator of the most serious incident to be “someone with a Muslim extremist view.”

...a number of surveys show that Muslims in Germany and other European countries are more likely to hold anti-Semitic views than the overall population. The 2015 Anti-Defamation League survey, for instance, found that 56 percent of Muslims in Germany harbored anti-Semitic attitudes, compared with 16 percent for the overall population. Conservative Jews see the political left as unwilling to name this problem out of reluctance to further marginalize an already marginalized group or because of leftist anti-Zionism.

But more bizarre is Zonszein's assertion that the far right support anti-BDS legislation.

Just last week, MEMRI issued a report on posts it found in six pro-BDS Facebook groups, totaling 135,000 members, and it identified many members of these groups who are explicitly white supremacists and neo-Nazis.

Sometimes the groups themselves host antisemitic articles.

User Larry DeVore,[26] posting on the group "Boycott Israel… Support BDS," shared a meme by Philip E. Taylor, with the text by the author "TALMUD = 'JEWS OWN EVERYTHING' IT SAYS IT RIGHT HERE IN THE ZIONIST BIBLE (TALMUD WRITTEN BY CRIMINAL RABBIS) SO IT MUST BE TRUE!" The meme states: "Jewish Holy Book, Talmud. Schulchan Aruch, Choszen Hamiszpat, 348, that property of other nations belongs to the Jewish nation, which consequently is entitled to seize upon it without any scruples. An orthodox Jew is NOT bound to observe principles of morality towards people of other tribes. He may act contrary to morality, if profitable to himself or to Jews in general."
Devore also posted a video to the same group, titled "Jewish Kabbalistic Occult Ritual Child Murder throughout history." Although the video has since been removed from YouTube, the content of the video is made clear by a comment by Leanore Morris: "My GOD no wonder people hate the Jews with them killing children not their own but gentiles or Christians and most of them being either young child or baby this is shit."

Some examples of neo-Nazi posts on the personal Facebook pages of members of these BDS groups:

The BDSers love to claim that they hate white supremacists and Nazis, but the Nazis who support BDS are welcomed into their spaces. In their view, Nazi philosophy is preferable to Zionism and is welcome to be posted.

Funny how that works.

(h/t @kweansmom, @ru_chana)

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Three Israeli values that made the Eurovision fabulous (Forest Rain)

By Forest Rain

The Eurovision is one of the largest events in the world. Larger than the Super Bowl, the Eurovision brings together 200 million viewers every year. The Olympics and the World Cup are the only events that have more viewers.

Bottom line is – even if you have never heard of the Eurovision, it’s HUGE.

Last year Israel’s Netta Barzilai won the Eurovision, bringing this year’s competition to Israel. Like the Facebook relationship status “it’s complicated,” there were many reason it was very problematic to bring the Eurovision to Israel.

And yet, despite numerous, enormous challenges, the Eurovision was a phenomenal success. Here are 3 of the major reasons why:

1. Israelis are excellent hosts

We love a good party and having fun-loving guests from abroad is always a welcome event. Many Israelis (myself included) who are not Eurovision fans, got excited by the idea of bringing one of the largest parties in the world to our country.

Normally the contest is held in the host-nation’s capital however Jerusalem was a problem, not just because of BDSers who objected to this recognition of our eternal capital but also because of religious Jews who were deeply disturbed by the idea of breaking the Sabbath on a nationwide scale, by approval of the Israeli government (Eurovision rules dictate that the final is held on a Saturday and the dress rehearsal for the final is on Friday). “Remember the Shabbat and keep it holy” is fourth out of the 10 Commandments and while individuals are responsible for their own choices, a national choice of this type is not a trivial decision. Tel Aviv, Israel’s New York, was happy to be the compromise. The city is known for its festivities during Pride month and is used to holding events that don’t adhere to religious norms. We were ready to party, in a place and manner appropriate for the people who wanted to attend, without disturbing too much other parts of our population!

When we learned that many fans were reluctant to come due to the high prices of tickets and lodging individuals initiated a movement to host guests in their homes, free of charge. We wanted people to come, feel at home and celebrate.

Israel can be confusing. Signs don’t always have English on them (other times there is English but the instructions aren’t clear). The city of Tel Aviv recruited and trained volunteers to provide support to tourists in different languages, answer questions and provide friendly guidance. The more stories that came out of individuals taking advantage of naïve tourists, the more people stepped up to show the kind, friendly and generous side of our country.

2. Israelis are unstoppable

One week before the Eurovision, after contestants had begun to arrive and were busy rehearsing for the event, terrorists from Gaza bombarded southern Israel with 600 missiles. Not one missile. Not 10 or even 100. SIX HUNDRED.

What would your country do if it was hit by one missile?!

After the horrific Bataclan terror attack in 2015 the French government instituted a state of emergency for three months. Neighboring Belgium imposed a security lockdown on Brussels from 21 November to 25 November, including the closure of shops, schools, public transportation and advising people to not congregate publicly. How do you think France or Belgium would have responded to a massive missile bombardment?

Israel decided that if it is necessary to go to war, we can always do that later. The weeks following that attack were full with Israel’s Memorial Day for IDF soldiers and victims of terror, Independence Day and then, the next week, the Eurovision. The terrorists were not going to ruin our fun, we can go to war after our guests go back home.

This too was not an easy decision. When you have citizens under attack, terrified children, homes and businesses ruined and especially when there are casualties (four Israelis died) it is very, very difficult to set that aside, particularly for those who were under bombardment, huddling with their children in shelters.

Israel didn’t go into lockdown. Celebrations were not cancelled. On the contrary, Israel put on the most spectacular Eurovision ever.

3. Dare to Dream

200 million people saw Israel at her best. Beautiful video “postcards” of Israel were created as introductions for each of the contestants. Tel Aviv’s Charles Clore Park was turned into a Eurovision village with giant screens so people could experience the show together, even if they couldn’t afford to buy the tickets.

I was lucky enough to be invited to attend the dress rehearsal for the final.

The rehearsal is exactly the same as the final and serves as backup footage, in case there is a problem in the broadcast of the final. The dress rehearsal is the event where the judges give their points for each performance (the final is opened for public voting and the results are a combination of the scores on both nights).

The production was mind-blowingly fabulous. It was like the opening of the Olympics but in a cozy atmosphere that made everyone a part of the show. History of the Eurovision and Israel’s part in the contest was woven together with cosmopolitan showmanship and touches of the Israeli story – our diverse people, our land, language and even a touch of the journey of Jews from Ethiopia returning to Zion.

Gali Atari won the Eurovision in 1979, when it was held in Jerusalem, after Israel had won the year before. In 2019 she stood on the stage with other Eurovision winners and together, along with an audience full of non-Jewish foreigners, sang the same song – Halleluiah.

This year, Israel’s contestant Kobi Marimi was not expected to do well. The song chosen for him was not well received but when he took the stage the most Israeli of emotions overwhelmed everything else.

Love.

To the Israelis in the crowd liking the song no longer matters. He was ours and the whole country was focused on him. The crowd who had previously bounced and clapped to other songs was suddenly full of people on their feet chanting his name: “Kobi! Kobi! Kobi!”

We were there for him and he was there for us. He poured his heart into the song and it didn’t matter at all that he wasn’t going to win. What mattered was that everyone saw a night that was like no other.

Dare to Dream, this year’s Eurovision slogan, is just another way (albeit less powerful) to express the guiding principle of Israel, the most fundamental of Zionist ideas: “If you can dream it, you can make it real.”

France’s contestant Bilal Hassani, a gay Muslim man, danced and sang about self-actualization, no matter what others think of you or hurdles need to be overcome. Other songs had the same message. The Eurovision itself is about inclusivity, tolerance, diversity and being who you dream to be.

Did the Europeans recognize the irony?

The descendants of those who tried to exterminate our grandparents came to our home, to perform on our stage, to inspire their audience with the message that is the essence of who we are.

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Recently, the US announced that the first part of the "Deal of the Century" - an economic plan to help Palestinians - would be unveiled in an economic conference in Bahrain next month.

Not surprisingly, the Palestinian Arab leaders are rejecting even attending the event:

The PA Social Development Minister, Ahmed Majdalani, also a member of the PLO’s executive committee, said: “There will be no Palestinian participation in the Manama workshop. Any Palestinian who would take part would be nothing but a collaborator for the Americans and Israel.”

PA prime minister Mohammed Shtayeh said, “The cabinet wasn’t consulted about the reported workshop, neither over the content, nor the outcome nor timing. Any solution to the conflict in Palestine must be political … and based on ending the occupation.”

Palestinian businessman Bashar Masri also said he is rejecting the invitation: “I will not participate in this conference. We reaffirm that we won’t deal with any event that is not within Palestinian national consensus. We Palestinians are able to advance our economy away from foreign interventions.”

Saeb Erekat said, “attempts at promoting an economic normalisation of the Israeli occupation will be rejected.”

Interestingly, no one is saying that an economic plan to help the Palestinians has any strings attached. No one is saying that they must accept Israel's existence or "occupation" or give up the "right of return" or on their claims to Jerusalem as a condition to accept what is presumably a multi-billion dollar plan to help all Palestinian Arabs in Gaza and the West Bank.

In real terms, there is no downside to attending the conference or in accepting what would presumably be billions of dollars from their fellow Arabs.While the details have not been released, it can be presumed that some of the funds will be earmarked for things like a water desalination plant in Gaza and improvements in the Gaza power plant - things that would not only directly improve lives but that would also provide jobs and capital for other projects.

The only concessions in this scenario are from Israel, which would have to loosen its restrictions on some dual-use items being brought into Gaza in order to realize these sorts of benefits.

We have a strange situation where Israel wants to help improve the lives of Palestinians more than Palestinian leaders want to.

As with literally every Middle East peace initiative, the main hurdle is the Arab honor/shame culture. In January 1952, an article in a periodical called New Outlook quoted an Arab refugee whose words sound a lot like that Palestinian leaders are sounding like today:

You also learn in the Middle East the force of another truth, which is that we can’t buy friends merely with our dollars. An Arabfarmer at the refugee camp of Aquabet Jabar, near Jerico, reminded me of this truth. A calm, dignified man in his early 40s, he had lived in the camp for nearly four years, having fled there with his family from an ancestral farmstead near Jaffa during the Arab-Jewish war.

“You Americans may offer me money,” he said without rancor, “but I will not accept it. You may build me a skyscraper but I will not live in it. You may offer to train me for another occupation but I will not learn it. I want only justice—the right to return to the dunams where I and my father and his father have tilled the soil.”

There is a fundamental difference between 1952 and today, though. In 1952 there was still the possibility of Israel allowing a significant percentage of Arabs to return to their former homes as part of peace negotiations. Also, Israel's very existence was shaky and Arabs could home it would implode economically or through another war (the same article describes the economic problems in Israel in detail.)

Today, Israel's existence is not in jeopardy. "Return" is not a remote possibility. It is no longer a point of honor to insist on an impossible "justice" at the expense of the lives of millions of Arabs of Palestinian origin.

What we are seeing today is not the honor/shame mentality but the abuse of the honor/shame dynamic by the Palestinian leaders, as quoted above.

The farmer of 1952 would not have said those same words had he known that by 2019 his grandchildren would still be insisting on "returning" to his father's farm near Jaffa. It is not honorable to damn your family to eternal suffering and statelessness for generations in the vain hope to achieve the impossible. Honor would demand that you do the best with what you can, where you are, and build your life rather than insist on a solution that literally can never happen.

Palestinians don't refuse help from UNRWA or from Qatar or from the EU. Their pride does not extend to refusing charity that prolongs their suffering - it only stops them from accepting money that could end it. Because their leaders do not want to help their own people, but to use them a pawns to demonize Israel, just as Arab leaders have done for decades.

This is changing in the Arab world. Rich Gulf states that had previously sent lots of money to Palestinian leaders are now willing to end the temporary solutions and fund something permanent - something that would accept Israel as a fact in the region. Palestinian leaders are not willing to accept Israel in that way, even today.

Those leaders, who have failed their people so much, are weaponizing the honor/shame culture in order to keep their people in misery in the vain hopes that one day the pressure will destroy Israel.

This is the fundamental fact that Gulf Arab leaders have grasped, and this is what needs to be understood among Palestinians themselves. It is not honorable to damn one's descendants to more suffering - it is shameful. The positions and actions of Arafat and Abbas have not safeguarded Palestinian honor, rather it has shamed them for sacrificing the well being of their own people.

Palestinian leaders have co opted the language of honor in vain attempts to destroy Israel. It is way past time that they are shamed for their immoral actions that even their fellow Arabs recognize have only hurt the people they pretend to lead.

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05/20 Links Pt2: Hen Mazzig: No, Israel isn’t a country of privileged and powerful white Europeans; 75 Years Since Elie Wiesel Was Sent to Auschwitz; Why is Al Sharpton speaking at a Jewish conference in Washington?

From Ian:

Hen Mazzig (L.A. Times): No, Israel isn’t a country of privileged and powerful white Europeans

Along with resurgent identity politics in the United States and Europe, there is a growing inclination to frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in terms of race. According to this narrative, Israel was established as a refuge for oppressed white European Jews who in turn became oppressors of people of color, the Palestinians.

As an Israeli, and the son of an Iraqi Jewish mother and North African Jewish father, it’s gut-wrenching to witness this shift.

I am Mizrahi, as are the majority of Jews in Israel today. We are of Middle Eastern and North African descent. Only about 30% of Israeli Jews are Ashkenazi, or the descendants of European Jews. I am baffled as to why mainstream media and politicians around the world ignore or misrepresent these facts and the Mizrahi story. Perhaps it’s because our history shatters a stereotype about the identity of my country and my people.

Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, was not established for just one type of Jew but for all Jews, from every part of the world — the Middle East, North Africa, Ethiopia, Asia and, yes, Europe. No matter where Jews physically reside, they maintain a connection to the land of Israel, where our story started and where today we continue to craft it.

The likes of Women’s March activist Tamika Mallory, Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill and, more recently, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) falsify reality in their discussions of Palestinians’ “intersectional” struggle, their use of the term “apartheid” to characterize Israeli policy, and their tendency to define Israelis as Ashkenazi Jews alone.

I believe their misrepresentations are part of a strategic campaign to taint Israel as an extension of privileged and powerful white Europe, thereby justifying any and all attacks on it. This way of thinking signals a dangerous trend that positions Israel as a colonialist aggressor rather than a haven for those fleeing oppression. Worse, it all but erases the story of my family, which came to Israel from Iraq and Tunisia.

What Israel Can Teach the U.S. about Religious Pluralism and Tolerance

To many Americans, the fact that Israel defines itself as a Jewish state, like its maintenance of a separate school system for its Arab citizens, seems foreign, if not downright unsettling. But, argues Megan McArdle after a recent visit, it gives the country’s minorities something hard to find in other Western countries:

I spoke to Shadi Khalloul, a Maronite Christian activist in the Galilee who is working to revive Aramaic as the daily language of his community. He doesn’t want his community’s children to attend a separate school system for Arabs, true, but that’s because he wants a separate school system for their own identity.

Many governments that constitute themselves along ethno-religious lines oppress minorities, of course. But if a country protects the civil rights of minority citizens, as Israel generally does, it can offer the one thing that an aggressively secular liberal state can’t: easy preservation of the minorities’ own particularist identities, which tend to be lost in aggressively secular liberal nations as the minorities are more or less forcibly assimilated. . . . Israel is able to accommodate [such minorities] more tolerantly not despite its particularist self-definition but because of it. . . .

[T]he United States, a country that espouses tolerance as a prime virtue, has recently been struggling with how far to accommodate ancient and obdurately illiberal faiths—as when we catapulted almost immediately from “legalize gay weddings” to “force Christian bakers to make [gay couples’] wedding cakes.”

Thinking about the unrepentant ethno-religious identity of Israel, and of many Israeli minorities, and indeed of our own traditionalists, forces us to explore the limits of our self-proclaimed tolerance for dissenters. Which is why we need to grapple with that very different way of looking at faith.

Shmuley Boteach: 75 Years Since Elie Wiesel Was Sent to Auschwitz

Seventy-five years ago this week, Elie Wiesel was deported from Sighet, Romania — a small town in the Carpathian mountains — at the age of 15. Within three days, he would arrive at Auschwitz, where his mother Sarah and baby sister Tziporah were instantly murdered. Elie’s story of survival in the hell of Auschwitz, along with his father Shlomo — who would later die at Buchenwald just before the war’s end — would become one of the most famous Holocaust memoirs of all time, equaled only by the diary of Anne Frank.

Visiting Sighet and seeing Elie’s childhood home — today a museum — is a sobering experience. I was there to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the deportations and subsequent slaughter of the local Jewish community, which also saw 90 percent of Romanian Jewry annihilated.

In 1944, Sighet had about 27,000 inhabitants. A staggering 12,000 were Jewish. Then, in the space of just four transports taking place between May 16 to 22, 1944 (Elie Wiesel was on the final transport), the entire Jewish community was gone. Disappeared. Vanished. A few days later, upon arriving at Auschwitz, the vast majority went up in smoke, literally.

Over the past few years, I have visited many of Europe’s Holocaust death camps and killing fields with my family. I have done so for my children to know what happened to our people. I have come because I am certain that the six million want us to come — and they demand to be remembered. I have come because I am a Jew, and part of my identity is understanding the great triumphs and unspeakable tragedy of my people. And I have come despite how it is has made me feel toward God.

Elie Wiesel believed that the victims had the right to spar with God, show defiance at His seeming indifference, and express righteous indignation at His apparent abandonment of the Jews of Europe. Others misguidedly tried to find a reason, a purpose, or a meaning behind something so utterly senseless.