Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, June 16, 2019

The UN's false Palestinian history (part 1)

Mrs. Elder and I visited the UN on Friday as invited guests of the Israel Mission to the UN.

Prominently displayed near the Security Council is this large wall display on the "Question of Palestine and the United Nations."

As one would expect, there are a lot of omissions and falsehoods.

Starting with:

Muslims did not consider Palestine a holy land. They considered Jerusalem to be holy (which is what Al Quds means,) and venerated a specific site in Hebron, but I have never heard anyone say that the entire land was considered holy. After all, the boundaries of that land had never been set by Muslims when they controlled it.

There is no wonderment about how the UN General Assembly supposedly violated the UN Charter. And notice how the principle of self determination for peoples does not extend to Jews, according to the Arab rejectionists.

The use of the word "Palestinians" is anachronistic, since the word at the time referred almost exclusively to Jews both by Jews themselves and by the rest of the world.

Again, it probably wouldn't have been called Palestine since that word was associated with Jews at the time, and institutions like the Palestine Symphony Orchestra and the Palestine Post were Jewish.

The exhibit does not wonder why the Arabs couldn't establish a state. It does not mention Egypt's takeover of Gaza or Jordan's illegal annexation of the West Bank.

Nothing is said about the terror attacks by Palestinian fedayeen on Israel's borders in the 1950s and 1960s. Nothing about the founding of the PLO in 1964, or Fatah in the 1950s. Nothing about the constant threats to destroy Israel from Egypt, Syria and other Arab nations.

It doesn't say what country Israel "occupied" the West Bank and Gaza from - because they belonged to no country. Which is one reason the land is not considered legally occupied - Israel had and has a legal claim to the land. It is disputed.

The 500,000 Palestinians supposedly displaced is a made up number. This UN source says between 100,000 and 300,000. I cannot find any source saying any higher numbers.

While there were some tiny villages that were destroyed, the vast majority of Arabs fled because they did not want to live under Jewish rule - Israel did not expel them, by and large, except for known terrorists and suspects. Gazans fled to Jordan on buses provided by Israel!

UNSC 242 did not mention Palestinians. In no way can it be interpreted as saying that any of the territories Israel captured were Palestinian. It didn't mention these "500,000" displaced persons, either.

Israel did not deport or transfer a single Jew to the territories. They went voluntarily. There is no violation of Geneva; in fact the entire reason additional language was added to the Rome Statute saying "transfer, directly or indirectly" was because the Arab world wanted to ensure that international law would find the settlements illegal ex post facto.

The UN doesn't mention that Palestinians were offered a state a number of times and turned it down. It doesn't mention the 1970s airplane hijackings, the two deadly intifadas, bus bombings, suicide bombers. Only Palestinian victimhood is allowed to be mentioned, not Palestinian responsibility.

There's more.

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From Hamodia:

An invitation to several chareidi youths to join in his son’s wedding has cost the mayor of the Palestinian Authority-controlled village of Dir Kadis his job. The four Jews, whom the mayor claims were invited to “embarrass” him, were seen in a widely distributed video singing and dancing at the wedding, clearly as welcome guests – and as a result, the mayor has been fired and removed from his position on the PA’s Education Committee, Haaretz reported Sunday.

The incident took place last Wednesday, as the son of Radi Nasser was wed. Four Jews, residents of Modiin Ilit (Kiryat Sefer), attended the wedding in the nearby village. The son worked with the Jews in Modiin Ilit, and apparently invited them to the wedding. Footage of the event shows a happy circle of dancers, with the Jews hoisted on the shoulders of the guests as they celebrated the event.

But when the footage hit social media sites, the recriminations began. The Fatah movement, of whom Nasser was a member, condemned the dancing, saying that it was “insulting” to Palestinians. Nasser was summarily thrown out of Fatah. Editorials in PA newspapers reiterated the “insult” narrative, saying that Palestinians should not be inviting “representatives of the occupation” to their events.

Nasser attempted to deny that he invited the youths. “They were invited by garage workers at the entrance of the village who fix the Jews’ cars,” he said, adding that they were put up to it by his political enemies, and that he had the youths thrown out of the wedding when he found out what was happening. But the denials fell on deaf ears – at least in part because he is seen dancing with them.

Fatah said that a no-confidence meeting would be held to remove Nasser from office and that the names of the Jewish attendees would be passed on to the Palestinian security forces.

Dar Kadis is near the Jewish community of Modi'in Illit. I am told that while most Jews won't go visit that village any more, there are still plenty that do, to buy inexpensive products or to have their cars repaired. There is enough business from Jews from Modi'in Illit, Hashmonaim, Matityahu and other communities that Dar Kadis businesses are dependent on it for their livelihoods.

So it is not at all surprising that there are friendships between these "Jewish settlers" and their Arab neighbors.

In this case, the antisemitism is directed from the Palestinian Authority as official policy. Being Friends with Jews is a fireable offense.

(h/t Ben Garson)

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Fatah is calling a general strike in the territories on June 25, the day of the economic conference in Manama meant to help the Palestinian Arabs.

Jamal Moheisen, a member of Fatah's central committee, said that all the national forces and the Palestinian people will rally on the 24th before the Bahrain conference on Thursday. On June 25, a comprehensive strike will take place.

He added that "these events come to convey the message of the Palestinian people to the occupation and the world and the people in Manama, that this meeting is a disgrace, a betrayal and a stab in the back of our people and a betrayal of the age."

Jared Kushner and Jason Greenblatt couldn't have scripted anything better. The point of the conference, from what they have said, is to point out how Palestinian leadership has failed their people for their own political ends. And here, instead of attending the Bahrain conference to help come up with a path to giving the people better lives, they are insisting that the people don't work.

Which means that those who get paid by the hour or the day, or who run small businesses, will not get paid.

And for what? What positive outcome would result from a general strike? None. It doesn't hurt Israel or the US. It only hurts the people they pretend to represent.

In Bahrain, Arab nations will try to come up with ways to help Palestinians, while their own leaders are hurting them. Palestinians aren't idiots. They will see this all happening in real time.

All we need is video of Fatah thugs beating up people who try to open shops.

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06/15 Links: Germany is accused of downplaying anti-Semitic attacks by Muslims; Natan Sharansky: ‘American Jews Forgot To Tell Their Children’; PA: 'We have foiled Trump's peace plan'

From Ian:

Germany is accused of downplaying anti-Semitic attacks by Muslims

The annual al-Quds Day march in Berlin is often cited as a prime example of the rise of so-called new anti-Semitism in Europe: hatred of Jews in connection with Israel, often by people from Muslim societies.

Despite attempts by organizers in recent years to suppress some expressions of anti-Semitism, the march by hundreds of participants features frequent calls about killing Israelis, Zionist conspiracies and chants of “free Palestine from the river to the sea.” Flags of terrorist groups like Hamas and Hezbollah are on display, and imams regularly preach anti-Semitic verses from the Quran to the crowd in Farsi and Arabic.

“Under the guise of ‘Israel criticism,’ they use classic anti-Semitic stereotypes, identifying Israel as having ‘Jewish characteristics’: ‘domineering,’ ‘greedy’ or a ‘child killer,’” sociologist Imke Kummer observed about the marchers.

(Iran launched al-Quds Day in 1979 to express support for the Palestinians and oppose Zionism and Israel, and international events of support have followed. Al-Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem.)

Such agitation is seen worldwide. To many, it’s especially troubling on streets where the persecution of Jews by the Nazis and their collaborators was so brutal that it moved whole societies in Europe to vow “Never again.”

Curiously, however, some of the incidents documented at the al-Quds Day march in Berlin have been classified by authorities as forms of far-right anti-Semitism, independent watchdog groups have discovered.

Critics say the march example and other mislabeled incidents are facilitating attempts to politicize anti-Semitism and complicating the apparently losing battle to solve it.

“It means we can’t really use the official statistics on anti-Semitism in Germany,” Daniel Poensgen, a researcher at the Department for Research and Information on Anti-Semitism, or RIAS, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.

‘American Jews Forgot To Tell Their Children’

There’s a brief but quite telling scene in the remarkable documentary, “From Slavery To Freedom,” that recently premiered at a Jewish film festival in Washington, D.C.

The film is about Natan Sharansky, the most famous of the hundreds of Soviet Jewish “refuseniks,” referring to those who were refused exit visas to emigrate to Israel in the 1970s and ’80s. They lost their jobs, and many were imprisoned. Sharansky’s dramatic plight became the central rallying call for the Soviet Jewry movement. A well-known human rights activist in Moscow, he was accused of being a CIA spy, convicted in a sham trial and sentenced to 13 years of hard labor. He spent nine years in the Soviet gulag, much of that time in solitary confinement, before being released in a prisoner exchange in February 1986 and emigrating to Israel.

In the scene I referred to, Sharansky is shown in 2017 re-creating for the camera crew his walk to freedom across the famous Glienicke bridge, known as the “Bridge of Spies,” connecting East and West Berlin, where he was released by the KGB to U.S. officials on the other side. As he narrates his memories of the emotional moment, he is suddenly recognized by a middle-aged American Jewish tourist who happens to be walking by.

“Natan?” the man asks, stunned to see this iconic figure standing before him.

“Yes,” Sharansky answers.

“Oh, my God,” the man says, his mother at his side. “We marched for you in Philadelphia in 1980,” he exclaims excitedly.

A bemused Sharansky smiles and shrugs it off.

But in a phone interview this week with The Jewish Week from his home in Israel, Sharansky, who recently retired from his nine-year post as head of the Jewish Agency for Israel, acknowledges being “upset” with American Jewry for failing to educate its youth about one of the most successful human rights campaigns in history. (h/t IsaacStorm)

Jewish refugees to be debated at Westminster

The UK Parliament is for the first time to devote an hour-long debate to Jewish refugees from the Middle East and North Africa. The debate has been called by MP Theresa Villiers and will take place on Wednesday 19 June at 16:30 in Westminster Hall.

"This is a neglected aspect of the Israel/Palestine conflict and this debate is a long-overdue attempt to give this issue equal prominence with the far more familiar issue of Arab/Palestinian refugees," says Lyn Julius of Harif, a UK organisation representing Jews from the MENA.

Some 850,000 – a larger number of Jewish refugees – were driven out from Arab countries at the same time. The majority found a new home in Israel, but some tens of thousands were resettled in the UK .

In 1947-48 (and in some cases much earlier) Arab countries deliberately targeted their Jewish populations. In all Arab countries, violence, expropriations and expulsions ensured that Jewish communities, which in many cases had existed for thousands of years, ceased to exist. Most who left were forcibly deprived of their property.
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At the time this injustice was recognised by international actors: the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) recognised on a number of occasions that the plight of the Jewish refugees fell within its remit. This is also why UNSC Resolution 242 refers to “a just settlement of the refugee problem” without specifying the “Arab” or “Palestinian” refugee problem.

Some countries today, namely the US and Canada, have also recognised this refugee issue as the injustice it is.

06/14 Links Pt2: Wiesenthal’s Rabbi praises Trump for being only US leader to deliver; At Oberlin, a Tipping Point; Tel Aviv celebrates Mideast’s largest Pride parade

From Ian:

Wiesenthal’s Rabbi Marvin Hier praises Trump for being only US leader to deliver

Rabbi Marvin Hier has a busy schedule. The Los Angeles-based founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center was in New York for a few days late last month, but he was able fit me in right between a meeting with The New York Times editorial board and lunch. Where he’d have lunch was something he’d figure out over the phone in the middle of our conversation.

The late Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal, who lived in Vienna, was more of a figurehead to the Simon Wiesenthal Center than an active leader. It has always been Hier’s show. Today the organization works as a monitor of anti-Semitism and arm of Jewish advocacy. It has produced over a dozen films, and maintains its Los Angeles Museum of Tolerance. (A controversial branch has been in the works in Jerusalem since circa 2005.)

Hier, a two-time Academy Award winner for the documentaries “Genocide” and “The Long Way Home,” is regularly spotted on cable news. He is an opinionated (and sometimes funny) man, and it takes about 11 seconds in his presence to feel completely at home. Eighty-year-old Jews who are extremely ready to share their opinions are, perhaps, my favorite people of all.

He’s also someone who still refuses to apologize for leading a prayer at US President Donald Trump’s inauguration. (Read on, as I offer him another opportunity here.) While he does condemn the president’s comments on Charlottesville and did rebuke Trump’s Muslim travel ban (with some commentary), the rabbi is clearly someone who, while not taking sides, has definitely taken sides.

Palestine: A Four Thousand Year History by Nur Masalha Reviewed by Jonathan Schanzer

In February 2019, two Israelis found a 1,900-year-old coin from the time of the Jewish Bar Kochba revolt against the Romans (132-35 C.E.) in an area southwest of Jerusalem. Inscribed on one side of the coin were the words the "second year to the freedom of Israel."

This kind of evidence connecting the Jewish people to the land of Israel is exactly what Nur Masalha seeks to undermine in his new book, a dense and redundant effort to undercut what he calls "the foundational myths of Zionism."

As an anti-Zionist historian, Masalha exhibits typical contempt for "Zionist settler colonialism," but he distinguishes himself in one important way. He also endeavors to challenge "the fictional narratives of the Old Testament." In other words, he seeks to deny the Jewish connection to the Holy Land.

For example, he asserts that "there is no empirical historical evidence or facts to corroborate positively the Old Testament Exodus text." He further finds a "lack of material or empirical evidence for a 'United Kingdom of David and Solomon.'" He sneers at what he calls Jewish "myths of 'exile and return' and 'return to history.'" When he does acknowledge Jewish connections, he claims that the Jews were "Palestinians"—seemingly with no claim to the land.

In contrast, he posits that "Palestine and its local heritage have survived across more than three millennia through adaptation, fluidity, and transformation." In disjointed, repetitive, academic language, he labors to draw a continuous arc from the Late Bronze Age to the current day. Of course, Arabs have connections to the land they today call "Palestine." But to assert a continuous four thousand-year history is absurd. The territory has changed hands countless times, as Roman, pre-Islamic, Islamic, and modern empires came and went.

At Oberlin, a Tipping Point

The fact that Gibson’s had been serving the community for more than 100 years meant nothing. Nor did the fact that it was Aladin, not Gibson, who broke the law. As the Weekly Standard reported, Oberlin officials even suggested to local businesses that if students were caught shoplifting in the future, the school should be called, not the police, so that the thieves could be given one free pass for their actions.

According to the Legal Insurrection blog, which has followed the case since the beginning, all three of the assailants eventually “would plead guilty to shoplifting and aggravated trespassing, and would avow that Gibson’s was not engaged in racial profiling.” None served any time in jail. Even that non-punishment was too much for Oberlin’s administrator-activists. As Legal Insurrection noted, when news broke that Aladin and his accomplices would receive only probation, “Toni Myers, Oberlin College’s Multicultural Resource Center Director then, send [sic] out a text which said, ‘After a year, I hope we rain fire and brimstone on that store.’”

In 2017, after taking a significant hit to their profits because of the protests, Gibson’s decided to hold Oberlin and its officials accountable for their kowtowing to student protestors. The bakery filed a civil lawsuit against the school (including Raimondo) for “libel, slander, interference with business relationships, interference with contracts, deceptive trade practices, infliction of emotional distress, negligent hiring and trespass.” This week, a jury agreed with the bakery’s claim that the school and its officials had acted irresponsibly and awarded Gibson’s $11 million in damages (if you’re concerned about runaway tort judgments, this might seem like a disturbingly high number for a small bakery, but considering that Oberlin claimed Gibson’s was worth less than $35,000, it’s not surprising the jury responded with a large damage verdict).

During the trial, Gibson’s lawyer argued, “When a powerful institution says you’re racist, you’re doomed.” As anyone who has witnessed the mob mentality among campus progressive activists can attest, student mobs only thrive because administrators allow them to do so. With their courtroom victory in Ohio this week, the Gibson family put college officials across the country on notice that people unfairly victimized and libeled by campus activists are done acquiescing to the mob’s demands. (h/t MtTB)

From the European External Action Service site:

EU celebrates 423 Israeli achievements under Horizon 2020 programme

The EU Delegation to Israel, together with ISERD - the Israeli Director of European R & D- and the Israel Innovation Authority, celebrated scientific cooperation under the Horizon 2020 programme. Grants totalling over € 742 million have been awarded to 1062 Israeli projects from the beginning of the programme until the end of 2018.

Israel has been a partner in the research and innovation framework programmes since 1996, and was the first non-European country to join. Over the years, the EU-Israel partnership has strengthened Israeli academic and industrial excellence, led to investments in research infrastructures and enabled long-term, innovative research.

The programme enabled Israeli companies, researchers and innovators to gain access to European partners, to integrate into a very wide network of European research infrastructure, and to take part in flagship projects. The European Research Council, which is part of Horizon 2020, supports ground-breaking research at the frontiers of human knowledge. Israeli researchers have been extremely successful in the ERC programme. Israeli universities and research institutes can be found among the top 10 organisations, worldwide, hosting ERC grantees.

I don't know how much BDS works to drop ties between EU and Israeli universities, but it doesn't sound like they are doing too well...

(h/t Irene)

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06/14 Links Pt1: Gaza Rocket Strikes School in Southern Israeli City, No Injuries Reported; Tehran Sends Threatening Messages Via Its Proxies In Gaza; Will it take a Jewish 9/11... for us to take security seriously?

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: Hezbollah UK terrorist plot kept secret as British continue appeasing rising Iran aggression

As sanctions make the regime feel increasingly cornered, it may be more inclined to use violence. Some analysts believe it won’t risk provoking Washington too far because it knows a U.S. military attack could finish it off.

So it might choose just to sit out the Trump presidency in the hope of a pliable Democrat replacing him in the White House.

The drumbeat of war, though, is increasing. The top commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East says he believes the Iranians or their proxies may orchestrate an attack at any moment.

Over the last month, the Trump administration announced that it was sending an aircraft carrier strike group and air force bombers to the Middle East, as well as Patriot missiles and additional troops, to “send a clear and unmistakable message” to Iran.

U.S. officials said that the decision was based in part on intelligence that the Iranian regime has told some of its proxy forces that they could now target American military personnel and assets.

The day after that announcement, four oil tankers were attacked in the Persian Gulf, with Iran being considered the chief suspect. On Thursday morning, two more oil tankers were damaged near the Strait of Hormuz in another suspected attack.

It’s hard to see how the Iranian regime can be stopped without some kind of military action being taken against it. Those like Britain and the European Union who believe that is unthinkable and can best be avoided by the Obama deal are wrong.

Failing to neutralize Iran will merely mean that, a few years down the road, the West will be menaced not just by Hezbollah terrorism, but by a nuclear Iranian enemy bent on the annihilation of Israel and the destruction of the West.

MEMRI: With No Progress In Indirect U.S.-Iran Contacts, Tehran Sends Threatening Messages Via Its Proxies In Gaza

In recent statements and speeches, Yahya Al-Sinwar, head of Hamas's political bureau in Gaza, and Ziyad Al-Nakhalah, secretary-general of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), threatened new confrontations with Israel and praised Iran for its support of their organizations. Some of their statements were delivered at a rally organized by the Palestinian factions in Gaza on the occasion of Qods Day, an annual event that was initiated by the Iranian regime and is held on the last Friday of Ramadan.

Coming at this time, these statements by the leaders of Hamas and the PIJ highlighting Iran's support and its contribution to their fighting abilities are more than just a threat aimed at Israel. They constitute a threatening message sent by Iran, via its proxies, to the U.S. and its allies, in light of the lack of progress in the indirect contacts between Iran and the U.S. over the nuclear issue.

As part of these threatening messages, Hamas leader in Gaza Al-Sinwar stressed the increase in the number and quality of the organization's rockets, and its intention to stage massive attacks on targets in central Israel in the next confrontation. He also declared that Hamas plans to provide the participants of the weekly March of Return protests on the Gaza-Israel border with military training. He praised Iran for the financial and technical assistance it has extended to Hamas, which has enabled it to develop its military capabilities. "All the Arabs have sold out Palestine, but not the Islamic Republic of Iran, which continues to support our people against the Israeli enemy," he said.[1]

PIJ leader Al-Nakhalah said, in an interview with Hizbullah's television channel, that the Palestinian resistance is capable of striking strategic targets in the heart of Israel with its locally-manufactured rockets, including rockets with half-ton warheads, stressing that the PIJ utilizes Iranian weapons and expertise and is closely assisted by Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). IRGC Qods Force commander Qassem Soleimani "knows the men of the [Palestinian] resistance, and they know him well," he said. He added that the PIJ would be part of any regional confrontation between the resistance axis and Israel, and that "the Arab regimes have relinquished Palestine," so their leaders are unfit to lead the Arab nation, whose rights they have relinquished.[2]

Both leaders slammed the Trump administration's Middle East peace plan known as the "Deal of the Century" as well as the U.S.-led "Peace to Prosperity" economic workshop scheduled to be held in Bahrain on June 25-26, 2019 to discuss the economic dimensions of the peace plan.[3] This is in line with Iran's position on the Deal of the Century and with Iran's efforts, reported recently in the Arab press, to unite the resistance axis against it.[4]

Iranian Official Hassan Rahimpour Azghadi: Iranians Fought Alongside Hamas, Islamic Jihad in Gaza; We Will Destroy Israel within 25 Years pic.twitter.com/jt4TnIkym3
— MEMRI (@MEMRIReports) June 14, 2019

Is the US planning an UNRWA surprise in Bahrain?

IPSNews writes:

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has been forced to justify its existence at the United Nations ahead of a pledging conference later this month.

UNRWA came under fire by Jason Greenblatt, US Special Envoy for International Negotiations, at a Security Council meeting late last month.

“The UNRWA model has failed the Palestinian people,” he said, describing the Agency as an “irredeemably flawed operation” and a “band-aid” solution. Instead, he proposed an integration of the Agency’s services into government and non-governmental organisations’ structures.

UNRWA has for years struggled to meet its budget. Last year, around 42 countries and institutions increased their contributions to erase an unprecedented deficit of US$446 million.

Greenblatt noted the United States was frequently called upon to fill budget gaps. Having pledged around US$6 billion to the organisation over the course of its existence, he reaffirmed his government’s refusal to continue to do so.

Instead, the United States has called for a conference in Bahrain—June 25-26– to discuss possible solutions to the Palestine refugee crisis. Many see this as compensation for withdrawing funding for UNRWA.

I had not seen an explicit link between the Bahrain conference and UNRWA before, but it makes one think: is Greenblatt planning an UNRWA surprise?

Has the US lined up support from the UAE and Saudi Arabia to, perhaps, announce that they would allow Palestinians to become citizens? The Gulf states have had problems with foreign workers who take up two thirds of the Saudi labor force, and replacing them with Palestinians - who are generally more industrious than native Saudis - could help modernize Saudi Arabia and ready it for a post-oil world.

The rush for Palestinian "refugees" to qualify for such a program would show the world how hollow are the words of their leaders when they say that their people would rather remain stateless until "return."

There are going to be some interesting things coming out of Bahrain.

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Every week's Gaza border riots are given a theme by the Hamas-linked High Commission for Return and Breaking the Siege.

The theme for today's demonstration is "'No to annexing the West Bank', confirming the rejection of US Ambassador to the State of Israel David Friedman's words and the rejection of US policy, which has become a flagrant aggression against the Palestinian people."

But Friedman did not say that Israel has the right to annex part or all of the West Bank. He said that they have a right to the land but that "under certain circumstances, I think that Israel has the right to retain some, but not all, of the West Bank." He is clearly referring to the terms of a peace deal, not unilateral annexation.

The New York Times, however, headlined its piece with the false claim that Friedman said Israel has the right to annex parts of the West Bank.

And this lie is what was reported worldwide.

Although the march organizers would have found another theme for today's riots even without this journalistic malpractice, anyone who might be injured or killed today in the Gaza riots can partly blame the New York Times for giving a pretext to the violence.

Words matter. Facts matter. The New York Times' lies about Israel make a difference, and always in ways that are counterproductive.

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Tunisians freak out over video of Jewish tourists saying "Long live Israel! Long live Tunisia!"

About a week ago, a video from Israeli TV surfaced in the Arab world that has caused an uproar.

A group of Jewish tourists and pilgrims, in Tunisia for Lag B'Omer to visit the famous synagogue in Djerba, also went to visit some sites where their ancestors came from in a tour bus.

On the bus, one exuberant Jewish woman was filmed saying in Arabic, "God bless all the soldiers of the Israeli army! Long live Tunisia! Long live Israel!" with each phrase answered with "Amen" by her fellow tourists.

بحماية أمنية مشددة.. تطبيع رسمي برحلات سياسية إسرائيلية إلى #تونس.#التطبيع_خيانة pic.twitter.com/IJQ1U7YcBW
— شبكة قدس الإخبارية (@qudsn) June 10, 2019

Tunisians, ignoring the fact that Jews were blessing their country with long life, have been angry about this. They say this is proof that Israelis were allowed in the country. The Interior Ministry assured everyone that they did not accept anyone's Israeli passport, but the angry Tunisians responded that these tourists had dual citizenship with Israel (probably true) and should not have been allowed in to begin with (not sure how Tunisia could exclude them.)

Tunisia's Tourism Minister, Roni Trabelsi, is Jewish, and of course he is being accused of specifically recruiting Israelis to visit Tunisia. Journalists are calling for him to resign. Trabelsi denies it and notes that antisemites have been out to get him since he was appointed.

Other Tunisians found a different thing to be angry about. They said that the tourists visited near where Israel assassinated Fatah leader Khalil al-Wazir (Abu Jihad) in 1988. In fact, they were kilometers away from that site, but facts aren't convenient when inciting antisemitic hatred.

The event has had other political implications. Some Tunisians are accusing the Al-Mayadim channel that has publicized this video as attempting to take down the Tunisian government by implying that it has abandoned the Palestinian cause.

Still others say there is nothing wrong with maintaining relationships with Jews of Tunisian origin who live in Israel, as long as it is not recognizing Israel.

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06/13 Links Pt2: Caroline Glick: Where BDS and Terrorists Converge; NYTs Birthright Israel Article Echoes ‘Zionism Is Racism’ Myth; Zionism is national liberation for colonised Jews

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Where BDS and Terrorists Converge

Last October, Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs published an in-depth report demonstrating the central role terror Palestinian terror groups play in the “boycott, divestment and sanctions” (BDS) campaign against Israel and Jews who support Israel.

The report, titled “Terrorists in Suits: The ties between NGOs promoting BDS and terrorist organizations,” exposed that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and Hamas are both heavily involved — indeed, likely control — several non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Western countries that play central roles in BDS campaigns. Hamas and the PFLP are both designated as foreign terrorist organizations by the State Department and the EU.

Samidoun is a major actor in the BDS universe. According to the Israeli government report, Samidoun is a U.S.-registered NGO founded in 2012. It has branches in Lebanon, Canada, France, Britain, Germany, Belgium, Greece, and the Palestinian Authority.

It is also enmeshed in, if not controlled by, the PFLP.

According to the Israeli government report, Samidoun’s international coordinator, Charlotte Kates, is married to Khaled Barakat, a member of the PFLP Central Committee. Kates is a member of several other BDS groups operating in the U.S. and Europe. Many of them are similarly affiliated with the PFLP. Some operate as left-wing BDS groups.

The Israeli report further alleges that Mustafa Awad, Samidoun’s European representative, is a Lebanese national. The report notes that according to the Israeli Security Agency (ISA), Awad was a member of a PFLP terrorist cell operating in Europe, and was in contact with terrorist operatives from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority.

New York Times Birthright Israel Article Echoes ‘Zionism Is Racism’ Myth

The New York Times gave a front-page platform this week to a news article about a handful of anti-Israel activist who walked off a Birthright Israel trip about a year ago because it didn’t devote enough attention to the Palestinian Arabs.

There are lots of problems with the article. For example, the Times claims it highlights a new phenomenon: “growing unease among many young American Jews over Israel’s policies… a generational divide… Many older Jewish Americans have long expressed unease about Israel’s settlements in the West Bank, but consider it anathema to openly protest the Jewish state.”

That’s both inaccurate and unclear. It’s not clear whether the Times means openly protest the existence of the Jewish state, or openly protest the policies of the Jewish state. If it means openly protest the policies of the Jewish state, the Times has been hyping that as far back as 1979: “Protests From U.S. Jews Stir Controversy in Israel.” And if means openly protest or oppose the existence of the Jewish state, that’s not a view held by “many” Jews at all, young or old.

To prop up its claim, the Times reports: “Just 6 percent of American Jews over the age of 50 believe that the United States gives Israel too much support, according to research by Dov Waxman, a professor of political science, international affairs and Israel studies at Northeastern University. But that view is held by 25 percent of Jews aged 18 to 29, the cohort that goes on Birthright trips.”

There’s no hyperlink to this “research,” so Times readers are unable to assess for themselves the sample size, the margin of sampling error, who funded the research, how and when the question was asked, whether it has been independently replicated, how the Jews in the survey were defined, and whether it’s a finding that really measures attitudes toward Israel or, rather instead captures more general feelings about foreign aid or a particular US presidential administration’s policies.

The biggest problem with the Times Birthright article, though, at least in my reading of it, is the way it reinforces the pernicious canard that Zionism is racism. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan described that falsehood as the “Big Red Lie,” “the last great horror of the Hitler-Stalin era,” as one can read in the fine book of Moynihan’s letters, a volume edited by Steven R. Weisman. Back in 1991, when the United Nations repealed its Zionism is racism resolution, The New York Times issued an editorial saying: “The United Nations hardly deserves applause for waiting 16 years to rescind a disgraceful declaration that should never have been adopted.”

The Suppressed Plight of Palestinian Christians

"Fatah regularly exerts heavy pressure on Christians not to report the acts of violence and vandalism from which they frequently suffer, as such publicity could damage the PA's image as an actor capable of protecting the lives and property of the Christian minority under its rule.... That image could have negative repercussions for the massive international, and particularly European, aid the PA receives." — Dr. Edy Cohen, Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies.

Considered another way, the bread and butter of the PA and its supporters, media and others, seems to be to portray the Palestinians as victims of unjust aggression and discrimination from Israel. This narrative could be jeopardized if the international community learned that Palestinians themselves were persecuting fellow Palestinians — solely on account of religion.

"Far more important to the Palestinian Authority than arresting those who assault Christian sites is keeping such incidents out of the mainstream media. And they are very successful in this regard. Indeed, only a handful of smaller local outlets bothered to report on these latest break-ins. The mainstream international media ignored them altogether." — Dr. Edy Cohen, Israel Today.

As Justus Reid Weiner, a lawyer and scholar well-acquainted with the region explains, "The systematic persecution of Christian Arabs living in Palestinian areas is being met with nearly total silence by the international community, human rights activists, the media and NGOs... In a society where Arab Christians have no voice and no protection it is no surprise that they are leaving."

If @IfNotNowOrg wants everyone to hear all sides of the story...

The New York Times wrote an infomercial for IfNotNow, describing how a tiny number of anti-Israel activists walked off their Birthright tours last year in pre-planned publicity stunts.

Of course, IfNotNow has been tweeting the hell out of this. Their arguments are laughable.

Isn't it shocking that a Zionist organization doesn't spend millions of dollars to teach people to hate Israel?

Just as shocking as @IfNotNowOrg not demanding that Breaking the Silence or Palestinian tours of the WB include Zionist talking points.

No one buys your lies. https://t.co/DWMAQ7Ebjn
— Elder Of Ziyon ҉ (@elderofziyon) June 12, 2019

So I started my own campaign for hearing all sides of the story. If Zionists aren't allowed to talk about Zionism in their own venues without giving equal time to anti-Zionists, then those same rules should apply to anti-Zionists as well, right?

Dear @IfNotNowOrg,

Your website does not have any information about why Jews have the right to the entire Land of Israel. It is one-sided. I demand that you add this information immediately or I will start a protest movement and harass you until you do.

These are your rules.
— Elder Of Ziyon ҉ (@elderofziyon) June 12, 2019

Dear @IfNotNowOrg ,

It has come to my attention that you do not have a single Jewish settler on your team. This is obvious discrimination based on where they live. We demand at least 25% representation from the people you demonize. #YourRules @YonahLieberman @maxberger https://t.co/IcKY9prvNs
— Elder Of Ziyon ҉ (@elderofziyon) June 12, 2019

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UN Invites Jussie Smollett To Head Israeli War Crimes Panel (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

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Geneva, June 13 - An international body that aims to look into allegations of violations of the Laws of Armed Conflict by the Jewish State has engaged to spearhead the effort a man with recent experience with allegations of disproportionate, illegal attacks.

The United Nations Human Rights Council today (Thursday) named Jussie Smollett, star of the TV series Empire, the director of a new probe into Israeli crimes against Palestinians at the border with the Gaza Strip and within the territory during the brief explosion of cross-border violence in April. A spokesman for the Council made specific mention of Mr. Smollett's unwavering commitment to his narrative of victimhood even in the face of mounting evidence that he fabricated the entire incident and hired African immigrants to stage it.

"We find in Mr. Smollett a kindred spirit," declared Bahrain council delegate Tashhir Aldam. "His unrelenting insistence that an attack took place even when hostile elements challenged his assertions is exactly what this panel looks for when it encounters allegations of Israeli crimes. The Smollett Commission, as it will be known, will forge ahead with its inquiry undeterred by accusations that it ignores evidence contrary to its predetermined conclusions, in keeping with the finest traditions of UN inquiries such as those conducted under Messrs. Goldstone, Falk, and others."

A representative of the African-American actor thanked the Council for its recognition and conveyed the star's aspiration to justify the organization's faith in his abilities. "Jussie hopes to live up to the Council's expectations," stated Ali Latdam. "He is excited to partner with others in the world who have dedicated their lives and careers to bringing justice as defined by anti-Western, anti-Zionist, often anti-Semitic sensibilities, under which people of color - also defined by that group - bear perpetual victim status and cannot be expected to shoulder responsibility for their actions or situations, with the result that responsibility and guilt devolves onto whatever non-POC entities may be involved. In his case that was the Chicago police, or American society, or whichever accusation gets the most traction; in the case of the Human Rights Council it's Israel, because Jews."

Ambassador Aldam also noted the actor's achievement in avoiding long-term career consequences for adhering to a disproved narrative. "We're especially encouraged by Mr. Smollett's ability to avoid permanently tainting himself with this episode," he explained. "The UN can offer him an even more sympathetic environment in which to pursue blood libels, since the rigor of our methods does not approach that of the Chicago police department."

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06/13 Links Pt1: Dershowitz: International Law Supports Israel Retaining Some of the West Bank; Nikki Haley: Trump's peace plan puts Israel's security first

From Ian:

Alan M. Dershowitz: International Law Supports Israel Retaining Some of the West Bank

I participated in the drafting of UN Security Council Resolution 242 back in 1967, when Justice Arthur Goldberg was the U.S. Representative to the UN. I had been Justice Goldberg's law clerk, and he asked me to come to New York to advise him on some of the legal issues surrounding the West Bank. The major controversy was whether Israel had to return "all" or only some of the territories captured in its defensive war against Jordan.

The end result was that the binding English version of the resolution deliberately omitted the crucial word "all," which both Justice Goldberg and British Ambassador Lord Caradon publicly stated meant that Israel was entitled to retain some of the West Bank. Moreover, under Resolution 242, Israel was not required to return a single inch of captured territory unless its enemies recognized its right to live within secure boundaries.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman is right in two respects: (1) Israel has no right to retain all of the West Bank, if its enemies recognize its right to live within secure borders; (2) Israel has "the right to retain some" of these territories. The specifics are left to negotiation between the parties.

The reality is that Israel will maintain control over traditionally Jewish areas, as well as the settlement blocs close to the Green Line. I know this because Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has told me this on more than one occasion when we have met.

The attack on Ambassador Friedman is mere posturing by the Palestinian leaders and their supporters. The realpolitik, recognized by all reasonable people, is that Israel does have a right to retain some, but not all, of the West Bank.

The Palestinians can end the untenable status quo by agreeing to compromise their absolutist claims, just as Israel will have to compromise on its claims. The virtue of Ambassador Friedman's statement is that it recognizes that both sides must give up their absolutist claims, and that the end result must be Israeli control over some, but not all, of the West Bank.

Ambassador Danny Danon: Israel and the US, winning together

For decades, the United Nations has served as the home turf of Arab countries who used it to batter the State of Israel and the soldiers of the Israel Defense Forces. In recent years, though, the rules of the game have changed, and no longer finding itself having to deal with a last-minute tie, Israel now takes the field with a significant advantage.

The strength of the alliance between the United States and Israel is a prominent layer in our policies at the UN. Our cooperation at the forefront of the diplomatic stage helps leverage the efforts of both Israel and the US.

In December, US Ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and I submitted a motion condemning the Hamas terrorist movement to the General Assembly. For the first time in the organization’s history, 87 countries voted to condemn Hamas and admitted the terrorist group was a global problem. This helped leverage the efforts Israel is leading to have Hamas defined as a terrorist organization at the UN.

At the same time, when Washington needed our help, we were the first to stand alongside the US. Every year, a resolution is submitted demanding the US revoke its economic embargo on Cuba. Israel was the only country outside the US at the UN to oppose the resolution in last year’s vote.

A few days ago, one of Hamas’ terrorist arms in Lebanon, disguised as a human rights organization by the name of “Shahed,” tried to gain observer status at the UN. We informed our counterparts in the American delegation and together, enlisted a majority of countries within the framework of an international campaign that succeeded in preventing a Hamas delegation from penetrating the UN.

But the cooperation does not begin and end in New York; it is spread across the various branches of the UN, including the infamously anti-Israel Human Rights Council in Geneva. One year ago, the US announced that while it would continue to fight for human rights, it would no longer do so within the framework of an organization so blind with Israel hatred. The US quit the council and called on other countries to follow suit.

Nikki Haley: Trump's peace plan puts Israel's security first

Nikki Haley may no longer be the United States permanent representative to the United Nations, but her passion for defending Israel is as strong as ever.

The Jewish community in the United States and Israelis by and large treated Haley as the superstar of the Trump administration because she relentlessly took the UN to task and put a mirror in front of the international organization, revealing just how biased it was toward Israel.

Now, as a private citizen, she takes pains to assure Israelis they have nothing to fear regarding the administration’s peace efforts, just weeks before the rollout of the economic component of its peace plan. She says President Donald Trump’s peace team considers Israel’s security paramount.

Haley sat down for an interview with Israel Hayom Editor-in-Chief Boaz Bismuth on Thursday in New York. The following are excerpts from the interview. The full version will be published on Friday.
Former US envoy to the UN Nikki Haley with Israel Hayom Editor-in-Chief Boaz Bismuth | Photo: Nir Arieli

Q: Later this month, the administration will roll out the economic component of its peace plan. Some in Israel are worried that the US would want something from Israel in return for recognizing Jerusalem as its capital and recognizing its sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Should Israel be worried about the plan?

“Israel should not be worried. Because through the Middle East plan, one of the main goals that [Senior Adviser to the President] Jared Kushner and [US Special Representative for International Negotiations] Jason Greenblatt focused on was to not hurt the national security interests of Israel. They understand the importance of security, they understand the importance of keeping Israel safe. I think everybody needs to go into it with an open mind, everybody should want a peace plan. Everybody should want to make way for a better situation in Israel and I think it can happen. So rather than pushing back against what we don’t know, I hope everybody would lean in on what the possibilities of what the peace plan could look like and think of a better life for everyone.”