Friday, July 05, 2019

From Ian:

Melanie Phillips: The dark shadow Iran is casting on the world
The indifference shown to this Jew-baiting over the past two decades and more has helped legitimize and embolden ever more unambiguous demonstrations of this deranged mindset, along with a wider cultural confusion.

Four months ago in Britain, upon learning that the best-selling novelist Richard Zimler was a Jew, two cultural organizations dropped their invitations to him to appear at their events. They said they feared protests by their members and others if they invited a Jewish writer.

Against the backdrop of a bill in the Irish parliament, the Dail, to boycott Israel, an Irish News columnist Brian Feeney wrote that Iran was “the only democracy in the region—no, Israel isn’t.”

After U.S. Rep.Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) demeaned the Holocaust by comparing detention centers on America’s Mexican border to Nazi concentration camps, political and cultural figures piled in to support her. When the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum voiced concern about using Holocaust analogies in this way, more than 430 scholars who research the Holocaust and genocides urged it to retract its criticism as “fundamentally ahistorical.”

In Britain, the government wants to build a Holocaust memorial next to the Houses of Parliament to combat Holocaust denial. Yet Britain is still an enthusiast for the Iran deal, even despite the recent discovery of a Hezbollah bomb factory in London.

Sweden, where the authorities notoriously turn a blind eye to rampant anti-Israel and anti-Jewish incitement, intends to hold a conference on antisemitism next year in Malmö. That’s quite a statement. For Jew-hatred in Malmö is so bad that last month the spokesman for its Jewish community said it might close down altogether in the coming decade.

This is the international background against which Iran is ramping up for war. In Israel, there’s a grim acknowledgement of a world which, while paying ever more extravagant lip service to the victims of the Holocaust, prepares to betray them at every turn.

More than half-a-century ago, the West fought off Nazism. That fight is what it really means by “never again.”

WSJ: Pilgrimage Road and Palestinian Memory
Two thousand years ago Jews walked the Pilgrimage Road as they came from around the world to visit the Temple. Rabbinic texts abound with descriptions of the processions that occurred, and the road - first discovered 15 years ago - parallels these details in an exquisite way. Now pilgrims will be able to ascend stairs as their predecessors once did.

But the Pilgrimage Road is located on land in eastern Jerusalem that Palestinians claim for themselves. Palestinian official Saeb Erekat contended that the road is a "lie that has nothing to do with history." Erekat and many other Palestinian leaders have long denied what archaeologists and historians consider basic and uncontroversial facts, such as the existence of the Temple.

The excavated path is only one bit of a literal mountain of archaeological evidence, uncovered in most cases by secular archaeologists, that confirms the historical fact of Jerusalem's ancient connection to the Jewish people. In an age where actual facts are all too often eschewed for "personal narrative," the Pilgrimage Road is another reminder that peace can only be attained through the recognition of historical truth.


Analysis: Gulf governments sponsored anti-Semitic hate preachers during Ramadan 2019
Ramadan is a holy month in the Sunni-ruled Gulf monarchies. In addition to daylong fasting, one other aspect of the festival in this region is that governments sponsor a range of religious programming in order to burnish their religious credentials, particularly at state-run mosques and on state-owned television stations.

However, many Gulf governments fail to provide adequate oversight when sponsoring Ramadan programming, arranging events that feature religious leaders who have a longstanding record of anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry. Even if such preachers are more measured in their remarks at these particular government-sponsored events, their state hosts still run the risk of legitimating proponents of bigotry.

Qatar
The Government of Qatar continued to be the worst offender in this regard.

The global media outlet Al Jazeera, which the State Department describes as “government owned,” published an offensive video during the second week of Ramadan this year that denied and distorted basic facts about the Holocaust. Following outcry, the network removed the video, suspended two journalists, and said it would apply some sensitivity training.

Yet at this same time the religious fundamentalist most empowered by Al Jazeera, Yusuf al-Qaradawi, continued to remain in the regime’s good graces.

Even though Qaradawi has advocated genocide against the Jewish people and advocated terrorism against American civilians and soldiers in Iraq, Qatar’s ruler kissed Qaradawi and gave him the seat at his side at his Ramadan iftar, ahead of all other preachers and for at least the fifth year in a row.

Less than twenty-four hours later, Qaradawi published a column in a Qatari paper dehumanizing Jewish people by calling them the offspring of apes and pigs.

Nor were the views broadcast by Al Jazeera or published by Qaradawi an isolated phenomenon during this Ramadan.

  • Friday, July 05, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon






















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  • Friday, July 05, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon
From MEMRI:

Palestinian Children Burn U.S. Flag, Pictures of Trump in PA-Run Summer Camp That Integrates Children with Special Needs
On July 3, 2019, the Palestinian Authority's Higher Council for Youth and Sports uploaded to its Facebook page a video about a summer camp that it was running in Tulkarm in the West Bank. Ihsan Hattab, the camp director, said that the camp's goal is to provide children with a patriotic education and that the camp is under the Higher Council's auspices and is run by the Society for Children with Autism and Learning Disabilities. He added that 25 special needs children aged 13-15 were participating in the camp along with 100 non-disabled Palestinian children. Yaman, a young boy participating in the program, said that in the first day of the program, they discussed the Deal of the Century and that the following day, they tore up and burned pictures of the American flag and U.S. President Donald Trump. The video shows young children tearing up and burning the pictures and stepping on pictures of the flag and of Donald Trump with horns.




This is not as bad as the paramilitary summer camps of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, but it is still teaching hate - even to children with disabilities.

Many years ago I made a video about Gaza summer camps, inspired by a post title by Soccer Dad, called "Hello Martyr, Hello Fatah." YouTube took down one of my channels last year and the video along with many others are no longer on that platform, but here it is again:






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Thursday, July 04, 2019

  • Thursday, July 04, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) is holding a conference in Luxembourg this week.

60 countries were invited to discuss rights, security, democracy and terrorism cooperation.

Both Israel and Jordan were invited.

But the Jordanian delegation, headed by Assistant Speaker of the House of Representatives MP Ibrahim Al-Qar'an, withdrew from the first day of the conference.

The reason? To protest against the seating of its delegation site near to an Israeli delegation!

Al-Qar'an said that his  delegation, which includes other Jordanian members of parliament, withdrew after he was surprised that the seat allocated to him was at the same table prepared for the Israeli delegation.

The Jordanians made several attempts to pressure the organizers of the conference to change the seat of the Jordanian delegation or to remove the Israeli delegation. They refused, properly.

Al-Qar'an said that despite the delegation's keenness to participate in the conference, the principle of not sitting next to Israeli Jews "came from our principles and ethics and our noble religion that does not allow us to sit with this occupier of our holy sites."

This puerile snub was not reported in Western media. The conference didn't tweet about it. As is normally the case, an Arab country acting like a spoiled child is coddled and accepted. (And the stories are reported triumphantly in Arabic media.)

The only way to handle these sorts of situations is to publicly shame the nation that refuses to treat Israel as an equal, and to expel them from the organization that they are boycotting.

Sweeping it under the rug helps no one except the offender.




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From Ian:

Yoni Netanyahu, Israel, and the Fourth of July
On July 4, 1976, Yonatan Netanyahu re-sent America and the entire world a message that Jews have been delivering for thousands of years.

Yes, we have such things as the Hebrew Bible’s message of proclaiming liberty throughout the land on the Liberty Bell in Philadelphia, and the first colonists seeing Americas as the “New Zion” and such. But, for now, I’m referring to something post-biblical…

Rabbi Hillel, a contemporary of Yehoshua/Jesus, who lived during the Roman occupation of Judaea, restated already ancient Jewish teachings when he proclaimed: "If I am not for myself, who will be for me? But if I am not for others, what am I?"

Israel has tried very hard to come to fair accommodations with the "others" in its neighborhood…indeed, those who see the entire region as merely purely Arab patrimony: Justice through Arab eyes only.

The compromises Israel has already accepted (i.e., Jordan was created in 1922 on almost 80% of the original 1920 Mandate of Palestine--just for starters) and has subsequently sought with Arabs, who already possess almost two dozen states, are light years beyond what Arabs have offered to scores of millions of non-Arab, native peoples with whom they have clashed and competed themselves.

As I’ve often stated before, nothing will really change until the oppressive, self-centered, supremacist Arab mindset changes. Until then, Israel must concentrate on the first part of Rabbi Hillel's famous quote--seeing that its own resurrected nation and millennially-persecuted people not only survive but prosper.
Reflecting on One of Israel's Most Daring Rescue Missions
Forty-three years ago, Israeli forces executed one of the most brave and daring missions in the country's history — the rescue of the over 100 hostages at a Uganda airport. Ex-Mossad agent Avner Avraham discusses with host Jeff Smith.





  • Thursday, July 04, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon
Continuing on my series of re-captioning single panel cartoons....










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Our weekly column from the humor site PreOccupied Territory


Check out their Facebook page.


balloons uninflatedGaza City, July 4 - Authorities in this Mediterranean coastal territory announced today (Thursday) that the unplanned demonstration planned for tomorrow at the barrier separating the territory from Israel, under the leadership of ordinary folks, will not take place.

A Hamas spokesman issued the notice this afternoon after receiving word from his superiors that the movement has called off such politically sensitive measures for now, which sprang up in the moment from the Gaza street without input from the organization.

"The Islamic Resistance salutes those who take the initiative and show their displeasure with the occupier with no prior input," stated Barhoum Brol. "However, when we planned tomorrow's spontaneous demonstration and allocated incendiary devices and helium tanks for it last week, as well as arranging buses to move people to the protest site, we could not know that it would prove imprudent to go through with the protest given the current progress in negotiations over fishing limits and transfers of cash from Qatar."

"While we laud whose who, without our prompting, would have gotten up Friday morning and decided to cut fences, launch bombs on balloons, and try to harm Israelis using materials that, hey, would you look at that, just happened to show up near the barrier, we must inform those who would take such spontaneous action tomorrow that no such protest will take place, at least this week," he continued.

Some Gaza residents expressed frustration with the decision. "I've been planning for two weeks to participate in this spontaneous protest," lamented Bashmi Heddin, 22. "I've got balloons, I've got condoms, I've got kite-making materials - whatever is most useful when the time comes. I can't tell you how much preparation went into this thing. Now I'm told it's not happening? Not cool. Not cool at all. I might have to express my anger by launching a few incendiary balloons at the Jews. But I'll have to clear it with my commanding officer first. And he was going to supply some wire-cutters, too. This sucks."

Informal reports from within Hamas and allied Islamist terrorist group Palestinian Islamic Jihad indicate that the hiatus of spontaneous Friday riots will last only a short time, as both groups need Gazans to have an anti-Israel outlet for their economic and political frustrations, one that does not hold Palestinian leadership responsible for their misfortune. "I've heard the next spontaneous protest will happen three Fridays from now," disclosed Heddin. "That's a long time to wait, though. This next spontaneous demonstration better be good, with that much time to plan it."



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From Ian:

Honest Reporting: Three Noes That Set the Mideast On Course of Conflict
While the world has pressed Israel for years to accept a land-for-peace formula, Dov Lipman explores the Arabs’ three noes in response to Israel’s peace offer immediately after the Six-Day War.

Demands from the international community that Israel remove its military and citizens from areas it took control of during the Six Day War ignore a simple fact: Immediately following the war, Israel was willing to do just that.

And the Arabs refused. With three noes.

In June 1967 the combined armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan planned to attack Israel from the north, south and east. While Arab leaders made grandiose declarations regarding the imminent destruction of the Jewish state, Israelis prepared themselves for mass casualties and to fight for their lives.

Israel managed to defeat these massive armies in just six days, starting with a preemptive strike that destroyed the Egyptian air force on the ground. In just six days Israel not only fought off these armies but also won control of land which these countries previously held – the West Bank, (from Jordan), the Gaza Strip (from Egypt), the Golan Heights (from Syria), and the Sinai Desert (from Egypt).

Israel never had plans to gain control over these areas and immediately following the war was prepared to remove its forces from these regions in exchange for peace with its Arab neighbors. Moshe Dayan, Israel’s then minister of defense remarked that “Israel is waiting for a phone call from the Arabs.” Abba Eban, Israel’s foreign minister made an open declaration at “everything is negotiable.”
Rabbinate chiefs meet with heads of Ethiopian community to end violence
Israeli chief rabbis, rabbi Itzhak Yosef and rabbi Dabid Lau met with the chief rabbi to the Ethiopian community and heads of the Ethiopian community in Israel on Thursday to bring an end to the riots following the death of Solomon Tekah, who was killed by an off-duty police officer.

The rabbis claimed that members of the Ethiopian community have the right to demonstrate and that the discrimination against the community must not be brushed aside, and added that the police must show restraint and allow the protesters to demonstrate.

In exchange to working to calm the spirits around the police forces, the rabbis requested that the community heads promise to call upon the protesters to cease the violence and demonstrate in a lawful manner.

"We call upon the members of the Ethiopian community to hold their demonstrations peacefully, as well as call upon the police forces to show restraint towards the pained protesters," commented rabbi Yosef at the end of the meeting.

Rabbi Lau joined in with Yosef's comments and added that "We are all brothers and the correct way to settle the issues is in conversation while holding mutual respect."
‘Millions share your grief,’ Erdan tells family of slain Ethiopian-Israeli teen
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan on Thursday paid a condolence visit to the family of an Ethiopian-Israeli teenager who was shot dead by police, sparking widespread protests this week, and said the entire nation was grieving with them.

“Millions of citizens are sharing your grief,” Erdan told the parents of Solomon Tekah, 19, who was killed in Haifa on Sunday. “What happened with Solomon is sad and tragic, and I hope this is the last [such] case.

“No words can truly comfort you, but you should know that your pain and the pain over what happened to Solomon is the pain of us all,” he added, expressing condolences on his behalf and on behalf of the government.

Since Monday, protesters across Israel have blocked roads, burned tires and denounced what they say is systemic discrimination against the Ethiopian-Israeli community, after an off-duty police officer fatally shot Tekah. The demonstrations escalated after the funeral on Tuesday, and some protesters set vehicles on fire, overturned a police car and clashed with officers and others who tried to break through their makeshift roadblocks.

According to police, more than 110 officers were wounded in the clashes, including from stones and bottles hurled at them, and 136 protesters had been arrested for rioting.

By Daled Amos


The Birthright program is often in the news, mainly because of the tremendous work it does to strengthen the Jewish sense of identity of young Jews by creating the opportunity for them to visit Israel for free.

The Birthright trips have expanded over the years and now you can choose your own theme/itinerary:
o  Active: Dive-in to the ultimate outdoor adventure and get ready to hike, bike, and climb your way through Israel
o  Professional: Delve deeper into your professional industry by experiencing the best of Israel through an occupational lens
o  Culinary: Savor the flavor of Mediterranean cuisine and develop your palate and culinary skills alongside some of Israel's finest chefs
o  Spiritual: Embark on a meaningful quest through mystical Israel. Connect with the land, the people and yourself
o  Cultural: Get lost in Israel's thriving city centers and explore music, theatre and award-winning film
o  LGBTQ: Join like-minded peers on a curated tour of Israel's thriving LGBTQ culture
Study Abroad: Make the country your classroom and travel Israel for 12-14 days. You will experience all the best parts of our Classic trip and master a topic of your choosing earning 3 credits in the process
The goal of Birthright is
Birthright Israel seeks to ensure the future of the Jewish people by strengthening Jewish identity, Jewish communities, and connection with Israel via a trip to Israel for the majority of Jewish young adults from around the world.

Our hope is that our trips motivate young people to continue to explore their Jewish identity and support for Israel and maintain long-lasting connections with the Israelis they meet on their trip. We encourage our alumni to take active roles in Jewish organizations and to participate in follow-up activities worldwide.
But Birthright also gets into the news because of the attempt by left-wing groups to politicize what the program does. These groups offer suggestions -- if not outright demands -- that the Birthright 10-day program includes a 'balanced' introduction to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

J Street is among those left-wing Jewish groups, under J Street U, that want to tinker with the program
The J Street U campaign emphasizes that it is important for American Jewish students to be well-informed and to receive a full and nuanced picture of the challenges facing Israel today, including the threat that the occupation presents to its long-term future as a democratic homeland for the Jewish people. The petitions warn against the damaging consequences of excluding and omitting Palestinian voices and narratives from the conversation.
So now J Street has started its own alternative to Birthright trips.

Why is this a concern?

Because of J Street's controversial agenda to use the US to impose its politics on Israel.

As J Street puts it:
Israel’s supporters have the right and the obligation to speak out when the policies or the actions of the Israeli government are hurting the long-term interests of Israel and the Jewish people.
J Street presents itself as a more liberal alternative to AIPAC. But it is more than that. Unlike AIPAC, which advocates for Israeli policy independent of politics and who leads the Israeli government, J Street actively pushes its own agenda in the US in order to influence the policy in Israel. For example, unlike AIPAC, J Street actively involves itself in US elections and supports only Democratic candidates. Considering how Democratic candidates are moving the left and are less supportive of Israel, that is a major concern that needs to be addressed.

As the J StreetPAC site puts it on their About Us page:



While J Street notes the overwhelming Jewish support for the Democratic party, that does not explain J Street support for anti-Israel Democrats.
On its website, J Street supports Representative Mark Pocan, who in 2017 anonymously reserved official Capitol Hill space for an anti-Israel forum organized by pro-BDS groups.
o  J Street supports Representative Hank Johnson, who referred to Israelis living in Judea and Samaria as 'termites'.
o  J Street also supports Dan Kildee, who along with Pocan and Johnson met with Shawan Jabarin, a member of the terrorist group PFLP.
o  Just last year, J Street endorsed Rashida Tlaib, despite her support for Palestinian terrorist Rasmea Odeh and criticism of Kamala Harris for discussing cooperation between California and Israel on water management, agriculture, and cyber security. J Street did eventually withdraw its support for Tlaib -- but only because Tlaib withdrew her support for a two-state solution.
o  All this is consistent with past J Street activities, such as actively supporting the biased Goldstone Report, working for the Iran deal alongside the pro-Iranian group NIAC and bringing "Breaking the Silence" to speak at Princeton in 2017 during Yom HaZikaron and Yom Haatzmaut.
While J Street U has put together its own "Birthright trip, this is not the first time J Street has tried this.

The blog Mystical Politics has a copy of the original press release from J-Street posted by J Street U director Daniel May on January 25, 2011, announcing a trip in conjunction with Birthright. (The press release has been removed from the J Street site):
J Street U is very happy to announce that we will be leading a free, ten-day Taglit-Birthright trip this summer titled, "Explore Israel: Progressive Zionism and Social Justice."

This trip is an incredible opportunity to connect with the Israel that isn't on the front page or in the guide books. Move beyond the headlines, and see what's really happening on the ground.

If you're Jewish, age 18 - 25, and have yet to take a peer group trip to Israel, we strongly encourage you to sign up and be the first to know when registration opens.

The trip is a chance to appreciate the vibrancy of Israel's history, culture and landscape from a perspective that acknowledges your Jewish and progressive values.

The best way to discover the richness of Israeli society and the full contours of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is to travel around Israel and meet people from the diverse groups of the region. There is simply no substitute for seeing the land and connecting with the people.

On the trip, we'll speak with members of Israeli civil society working to advance the goals of democracy and human rights. Our itinerary will provide a cross-section of Israeli opinion.

This trip is a gift of Taglit-Birthright Israel and will be provided by The Israel Experience, Ltd. [emphasis added]
The intended focus of the trip was political -- from a 'progressive' perspective, focusing on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and meeting representatives of human rights groups -- as opposed to Jewish identity and connection to Israel. That was, and is, their prerogative. However, the description does not seem like it would mesh with the Birthright goals of identity and connection

And mesh it didn't.

The blog FresnoZionism sounded the alarm: Action alert: Don’t let J Street exploit Birthright:
In other words, the phony ‘pro-Israel’ organization J Street, a group that takes money from people associated with Saudi Arabia, the Arab-American institute, Iranian interests, anti-Israel billionaire George Soros, a mysterious woman associated with the guy who beat the Hong Kong horse-racing track, and the Turkish producer of anti-Israel propaganda films; whose co-founder [Daniel Levy] called the creation of Israel ‘an act that was wrong’; and which facilitated meetings between members of Congress and Judge Richard Goldstone, author of the notorious Goldstone report that accused Israel of deliberately murdering civilians in the Gaza war — this organization has the chutzpah to use funds provided by Taglit-Birthright to sabotage its purpose!
He contacted Birthright and encouraged others to as well, and in the end, the Birthright trip was canceled.

Moriel Rothman, President of the J Street U student board, issued a statement which read in part:
J Street U had planned our trip in order to forge an avenue through which liberal-minded college students – who may otherwise not engage – could develop a deep and lasting relationship with the Jewish homeland. The trip was to include the traditional highlights of a Taglit-Birthright experience – visits to Masada, the Kotel, and Yad Va’Shem – as well as opportunities for students to engage with Israeli human rights advocates, journalists, and politicians involved in the struggle to preserve the democratic future of the Jewish homeland.

...Despite their initial approval for a trip that would provide just such an experience, Birthright’s leadership has now decided that it is inappropriate for JStreetU to organize a trip because we are politically oriented. Nonetheless, comparable organizations with different politics than ours participate and help organize trips every year. For instance, AIPAC’s “Capital to Capital” Birthright trip is designed for Jewish political activists who are “significantly involved in the American political process.” Given that other such trips are regularly offered, we were surprised and saddened that our trip was suddenly deemed inappropriate. [emphasis added]
Again, there are politics and there are politics. FresnoZionism in the same post makes reference to the politics of Moriel Rothman:
What is J Street U? Its National Board President U is a Middlebury College student named Moriel Rothman. Here is how he explains the controversy around the Sheik Jarrah / Shimon haTzadik neighborhood in East Jerusalem. Pay attention not only to his words, but his tone:
…the Jerusalem municipality has been bending to the will of fanatic Jewish settlers, and producing - based on archaic documents from the Ottoman period and manufactured Israeli law - eviction notices to a number of Palestinian families, and in some cases - such as with three families in Sheikh Jarrah- acting on those eviction notices by force and removing those Palestinian families from their homes. The municipality’s actions are hugely problematic from a moral standpoint: not only are Jews buying up and/or stealing Arab land in East Jerusalem, but Arabs are moreover unable to buy land in the primarily Jewish West Jerusalem… These policies are also hugely problematic from the standpoint of peace, as East Jerusalem must be the capital of the future Palestinian state, and the Clinton Parameters, which state that Palestine will get control of Arab neighborhoods and Israel will control Jewish neighborhoods, are made harder and harder to implement with each infiltration of Jewish settlers into Arab neighborhoods like Silwan and Sheikh Jarrah. [emphasis in the original]
This is the example set by a head of J Street U at the time.

In the end, it appeared that the provider J Street U was working with, Israel Experience, did not clear the arrangement with Birthright in advance.

J Street U's statement gave a hint of things to come:
J Street U students are petitioning Birthright CEO Gidi Mark to “provide more Birthright trips that speak to the values of social justice, democracy, and peace that are so important to young, progressive Jews. [emphasis added]
An article from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency at the time explained the Birthright position on politically oriented trips and why trips coordinated with AIPAC are different from what J Street proposed:
“We said such a trip, as described in a brief conversation with the Israel Experience, would likely be out of keeping with our longstanding policy of not conducting trips with a political orientation,” Birthright said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Birthright subsequently confirmed that the policy was adopted in 2009, when the organization decided not to partner any longer with groups that are “overtly political.”

Prior to 2009, Birthright trips were run in conjunction with the Zionist Organization of America and the Union for Progressive Zionists, the precursor to J Street U.

Birthright continues to partner with AIPAC, though references to the pro-Israel lobby group were scrubbed recently from the website of the Israel Experience. Birthright said AIPAC did not fall under the 2009 policy change because the organization does not generally seek to influence Israeli policy. [emphasis added]
Birthright further explained the
For years, we have run a Capital-to-Capital trip through another trip provider, which focuses on the Israeli political system. The provider has been running this trip, with input from AIPAC, a mainstream Israel advocacy group, long before JStreet was established. It focuses on Israel’s political structure, with an approach similar to a political science class; the trip has never been tilted to one side of the political spectrum. [emphasis added]
In the end, J Street went on the trip on their own.

How did it go?

In a J-Street U mailing no longer online, Daniel May, Director, J Street U, wrote on June 21, 2011
I can tell that these two weeks are making a life-long impact on the participants. And amidst the painful stories of this conflict, that fact is giving me tremendous hope. But I don't want you to hear it from me. I want you to hear it directly from the students...

Simone Zimmerman, Berkeley ‘13 – Read her whole post here.
As aspiring peacebuilders, we have already been given so much to challenge us, and we have barely chipped the surface. I feel a tremendous amount of responsibility already, and a tremendous amount of privilege for being able to participate in this journey with J Street U. I’ve been to Israel many times in many different capacities, but this is my first trip where I am finding that I can, without contradiction, bring together my deep love for this country with my deep commitment to exploring the toughest challenges facing Israel today. [emphasis added]
Here is a picture of Simone Zimmerman from during the J Street U trip
picture
From J Street U Facebook Page

Zimmerman has since made a name for herself in expressing that "deep love" and "commitment":

Bernie Sanders staffer fired for anti-Netanyahu rant hired to run B’Tselem USA
After Zimmerman, a former J Street student activist, was hired by the Sanders campaign, it was discovered she previously wrote on Facebook, “Bibi Netanyahu is an arrogant, deceptive, cynical, manipulative asshole,” according to the Washington-based Free Beacon.

She continued: “F— you, Bibi, for daring to insist that you legitimately represent even a fraction of the Jews in this world, for your consistent fear-mongering, for pushing Israel in word and deed, farther and farther away from the international community, and most importantly, for trying to derail a potentially historic diplomatic deal with Iran and thus trying to distract the world from the fact that you sanctioned the murder of over 2,000 people this summer.”

She edited the post on March 3, 2015, changing “asshole” to “politician” and the second expletive to “shame on you.” She was dismissed by the Sanders campaign after being its Jewish outreach coordinator for only two days.

Screengrab
Simone Zimmerman. Screengrab from Haaretz video on YouTube

Considering the example of J Street's past activities against Israel, the attitude demonstrated in the past by J Street U leaders like Moriel Rothman and the activities of the products of J Street U leadership such as Simone Zimmerman -- who is one of the founders of the virulently anti-Israel If Not Now -- suspicions of J Street "Birthright-style" trips are natural.

According to the itinerary of the current 9-day J Street trip:
Day 6: The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and the Occupation 101
Morning: Settlement Tour and Palestinian Village
Afternoon: Hebron
Evening: Group conversation
Overnight: Jerusalem

Day 7: Israel and Palestinian Perspectives Over the Green Line
Morning: Ramallah–Palestinian self-rule under occupation.
Afternoon: Conversation with Settlers
Evening: Israeli and Palestinian Peace Activists
Overnight: Ein Gedi
There is nothing wrong with criticism of Israel.

The issue is not criticism but rather J Street's record of undercutting Israel and its subversion of support for it.
o  We see it reflected in J Street statements
o  We see it reflected in J Street's actions.
o  We see it reflected in J Street's support for anti-Israel Democratic candidates
We see it reflected in J Street 'graduates'
J Street is a special interest group with its own agenda.

It is a political agenda that contrasts with AIPAC, just as its politicized idea of an Israel trip contrasts with Birthright trips that encourage Jewish identity and connection with Israel.

Neither AIPAC nor Birthright have a particular agenda that it imposes or politics it is trying to push onto others.

The same is not true of J Street.
The goal of its trip is just one more way for J Street to push its agenda.




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  • Thursday, July 04, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon
The Israel in Arabic Facebook and Twitter pages showed this photo with the caption "Differences in religion and belief in one God. #Israel  Pluralism and freedom of worship. "


Pretty innocuous, right?

Wrong.

The Twitter responses in Arabic for a picture showing coexistence were really, really angry. There are angry responses to every post by @IsraelInArabic but these were especially vitriolic.

One person even responded with a photo of Hitler saying "We rejoice in killing you."


The Arab media picked up on this, with this article calling it "propaganda" and saying that Israel is guilty of religious and ethnic cleansing.

The responses on the Facebook page were not nearly as bad. Many were supportive of the image. The article claims that Israel is censoring the negative comments, but there are still some that joke about Jews going to ovens.





We have lots of ideas, but we need more resources to be even more effective. Please donate today to help get the message out and to help defend Israel.
  • Thursday, July 04, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon
Explicit antisemitism continues in Arabic language media.

Felesteen.ps, which is associated with Hamas, has an article about how Jews have always been punished by Allah for their terrible traits, and those traits are immutable.

Allah has always known that the Jews will continue to do the same behaviors in the same way as their predecessors, and will continue towards the deviation and the stubbornness and the disbelief of their parents, not taking into account their fate and punishment, without attempting to alter their own debauchery and tyranny inherited from their ancestors; Therefore, Allah has ruled that punishments should be imposed on them until the day of resurrection, in order to punish them for encroaching on their borders, and for overcoming their orders.
The article notes that the Jews were punished through the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians and Romans, and claims that Mohammed's massacres and ethnic cleansing of Jews were similarly part of Allah's will:

 In the era of prophecy the corruption of the Jews was punished by the prophet (peace be upon him), the Jews of Beni al-Naqr and Bani Qayqaa were killed, and the Jews of Beni Qaraidha and the Jews of Khyber were besieged until they surrendered and left the Arabian Peninsula.
For some reason, though, the "Nakba" and repeated defeat of Arab armies by Israel are not considered to be Divine will.

On the contrary; this article tells us that the Jews are the ones who are losing today, not the Arabs in Gaza that this article represents:
In our times, we are witnessing the sowing of corruption by Jews, as they occupy the land of Palestine, and kill its people, jail them, or treat them with injustice.

It may look to some people as if this (divine) threat (of retribution) against the Jews is suspended, because of the state and the power that they have, but we believe that this is not so, because mujahideen and people waging ribat (voluntary defense of Islam) from among the "triumphant group" are still on the battlefields of jihad, confronting this Jewish enemy with all the power they have. The strikes of the Mujahideen still hurt this enemy and shake its entity, hurt its soldiers, and the enemy lives in fear and anxiety, and it doesn't enjoy peace and quiet. This is the continuation of the promise Allah made, and on its path towards the destruction  of the state of the Jews, and then the Believers will rejoice at Allah's  bringing them victory.
 There has been an uptick in explicitly antisemitic articles in Arabic media recently. My guess is that this is a frustrated reaction to the diplomatic gains Israel is making in the Arab world whose opponents must go back to the tried and true methods to incite hate as they attempt to disrupt those ties.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)



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 Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

Nine out of 10 of the Democratic presidential contenders in the first debate raised their hands when asked if they would return to the JCPOA, the nuclear deal with Iran that Donald Trump removed the US from in May.

At more or less the same time, there was an announcement of the creation of a new “think tank” called the Quincy Institute (after John Quincy Adams, who said that America “goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy”). The organization received pledges of half a million dollars each from George Soros on the left, and Charles Koch on the right. Apparently these politically diverse billionaires agree with Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian-American Council and one of the founders of the institute, that the Iranian revolutionary Islamic regime is not a monster that the US should destroy.

Another voice calling for a return to “engagement” with Iran as opposed to the policy of economic sanctions followed by the Trump administration is National Security Action (NSA), the foreign policy lobby of the former Obama Administration. NSA is co-chaired by Ben Rhodes, one of the architects of “engagement” (which in practice meant payoffs, appeasement, and a guaranteed path to nuclear weapons).

One of the pillars of the Rhodes policy, which was detailed in the 2006 Iraq Study Group proposal of which he was one of the authors (my 2006 analysis is here), is the trading of Israel’s security for concessions from Syria and Iran. At that time, Syria was facilitating the transit of insurgents and Iranian weapons, including advanced roadside bombs that were killing US soldiers, across its border with Iraq. The idea was that the US would force Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria (as well as create a Palestinian state in Judea and Samaria), and in return, Syria would close its border with Iraq.

Although Israel’s worst (or second-worst) Prime Minister ever, Ehud Olmert, made an overture to Syria in 2007, almost certainly at US prompting. But Bashar al-Assad wasn’t interested, preferring his alliance with Iran.

The idea of trading Israel’s security for the friendship of Iran continued through the Obama Administration. The Iranians reacted cynically, taking what they could get while still chanting “death to America.” Obama’s Defense Department applied pressure to the Israeli defense establishment in 2012 to scuttle a plan to bomb the centers of Iranian nuclear development, at a time when the window of opportunity to seriously set back the program was significantly wider than it is today.

It’s unfortunate to see that the policy of appeasement, reversed by President Trump when he re-imposed sanctions on Iran, is still championed by the Democratic opposition. But I suppose that “opposition” means opposition to everything Trump does and says, regardless of its merit. And it fits with the anti-Israel wind blowing from the left in America, where the Iranian threat is seen as an Israeli problem, not an American one. Indeed, one sees a congruence of the isolationist right and anti-American left – as illustrated by the supporters of the Quincy Institute – who find it useful to blame Israel for dragging the US into conflicts that it could otherwise avoid.

I’m convinced that most of those who want the US to rejoin the JCPOA – at least those who have given it serious thought and have the background to understand the situation, which excludes most of the democratic candidates – understand that it will lead to Iran building nuclear weapons. This is because the agreement has a sunset date for its restrictions, and compliance with some of the most important of them, like the prohibition of research into military applications, is impossible to verify (the Iranians refuse to permit inspection of military sites). All the JCPOA really does is protect Iran while it finishes developing its weapons. But people think, “So what? Even Pakistan has nuclear weapons, and the US has a massive nuclear deterrent.”

This is a mistake. Unlike Pakistan, Iran is aggressively proceeding with a plan whose first stage is to eliminate American influence in the Middle East, seize control of approximately one-third of the world’s petrochemical resources, establish a Shiite caliphate across the region, and eliminate Israel. Iran already effectively controls Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, and is on the verge of establishing a land bridge to the Mediterranean. If it is allowed to succeed, it will become a threat to the West unmatched since the Soviet Union.

Today, according to Michael Doran in the Wall St. Journal (paywalled article here), Iran’s in-your-face violation of JCPOA requirements as well as sabotage of tankers and pipelines, and its downing of a US military drone, are intended to pressure the Europeans (who are seriously affected by disruptions in the oil supply).  Iran wants them to lobby the US to re-establish waivers, removed by Trump, that allow Iranian-European cooperation on supposedly “peaceful” nuclear projects. Great.

The Iranian regime thinks it can survive economic sanctions, at least until the end of the Trump Administration. It controls the allocation of resources in Iran, and will brutally suppress popular attempts at regime change. It also believes that it can hold Israel hostage, as shown by its recent threat that Israel would live only half an hour after an American attack like the one that Trump ordered – and then recalled – after the drone incident. It believes that that ultimately the view that a nuclear-armed Iran is preferable to the alternatives will prevail in the US and Europe.

It might, in the US. It is not possible in Israel, where it is understood that a nuclear Iran will have the ability to destroy the country, either with nuclear weapons or with conventional ones under a nuclear umbrella. And there is absolutely no doubt that destroying Israel is one of Iran’s major objectives. The fact that Israel has a protected retaliatory capability gives us some comfort, but not enough to justify inaction.

It could happen that the sanctions will cause Iran to end its program (but this is unlikely). It could happen that the US will bomb the Iranian nuclear installations (even more unlikely). Or, I suppose a meteor could land on Tehran and wipe out the regime (the most unlikely). But, as long as something is possible short of war, Israel will wait – until the last moment, the moment before Iran builds its bombs. Once this point is reached, there will be no alternative. Netanyahu and Gantz are agreed on this, if on little else.

The Saudi king once said that the only way to end the conflicts in the Middle East was to cut off the head of the snake, meaning Iran. He was right. When time runs out, the snake will lose its head.




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Wednesday, July 03, 2019

From Ian:

Know thine enemy: DNA study solves ancient riddle of origins of the Philistines
A groundbreaking new study of DNA taken from the bones of ancient residents of the coastal city of Ashkelon has put to rest a centuries-old debate surrounding the origins of the Kingdom of Israel’s most reviled foes, the Philistines. According to a paper published Wednesday in Science Advances, the ancestors of Goliath of Gath emigrated from Southern Europe.

In “Ancient DNA sheds light on the genetic origins of early Iron Age Philistines,” an interdisciplinary team of scholars from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History and the Leon Levy Expedition Ashkelon proves that coinciding with the arrival of the Philistines in Ashkelon in the 12th century BCE, there was an influx of Southern European genetic material in the local population.

DNA analysis was completed on samples from three periods within the Bronze and Iron ages (~3,600-2,800 years ago) from remains of Canaanites and early and late Philistines, which were taken from three sites: a Philistine cemetery discovered in 2016, graves discovered in the 1990s, and infant burials uncovered under Philistine homes.

Through analysis of ten ancient individuals’ DNA, the study suggests that Philistines reached Ashkelon from Europe by the early Iron Age. After two centuries, however, the European genetic markers were dwarfed by the Levantine gene pool, suggesting intensive intermarriage. The Philistine culture and peoplehood remained distinct from other local communities for six centuries.

“With this study we finally have direct evidence that fits and builds upon the hypothesis of Philistine origins from the western Mediterranean,” Daniel M. Master, director of the Leon Levy Expedition to Ashkelon and head of the archaeological team, told The Times of Israel this week.
George Galloway defends Jeremy Corbyn, Bernie Sanders, Chris Williamson
Former British MP George Galloway has defended disgraced Labour MP Chris Williamson after he was suspended in February for insinuating that the Labour party has been “too apologetic” over antisemitism.

However, Williamson was reinstated last week with just a warning for his behavior.

Since then, at least 90 Labour MPs and colleagues have called on Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to remove Williamson.

In a video published by RT on Tuesday night, Galloway charged that antisemitism is being weaponized to attack people like Corbyn and Williamson.

“The danger is, if you’re calling everyone antisemitic - the whole Labour party, the whole Labour movement, the whole [Jeremy] Corbyn movement - then the real antisemites can go about their evil, fatal business unnoticed,” he claimed.

He said that the analogy of the “boy who cried wolf” is useful, adding that “we are so far down the rabbit hole now of the weaponization of antisemitism as a political issue that it has become not just unjust, not just immoral but positively dangerous and dangerous to Jewish people themselves.”

Galloway called the idea that Corbyn, “who I have known since the 1970s,” is an antisemite “absurd” and “offensive.”

Going on to defend Williamson, the former Labour MP said that there was not a “scintilla of antisemitism or any other form of racism...present in his mind [or] in his soul.”

He said that allegations against Williamson are “dangerous, reckless and irresponsible.”

During his address, Galloway insinuated that people like Corbyn and Williamson are accused of antisemitism for just having books of Noam Chomsky, Prof. Norman Finkelstein, Karl Marx and others, who too have been accused of antisemitism for sharing their views.




Labour MP faces no-confidence vote for criticizing party on anti-Semitism
An MP is facing deselection for signing a statement criticizing the UK Labour party’s decision to readmit a lawmaker who was suspended over anti-Semitism allegations, the Guardian reported Wednesday.

Ellie Reeves, who is 22 weeks pregnant, was one of 121 MPs and members of the House of Lords who called on opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn to take away the whip from Chris Williamson MP.

The Labour Party last week reportedly reimposed Williamson’s suspension two days after it was lifted, amid an ongoing furor over the party’s handling of complaints of anti-Semitism.

Chris Williamson, a Corbyn ally, was filmed in February telling a meeting that the party was “too apologetic” and had “given too much ground” in its response to anti-Semitism allegations.

The chairman of Reeves’ constituency of Lewisham West and Penge has received notice from a party member who requested a motion of no confidence in the lawmaker, the Guardian reported.


We’re a couple of weeks into a shiputz (renovation) of the larger home above and to the side of our rented “grandmother’s apartment.” I’m fine with that. Or rather, I was fine with that. Until the other day. When ten days had turned into two weeks and counting.
Don't get me wrong. The necessary precautions are all in place. There is a shomer on guard for the duration of the renovation. (There has to be, by law.) Dov locks me in every morning as he leaves. But still, this is a country where many of my people are killed by people who look and sound a lot like these workmen. It is disconcerting to hear their language, Arabic, all around me as I sit at my virtual desk in my home.
This street is quiet. If sound comes through my window, it is generally birdsong. When it is not, it is children playing in Hebrew, or adults speaking in Hebrew or English, depending on where they were born. If an Israeli neighbor is in on the conversation, we speak Hebrew, for we are in the Jewish State.
The shiputz, however, has stirred the air of the neighborhood, and changed my milieu. Instead of the quiet, calm sounds of my street coming through the window, I hear the workers, above and around me, shouting one to the other. Instead of “Chanah” or “Avi,” I hear, “Raed, Raed,” followed by a guttural flow of Arabic, unintelligible to me.
A workman will call down from the rooftop to another workman inside the kitchen. Someone will call from a car to the people on the roof. This is a lot of shouting for my street. And it is shouting in Arabic, the language of the people who kill us.
For a moment, this is disconcerting. And then it is not. For this is life in this country, after all.
It’s my life, at any rate, and this is just how it is a lot of the time. Maybe if it been our shiputz, we would have hired Jews. You pay more, but you help your own people and it’s a safer choice. It is not, however, my shiputz. It is cheaper, moreover, to hire Arabs, so that is what people do.
At least that is what my landlord did.
It is upsetting, but as there is nothing we can do about this, we just get on with life. I with my work at home, my husband out and about with his work as a handyman, which leads him to no regular location.
As for my fleeting moment of agitation, I knew what had brought it on. It was my chance meeting with a neighbor. The caterers had called to ask if she wanted a security guard at her son’s bar mitzvah party. She hadn’t thought about it, but now wondered if she should have thought about it. Would my husband be carrying, she asked, and I said he would. She’d ask a few more people just to be sure, and I thought that was fine and told her so: “Nothing will happen.”
And I really meant it.
But since I am a writer, I am susceptible to any suggestion: my imagination can go a little crazy. This means that six hours later, once work and chores are over, the loud construction workers having gone home for the day, I have time to think. That is when the “what ifs” begin inside my head.
The what ifs go something like this:
What if an Arab worker walks down the staircase leading to my mamad (reinforced shelter), sneaks through the open window, and grabs me by the throat?
What if, like Dafna Meir, I am cooking supper, when he walks straight in through the front door with a knife?
What if he comes into the house while I am in the shower, and when I open the door, he is there, and covers my mouth with his hand?
The scenarios flash by and fear takes hold. For a moment it is fierce. But only for a moment. And then, like the workers who have knocked off for the day, it is gone.
I play a stupid game on Facebook and forget all about it.
That is until the next time.
For instance tomorrow morning when the workers spill out of the truck to begin the day, puttering and drilling all about me. Shouting, “Raed, Raed,” as I fold the laundry and the what ifs flash by. What if he comes up from behind? What if he has a gun?
I think these thoughts for a moment. Then I put them away with the laundry, where I cannot see them.
Hidden out of sight and out of mind.


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  • Wednesday, July 03, 2019
  • Elder of Ziyon
Yesterday I noted that Palestinians were saying that Jews who were reverently and quietly praying on the Temple Mount were "desecrating Al Aqsa."

Obviously, treating a holy place with respect isn't desecration.

However, StandWithUs tweeted a photo that is one of desecration:




Let's look closer at the photo:


The Jordanian soldier is inside the main sanctuary of the destroyed Hurva synagogue. You can see the mural of the Ten Commandments behind him.

And he is posing triumphantly holding an unrolled Torah Scroll, splayed across the rubble.

This is what desecration of a holy site, and holy object, looks like.

Thank God the Hurva has been rebuilt and is now a permanent part of the Jerusalem skyline. Keep in mind that the people who claim to support peace consider that rebuilt synagogue to be an illegal settlement structure.

Meaning that they are far more upset over repairing the desecration than they ever were over the desecration itself.

If Tikun Olam has a meaning nowadays, it is rebuilding the Jewish presence that was ethnically cleansed in Jerusalem in 1948.

(h/t Lenny)


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