Friday, September 27, 2019

09/27 Links Pt2: Rachel Riley: Armies of hate-filled bigots strengthened my resolve to fight hate; How Arab Israelis Humiliated the BDS Movement; USAID Has a Terror Finance Problem

From Ian:

Rachel Riley: Armies of hate-filled bigots strengthened my resolve to fight hate

TV presenter and campaigner against antisemitism Rachel Riley, spoke at Algemeiner’s J100 gala, where she received the US paper’s illustrious ‘Warrior for Truth’ award.

The Countdown host addressed the New York event on Thursday, picking up the prestigious gong alongside British actor Sir Ben Kingsley.

Billed as the Jewish answer to the TIME 100 gala, past honourees and participants have included Elie Wiesel, Michael Gove, Donald Trump, and Bernard-Henri Levy.

Riley was honoured for taking on antisemites in wake of the Labour antisemitism row, using her public profile to call out hate. She has recently helped set up a campaign against abuse online, called ‘Don’t Fed The Trolls’, and the ‘Stop Funding Fake News’ initiative, against media organisations which deny or downplay antisemitism.

Read Rachel’s full address to the J100 Gala here:
Rachel Riley (Credit: Yakir Zur)

It’s probably the biggest honour of my life to be here with you today. I am here because of something that started for me, a year ago. Back then, I was just a maths geek, a Manchester United fan and daytime TV gameshow host.

A secular, atheist Jew.

Social media was a great way to connect with people. It helped me promote the things I cared about: education, getting more girls into STEM subjects, and frequently, my favourite football team. But watching the news one day, I saw something really peculiar.

British Jews protesting in Parliament Square against the growing rise in antisemitism.

At first I thought this can’t be real.

Antisemitism wasn’t a “thing” anymore, was it?

Just a relic of the past?

Denying Jerusalem's Jewish History Despite Archaeological Evidence

The cumulative effect of this concerted effort has been both counter-factual and unfortunate. Already in 2006, the World Heritage Site Committee of the United Nations Economic, Social, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) passed a resolution referring to the Temple Mount -- the holiest site in Judaism -- solely by its Arabic, Islamic name, al-Haram al-Sharif.

Nonetheless, extensive documentation from antiquity and countless archaeological finds continue to confirm both Judaism's ties to Jerusalem and the Jewish people's millennia-old presence in the land of Israel.

Foremost among the findings that provide proof of ancient writings about the Jews and Jerusalem -- apart from the Bible, much of which is magnificently displayed by the new excavation of the City of David – are the written histories by Josephus Flavius (37-100 AD), The History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, and the famous Dead Sea Scrolls. There are also extraordinary excavations by the Israeli archaeologist Dr. Eilat Mazor, who in 2012 unearthed a Solomon-era wall and other related sites. This followed and preceded many other discoveries, such as a wide street filled remnants of shops and tunnels, as noted in the New Testament, that runs near the Western Wall.

Where Palestinian propaganda is concerned, however, none of the above appears to matter. During the very week in early September that the City of David Foundation revealed the ancient Hebrew seal found near the Western Wall, Dr. Ghassan Weshah, the head of the History and Archaeology Department at the Islamic University of Gaza, told the Gaza news service Felesteen:
"One of the biggest lies of the Zionists with regard to the Al-Aqsa Mosque is that it was built on the ruins of the Temple, which was destroyed on August 21, 586 BCE. This is a false statement. There is no other building under the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

If statements such as Weshah's were not taken seriously by members of the international community, they would be dismissed as the propaganda tools they are by the reams of irrefutable scientific evidence to the contrary. It is thus incumbent on all honest academics to be vigilant and determined about setting the record straight.

New York Times Iran Story Relies on Analyst Tied To BDS-Backing Rockefeller Fund

The Times doesn’t explain to readers what this “Project on Middle East Democracy” is or who funds it. The organization’s website says the group was formally established in 2006. Its most recent readily-available tax return, filed in 2017, reports 13 employees and total revenue of $1,642,238.

Online records show the group received $845,000 from 2012 to 2019 from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, a charity that has been well documented by NGO Monitor, Bloomberg News and The Algemeiner itself as funding an array of efforts both to boycott Israel and to promote a nuclear deal that provided Iran with sanctions relief over the objections of Israel’s government.

For the Rockefeller Brothers Fund and the Project on Middle East Democracy, getting quoted in the New York Times article is a win. It’s not so clear, though, that it’s a win for Times readers to hear from an “analyst” funded by boycott-Israel-but-trade-with-Iran advocacy Rockefeller money, especially when that funding is not disclosed. Whenever there’s a pro-Israel or anti-Iran policy move in Washington, the Times is quick to describe it as transactional, a “return on investment” for pro-Israel campaign contributors. Yet on the anti-Israel or pro-Iran front, the Times is remarkably incurious about the money trail. As usual with the Times writing about Israel, it’s a double standard.

An argument’s ultimate test, in the end, is less the source of its funding than its logical strength. By that measure, the claim by the Times-quoted Miller that “penalties imposed by the Trump administration are what set Tehran on its current course of confrontation with the United States” is laughable. As a different Times news article conceded this week, “Since its inception, the Islamic Republic has made rejecting the United States a subject of street performance, from the chants of ‘Death to America’ at Friday prayers to the branding of the country as the ‘Great Satan.’” That regime’s “inception,” in 1979, long predated the Trump administration.

This past week, Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad spoke to Columbia University and said,

I am exercising my right to free speech. Why is it that I can’t say something against the Jews, when a lot of people say nasty things about me, about Malaysia? I didn’t protest, I didn’t demonstrate.

We have to be willing to listen to views which are not in our favor because of free speech. Free speech is about free speech. When you say, ‘no, you cannot say this, you cannot be anti-Semitic,’ then there is no more free speech.

Does Malaysia really treasure free speech?

Arnold Roth tried to get to some Malaysian government websites from Israel - and found that they were blocked.

He asked around and saw that they only blocked for Israeli IP addresses - people in the US and India could get to them. (One example is https://www.pmo.gov.my. )

It's so funny how people justify their hate by invoking liberal concepts that they personally trample upon.

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09/27 Links Pt1: Welcome to the End of the (Peace) Process; Abbas promises to continue paying families of martyrs, receives applause at U.N. General Assembly

From Ian:

Welcome to the End of the Process

The elements of the Trump administration’s plan which have been rolled out could also be read as undercutting a key component of the rejectionist position: the so-called “right of return” for Palestinian refugees in neighboring Arab countries. At the “Peace to Prosperity” conference, which the administration organized in Bahrain in June, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner presented a plan to invest $50 billion in the Palestinian territories and in Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon. While the investment aims to encourage “Strengthening Regional Development and Integration,” it also might suggest an incentive to turn the page on the “right of return” fantasy. At any rate, this ought to be the US position, thereby putting an end to American indulgence of Palestinian maximalism, which the Obama White House chose to sign onto with UNSCR 2334.

As of now, there’s no information on the proposed shape or nature of the Palestinian polity. In July, the US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman pointedly spoke of “Palestinian autonomy” and self-governance, but shied away from any talk of Palestinian “statehood.” The history of the Levant, from ancient times to the present, is full of such polities acting as buffer or vassal states for larger neighboring powers. To be sure, the existing arrangement between Israel and Jordan in the West Bank is the only thing preventing that territory from becoming an Iranian satellite, more or less like Gaza, the Iranian outpost between Israel and Egypt.

This, after all, is the main point of the entire exercise. President Trump’s approach returns the issue of the Palestinians to its real size and function in the Levant as well as in US policy in the region. It readjusts America’s focus away from the fractured Levant and back on a sound geostrategic approach centered on the states on the Levant’s outer rim.

Bearing this in mind, the US cannot allow itself to be sucked into the irrelevant minutiae of the “peace process” enterprise and such fictions as “state institutions” in the Levant — already a proven failure in Iraq and Lebanon, where the state institution-building chimera has only strengthened Iran’s position.

Instead, the path forward for the US is to continue to strengthen Israel’s position as a security pillar in the region while shoring up the US-allied Arab states and fostering closer cooperation between them and the Israelis against Iran. Key to this effort is the dismantling of the central tenets of the rejectionist position, namely the 1967 lines. This would not only nullify the Obama administration’s attempt to realign the US position, but also would make it all but impossible for that legacy to be revived in the future.

What matters for the US in the region is to consolidate its state alliance system to contain Iran and its assets. Progress in peace talks with the Palestinians is a matter of far less concern.

The diplomatic developments that 5779 didn't offer ... and those it did

Israel knows from dramatic diplomatic years.

The Hebrew year 5738 (1978) was such a year, with the White House signing of the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel.

Another such year was 5752 (1991), with the onset of the Madrid Conference. So was 5753 (1993) with the Oslo I Accord, 5755 (1994) with the signing of the peace treaty with Jordan, and 5778 (2018) with the move of the US Embassy to Jerusalem.

But not 5779, which will end Sunday night with Rosh Hashanah. This year will by no means enter the annals of the country’s history as one of those dramatic diplomatic years. It is not as if nothing happened diplomatically; there were some significant events – and especially nonevents – but it was by no means a diplomatic red-letter year.

Here’s a look at some of the key diplomatic events – and nonevents – that shaped 5779.

5779’s Person of the Year is a no-brainer: Avigdor Liberman

Our Person of the Year 5779 is not a scientist, artist, athlete or indeed any representative of merit.

Unlike other choices we have made along the years, like Nobel laureate Ada Yonath (5770) or world-renowned economist Stanley Fischer (5769), this time we could not flee to any of the many stories of Israeli excellence, for two reasons: first, there was no such major story this year, and second, 5779 was one of the most intensely political years in Israeli history, and our choice must reflect that distinction.

For that reason we also cannot choose this year a world leader, the way we did last year (Vladimir Putin) and three years ago (Donald Trump), or a Middle Eastern leader, as we did with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mohamed Morsi and Bashar Assad in 5766, 5772 and 5773, respectively.

Nor can we nominate a humble person who sacrificed for a cause, like Yigal Gueta (5777), the Shas MK who attended his gay nephew’s wedding even though it cost him his Knesset seat; or a martyr like Muhammad Bouazizi (5771), whose self-immolation sparked pan-Arab revolt; or a war victim like Alan Kurdi (5775), the Syrian toddler whose shipwrecked body was washed to a Turkish shore.

At the end of a year in which Israel held two general elections within five months, our choice must reflect this unprecedented distinction, the way we chose Alef (5767), the code-named woman whose accusation of Moshe Katsav triggered the president’s downfall, or Moshe Talansky (5768), whose testimony signaled Ehud Olmert’s political demise.

Having understood this, our choice of 5779’s Person of the Year is a no-brainer: Avigdor Liberman.

THE 61-YEAR-OLD tennis enthusiast who single-handedly thrust us into monumental tumult shaped this stormy year more than anyone else. All the rest of the year’s political protagonists seemed like pawns on Liberman’s chessboard.

Jordan's King Abdullah, in his speech to the UN, said literally nothing about Jordan.

Most of his speech was to support "Palestine" and to insult Israel.

But this section was so over the top as to sound like a parody:

My friends,
Collective action is also vital for ending bitter crises and conflicts. And no crisis has done more global damage than the core conflict in my region, the Palestinian-Israeli conflict

Global damage?

Britannica has the eight most deadly conflicts of the 21st century listed. Congo is the worst, with 3 million killed. #8 is Ukraine with 10,000 killed. In between are the Syrian civil war, Iraq and Yemen - all in the same region as Jordan!

Maybe he means that when Jews peacefully visit the Temple Mount, that they hurt the feelings of a billion Muslims and therefore that causes more global damage than any actual wars?

It begins with respect for the holy sites and rejecting all attempts to alter the legal status of East Jerusalem and the authentic historic character of the Holy City, Jerusalem. What lessons do we teach young people, when armed personnel enter Al Aqsa Mosque/Al Haram Al Sharif, even as Muslim worshippers gather to pray?

I'll tell you what lesson you are teaching them. You are teaching them that if Jews enter the site, they must be torn limb from limb, and therefore Jews must visit under protection.

Not exactly the tolerant message the King is pretending to give.

Forty years ago, my father, His Majesty the late King Hussein, who loved peace, stood in this very chamber, and decried the occupation and attempts, in his words, "to eradicate from the world's memory centuries of history and tradition and of spiritual, moral, and cultural ideals."

Israel has done far more to save and preserve Muslim history in Jerusalem than King Hussein ever did. The difference is that Israel also preserves Jewish history, and King Hussein and his father before him did everything they could to erase that.

The hypocrisy is off the charts. And this is the "moderate" Jordan, with a king who seems cool and modern with excellent English.

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There are three versions of Mahmoud Abbas' speech at the UN.

One is the official English version. One is the official Arabic version, which includes explicit support for paying terrorists and their families. And the third is the actual speech as given, where Abbas added a bizarre history lesson that no one seems to have discussed.

The conclusion of Mahmoud Abbas' speech at the UN, as officially translated into English by the Wafa news agency, was this:

In conclusion, I salute all our Palestinian people in Palestine, in the refugee camps and Diaspora and across the world and express our pride in them. I tell them: we are confident that this occupation, like all occupation that preceded it, will inevitably end; that the dawn of freedom and independence is coming; and that the oppression and aggression they have endured for so long will not last. A right is never lost as long as someone strives to claim it.

We salute our honorable martyrs, courageous prisoners and wounded heroes, and salute their resilient families who we will not give up on their rights. We salute to those remaining steadfast in our beloved homeland. The date of our freedom and the independence of State with its eternal capital Al-Quds is soon approaching.

The official Arabic transcript adds that Abbas' speech explicitly supported paying terrorists to the last penny of the PA's budget, and the video of the UN translation added an additional bizarre claim about how most countries have been "occupied." Here is the UN version as Abbas said it; you can watch it here starting at 23:15.

In conclusion, I salute all our Palestinian people in Palestine, in the refugee camps and Diaspora and across the world and express our pride in them. I tell them: we are confident that this occupation, like all occupation that preceded it, will inevitably end. Many countries have been occupied, including the United States - it was occupied once, and that occupation ended. In Europe and Africa, Latin America, we have seen many forms of occupation, and we say that the occupation of Palestine will end, Allah-willing, as it has ended in other countries, and we will continue to call for respecting our rights. A right is never lost as long as someone strives to claim it.

We salute our honorable martyrs, courageous prisoners and wounded heroes. We salute their resilient families. We will protect your rights regardless of the cost. I will not accept the claims of Israel. Even if I have only one penny left, I will give this penny to the families of the martyrs , the prisoners and heroes, and I will not accept these demands.

Peace, mercy and blessings of God.

I have no idea what he is talking about when he says the US was occupied. Texas in the Mexican American War?

Notice in the video the shot of Saeb Erekat and other PLO officials applauding the pro-terrorist statements.

The fact that the Palestinian Authority erases their explicit support for paying terrorists in their English translation has a silver lining. It shows that they are a bit embarrassed by their "pay to slay" policy. In Arabic, sure, they are proud to pay terrorists, but to the Western world they know this is not going to win them any points so they simply whitewash it.

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Morocco-born rapper features women with niqabs on cover of new album

Popular rapper French Montana, born and raised Karim Kharbouch in Morocco, created this cover for his new album:

American fans are saying that he is honoring his Muslim roots.
Monfana himself described the cover this way: ""You don't have to change who you are, you can bring people into your world. THIS MY ALBUM ARTWORK .. NOVEMBER ❤️🙏"

But does he mean he can bring religious Muslims into his world of rap?Isn't that changing who they are?

Bright red thigh-high boots indicate sexiness, while the niqab symbolizes the opposite. Yet they are still fully covered, meaning that sexiness might not be what people generally think. It is a provocative cover that only a person with Muslim roots could pull off.

The identically clad women with bright red thigh-high boots are reminiscent of the virtually identical women that Robert Palmer used to fill his videos with.

Moroccans are not happy. Hespress reports on some reactions.

"I invite you to stay away from mocking the Islamic religion," said one critic on Instagram, demanding that he delete the controversial picture.

Others considered the move to be a conspiracy against Islam itself. One wrote that it was"a mockery of the niqab in the dress of the wives of the Messenger of Allah and the dress of the believers."

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09/26 Links Pt2: Natan Sharansky: Why BDS Fails the 3D Test on Anti-Semitism; Howard Jacobson on his new novel, dwindling irony and anti-Semitism in the UK

From Ian:

Natan Sharansky: Why BDS Fails the 3D Test on Anti-Semitism

To distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism, 20 years ago I formulated the 3D test for anti-Semitism. The three Ds are demonization, delegitimization, and double standards - the three main tools that anti-Semites employed against Jews throughout history. This test shows that the same tools are being used today against the collective Jew - the Jewish State.

Many who support the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement may do so out of a naive belief that it is working to achieve a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But the movement takes it cue from the BDS National Committee based in Ramallah in the West Bank. It has one goal: the destruction of the State of Israel - a goal cleverly masked behind the veneer of fighting for human rights.

When caricatures against Israeli leaders repeat the worst anti-Semitic caricatures of Czarist Russia or Nazi Germany, depicting Israelis as crucifying Palestinians and portraying Palestinians as living in Nazi death camps - that is demonization.

When the legitimacy of the Jewish State is denied and, in the language of some of the founders and key promoters of BDS, there is no place for a Jewish state in the Middle East in any borders - that is delegitimization. Indeed, the movement's leader, Omar Barghouti, has said unequivocally: "Most definitely, we oppose a Jewish state in any part of Palestine.''

When the Jewish State is singled out for criticism that not even the vilest dictatorship is subject to and it is held to standards that not even the most vibrant democracy is judged by - those are double standards.

The United Nations Delegitimizes BDS

The United Nations’ Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Ahmed Shaheed, just released a report titled, “Combatting Antisemitism to Eliminate Discrimination and Intolerance Based on Religion or Belief.” Sadly, it came as no surprise to read about the proliferation of antisemitism across the globe, and about its multiple sources from across the political spectrum.

But when I read the Rapporteur’s recommendation that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s “Working Definition of Antisemitism” be regarded as a source of guidance for identifying future acts of antisemitism, I recognized that a new chapter in the opposition to the BDS campaign against Israel had arrived.

As noted in the report, the IHRA’s Working Definition defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews.” The definition continues: “Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

The report also provides the definition’s multiple examples of “contemporary antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere” — two of which could have been taken from the BDS playbook. They include:
Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

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

In concert, these two examples clearly reveal the antisemitic nature of the BDS campaign.

The @BDSmovement has been officially recognised as antisemitic by 15 countries, the EU and 33 US states who have adopted @TheIHRA definition of antisemitism.

Why do they still have a blue checkmark?#UncheckBDS #UnmaskBDS @4ILorg https://t.co/ZsdvzKqU93 pic.twitter.com/rGvLcM1RQ6
— The Mossad: Elite Parody Division (@TheMossadIL) September 25, 2019

Howard Jacobson on his new novel, dwindling irony and anti-Semitism in the UK

So where do British Jews go?
It would be nice to be rooting for the opposition, but I can’t root for Jeremy Corbyn or for Jeremy Corbyn’s party. What’s the more terrible? This is something that all the Jews I know say: What’s more terrible, Boris Johnson and his cynicism or Jeremy Corbyn and his rigid anti-Semitic ideology? He doesn’t think he’s an anti-Semite. He doesn’t call himself as an anti-Semite, but he’s an anti-Semite. Everything he says, everything he does, all these predilections, all the things he doesn’t notice. It’s anti-Semitism. So we can’t want him to win.
He doesn’t call himself an anti-Semite, but he’s an anti-Semite. Everything he says, everything he does, all these predilections… It’s anti-Semitism

I wouldn’t say it’s a perilous time for Jews, but it’s an anxious time for Jews.

Is the anti-Semitism people talk about in the UK as bad as it seems from the outside looking in?
Well, I mean, it’s not as though I go out onto the streets and fear for my life. I shouldn’t say that because I’m gonna get knifed today, but I don’t. I go around, I appear in public, I say things and I don’t get attacked for them. I’m not on Twitter, otherwise I might discover that people are abusing me roundly all the time. And there are places, of course, where people are attacked. There are places where if you were an Orthodox-looking Jew, and you’ve got a kippah and you’ve got your tzitzit [fringes], then you could be attacked, and some are attacked.

It’s an intellectual tone that’s discomforting. You never know how these things move from the opinion makers, the intellectuals, the politicians, the universities down into the mob. I think we can call them a mob again; they’re behaving like a mob. The universities are hotbeds of that form of anti-Semitism which claims it isn’t anti-Semitism, and says it’s anti-Zionism, which is nonetheless anti-Semitism. Those who say “I’m an anti-Zionist, I’m not an anti-Semite,” I will not admit that distinction. If they say “I don’t like Israel’s foreign policy, I don’t care for Netanyahu,” fine. That’s not anti-Semitism.

To not see the necessity of Zionism, or to refuse to see the necessity of Zionism, and to think of it as an ideology of cruelty, you have to be an anti-Semite, you have to be uneducated and ignorant. Then once you’ve been shown the truth, to persist in the idea, as Corbyn does, that “Zionism is a racist endeavor” — that’s the phrase that Corbyn likes — I think that’s a deeply anti-Semitic thing to say.

Nearly all Christians have fled Gaza due to attacks by Hamas, Salafis

Mako (Hebrew) has an interview with a Gazan who recently escaped from the Hamas-run enclave.

Since Hamas' rise to power in the Gaza Strip, Christians living in the sector have become the scapegoats and a target for harm from both Hamas and extremist Salafis. Due to their predicament, most of them fled; out of a community of 4,200 people twelve years ago, there are now several hundred left.

Until recently, Kamal Teresi was there to,o but managed to escape 4 months ago: "The Hamas people took over my house and turned it into a war room," he says.

Teresi provides a rare glimpse into the unbearable reality he and his community have had to face every day. "I was put in a number of prisons, and the Hamas prison is nothing but beating and psychological torture," he recalls. According to him, the attacks on Christians in Gaza has become routine, and it does not stop even in times of war.

"We Christians are not bystanders in Palestine, we have been in Palestine for two thousand years, we are not guests," says Kamal painfully. "They are harassing and hurting the Christian public and Christian institutions, churches and associations."

...One thing is certain for Kamal: he no longer has a way back: "I can't go back to Gaza, returning would be a death sentence."

So why haven't there been any reports by Amnesty, Human Rights Watch or Oxfam about the plight of Christians in Gaza?

Because those groups go out of their way to make Israeli Jews look bad, and to make Palestinians look good. For Israel, rumors or analyses by people already antipathetic to Israel get highlighted; for Palestinians, only undeniable abuses like torture or rocket fire or suicide bombs are grudgingly mentioned - and even then they are semi-excused by also talking about "occupation."

Over 80% of Christians have fled Gaza under Hamas rule. Things are better under the PA, but not that much - Bethlehem used to be 70% Christian and is now it is less than 15%, as Muslims intimidate them into leaving.

It is rare for a Christian to complain on the record about their Palestinian overlords, because they know what the consequences could be. So most articles have them dutifully toeing the line that everything can be blamed on Israel. Only a few reporters bother to look under the surface - and human rights groups are simply not interested.

(h/t Yoel)

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MK: Zionists Enslave Millions Of Bees To Make Rosh Hashanah Honey (PreOccupied Territory)

Our weekly column (delayed) from the humor site PreOccupied Territory.

Check out their Facebook page.

Jerusalem, September 26 - A legislator from the Joint List alliance of Arab parties accused supporters of Jewish self-determination of subjecting millions of flying, pollinating insects to bondage and exploiting the creatures to harvest the product of their hard work.

Member of Knesset Dabr Nhil of the Balad Party addressed the media following an orientation meeting for new parliamentarians, during which he claimed to have encountered for the first time the Jewish practice of dipping apples in Honey for the Jewish New Year - which in Israel, he discovered, means using a local product stolen from the enslaved indigenous bee population.

"Just when you think the murderous Zionist usurper rapists can sink no lower, you learn something even worse about them," he pronounced. "Millions, perhaps tens of millions of helpless bees, enslaved, relegated to hives where they must return from the field if they ever want to see their families again. Then, after an entire season's hard labor, gathering nectar, processing it, and storing it, the Zionist 'beekeeper' comes along and takes away the lion's share of the product. We Palestinians know the same treatment at the hands of the rapacious, plundering invader."

The Jewish practice of dipping piece of apple into honey on Rosh Hashanah represents but the most popular of a genre of the festival's culinary traditions, but by no means the only one in which MK Nhil sees oppressive colonialism at work. "Look at the way the bloodthirsty Zionists dismember the pomegranate," he added . "First they violently tear it from the tree, its source of nourishment and life, and then toss it like chattel into a container where, if it's lucky, it gets taken right to the distributor and then to the retailer, only one step away from its misery ending. But just as often the Zionist abusers prolong its suffering by keeping it in a cold environment with no light, no blankets, and not even warm clothing! It can take months of this ordeal before the pomegranate gets put out of its misery. And that they do with a knife and a spoon. The cruelty boggles the mind."

Nhil further accused Zionists of beheading fish in similar New Year rituals, and called on the International Court of Justice in The Hague to immediately open an investigation into the barbaric practices of Jewish-sovereignty-supporting groups responsible for the mistreatment of carrots, but especially butchering the English language with war-crime-level Rosh Hashanah puns such as "lettuce half-a-raisin celery."

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09/26 Links Pt1: Rivlin gives Netanyahu mandate to form government; UNRWA staffers share antisemitic content with no consequences; Why is Fatah hiding its Facebook Account?

From Ian:

Reuven Rivlin gives Netanyahu mandate to form government

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been given the chance to form a government for the sixth time on Wednesday, after succeeding in his five terms in office but not having the opportunity to do so following the April election.

President Reuven Rivlin formally gave Netanyahu four weeks to form the government, after a meeting at the President’s Residence with Blue and White leader Benny Gantz failed to bring about a breakthrough. The deadline will be October 24.

“Netanyahu had the best chance to form a government,” Rivlin said in a speech alongside the prime minister.

A Channel 12 poll broadcast Wednesday night found that the public prefers Netanyahu go first in a rotation with Gantz. But to avoid another election, a majority of respondents would like to see Likud replace Netanyahu with another candidate.

The survey of 700 respondents representing a statistical sample of the population was taken by pollster Camil Fuchs. The margin of error was 4%.

Rivlin said he gave the mandate to Netanyahu because he received 55 recommendations from MKs, compared with Gantz’s 54. He called upon parties to stop disqualifying each other and lamented that a unity government was not formed.

UNRWA
staffers share antisemitic content with no consequences, NGO says

UNRWA staff members, including teachers regularly share antisemitic and pro-terrorism content on social media and face no consequences, according to NGO UN Watch.

In a report published on Wednesday, the Geneva-based organization exposed posts from 10 United Nations employees that included praises of terrorism against Israelis, and a picture of Adolf Hitler describing him as a humanitarian.

The latest cases bring the total number of staff members uncovered sharing similar content to 100, according to the report.

“Despite our prior identification of UNRWA teachers who endorse Hitler and call for killing Jews, I am not aware of a single UNRWA teacher who has been fired as a result,” commented director of UN Watch Hillel Neuer. “Why is it that an ostensibly neutral UN agency that claims to teach tolerance continues to employ terrorist-supporting and antisemitic staff?”

UNRWA has often drawn widespread criticism for its soft stance on terrorism, including allowing Hamas to place rockets and weapons in its schools in 2014.

Moreover, the United Nations is currently investigating allegations of ethical misconduct by its senior staff members.

According to a report leaked to the media in July, the officials are accused of engaging in “sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority, for personal gain.”

Following the allegations, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland and New Zealand announced that they were temporarily suspending their financial contributions to the agency.

UN Watch collected the material included in the report based on information displayed publicly on Facebook, and by searching for UNRWA-related key words.

PMW: Why is Fatah hiding its Facebook Account?

Yesterday, Palestinian Media Watch reported that Fatah's terror promoting Facebook page had been closed. This came two weeks after PMW released a new report on Fatah's use of Facebook during 2019, documenting its continued terror promotion. This was joined by PMW's public pressure campaign, in cooperation with ACT-IL, in which thousands of people sent complaints to Facebook demanding that Fatah's page be permanently shut down.

Following the closure of the page, Facebook notified the press yesterday that they are still reviewing the complaints against Fatah's Facebook page and had not yet made a final decision and were not the ones who closed the page.

Yesterday evening, the editor of Fatah's Facebook page, Munir Al-Jaghoub, told The Times of Israel that Fatah itself closed the page because of PMW's campaign, apparently to hide it so that people won't be able to make complaints. Al-Jaghoub explained:
"We decided to close it down for a period of time as a precautionary measure. We were worried that Facebook would shut it down permanently because of that Israeli organization's [PMW] campaign and complaints against it." [The Times of Israel, Sept. 25, 2019]

The Times of Israel further reported that "He [Al-Jaghoub] and his [Fatah] staff decided to temporarily deactivate the page after they grew concerned that Facebook would shut it down over mounting complaints against its content... Jaghoub said he and his team intend to reactivate the page in the future, but have not settled on a date yet.

'We will be patient,' he said. 'We can reactivate it at any moment, but we want to make sure we do that after this wave of attacks against the page passes.'"

PMW views Al-Jaghoub's statement as a striking indicator of the terror content of Fatah's Facebook page that Fatah itself decided to close it down and hide it from public scrutiny to prevent their page from being shut down by Facebook.

There is no justification for Facebook to permit Fatah to reopen its page. We hope that Facebook will recognize what Fatah itself understands, namely that its Facebook page promotes terror, and keep Fatah's page permanently closed.

PMW: Vile Antisemitism on Fatah's Facebook Page

How Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah sees the Jewish role in the world:

"The [Jewish] tribe led the project to enslave humanity"

"[The Jews] were hated because of their racism and their filthy behavior"

The Jews allied with Nazis to burn Jews "to accumulate wealth"

The Jews say: "Only we are people, and all the others are our animals"

"Non-Jews... according to their worldview are snakes"

The Jews established "ghettos in order to separate from other people out of arrogance and disgust for non-Jews"

"Seventy years have passed since the artificial state's [Israel's] establishment... They [the Jews] have not removed from their consciousness the view of the other as inferior and the right to spill the blood of the nations"

Fatah: Jews allied with Nazi Germany to burn Jews for profit

Kelly Craft arrived at the UN with a bang - a full throated support and defense of Israel in her very first speech at the UN Security Council Briefing on the Middle East, delivered last Friday.

She doesn't have the passion of Nikki Haley, but still this speech did not get the publicity it deserves.

Thank you Mr. President, and thank you Mr. Mladenov, Ministers, and Ambassador Danon.

As you know, this is my first time participating in this monthly briefing. With this in mind, I would like to step back for a moment and speak broadly on how I intend to approach issues related to the State of Israel.

First—I believe it is important to be clear on serious matters. So, allow me to be clear on the relationship between the State of Israel and the United States of America.

The United States has always supported Israel in the past. The United States supports Israel today. The United States will always support Israel going forward. Israel will have no better friend than Kelly Craft.

Unfortunately, on matters related to Israel at the United Nations, many Member States do not play fair. I could speak endlessly about Member States’ excessive attention to the affairs of Israel, including complaints, unwarranted criticism, and the incessant number of resolutions condemning this great nation.

However, I do not wish to dwell on these well-worn points. As a person who finds value in emphasizing the positive, I wish to instead highlight Israel’s astonishing record of achievements.

Since its creation, Israel has served as a refuge and sanctuary for those fleeing persecution and repression. A vibrant and accomplished democracy, Israel has stood tall and steadfast, despite constant threats to its peace and security.

All the more impressive is that in this threatening environment, Israel strongly supports press freedom, defends gender equality, and houses a robust and innovative free-market economy. And in opposition as to what has been stated here, a nation that deeply respects the rule of law. Indeed, we have much to learn from her.

Further, as a hub for innovation, Israel has cultivated and earned its reputation as a startup nation. It is a global leader in research and development and has a vast network of international collaboration in this space. In fact, it is a leading investor in research and development as a percent of GDP and has been home to 5000 new startups in the past 10 years alone.

Much like the way they built their great nation, Israelis have used their spirit of courage, faith in education, and dogged determination to help their brothers and sisters around the globe.

There are many nations eager to condemn Israel that should instead study its resolve, study its constant efforts towards making the country stand as first among equals to any of the modern world, and study its benevolent pursuits in arts and sciences. In doing so, I believe a different picture will emerge—one that showcases all that Israel is and all that the world can gain from this great nation.

Please do not mistake my remarks here—my statement is not meant to indicate that other issues discussed here today, including the continued violence and terror from Hamas in Gaza as described by Mr. Mladenov in his briefing, are not important.

However, as we sit in this building that was created as a Hall of Peace, I believe it critically important that we acknowledge that no country should face the ceaseless barrage of unwarranted criticism, one-sided antagonism, or repeated negative spotlight.

The United States remains tirelessly committed to supporting Israel’s fair treatment here in this body as well as the UN system.

Further, it should come as no surprise that this is one of my chief priorities. The United States stands with our close friend and partner and will continue to oppose actions and statements that unfairly single it out. And as the Representative of the United States to the UN, I will work relentlessly to fight every effort that seeks to delegitimize Israel or undermine its security.

It is inexcusable that pervasive, anti-Israel bias still exists in the United Nations, and that we continue to witness attempts by some UN Member States to undermine Israel’s standing as a full member of the community of nations. The United States vigorously opposes all such efforts.

As I said when opening my remarks, I believe it is very important that I am clear on serious matters. So allow me to be clear on the relationship between the State of Israel and the United States of America once again.

The United States has always supported Israel in the past. The United States supports Israel today. The United States will support Israel going forward.

Israel will have no better friend than Kelly Craft.

Thank you.

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Leftist Jews fetishizing the Diaspora to justify their hate for Israel

Recently I wrote about the galut mentality that Jews have had drummed into them during centuries of living in the Diaspora. This mentality is one where the Jews know that they not truly a full member of society. They are like guests in someone else's house, and the host can choose to kick them out if they become too demanding.

The most famous joke about this mentality is: Two Jews are before a Russian firing squad, both offered blindfolds. One accepts, the other scornfully refuses. His friend urges him: “‘Shh . . . don’t make trouble.’”

This mentality is a difficult thing to get rid of. But it is worse when you embrace it.

One of Judith Butler's anti-Zionist arguments is that Jews are inherently diasporic. Basing her arguments on obscure Jewish thinkers or unknown kabbalistic interpretations, she believes that the Jew in the diaspora can be the model for how people should act, and specifically "The tradition of Jews living with non-Jews in the diaspora might well serve as a model for thinking about possibilities of co-habitation in Israel/Palestine."

To Butler, the Jews - and seemingly only the Jews - must always be subservient, undemanding of their own rights. Other peoples - devout Muslims, First Peoples, Chinese - can proudly celebrate their own culture and beliefs in front of the world, but the Jew must be quiet and deferential. This self-censorship is not considered a necessary evil, as the Disapora has long been regarded, but as an ideal.

It is notable that Judith Butler's review of Bari Weiss' book refers to her growing up in a Cleveland "shtetl."

I was thinking about this as I read the writings of professor Alan Singer, who I discussed yesterday. All of the things he dislikes about Jews are when they "make waves." He seems to believe that if only a small number of religious Jews from Poland hadn't moved to Germany, the Germans would not have slaughtered even the good assimilated Jews - like his relatives - in the Holocaust. Wearing black coats and shtreimels qualifies as "making trouble" for Jews who don't want their Jewishness to be so obvious.

For assimilated leftist Jews, proud Jewish Zionists and unapologetic Orthodox Jews are two sides of the same coin: people whose Judaism is front and center. This causes discomfort to the Diaspora Jew, and the discomfort translates into hate.

Some of them fetishize disapora Jewish culture. The foremost group keeping Yiddish alive (outside the Hasidic community) is the staunchly secular, socialist Workman's Circle. There is a restaurant in Brooklyn that serves traditional Jewish food along with shellfish and pork, that calls itself "Traif." All of these examples cultural Judaism are like a shirt that can be worn among others who share the same paper-thin affinity for their people, but that can be replaced when among the non-Jews who are the real ones that need to be impressed.

That diaspora version of Judaism is doomed. There is no reason for the cultural Jews' kids to want to care about matzoh ball soup and Seinfeld. But they do teach the next generation the mentality of "maybe if I try harder to assimilate the goyim will accept me as a true equal." Let's embrace liberal causes and call them Tikun Olam, to universalize Judaism so the assimilation can be complete with a minimum of the also-hereditary Jewish guilt.

The twin rules of the assimilated, leftist Jew is to dilute Judaism to the minimum possible and to not tolerate any Jew who actually stands up for specifically Jewish rights. The IfNotNow folks who want to march with immigrants would never be caught dead going to Brooklyn to show solidarity with the black-clad Jews that their own great-grandparents often resembled. But they use their Judaism to tell the non-Jewish world, see, there are Jews who are just like you, and even more so. We agree with you that the other type of Jew - whether religious or Zionist or, God forbid, settlers - is not to be tolerated. When there is a conflict between Israel and other countries, we will never side with Israel. If there are news reports blaming chasidim for overdevelopment or not vaccinating their children, we won't bother to find out if the reports are correct - those types of Jews are assumed guilty, because we can't stand them either.

The religious and the Zionists remind the assimilated diaspora Jews that they have abandoned what their ancestors gave their lives for.

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Lebanese President General Michel Aoun's speech at the UN made it clear that there was no difference between the Lebanese government positions and Hezbollah's. He said that the Shebaa Farms and other lands on Israel's side of the UN-drawn Blue Line is Lebanese, for example.

But his statement on UNRWA was notable. Aoun warned of the danger of curtailing UNRWA's services to Palestinian refugees, saying that "this is causing more social and financial pressure on us" and it threatens to transform the Palestinian youth from "students of knowledge to students of vengeance."

There is not a glimmer of guilt over how the Lebanese have been mistreating their Palestinian "guests" for seven decades.

And there is no outrage in the Arab world over an Arab leader assuming that Palestinian youth are inherently violent.

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.

09/25 Links Pt2: Israel, US urge EU to take action against anti-Semitic boycott movement; British Labour Party Adopts Anti-Israel Policies, First One on BDS; Berlin cancels Palestinian terror concert

From Ian:

Israel, US urge EU to take action against anti-Semitic boycott movement

Israeli and US officials warned Wednesday of a rise in attacks on Jews in western Europe and urged European Union leaders to stop funding organizations that support an international boycott of Israel, claiming they are encouraging anti-Semitism.

Strategic Affairs Minister Gilad Erdan said before meeting with a group of European lawmakers that the EU should make sure its money does not go to groups that support the Palestinian-led boycott movement.

In Brussels, Erdan also released a report cataloging alleged examples of BDS branches or activists using anti-Semitic content in their campaigns.

He accused movement activists of hiding their true agenda behind liberal values such as protecting human rights and freedom of expression.

“BDS leaders who use anti-Semitic language and images that also prove their principles, of boycotting the Jew among the nations, Israel, are anti-Semitic,” Erdan said.

The report included 80 examples of what Erdan called anti-Semitism by key European promoters of the BDS movement against Israel.

Behind the Mask: Denying the Jewish People Their Right to Self Determination is Antisemitism

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) defines the denial of the Jewish right to self-determination as antisemitism. IHRA is accepted in over 18 Western countries and over 30 US states. The Ministry of Strategic Affairs exposes the antisemitism of BDS leaders in a new report called "Behind the Mask".

France Welcomes the Saudis, Condemns Critics of Islam

"Mohammed Al-Issa, who heads the World Islamic League, is credited for more than 500 executions when he was Minister of Justice of Saudi Arabia from 2009 to 2015, and countless orders of torture including the conviction of the famous Raif Badawi with 1.000 lashes." — Michel Taube, Le Figaro, September 16, 2019.

Raif Badawi has just launched a hunger strike over mistreatment by the Saudi prison officials. "As part of their cruel crackdown, they've just confiscated his books & crucial medication." — Irwin Cotler, former Canadian Justice Minister and head of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights, in a tweet.

How can France, the country of "liberty, equality, fraternity," welcome the former Saudi minister who was in charge of Badawi's torture and imprisonment... who condemns apostates to death and inflicts public flagellation on dissidents such as Badawi?

Right after the extremist massacre at the weekly Charlie Hebdo, then-French President François Hollande invited the Saudis to join the march of solidarity in Paris. When the Saudis returned home, they started flogging Badawi.

Among the French Muslims, political Islam is rapidly increasing. Instead of embracing the West where they were born, the youngest generations are rejecting it.

Éric Zemmour, apparently, was found "guilty" by a French court of saying that Muslims should be given "the choice between Islam and France" and that "in innumerable French suburbs there is a struggle to Islamize territory". Freedom of expression... [is] under threat in France.

Berlin cancels Palestinian terror concert

After Israel’s ambassador to Germany Jeremy Issacharoff and his counterpart US ambassador Richard Grenell urged Berlin authorities to ban a slated Wednesday event with two Palestinian rappers who glorify terrorism against the Jewish state, the government of the German capital city relented at the 11th hour on Wednesday.

Martin Pallgen, a spokesman for the city’s interior ministry senator, wrote on Twitter: ”A decision with a ban on political activity is ready and will be sent to the musicians.” However, the pro-Palestinian rally was not banned.

Issacharoff tweeted on Tuesday: “I appeal to the #Berlin authorities to prevent this disturbing event at the Brandenburg Gate featuring antisemitic rhetoric and glorification of violence against Israel. Berlin should unite, not divide!”

Grenell said that he agrees with Issacharoff’s appeal and that the “rappers sing about the annihilation of Jews.”

Berlin’s mayor Michael Müller, who is reeling from hosting an antisemitic Iranian mayor of Tehran just weeks ago, faced another crisis moment. Müller has been accused over the years of being soft toward rising Jew-hatred in Germany’s capital.

The Palestinian rappers, Shadi Al-Bourini and Qassem Al-Najjar, have sung for military action against Tel Aviv and urged the destruction of Israel.

In 2012, a video featuring a song by the duo circulated Palestinian websites threatened Israel and promised to attack Tel Aviv, according to the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

Their music was “accompanied by still images of rockets being fired, a plane being shot out of the sky, and Israelis injured and bracing for imminent landing of rockets, among others,” MEMRI said.

The rappers sung: “Strike a blow at Tel Aviv. Strike a blow at Tel Aviv. Strike a blow at Tel Aviv and frighten the Zionists. The more you build it the more we will destroy it.”

Rosh Hashana is a’coming and I decided to do a roundup of all the random stuff that’s been floating in my head for a while. This will hopefully give you some food for thought for the new year. Included are two product recommendations, a recipe, some mussar, and of course, me being the Vard, some sarcastic political commentary, too.

In short, in this particular column, there’s a little something for everyone. So if one segment is not to your liking, by all means, skip past it to the next. I hope you’ll find some of it, useful.

Apple Noodle Kugel Recipe On An Old Orange Post-It

Last year, disaster struck and I could not find my special apple noodle kugel recipe in time for the holidays. And no wonder: it was on a teeny-weeny scrap of old stained paper, an orange post-it.

This year, I got proactive and went through every single recipe in my scrapbook, discarding any “loser” recipes. I also went through every single one of my cookbooks (there are a lot of them).

Well, what do you know: that old orange post-it turned up. But the experience prodded me to type up a fresh copy of the recipe, for posterity. I might as well share it with yinz.

Apple Noodle Kugel

Ingredients:

· 1 lb. wide noodles, cooked

· 1/4 cup margarine or coconut oil

· 1 cup yellow raisins

· 4 eggs

· 1 cup sugar

· 1 T. cinnamon

· 1 lb. apples, peeled, cored, and sliced

· 1 cup apricot preserves

Method:

1. Mix hot noodles with margarine. In separate bowl, mix eggs, sugar, and cinnamon.

2. Add apricot preserves and blend.

3. Stir in raisins and apple slices.

4. Bake in greased 9"x13" baking pan at 350° F (180 C) 75 minutes or until golden brown.

5. Cool kugel on wire rack.

Notes: To freeze, cool completely and double wrap as airtight as possible before placing in freezer. To serve, thaw overnight in fridge before reheating.

Speaking of Apples (and the Land)

It was ‘way back in August that I contemplated getting organized to bake for the upcoming High Holiday season. In our home, Rosh Hashana means apple and plum cakes, but I wasn’t so happy with the first apples coming onto the market.

I was tempted to complain, to post a status on Facebook about the crummy apples and my inability to bake as a result, but then I stopped and thought about the sin of the spies. Maybe I should better keep my mouth shut than appear to be slandering the Land of Israel and its produce?

And so I kept quiet, merely moaning to myself as I watched the days go by, calendar days wasted for not being able to bake and freeze some apple cakes. Fourteen days, to be exact.

Because only two weeks later, perfect apples began flooding the shelves of Israeli supermarkets, the kind of apples that when you cut into them, this gorgeous winy smell flies up into your nostrils reminding you of autumns past, and your family sitting around the table, dressed in their best, dipping slices of fruit into honey for a sweet new year.

These are the kind of apples that are a reward for good behavior, for not posting stupid comments about Israeli apples on Facebook for all and sundry to see.

And I only had to wait a little bit for that to happen.

Childrearing Advice from Rabbi Dr. Avraham Twerski

Rabbi Dr. Avraham Twerski is renowned for his work in the field of addiction. He’s also a Pittsburgh phenomenon, who was, in the past, known for dropping in on local AA meetings to lend moral support to those who suffer. When the good rabbi spoke at Mayanei Hayeshua Medical Center in Bnei Brak earlier this month, I was glad someone made the effort to film the talk for posterity. But I was overcome with nostalgia when I recognized two of the stories he told as stories I heard in my childhood, repeated to me secondhand by my brother, who knew Rabbi Twerski personally.

Here is one of those stories, a personal story about Rabbi Twerski and his father, on the right way to discipline a child, that I must have heard a dozen times growing up. It is still every bit as pertinent and lovely a story. It offers us a glimpse into the making of a sage.

Can Arabs and Jews Make Peace?

There’s a story in Shir Miriam, the book by Miriam Peretz who lost two soldier sons, of what it was like growing up in Morocco. As a little girl, Miriam went to the store on an errand. She waited in line and right as it was her turn, a group of Arab school children came in, rudely pushed her away, and the shopkeeper waited on them instead of her. Because she was a Jew, which meant she was inferior.

I read stories like that and I feel bad inside. But then I came across this clip shared by Miss Iraq, Sarai Idan, of two childhood friends, an Arab and a Jew, reuniting in Tunisia, and I felt much better.

An Israeli Jewish woman visited her once homeland Tunisia & met her Muslim childhood friend who she had not seen for 44 years 💕

Peace is possible if we learn how to co-exist https://t.co/T1n92nb8jc
— Sarai (Sarah Idan) Miss Iraq (@RealSarahIdan) September 9, 2019

Remember Miss Iraq? She posed with Miss Israel during a Miss Universe contest and when the photo hit the newsstands, Idan and her family were threatened. They actually had to leave the country! But Idan is still pushing coexistence on Twitter, for all that.

Now, I know I’m a starry-eyed fool, but I could watch that clip all day long. Does it change anything? Probably not. But I’ll keep watching, nonetheless, while continuing to follow Sarai Idan on Twitter.

Two Blue and White Products

Us pro-Israel people like to buy blue and white. So when I find a product that makes me happy and is made in Israel, I figure I should share this information with other like-minded souls. One product I’m currently in love with is this Even Shampoo with Linseed Oil for Dry/Damaged Hair. I found this expensive (just under $10) but amazing product at a pharmacy located at the Gush Etzion shopping center. But you can order it online at the Judaica Webstore if you don’t mind paying more.

Why do I like this shampoo? Well, for one thing, this shampoo is not like the cheap stuff that lathers up like crazy. You get this thick, velvety lather. And the smell is clean, subtle, and sophisticated. Finally, my hair looks better than it has in about 3 decades. (So sue me. I’m a toiletry snob.)

The other blue and white product I’m in love with is the signature room scent from the Carmel ForestSpa, a place I’ve always wanted to go. Well, the spa may be too rich for my blood ($10 shampoo is about as far as I go), but the room scent is divine and it’s a bargain. I first got a whiff of this air freshener when friends treated me to a facial after I quit smoking, many, many years ago. The woman who did my facial, Allegra, sprayed this stuff around the room and it smelled so good I nearly swooned. I liked it so much, in fact, that Allegra insisted on handing me her spray bottle, to keep. The only problem was that when the spray finished, short of going to an expensive spa, I had no way to get more.

Flash forward to last year, when the hubster and I visited the newish Jerusalem branch of the Isrotel chain, the Orient Jerusalem, to have coffee in the lounge (note that the coffee is excellent!). After, we took a stroll around the hotel, and in the process checked out the shops where we saw they have all the room scents for the various branches of the hotel chain in various formulations. We bought a small bottle (4.05 oz.) of the Carmel Forest scent for 100 shekels (or $28.59, as of this writing). Nine months later, the level of the liquid inside the bottle is only one-third of the way down, so it is definitely long-lasting stuff.

I looked at the website for the hotel and while you can’t order the spray online, it says they take orders over the phone. Doesn’t hurt to try giving them a call at 972 2 5699027.

It’s a luxury item, for sure. But a relatively inexpensive one. I spritz a few sprays in the air and suddenly it smells like a luxury spa. When the smell rises up, Dov always says, “Now, we’re rich,” because that’s mamash what it smells like. Like we’re rich. And sometimes illusion is everything.

Is the Poway Shooter Colorblind?

At a September 19 hearing described as “dramatic,” a judge ruled that John T. Earnest would stand trial for murder and attempted murder at the Chabad synagogue in Poway, California. Those in attendance at the hearing, were treated to a recording of Earnest’s 12-minute conversation with a 911 dispatcher, in which he said, “I'm defending our nation against the Jewish people, who are trying to destroy all white people.”

I read that and my mind flashed to the photos I’d seen of Lori Kaye, the woman he’d murdered in cold blood. She was fair and blond and absolutely white. Which had me wondering with not a little sarcasm if perhaps Earnest is colorblind and whether maybe he could use that as a defense, kind of like the insanity plea.

Lori Kaye, HY"D, who took a bullet for her rabbi.

Of course, not all Jews are white, but plenty of us are, so you have to wonder how anyone believes this stuff. (Or maybe they don’t and they just want to believe it so they can handle guns and shoot people up. Like John T. Earnest did in Poway.)

The Annoying Resurgence of Jewish Life in Europe—Next Year in Vilna??

Every time I read of the resurgence of Jewish life in Europe, I get annoyed. What? Close to 7 million of us you gassed and burned, and still we build synagogues in your cities? A lokh in kopf.

And now the latest in the rush to repopulate Europe with Jews (to kill): Vilnius is getting its first yeshiva since WWII. Now I read that and think: why would you learn Torah in the Jerusalem of Lithuania when you can learn Torah in the actual Jerusalem, in Israel? (I really don’t get this. Will someone please explain it to me. Slowly, in words I can understand.)

Wishing all of us a Shana Tova, a sweet new year.

Next year, in Jerusalem.

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