Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Keeping Our Honor in the Middle East (Vic Rosenthal)

Vic Rosenthal's Weekly Column

What I’m about to write will probably be off-putting, even offensive to some Western readers. But it’s a subject that is extremely relevant to life in much of the rest of the world, especially in the Middle East. Everyone knows that tribal identity plays an important role here, more so than in the West. And there is a related idea that is no less important.

I’m talking about honor, and what I believe to be the moral imperative to maintain one’s honor and the honor of one’s tribe or nation.

Right now, the Tikkunists of liberal Judaism (and liberal Christianity as well) are running for the exits. According to the philosophy espoused by liberal, humanistic Westerners, the only moral considerations are those that relate to not hurting others and being fair to all. Indeed, many believe that tribalism and nationalism are actually immoral, because they imply treating outsiders and insiders differently.

But in other cultures, there are other principles that are important, in many cases important enough to die – or kill – for. One of them is honor, which refers to the public reputation of a person or tribe for the willingness to do whatever is necessary to defend its property and interests. In the Middle East, a person (or nation) that will not fight to protect their property deserves to lose it.

This is at variance with Western usage of the word. In the West, honor is an objective characteristic of an individual. In the Middle East, it refers to the subjective beliefs of others about an individual, a family, a tribe, or a nation. In the West, honesty is the most important component of honor. In the Middle East, toughness and the willingness to do what you must to protect yourself or your group are what determine the degree of honor you possess.

When you lose honor, which you do by not defending yourself when someone takes something of yours or hurts you in some other way, you put the world at large on notice that it is permissible to hurt you. The consequences of losing your honor include losing your property or your life.

In some Arab societies the concept has expanded to a pathological degree. Insofar as women are considered property, even a hint that the “ownership” of a woman by her own or her husband’s family is compromised is enough to damage the honor of her family. Such cases often have tragic endings, when the woman is murdered by close family members in order to restore the family’s honor. This happens even among well-off, educated Arab citizens of Israel.

I do not suggest that we adopt the hateful pathologies of Arab societies. But many Israelis, particularly the Ashkenazi elite that comprise our decision-making classes, are too quick to trade honor for peace and quiet. Our enemies value honor more than we do. There are countless examples of damaging compromises: we don’t punish terrorists in a manner commensurate with their crimes (i.e., we don’t kill them, and sometimes we even punish our own soldiers for killing them). We don’t retaliate for arson balloons, or sometimes even for rocket attacks.

We allow Arab members of the Knesset to literally call for the destruction of the state, despite a law that says that anyone who does that may not sit in the Knesset (we disqualify right-wing Jewish candidates for less). We selectively enforce laws, tax regulations, etc., in favor of Arab citizens to avoid trouble. We allow our enemies to hold our citizens, dead and alive, captive. And, disgracefully, we have allowed the piecemeal takeover of the Temple Mount and most of the Old City of Jerusalem by the Palestinian Arabs, after the high price in blood that we paid to take them back in 1967.

I could go on and on, but it is always the same: it would be hard, expensive, dangerous, or – very important – make us look bad in the eyes of the West, if we were to protect our honor; and since honor is only subjective, why bother?

But honor is not “only subjective.” In the Middle East, deterrence is not determined only by the size of your army and whether you have nuclear weapons (not that these aren’t important); honor is a big part of it. Why is it possible for Hamas to keep throwing thousands of terrorists at our border fence every Friday, and to burn our fields and forests with impunity? Could it be that the repetition of rocket attacks is due to our policy of attacking empty buildings? When we don’t kill those who are trying to kill us, the message is sent that they should keep trying.

While Israel has great military power at hand, it keeps squandering its honor. When Hillel said, “If I am not for myself, who will be for me?” he was saying that it is morally required to act in one’s own interest, no less so than it is morally wrong to be “for myself alone.” One of the characteristics of moral situations is that moral principles sometimes conflict, and that makes it hard to take decisions in particular cases. In Israel, it often happens that our Western moral sensibility conflicts with Middle Eastern imperatives. Unfortunately, the Western sensibility usually pushes the Middle Eastern one aside. We need to learn to balance these principles before our honor deficit becomes so great that we completely lose the ability to defend ourselves.

We can start by removing those members of the Knesset who despise and incite against the Jewish state, by ensuring that terrorists do not survive to enjoy the benefits paid to them by the Palestinian Authority, by taking back sovereignty over the Temple Mount and the Old City, by making Hamas pay in blood for burning our fields, and so on.

Some will say that this is unjust or illiberal, and perhaps by Western standards – standards growing out of Hellenistic and Christian traditions, which do not factor in honor – they may be correct. But we live in the Middle East, not Seattle or Berkeley, and in this neighborhood you can’t ignore tribe, nationality, or religion – and above all, honor.

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10/23 Links Pt2: Pro-Israel YouTube channel discovers YouTube has been hiding its videos; Czech lawmakers pass resolution condemning BDS; The Tlaib and Omar Affair – what we learned about the Democratic Party

From Ian:

Pro-Israel YouTube channel discovers YouTube has been hiding its videos

Hiding pro-Israel videos and content is nothing short of antisemitic. Maybe some want to claim that it is anti-Israel and not antisemitic, but we just call that modern antisemitism. It might look different than it did before the modern state of Israel existed, but antisemitism is antisemitism. Stopping people from seeing content that supports the Jewish state – well, what else would that be called? It screams antisemitism!

If YouTube tried to stop people from seeing pro-Muslim videos, the world would be outraged. If YouTube tried to stop people from supporting the Palestinian Arabs, again, the world would be outraged. But when it comes to the Jewish people and the Jewish state, the world is silent.

YouTube shuts down Israeli NGO’s channel for showing UNRWA violence videos

YouTube has shut down the channel of the Center for Near East Policy (otherwise known as the Israel Resource Review) for what it claims were “repeated or severe violations of our Community Guidelines on Violence or Graphic content.”

In a letter sent last week to the center’s head, David Bedein, “the YouTube Team” said that the platform “prohibits violent or gory content posted in a shocking, sensational or disrespectful manner.

“We have decided to keep your account suspended,” the letter continued. “You won’t be able to access or create any other YouTube accounts.”

The letter, according to Bedein, was in response to an appeal by the organization. The YouTube channel was shut down for the first time about one week prior.

The Center for Near East Policy works to uncover corruption within the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, UNRWA. The organization has produced several mini documentaries, including UNRWA in Jerusalem: Anatomy of Chaos, which examines what it describes as the “human tragedy of life in the UNRWA refugee camp of Shuafat, in the heart of Jerusalem.”

Another documentary, Terror of Return, was shot on the Gaza border in the summer of 2018, showing how “UNRWA’s right of return policy is the ideological foundation with which the next generation of children are brainwashed to believe.”

The documentaries are filmed by Arabs on site and produced by academics in Israel.

“The only real proof that UNRWA is violent is film,” Bedein told The Jerusalem Post. “We have statements by UNRWA children, but these are just statements. The films are convincing proof.”

He said he was shocked that a social media outlet would shut down a team of journalists for doing their jobs.

Czech lawmakers pass resolution condemning BDS movement

The lower house of the Czech parliament on Tuesday passed a resolution condemning all forms of anti-Semitism as well as calls for boycotts of Israel.

The non-binding resolution, which passed the Chamber of Deputies with an overwhelming majority, strongly condemns “all manifestations of anti-Semitism directed against individuals, religious institutions, organizations as well as the State of Israel, including the denial of the Holocaust.”

It further rejects “any questioning of the State of Israel’s right of existence and defense” and “condemns all activities and statements by groups calling for a boycott of the State of Israel, its goods, services or citizens.”

The resolution calls on the government in Prague not to offer any financial support to groups that promote a boycott of Israel and to intensify efforts to prevent anti-Semitism. It also urges the government to provide “greater security” to people and institutions that could become the target of anti-Semitic attacks.

During a brief discussion before the vote, lawmakers stressed the historically close relations between Israel and the Czech Republic.

Jan Bartošek, the head of the Christian Democrats faction in the chamber, who introduced the resolution, said the Czech Foreign Ministry helped formulate the wording of the resolution.

“I am convinced that Israel is our strategic partner and ally in the Middle East,” he said.

Okay, so it’s the Daily Mail, it's sensational. So you don’t exactly trust it. Still, it was disturbing to read: “Teacher is sacked for 'joking' to Jewish primary school pupils that she would 'ship them off to the gas chambers' if they didn't finish their homework.”

The whole thing happened in front of a class of 28 ten-year-olds, 11 of whom are Jewish. Trying to get them to hand in their work, the teacher said, “You better finish off your work quick, or I’ll ship you all off to the gas chambers.”

The kids told their parents, the teacher got fired, and that’s all fine, as far as I’m concerned. I don’t need a backstory. These basic facts are enough. That teacher deserved to be fired.

Newberries Primary School, in Hertfordshire

But one of my friends (let’s call him “Max”) thought the dismissal of the teacher was “a shonda for de goyim.” From his point of view, we had a chance to show this teacher just how wonderful and merciful we are, and instead of least giving her a chance to prove that she was ONLY JOKING, we got her fired.

To Max, it’s as if a traditional antisemitic trope has been played out ON THE STAGE OF REAL LIFE and now this teachers thinks we are nasty Jews who run the world and get people fired.

This is sad and bad.

Max thinks we would have done better to educate the teacher, (in particular about the destruction of the Temple!) rather than fire her. Otherwise, he says, we are “only creating more Jew-haters.”

Max, it is clear, prefers to take a gentler approach, to be “nice” about the Holocaust, and assume the teacher had only been joking, just like she said. He thinks we have no reason NOT to believe her.

But this I do not understand: Why does Max want to be “nice” about the Holocaust?

Scratch marks on gas chamber wall in Auschwitz

Because from my point of view, there is no world in which we should be nice about the Holocaust, ever. There is no paradigm or context in which the idea of systematically gassing and burning millions of my people because they are Jews, is funny. And for an educator to have access to young minds using such horrific images with such a stupendous lack of sensitivity is, to me, pure evil.

No. There is no benign way to look at this. None at all.

I can’t judge Max, of course. I can only turn his supposition around in my mind, try to see a context, weigh these things against my own beliefs and come to a conclusion. Could she have been joking? Could it be that to the teacher, threatening kids with gas chambers was a way to inject some lighthearted fun into things? Like telling ghost stories in the dark or going on a roller coaster? Like, “MWUHAHAHAHA, if you don’t do your homework, I’ll send you to the gas chambers, My Pretties!”

You see what I did there, right? I tried to look at things from the perspective of Max.

I failed.

Because there is no way young minds should be exposed to such an attitude: such appalling insensitivity and ignorance as that teacher displayed. And that is why the parents had to speak out. It’s what we have to do, every single time someone is cavalier about the horrors that have decimated our people. In particular in the case where the offender is an educator. And in particular in front of Jewish children, who feel these things more deeply than their classmates. Which is only natural.

So you see, from my point of view, this was exactly the right time to fire this teacher, and it was also the right thing to do. Why? Because this teacher failed at her job in every possible way: as an educator, as an example for young people, and as a human being.

Max thinks we should educate the teacher. We could do that: give her a course on the Holocaust (rather than on the destruction of the Temple). But here is what I wish Max understood: it is not our responsibility to educate that teacher. It is her responsibility to educate herself. It is every person’s responsibility to know and internalize the lessons of this recent history: the lessons of the Holocaust.

We are speaking of a teacher. Presumably college-educated. This person can read. What happened in the Holocaust is all on record.

The Holocaust did not, after all, take place in Ancient Greece.

This is contemporary history.

It's practically NOW.

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YNet reports:

A Palestinian from the West Bank who converted to Judaism in Israel was inexplicably arrested by Palestinian Authority forces security forces over two weeks ago and has been held in custody ever since. He claims to have been tortured during that time on multiple occasions, which left his limbs badly burned.

The 50-year-old is Hebron resident who worked at a supermarket in the Jerusalem area. He converted on the eve of Rosh Hashanah three weeks ago at a strict Haredi court in the city of Bnei Brak by Rabbi Nissim Karelitz, who passed away on Monday.

Prior to his conversion he studied at Machon Meir Yeshiva in Jerusalem, an institution strongly associated with nationalist politics and settler movement. He was in the process of having his conversion recognized by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel before he was arrested, which would have allowed him to apply for Israeli passport.

On the eve of Yom Kippur, the man traveled to an area of the West Bank under Palestinian security control, just beyond the section of the territory under Israeli security control. There, he was supposed to meet with one of his nine children, who along with their mother are all Muslim.

During the family reunion, a white Skoda vehicle carrying four men approached the 50-year-old. The men got out of the car, dragged the Palestinian into the vehicle and drove away. Later, the man was dropped off at a police station in Hebron by the four.

Haim Perg, the leader of the Jewish community in Hebron, is helping the Palestinian with his legal troubles and according to him, the 50-year-old is the grandson of a Palestinian man who helped save Jews during the 1929 Hebron massacre.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's like my son, and I will shake up the world for somebody to come and save him," Perg said. "The man's grandfather rescued 26 Jews during the events in Hebron. Now that he is in danger, we have a commitment to help him."

Perg added that he spoke by phone with the Palestinian who told him he was being badly beaten and had even had his hands and feet burned during the torture he’s had to endure.

This story has been out in English for 24 hours, and tweeted to Human Rights Watch. Yet even though they tweet lots about Israel, this story somehow is not important enough to even tweet.

The reason, of course, is that to HRW, Arab and Muslim antisemitism is a topic that must never be mentioned or hinted at.

Look at this article from a HRW researcher about antisemitism in Europe in 2015 after a spate of mostly Muslim attacks on Jews:

In January, four Jewish men were killed in a kosher supermarket in Paris, two days after the brutal attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo that left 12 people dead. Last week, a man attacked a synagogue in Copenhagen, killing a Jewish man as he guarded the building during a Bat Mitzvah celebration.... Last May, a man shot four people dead in a Jewish museum in Brussels. In 2012, a man and three children were shot dead at a Jewish school in Toulouse.

Not once is the fact that these were Muslim attacks mentioned. And if you would come up with that conclusion on your own, HRW doesn't want you to take any guesses that perhaps Islamists have a problem with Judaism:

[T]he factors which drive some to commit violence are complex too; some attackers may have been exploited and coerced, while others may have acted more out of frustration than deep-seated hatred.

HRW is bending over backwards to excuse Islamist antisemitism!

But when the synagogue in Halle was attacked on Yom Kippur, then HRW mentioned "right wing extremism." That can be named, Islamic and left wing extremism cannot be.

Interestingly enough, the German report on extremism linked to by HRW has separate sections on right-wing, left-wing and Islamic violence. But HRW only mentions one of them and does everything it can to erase the other two.

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10/23 Links Pt1: Terrorists Call for Killing Jews -- from UN HQ in Gaza; Palestinian who converted to Judaism arrested, badly beaten by PA forces; ‘Don’t take Jews, Christians’ as allies, Turkish ad warns

From Ian:

Terrorists Call for Killing Jews -- from UN HQ in Gaza

Leaders of several Palestinian factions are again calling for stepping up terrorist attacks against Jews. The difference is that this time, the calls were made during a sit-down strike held by Palestinians outside the offices of the United Nations in the Gaza Strip.

The leaders of the Palestinian factions chose to issue their calls for killing Jews in front of the UN offices in the Gaza Strip. It is as if they are asking the UN to approve their continual terrorist attacks against Israel.

What is clear -- and disturbing -- is that the UN officials in the Gaza Strip choose to remain silent when the Palestinian leaders came to their offices to incite their people to step up their terrorist attacks.

The sit-down strike was organized by the "Jerusalem Department" of Hamas, the terrorist group that has been ruling the Gaza Strip since the summer of 2007. The purpose of the sit-down strike was, according to Hamas, to protest visits by Jews to the Temple Mount, or Haram Al-Sharif -- a site in Jerusalem sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

Hamas, which governs the Gaza Strip near Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority (PA), which governs the West Bank near Jordan, as well as other Palestinian factions have long been waging a vicious campaign of incitement against the decision by Israeli authorities to allow Jews to tour the Temple Mount compound.

The Palestinians are opposed to the presence of Jews on the Temple Mount -- whether as visitors or worshippers. Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount is completely forbidden by the Israeli police, and Jewish visitors are forbidden from singing, whispering, praying or making any kind of religious displays. Still, the Palestinians continue to incite against the Jewish tours, ignoring the fact that the Israeli authorities do not allow Jews to pray on the Temple Mount.

The PA and Hamas officials and media outlets regularly describe the peaceful visits by Jews as "violent invasions by extremist Jewish settlers into the Al-Aqsa Mosque."

Political Islam Is Declining in the Middle East

The lack of a reaction to the death of former Egyptian president Muhammad Morsi and the absence of religious demands by protesters in Algeria, Sudan, and Iraq suggest that political Islam is waning after the defeat of ISIS three years ago.

Few live images were more dramatic than the collapse and death of former Egyptian president Muhammad Morsi, the first-ever Muslim Brotherhood head of state, in a transparent glass cage on June 17, 2019 during his seemingly never-ending trial proceedings in Cairo.

No one outside Egyptian officialdom questioned the severe conditions of Morsi’s incarceration since the day special forces surrounded the presidential home and placed him under arrest in July 2013, paving the way for his minister of defense, Abdel Fatah Sisi, to rise to the presidency in his stead.

For all the human drama of Morsi’s death, it prompted barely a whisper among the Egyptian public. It elicited protests by hapless exiled Muslim Brotherhood leaders, a predictable tirade by Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and some ineffective criticism from Qatar’s al-Jazeera, which shares Erdoğan’s antipathy to Sisi and sympathy for the Brotherhood.

When Egyptians took to the streets three months after Morsi’s death, their chants – “Down with Sisi’s tyrannical regime” – had nothing to do with Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood, or Islamist ideology.

The same can be said of the months-long protests that are taking place in Algeria and Sudan, which have been described as the stirrings of a new “Arab Spring.” Their common denominator is the marked absence of political Islam in the protesters’ messages.

Khaled Abu Toameh: ‘Arab Spring will spread to Palestinian territories’

Masri pointed out that Palestinians had joined the Arab Spring by launching protests against the PA and Hamas. The protests, however, were swiftly squashed by the PA and Hamas security forces.

He also noted that Palestinians have in recent years proven that they are capable of launching protests, such as the demonstrations in the West Bank against the PA’s social security law and the widespread protests against economic hardship in the Gaza Strip earlier this year.

“Those who believe that Palestine, its leadership and its president are immune from the extension of the Arab Spring because they are under [Israeli] occupation are mistaken,” Masri cautioned.

The “Israeli occupation,” he wrote, “does not provide a guarantee that Palestine won’t face popular uprisings. The general crisis the Palestinian cause is suffering from now, and the disaster we are experiencing as the division [between the West Bank and Gaza Strip] continues and deepens, justify a revolution against the ruling elites.”

Palestinians refer to the split between the West Bank and Gaza Strip, which began in 2007, as inkesam (division). Then, Hamas violently took control of the Gaza Strip after toppling the PA.

The Palestinian political analyst warned that if Palestinian leaders don’t implement reforms and allow public participation in the decision-making process, change will come “through a revolution and public outrage.”

The New York Times vs Orthodox Jews

By Daled Amos

Worldwide antisemitism is getting worse, with a spike in expressions of Jew-hatred and attacks on Jews, reminiscent of levels during the years leading up to the Holocaust.

Not so long ago, this seemed to be mostly an issue for European Jews.
Not any more.

In the US, during the past couple of years especially, antisemitism has boiled over from college campuses to social media, to public figures and Congressional representatives.

Antisemitism on the right makes headlines -- the violence that accompanies it ensures that it makes the news.

Islamic antisemitism still escapes scrutiny, and kneejerk cries of "Islamophobia!" effectively deflect criticism.

Meanwhile, antisemitism on the left is still denied outright.

Especially in New York City.

Over the past months, reports of attacks on Chasidic Jews appear regularly on Twitter, often accompanied by video revealing that African Americans are behind the attacks.
This goes against the narrative.

That was the problem in Crown Heights in 1991 during the riots.

Former New York Times journalist Ari Goldman wrote in 2011 about what it was like trying to report on what was happening during those riots. He describes it as a case of Telling It Like It Wasn't, where he witnessed journalism "go terribly wrong." The media insisted on framing the violence as a two-sided "racial conflict" between Blacks and Jews -- ignoring the pervasive antisemitism behind the riots themselves:

In all my reporting during the riots I never saw — or heard of — any violence by Jews against blacks. But the Times was dedicated to this version of events: blacks and Jews clashing amid racial tensions. To show Jewish culpability in the riots, the paper even ran a picture — laughable even at the time — of a chasidic man brandishing an open umbrella before a police officer in riot gear. The caption read: “A police officer scuffling with a Hasidic man yesterday on President Street.”

Today, the relationship between The New York Times and the Jewish Community continues to be problematic.

Last year, The Algemeiner published a collection of posts by Ira Stoll from 2016 to 2018 on anti-Jewish and anti-Israel bias in The New York Times. Entitled "The New York Times and The Jews", the book is divided into chapters such as "Double Standards," "Jerusalem" and "Iran."

There is also a chapter devoted to "Hasidim."

Stoll introduces the chapter:

"If the Times newsroom had any Hasidic Jews as reporters or editors, or if the newspaper's reporters and editors had more Hasidic Jewish friends, maybe the newspaper would be less inclined to hurl pejorative adjectives at them."

Or as Stoll notes elsewhere:

Is there any group of people who the New York Times feels comfortable insulting as openly and easily as Orthodox Jews?

For example, Stoll writes that New York Times Column Smears Satmars as Ignorant Welfare Sponges.

In that piece, he quotes a New York Times article complaining that:

A history of pandering to the ultra-Orthodox in Brooklyn goes back at least to the days of Mario M. Cuomo...According to a 2011 study by the UJA-Federation of New York, the Jewish philanthropic organization, just 11 percent of Hasidic men and 6 percent of Hasidic women in and around New York City hold bachelor’s degrees, while the poverty rate among Hasidic households stands at 43 percent, nearly twice the figure citywide.

Stoll points to a significant omission by the New York Times article: the data for the Hasidic poverty rate comes from a Special Report on Poverty which actually readjusts the federal poverty guideline for the purposes of defining poverty so that "a poor household is a household whose annual income is less than 150% of the 2010 federal poverty guideline" [p. 21]. So for example this would contrast "100% of the federal poverty guideline ($22,000) and the 150% level ($33,000) [p. 125].

Similarly, while the article makes a point of mentioning Satmar's geographic roots:

the Satmar, its name taken from the Hungarian town of Szatmar, where Rabbi Teitelbaum had fought to resist the encroachments of a modernizing society. Subsequent decades have seen virtually no retrenchment in the sect’s mistrust of the larger world.”

-- there is no attempt to show the connection between that "mistrust" and the Holocaust.

One of the comments to Stoll's article notes that The New York Times refers to the Satmar having "immigrated to the United States, colonizing a section of Williamsburg in Brooklyn for his Hasidic sect" That kind of language is unlikely to be used with other immigrant groups.

In another article, Stoll notes how the New York Times Obsessively Cheerleads for Those Exiting Orthodox Judaism. While the topic itself is reasonable and "those struggling with their transitions in life certainly deserve compassion and support" -- The New York Times itself appears fixated on the topic:

o An October 2014 Times “On Religion” column by Samuel G. Freedman addressed this topic, mentioning Footsteps -- a non-profit organization that describes itself as helping those "contemplating leaving, insular ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities in their quest to lead self determined lives."

o An August 2015 report for a New York Times subsidiary, 'the Women in the World conference', also mentions the group Footsteps a second time. The subheadline of that report is, “Women who leave ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities often face isolation, loneliness, and a crisis of identity.” That article mentions Faigy Mayer, a former Belz hasid, reporting, “it remains unclear how — or even if — Mayer’s past contributed to her suicide.”

o A March 12, 2017 Times feature about actors in a Yiddish play reported: “During a rehearsal break, the five actors discussed going ‘off the derech’ — or O.T.D. — and refers to leaving the Hasidic religion and lifestyle.”

o A March 30, 2017 New York Times Magazine article goes over the same ground again, reporting about Footsteps yet a third time and again referring to the suicide of Faigy Mayer.

At no point is proof offered that suicide rates are higher among Orthodox Jews than non-religious Jews -- in fact studies indicate the opposite.

More to the point:

If the Times finds individual religious transitions so newsworthy, one wonders, why doesn’t it write more about people leaving other religious traditions — say, people struggling to abandon Catholicism, or Mormonism, or Islam? Or why doesn’t it write, in the same sympathetic and supportive and non-skeptical tone, about people unhappy with their secular upbringing who are finding meaning and happiness by becoming religious Jews?

Instead the newspaper obsesses over the formerly Orthodox Jews.

In The New York Times Tries Explaining Its Flawed Crusade Against Yeshivas, the issue is the criticism of Yeshivas:

39 yeshivas were violating state law by not providing students, particularly boys, an adequate education in secular subjects like English, math and science.

Stoll contacted the paper and wanted to know why no one defending the schools was quoted in the story. When an editor answered his question, they did not say it was because no one responded to their request for comment.

They just didn't think a comment from the Yeshivas themselves was necessary:

We saw this as an article about the city and the status of the investigation, so when we went to get comment, we went to the subject: the city.

In Jewesses Bathing in Public Pools? New York Times Editorial Writers Can’t Stand the Stench, Stoll notes the double standard comparing Orthodox Jews and Muslims. A June 2016 New York Times editorial describes the idea of providing women-only hours at a public swimming pool in Williamsburg, Brooklyn as a “strong odor of religious intrusion into a secular space.” Yet, he points out, a February 2016 article just a few months earlier actually praised a Toronto pool offering women-only hours for Muslims as "a model of inclusion"

During 2019, Stoll has not highlighted New York Times articles targeting religious Jews -- but Jews in general have been singled out.

Stoll notes that a New York Times article deliberately entitled, “A Leading Jewish Philanthropist Is Accused of Sexual Harassment” had triggered complaints because of the gratuitous mention of a Jewish philanthropist. The headline in the online version of the article instead identifies the subject as "a leader in Jewish philanthropy."

Similarly, in Useful Idiots and Trumpist Billionaires Paul Krugman calls out Trump fundraiser Stephen Ross for his support for what Krugman takes for granted is a racist:

Ross is Jewish — and anyone Jewish has to be completely ignorant of history not to know that when bigotry runs free, we’re always next in line for persecution.

In fact, the ingredients for an American pogrom are already in place.

Stoll notes how odd Krugman's formulation is:

o Jews are rarely next in line for persecution -- usually, we are first in line
o  Here is Krugman warning that the ingredients for a pogrom are in place -- without any mention of the attacks on synagogues in Pittsburgh and Poway that have already happened.
o  Krugman's attack on "anyone Jewish" casts an awfully wide net
o  You need not look further than Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib to see that Republicans have not cornered the market on bigotry

Stoll concludes

Personally, I’m not hosting any fundraisers for Trump. But, unlike Krugman, neither am I Jew-shaming any of my fellow Jews who choose to do so.

Of course, if anything stood out in The New York Times this year when it came to reporting on Jews, it was this cartoon:

-- featuring a gratuitous kippah on Trump's head, no mean feat for someone who is supposed to be both antisemitic and a racist.

The only thing more stunning than the poor taste The New York Times showed in allowing such a cartoon to begin with, was their claim when they finally got around to apologizing for the cartoon.

More than a few people were left scratching their heads when The New York Times claimed, “We have been and remain stalwart supporters of Israel.”

That was quite an odd claim, considering the fact that it is not even clear The New York Times is a stalwart supporter of Jews in general.

This is not to say that The New York Times is single-handedly encouraging antisemitism. They did not create the problem.

But The New York Times has shown that it is part of the problem.

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.

From MyCentralJersey:

The controversial "P is for Palestine" book reading went on as planned Sunday at the Highland Park Public Library, after being rescheduled from May.

About four adults and three children attended the event. Those inside, which included borough resident Lisa Ben-Haim, were members of the local Jewish community, Ben-Haim said.

“It started at 2 and she rambled until almost 3 o'clock, and then she started reading from the book,” Ben-Haim said. “All of us had planned to walk out in protest when she got to 'I is for Intifada,' but it was so painful sitting there listening to her, we walked out at E."

Protesters of the reading appeared outside the venue. With about 125 of all ages, the group was on hand to "let their voices be heard," Ben-Haim said. She added that the protesters had posters and were present to mark that they felt the event was "inappropriate."

There were a handful of supporters on the opposite side of the street, said borough resident Josh Pruzansky. The road was closed, and 10 police officers ensured the safety and security of both groups.

This is a peaceful protest, Pruzansky said, but the author, Golbarg Bashi, "supports the BDS movement."

"We don't want her speaking to our children in a community library," he said. "She is a person who sponsors hate, sponsors violence. BDS was called antisemitism by the United Nations, by the U.S. Congress, by the Parliament of Germany. It was called antisemitism by the state of New Jersey. Why are we bringing an anti-Semite to our library to speak to our children on a Jewish holiday?"

Here was the pathetic counter-protest with about three people:

I am told that Pruzansky, a key organizer of the protest, won the bidding for the Chatan Torah honor on Simchat Torah, and his win was announced as "P is for Pruzansky" to the laughs of the congregants.

Mondoweiss is calling protests against a book that seeks to normalize BDS and a violent uprising against Jewish civilians "censorship" even though the book supposedly sold out of its printings.

Bashi has also written an anti-Israel children's counting book where Palestinian children climb "the last olive tree in the land yet to be free" that the "woeful woodcutter" wants to chop down.

(h/t Sam)

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Haaretz and JPost report:

A court in Ramallah earlier this week ordered the blocking of 59 Palestinian websites, blogs and Facebook pages that oppose the Palestinian Authority and PA President Mahmoud Abbas.

The decision was made at the request of the Palestinian prosecution, but it is widely assumed that senior PA officials were behind the move. The prosecution, in its petition to the court, argued that the sites disseminate harmful content about the PA and its officials and are likely to be used to incite lawlessness.

Some of the blocked websites are very popular among Palestinians and in the rest of the Arab world. Some report critically on developments in the West Bank and Gaza, while others are identified with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the camp of Mohammed Dahlan, one of Abbas’ leading opponents. The list includes the Arab48 website, which is based in Haifa and is identified with the Balad party.

The court said it found that the websites have published articles and photos that “threaten national security and civic peace.”

The court accepted the PA Attorney General’s argument that the websites have attacked and offended “symbols of the Palestinian Authority.”

Most of the websites targeted by the PA are affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Mohammed Dahlan, a senior Fatah official and archival of Abbas. Some of the websites are known for their criticism of financial and administrative corruption of the PA and its senior officials.

The law being enforced, which is truly chilling in that it can sentence anyone who makes fun of Mahmoud Abbas to up to 15 year of hard labor, was passed in 2017 to little news coverage. Officially the law is called a "cybercrime law."

The judge who passed the ban said "These sites have published phrases and pictures and articles on the Internet threatening national security and civil peace and disruption of public order and public morals and that arouse Palestinian public opinion.

The list of 59 websites includes a Facebook page called "Abbas doesn't represent me" and "Riyad Maliki doesn't represent me." Maliki is "foreign minister" and former minister of information for the PA. It is obvious that the Facebook pages do not threaten anyone but Abbas' dictatorship and his attempt to control all information and news from the territories.

A survey of some of the sites shows nothing that is remotely pro-Israel.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about this story is that Mohammed Shatyyeh, the prime minister, heavily criticized the proposed ban. "We have asked the attorney general and the competent authorities to reconsider this decision," Shtayyeh told reporters in Tulkarem.

Shtayyeh is an astute politician and realizes how bad such a ban looks. His position gives him no authority to do anything about it except support an appeal on the decision. The Supreme Court members were handpicked by Abbas.

Haaretz reports that an appeal is likely to be successful; we'll see. Palestinian journalists are heavily covering this story.

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10/22 Links: Netanyahu gives up effort to form government, returns mandate; Iran barred indefinitely from world judo over refusal to face Israelis; Warren Threatens Israel: ‘Everything Is On the Table’

From Ian:

Netanyahu gives up effort to form government, returns mandate

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned the mandate to form a government to President Reuven Rivlin minutes after the end of the Simhat Torah holiday on Monday night, and two nights before the deadline for him to build a coalition.

Rivlin, who has received the message from Netanyahu, will hold consultations with faction representatives who request to meet with him.

By law, the president has three days to give the mandate to Blue and White leader Benny Gantz.

Sources close to Gantz said they do not expect the mandate to be given before Wednesday.

Netanyahu released a video complaining that Gantz refused to negotiate with him. In the video, Netanyahu revealed that in addition to what is known to the public, he had initiated secret steps to build a unity government with Gantz.

The prime minister warned in the video that Gantz could form a minority government backed by the Joint List in a parliamentary safety net.

Netanyahu said that if Gantz built such a coalition, he would serve as head of the opposition.

“A minority government will be formed with the support of Joint List MKs who encourage terror and oppose Israel’s existence,” Netanyahu warned.

“How can a minority government led by Gantz and supported by these MKs fight terror?”

Israel Elections: Netanyahu Has Failed to Form Government

On Monday night, Israel's incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu returned the mandate given to him by President Reuven Rivlin to form a governing coalition, conceding his failure to do so as he celebrated his 70th birthday.

He’s in control now, but Gantz’s coalition chances no better than Netanyahu’s

For the first time in 11 years, the lawmaker tasked with forming Israel’s next governing coalition is not Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Likud leader marked his 70th birthday Monday evening by informing Reuven Rivlin that, after 26 frustrating days, he was returning the mandate to build the next government that the president had given him after September’s elections.

Blue and White chairman Benny Gantz, about to be given the same improbable mission, is now in the driver’s seat.

This is the exact scenario that Gantz, the IDF chief turned politician, has been awaiting since the results of September 17’s inconclusive election started to sink in.

After Rivlin’s late September consultations with the various parties where he heard their choices for prime minister, the Joint List alliance of majority-Arab parties claimed that Blue and White had asked its hardline Balad sub-faction to hold off on suggesting to Rivlin that Gantz be tasked with forming the government.

Gantz thus ended up with 54 recommendations: 33 from his own Blue and White party, 10 from the rest of the Joint List, six from Labor and five from the Democratic Camp. That was one crucial supporter fewer than the 55 endorsements Netanyahu received, with 32 from Likud, nine from Shas, seven from Yamina, and seven from United Torah Judaism.

A new Benjamin: How will Gantz face Israel's enemies? – Analysis

Six months ago, when Israel went to the polls for the first time, Gaza was front and center. It’s not much different this time, except that the threats posed by Iran and Hezbollah cannot be ignored – especially following the American withdrawal from Syria, which opens up a significant amount of territory to Israel’s enemies.

In April, tanks and thousands of soldiers were deployed along the border with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip after long-range rocket fire towards the center of the country. In May, the focus was on the northern border after, according to foreign reports, Israel expanded air strikes to both Lebanon and Iraq against Hezbollah and Iranian targets.

But will his dovish political leanings make him any less powerful as a prime minister – when facing enemies who have vowed the destruction of his country?

Unlikely.

Netanyahu has kept the status quo in Israel’s South, which has been pounded by thousands of rockets in the past year alone, responding with targeted air strikes against Hamas targets and militants. While he’s been able to prevent another war with terror groups in Gaza, residents in Israel’s South have been contending with daily violence along the border fence.

Gantz, who was chief of staff during Operation Protective Edge in 2014, has ripped into Netanyahu’s handling of the Strip, saying that “other than advancing the building of the barrier along the Gaza border, nothing has been done.”

In the North, Gantz has called Hezbollah “the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world” and has stated that he stands “shoulder-to-shoulder” with Netanyahu against Iran, about which, as “IDF former Chief of Staff, I saw first-hand, precise information regarding what is really happening in Iran.”

During a rare flareup of violence along the Lebanese border two weeks before the second general election, Gantz suspended his campaign, writing on Twitter that “There is no opposition and no coalition in an operation against anyone who tries to harm the citizens of Israel or its sovereignty.”

So, while Israel’s newest Benjamin is a breath of fresh air for a country that has been ruled by the current Benjamin for so long, he will likely take a harsh stance against Israel’s enemies – and Israel’s security will not be eroded.

Chag sameach (yet again!)

For those who celebrate, have a wonderful Shmini Atzeret/Simchat Torah!

Don't think I'd put Herzl on a level of Moses and Aaron, myself, as this 1902 Simchat Torah flag from Warsaw does, but it shows a remarkable acceptance of modern Zionism in only a few years from religious Polish Jews, something that anti-Zionists like to claim didn't occur.

I will not be posting or tweeting until at least Tuesday night. Chag sameach!

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The President of the Jordanian Bar Association, Mazen Irshaidat, confirmed that there is no land registered in the Land Department with the names of Jews in the areas of Baqoura and Ghamir.

These are the areas on the border with Israel that Jordan leased out to Israel for 25 years in the peace treaty. There have apparently been rumors that Jews had bought lands in those areas.

Irshaidat told the Jordan 24 site that it is unacceptable to have lands owned by the Zionists or Jews in that area, and he confirmed that he could not find any Jewish names in the list of landowners in those areas.

Arabs often claim that they are only anti-Zionist and not antisemitic. Here is proof #8342 that they are not telling the truth.

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10/20 Links: To whom does the land of Israel belong?; Why America can't escape the Middle East; Caroline Glick: Netanyahu, the media and the fate of Israeli democracy

From Ian:

To whom does the land of Israel belong?

The League of Nations 1923 “Any attempt to negate the Jewish People’s right to Palestine, Eretz-Israel, and to deny them access and control in the area designated for the Jewish People by the League of Nations is a serious infringement of international law. The Origin and Nature of the “Mandate for Palestine”

The entire point of this written exercise is to arm the Jewish People of Eretz Israel with Biblical, Historic and Legal facts, in order to combat the lies of their enemies. An enemy who have illegally migrated, and invaded into the Jewish State of Eretz Israel.

By constantly attacking and criticizing Israel, the West has emboldened Islamitic terrorists to attack even the Western nations within their own boarders. Since the Western World is in need of leaders, these nations take the cowardly way out, they try to appease their violent Islamitic enemy, by blaming Israel for their unwillingness to make peace. When at every step Israel is trying to move forward, they are met with murder, terrorism, lies and deceit, and a very frightened and useless Western World.

IT IS ALL ONE BIG LIE

Vladimir Lenin – “ A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”

Joseph Goebbels – “ If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually believe it.”

Hitler – “ If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough, it will be believed.”

Isa Blagden writer, – “If a lie is only printed often enough it becomes a quasi-truth and if such a truth is repeated often enough, it becomes an article, of belief, a dogma and men will die for it.(The Crown of Life,1869 )

Lying is a weapon of choice, used Against the Jewish people of Eretz Israel

The same lying sinister forces were at work against the Jewish people in the past. They were actively at work in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah 2,500 years ago when the Jewish remnants returned from the Persian Empire, to rebuild and resettle Jerusalem and the Jewish territories.

These ungodly lying forces are alive and well today working through Arab leaders both inside and outside of Israel. Deceit and Lying are a major strategy used by the Islamic Jihadists who wish to destroy the Israel of today. They are aided by the “politically correctness” of the Left Wing Western World, which is another way of saying, they are Anti-G-d, Anti-Semitic, and Anti- Judaeo Christian Ethics

Jonathan S. Tobin: Why America can't escape the Middle East

As Obama discovered after his withdrawal from Iraq and humiliating "red line" fiasco in Syria, the price of dishonor can be quite high.

Having washed his hands of those countries and punted their fate to Iran and Russia, it wasn't long before a new threat arose. The establishment of IS and its so-called caliphate in large portions of Syria and Iraq was the logical consequence of Obama's policies. As that terror group expanded the territory under its control, and videos of the hideous atrocities it committed went viral, Obama had little choice but to reverse course and commit to fighting IS.

Trump made an issue of the failure of Obama's half-hearted campaign against the Islamic State and vowed to defeat the group. And that's exactly what he did after winning the 2016 election. But with IS largely, but not completely defeated, he has now reverted to his instinctual isolationism, vowing to avoid any more involvement in Syria and leaving the Kurds to their own devices after years of promises from Washington that they would not be abandoned.

Some Americans outside the Beltway, including some supporters of Israel, have no problem with what he's done in Syria because they are blind supporters of the president. Others share his ignorance of a complex conflict and see no reason why Americans should be part of it.

As Obama found out after the atrocities perpetrated by the Islamic State aroused the anger of the public, Trump or his successor will have to respond to Turkish atrocities or those of the next Islamist terror group that will fill the vacuum he is creating by withdrawing US forces.

Islamist terror is an international problem, and not just something the Israelis and the Arabs have to worry about. Israel can defend itself, but actions that make its neighborhood even more dangerous undermine its security. Beyond that, allowing Turkey and Iran to do as they like in the region ultimately harms everyone, including Americans who have yet to absorb the fact that their safety is no longer ensured by the oceans that separate them from other continents. Unfortunately, Republicans and Democrats who still imagine Americans can simply go home and avoid further involvement in the Middle East's wars are engaging in magical thinking rather than supporting a coherent strategy.

In latest sign of thaw, Israel sending official to anti-Iran summit in Bahrain

A senior official is confirmed to attend a security conference in Bahrain on Monday, a source in the Gulf country told The Times of Israel, in the latest significant sign of warming ties between parts of the Arab world and Israel.

A senior Foreign Ministry official working on regional security and counter-terrorism, whose name was withheld by Israel’s military censor for security reasons, will represent Israel at the Working Group on Maritime and Aviation Security.

Starting Monday, the two-day event is expected to deal mainly with efforts to thwart the Islamic Republic’s growing regional aggression. Delegates are set to discuss the protection of vessels in the Persian Gulf from Iranian attacks, as well as the prevention of the smuggling of weapons and weapons of mass destruction and the protection of civil aviation.

The meeting, co-hosted by Bahrain, the US and Poland, is part of the so-called Warsaw Process, which started with the Ministerial to Promote a Future of Peace and Security in the Middle East that took place in the Polish capital earlier this year. That conference, co-sponsored by Poland and the US, was originally billed as part of global efforts to counter Iran, but was later toned-down and instead focused on the vaguer goal of seeking stability in the Middle East.

The Foreign Ministry did not deny that it was sending a representative to Manama for the conference on maritime and aviation security. In a terse statement sent to The Times of Israel, the ministry said: “Israel participates in the post-Warsaw process.”

Iran brags that its players drop out of chess tournaments to avoid playing Israel

Iran's Mehrnews says:

As the fifth round of World Youth Chess Championships in India continued in India, the young Iranian female chess player Mobina Alinasab defeated a player from the host country to reach the top of the table of the competitions with 4.5 points.

Another Iranian chess player Mohammad Amin Tabatabei drew against an Indian opponent to rank 25th on the list of the best chess players with 3 points.

Arian Gholami was the third Iranian representative who avoided competing against a player from the Zionist regime of Israel and did not continue the championships.

I don't quite understand this, as Gholami is playing in the Open U18 tournament, and I do not see any Israelis in that tournament.

(I only see one Israeli playing, in the Girl U18, and no matches between her and any Iranian.)

Gholami was still playing at the end of the competition.

While it is unclear what exactly happened, Iran is still bragging about not letting its players compete against Israelis, and for that alone the International Chess Federation should ban Iran from any tournaments at all.

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Just some garden variety antisemitism from Kashmir

From Kashmir Watch by By Sajjad Shaukat:

When we talk about the control of the United States and the world, there is no difference between the Khazarian Mafia, Jews and Israel. In this regard, many intellectuals like Don Allen and others reveal, “The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR)…was part of a conspiracy to gain control of both US political parties to use them as instruments…seventy-three percent of the members of the Council on Foreign Relations are Jews. There are a number of organizations that comprise the Invisible Government that runs America and the world…from behind the scenes. A Jewish group which is in control of national governments and multinational corporations promotes world government through control of the military, media, foundation grants and education including NGOs…and controls and guides the issues of the day, and thus they control most options available. They will manage the money, the land, the food, and the guns of everyone in the world.”

In the words of Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, “It is long been clear that the pro-Israel, ultra-Zionist network have absolute control over the United States. The idea that our leaders are pursuing America’s vital national interests abroad…is a myth.”

Nevertheless, it is most surprising to note that especially since the orchestrated drama of the 9/11 attacks on the one side, Khazarian Jewish Mafia has been acting upon its evil designs by targeting the non-Zionist Americans and entire international community, while, on the other, it is, rapidly, jeopardizing its financial interests by destabilizing the global economy, which shows cognitive dissonance of the Mafia.

They really think we are so stupid as to endanger our own wealth to destabilize the world economy? We have septillions of dollars!

God, these antisemites are so stupid!

I found a variant of this article published seen months ago in some self-published site called Taste Style Mag (really!) with this headline and illustration:

Not surprisingly, this same author has written about the "Khazarian Jewish Mafia" at Veteran's Today.

Far Right, Far Left - the antisemitism is the same.

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10/19 Links: Hillel Neuer: Another UN blow to human rights; Does Angela Merkel Deserve a Prize for Zionism?; Sacha Baron Cohen makes Nazi analogy to slam Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook policy

From Ian:

Hillel Neuer: Another UN blow to human rights

In 1946, in the aftermath of the horrors of World War II, Eleanor Roosevelt founded the UN Commission on Human Rights, to reaffirm the principles of human dignity. That her dream has turned into a recurring nightmare was confirmed on Thursday when some of the world’s worst regimes were once again elected to the 47-nation UN body, renamed in 2006 under a failed bid at reform, as the Human Rights Council.

Who are the UN’s new world judges on human rights?

Absurdly, Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro is one.

Though the council’s rules stipulate that members must “uphold the highest standards” of human rights, the UN General Assembly chose the narco-criminal regime from Caracas.

Despite promises of a socialist paradise, President Maduro has devastated his country, starved his own people and crushed pro-democracy dissidents.

The government’s repression includes targeting opposition leaders like Leopoldo López, who was thrown into prison for three years and is still under house arrest. According to the NGO Foro Penal, as of April 2019 there were more than 900 political prisoners across Venezuela.

Maduro’s failed policies have produced political instability, hunger, poverty and soaring crime rates. Millions are ill and dying for lack of food, medicine and basic necessities. Four million have fled. Electing Maduro to the council was obscene.

Second, the world body elected Libya, another failed state, where armed groups execute and torture civilians with almost complete impunity. Captured African migrants are bought and sold on open slave markets.

Third, although anti-racism is supposedly the defining credo of the UN, the General Assembly elected the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, where an estimated 500,000 people live in slavery.

Does Angela Merkel Deserve a Prize for Zionism?

German Interior Ministry statistics claim that 90% of the anti-Semitic hate crimes reported in Germany in 2018 were committed by "far right" persons. The EU's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), however, found that only 13% of the attacks were attributed to those with a "right-wing political view."

Germany provides millions of euros annually to organizations that promote anti-Israel BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) and "lawfare" campaigns, anti-Zionism, antisemitism, and violence, according to NGO Monitor.

"Why is Merkel being awarded the Theodor Herzl Award? Because her representative at the United Nations abstains in anti-Israel resolutions — and thereby de facto supports them? The same official who equates Hamas rocket attacks on Israeli civilians with Israel's demolition of the homes of Palestinian terrorists? For not relocating the German embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, as the United States did, and also warning other countries against taking such a step? For all this, she gets the Theodor Herzl Award?" — Henryk Broder, German Political Commentator, Die Achse des Guten.

"And that is just the beginning. There is a great possibility that thanks to today's politics Germany will become Judenrein [free of Jews]. Wir schaffen das (We can do it)." — Dr. Rafael Korenzecher, Publisher, Jüdische Rundschau.

Special Representative Hook: While the United States was still in the JCPOA, Iran expanded its ballistic missile activities to partners across the region, including Hizballah, helping them produce a greater number of rockets & missiles. This arsenal is then used to target Israel. pic.twitter.com/96JkpEH8Gf
— Department of State (@StateDept) October 18, 2019

'Israel doesn't need any outsider to tell it what to do'

Martin Weiss has served as Austria's ambassador to Israel for exactly four years. His name might sound Jewish and his lively, relaxed nature is a good fit for the Israeli pace of life, but in two weeks, Weiss will depart the Austrian Embassy in Tel Aviv for the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC. That demonstrates his status, but also the importance of Israel in Austrian diplomacy.

Indeed, in Weiss' time as ambassador – and with his help – Israel and Austria have enjoyed their closest ties in history. Given the loaded history between the Jewish and Austrian peoples, ("Let's admit it, there were mostly 'downs,'" he says with characteristic frankness) – the increasing closeness of the last few years is not something to be taken for granted.

Austria is not only the birthplace of Adolf Hitler but also elected a Jewish chancellor who hated Israel, Bruno Kreisky; knowingly elected as president former Wehrmacht officer Kurt Waldheim; saw huge support for long-time Freedom Party of Austria Chairman Jörg Haider, widely considered to have been a Nazi sympathizer; and was one of the last countries to acknowledge the part it played in the mass murder of its Jewish citizens during the Holocaust.

Only in the past few years have we seen signs that the Austrian leadership is truly able to address the country's past honestly and seriously. In a speech two years ago at a conference of the American Jewish Committee in Jerusalem, former Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said things that had never been uttered by his predecessors: "Many Austrians supported the system which killed over 6 million Jews from all over Europe and beyond. Among them, 60,000 fellow Austrian Jewish citizens in Austria alone. It took Austria a long time to be honest about its past. I have to admit that there were many people in Austria who did nothing to fight the Nazi regime. Far too many actively supported these horrors and even were perpetrators."

Kurz strengthened Austria's ties with Israel in general and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular. This was due in part to Weiss, who is a close associate. Now that Weiss' time as ambassador to Israel is up, he sat down with Israel Hayom for a special interview.