Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, April 28, 2020

Fifth Circuit throws out challenge to anti-BDS law in Texas

In litigation challenging a Texas law blocking state agencies from hiring companies boycotting Israel, a Fifth Circuit panel ordered the case be dismissed Monday but declined to decide if the law is constitutional.

Bahia Amawi, a Palestinian U.S. citizen, had worked for the Pflugerville Independent School District for nearly a decade as a speech therapist for kindergarteners when the school district offered to renew her contract for the 2018-2019 school year.

She refused due to a new clause in the contract requiring her to certify that she does not boycott Israel nor would she do so while working for the school district.

Eugene Kontorovich, who advised on the anti-BDS legislation, tweeted:

Just to review the state of play: a year ago, lots of folks were trying to scare Congress by hysterically claiming that federal courts were striking down anti-BDS laws. None of those rulings stands after appeal, and only non-vacated ruling is federal court in Arkansas upholding anti-BDS law.

While this is good news, people are still misrepresenting this case, including in this article.

Amawa was not asked to certify that she, as an individual, does not boycott Israel. She was asked to certify that her company does not boycott Israel in the context of her business.

Her arguments were absurd:

Amawi sued Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and Pflugerville ISD in Austin federal court in May 2018, claiming HB 89 violates her First Amendment free speech rights.

She said in court filings she refuses to buy Sabra brand hummus due to its connections with Israel and only buys Palestinian olive oil. Sabra is owned by the Israeli company Strauss, which has publicly stated it donates food to the Israeli Defense Forces.

The statement Amawi is required to sign does not stop her from boycotting Sabra hummus. She is free to buy Palestinian olive oil, even for her salads she eats while at the schools.

As David Bernstein - not a fan of these kinds of laws - wrote in 2018, here is what she was asked to sign:

Pursuant to Section 2270.001 of Texas Government Code, the Contractor affirms that it: 1. Does not currently boycott Israel; and 2. Will not boycott Israel during the term of the contract Pursuant to Section 2270.001 of Texas Government Code:

"Boycott Israel" means refusing to deal with, terminating business activities with, or otherwise taking any action that is intended to penalize, inflict economic harm on, or limit commercial relations specifically with Israel, or with a person or entity doing business in Israel or in an Israeli-controlled territory, but does not include an action made for ordinary business purposes;and

"Company" means a for-profit sole proprietorship, organization, association, corporation, partnership, joint venture, limited partnership, limited liability partnership, or any limited liability company, including a wholly owned subsidiary, majority-owned subsidiary, parent company or affiliate of those entities or business associations that exist to make a profit.

Every reporter got this wrong because Glenn Greenwald in The Intercept falsely claimed that Amawi "refused to sign an oath vowing that she 'does not' and 'will not' engage in a boycott of Israel." That is false. There are no restrictions on Ms. Amawi's free speech rights nor her right to personally boycott Israel or even for her to write articles advocating BDS. And, as Bernstein notes, "it's nearly impossible to think of a way in which Ms. Amawi's speech pathology business would ever have an opportunity to in any way boycott or otherwise economically harm Israel, rendering this pure political theater."

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Joint Israel/Palestinian Memorial day ceremony succeeds in gaslighting the world

Last night the joint Israel-Palestinian ceremony for Israel's Memorial Day was held online. The organizers claim close to 200,000 people watched it.

While the ceremony itself was tastefully done, that is not the story.

On the YouTube live chat during the ceremony, I see comments in English and Hebrew - but I could not find a single comment in Arabic.

As I wrote on Sunday, not one organization that sponsored it was Palestinian.

This is not the story of reconciliation and grassroots peacemaking as framed by the Israeli organizers.

The real story is that it hijacked Israel's solemn day for remembering fallen soldiers and victims of terror attacks by saying that the day is also about Palestinians.

The real story is that many of the "fallen Palestinians" being memorialized were terrorists, and died while in the course of attacks against innocent Jews, making this hijacking all the more perverse. If you want to make a joint memorial day, do it some other day.

The real story is that this is not a joint Israeli/Palestinian peace effort, which would be worthwhile. It is a propaganda exercise largely conceived and run by leftist Jews who have a political agenda that has little to do with "peace."

If the Jews and Palestinians who are part of these groups really cared about peace, they would be prioritizing teaching Palestinians to accept Israel as a permanent Jewish state. They would be inviting Israelis to speak about peace to Palestinian groups. They would be holding conferences in how to achieve peace in Ramallah as often as they do in Tel Aviv. And none of them are doing that, at least in a way that is visible.

There is no coverage of this event in Palestinian news media that I can see. No one called on Palestinians in Arabic to remember their dead yesterday. The idea that they would do such a thing on the same day that Israelis do it would be anathema.

No, this event was propaganda to make it appear that Palestinians are just like Israelis, with the same hopes and dreams and sorrows.

For some Palestinians, this is true. I have no reason to doubt the sincerity of the Arabic speakers at the ceremony. But in the aggregate, it isn't true at all. Palestinians are not yearning for peace the way Israelis are. Palestinians are not interested in joint grassroots initiatives with Israelis the way Israelis want. On the contrary, Palestinians who talk with Israelis are considered traitors and guilty of "normalization."

Events like this are not publicized or reported on in Palestinian media because Palestinians are not the target audience. That is the entire problem and proof that this is has nothing to do with peace. And while this sounds cynical, that means that the Palestinians who are involved in these initiatives are merely props to be used by left-wing Jews, saying to the world, "look, we all have the same pain." If there is no true Palestinian-created peace organization that accepts the existence of Israel as a Jewish state, then there is no Palestinian group that actually wants real peace.

Jews are being asked to be sympathetic to Palestinian pain but no one is asking Palestinians to be sensitive to Jewish pain.

Israelis are expected to do more to achieve peace and the Palestinians are not.

This is gaslighting. It is brilliant propaganda. But don't be fooled that it has anything to do with peace or compromise or conciliation.

UPDATE: Previous ceremonies explicitly memorialized terrorists.

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More proof that former @Amnesty "human rights activist" Hind Khoudary is anti-peace, antisemitic and anti-human rights

Remember Hind Khoudary, the self-described "human rights worker" in Gaza who complained to Gaza authorities to arrest Gazans who were in a Zoom meeting with Israelis? Rami Aman is still missing after Hamas abducted him.

She retweeted to her followers this tweet and video.

في غناء يجمع اثنان من بهايم يهوه (اسراطيزي وسعودي)
هذه مرحلة فرش البساط امام بهايم يهوه وامام عيون الناس بأن هذا هو المشهد القادم الذي يجب التأقلم عليه#تحيا_فلسطين_ويفني_الاحتلال_والخونة #اسرائيل_عدو pic.twitter.com/05Ss82hzqG
— يلا نبلغ (@yIODM9zeVqIqoRy) April 27, 2020

The tweet says:

Singing brings together two of the beasts of Jehovah (an Isra-ass and a Saudi). This is the time when the carpet is rolled out in front of the beasts of Jehovah, and it is plain for all to see that this is the scene that we have to get used to.
#Long_Live_Palestine_May_the_Occupation_and_the_Traitors_Disappear
#Israel_Is_The_Enemy

The original tweeter, and Khoudary, are upset that an Israeli and a Saudi - both long considered enemies - are singing a song of peace together. This makes them "beasts."

Just from this tweet alone shows that Khoudary cares nothing about peace or human rights. (She took the "human rights" part out of her Twitter profile. )

But the religious Jew singing and dancing with the Saudi Muslim, Shloime Zionce, is an American reporter, not an Israeli.

Khoudary assumes that a Jew with peyos (sidelocks) must be an Israeli, because - like most Gazans - she cannot distinguish between the two. (This cartoon from a Gaza site a couple of years ago illustrates this.)

So, yes, she's an antisemite as well.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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04/27 Links Pt2: Under lockdown, Israel braces for particularly somber Memorial Day; Yisrael Medad: On the Anti-Zionist Crusades’ Crusade

From Ian:

Benny Gantz: An Unusually Painful Memorial Day

As of Monday, Israel has a list of 23,816 fallen.

Memorial Day for Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism is the most personal of all national days. In tens of thousands of Israeli homes, families spend time with the memories of their loved ones, and Israel Defense Forces soldiers and commanders, past and present, salute their brothers who fell in battle.

I served the State of Israel for 38 years; I lost comrades in arms both at my side and under my command, and what pains me most is that I will never be able to comfort their families.

On Memorial Day, we go back to the foundations of our existence, to the Zionism in the name of which we established the country and for the sake of which many were killed in the War of Independence and after it.

When we remember the nation’s first dead, we realize what would have happened if there hadn’t been a Jewish state — if there hadn’t been a fairly small group of pioneers who fought for our right to be here only a few years after the horrors of the Holocaust.

The State of Israel’s existence is ensured through its strength, and through our willingness to fight. On the battlefield, in the technological and logistics divisions, at the front and the home front, IDF soldiers and the other branches of the security apparatus protect Israel and give their blood so we can have a Jewish, democratic state. If we are not stronger than our enemies, we will not survive.

On Memorial Day, we sanctify the resilience of Israeli society, which continues to send its sons to the front. If we do not look out for one another, or cannot live with each other, we won’t be strong enough to survive. When I decided to enter politics, I called the party I led “Israel Resilience.” Alongside our tanks and aircraft, Memorial Day is a reminder that our internal resilience is measured in our education, our defense of democracy, our tolerance of others, and our love for our homeland.

Under lockdown, Israel braces for particularly somber Memorial Day

Defense Minister Naftali Bennett urged families to respect the curfew despite the additional anguish it inflicted on them, saying that imposing this radical measure on Memorial Day was not a decision made lightly but was nonetheless essential to fight the pandemic.

The police said it would not forcibly prevent bereaved families from visiting the graves of their loved ones. Seeking to spare the families any additional distress the government later decided to order municipalities to shutter all military plots as of 4 p.m. Monday to avoid potential public gatherings.

The traditional military honor guards will be placed outside Israel's 52 military cemeteries and at all major monuments, as is customary.

The state ceremony marking the onset of Memorial Day will be held at the Western Wall Plaza in Jerusalem without an audience. The ceremony, which will begin with a one-minute siren, will be televised on Israel's three news channels and livestreamed on the IDF's social media platforms.

A second, two-minute siren will sound nationwide at 11 a.m. on Tuesday. Immediately after the sire, IAF jets will fly over the National Hall for Israel's Fallen, featuring a special, missing formation.

The flyover will be followed by the state ceremony at the Mount Herzl Military Cemetery, which will also be televised.

The state ceremony honoring victims of terror will be held on Mount Herzl at 1 p.m. Tuesday.

Israel's fallen from 1860 to this week numbers 23,816, data released by the IDF ahead of Memorial Day said.

Forty-two deaths were added to Israel's list of fallen soldiers between 2019's Memorial Day and the current one, with another 33 disabled persons dying as a result of injuries sustained while in services.

Military personnel will light candles for all the fallen at the National Hall.

The lockdown will extend to Independence Day, marked this week between Tuesday evening and Wednesday night.

NGO Monitor: The 2020 Israel “Alternative Memorial Day Service”: NGO Partners and Government Sponsors

On April 27, the Israeli non-governmental organizations (NGOs) Parents Circle Families Forum and Combatants for Peace will host their 15th annual “Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Day Ceremony.” The event is marketed as a “joint ceremony” that “seeks to sow the seeds of hope among the two sides, and to bring to an end wars that have taken the lives of our cherished loved ones.” “Partners” of the event include Machsom Watch, Rabbis for Human Rights, Standing Together, Other Voice, and the Hadash political party.

“Co-sponsors” include numerous Israeli and American NGOs, including IfNotNow, Churches for Middle East Peace, New Israel Fund, J Street, Alliance for Middle East Peace, T’ruah, AGIAMONDO (former AGEH, Germany) and Civil Peace Service (ZFD, a consortium of German government-funded NGOs), as well as individual churches and synagogues. No Palestinian NGOs appear to be participating in and/or sponsoring the event.

Contrary to the image presented by the organizers, the event represents a narrow, one-sided part of Israeli civil society, and promotes a Palestinian narrative that draws an immoral equivalence between terror victims and terrorists. Many bereaved families in Israel have spoken out against the NGO sponsors and their focus on exclusive Israeli “guilt,” rejection of the legitimacy of Israeli narratives, and the political messages that are transmitted, explicitly and implicitly. While the sponsors claim to be advancing peace, there is no evidence for their claim.

This year, in contrast to previous ceremonies, there has been no public acknowledgement of foreign government funding for the event, including from Germany (see below). Despite having more than 30 “co-sponsors,” many of which are funded by European governments (see below), Parents Circle launched a crowdfunding campaign that has raised more than NIS 140,000 (as of April 26). It is unclear why these funds are needed given the online format of this year’s event.

As a friend of @URJorg, I am saddened you don’t promote the official Yom HaZikaron ceremony with the President of Israel in our commonly cherished Kotel instead of sponsoring an alternative event with political overtones the same time. This is time for unity, not sectarianism. https://t.co/kDjRzVFzxO
— Dani Dayan (@AmbDaniDayan) April 26, 2020

A webinar on Thursday is as predictable as it is false. From The Arab Center of Washington DC:

Speakers

Diana Buttu
Yara Hawari
Yousef Munayyer – Moderator

Additional speakers to be announced

About the Event
Arab Center Washington DC’s upcoming webinar focuses on the threat of the coronavirus pandemic in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip as well as for the Palestinian citizens of Israel. As Israel’s policies of occupation and settler colonialism continue in the midst of this global health crisis, what additional challenges are Palestinians facing under military occupation, apartheid, siege, and discriminatory policies?

Well, let's see.

The West Bank has less than 300 COVID-19 cases, two deaths.
Gaza has 17 COVID-19 cases, zero deaths.
Palestinians in Israeli prisons have zero cases, zero deaths.
Israel has over 15,000 cases and 204 deaths with 93 people on ventilators.

Where should the bulk of ventilators, PPEs and effort go? What evidence is there that Israel is not doing everything it can to keep the virus from spreading in the territories and prisons?

For two months now, Israel haters have been warning about an impending epidemic of the virus in the territories.

As is the case with wars, they want to see Palestinians die so they can have ammunition to attack Israel.

As is the case with wars, Israel has more incentive to protect Palestinian lives than to let them die.

As is the case with wars, Israel cares more about the lives of Palestinians than the entire "pro-Palestinian" community in the US and Europe together.

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The highly anticipated slate of miniseries for Ramadan in the Arab world is a mixed bag for Israel and Jews, but much better than any previous year.

We already discussed Umm Haroun, about a Jewish woman in Kuwait in the 1940s. The series is sympathetic towards Jews and is therefore generating a lot of controversy, which must be a mystery for those who say that Arabs aren't antisemitic. A typical response on social media said, "Umm Haroun reminded me of the Schindler's List movie, released in 1993, directed by Steven Spielberg ... The common goal is to convince humanity that the Jewish sect was unjustly killed, displaced, and robbed of their rights, to merge the Jews into societies and make the Arabs coexist with them.” Yeah, that sounds evil.

One response from the Palestine Center to Resist Normalization was equally nonsensical, saying "The series tries to promote normalization with the Zionist occupation by penetrating Arab TV screens, especially in the holy month of Ramadan."

It is hard to overstate how much the Arab world is talking about this series. Articles about the history of Jews in Arab lands are being written, complaining that the issue has been erased under the excuse of "normalization." . Today a new "controversy" was launched where someone in the series referred to the Land of Israel before Israel was declared a state, and many people are angry that the word "Palestine" wasn't used.

An Egyptian science fiction series, "The End," begins with a teacher bringing students (and viewers) up to speed on the state of the world at the time, where the US erupts into civil war and Israel, weakened, is destroyed by the combined Arab armies.

That has been the fantasy of much of the Arab world for decades.

Israel complained to Egypt for allowing the series, and the series creator lectured Israel on freedom of expression, in one of the more ironic responses in memory.

A third Ramadan series, "Exit 17" includes a scene where two Saudi businessmen debate relations with Israel, and one insults Palestinians.

The controversial scene shown during Ramadan on Saudi TV in which one Saudi actor advocates for normalization with Israel against Palestinians, saying Palestinians attack Saudi Arabia despite everything it did for them over the decades: pic.twitter.com/s2VzwQza7X
— Hassan Hassan (@hxhassan) April 27, 2020

The character played by actor Rashed al-Shamrani says he wants to expand his business and cooperate with Israelis. Then the character played by Nasser Al-Qasabi answers that Israelis are enemies.

Shamrani then says: "The real enemy is the one who curses you, denies your sacrifices and your time (that you spent) with him, and curses you day and night, more than the Israelis. I mean we waged wars for the sake of Palestine, we stopped (the flow of oil) for the sake of Palestine. Ever since there is a (Palestinian) Authority, we pay the wages (of its officials) that we are worthier than, and they don't miss a chance to attack Saudi Arabia."

In another scene, Qasabi's character is upset when he learns his son is playing Internet game with an Israeli.

Unless I'm mistaken, even the seeming anti-Israel animosity in "The End" is just a means to create a world where Arab actions matter, as the point of the series is the dystopic future; knowing that there are superpowers around would ruin the plot. Israel needs to disappear for the plot, which has (as far as I can tell) nothing to do with Israel.

So altogether the Ramadan series are much more liberal towards Jews and Israel than in any previous year.

(h/t Ibn Boutros)

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04/27 Links Pt1: Schools, kindergartens to gradually reopen from Sunday, deaths rise to 203; Netanyahu: ‘A Century After San Remo, the Promise of Zionism is Being Realized’

From Ian:

Schools, kindergartens to gradually reopen from Sunday, deaths rise to 203

Schools and kindergartens will gradually reopen from Sunday in a combined format of in-class and remote learning, ministers decided Monday as they move to return the economy to normal operations. The decision is conditional on the continued decline of infection rates, with full approval due on Friday.

Approving plans presented by the Education Ministry at the meeting, the return of pupils to school will vary according to age group. Children aged 0-6 will return to kindergarten in small groups and attend on different days.

First to third graders will learn in school from Sunday to Thursday, but in groups limited to no more than 15 pupils. Break times will be staggered to ensure that groups do not meet each other. Pupils in fourth to twelfth grade will continue learning remotely at this stage.

The decision to reopen schools follows a significant slowdown in infections across the country. A total of 203 Israelis have died from the coronavirus and 15,466 cases have been confirmed to date. Currently, 129 patients are in serious condition, including 96 requiring ventilation.

Some 6,796 patients have recovered so far, leaving a total of 8,760 active cases.

Efraim Karsh: The San Remo Conference — 100 Years On

There is probably no more understated event in the history of the Arab-Israeli conflict than the San Remo Conference of April 1920.

Convened for a mere week as part of the post-World War I peace conferences that created a new international order on the basis of indigenous self-rule and national self-determination, the San Remo conference appointed Britain as the mandatory for Palestine with the specific task of “putting into effect the declaration originally made on November 2, 1917, by the British Government [i.e., the Balfour Declaration], and adopted by the other Allied Powers, in favour of the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

This mandate was then ratified on July 24, 1922 by the Council of the League of Nations — the post-war world organization and the UN’s predecessor.

The importance of the Palestine mandate cannot be overstated. Though falling short of the proposed Zionist formula that “Palestine should be reconstituted as the national home of the Jewish people,” it signified an unqualified recognition by the official representative of the will of the international community of the Jews as a national group — rather than a purely religious community — and the acknowledgement of “the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine” as “the grounds for reconstituting their national home in the country.”

It is a historical tragedy therefore that 100 years after this momentous event, the Palestinian leadership and its international champions remain entrenched in the rejection not only of the millennial Jewish attachment to Palestine, but of the very existence of a Jewish people (and by implication its right to statehood).

Rather than keep trying to turn the clock backward at the certain cost of prolonging their people’s statelessness and suffering, it is time for this leadership to shed its century-long recalcitrance and opt for peace and reconciliation with their Israeli neighbors.

Netanyahu: ‘A Century After San Remo, the Promise of Zionism is Being Realized’

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video address on Sunday that “the promise of Zionism” would be realized in just a few months, when Israel extends its sovereignty to the Jordan Valley and parts of Judea and Samaria under the aegis of the US “Peace to Prosperity” plan.

In a video message to the European Coalition for Israel, an evangelical Christian group, marking the 100th anniversary of the San Remo Resolution, in which the world powers recognized the national rights of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel, Netanyahu said that soon Israel and its supporters would be celebrating “another historic moment in the history of Zionism.”

“President Trump pledged to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Jewish communities there [Judea and Samaria] and in the Jordan Valley. A couple of months from now, I am confident that that pledge will be honored, that we will be able to celebrate another historic moment in the history of Zionism. A century after [the] San Remo [Resolution], the promise of Zionism is being realized, because we never stop fighting for our rights,” said Netanyahu.

He thanked the conference participants, saying, “Your efforts are part of that fight. Thank you for celebrating this historic occasion and securing the Jewish future.”

Under the Trump plan, the political component of which was published in January, Israel can extend its sovereignty to almost all Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria, as well as to the Jordan Valley. Then, after four years, a Palestinian state would be established if the Palestinian leadership had met a set of conditions, chief among them renouncing terrorism and ensuring rule of law.

Here's the link to my speech for @IMTIzionism commemorating the centennial of the San Remo Conference.https://t.co/u8urHU2DEZ
— Caroline Glick (@CarolineGlick) April 26, 2020

More evidence that fewer Arab Israelis identify as "Palestinian" (Daled Amos)

In our previous post, we looked at various surveys of Israeli Arabs over the past 9 years. Although the categories respondents were grouped in, and the way those categories could be combined, allowed for some contradictory results -- there was a clear indication that Israeli Arabs identify less and less as Palestinians and more and more as Israelis.

The most recent of those surveys was carried out by the Jewish People Policy Institute, which published their results last week on their site and held a video conference to discuss the results.

It was an hour well spent.

While there are a number of areas covered in the survey, the issue of Israeli Arab identification was particularly interesting:

Putting these results with previous surveys as outlined in the last post, and doing some tweaking to match the categories as much as possible, we get the following results:

	Israeli	Israeli- Arab	Israeli- Palestinian	Arab- Palestinian	Arab	Palestinian	Religious (Muslim, Christian, Druze)
Smooha I (2012)	---	40%	40%	20%	---	---	---
Smooha II (2014)	---	32%	45%	22%	---	---	---
Shaharit (2017)	20.5	---	---	---	28.4%	14.6%	35.8
+972 Magazine (2019)	---	46%	19%	---	22%	14%	---
JPPI (2020)	23%	51%	---	---	15%	7%	---

Besides laying out the JPPI results more clearly than the last post, I also added the results of the Shaharit survey from 2017. It was mentioned during the JPPI conference call and is referenced in their report.

Since the Shaharit survey also teases out those Arabs who profess a purely Palestinian identity, it is helpful in providing support for the 972 and JPPI survey results that measure that category as well. The Shaharit survey also offered "Israeli" as a choice, just as the JPPI survey, and shows that number has remained fairly consistent and even increased slightly.

Again, the fact that the 972 survey was done both in 2014 and 2019 also lends support that there has been a decline in the number of Israeli Arabs who self-identify as Palestinians.

According to the JPPI survey:

This year a very meaningful difference was detected on this question, compared with last year, mainly in the responses of Muslim Arabs (who constitute the decisive majority of non-Jews in Israel). The change consists primarily of a steep rise in the percentage of those who define their primary identity as “Israeli,” versus a substantial decline in the percentage of those who define themselves as “Arab,” and a sharp drop in the percentage of those who define themselves as “Palestinian.” In fact, in this year’s survey fewer than one in ten non-Jews in Israel said that their primary identity was “Palestinian,” while a quarter of the respondents (23%) defined themselves as “Israeli.” The percentage of respondents who self-defined as “Arab Israeli” remained virtually unchanged, such that, on the whole, nearly three out of four non-Jews in Israel defined themselves as “Israeli” or “Arab Israeli.”

While 972 attributed their 2019 findings of increased pro-Israeli identification with possible intimidation by the ratifications of the Jewish Nation-State Law, Rosner offered other explanations for his 2020 survey.

The poll was done in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, and right after the third round of elections in Israel.

Rosner suggested the increase in Arab identification as Israelis could be attributed to the multiple elections, with Arab participation being publicly debated. This led to increased Arab participation which in turn impacted self-identification.

The more the Arabs participate in the political life of Israel, the more likely they are to see themselves as Israelis, as opposed to Palestinians/Arabs.

Also, the coronavirus pandemic and the shared fate together of all Israelis helped create a sense of shared identity.

That raises the obvious question, whether this is a one-time phenomenon. For the answer to that, we will have to see next year.

But there is a real possibility that this could be a sign of a serious change and alteration in the identification of Arab Israelis.

No wonder Abbas and Hamas are terrified by the prospect of any contact between Palestinian Arabs and Israel.

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A short Twitter conversation I had yesterday with Yonah Lieberman, one of the founders of IfNotNow, is instructive.

He wrote:

Netanyahu’s most favored allies in America? Not Jews.
He chooses Evangelical Christians, whose religious beliefs include prophesies about Jews all being in the land of Israel so they can all be killed at once during the Second Coming of Jesus.

Essentially, he's saying that all evangelicals are antisemites.

They find that idea quite offensive, of course. But decades ago there was that undercurrent, which has - as far as I can tell - been eradicated in recent years.

I tweeted that back and pointed out that if one is going to say that your political opponents are antisemitic, perhaps you should look carefully at your allies.

This comment by @YonahLieberman was true several decades ago. Very unclear if it is now.

But the other side is that people like him ally with those who believe that all of Israel is an Islamic Waqf, and against Muslim law to give up an inch to Jews. Both Hamas and PA say this.

And this is indisputable. The idea of all of "historic Palestine" (a modern construct that coincides with the British Mandate borders) is an Islamic Waqf is part of Hamas' founding philosophy from 1988. But the idea quickly spread to the so-called "moderate" PLO:

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Habbash, the Supreme Shari'ah Judge and Mahmoud Abbas' advisor on Religious and Islamic Affairs, said that selling or handing over lands and real estate in Jerusalem and all of Palestine to the Israeli occupation or settlers constitutes treason and a violation of Islamic law. ...
Al-Habbash emphasized that according to Islamic Shari'ah law, the entire land of Palestine is waqf (i.e., an inalienable religious endowment in Islamic law) and is blessed land, and that it is prohibited to sell, bestow ownership or facilitate the occupation of even a millimeter of it.

This is a pretty hardline position that excludes the possibility of Palestinians ever accepting a Jewish state. And it is new, meaning an Islamic precept is being applied in an ahistoric way to achieve an antisemitic aim.

I then added, "When you ignore antisemitism from your political allies, you don't have the right to speak out against antisemitism."

Lieberman couldn't respond to my point, of course, because the last thing he wants to do is alienate his antisemitic allies. So he tried to deflect:

When you call any criticism of Israel antisemitic, making it impossible to know what is and is not actual hatred/oppression of the Jewish people, you have no right to say who can and cannot speak out against antisemitism.

If his premise was true, perhaps he would have an argument. But it isn't:

But I don't. As far as I can tell, neither does anyone else. That's a straw man. No one disagrees that one can legitimately criticize Israel. Demonizing Israel is another story.

Which is exactly why you oppose @TheIHRA definition (of antisemitism.) It makes that distinction clearly.

The Israel-hating Left tries to shut down discussion about their alliance with antisemites by claiming that the Right tries to shut down all criticism of Israel by invoking antisemitism. Yet no one I'm aware of does that, and the IHRA definition of antisemitism makes that distinction crystal clear - a point that the Left pretends to ignore, as Yonah does here.

By rejecting IHRA, Lieberman and his allies are defending antisemitic hate speech, because they seem to believe that Palestinians cannot possibly criticize Israel without violating that definition.

Of course, he didn't respond. Because he cannot. He knows I'm right.

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UCLA professor openly supports Syria and Islamist terrorists, no one blinks

Last night, Israel once again attacked Iranian military targets in Syria. Several pro-Iranian militants were killed, and the Syria Observatory for Human Rights says some civilians were killed as well, but in all probability they were killed by shrapnel from Syrian anti-missile defenses.

When the news of the attacks was first released, Saree Makdisi, a professor at UCLA, tweeted:

This one tweet shows how truly bad academia is today.

As Makdisi knows, these regular Israeli airstrikes are meant to disrupt the smuggling of advanced Iranian weapons to the Hezbollah terror group that control the southern part of the country. Hezbollah is a Shiite fundamentalist group. This American born professor of Lebanese and Palestinian ancestry, who teaches English literature, is expressing a preference of an Islamist group over a liberal, Westernized nation like Israel.

The only way that this is remotely possible is if Makdisi has an irrational hate of Israel which we see so much of, a hate that is psychologically identical to traditional antisemitism.

Secondly, Makdisi is not only defending Hezbollah's regional ambitions, but also he's also defending the ruthless, murderous regime of Syria. It isn't fashionable to defend Assad, but when the choice is to be on the side of Assad or Israel, for these moral midgets, there is no contest.

Thirdly, Makdisi seems to be basing his argument on a bizarre sense of "fairness." To him and those like him, Israel's technological edge is simply unfair. Her sworn enemies that want to destroy her should have equivalent weapons, for free, to even the playing field. Of course, such horrendous logic would result in endless, far more bloody wars. This is an immoral position. By Makdisi's logic, we should give nuclear weapons to every nation.

Of course, his sense of fairness is only for Israel's enemies to have equivalent weapons as the IDF.

Fourthly, the tweet is not even true. Syria receives the latest air defense systems from Russia. This is in fact why Israel usually shoots missiles from Lebanese airspace - because the Syrian weapons are very advanced, and in no way are they "1970s defense systems."

And finally, Israel upgrades the weapons it receives using its own expertise, so it is hardly relying only on US and European technology as Makdisi implies.

That is a lot of bias, anti-Western thinking and falsehood in a 34-word tweet.

And this is the state of academia today where such a mindset is celebrated. Facts are disparaged, it's trendy to support those who would destroy your nation (and university) if they could, and antisemitic thinking can be justified by calling it anti-Zionism.

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You Just Might Be An Antisemite If....

If the Star of David on Israel's flag upsets you but the crescent, crosses and other religious symbols on more than 60 other flags doesn't bother you, you just might be an antisemite.

If you believe that the Palestinian Arabs, who never thought of themselves as a nation until the mid-20th century, have more of a claim to nationhood than Jews who have been a nation for 3000 years, you just might be an antisemite.

If you deny that the Jewish people are a nation altogether, you just might be an antisemite.

If the idea of a Jewish state feels vaguely racist to you but the idea of an Arab or Muslim state doesn't, you might be an antisemite.

If Israel is the only nation you ever call an "apartheid state," you just might be an antisemite.

If you get a thrill comparing Israelis to Nazis, you just might  be an antisemite.

If you think "Zionists" control Congress, or the banks, or Hollywood, you just might  be an antisemite.

If you believe that it is a moral duty to boycott Israeli Jews but not Israeli Arabs, you just might be an antisemite.

If you believe that Ashkenazic Jews are descended from Khazars and have no Middle East ancestry, you just might be an antisemite.

If you ever claimed Israel steals organs from Palestinians, you just might  be an antisemite.

If you think Israel is behind the coronavirus, you just might be an antisemite.

If you aren't Muslim but refer to Jewish shrines like the Temple Mount, Rachel's Tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs by their Muslim names that came centuries later, you just might be an antisemite.

If you claim that Israel poisons Palestinian wells, you just might be an antisemite.

If you believe that Israel intends to take over all the land from the Nile to the Euphrates, you just might be an antisemite.

If you cannot to bring yourself to write the word Israel without scare quotes, you just might be an antisemite.

If you want to see the only Jewish state replaced with another Arab state, you just might be an antisemite.

If you claim to be pro-Palestinian but ignore how Palestinians have been and continue to be treated by Arabs, you just might be an antisemite.

If you say you are against occupation but never said a word about any occupation that cannot be blamed on Israel you just might be an antisemite.

If you claim that Israel does moral things to cover up for immoral crimes, you just might be an antisemite.

If Jews must pass a test of being anti-Israel for you to allow them to speak publicly, you just might be an antisemite.

If you've ever called someone a "Zionist" as an insult, you just might be an antisemite.

If you are offended by the lyrics of Hatikva but have no problem with the Palestinian national anthem that extols violence and vengeance, you just might be an antisemite.

If you regard Leila Khaled, Rasmea Odeh and Dalal Mughrabi as feminist role models, you just might be an antisemite.

If the idea of Jews respectfully visiting their holiest spots makes you angry, you just might be an antisemite.

If you think that terrorism against Jewish targets is sometimes justified, you just may be an antisemite.

If there are any parts of the world that you believe Jews should not be allowed to live, you just might be an antisemite.

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Another fun interview.

Phyllis Chesler has an almost unbelievable resume and biography. If you aren't familiar with her, check out her website.

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04/26 Links: Israeli death toll hits 200; Terror victims' families to collect NIS 500 m. from PA; Netanyahu: I’m confident annexation will happen in a couple of months

From Ian:

Israeli death toll hits 200, cases reach 15,398 as conditions eased

The coronavirus death toll in Israel reached 200 on Sunday afternoon, with one woman dying since the previous evening, as the number of COVID-19 cases in the country rose to 15,398, an increase of 250 over the previous 24 hours.

The woman died at Sheba Hospital in Tel Hashomer, outside Tel Aviv.

Israel has registered 23 deaths per million citizens, according to the Worldometers tally on Sunday early afternoon, which places it at around 40th in the world, slightly better than the world average of some 26 deaths per million.

The Health Ministry said 132 people were in serious condition, 100 of whom were on ventilators, and 93 people were moderately ill.

There have now been 6,602 people in Israel who recovered from the coronavirus, according to the announcement, which came a day after the World Health Organization said it could not guarantee that people can’t be reinfected after recovery.

Most stores, hairdressers and beauty salons were allowed to resume operations from midnight Saturday, if hygiene regulations related to the virus were adhered to.

In addition, restaurants and food shops were allowed to sell products for takeaway, not just home deliveries, if a physical barrier is placed between the cashier and the customers.

However, hundreds of large businesses were set to remain closed, despite approval to reopen, in protest against the government and as they demand compensation for the recent closures and ongoing restrictions.

Terror victims' families to collect NIS 500 m. from Palestinian Authority

The Jerusalem District Court has ordered that around NIS 500 million be collected from the Palestinian Authority in civil damages for a series of terror attacks carried out mostly during the Second Intifada.

Despite the significant diplomatic implications, there was no sign from the Foreign Ministry or the Justice Ministry that anyone would stand in the way of collecting the funds from the PA.

Though the decision was handed down late Friday, it was announced by Shurat Hadin, which led the charge, on Sunday.

Jerusalem District Court Judge Moshe Drori had ruled that the PA was liable back in July 2019, but since then Shurat Hadin, on behalf of eight victims’ families and relating to 17 complaints, had to prove their damages.

Although the damages may total as high as NIS 1 billion, due to the complex diplomatic implications, Judge Moshe Sobol (Drori has retired) ruled on Friday that, at this stage, the collected damages will be around NIS 500m., and that even that collection will be spread out and into multiple components.

Some of the collected funds will be by an offset of funds paid by the PA to terrorists in prison and their families, while some of the collected funds will be collected on a spread-out monthly basis. The monthly basis funds will be collected from the more than NIS 500m. which Israel transfers in customs taxes on a monthly basis.

The idea is that only a fraction of the customs funds will be used each month to steadily pay down the new judgment, while most of the funds will still go to the PA so as not to cause a financial crisis.

Netanyahu: I’m confident annexation will happen in a couple of months

Israel will be able to apply its laws to the West Bank in a couple of months following a pledge from US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday.

“Three months ago, the Trump peace plan recognized Israel’s rights in all of Judea and Samaria,” Netanyahu said. “President Trump pledged to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Jewish communities there and in the Jordan Valley. In a couple of months from now, I’m confident that pledge will be honored, that we will be able to celebrate another historic moment in the history of Zionism.”

The Trump peace plan would allow Israel to annex 30% of the West Bank, including all settlements and the entire Jordan Valley, while providing the Palestinians with a massive economic-aid package to support their establishing a demilitarized state, if they meet certain conditions, including stopping incitement, payments to terrorists and instituting civil rights.

The coalition agreement between Likud and Blue and White, signed last week, states that annexation can be brought to a vote in the cabinet or Knesset on July 1 at the earliest.

Netanyahu spoke in a video message at an online conference of the European Coalition for Israel (ECI) in honor of the 100th anniversary of the San Remo Conference, in which the Allied powers in World War I divided up territory that had been part of the Ottoman Empire.

Jordan said to urge foreign ministers to discourage Israeli West Bank annexation

Jordan last week approached a number of foreign governments and urged them to pressure Israel not to annex parts of the West Bank, Channel 13 news reported, after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz signed a coalition agreement saying the move could potentially go ahead as early as July.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi has reportedly approached counterparts in a number of countries including Russia, Germany, Egypt, Japan, Sweden and Norway.

Jordan was said to have warned that a possible annexation would have a “devastating effect,” marking the end of a two-state solution, and having potentially explosive consequences for the Middle East.

According to the report, the overtures made by Safadi were in coordination with the Palestinians, who themselves have launched a campaign against annexation.

In addition, the Arab League is due to hold an emergency meeting on the matter, Channel 13 reported.

The Netanyahu-Gantz deal stipulates that any Israeli action would need US backing, and must take into account Israel’s peace treaties with neighboring Jordan and Egypt, the only two Arab states that have formal peace treaties and diplomatic relations with Israel.

Recent months have seen Amman recall its ambassador to Israel, no joint ceremony marking the quarter-century anniversary of the peace agreement between the two countries, and the termination of special arrangements that allowed Israeli farmers to easily access plots of land inside Jordan.

British Muslim scholar says wives must obey their husbands' demands, provide sex immediately when asked

This guys is saying this in English!

Ustadh Muhammad Tim Humble: "The prophets said if I was going to command someone to prostrate before I, to bow before someone, I would have commanded a woman to bow before her husband. If he's not asking her to do something forbidden then she must do what she's told.
[…]
"It's very inconvenient and she is saddled up riding the camel whatever, you know, and he then asks her for intimacy, she then has to get down to make herself available for her husband.
[…]
"The right to immediate intimacy or immediate satisfaction of intimate desires, that needs to be with regard to the man. There is immediacy. There is an urgency...
[…]
"The prophets have explained with such emphasis, but if you had an ulcer that was bleeding with blood and pus from his head to his foot and she licked it, she would not have fulfilled the right that he had over her.
[…]
"The Messenger of Islam said if a man calls his wife to bed and she refuses... For intimacy, she refuses and he goes to sleep up angry with her, the angels curse her until the morning comes. In another narration, until her husband is happy with her.
[…]
"There is no man who calls his wife to her bed and she refuses him except that the one in the heavens is angry with her until her husband is pleased with her. That the Messenger from Islam said it's not allowed for a woman to fast while her husband is present except with his permission. In case of his need of intimacy nor to allow someone to come into his house except with his permission."

He's a popular speaker, too. He converted to Islam when he was 14.

Somehow, the British media has missed this, even though MEMRI published this on Thursday.

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Where are the Palestinian peace groups? Who is teaching Palestinians about peace?

Where are the Palestinian peace groups? And why is no one even asking this question?

From American Friends of Combatants for Peace:

Our 15th annual Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Ceremony is co-organized by Combatants for Peace and Parents Circle – Families Forum and held on Yom Hazikaron (Israeli Memorial Day). Our Ceremony challenges the traditional narrative of victimhood and separation, and brings people together to declare that, “War is Not an Act of Fate – but a Human Choice!”

Yom Hazikaron, Israeli Memorial Day, is a sacred day in Israel. Nearly every Israeli family has lost someone in the conflict, and together they come to remember these dear ones. However, traditionally, Israelis ignore the grief of Palestinian families. Indeed the official Israeli ceremonies are marked by a narrative of hopelessness, accepting that “we must live or die by our swords.” This leads to deep pain, fueling the despair prevalent in both societies today.

When Palestinians and Israelis challenge the status quo and come together to acknowledge each other and remember – together, we start to build a new reality based on mutual respect, dignity, equality, freedom and peace. In this way, we are taking responsibility, challenging our own sense of victimhood, and better still, turning a sense of helplessness into empowerment and hope.

Looking at the organizations sponsoring the event, I see lots of left-wing Jewish and even anti-Zionist organizations, and I see some Israeli organizations, but I do not see a single organization based out of the Palestinian (or any Arab) territories:

The joint Jewish-Arab organizations listed above are all based in Israel.

They do not have any Arabic-language websites. Standing Together has Hebrew and English; Other Voice is clearly speaking only for left-wing Israelis.

There are a number of Palestinians who are involved in Combatants For Peace. Although I did not do an exhaustive search, I could not find them on social media. I found very few mentions of them in Arabic media. And I could not find a single time where any of them engaged publicly with other Palestinians to talk about peace with Israelis.

However, plenty of these peace-loving Palestinians come to Western nations to speak about how much they hate violence. American Jews and Western liberals eat this all up. It appears that saying you want peace is a very good career move for a segment of Palestinian society.

The message they bring, from what I can tell, is that terrorism is bad - but only Israel is responsible for the lack of peace. An overwhelming number of the social media posts from these organizations are against Israel. I see no criticisms of the Palestinian Authority for paying terrorists and their families, or for glorifying terror. I see no anguish that Palestinian children are raised learning to hate.

Maybe I missed a post here or there, but the basic message is not that both sides need to be pressured to create an environment for peace, but only Israel - a message that the Israelis and left-wing Jewish organizations are happy to push. Under the surface, there is no equivalence in the message nor of the audiences. Both sides agree Israel is to blame, at least based on what I can find.

Where are the Palestinian peace organizations, speaking in Arabic to Arab audiences? Where are the grassroots movements that demand responsibility from Palestinian leaders?

We unfortunately know the answer. The few Palestinians that have publicly spoken about real peace and coexistence with Israel and Palestinian responsibility - Bassam Eid, Khaled Abu Toameh, Mohammed Dajani Daoudi among them - are threatened, intimidated and sometimes attacked.

If these groups would be vocal about criticizing Palestinian society and leadership for that mindset, then perhaps they could credibly claim to be truly bipartisan - and truly interested in peace.

(h/t Yerushalimey)

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