Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, July 06, 2020

Hezbollah still a major player in global drug trade

The BBC reported:

Italian police have seized what they believe is a world-record haul of 14 tonnes of amphetamines they suspect were made in Syria to finance the jihadist group Islamic State (IS).

About 84 million counterfeit Captagon pills worth an estimated €1bn ($1.1bn; £0.9bn) were found in containers at the port of Salerno.

They were hidden inside large drums of paper and gear wheels.

Officers are looking into whether local Camorra crime groups are involved.

Captagon is a brand name for the synthetic stimulant fenethylline. It was originally used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and narcolepsy, but many countries banned it during the 1980s because of its addictive properties.

Now, counterfeit Captagon is reportedly one of the most popular drugs among affluent youths in the Middle East, particularly in Gulf Arab states.

The drug has also been consumed by combatants in the civil war in Syria, including IS militants, who value its ability to inhibit fear and ward off tiredness.

Syria is believed to be the biggest producer and exporter of counterfeit Captagon.

Lebanon’s Al Modon says that Hezbollah is known to be a major partner with Syria for distributing this illegal drug.

The production and smuggling of drugs from Syria to the countries of the world is not limited to the partnership between the Assad regime and the Lebanese Hezbollah, which has long sales in this field; it is widely believed that the Russian mafia is in close relationship with such operations that used to flood the European market with drugs coming from India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and currently from Syria and Lebanon. This is after the Russian mafia benefited from the Russian influence, which has become strong on the eastern and southern Mediterranean coasts, and the costs of producing and shipping drugs from Syria to Europe have decreased.

Information shows that Samer al-Assad, Bashar's cousin, is primarily responsible for the manufacture and trade of drugs, and runs the system's operations in cooperation with Hezbollah and the Russian mafia.

This confirms the third face of Hezbollah, alongside its two known faces in Lebanon: the political side , and the military-security side.The third side is the manufacturing of Captagon, cultivating the plants from which drugs are made, trafficking cocaine and heroin, and smuggling goods, medicines and food through dozens of land crossings between Syria and Lebanon, and through the Beirut Port and Rafic Hariri Airport, and money laundering.

The article goes on to compare how Hezbollah is like the other organized crime cartels worldwide; hiding their activities under social programs, using strong family and ethnic connections to maintain an atmosphere of secrecy, flourishing in weak states.

The cowardice of the socialist Left on Farrakhan’s antisemitism

As I showed yesterday, Louis Farrakhan gave a nationally-televised speech, promoted by Diddy, that has at least a half dozen antisemitic parts. (I didn’t include them all – he also said that he told God to give Floria the coronavirus because Cuba’s Jews fled to Florida and hurts US relations with that country. Really.)

What did the socialist Left, which pretends to be so much against antisemitism, say?

Nothing. Nada. Gornisht. Zip.

Instead, IfNotNow posted an old clip of a Jew interrupting a Nazi party event in New York, pretending to be as brave as he was.

I pointed out that they aren’t brave – they are cowards.

And you are SILENT when Louis Farrakhan spouts the exact same kind of hate. You MINIMIZE when Roger Waters says the same thing. You HATE when Jews defend themselves. Stop pretending you give a damn about antisemitism. You enable it, you @IfNotNowOrg hypocrites.

Ooooh, you are against Nazis. How brave. What about when your political allies are antisemites? Then you turn into cowardly silent sheep. Screaming you care about "justice" and "racism" but allowing your pals to crap all over Jews. You are contemptible.

Your hate for Nazis doesn't overcome your tolerance for a Nazi admirer.

Here's the biggest piece of hypocrisy imaginable from people who are silent (or tacitly encourage) antisemitism from Arabs and Nation of Islam and Leftists.
When you actually grow some balls, give real Jews a call. Until then, don't pretend you represent any of us.

Of course, they didn’t answer. They cannot. They know they are cowards, pretending that fighting against Zionists – who won’t do anything to them – is bravery. If they would speak out against the Nation of Islam or Roger Waters, though, people on their side will denigrate them and they cannot even handle insults from their compatriots.

How very brave they are. They choose to condone antisemitism rather than risk their position as solidly socialist anti-Zionist and “woke.”

The few times that they've mentioned Farrakhan it has always been in the context of downplaying his antisemitism and its importance. One example:

Not once have they condemned Farrakhan without “context” meant to minimize his hate and danger.

The Jersey City murderers who espoused Farrakhan’s philosophy didn’t move them at all.

No, they don’t care about antisemitism unless they can associate it with the Right. Which means they don’t care about antisemitism, only about their own standing in their anti-Israel community.

Arab antisemitism? Black antisemitism? Leftist antisemitism? Not a word. But they are so assertive in countering the neo-Nazis, pretending that they are somehow showing some mettle by doing that.

Really pathetic.

And the same goes for all the people who insist they are against antisemitism as well as Zionism. In the end the Linda Sarsours and Ali Abunimahs and Rashida Tlaibs are all on the same side as the Arab, and black, and Leftist antisemites.

They let their own Jew-hatred slip through often enough.

(h/t kweansmom)

World War Z was (as I recall) a zombie apocalypse movie starring Brad Pitt. At one point in the movie, Jerusalem is seen as the safest place to be because Israelis built a wall around the city to protect themselves from the zombies. Jews and Arabs were safe inside Jerusalem and at one point, they started to sing together, which inflamed the zombies to overrun the wall and get the peaceful Arabs and Jews.

According to this academic paper by Haneen Shafeeq Ghabra & Marouf A. Hasian of Kuwait University and University of Utah, this is really a lesson in how Palestinians are the monsters.

The abstract:

The authors deploy a critical cultural critique that extends the work of monstrosity scholars and other researchers who are interested in the application of zombie apocalypse analyses to critiques of contemporary nationalistic and social controversies. World War Z sets in motion a series of cinematic dynamics that invite audiences to consider how Israeli securitization of Jerusalem might serve as the world's best hope for containing the zombie apocalypse. By decoding the “monstering” features World War Z, the authors note the heuristic value of understanding how the rhetoric of autoimmunity influences mediated perceptions of Israeli and Palestinian conflicts.

The paper says:

We contend that through cinematic modes of monstering and discourses of autoimmunity, World War Z assuages Israeli and Western anxieties by creating characters clearly modeled on Western imaginings of Palestinian terrorists.

Clearly!

By choosing to put on display monstering images of zombies scaling walls, and by choosing to geopolitical situate the potential “cures” for this zombie apocalypse in Israel, the producers and promoters of World War Z are explicitly or implicitly suggesting that Palestinian dissenters, or indigenous “others,” constitute biopolitical threats that can be quarantined or contained by those who know how to battle zombies.

Except that the monsters were not quarantined – the humans (Arabs and Jews) were. But, hey, they only get that part 100% wrong.

The authors quote serious movie critics: Arabs who tweeted their reviews.

Avinash Tharoor, in one Tweet, said to “forget the zombies,” because the “most unrealistic thing about World War Z was Israel inviting in displaced Palestinians.” ⁵⁸ Another blogger, writing from United Arab Emirates, complained that the film went from being “action film into Zionism pornography an hour into the film.” ⁵⁹ Rania Khalek seemed to echo these types of remarks when she tweeted that in World War Z, Israel’s “apartheid” wall apparently “helps keep out a massive horde of zombies.”

Here’s a nice part:

Viewers are asked to suspend belief and forget about how Israeli checkpoints, gates, and grids become the “forensic architecture” that dismantle the social fabric of this region. ⁷⁶ In World War Z, the checkpoints are configured as “salvation” gates, perhaps intended to appeal to the Judeo-Christian sentiments of viewing audiences who are taught on Saturdays and Sundays to believe that Israelis are a “chosen people,” and that Jerusalem belongs to those who fought off the infidels.

In reality, Israeli checkpoints are used to remind Palestinians of their subordinate power positions and their second-class status as dispossessed people.

And the checkpoints at Israeli malls and supermarkets? Are they also meant to demean Palestinians, or to, you know, stop bomb attacks?

What about the fact that the movie makes it very clear that Arabs and Israelis are on the same side and the zombies help unite them? Why, of course,!

The camera focuses on Muslims praying, Israelis and Palestinians chanting together as they wave both Israeli and Palestinian flags, and all of this can be viewed as cinematic form of hasbara (Israeli diplomacy) that elides, counters, or neutralizes the positions of those want to underscore the apartheid nature of Palestinian othering.

The final scene in Jerusalem is described in a truly twisted way:

One of the most intriguing parts of World War Z comes when all of the chanting and flag-waving appears to infuriate the zombies, who overwhelm the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) that are there to protect the people from the zombies. As the camera moves beyond the wall, into Palestinian territory, we begin to hear grunting while dozens of monstrous bodies scurry toward the wall. Thousands of zombies are moving in dead-like piles as they breach the Israeli wall. Gerry, along with another Mossad agent, flees the country, barely making it out alive. It no coincidence that the viewer is not afforded space to sympathize with the zombies who symbolically may represent the Palestinians who threaten the security of Israel or the Palestinian terrorists who belong to organizations like Hamas. Situated thanatopolitically in the body of the zombies, the Palestinians, and their demographic threats, can be contained—at least at long as filmgoers, and Israelis, understand the necessitous nature of biosecuritizing walls.

A zombie film that doesn’t humanize the zombies is obviously showing its hate for Palestinians!

The only racists here are the academic authors, who are the only people on Earth who look at the swarming monsters in the film and automatically say – yup, those are Palestinians.

EoZTV: Legal scholar Avi Bell on “annexation”

My 24th pandemic interview was with Professor Avi Bell, who has written widely on legal topics concerning Israel. He described why Israel is de facto and de jure legal sovereign over Judea and Samaria today using the principle of uti possidetis juris , why Palestinians in Area C would be thrilled by this “civilianization” of parts of the territories, and what is likely to happen next. Avi also demolished the “apartheid” argument, the “demographic” argument, the politicization of the ICC and Europe’s role.

See the whole thing here, and browse through my other many interviews on TheElderOfZiyon YouTube channel.

07/05 Links: Study finds first wave of COVID-19 positively boosted Israel’s image; Slavery Rampant in Africa, Middle East; The West Wrongly Accuses Itself

From Ian:

Study finds first wave of COVID-19 positively boosted Israel’s image

A new study conducted for Vibe Israel found that the Jewish state’s image in the international community was seen in a positive light during the first wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

The study, based on data from research done by Bloom Consulting from March 30-April 2 and utilizing a new type of measurement called Brand-Nought, analyzed how a country was perceived internationally based on its government’s handling of the coronavirus crisis. This analysis focused on image impact in four specific areas: Whether people would want to visit the country (Tourism), whether people would want to work in or live in the country, whether people would want to study in the country and whether people would want to buy products from the country.

When compared to over 140 countries, Israel was found to have a positive image, especially compared to countries like Italy and the United States.

“Israel being one of the first to close its borders and being quick to react was an indication on how positively it handled the virus,” CEO and founder of Vibe Israel Joanna Landau told The Jerusalem Post.

“During the first wave, countries like the US were reluctant to quarantine, Italy was in a terrible state and Israel was two weeks into its full on quarantine… While New Zealand literally crushed the curve, we were able to flatten it, while others were still struggling with it.”

Landau believes that there were three aspects that contributed to Israel having such a positive image: reacting quickly, keeping quarantine seriously and being one of the countries involved in the race to develop a vaccine.

However, not all specific areas studied were impacted to the same degree, with some, most notably tourism, being surprisingly unaffected.

Legal Insurrection: I’m helping to launch a new, millennial-run Israel advocacy watchdog group

Against the backdrop of a rising tide of anti-Semitic incidents across the country and the failure of many mainstream Jewish organizations to condemn anti-Semitism emanating from the left, communities of color, or Islamists, I’ve joined a group of Jewish-American millennials in founding a brand-new non-profit organization called HaShevet.

It is my honor to serve on HaShevet’s founding board of directors with a cadre of brilliant, ambitious, and passionate Jewish leaders.

HaShevet is not a part of or affiliated with the Legal Insurrection Foundation.

On Monday, June 30, we published our first press release, announcing HaShevet’s launch and explaining our mission. JNS reported on our project:

Amid dissatisfaction with mainstream Jewish advocacy organizations, a new alliance of young Jewish American leaders was launched on Monday: HaShevet (Hebrew for “The Tribe,” which is also a nickname for the Jewish faith and people).

The organization seeks to “represent a diversity of political opinions and professional backgrounds” and “come together, united in our dedication to promote moral clarity within the Jewish advocacy sector, strengthen and mobilize young Jewish professionals to publicly oppose all forms of anti-Semitism (including anti-Zionism), and take up the mantle of Jewish community leadership to safeguard the future of the Jewish people,” said the organization in an announcement.

We believe so strongly in our mission that all of us on the founding board are volunteers, working on this project in our spare time:

Jonathan S. Tobin: Why Should We Give a Pass to Those Who Tweet Antisemitism?

Ours is a time when antisemitism is surging and the popularity of intersectional politics has given new credibility to radical groups that are keen to link the war on Israel to the culture wars being waged in the United States. At such a moment it is the duty of those who speak up against this prejudice to be ever more vigilant rather than to relax our efforts. Yet when a person who has associated herself with some of these smears and was an editor at a publication that habitually trafficked in them rises to a position of eminence at the country’s most important newspaper, the advice from some quarters is to not be too hasty in expressing alarm.

That is the conceit of a piece published by The Algemeiner that alleges that I have done an injustice to Charlotte Greensit, an incoming managing editor at The New York Times because I called her to account for tweets in which she promoted an antisemitic blood libel about Israel training American police to kill African-Americans.

Greensit scrubbed her Twitter account of this and other outrageous tweets that she posted during her time at The Intercept. We are now told that promoting such awful articles was just part of her job and, according to the author of The Algemeiner article, since jobs are hard to find in journalism, we shouldn’t judge her. Her half-hearted non-apology for her past actions notwithstanding, that is, of course, a very low standard. Nor do I think it is likely that she, or anyone else at the Times, would be as charitable to those who retweet hateful views that they opposed.

Instead, we are told we should listen to Greensit’s friends, who all vouch for her virtue and opposition to antisemitism. One such friend cited in The Algemeiner repeated the discredited argument that she is merely guilty of holding “an unauthorized view” about Israel even if those views aren’t legitimate criticism but actually in accord with smears promoted by antisemites.

The point here is that actions and associations that would result in a person being “canceled” if they testified to links to racism never seem to apply to antisemitism. Since Greensit is a member in good standing of the elite chattering classes, we are told to judge her kindly. Had she categorically renounced the content of the antisemitic story and other awful tweets, that would buttress her defenders’ arguments. But she has not done so.

“Martyr” video shows again how disgusting Hamas is

Abd al-Salam Abu Nadi was a Hamas terrorist who died a few days ago – of a heart attack.

But Hamas had some footage of him training and they didn’t want to waste it, so they made it into a boring 12-minute video dedicated to him.

But even in this video, Hamas proves how immoral it is.

In one scene, Abu Nadi is shown practicing shooting – into a “souk,” as the sign conveniently says, which is by any definition a civilian area.

Here’s the first ten minutes if you want to see more.

The countries that voted for China’s “national security law” that imposes harsh penalties for Hong Kong residents protesting against China include every Arab country in the UN Human Rights Council.

These include Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Syria, the UAE and Yemen – and “Palestine.”

Iran, Sudan, South Sudan and Pakistan also supported China.

Ken Roth of Human Rights Watch mentioned the Arab countries that are HRW’s usual targets, but of course didn’t include “Palestine”in his list of “dictators and thugs.”

It takes a Who's Who of dictators & thugs to back China's repressive "national security" law for Hong Kong including Bahrain, Belarus, Burundi, Cambodia, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, Iran, Myanmar, Nicaragua, NKorea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE, Venezuela, Zimbabwe. https://t.co/iaBUyd40S8 pic.twitter.com/T6viYVpm0o

— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) July 1, 2020

I see no outcry in Arabic media about voting against freedom, even in the relatively liberal Lebanese media.

One takeaway is obvious: The UN, even its purported “human rights” arm, is not a moral arbiter of anything. Nations vote according to their own self-interests and not for any reasons that are remotely related to human rights.

But the other lesson is that even “human rights” groups are loathe to criticize the UN Human Rights Council because it usually aligns with their anti-US, anti-Israel mindset and if they publicly criticize it then they cannot point to its many anti-Israel resolutions as proof of Israel’s supposed immorality, which they love to do as Ken Roth himself did over the past couple of weeks.

Now that the UN rights chief has issued the database of companies doing business with Israel's illegal settlements, it's important that she keep it updated. That's the only way it will serve as a spur to companies to meet their human rights obligations. https://t.co/eC1VJ5bLnb pic.twitter.com/7AokYVJsal
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) June 23, 2020

The United Nations Human Rights Council, which if you listen to Trump only criticizes Israel, just condemned Iran (yet again) by a vote of 22 for, 8 against, and 15 abstaining. pic.twitter.com/7dzv2IM6oo
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) June 22, 2020

On the Fourth of July, music mogul Diddy hosted a heaviily-promoted speech by racist Louis Farrakhan on his “Revolt TV” YouTube channel.
Here are some of the things he said about Jews in this speech.
Farrakhan made up a story that in the Talmud, Jews have a tradition of poisoning people and if the victim survives the poison, then you are really from God. A Jewish woman poisoned Mohammad with poisoned meat and he survived, although he was weakened. Farrakhan then said that he too was poisoned with radioactive seeds that Jews placed within him to kill him, but he also survived although weaker. “If the Jews are saying that we did try to kill him and you know I'm alive then what should that tell you about who I am?”, he said to applause, comparing himself to Mohammed.
Speaking about ADL leader Jonathan Greenblatt, Farrakhan said, “Mr. Greenblatt, you are Satan. Those of you that say that you’re Jews, I will not even give you the honor of calling you a Jew. You’re not a Jew… you’re Satan and it’s my job now to pull the cover off of Satan. So every Muslim, when you see Satan pick up a stone as we do in Mecca.”
He went on a bizarre rant about Alan Dershowitz which sounds like a threat against all Jews: “So Mr. Dershowitz, if you bring the vaccine and say you're gonna bring your army to force us to take it, once you try to force us, that's a declaration of war on all of us. You only have this one life; fight like hell to keep it and fight like hell to destroy those whose heart and mind is to destroy you and take your life from you.”
In this clip, Farrakhan says that Jews who believe in the Talmud (which is all Orthodox and most Conservative Jews, and even non-religious Jews quote it) are trying to kill him and if they succeed, it will mean they will all be destroyed:

How is this not incitement?
Here are a couple of clips where Farrakhan insisted he isn’t against Jews, but only against imposters – which conveniently happen to be pretty much every Jew.

Here's just one of the half dozen antisemitic things Farrakhan said today with the support of @Diddy.

Calling me an "imposter Jew" that Allah must banish, equivalent to Satan, doesn't make it any less Jew-hatred. Farrakhan defining who Jews are and aren't is just more Jew-hate. pic.twitter.com/GckmeeaX0g
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) July 5, 2020

More of his hate where this antisemitic bigot claims to define most Jews as not really being Jews and deserving of being killed.
Gee, thanks, @Diddy for making me and millions of Jews targets for Farrakhan's followers. pic.twitter.com/Yjcc6320E8
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) July 5, 2020

Everyone is so scared of calling out Farrakhan’s antisemitism because they don’t want to look like they are against black people. Yet excusing and coddling bigotry is what is insulting to black people - and every other human being.
If Jews are allowed to be insulted and demeaned in a speech promoted by the most respected and successful black person, then Diddy isn’t a fighter for justice – he is an enabler of bigotry.

07/04 Links: Why Jordan Shields Terrorist Ahlam Tamimi From Extradition to US; An American prophet in Berlin; The things that bump in Iran’s nights

From Ian:

Why Jordan Shields Terrorist Ahlam Tamimi From Extradition to US

A small group of Republican members of Congress have been trying to right a great wrong by demanding that Jordan extradite Sbarro massacre mastermind Ahlam Tamimi to the United States. But as a proud and unrepentant murderer of Jews — including two American citizens — Ahlam Tamimi has many admirers, and it unfortunately seems that the Jordanian government has no interest in turning over this unrepentant terrorist.

This case not only reveals a lot about the continuing glorification of terrorism against Israel in the Middle East, but it also provides a depressing example that appeasing extremists is perhaps all too often regarded as prudent policy and diplomacy.

Tamimi, who planned and facilitated the 2001 suicide bombing that killed 15 people, including 7 children, and injured 130 at a Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem, has enjoyed the life of a celebrity ever since she was released in the controversial 2011 deal Israel struck in order to free Hamas hostage Gilad Shalit.

As reported on the Islamist website MEMO, Ahlam’s release was a reason to celebrate for the Tamimi clan of the West Bank village Nabi Saleh — not least because another terrorist member of the clan was also released, and the murderous couple got married in Amman, Jordan. Right after her release, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal met with her in Cairo, and when she arrived in Jordan, she received a hero’s welcome, including a reception in her honor at the Jordanian Law Court building.

Tamimi’s status as a Palestinian “hero” made it easy for her to start a TV career hosting a show that glorified Palestinian terrorists, and she reportedly got to travel “widely and often within Jordan and to numerous Arab countries — including repeat visits to Algeria, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Tunisia and Yemen — speaking to school and university groups, trade unions, and on TV — boasting of her central role in the massacre, of the high death toll and of her intention to kill Jewish children.”

Some three years ago, when the US first demanded Tamimi’s extradition after it was announced that she was on the FBI’s list of Most Wanted Terrorists, she responded by proudly displaying her extremist Islamist views in an interview with a site that promotes the ideology of the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood. She declared that, “Our war with the Zionist enemy is an ideological war from the days of the Prophet Muhammad to now.”

Obviously enough, there were no “Zionists” in the days of Muhammad — which means that what Tamimi actually claims is that murderous Jew-hatred is an integral part of Islam. Needless to say, this is a view that would normally be rejected as Islamophobic, and it would surely appall the Muslim faith leaders who have recently taken welcome steps to “foster a new era in Muslim-Jewish relations.”

Families of US Troops Killed in Jordan Call for Cutting Aid Until Terrorists Extradited

The families of three US soldiers killed several years ago in Jordan are calling on Congress to suspend foreign aid to the US ally unless the country extradites their killer, as well as another terrorist wanted for a 2001 attack in Israel.

Marek al-Tuwayha is serving a life sentence for murdering the members of the US Special Forces on Nov. 4, 2016 at King Faisal Air Base. However, the AP recently reported that he might be released in 20 years.

The families of the men—Staff Sgt. Matthew Lewellen of Missouri, Staff Sgt. Kevin McEnroe of Arizona and Staff Sgt. James Moriarty of Texas—are also taking part in an effort to push for the extradition of Ahlam Tamimi from Jordan, where she has found safe haven.

Tamimi was convicted in Israel of helping mastermind the 2001 Sbarro pizzeria bombing in Jerusalem in which 15 civilians were killed, including seven children. Two of the victims were American: Malka Chana (Malki) Roth, 15, and Shoshana Yehudit (Judy) Greenbaum, 31, who was pregnant.

At the time, Tamimi was a 20-year-old female university student. She has never exhibited remorse for the attack.

In a statement, the families said King Abdullah of Jordan “should publicly apologize for the murders of their sons and explain why his country harbors a terrorist that killed Americans in the pizzeria bombing.”

JPost Editorial: Ayman Odeh chose to show solidarity with a terrorist - editorial

What Odeh did is not just disappointing, it is also counterproductive. The people who voted for Odeh’s Joint List, and helped it obtain 15 seats in the Knesset, did not cast their ballot so the leader of the party could participate in conferences with known terrorists. They want him and his fellow Knesset members to work to improve their lives: to create jobs, to secure funding to upgrade infrastructure – roads, schools, hospitals and more – and to steer their community through the economic and health crisis caused by the novel coronavirus.

Let’s not forget that Arouri is one of the founding commanders of the Izzadin al-Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military wing, and is said to be one of the key people – from his home in Turkey – trying to promote terrorist attacks in the West Bank. The US State Department has put a $5 million reward for anyone who provides information that leads to his capture.

This is the person Odeh wants to be associated with? A known terrorist behind dozens of attacks against Israel who is wanted by the IDF and the US?

Knesset Speaker Yariv Levin (Likud) said he would not tolerate an MK participating in “an event in support of terror with the worst of Israel’s enemies.”

It is unclear what Levin can actually do, but Odeh does need to decide where he stands and who he is as a lawmaker and a citizen of the State of Israel. He can, and should, of course, be able to openly show solidarity with the Palestinian people and also criticize Israel – all day and all night if he’d like – for its actions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. But, participating in a conference with a known terrorist like Arouri though is a line that Odeh should have known not to cross.

Israel has a long way to go for its Arab citizens to feel like they are treated as equals, and for the words of the declaration of independence, which called for coexistence in this land, to come true.

Arabs needs to be seen as equal citizens and be treated as equal citizens. For too long Arab-Israelis have been demonized and portrayed as a fifth column. They have been spoken about by the Likud and Blue and White as illegitimate political partners.

What Odeh did is wrong, but what Israel is doing is also not helping. If we want Arabs to stand with Israel and not with Hamas, they have to feel like everyone here has a shared destiny. That has yet to happen.

An American prophet in Berlin

He could’ve gotten moralistic, saying: “How can a country that murdered six million Jews now cowtow to a government intent on killing 6 million more?” “How dare you tell Jews to hide?” “We lost countless American lives and treasure because of your historic bloody power lust. Pay up!” He kept it classy, focusing on the mutual interest inherent in the policies he promoted, whether banning Hezbollah or the Iranian airline, Mahan Air. The Germans were spared guilt.

Nothing could explain Grenell’s fearlessness except to say he is a God-fearing man. He was more like a prophet preaching to the Germans before they bring upon themselves great disaster yet again by courting dictatorships like Iran, Russia and China.

The Hebrew prophets spoke in their own style unique to their upbringing and temperament. Amos, for example, spoke in simple metaphors taken from his life as a farmer. Isaiah, a prince, used more aristocratic metaphors. Grenell spoke as an American born in a small town in Michigan using not parables, but sharp tweets. Of course, he didn’t only conduct diplomacy over Twitter. A masterful professional and Harvard graduate, he activated and united the embassy to lobby for American interests utilizing all formal and informal channels at their disposal, but publicly, he communicated in the language and method of the people – social media – because he is one of the people.

Over time, his name came up again for other positions, and I kept tweeting #BerlinNeedsGrenell, until he got promoted as Acting Director of Intelligence. Americans now needed him. In just a few months, through long overdue declassifications and administrative reforms, he transformed the American Intelligence Community into one that is more effective, transparent and accountable to the people. What he started in Germany continued in Washington: bringing information that taxpayers had a right to know directly to them.

In the tradition of fools harassing a prophet, Der Spiegel contrasted him to previous ambassadors in one of their many hit pieces.

In Berlin, the representatives of Germany’s most important ally usually have the easiest jobs. Many previous US ambassadors were major political and social figures in the capital, enjoying excellent connections to the Chancellery and federal ministries, and playing host to the most powerful and influential personalities in Germany.

Barack Obama’s ambassador, Philip Murphy, invited longtime adversaries Helmut Kohl and Merkel to his dining room in 2012 for discreet talks aimed at reducing the tensions between them. By the time his tenure was over after four years, he had made so many friends he had to rent out the Olympic Stadium for his goodbye party.

Unfortunately, due to COVID-19, we couldn’t throw a goodbye party for “Ric,” as he tells people to call him. Maybe it wouldn’t have been filled with power-players congratulating each other on how they’re all Masters of the Universe, but the Olympic Stadium wouldn’t have been able to fill the genuine love, appreciation, and deep respect that every day, decent, pro-American Germans felt for one of the most effective, honest, ethical and real ambassadors that Germany – and beyond – has ever known.

Grenell will greatly be missed. I don’t know what I’ll do now for upcoming Fourth of July. But I know that Berlin doesn’t need Grenell anymore. #TheWorldNeedsGrenell

The voice of #Israel ⁦@MarkRegev⁩ - former Ambassador to the UK - talks to Political Thinking about his journey from Australian socialist kibbutznik to becoming a close aide to ⁦@IsraeliPM⁩ & explains why he’s optimistic about peace 🎧 https://t.co/M1eAtEkADS
— Nick Robinson (@bbcnickrobinson) July 3, 2020

07/03 Links Pt2: Jonathan S. Tobin: A tale of 2 revolutions, and why America must be celebrated; Gangsters vs. Nazis; Liberal Jewish Leaders Accuse Jews of Racism, Cover Up Anti-Semitism

From Ian:

Jonathan S. Tobin: A tale of 2 revolutions, and why America must be celebrated

In the view of those cheering on the efforts of the Black Lives Matter movement, this July 4 will be one less of celebration than of soul-searching and reassessment. Thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, the normal festivities were always going to be muted. But the brutal death of George Floyd on May 25 sent angry crowds of sometimes peaceful protesters into the streets seeking to topple monuments of not just Confederates, but also the nation's Founding Fathers and a host of other historical figures who don't measure up to the woke standards of the demonstrators.

As such, it is a deeply ominous sign that some advocates of the BLM movement, which has always been linked to anti-Semitic intersectional claims, are sometimes diverging from their usual arguments about racism to attacking Israel with blood libels. This week, one BLM march up Washington, D.C.'s Constitution Avenue, demonstrated its solidarity with a Palestinian "Day of Rage" by chanting, "Israel, we know you murder children too."

No doubt, some will claim that these chants are not typical of BLM sentiments, even though the movement has always supported smears of Israel. Others might say that among them were "some very fine people," a conclusion that few accepted when that sentiment was put forward by US President Donald Trump about those opposed to the removal of Confederate statues during a neo-Nazi march in August 2017 in Charlottesville, Va.

But at the heart of the marches is contempt for the basic idea that the American experiment in democracy – flawed though it is – is a uniquely successful effort in expanding the realm of liberty. As efforts like The New York Times' "1619 Project" that has served as an ideological guide to the protesters' vision of America as an incorrigibly racist nation made plain, the goal of the BLM movement is not so much to reform the police or cleanse the country of hate as it is to recast the entire national narrative that has provided a haven for religious minorities like Jews.

As such, it may be an appropriate moment for Americans to think seriously about their origins as a nation and to ask not only whether this 1619 narrative is true, but to ponder as well why we should still be cheering the memory of 1776.

The "1619 Project" is so named because in the view of the Times, the arrival of the first black slaves in North America was the true beginning of American nationhood, and the revolution in 1776 was fought mainly to preserve slavery. Once we set aside this inherently mendacious premise of that account, it's important to understand that the American Revolution succeeded primarily because it was rooted in a belief in the rule of law.

It's always the right time to talk about anti-Semitism, especially during Black Lives Matter protests

Recent weeks have seen a heated discussion among American Jews about whether there is a “right time” to talk about anti-Semitism. And if so, does now qualify, since our country is going through a reckoning over racism?

American Jews want to show solidarity with peaceful protesters, but should that include support for the Black Lives Matter organization, which called Israel an apartheid state, supported the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, and accused Israel of genocide in its 2016 manifesto? And should Jews remain silent while Israel is falsely accused of teaching brutal tactics to police, or when protests include “vandalism to Jewish businesses and synagogues” in Los Angeles, chants of “From the river to the sea” in Brooklyn, and slanderous accusations that Israel murders children in Washington, D.C.?

There was, by contrast, no such debate during Christians United for Israel's annual summit this week. Conducted virtually for the first time because of the pandemic, CUFI’s national conference included numerous speakers determined to speak up for Zion’s sake, as the book of Isaiah urges.

One message that echoed across the summit was that it’s always the right time to shine a light on anti-Semitism. Speakers encouraged the summit’s tens of thousands of participants to educate themselves about anti-Semitism. That education would include not only learning from dark, historic moments such as the Holocaust, but also how to recognize the anti-Semitism that hides in plain sight today, on college campuses and in the halls of Congress.

During a panel discussion on anti-Semitism, Holocaust survivor Irving Roth explained that words “direct people to the truth.” Words matter because they lead to actions, whether they are atrocities like the Holocaust or the possibility of a better future. Roth was joined by CUFI Middle East analyst Kasim Hafeez, who was raised as a radical Islamist in the United Kingdom and reflected: “I love this country, and it saddens me. There’s this horrible moment of seeing a parallel of what I saw in the U.K. with anti-Semitism. ... It doesn’t just roll in on a truck one day. It’s gradual. There’s little hurdles and steps; it creeps in. People fall asleep at the wheel. It’s almost ignored. There’s this attitude of, ‘It could be worse. At least we’re not the situation in Europe.’” Hafeez warned that ignoring those small changes means losing the chance to halt anti-Semitism while there is still time. Hafeez encouraged participants, “You can make the difference.”

Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who signed the nation’s first anti-BDS bill into law as governor of South Carolina, told participants, “We must keep telling the truth about Israel.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo talked about realizing in law school “how anti-Israel some parts of academia can be” and that “Israel needs to be protected from BDS.” Among Pompeo’s examples of the importance of truth-telling was his simple statement, “Anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.”

Gangsters vs. Nazis

Emboldened by Hitler’s rise to power in Germany in 1933, and fueled by the Great Depression, anti-Semitism increased throughout the United States, and over 100 anti-Semitic organizations sprung up across the country. They had names like the Friends of the New Germany (Nazi Bund), the Silver Shirts, Defenders of the Christian Faith, the Christian Front, and the Knights of the White Camellia, among others. Protected by the constitution’s First Amendment, they held public rallies, paraded through the streets in their uniforms carrying Nazi flags, published scurrilous magazines, and openly flaunted their hatred for Jews. American Jews were intimidated and frightened. Fearful of stirring up even more anti-Jewish sentiment, the American Jewish establishment’s response was often tentative and cautionary. They worried that what happened in Germany, home to Europe’s elite Jewish community, could easily happen in America. One group of American Jews who had no compunctions about meeting the anti-Semites head-on were Jewish gangsters. Not bound by conventional rules and constitutional legalities, they took direct and violent action against the Jew haters.

Nazi Bund rallies in New York City in the late 1930s created a terrible dilemma for the city’s Jewish leaders. With 20,000 members, the Nazi Bund was the largest anti-Semitic group in the nation. They organized large public rallies and marched to drumbeats wearing brown shirts and swastikas, and carrying Nazi flags. Jewish leaders wanted the meetings stopped, but could not do so legally. Nathan Perlman, a judge and former Republican congressman, was one Jewish leader who believed that the Jews should demonstrate more militancy. In 1935, he surreptitiously contacted Meyer Lansky, a leading organized crime figure born on the 4th of July, and asked him to help. Lansky related to me what followed.

Perlman assured Lansky that money and legal assistance would be put at his disposal. The only stipulation was that no Nazis be killed. They could be beaten up, but not terminated. Lansky reluctantly agreed. No killing. Always very sensitive about anti-Semitism, Lansky was acutely aware of what the Nazis were doing to Jews. “I was a Jew and I felt for those Jews in Europe who were suffering,” he said. “They were my brothers.” Lansky refused the judge’s offer of money and assistance, but he did make one request. He asked Perlman to ensure that after he went into action he would not be criticized by the Jewish press. The judge promised to do what he could.

Lansky rounded up some of his tough associates and went around New York disrupting Nazi meetings. Young Jews not connected to him or the rackets also volunteered to help, and Lansky and others taught them how to use their fists and handle themselves in a fight. Lansky’s crews worked very professionally. Nazi arms, legs, and ribs were broken and skulls cracked, but no one died. The attacks continued for more than a year. And Lansky earned quite a reputation for doing this work.

Lansky later described to an Israeli journalist one of the onslaughts in Yorkville, the German neighborhood in northeast Manhattan:

“We got there in the evening and found several hundred people dressed in their brown shirts. The stage was decorated with a swastika and pictures of Hitler. The speaker started ranting. There were only 15 of us, but we went into action. We attacked them in the hall and threw some of them out the windows. There were fist fights all over the place. Most of the Nazis panicked and ran out. We chased them and beat them up, and some of them were out of action for months. Yes it was violence. We wanted to teach them a lesson. We wanted to show them that Jews would not always sit back and accept insults.”

A lot of nearly-viral tweets this week, feel free to retweet them!

Screw the antisemites - old and new. pic.twitter.com/qB9nq1xHtt
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) July 3, 2020

The Israel haters know this, too. When talking among themselves they now curse Saudi Arabia and the UAE as much as they curse America and Australia.
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) July 3, 2020

Palestinians care about black lives about as much as Palestinians care about gay lives.
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) July 3, 2020

Another police officer describes what he learned in Israel. Not chokeholds, not targeting Arabs, not knees on necks - but civil liberties.
"You don't sacrifice civil liberties for security - in fact you compromise security by doing that."https://t.co/B5FYQGn4I7
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) July 3, 2020

How Palestinian police subdue suspects. pic.twitter.com/sCt5Dwfeps
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) June 30, 2020

Exactly! Here's another tragic accident at a checkpoint 2 months ago with a very confused young new driver exiting his car and trying to perform life-saving surgery to the person he accidentally hit, using scissors. https://t.co/V4vMHvLtZ8 pic.twitter.com/8iOj0kKeSB
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) June 28, 2020

Hate to tell you, but Palestinians are not a good role model for Blacks.

Jews are.
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) June 28, 2020

The "Zionists are White" meme is a thinly disguised version of "The Jews are Khazars" meme.

Antisemitism doesn't repeat itself but it rhymes.
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) July 2, 2020

It would be nice if the socialist Left would be as upset over Palestinians naming public squares and schools and camps and sports leagues after people whose entire accomplishment in life were to kill Jewish civilians as they are over Woodrow Wilson.
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) June 28, 2020

The hate remains the same. pic.twitter.com/N2zm2w2iRr
— Elder of Ziyon (@elderofziyon) June 28, 2020

The Palestinian Authority continues to block Gazans from getting needed medical aid. “Pro-Palestinian” groups remain silent.

From the UN’s OCHA-OPT report for the last two weeks of June:

An eight-month-old baby boy, who needed a heart surgery at an Israeli hospital, could not exit Gaza and died on 18 June. Since 21 May, the PA has not accepted or transferred applications for exit permits from Gaza to the Israeli authorities, as a response to Israel’s plan to annex parts of the West Bank. Since then, only few patients referred for medical treatment in the West Bank or Israel managed to exit Gaza, with the help of NGOs or international agencies.

Not only does the Palestinian Authority stop these medical transfers, but so do Palestinian NGOs – the NGOs that the UN refers to are Israeli NGOs.

As is always the case, Israel and Israelis care more about Palestinian lives than Palestinians do. The PLO and PA and Fatah and Hamas are eager to sacrifice their own people for nebulous “principles,” in this case the “principle” of not talking to Jews to save Palestinian lives.

The world remains unmoved by the cruelty that Palestinians show to their own people, because the false narrative of Israel hating Palestinians is too strong to allow counterexamples to be widely spread.

07/03 Links Pt1: Israeli cyberattack caused Iran nuclear site fire, F35s hit missile base; Terrorists Convicted for Antisemitic Murder of Daniel Pearl in Pakistan Could Go Free This Year

From Ian:

Report: Israeli cyberattack caused Iran nuclear site fire, F35s hit missile base

Israel was responsible for two blasts at Iranian facilities — one related to uranium enrichment, the other for missile production — over the past week, a Kuwaiti newspaper reported Friday.

The Al-Jareeda daily cited an unnamed senior source as saying that an Israeli cyberattack caused a fire and explosion at the largely underground Natanz nuclear enrichment facility in the predawn hours of Thursday morning.

According to the source, this was expected to set back Iran’s nuclear enrichment program by approximately two months.

The newspaper also reported that last Friday Israeli F-35 stealth fighter jets bombed a site located in the area of Parchin, which is believed to house a missile production complex — an area of particular concern for the Jewish state, in light of the large number and increasing sophistication of missiles and rockets in the arsenals of Iranian proxies, notably Lebanon’s Hezbollah.

Neither of these claims were confirmed by Israeli officials, who have been mum on the reports.

The reported Israeli strikes followed an alleged Iranian attempt to hack into Israel’s water infrastructure in April, an effort that was thwarted by Israeli cyber defenses, but if successful could have introduced dangerous levels of chlorine into the Israeli water supply and otherwise seriously interrupted the flow of water throughout the country.

Ultimately, the alleged Iranian cyberattack caused minimal issues, according to Israeli officials.

Terrorists Convicted for Antisemitic Murder of Daniel Pearl in Pakistan Could Go Free This Year

Four men sentenced to life imprisonment in Pakistan for the antisemitic murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 could go free later this year, following a court ruling earlier this week that paved the way for their imminent release.

British citizen Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh — who masterminded Pearl’s kidnapping and execution by beheading in the city of Karachi — saw his conviction for murder overturned by the High Court in the province of Sindh in April. His three collaborators — Fahad Nasim Ahmed, Syed Salman Saqib and Sheikh Muhammad Adil — were also exonerated by the same court.

That ruling was upheld by Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Wednesday, triggering concerns that the four men would be released immediately.

But on Thursday, Hasan Sehtoo — superintendent of the Karachi Central Prison — said that the four would remain in custody until Sept. 30 under a law that allowed authorities to detain a suspect for up to a year. Sehtoo said that the release of the convicted men would threaten public safety.

Pearl’s parents have filed an appeal with the Pakistani Supreme Court in another attempt to reverse the Sindh court’s shock decision in April. In an interview with CBS News this week, Pearl’s father, Judea, denounced the decision as a “travesty of justice.”

Pearl remarked that “one theory is that somebody tried to take advantage of the corona situation. Assuming that no one will pay attention to this decision.”

He continued: “And, evidently, we did pay attention.”

Just a little antisemitism from “human rights lawyer” Noura Erekat

Noura Erekat, an assistant professor at Rutgers University who was most recently seen exploiting her car-ramming cousin within a day of his death as an excuse to sell copies of her anti-Israel book, has created a ridiculous video for the far left video outlet Now This where she lies about Israel’s goals with extending sovereignty.

This one section of the video tells you what you need to know about Erekat’s interest in truth as well as her“human rights” credentials.

The “Deal of the Century” is better known as “steal of the century” and the “apartheid plan?” Where? Only in the fever swamps of anti-Israel propaganda that Erekat inhabits. I follow the topic quite closely and have never heard it called either of those things, and even Arabic media routinely call it the “Deal of the Century.”

But beyond that, look at the stock footage she chose when showing the words “the apartheid plan.”

Yup – religious Jews. Jews who have nothing to do with Trump or the deal, nothing to do with extending sovereignty, Jews who for all we know are walking in Brooklyn.

Not a Tel Aviv beach. Not IDF soldiers. No, she chose to show Orthodox Jews while flashing the word “APARTHEID” on the screen, so her viewers would associate Jews with gross human rigths violations.

Yes, that is antisemitic. And this entire video is propaganda that a Rutgers instructor is not the least bit embarrassed to spread.

(h/t kweansmom)

The times they are a changin’–UAE company signs agreement with Israeli defense contractors

A press release from the Emirates News Agency:

ABU DHABI, 2nd July, 2020 (WAM) -- Group 42 (G42), a leading technology company based in Abu Dhabi, announced today it has signed Memoranda of Understanding with Rafael Advanced Defense Systems, Rafael, and Israel Aerospace Industries, IAI, two leading Israeli technology companies, to explore collaborations in the research and development of effective solutions to combat SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 disease.

Executives from each company took part in a signing ceremony held via video conference between the UAE and Israel.

During the event, they discussed how they might capitalise on their respective expertise and technologies to develop cutting-edge solutions and medical initiatives that would benefit, not only the populations of both countries, but humanity as a whole.

This joint initiative brings together some of the most active players in the Covid-19 response in the region and aims to leverage their combined knowledge, human and technological assets, and other resources to accelerate the delivery of breakthrough solutions to safeguard the public health and support the global fight against the pandemic.

G42 is nominally an independent company specializing in artificial intelligence. However, its website makes clear that it works closely with, and aligns with, the strategic direction of the Abu Dhabi government.

While Israeli defense contractors have indeed pivoted to fighting the pandemic, they are still defense contractors –and the UAE chose those companies specifically to partner with. These are the very companies that Israel haters call out as violators of human rights.

My guess is that this agreement was made with a view to the future where Israel and Gulf countries will cooperate on military technology. After all, G42 could have chosen to partner with Israeli universities or pharmaceutical companies, and instead chose not one but two major military suppliers.

The UAE not only doesn’t care about what the pro-Palestinian crowd thinks, it is highlighting this agreement with the Israeli defense contractors in its media.

This rapprochement between formerly bitter enemies shows what peace will look like and how we will get there. National decisions are driven by self-interest and Israel has a lot more to offer than Palestinians do.