Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, September 02, 2020

09/02 Links Pt1: A tectonic shift in the relations between Israel and Arab world; Soldier, cop lightly injured in suspected car-ramming and attempted stabbing

From Ian:

A tectonic shift in the relations between Israel and Arab world

Over the past decade or so I have reported from around 100 countries. I have been in the White House during the good moments (with US President Donald Trump) and during the bad moments (with then-President Barack Obama).

I have witnessed the return of the remains of an Israeli MIA through Moscow, and traveled with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Uganda, Brazil Ethiopia and Beijing for his diplomatic visits. But the flight from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi was something completely different.

It underscores the major breakthrough between the UAE and Israel. The fact that El Al's Star of David flew over Saudi Arabia symbolizes the tectonic shift underway in relations between Israel and the Arab world. Israel made a giant leap forward on Monday in its effort to integrate in the region and be like any other normal country. The hostility and the boycotts are now a thing of the past, a new era of cooperation and friendship has begun.

The enormity of these developments was palpable among all those who were on board, not just the Israeli and US officials but also the flight crew and reporters. Everyone talked about how it was such a great privilege to be taking part in this historic event. Special face masks decorated with the flags of the US, the UAE and Israel were handed out; the boarding passes also had a special design.

It's also worth noting that throughout the three-hour flight, Israeli and US officials sat next to each other as if they were family or citizens of the same nation. Such closeness among the senior members of both governments is unprecedented. This intimacy in and of itself is an accomplishment that stands out.

JPost Editorial: The UAE-Israel deal could mark a new dawn for relations in the Middle East

The new dawn that is the UAE-Israel relationship is not just built on practical issues such as economics and security. It is already being built on human relationships. Whether it is stories about kosher deli service for the Expo in the Emirates, or the small but thriving Jewish community, we can see that there is a very real human warmth that is emerging in Abu Dhabi and Dubai towards Israel.

This warmth goes both ways. Israelis have lit up their buildings with the UAE flag, and opened their hearts to the possibilities of peace. This is welcome news during the COVID-19 crisis and the way that the world’s nations and citizens have become isolated and cut off from one another.

The symbolic visit to the Western Wall by Kushner prior to the historic flight and the morning prayers in the UAE bookend this phenomenal trip.
However, we must not glory only in success and fanfare. Too often our presumptions, and sometimes arrogance, have clouded reality. There is a long road ahead in the UAE, just as there have been hurdles in the Jordanian and Egyptian peace agreements.

There are questions about US F-35 sales to the Emirates. Israel is divided on whether the sales would erode its qualitative military advantage. It will take years for F-35 sales to materialize, even if approved in the US. By that time, Israel will have several squadrons of the advanced aircraft.

There may be other hurdles as well, such as the UAE wanting to see some progress on issues in the West Bank, or Iran and Turkey seeking to throw a spanner into the process. Israel and the UAE have dangerous enemies, from Tehran to the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Hamas is a part. Navigating the US election and Washington’s increasingly partisan foreign policy will be difficult.

We can face the future together with the UAE. This week began what should be a beautiful friendship.

David Singer: Saudi Arabia is impeding Trump's effort to end the conflict

Israel’s then Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced Israel’s readiness to resume negotiations with the Palestinian Authority “based on previous agreements between us, U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the road map and the April 14, 2004 letter of President Bush to the Prime Minister of Israel.”

No mention was made of the API forming part of those renewed negotiations – nor could it be - since its total territorial withdrawal demands had been undercut by the Bush Congress-endorsed letter.

Those Arab nations and entities – indeed all parties present at the Conference - failed to object or demur to the new territorial reality of partial Israeli withdrawal which the Bush letter had engendered.

Saudi Arabia’s insistence on Israel’s total territorial withdrawal stipulated by the API as the price to be paid for Saudi Arabia signing a peace treaty with Israel has been seemingly backed by Sudan,Bahrain and Oman to prolong the 100 years-old Arab-Jewish conflict.

The Trump vision for peace is a plan that can end that conflict. It needs to be embraced by all who attended the Annapolis Conference – especially by Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Bahrain and Oman now joining the UAE as real trailblazers for peace.

Trump did not present his meticulously detailed deal of the century to see it rejected before its implementation was even attempted.

Pressure by top Trump aides in the region this week to get Saudi Arabia to endorse Trump’s plan is certain.

Failure to do so could see Trump administering his proven shockwave therapy to jolt Sudan,Bahrain and Oman from backing Saudi Arabia’s continuing rejection of Trump’s plan.

Gerald Steinberg of NGO Monitor makes some excellent points about the irrelevance of Europe to the Israel/Arab conflict and how their outdated views of the region are actually anti-peace.

The EU was notably absent on the El Al plane from Tel Aviv to Abu Dhabi. There were no EU officials and no EU flags, either on the plane or on the face masks of the Arabs who greeted the Israelis. Why not?

As Steinberg writes,

Almost all EU diplomats, foreign policy officials and 'experts', operate through simplistic misguided prisms based on post-1945 images of normative (soft) power, rules-based international order, and other thinking that is .totally inapplicable to the Middle East. As a result, Europe has little credibility.

The Israel-UAE agreement is based on realpolitik and national interests -- security (the Iran threat), economic, cyber threats and others. European diplomacy in 21st century has no capacity for contributing in these dimensions.

Europe's foreign policy on Israel offers nothing positive and tangible. Their main tools are threats of sanctions (aimed at Israel only), ritual anti-Israel UN votes, and massive funding to fringe anti-Israel NGOs under the facade of aid and human rights. This is in total contrast to the US.

For Palestinians, Europe is a very reliable cash cow and amplifier of slogans, including their supposed powerlessness and victimhood. No matter what Palestinians do - terror, incitement, ICC lawfare - European money keeps flowing. But for substance, Palestinian leaders have (until very recently - EoZ) turned to the US.

Europe is narrowly focused on the Palestinian issue (and stuck in the 1970s); they treat Israel condescendingly, and their "peace proposals" and frequent declarations consist entirely of empty slogans. Systematically stuck in the 1970s (or 1950s), Europe is blind to Israel's role as a major regional actor, interacting with other countries on the basis of significant capabilities and shared interests.

Opposition to the Iranian strategic threat is a major catalyst for Israel-Gulf cooperation. In contrast, Europe's policy on Iran is based on slogans and reviving the ill-conceived JCPOA, allowing the regime to acquire nuclear weapons. These policies are non-starters.

To play any useful role in the region, Europe needs an entirely new approach to Israel, Iran, the UAE and other Gulf states. The people and myths that have dominated Europe's approach for decades need to retired and replaced by diplomats and experts with both feet on the ground.

Steinberg is correct. It is no coincidence that each one of Israel's peace agreements with Arab countries have been facilitated by the US with no European involvement. The Europeans treat the Palestinians as spoiled children with no responsibility for their actions, and one cannot make peace with irresponsible toddlers.

Gulf countries have, in recent years, given the Palestinians the message that they are not the center of the universe and they can no longer assume reflexive support and unlimited cash from their fellow Arabs. They live better lives under "occupation" than most Arabs do in independent countries. Their fate is in their hands but they have rejected every peace plan that doesn't leave open the possibility of Israel's destruction.

Instead of growing up, the puerile Palestinians have come to rely on the Western Left to provide them with unlimited moral and financial support. Europe, pretending to be relevant, is happy to fund organizations that actually hurt any chances for peace. This massive funding has perverted the Palestinian economy itself - the best paying jobs outside Israel come from these anti-Israel NGOs, which contribute nothing towards actual productivity and make it unappealing for Palestinians to become productive and independent citizens, creating and exporting useful goods and services.

The UAE deal reveals the European approach to the Middle East to be corrupt and counterproductive.

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Mahmoud Abbas and the PLO to meet with heads of other terror groups Thursday

From the official Palestinian Wafa news agency:

Preparations are underway to hold a meeting headed by President Mahmoud Abbas and with the participation of the heads of all the Palestinian political factions at home and abroad, today said Ahmad Majdalani, Secretary-General of the Palestinian Popular Struggle Front and Minister of Social Affairs in the Palestinian Authority.

He told the official Voice of Palestine radio that the meeting, which will be held between Ramallah, for the home-based leaders, and at the Palestine Embassy in Beirut, for the leaders in exile, seeks to reach a consensus on a national program to confront the US so-called deal of the century, Israel’s annexation plans and the normalization of Arab relations with Israel.

He stressed that this meeting is expected to strengthen the home front and pave the way for ending the inter-Palestinian division.

The meeting is scheduled to be held on Thursday.

This means that Mahmoud Abbas' PLO is meeting with internationally recognized terror organizations to come up with a response to Israeli peace with the UAE and potential peace with other Arab countries.

In fact, the head of Hamas' "political wing," Ismail Haniyeh, arrived in Lebanon on Monday to attend the Beirut meetings with the PLO and other factions. He already met with Hezbollah terrorists.

The group eschewed wearing masks as they stood shoulder to shoulder for this photo op, so perhaps some good will come from that meeting.

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From AFP:

French President Emmanuel Macron said Lebanon's embattled leaders had pledged Tuesday to form a crisis cabinet within two weeks to push forward with key reforms, as he visited the disaster-hit country.

Macron was in Beirut for a second time since an August 4 explosion there which killed more than 180 people, laid waste to entire city districts and fueled popular rage against the country's political elite.

Speaking at a press conference following talks with the heads of Lebanon's parliamentary blocs, Macron said Hizbullah "is probably in parliament because of intimidation but also because other forces have failed to run the country well."

"But it has a popular base and that is the reality," he added.

Nonetheless, "with Hizbullah there is a discussion that needs to be initiated," with regards to disarmament, Macron added.

"This is exactly the discussion we had an hour ago (and) it should not be a taboo," he said.

It won't happen, but even discussing the issue out loud is something that was not done before the explosion. The Lebanese people are becoming more public in their criticism of Hezbollah, and Nasrallah's speeches cannot make a dent in that.

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09/01 Links Pt2: What are Jews who embrace Black Lives Matter movement endorsing?; Israel Advocacy Movement: Linda Sarsour believes in Israel

From Ian:

What are Jews who embrace Black Lives Matter movement endorsing?

Some Jews have fallen for the delusion that they need to join BLM in order to help moderate its radicals. Others have convinced themselves that this is their opportunity to be considered worthy successors to those Jews who worked to end “Jim Crow” laws and marched with Dr. Martin Luther King. They think focusing on the attacks on Israel or even the growing number of incidents of anti-Semitism in the African-American community is to miss the point. They believe that Jews are obligated to go along with BLM because they accept the notion that the United States is irredeemably racist in nature and that there is an epidemic of murders of African-Americans by the police.

The problem with this formulation is that it is simply wrong. Despite a troubled past, America is not a racist nation today. The statistical evidence also contradicts the widely accepted claims about a police war on blacks.

It’s also worth exploring what is in the summary of the new BLM platform. Rather than an easily supported agenda around which all Americans of good will could rally, it is a laundry list of far-left radical and Marxist proposals antithetical to the idea that BLM deserves mainstream support.

Supporters will say their demands are irrelevant, and what matters is a statement supporting the struggle against racism.

But the letter from the 600 groups is more than a restatement of idealistic notions about tikkun olam or amorphous and highly dubious claims about alleged police brutality. It goes out of its way to mischaracterize skepticism about BLM and the vicious cancel culture it has helped to spawn as morally equivalent to attacks on King from segregationists and racists.

It doesn’t merely ignore the fact that so many “peaceful protests” turned into violent riots and the way BLM activists have sought to intimidate anyone who will not bow to their agenda. It also seeks to link opposition to the movement to anti-Semitism. That isn’t just wrong. It’s outrageous since intersectional radicals who form the shock troops of the BLM movement, including cheerleaders for the Nation of Islam and its leader, Louis Farrakhan, as well as race-baiter Al Sharpton, are themselves guilty of anti-Semitism.

We can only shake our heads at the chutzpah of anti-Zionist groups like IfNotNow and Jewish Voice for Peace, which have consistently been guilty of anti-Semitism, condemning it in others. But you have to wonder how groups that are avowedly Zionist—like JCPA, the ADL, and the mainstream religious movements and synagogues—can justify legitimizing these groups by signing the BLM manifesto along with them.

Tony Baltimore School Buckles to Anti-Semitic Demands of Black Lives Matter Activists

An elite private school in Baltimore founded by Jews is revamping its curriculum in response to a pressure campaign by Black Lives Matter activists demanding an examination of the school's "wealth hoarding" and "tolerance of Zionism."

BLM activists' latest academic target is Baltimore’s Park School, which was founded in 1912 by Jews who were barred entry into the city’s existing private schools. In a letter to the school, an anonymous group identifying itself as the "Black at Park Organizing Collective" calls for "an examination of Park’s history: its inception, early exclusions, culture of whiteness and wealth hoarding, its tolerance of Zionism, and its parasitic relationship to Baltimore City."

The Collective, which claims to be composed of "recent and distant alumni," accused the school of promoting "anti-blackness" and "anti-black violence." It seeks radical changes to the school's curriculum, admissions, and hiring. The school, they claim, is home to "white supremacist structures and environments of learning, teaching, and community-making," and Park "has established this culture of anti-blackness as normal and permissible." The administration, they wrote, must "atone for the deep and painful anti-black violence our black peers have experienced."

The language in the letter highlights the prevalence of anti-Semitism in Black Lives Matter activism. Across the country, protesters associated with the movement have defaced Jewish institutions, demanded that American Jews denounce Israel, and embraced anti-Semitic Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan, who has condemned American Jews for years.

Rabbi Mitchell Wohlberg, spiritual leader for more than 40 years at Baltimore’s Beth Tfiloh synagogue, expressed concern about the Collective’s rhetoric.

"There are a lot of code words here that have been associated with anti-Semitic tropes," Wohlberg told the Washington Free Beacon. "But I don’t like calling people anti-Semitic unless I know them and know that to be true. However, [with] those tropes of ‘parasites’ and ‘wealth hoarding,' combined with ‘tolerance of Zionism,' you have to question the motives of these people."

Park administrators declined to address the Collective’s use of anti-Semitic language, but officials told the Free Beacon the school is working with the group to implement a series of reforms, including changes to its "diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives."

Ambassador Michael Oren on His New Book and the Presidential Election

In a brief, erudite introduction to the short stories, and in our phone call, Oren says that the short story, imagination constrained by the structure of brevity, is a characteristically Jewish combination of freedom and discipline.

“The freedom-limit paradox can be confounding but also intoxicating,” Oren writes in the introduction, telling the story of “a friend who was born Jewish but hated his heritage.”

The friend accompanied Oren to synagogue for Simchat Torah, the holiday “when Jews dance and sing while embracing the scrolls.”

The friend, Oren writes, “was flummoxed. ‘They’re celebrating a book that tells them all these things they can’t do?’”

Reports Oren, “unable to grasp the contradiction,” the friend “finally, in desperation…began to study the Bible and then the Talmud, and eventually became observant.”

Before Oren rings off, I ask him, as the former ambassador and the author of Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide, how he views the upcoming American election and its potential effects on US‐Israel relations.

“Both candidates running are very pro-Israel,” Oren says. A Biden administration might bring policy differences over “the Palestinian issue,” West Bank settlements and the Iran nuclear deal, Oren points out. He notes, though, that Trump has also offered to negotiate a deal with Iran. Oren suggests that Israel could help by spelling out clearly “what would be a good deal” with Iran.

The bigger picture, he says, is that “Israel depends on a strong and self-confident America.”

It was concerning instead to see what appeared like “a superpower that is not quite certain how to police itself, much less police the world,” Oren adds.

For some 15 years I've been reading Arabic media where the Quran is often used as a justification for hating Jews and Israel.

Suddenly, articles are appearing out of the UAE that say the opposite - they are using the Quran to justify making peace with Israel.

Al Bayan today has an article by Ahmed Mohammed Al Shehhi where he methodically goes through the arguments against peace with Israel and uses the Quran to demolish them.

Among their arguments is the claim that reconciliation with Israel is a breach of belief, and this is a false claim that is contained in the texts of the Qur’an and the Sunnah that say that reconciliation with non-Muslims is permissible, and that this comes under the heading of dealings entrusted to the guardians of the matter.

Another argument against Jews, distorting the verses from what they want, such as their inference by the Almighty saying: "So that you find the most hostile people to those who believe the Jews." This inference is invalid. The Quraysh were among the most hostile people to Muslims, and they were idol worshipers, and despite that the Prophet, peace be upon him, favored them out of consideration for public interests. Therefore, the scholars deduced from this that reconciliation with the Jews is permissible, for they are the People of the Book...

They argue that there are no private interests of states under the pretext of taking into account the interests of the entire Ummah. This is a false understanding of legitimate policy. Sheikh Ibn Baz said: “Every state considers its own interest, and if it sees that it is in the interest of Muslims in its country to reconcile with the Jews in exchanging ambassadors, buying and selling, and other transactions. That which is permitted by the purified law of God, there is nothing wrong with that."

Those who reject peace among those who oppose peace have no argument. Rather, they are far from the spirit of Sharia and the light of reason.

There are a few other arguments that I don't quite understand, but the upshot is that the UAE is going on the offensive and saying that those who oppose peace with Israel are in fact the ones who are not following the Quran.

This is truly remarkable. For decades, there was only one narrative in the Arab Muslim world about Israel and any other side was hushed up. Now the other side is being trumpeted, and this is what is truly upsetting to the Palestinians and their terrorist supporting allies.

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Old: "Nothing in the ME can be solved without Israel/Palestinian peace." New: "How dare anything be solved without I/P peace!"

Remember "linkage"?

It was the opinion of supposed Middle East experts that all problems in the region could only be solved if Israel gave in to Palestinian demands for "peace."

Jimmy Carter said in 2006, "I don’t think it’s about a linkage policy, but a linkage fact. There is no doubt: The heart and mind of every Muslim is affected by whether or not the Israel-Palestine issue is dealt with fairly. ...Without doubt, the path to peace in the Middle East goes through Jerusalem."

Carter's National Security Advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski similarly said, “The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the single most combustible and galvanizing issue in the Arab world.”

The idea lasted even into the 2010s, even as the Arab Spring and ISIS and the Syrian civil war erupted, with the New York Times keeping the flame alive: "While resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not the magic bullet for the region that some once thought, it still resonates widely, whether among the crowds in Tahrir Square or the militants of Hezbollah, who cite Israel in rallying around President Bashar al-Assad of Syria."

The Palestinian leaders quickly realized that this false theory works to their advantage, as they would routinely say that if Israel doesn't give in to their demands, the entire Middle East would erupt into chaos and terrorism against the West would return. Mahmoud Abbas' spokesperson ludicrously claimed that ISIS would cease to exist if Israel just did what Palestinians demanded.

The Israel/UAE agreement has proven all of these theories wrong.

But the people who were so emotionally invested in making the Palestinians the center of the Middle East issue - giving them veto power over any peace plan, veto power they used liberally - now are turning linkage on its head. They still say that the Palestinian issue is the central issue, and therefore they are disappointed that the UAE doesn't agree with them!

This tweet by Human Rights Watch's Ken Roth epitomizes everything that is wrong with the "human rights community" and the far Left altogether:

All the kvelling about the Israeli-UAE flight does nothing to change the oppressive, discriminatory "one-state reality" for occupied Palestinians. Only equal rights will do that. https://t.co/3rI2KRiML0 pic.twitter.com/qSyvQMZs32
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) August 31, 2020

One would be forgiven if they thought this tweet came from the pseudo-Jews at IfNotNow. Roth uses the Yiddish word "kvell" as if to prove his Jewish bonafides before literally criticizing peace.

But look at what he is saying: that the moribund Palestinian issue is still the central issue in the region, and solving every other problem does not change that fact.

The discredited linkage theory has been turned on its head. Instead of claiming that the Palestinian issue is the key solving all Middle East problems, now the problem is in solving other Middle East problems without giving the Palestinians veto power over what Israel does with other Muslim states.

This makes it clear that even the people who pushed the linkage theory didn't believe it. They made it into a self-fulfilling prophecy because they opposed anything that showed it to be wrong.

This absurd formulation was repeated by another supposed expert, Aaron David Miller:

So far, however, the new accord has brought us no closer to serious negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, who accuse the UAE of betrayal for rewarding Israel without concern for Palestinian rights.

The "peace experts" are 100% wrong, just as they were during the "linkage" heyday. This accord does bring the Palestinians closer to the negotiating table because they can no longer rely on the automatic Arab support for their intransigence and refusal for peace.

The only people who don't see this fact are the ones who automatically blame Israel for the lack of a peace treaty with the Palestinians. But it was their own support for "linkage" that caused the Palestinians to refuse to seriously negotiate to begin with!

This is a new Middle East, and the people who preferred the old Middle East are having a bad day.

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09/01 Links Pt1: Kushner hopes another Arab state normalizes Israel ties within 'months'; The Israel-UAE deal exposes hypocrisy of pro-BDS Jewish groups

From Ian:

Netanyahu holds historic video call with UAE representative in Hebrew

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanayhu held a historic video call with a United Arab Emirates (UAE) representative named Khalifa, who accompanied the Israeli delegation to the country. The entire conversation was held in Hebrew, after the latter demonstrated his knowledge of the language. The prime minister, who was surprised that Khalifa spoke Hebrew so well, inquired about the source of his knowledge.

"I studied Hebrew over Zoom, sir," replied Khalifa.

During the video call, Netanyahu congratulated the Emirati representative and praised the Emirates' contribution to peace and stability in the Middle East.

"I would like to congratulate you, as a representative of UAE's government and as a loyal representative of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed, a great leader, for your contribution to peace," said Netanyahu excitedly.

The prime minister also praised the historic normalization treaty between the two countries.

"This is a historic peace, not just between leaders but between our people. You literally express it – thank you so much for this," he added.

Kushner hopes another Arab state normalizes Israel ties within 'months'

White House adviser Jared Kushner hopes another Arab country normalizes ties with Israel within months, he said, after arriving in the United Arab Emirates accompanied by Israeli officials on the first commercial flight between the countries.

No other Arab state has said so far it is considering following the UAE, which agreed to normalize ties with Israel in a U.S.-brokered deal announced on Aug. 13. Several have ruled out normalization under current conditions.

Israel's neighbors Egypt and Jordan reached peace deals with it decades ago, but other Arab states have long held the position that Israel must agree to give more land to the Palestinians for a state before ties can be normalized.

Israel and the United States have said they are pushing more Arab countries to follow the UAE's path. Israel's intelligence minister has mentioned Bahrain and Oman. Kushner will next visit Bahrain, Saudi Arabia and Qatar on his Gulf tour.

Asked by UAE state news agency WAM when the next Arab state could normalize ties, Kushner, son-in-law to President Donald Trump, was quoted as saying: "Let's hope it's months."

The Israel-UAE deal exposes hypocrisy of pro-BDS Jewish groups

‘Nothing to celebrate.”

That was the response of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) to the United Arab Emirates ending animosity toward and non-recognition of Israel for the entire span of Jewish state’s existence. Though bilateral trade that will benefit peoples in both countries, Palestinians included, easing the effects of climate change and saving lives in the operating room, they couldn’t even say “well done.”

Even the left-wing, Israel-focused political group J Street was able to recognize that peace with the UAE is a positive development while highlighting unresolved issues. Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement-supporting groups’ blatant disregard for an act of tikkun olam (repairing the world) is hypocritical and harmful to the people actually living in the region. JVP and others should celebrate peace even if they don’t love the political actors behind it.

No matter what the situation, the answer is always the same, “but the occupation!”

It’s a single-minded focus that is deep-seated to the point that it necessitates blind hatred and the infantilizing of the entire Palestinian people. Palestinians are taught hate from a young age in their textbooks, walk to and from school on streets that honor “martyrs” who murdered Israeli civilians, and their tax money pays the family members of those who carry out horrific terrorist attacks.

The UAE is not only fighting against anti-Zionism but also against Arab antisemitism

You know how Arabs and Arab apologists keep insisting that Arabs aren't antisemitic, but merely anti-Zionist?

One of the most antisemitic statements ever made came from Saudi Arabia's King Ibn Saud in 1937. Speaking to a British colonel and recorded in British archives, he said:

Our hatred for the Jews dates from God's condemnation of them for their persecution and rejection of Isa (Jesus) and their subsequent rejection of His chosen Prophet....for a Muslim to kill a Jew, or for him to be killed by a Jew ensures him an immediate entry into Heaven and into the august presence of God Almighty.

This attitude has been the way that Gulf Arabs have looked at Jews since way before 1948 or even before Zionism.

The UAE is not only interested in having trade ties to the Zionist entity, as Egypt or Jordan might term it.

It wants to embrace Jews and Judaism.

The reporter accounts of the trip to the Gulf on Monday included some interesting details:

“We could not be happier to have you all here,” said one of those who spoke to us, and it didn’t feel forced. “I’m literally looking at cousins,” noted another, arguing that Jews and Muslims, Israelis and Arabs, have more in common than divides them.

In Abu Dhabi, those keeping kosher were served a kosher-certified gourmet dinner.

At the Louvre Abu Dhabi, the visitors saw a Chumash from Yemen and other Jewish artifacts:

This is a long way from the days of Ibn Saud.

(h/t Mitch)

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On Sunday, a group of Arab American organizations held a sparsely attended event in Chicago protesting normalization between Israel and the UAE.

Video of the event indicates that all of the speeches were in Arabic, which is probably why this rally received next to no attention. But the official Palestinian news agency Wafa covered this extensively, to give the impression that Palestinians are still a major issue for the larger Arab world.

The final joint statement, as translated by Wafa, is insane.

A joint statement, in the name of the participating Arab communities, was read by the Palestinian National Council member Ghassan Barakat, at the conclusion of the meeting held in Chicago. The institutions warned of the repercussions of this agreement on the stability of the region, saying: "The shameful agreement will pave the way [for Israel] to devour the entire Arab region, and the occupation has a new means of penetration into the Arab world.

Representatives of social, service, charitable and religious institutions representing the Palestinian, Egyptian, Yemeni, Iraqi, Libyan, Tunisian, Algerian, Syrian, Kuwaiti, Jordanian, Moroccan, and Lebanese communities participated in the meeting.

In the joint statement, they praised the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in the face of attempts at normalization and deception practiced by the occupation state, under the illusion of peace that targets all capitals of the Arab region, to bring them to their knees, humiliate them, and plunder their wealth.

The statement said: "The agreement rewards the occupation state by acknowledging its full control over the land of Palestine, and its recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of the Jewish state, and paves the way for compromising the Al-Aqsa Mosque and Judaizing it, which is not and will not be accepted by any free Arab, especially since Jerusalem is the path of our honorable Messenger Muhammad, may peace and blessings be upon him."

Imagining that Israel is using peace as a means to take over the region is crazy enough. But the underlying assumption behind it is really interesting, if you think about it.

These Arab American self-declared leaders are saying that every single Arab nation is run by idiots who will be fooled by the brilliant, diabolical Jews into giving up all of their land and natural resources.

The more that the "pro-Palestinian" side insults every Arab nation, the more likely they are to throw the Palestinian issue under the bus and make peace with Israel.

Their self-destruction is really something to see.

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The anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace set up a "JVP Health Advisory Council" offshoot, using health issues as another way to attack Israel by blaming Israel for any deficiencies (or possible future deficiencies) in Palestinian healthcare.

Needless to say, these hypocrites never say a word when Palestinians themselves decide that sick Palestinians should die rather than cooperate with Israel. Or when the PA limits medicines to Gaza. Or when Hamas sells medicines that were donated to help Gazans. Or when the PA opposes new hospitals in Gaza.

The hypocrisy doesn't end there.

Alice Rothchild, MD, the most prominent member of JVP Health and probably its founder, tweeted this:

The terror groups themselves say that the point of the "fire balloons" is to burn Israeli civilians, not to "call attention to the blockade." One writes op-eds and calls protests to call attention to something, but this MD doesn't care about public health - she only cares about demonizing Israel.

And of course the fires themselves are a public health hazard that JVP Health will never talk about.

The hypocrisy still doesn't end there.

JVP calls for everyone to boycott Israeli goods and services.

But the "JVP Health" website is built using Wix, the popular Israeli website builder, as you can see from its source code.

If these guys didn't have hypocrisy, they'd have nothing left.

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08/31 Links Pt2: Jonathan Tobin: Why they scrawl ‘Free Palestine’ on synagogues; Melanie Phillips: The free world's craven and hypocritical fifth column

From Ian:

Jonathan Tobin: Why they scrawl ‘Free Palestine’ on synagogues

The impulse to spray paint “Free Palestine” on Jewish sites is an injustice not just because it is vandalism, but also because the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians has nothing to with a synagogue—and certainly not one on in the Midwestern United States. Blaming American Jews for the grievances that some may have against Israel, regardless of the merit or lack thereof of such complaints, is also a form of anti-Semitism.

Nevertheless, the connection between the BLM movement and anti-Israel sentiment is an undeniable fact. So it is hardly surprising that when demonstrators began marching through a residential neighborhood in Kenosha chanting and threatening people in the dead of night, one participant would choose to scrawl “Free Palestine” with a can of paint in the driveway of the Beth Hillel Temple.

Should such incidents influence American Jewish attitudes towards the BLM movement or impact black-Jewish relations?

No matter what is done by BLM marchers or said in the platform promulgated by the movement to support intersectional critiques of Israel and backing for BDS, there is nothing that will shake the overall Jewish commitment to the cause of social justice and equal rights. Despite well-founded concerns about the BLM movement itself, sympathy and support for efforts to fight to save black lives and to create a more just society will always have overwhelming Jewish support.

Still, Jewish groups can and must make clear to their African-American counterparts that they will not accept a situation in which anti-Zionist agitation, which is inherently anti-Semitic and often threatening to Jews, is tolerated—let alone encouraged. Where insults and threats happen, violence often follows, as we saw last year in the spate of anti-Semitic attacks on Orthodox Jews in the Greater New York area by African-Americans.

Yet just as concerns about racism do not justify violence or attacks on property, there should also be a clear understanding that acceptance of anti-Semitic lies about Israel or its American supporters cannot be tolerated. Those who allow themselves to be so taken up by the outrage propping up the BLM movement to rationalize or excuse vandalism like “Free Palestine” must realize that this undermines that cause. It also obligates Jews and those who claim to speak for them to stand against their efforts.

Melanie Phillips: The free world's craven and hypocritical fifth column

Even now, the British government is obsessed with meeting the Palestinians' demands; even now, it is perpetuating the falsehood that Israel is not legally entitled to apply its sovereignty to the disputed territories.

The prime minister, Boris Johnson, couched his tepid welcome for the United Arab Emirates' historic decision to normalize relations with Israel as a welcome for Israel's suspension of its sovereignty plan.

Raab reportedly came to Jerusalem to try to persuade Israel to drop this plan altogether. Quite apart from their malice and shamelessness, the Brits simply haven't grasped that the issue for the region is no longer the Palestinians (as if it ever was). It's now Iran.

It is fear of Iran that fueled the UAE deal. The Gulf states understand that they need Israel and the United States to neutralize the threat of Iranian regional hegemony. And they are deeply concerned that if Joe Biden becomes president, he will become Obama mark two, reinstating the JCPOA and again paving the way for an Iranian nuclear bomb with international approval.

Clearly, this concern is shared in Jerusalem, so much so that it's prompting some to wonder whether Israel will attack Iran before November's election.

Trump's resumed sanctions have weakened the regime. The assassination of Qassem Soleimani, the strategic genius of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps' Quds Force, was a blow from which it has not recovered. There also has been a series of unexplained explosions in Iran's sensitive weapons infrastructure.

So there's never been a more promising opportunity to deliver a decisive blow against the regime, preferably by reimposing draconian sanctions. But there's also never been such a dangerous time, with rising tensions and increasing Iran-backed attacks across both the Lebanese and Gaza borders – and with this wounded regime perhaps determined, if it believes it is indeed going down, to take Israel with it.

Such a time demands a unified resolve among those trying to stop this evil. And standing up against it are the United States, Israel, and the Gulf states.

But on the other side stand the United Kingdom, France, and Germany, supporting Russia and China in shoring up a regime that has waged a 40-year war against the West, intends to wipe Israel off the map, and is getting ever closer to possessing the nuclear weapons that it thinks will enable it to do so.

Britain, France, and Germany now risk becoming a shocking fifth column in the defense of the free world.

The End of the UAE Boycott Is a Blow to BDS

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel suffered a major blow this weekend, when the UAE revoked its 1972 decree to boycott the State of Israel. Abu Dhabi’s crown prince, Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, effectively tore up the decree as part of the nascent Abraham Accord signed with Israel.

Even though Israel has powered through the Arab boycott — becoming a regional economic superpower — the UAE’s symbolic move is a message in a bottle: we are open to Israel for business. The end of the boycott effectively implies normalization of trade and commerce between the two nations. UAE citizens, in other words, may soon find “Bamba” — an Israeli snack food — in their supermarkets.

This, of course, is an affront to the traditional mandate of most Arab nations since Israel’s inception, if not before. The Khartoum Resolution of 1967 set the stage for a steadfast political and economic boycott of Israel. It was at this summit, following Israel’s shocking victory in the Six-Day War, that the Arab League declared the now infamous “Three Nos”: no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with Israel.

The boycott unified Arab states in the region and at the United Nations. Anti-Israel resolutions intensified and became the norm. But Israel’s peace treaty with Egypt in 1979 and then with Jordan in 1994 weakened the Arab alliance — and with it, its boycott. Still, there was no love lost between Israel and its new “friends.” It was a cold peace, and trade and commerce between them was minimal.

The boycott movement re-intensified with the failure of the Oslo Accords and the onset of Palestinian terrorism against the Jewish state.

Terror failed to bring down Israel. The Palestinian leadership turned to promoting an intensive defamation and boycott campaign in an attempt to criminalize Israel, called BDS. The campaign was linked to labeling Israel an “apartheid state,” and it falsely drew parallels with apartheid-era South Africa. Across the West, students on university campuses lobbied for BDS and tried deceiving the international community by calling Israel a racist state.

Anti-Israel meme: "Settlers deliberately running over sheep"

The Hamas-linked Palestinian Information Center "reports":

A Palestinian shepherd survived on Sunday evening when a Jewish settler rammed his car into a herd of sheep in an area near Yatta town in southern al-Khalil, south of the occupied West Bank.

The shepherd, Ayed al-Shawahin, said that a settler from the illegal settlement of Ma’on accelerated his car and tried to run him over along with his own sheep.

He added that two sheep died and at least 10 others suffered injuries in the vehicular attack.

Let's think about this for two seconds. A Jewish "settler" deliberately aiming his car at a bunch of sheep would severely damage the car - but he supposedly hates Palestinians so much that he is willing to pay the thousands of dollars of damage to his vehicle just to run over a few sheep?

It turns out this is this a popular meme that Palestinians have been making up.

The claim was made in May with a similar story of an Israeli "settler" deliberately running over sheep in a field.

I see also a claim from 2016 of a "settler" killing 25 sheep (!) with his car, a 2019 claim of killing 12 sheep and injuring 18 more, and B'Tselem parroted the claims without any verification last year.

Not one of these claims was accompanied with photos of the dead sheep, which is remarkable since everyone has a camera on their mobile phones.

There seems to be one exception: earlier this monthth is photo popped up on social media, also seemingly originating from the Palestinian Information Center Facebook account, with the claim that a Jew had deliberately run over these sheep.

It looks more like a bad traffic accident, and there is no evidence in the photo that this was caused by an Israeli. Oddly, this story did not seem to make it into any Palestinian media like the official Wafa news agency which parrots all the bizarre claims, which again makes this photo seem to be of an accident that was relabeled as a deliberate attack.

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Does the UAE/Israel agreement allow Jewish worship on the Temple Mount?

In Palestine reports:

Normalisation of relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) could have significant impacts on the sensitive status of Al-Aqsa Mosque, a report by Israeli NGO Terrestrial Jerusalem has warned.

The report challenged the wording in reference to Al-Aqsa in a joint statement by US President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, the crown prince of Abu Dhabi, on 13 August.

The statement, which has been condemned by Palestinians across the political spectrum, says that “all Muslims who come in peace may visit and pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque, and Jerusalem’s other holy sites should remain open for peaceful worshippers of all faiths”.

After the 1967 war, Israel and Jordan, the custodian of Al-Haram al-Sharif compound, agreed that while Jews are allowed access to the site, they are not allowed to pray there.

That status quo has withstood many challenges since.

However, Terrestrial Jerusalem, an organisation that tracks developments in Jerusalem that could impact political processes or spark violence, argues that the terminology used in the joint statement is an intentional attempt to open up the Temple Mount for Jewish prayer and ultimately change the status quo.

“It is not too late to insist that this wording be removed and that there be a renewed commitment, unambiguous in its clarity, by both Israel and the United States to the traditional interpretation of the status quo, and specifically regarding Jewish prayer on the Mount,” the report said.

Al-Aqsa, the third-holiest site in Islam, is housed in the 14-hectare Al-Haram al-Sharif compound (Noble Sanctuary), known to Jews as the Temple Mount.

The joint statement, the report said, speaks of access to “Al-Aqsa Mosque,” rather than Al-Haram al-Sharif, and while Israel defines Al-Aqsa as the structure of the mosque, Muslims define it as the entire esplanade of Al-Haram al-Sharif.

“Consequently, according to Israel (and apparently to the United States), anything on the Mount that is not the structure of the mosque is defined as ‘one of Jerusalem’s other holy sites’, and open to prayer by all and open to prayer by all – including Jews.”

The NGO might be right - but for different reasons than they say.

The quoted sentence in the joint statement by the US, UAE and Israel is " As set forth in the Vision for Peace, all Muslims who come in peace may visit and pray at the Al Aqsa Mosque, and Jerusalem’s other holy sites should remain open for peaceful worshippers of all faiths."

There is nothing in that statement that says that Muslims cannot visit and pray throughout the entire Temple Mount complex, so there is nothing that the UAE would object to. Every Friday, especially during Ramadan, the entire Temple Mount is filled with over a hundred thousand Muslim worshippers outside the Al Aqsa mosque building. No one is advocating that this should change.

The reference to the Trump peace plan is what makes this statement interesting, though.

The Trump Vision for Peace seemingly contradicts itself, first saying that the status quo on the Temple Mount should remain but then saying that non-Muslims should be able to pray at the site:

Given this commendable record for more than half a century, as well as the extreme sensitivity regarding some of Jerusalem’s holy sites, we believe that this practice should remain, and that all of Jerusalem’s holy sites should be subject to the same governance regimes that exist today. In particular the status quo at the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif should continue uninterrupted.
Jerusalem’s holy sites should remain open and available for peaceful worshippers and tourists of all faiths. People of every faith should be permitted to pray on the Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif, in a manner that is fully respectful to their religion, taking into account the times of each religion’s prayers and holidays, as well as other religious factors.

Perhaps the Trump plan was not self-contradictory, because by the time it was written Jews had already been arranging ad-hoc prayers with a quorum for at least a year without incident and that could be considered part of the status quo that the Trump vision is referring to.

Terrestrial Jerusalem is unhappy that Jews are routinely praying on the Temple Mount without incident. That undermines its entire argument that allowing Jewish prayer will result in violence and riots, as well as their immoral position that Muslims threatening violence gives them veto power over Jewish rights.

Of course, to normal people, the idea of Jews praying on their holiest site while not disrupting the prayers of any Muslims should be considered quite fair and uncontroversial, even desirable. Terrestrial Jerusalem and its founder Daniel Seidemann are saying that Jews should not have basic human rights, rights that are part of international conventions. How sick is that?

Terrestrial Jerusalem's fear-mongering and insisting that Jews should never have the right to worship in their most sacred site - and that the antisemitic Waqf should have control of the entire Mount, meaning that Jews couldn't even visit - is proof that even Jewish groups have no problem with holding antisemitic positions under the mask of "peace."

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08/31 Links Pt1: Kushner: We Don't Seek to Isolate the Palestinians But We Won't Reward Bad Behavior; Netanyahu: Israel Is Holding Many More Secret Talks with Arab States on Normalizing Ties

From Ian:

Netanyahu: We have invited the UAE delegation to Israel

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday evening that Israel invited the United Arab Emirates (UAE) delegation to Israel to be "welcomed on a red carpet, as well," following the arrival of the Israeli and US delegations in Abu Dhabi.

Israel will one day be recognized and make peace with the rest of the Middle East, Netanyahu said. "There are many things I cannot tell you, but I am sure you will find out in time," Netanyahu said, suggesting that Israel is currently in talks with other Arab states.

"I felt an immense pride," Netanyahu said after seeing the Israeli flags waving when the Israeli and US delegations landed in Abu Dhabi on Monday. "This is a new age in our history."

Netanyahu further spoke on the school year, which begins on Tuesday and has been a subject of much debate due to coronavirus regulations, and stated that a final decision on the operation of the school year will be reached by the end of the day.

Flight 971 from Israel to the #UAE has just landed at @AUH in #AbuDhabi 🇮🇱✈️🇦🇪 pic.twitter.com/q1GutmutC1
— Israel ישראל (@Israel) August 31, 2020

Israel-UAE flight lands safely in Abu Dhabi, F-35 talks to be held

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu trusts US President Donald Trump not to endanger Israel’s security, White House Special Adviser Jared Kushner said on Monday, aboard the first-ever direct El Al flight from Israel to the United Arab Emirates.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu and the president will discuss that at some point,” Kushner said, when asked about the possible sale of F-35 stealth jets to the UAE, which is controversial in Israel.

Kushner said that Trump can be trusted to maintain Israel’s qualitative military edge, but that the US also has a decades-long defense partnership with the UAE.

“I’m sure Mr. Netanyahu sees the opportunities coming from this relationship,” he added.

As for the first Israeli flight over Saudi Arabia, Kushner said the Saudis are “very gracious,” and that the flight is “a manifestation of what is possible in the Middle East.”

“We can take it as a sign,” Kushner said. “It’s an encouragement for this progress.”

Netanyahu radioed in a message to the plane while it was flying over Saudi Arabia.

Responding to questions as to which Middle Eastern countries may make peace with Israel next, Kushner chuckled, saying: “I know the people in Israel well, and when there’s an accomplishment, they say what’s next. I’m going to ask the Israeli people for just one day...let’s take a moment to celebrate.”

The Historic First Israel-UAE Flight, named the 'Peace Plane', Takes Off

Historic First Flight From Israel to UAE Lands in Abu Dhabi, Kushner Addresses Media

‘Join us’ in peace, Kushner urges region, as El Al flight brings Israelis to UAE

Stepping off the first ever direct Israeli flight to the United Arab Emirates on Monday afternoon, senior White House adviser Jared Kushner hailed the start of peace between Israel and the UAE and urged the rest of the region and the world to “join us.”

Kushner flew on an El Al plane as part of a joint US and Israeli delegation that also included US National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien and the head of Israel’s National Security Council Meir Ben-Shabbat. The flight, which saw the plane travel through Saudi Arabian airspace — another first — came in the wake of a US-brokered normalization of ties between Israel and the UAE, announced on August 13.

On the tarmac Kushner gave a short speech, thanking Mohammed bin Zayed, the UAE’s de facto ruler, as well as Saudi Arabia, for allowing the Israeli plane to fly over its airspace.

“Mohammed bin Zayed is truly leading the new Middle East,” he said. “The Middle East is filled with brilliant, industrious, tolerant and innovative people, and the future belongs to them,” he added. “I ask everyone today to join us in celebrating this peace, and to help us expand it throughout the region and the entire world.”

He quipped that officials onboard wanted the plane to fly faster so they could get to their destination sooner to celebrate the normalized ties. “While this peace is forged by its leaders it is overwhelmingly desired by its people,” he said.

Kushner slammed what he said were the few who oppose the Israel-UAE deal. “They exploit division to maintain power,” he said.

In response to a question from a reporter, Kushner said the US has done a lot to help the Palestinians reach peace, but they are not ready. “We can’t want peace more than they want peace,” he said. “When they are ready, the whole region is very excited to help lift them up and help move them forward. But they can’t be stuck in the past.”